Applejack and her younger sibling were running at top speed to put as much distance as they could between Serenade Dazzle and themselves. Their group of fighters struggling to keep up with the two mares who were more than a match for them in terms of endurance. Years of farm work had made them hardy and able to handle a tremendous amount of physical activity, but they were pacing themselves so that the others could keep up.

It had been months since Glitch and Cinder Deathclaw vanished, and during that time, Applejack had been inspired by the masked pony’s dream of defeating Serenade, and they had taken up Glitch’s position and began commanding with Twilight. In turn, her younger sister, Applebloom was also invigorated and also came to command with Applejack.

While Applejack had her initial issues with the armored pony, she had grown to appreciate what he was doing now more than ever. At first, she thought engaging Serenade at all was a suicide mission, but it was clear to the farmer now that not doing so simply wasn’t going to be an option. Serenade would bring the fight to them if they tried to avoid it, and that was a fact. Applejack only wished that she had had the chance to apologize for giving him such a hard time. She contemplated how little she actually knew about the pony under his mask as she galloped.

Glitch had inspired an entire rebellion, even after his supposed death, and that was all despite no one knowing what his face even looked like. Applejack was certainly curious as to Glitch’s true face, but she knew that was a mystery; the armor he wore may have been gone, but they had managed to retrieve the prototype armor from Aria’s body which Applebloom had donned.

The two of them were a team. Applebloom was the face of the new Glitch, and Applejack was the voice. Together, there was little that the two siblings couldn’t accomplish and there was no one else that Applejack would rather work with. Applebloom may have been stubborn like her, but they were an impeccable team, whose skills complemented each other so beautifully.

That teamwork had kept the rebellion alive, even in the midst of defeat. Without Glitch, his magic and the weapon that he had been gifted by the queen of sirens, the entire operation suffered. Twilight and Discord’s magic aided them, but it was nothing compared to what Glitch brought to the table. Serenade was simply too strong to be affected by magic alone and that was the reality of the situation.

Applebloom in her years had never seen anything quite as brutal as Serenade. She was a mere teenager, but she had been forced to grow up quickly, much to her sister’s dismay. Finally though, as the two stood on the battlefield together, Applejack saw her for what she was: a mare and no longer a filly.

“She ain’t far behind us, c’mon!” Applejack commanded as Applebloom lagged behind, the combat suit prototype she was wearing slowing her down at this point.

Applebloom allowed the visor on the suit to analyze the situation. With Moondancer’s built-in computers, the suit began to run some intense calculations (most of which Applebloom could not understand). The first was to determine the chances
that they would be able to outrun Serenade together and survive. Based upon their speed, Serenade’s speed, and physical endurance, the scan returned a number that Applebloom wasn’t too keen on.

Survival chance: 8%

She changed a single aspect of the plan on-screen and ran the numbers again, this time she got a far better percentage that she could live with.

Survival chance: 88%

It wasn’t perfect, but she would at least be at peace knowing that the odds were good that things would work out at least for one of them.

Stopping in her tracks, Applebloom skidded and turned around, ready to face Serenade. “Go on ahead,” Applebloom commanded.

“No way!” Applejack stopped with her.

“You’ll stand a better chance of survivin’ if’n ya’ go now!” Applebloom yelled, not having the luxury of time to argue with her sister.

“Yer’ not talkin’ with any sense!” Applejack hissed.

Applebloom turned to her sister and slapped her across her cheek, making an audible crack. Applejack looked up to her sister with shocked eyes. “Why’d ya’-“

“Ain’t no sense in both of us dyin’. Go, Twilight needs ya’...” Applebloom smiled.

“No way am ‘Ah lettin’ ya die!” Applejack protested.

Applebloom shook her head. “This is what ‘Ah want. ‘Ah don’t want y’all dyin’. So if y’all stay, ‘Ah’ll never forgive you. Go, live. Y’all are too important to die with me. ‘Ah gotta do my part, and this is it.”

Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A teenager talking about dying as if she were an old mare in her eighties preparing to knock on death’s door. Applebloom had become far more mature than her actual age, and Applejack could see that.

What the farmer could also see is that Applebloom’s eyes were those of an adult. They were the kind of eyes that burned with the passion to do something in dire situations rather than just wait for them to be resolved.

Placing a hoof upon her sister’s armored shoulder, Applejack nodded as tears streamed down her face. “‘Ah love ya’, sis.”

Applebloom smiled and held her sister’s hoof in her own for a brief second. “Love ya’ too. Now ‘git.”

Nodding, Applejack fought back more tears as she turned and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She knew that getting back to the hideout was her primary objective.

As Applebloom was left alone, sure enough, her foe would soon appear before her, ready to battle, as always.

Serenade stood before the girl and flicked her long mane out of her face, her gorgeous curls bouncing as she did. The two stared each other down for a long for moments as they stood in silence.

The demon siren had left her cloak back at her abode, so she was instead sporting only her amulet instead. It was odd to see her without her cloak, but Applebloom had assumed that she didn’t wear it all the time already. The two had only met in passing prior to that moment. They had never seen each other face to face.

With eyes locked upon each other’s, Serenade broke the silence with a smile and a comment. “So, you must be Applebloom, or are you Glitch 2.0?”

“Applebloom fits just fine. Glitch ain’t here, so ‘Ah’d never dream of takin’ his title without it bein’ given to me directly by him,” Applebloom explained.

Stepping closer to the teen, Serenade smirked at the thought, obviously knowing that the chance of that happening was now zero. “Ah yes, Glitch. He really was a pain in my side, you know that? He was a crafty one, but as you can clearly see, I was craftier.”

“Can’t hear ya’ over the sound of y’all pattin’ yourself on the back.” Applebloom snidely replied.

Her foe didn’t exactly seem too offended by her comment. And instead just kept approaching casually, up intimidated by Applebloom in the slightest, which was to be expected.

“You know, I am a little disappointed that Glitch was beaten so easily? After how much trouble he caused me, I was at least hoping to get the chance to fight him directly so I had the pleasure of drawing out his death...” Serenade fake frowned, Applebloom already knew that the siren likely couldn’t give a damn if

“Y’all just keep ponies alive so ya’ can kill them later or something?” Applebloom asked.

Serenade just scoffed at her insinuation. “What’re you implying?”

“Nothin’, ‘cept that y’all are some kind of deranged sadist who gets off killin’ others.” Applebloom smirked, sensing she was at the very least getting under Serenade’s skin, and of course, succeeding at stalling her long enough for Applejack to make her escape.

Serenade remained quiet for a brief moment and shook her head carefully. She lost the smirk she once had and her expression turned rather serious.

“You seem to not understand what all of this is...” Serenade said.

Applebloom blinked at the sudden change of demeanor. “What do ya’ mean?”

“I’m sure it would be easier for you mortals to just assume me crazy and that absolves you of having to consider there is far more to what’s happening than you’re willing to believe.” Serenade’s eyes locked onto Applebloom’s making the mare uncomfortable as she stared down the demon siren.

“Calls ‘em as ‘Ah sees ‘em.” Applebloom sneered at the siren.

“What I am doing is far less than what your kind has already done...” Serenade hissed.

Applebloom tilted her head in confusion now.

“What do y’all mean?” Applebloom asked.

“I’ve been alive for getting closer to 2,500 years. In that time, I’ve watched my own kind along with many others you morals simply ‘didn’t understand’ get burned alive, drowned, and much more. I’ve witnessed what your kind have done for thousands of years,” Serenade explained, her eyes filled with seriousness.

Applebloom chuckled and glanced away. “So y’all are just some kid who is after revenge then?”

She shook her head. “No, I am out to deliver justice. Your kind are a disease, a plague on this world, I’m here to free the world of the suffering you cause.”

“And what about all those ya’ murder to get there?” Applebloom raised a brow.

“Would you count the deaths of those who stood for evil as murder? What would you consider the deaths of the many minions of mine that your little rebellion has slain?” Serenade tilted her head.

“You put us in a position where we had no choice...” Applebloom defended.

Serenade smirked as if she had backed Applebloom into her trap and now the young teen had sprung it. “The same could be said of me. My entire life, I had to stand by and watch as your kind mistreated those they could not understand. I had little power to do anything about it, but now... Now I have the power to change everything, and I can watch as your kind begs for mercy that you would never show.”

“We haven’t done a lot of that stuff fer’ hundreds of years. We’ve evolved past that.” Applebloom squinted.

Serenade wanted to laugh, but the disgust in her prevented it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt happiness that wasn’t twisted with anger and hatred. It had been so long, but the siren was pretty confident she couldn’t feel such emotions anymore.

The voice in her head beckoned her to stop dragging it out, it screamed at her to kill the girl now, but she resisted. She wanted to savor it, she wanted her to understand only seconds before she died that she threw her life away for a cause that didn’t matter. Nothing was more satisfying than breaking her enemies before she killed them. That look of pure defeat in their eyes was the only joy she truly knew.

“What do you consider all the prisoners that I broke out? Is imprisonment for life with solitude your idea of compassion? What of my sister who you put to death by magic conduction? Do you consider that understanding? Her only crime was being born the wrong species in your eyes. As far as I’ve seen, you all haven’t changed, you’ve simply found ways to mask your cruelty so you can feel less guilty about it. If anything that makes you worse monsters than before.” Serenade scoffed.

Applebloom winced. The mare had a point, but it was more complicated than that, wasn’t it? She was too young to have much of an understanding of these things.

“But you’re killin’ many who have no involvement in it.” Applebloom attempted to retort.

“And what do you do to stop it all?” Serenade asked.

Applebloom remained silent, clearly realizing she wasn’t going to talk her way out of this one, but she was not exactly banking on that idea.

Serenade nodded. “Those who stand by while others are abused are just as bad as the abusers. There are no innocents.”

Applebloom took a battle stance, the suit preparing for combat, but given it was not the more advanced model that Glitch was sporting, it was hardly much to look at. Tapping so the helmet would reappear, Applebloom checked the power reserves. Since she lacked magic herself, she relied on Twilight’s magic to charge the suit for her, and her power reserves were running fairly low. At a little under one-eighth of a charge, there was no way that this battle would last long.

Looking the siren in the eye, Applebloom realized that the small opening in the middle of the town they stood in would likely be where her body would rest for all eternity. Her grave was going to be here, assuming there was much left of her.

Sighing, she tapped her foreleg and when an option came up on the screen, she glanced at it and selected it by way of eye contact. The visor was designed to make selections through voice and eye movement.

Initiate self-destruct sequence?

When she selected yes, it asked to confirm which she did instantly. From there a countdown timer appeared in her visor starting at eight minutes.

If she were to die there, she had to at the very least assure that Serenade could not get the suit. Even the watered-down prototype would be more than helpful to the siren in her conquest. They would lose a precious valuable asset to their resistance, but it at the very least would not fall into their enemy's claws.

Serenade laughed as she saw the teenager stand to fight her. “Do you really intend to fight me?”

Applebloom remained steadfast as she spoke to the demon. “Ain’t no way for me to win this fight, that’s fer’ sure. ‘Ah ain’t even close to a match fer’ y’all, but that don’t mean ‘Ah’m gonna roll over and die.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, after all, the thrill of the kill is what makes one feel alive...” Serenade grinned as tendrils came out of her back.

Applebloom had always wondered how those tendrils felt coming out of her. If they felt natural or painful, but she supposed it was a feeling that couldn’t be described. Standing her ground, Applebloom took in a breath as she raised a hoof, making a blade come out of it.

The first strike was swift, with Serenade’s tendril stabbing toward Applebloom, but the young teen was quick enough to react and swipe at the appendage which despite being severed seemed to grow right back, and the remains of the severed tendril evaporated into a cloud of black smoke.

Serenade didn’t waste any time striking again, this time with two tendrils as she stepped closer. Applebloom retaliated with another two slashes, keeping them from touching her as she jumped backward. She had to keep her distance and try to think of a plan.

She recalled Twilight mentioning that demons were weak to light magic. So Applebloom focused the power in the suit into her other hoof and before Serenade had a chance to strike once more, she lifted it and a beam of light shot out, which Serenade was forced to dodge. Even at such low power, it was clear that light magic at the very least wasn’t pleasant for her; not pleasant enough to want to take the full blast of even a weaker beam at least.

Sadly, while it was a good move, it wasn’t one that Applebloom could follow up with much. The suit’s power was running low and she couldn’t keep shooting beams like that forever. Glitch’s suit was far better at preserving magic reserves, but the prototype that Applebloom was wearing wasn’t even half as energy-efficient (likely part of why Moondancer opted not to use it).

Regardless, Applebloom shot off a few more beams trying to put more distance between her and the siren, and after a few more shots she got a warning for the power reserves dropping to 8%, meaning there wasn’t much left.

Serenade, naturally seemed unhindered by Applebloom’s attempts, but the mare still switched to swordplay just to keep the fight going.

Laughing as the siren whipped tendrils at the farm girl which she deflected or sliced through to no avail, Serenade’s grin only grew wider and wider as their fight continued. “Is that all you have? I’m not even trying yet!” Serenade taunted.

She would never want to admit it out loud, but it truly was all Applebloom could do. She wasn’t a skilled warrior, nor did she have proper combat training prior to being recruited to Glitch’s rebellion, and she was nowhere near being on par with Glitch himself. False confidence was all she had as she began to tire out, realizing that she would fall before Serenade soon.

Panting as she took a few more steps back, Applebloom eyed the siren up and down, unsurprised that she didn’t even seem remotely tired. It was to be expected, as she surmised that she seldom ever got tired at all.

Huffing and puffing, Applebloom tried to think of any other options she had for slowing the siren down, but she drew a blank. Once her mind was empty of ideas, the siren closed the distance between them and grabbed her with her tendrils, squeezing her neck as she did.

Applebloom coughed and choked but kept her eyes locked on her opponent, not wanting to take her gaze off of her.

Serenade lifted her up and slammed her back down onto the ground, causing a grunt from the girl. Her tendrils wrapped around the girl’s neck once more, holding her to the ground. A second tendril smacked the visor that Applebloom was wearing, cracking it.

A few more whacks and the visor shattered, exposing the mare’s young face, with a drop of blood trickling down her forehead. The two stared for a few seconds before Serenade smirked once more as the tendril danced in front of Applebloom’s eye, coming to a point as it was prepared to take a stab at her.

“Savoring the kill is something I didn’t get to do with the real Glitch. It’s perhaps my only regret, but he was getting in my way far too much. I’d have loved to see him scream as I ripped him apart,” Serenade taunted.

Applebloom remained as calm as she could as she watched the tendril. “Glitch would have destroyed you, and you know it.”

“You talk too much.” Serenade rolled her eyes as the tendril darted forward, piercing the young girl’s left eye, squirming about as she screamed in pain as blood spurted out.

The appendage wiggled viciously as Serenade leaned in to hear her prey’s screams more clearly.

Between grunts and screams, Applebloom spoke. “Y’all ain’t nothin’. Ya’ kill... to fill somethin’... inside of ya’ that won’t ever be filled. Y’all will never... satisfy your thirst for blood. You will be all alone... forever...”

Squinting, Serenade leaned close and came within whispering distance from Applebloom as she muttered her next words. “Then I’ll never stop killing. You can’t even begin to understand how much hatred I have for your kind.”

“Fuck you.” Applebloom coughed out before another tendril reached forward and slithered in behind her right eye, gripping it and pulling. With an audible snap, the mare let out a scream before a third tendril went down her throat, finishing the job.

Once it was done, Serenade grinned for only a few seconds before she realized she could hear a beeping sound coming from the suit itself. She blinked as she jumped backward and quickly threw her tendrils in front of herself to block the incoming explosion as the body of the mare along with her combat suit blew up, sending shards of blood and metal all over.

She had blocked any damage to herself but cursed as she realized she had almost fallen victim to the pony’s plan. She detonated herself to try and take Serenade with her, but worse, she destroyed the suit as well.

Serenade had hoped to acquire it to understand it’s abilities, but it seemed as though her foes were not foolish enough to allow her to get her hooves on it. It was better off destroyed than a weapon for her to utilize.

Stepping over a large shard of metal, Serenade shook her head as she looked to the distance. Another obstacle was out of her way, now all she needed was to kill Twilight Sparkle and her little draconequus friend and there would be nothing in her way. Equestria would be her’s and nothing could stop her.

Grinning, she looked to the sky. “I’m coming to get you, Twilight Sparkle.”

As a new portal opened up, Glitch and Cinder found themselves back where they had left originally. They stumbled a bit but found themselves relatively unharmed. They were both exhausted, but very much alive. Glitch’s suit had a few dents and scrapes upon it, but it was still in fair condition.

The two looked around to find that the city was now almost a pile of rubble. Glitch glanced about to try and draw some kind of inference as to what had happened.

“I guess they leveled the city sometime after we went away...” Cinder spoke as if a mind reader.

Glitch was silent for a second before answering. “Such pointless slaughter... How long were we gone?”

Cinder shrugged. “Hard to say. We definitely need to find the others though.”

Glitch couldn’t argue with that. They needed to meet up with Twilight and get caught up to speed on what was happening.

“I agree.” Glitch nodded.

“Can you fly now? Is your suit back online?” Cinder asked.

Glitch checked her visor and could see everything booting back up. Within seconds her combat systems, life support and comm network were all back online. She thanked Celestia briefly before nodding at Cinder.

“Looks like all systems are back online, so rocket thrusters are operational. Let me see if I can contact Moondancer,” Glitch responded before checking her connection with the girl.

When she pulled up the comm system, she was given an error that caused her to curse.

Communication Module Damaged: Please seek repairs.

“Fuck...” Glitch hissed.

“What’s wrong?” Cinder asked.

“Communication system is damaged. I can probably fix it if we can find Twilight and get her communicator. Moondancer can likely run me through how to get it back online, but I don’t think she can even see I’m out here because that system is what tells her where I am and my vital signs and all that stuff.,” Glitch explained.

“So we have to go find the ship ourselves then?” Cinder frowned, not exactly thrilled that they were flying blind here.

Glitch shook their head. “I can use a spell to track down Twilight’s magic signature. I am familiar with it, so I can flag her down fairly easily. We just need to fly there, that’s all.”

“Resourceful as always. Lead the way.” Cinder smiled as she knelt and began flapping her wings, ready to take off. The dragon’s large wings creating a significant amount of wind as she did so.

Focusing, Glitch released a spell from their horn that sent a sensation back to them, telling them the direction of Twilight. Nodding Glitch looked back at Cinder to answer their inquiry. “Twilight is to the east. Come on.”

“With pleasure,” Cinder replied before taking off, Glitch thrusting into the air with her rocket system and the dragon following after. They were off to find Twilight and be brought up to speed on what happened in their absence, praying that things were not too bad.

At the age of only twenty, Serenade had learned over and over that life as a siren in Equestria was cruel and unforgiving. All ponies knew how to show her was brutality, and today was no exception.

She had been caught stealing a fruit to eat from a nearby stand, and when the stand owner sent his two sons after her, they managed to corner her. She attempted to use her powers on them, but she was too drained to do so. All this ended up doing is showing them that she was a siren, and now she was paying the price.

The taller one of the two had pinned her to the wall with her gut exposed while the other took to kicking her directly in the stomach. She hacked and coughed with each kick, and told him to stop when she caught her breath, but he didn’t listen, instead he responded by kicking her again and again.

After the kicking, the one pinning her to the wall chuckled as he continued to hold her there. Her body was weak and limp, unable to fight back. “It’s bad enough that you stole from our father, but you’re also a freak of nature too!”

Serenade coughed and blood came out of her throat and dripped down her lip as she was held up against the well. “Please... Stop...” She asked.

“Beg for it.” The one holding her laughed.

“Fuck... You...” She managed to get out.

The one holding her nodded to the other one to give her another kick, which he obliged right away, swatting her stomach with his brown-furred hind hoof, causing Serenade to wheeze as the wind was knocked out of her once more.

Her head hung down as she tried to catch her breath, but the one holding her up released her causing her to drop to the ground in pain. Both of them moved in and began to kick her as she laid there on the dirty road in the back alley they were in.

Each hit that connected with her, caused more pain as she moved and tried to shield herself with her hooves to stop the attacks, but it was of little use. The rain of hooves stomping on her continued despite her best efforts to try and block the attacks. These stallions were not going to let up so easily.

“You’re lucky we don’t kill you, monster!” The shorter of the two pointed out.

“We’d be doing you a favor if we did! Something like you doesn’t deserve to live!” The other one joined in.

Serenade grunted and coughed as she managed to take the hits and managed to get a word in. “And what makes you both so deserving of life?”

“Shut up, monster!” The short one commanded as he gave a stomp to the mare’s face. Serenade turned to make sure she didn’t take the full impact, but her nostril was leaking blood.

“Why not cry and beg for us not to kill you?” The taller, clearly older one asked.

Serenade spit, blood mixed with her saliva. “I would rather die than cry over worthless creatures such as you two.”

It was in her self-made moral code after all: never cry. No matter how bad things got, no matter how difficult things became, Serenade promised she would never cry. More beatings were preferable to showing that kind of weakness.

“You sure know how to say the wrong things.” The short one laughed.

With those words, the two of them beat on her for a few more long painful minutes before they were tiring themselves out. They both panted and huffed as they felt their point was made. They turned to leave and looked back at Serenade who was laying there with her face in the dirt.

The older male was taking a bit of pride in his work as he nodded and taunted the siren. “Consider that a warning. Get out of town. If we see you again, next time: we’ll kill you! We’re being merciful, now go be some other town’s problem!”

Serenade said nothing as the two boys began to walk away. She figured it was finally over when she had a good eighty seconds without anymore kicks. Turning to face the direction they left from, Serenade held her stomach and nearly whispered to herself.

“At least it’s over...” Serenade whispered.

Until next time that is.

That was the truth though. The next beating could potentially be worse, or even life-ending if the conditions were right. She had to be more careful, ponies were unpredictable after all.

Managing to stand, Serenade began to support her own weight slowly as she limped her way out of the alleyway.

Glancing around town, she already knew that she couldn’t stay there. Now that those two boys knew she was a siren, they would definitely tell every other townsfolk they knew until the entire town was ready to burn her, it had happened before after all and it likely would just happen again.

How long would she have to spend her life hiding in fear of being beaten or killed for what she was? How long would ponies get away with it?

The only saving grace was that her body would heal faster than that of mortals, but it didn’t make the beatings any less pleasant.

All the young siren wanted was to go back home and be able to lay in those flower fields once more with her sister, but another part of her just wanted to get even. One day, she would have the power to do something about it, and she just knew it.

Starlight yawned as she nuzzled Arax who was laying there with closed eyes, trying to get a little more rest before Serenade would show up to ruin his relaxation. She had managed to kill some pony trying to take over as Glitch and could not stop boasting about it. Her ego was starting to really get on his nerves, but he said nothing.

His affectionate little slave at his side kissed his neck and smiled as he opened his eyes and caught a glance at her. She noticed right away and pulled herself closer to him.

Arax didn’t mind, as he pulled the blanket more over the both of them and let out a yawn himself.

“You think that we’ll be able to do this more often now that Serenade is doing a lot more for herself these days?” Starlight asked.

He wished he could tell her “absolutely”, but he knew that Serenade wasn’t the type to allow herself to let him slack off just because she was winning her little war. If you worked for Serenade, she always could find something productive for you to do for her, even if she carried the bulk of the heavy lifting.

In the past few days alone, Arax had met with many of Serenade’s subordinates to check their controlled areas and learn of what new developments were going on. There was pressure on all of them to find Twilight Sparkle and alert Serenade the moment they knew where she was.

It seemed as though the Princess of Friendship was sidestepping them over and over, which naturally made Serenade mad, and difficult to deal with. She was so prone to emotional outbursts, despite her considerable intelligence. Serenade was smart, and cunning but she was so easily distracted by her anger and annoyance (admittedly the only emotions she seemed to have).

Arax had begun to understand his master after enough time with her and knew that she was childish and thus you couldn’t expect her to behave like an adult.

He shook his head as she kissed his neck once more. “I doubt it. Serenade isn’t exactly the kind of creature to give those under her time off just because she’s in a good mood. A good mood for her more or less just means she won’t give us as much of a hard time.”

Starlight frowned. “Is Glitch really dead?”

Arax was actually curious about that himself. Serenade sent him to the demon world, there was no way he could survive that, right? Even with that dragon with him, he couldn’t possibly survive that place, could he? If he did, that would mean he was as ruthless as Serenade. If Glitch actually came back, that meant that Serenade should be afraid.

“I don’t know, I guess so. No one could have survived being sent to that place, that’s for sure...” Arax responded.

“What will happen to me when Serenade finally finishes off the rebellion?” Starlight questioned. Her voice seemed to lack fear, somehow she wasn’t afraid.

Petting her head, Arax shook his head. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we should focus on here and now.”

Arax didn’t know why, but he could sense something bad was about to happen.

Glitch and Cinder arrived just outside of the airship dock where Twilight had parked it. It was housed inside of a large abandoned building somewhere on the outskirts of Equestria. Glitch assumed it was previously used for mining operations, but it had been refashioned for their airship as a dock. The door was locked, but a communication orb was outside.

Clearing their throat, Glitch approached and tapped the orb. “Let us in.”

There was some static on the other end followed by the voice of a familiar farmer speaking. “Who are ya’? The exploration crew got back hours ago.”

Cinder stepped forward, placing a claw on Glitch’s shoulder as she spoke up. “It’s Glitch and Cinder.”

Applejack paused for a moment. “What? That ain’t possible!”

“It is possible, now open the door.” Glitch commanded.

Not wasting even a second, the door to the facility opened, and the two stepped inside, in awe at their impressive airship. Twilight had kept it in great condition it seemed, though it had a big scratch on the left side, likely from some kind of battle. They assumed the other airships were probably on patrol nearby.

Hastily, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle had raced off of the airship, Sonata huffing, and puffing as she followed behind them. Kiz and her two escorts casually followed until the entire group was before Glitch.

Twilight stepped forward and placed her hooves upon Glitch’s helmet. “I-I can’t believe it! You’re alive!? How!?”

Glitch turned their head, freeing it from Twilight’s grip as they responded. “It’ll take more than a world filled with demons to stop us. Serenade underestimated us, how long have we been gone?”

Twilight blinked and looked at the others. Applejack was the one to answer for her. “A few months. Applebloom sort of took your place while y’all was gone, but she...”

Glitch tilted their head, finding it odd that Applejack hesitated to finish that sentence.

“She died...” Twilight frowned.

“I’m sorry to hear. She was a very good kid, she had heart, something that is exceptionally valuable in these trying times...” Glitch stepped forward and placed a hoof upon Applejack’s shoulder.

The farmer looked up at the armored pony with misty eyes. “You mustn’t blame anyone but Serenade. She is to blame for all of this. We have to finish what we started and bring her down for Aria and Applebloom’s sake. Their sacrifices can’t go in vain.”

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Applejack nodded. “Yeah. So how’re we gonna do it?”

Glitch released the mare and turned back to Twilight. “First thing’s first, Twilight has to bring me up to speed on what’s been happening since I’ve been gone, but after that, we can discuss where to go from here.”

Kiz stepped forward and smiled warmly at the armored pony and her dragon friend. “Glitch, thou hath returned. Hope is had for these ponies, surely it was thou’s strength that accosted thou through hell.”

Glitch nodded at her. “I couldn’t let everyone down. I’ve done that enough in my life. I have things that I want to go home to as well.”

“Then we art in valorous hooves.” She grinned.

Glitch could not get past how gorgeous the mare was. Kiz had a face that looked so young and full of life, yet she was closer to being the oldest thing that Glitch had ever laid eyes upon.

“Let’s get inside...” Glitch said.

It was a fairly lengthy briefing where Twilight informed Glitch and Cinder of what had transpired while they were away. Serenade had grown more aggressive and aimed to take them out far quicker. Her ego had shot up after she believed that Cinder and Glitch were out of her way for good.

They had lost one of their airships, but Applebloom and Applejack had taken charge to keep the rebellion from falling apart. They managed to maintain most of their resources and even recruit a few more along the way. All that was missing now was Glitch and the Siren’s Bane.

“I guess what we saw was only a vision of a future that could be...” Glitch thought out loud.

“Huh? What vision?” Twilight tilted her head in confusion.

Cinder spoke up on Glitch’s behalf. “When we were in the demon world, we saw a vision of a future where we never returned. Eight years from now, Serenade reaches a power level unheard of before and assumes the role of the demon lord.”

“What happens to all of us?” Sonata blinked as she leaned in to hear more.

“All dead.” Glitch shook their head. “Serenade wipes out everything.”

There was silence in the room for a brief few seconds.

“That’s all only a future that could have been, it isn’t our reality. We returned, and therefore we can prevent that future. All we need to do now is engage Serenade and with the spear, we might be able to take her down.” Glitch reassured.

“Rememb’r, the partisan’s pow’r is only a reflection of thy own etch. One might not relyeth on their own strength if’s be true they desire to slayeth Serenade,” Kiz reminded.

The spear was a valuable asset, but they would need to use it at the right moment if they hoped for it to be effective. It would require the perfect timing and planning to win. They only had one shot, after all, as Serenade wouldn’t likely let Glitch get close again once she knew what the spear could do.

“We need to contact Serenade right away then...” Glitch demanded.

Twilight grinned and stepped aside, revealing another comm orb in the captain’s chambers where they were all standing. Glitch nodded approvingly at the mare and watched as Twilight placed a hoof upon it. This one afforded them the ability to see who they were communicating with, unlike the lesser orb outside of the facility.

Focusing her energy, Twilight managed to contact Serenade through her previously used communication. Fortunately for them, their orb was masked and could not be tracked so easily.

A projection of Serenade appeared before them, her mane soaking wet as she raised a brow. “You interrupted my bath, Twilight Sparkle, so I hope this call is to surrender to me.”

“Quite the opposite. I called to tell you that we’re coming to defeat you.” Twilight smirked.

Her usual overconfidence annoyed Serenade, but she withheld any outbursts about it. “What makes you so confident this time?”

“Someone wants to talk to you.” Twilight’s grin only grew as she stepped aside.

Serenade squinted in confusion. Who could they have possibly recruited that could pose any kind of threat to her?

A familiar armored pony stepped forward and spoke in their usual digitized voice to Serenade. “Hello, Serenade. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Serenade blinked. It wasn’t possible. “How are you alive!? Imposter!”

Glitch chuckled and shook their head. “I hate to call bullshit on your accusation, but I assure you that I am indeed the genuine Glitch.”

“How did you escape!? It’s not possible!” Serenade leaned forward, observing the pony as she was still in doubt that it was the real Glitch, but then she could see that dragon standing behind him, confirming there was no way to fake it, Glitch was still alive.

She tried to keep her composure, but her annoyance with the situation was obvious. “What did you do!?”

Glitch spoke with confidence. “I have to admit, you almost had me by sending me to that demon world, but like you, I managed to escape. I also feel like I’ve gotten a lot stronger just by having gone through it. I’m ready for you, so how do you want to do this? You can surrender now, or I can rip you out of your throne and break you. Which will it be?”

Serenade’s eye twitched. Glitch thought she might have blown a blood vessel, the anger inside of her was so evident that she couldn’t hide it at all. “You are going to defeat me!? Don’t make me laugh!”

“I can and I will defeat you, Serenade. Your reign ends in a few days. I survived your challenge, and you and I both know that means I’m just as skilled as you are.” Glitch threatened.

“Fine! You think you can beat me!? Come get me!” Serenade grunted before ending the communication.

Serenade had summoned Arax and Starlight to her chamber as she paced back and forth, her mane still dripping with moisture as she tried to concentrate. “I can’t believe it! Glitch is still alive! How!? No one can survive the demon world, no one!”

“You did, didn’t you?” Starlight asked with a raised brow.

“Get out!” Serenade barked, pointing to the door.

Shrugging, Starlight took her leave, and now it was just Serenade and Arax. Arax found himself a bit surprised to see Serenade panicking as she was, however, he understood why. The demon world put one's abilities to the ultimate test and Serenade was one of the few to actually walk out of that place, which meant that whoever this Glitch was, he was just as strong-willed as Serenade was, and that scared her.

He had never actually seen Serenade scared before, but it was indeed an interesting sight. One that he wasn't certain if it brought him pleasure or concern.

“This can’t be happening...” Serenade mumbled.

“Master, if I may, perhaps we should be fortifying the city? If Glitch’s threat is to be believed, surely he will come directly here...” Arax suggested.

Blinking, Serenade looked up with large eyes. “Yes, of course. How will we fare in a head-on attack?”

Arax bit his lip, not wanting to answer that question. “If I’m being truthful... Glitch has a sizable army now. If he is strategic, he might break through our defenses. He doesn’t have enough to take on all that we have, but our forces are spread across Equestria, and if we take a risk to bring them all here...”

“He could trick us and pick off another one of our occupied cities...” Serenade finished his thought.

“Yes, precisely...” Arax nodded.

“Fuck! He’s definitely coming here though, there’s no doubt about it, but I can’t take the risk of bringing in other troops. He’s crafty and he could change his plan if he senses I’m shifting warriors around to protect myself... Not to mention he’ll see it as a lack of faith in my ability to defeat him...” Serenade thought out loud.

Arax tilted his head. Did Serenade actually believe that Glitch might be able to beat her in a one-on-one fight? He had seen her power before, and it would be a challenge for anyone to defeat her even with an army at their side.

“Master, I don’t see why you’re getting worked up...” Arax said.

Serenade stormed down to him and looked him in the eye, while two tendrils came out of her back and pointed at his skull. “You don’t get it, do you!? Glitch survived the demon world, that means he had to pass through the trials to escape. The last one to do that was myself, and it’s not an easy challenge. He is clearly strong-willed, and that is all the more reason to worry. We can’t afford to be cocky now.”

So it was true, Serenade actually had doubts in her own abilities. Even if she was strong, she knew she wasn’t invincible.

Calming herself, Serenade shook her head as she rationalized. “Wait... Even if he passed the trials and he’s crafty... He’s still a weakling. I have almost all the magic in Equestria... There is no way he can beat me. It takes more than determination to win a fight after all.”

Arax wasn’t so sure that the confidence she had just spoken of was genuine or she was merely saying it to not look weak in front of him.

“Worst case scenario, I can hit him with the oubliette, and he will be toast. It’ll drain my power for a considerable amount of time, but I’ll still have more than enough to rule Equestria after that.” Serenade nodded as she was formulating her plan.

To Arax, it didn’t sound much like a plan. He had his doubts if she was truly even in control of the situation as she made it seem. The oubliette was a considerable risk in and of itself, after all.

“Get out of my face, Arax, and go prepare for Glitch’s arrival. I want to see a battle that will be remembered forever.” Serenade commanded as she pointed to the door with her hoof.

He nodded and bowed before leaving. Standing outside of the door, Starlight smiled when she saw him and quickly rejoined his side. “So, what happened?”

“Glitch is coming here, there’s no doubt about that,” Arax spoke plainly.

“And Serenade’s worried about that?” Starlight asked with genuine interest.

Arax nodded. “It seems her confidence is shaken. The demon world must truly be a horrible place if Glitch surviving it has even Serenade shaking nervously. I’ve never seen her nervous before, but it’s clear that Glitch is in her head. Precisely what he was hoping to accomplish by contacting her directly, no doubt.”

Starlight kept quiet as the two continued their walk, but she still wondered if Serenade would actually fall. Was such a thing even possible for a creature that had achieved almost god-like status?

Time would tell.

“It’s good to hear your voice again, I thought you were a goner.” Was the words that Moondancer had spoken to Sunset after they managed to contact her with the communicator that Twilight was holding onto. Those were the only words spoken before Twilight took over to help fix the communication system before sending Sunset to bed.

The next day, Sunset immediately called Moondancer to try and explain more of their situation and to get any updates on the suit and its condition.

After ringing the woman for a few minutes, Sunset finally got an answer. After a click, she could hear Moondancer’s voice. “Hey, I’m up and about now, how you been?”

Sunset chuckled, relieved to hear her friend once more. “Hey, it’s been a crazy night, you missed a lot.”

“We can talk about it after I perform your diagnostics test for the day. Have you experienced any bugs?” Moondancer asked. She was always one to cut right to the chase.

Sunset laughed. “You could say that...”

“Fuck, what’s the nature of the problem?” Moondancer asked.

Sunset could hear the sound of feet stomping on the other end. “Are you on the treadmill?” She asked as she wandered over to the other side of her room with her hoof in her ear to hold the communicator in place.

“Yes, trying to get a head start on today since I know we’re entering crunch time soon,” Moondancer replied.

Sunset surmised that Twilight had told her about their plans to take Serenade down, but she clearly didn’t mention the Siren’s bane which seemed incompatible with her suit. She was curious if there was a way to power it more through the suit itself. Every advantage they could get was worth pursuing after all.

“Whatever works for you, but are you sure you can handle all this? This whole thing could go on for some time...” Sunset frowned, knowing that the entire battle would be just as stressful for Moondancer as those fighting it. She had to sit on the sidelines and monitor it from afar, unable to help directly.

“It’s no worry, I have enough coffee here to pull a few all-nighters. When this goes down, I’ll be ready for it, no sweat. You’re going to have my undivided attention,” Moondancer stated.

That was just like her, but it was something that Sunset admired.

“That’s not exactly a good thing, but I guess we both have to do what we have to do,” Sunset tried to hide the concern in her voice, but was clearly doing a terrible job at doing so.

“Don’t worry about me, I have the easy part,” Moondancer reminded her.

Sunset disagreed but decided to not voice it. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true... This whole thing is about to get beyond fucked up, I guess. Glad to have you with me though, I don’t think I could pull this off without your help.”

“It’s no sweat, but we can celebrate when this is over, okay? Don’t thank you just yet, there’s no certainty that you’ll even survive this,” Moondancer replied.

Sunset had thought about that, but it was something she had been trying to push out of her mind. Through all of this, there was no certainty that the spear would even work, or that she’d get close enough to use it. She would need to survive Serenade’s army first, and that was no short order.

“True, but here’s to hoping,” Sunset responded as hopefully as she could.

A sigh came from Moondancer’s end, but she continued getting back to business. “So quickly go over what’s wrong before I do the diagnostic later? Might help to pre-emptively know what I’m looking for.”

Sunset paused and rubbed her neck. “Well, there is sort of a... How do I put this...? Hardware compatibility issue?”

“Hardware comparability? What the hell are you even talking about?” Moondancer asked, her voice clearly showing concern.

“Let’s just say some new equipment got added and I’m going to need a system check to maximize compatibility. It’s got an energy reading that I wasn’t expecting to encounter and so it’s creating some issues with the current setup,” Sunset explained as to the point as she could.

Moondancer took a moment to respond. “Okay, you are definitely going to have to fill me in on this.”

“Well, this girl-“ Sunset got cut off.

“After I get out of the shower. I have a feeling this is going to be a long explanation. For now, just take it easy on the system, and wait for me. Do not do anything reckless until I do a full system check and see what you’re talking about so I can give a full software rollout to fix the issue. Should only take me a few hours if I work quickly,” Moondancer said.

As per usual, her friend was more interested in getting right to the point.

“Fair enough, I’ll talk to you in a bit then,” Sunset replied.

“Moondancer out.”

After she hung up, Sunset sighed before tapping her chest, making the suit appear around her body once more. This was it. Three years ago she enlisted the help of Moondancer to defeat this demon siren, and in a few more days, they would either accomplish their goal, or Sunset would die trying.

With Moondancer brought up to speed, she spent the rest of the day working on getting the suit and the spear to work together better. It was a long process, as the spear was unlike any kind of energy reading that Moondancer had ever seen, and her experience with magical readings was already fairly limited.

By the end of the day, though, Moondancer had a new software update ready for the suit that she had sent to Sunset to install right away. She contacted her to explain it.

“So, the spear is very unique, but this update should allow you to use some of the suit’s power to fuel it. It won’t do much, but it should increase its power just a bit more to give it a tiny bit of extra punch. I can’t promise it’ll make a huge difference, but even the 8% increase that I am seeing should be more than helpful in this fight, am I right?” Moondancer asked.

“Definitely. Every little bit is going to count.” Sunset replied happily.

“I’m glad. I can’t believe we’re doing this though. It’s insane. This thing could make or break the fight, so you need to only use it when you absolutely need to. Even with that power boost, it’s not going to win you the fight so easily.” Moondancer reminded.

Sunset was no stranger to having to make the best use of her assets, but she agreed regardless just to keep her friend at ease. “The spear will only come out when the fight is about to start. Until then, we’ll have to rely on the old tricks.”

“Just remember to keep your eyes on your power reserves too. The suit is not invincible and if it runs out of power it’ll be fairly useless.” Moondancer nagged.

Chuckling, Sunset nodded. “I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open. I’m not about to be beaten so easily.”

There was a short silence between the two of them before Moondancer spoke again. “I hope Shimmer would be proud of both of us...”

Sunset found herself oddly silent from that statement as well. “Yeah... Me too. I think she would be though, we’re doing something incredible here after all. We’re saving an entire world from a siren that is powerful enough to become a demon lord after all!”

Moondancer seemed to chipper up from that statement alone. “Heh, yeah, I guess you’re right. She would be super excited over what we’re doing, right?”

“Definitely.” Sunset laughed.

Sounding as though she had calmed down, Moondancer let out a soft “hmmm”, before speaking once again.

“Alright, looks like the software update is finished, I guess it’s time to get moving out, huh?”

“We’ve got a siren to beat,” Sunset replied.

Sorry for the extra week delay! Applety had a lot going on and she didn't have time to work on the chapter last week. On the plus side, this gave more time to work on the next one which will be out in two weeks.

That being said... The next chapter is indeed the finale of Act VI. I can't believe we're already at the end of Act VI!

The story is reaching its end, but there is still one more act to go.

Forewarning though, as with all finales, it's usually longer than the other chapters and I believe this one may be the longest chapter in the entire story thus far.