Arax looked over at Lightning Dust with eyes filled with contempt as the two stood with their newly assembled group just on the outskirts of Canterlot in the mountains that looked toward the city in the distance. Arax had answered his call and assembled as many of Serenade’s remaining followers as he could. They were silent for a moment before Lightning Dust broke said silence. “I wish you would have just left me be...”

Shaking his head, Arax approached her and locked serious eyes with the mare. “You have a duty, and I brought you back to make sure you fulfill it.”

Lightning inched away and looked toward the rest of the group who all stood with steadfast loyalty to their master. “I’m not good at this stuff though, I only wanted to beat Rainbow Dash and-“

Arax slapped the mare across the face and spoke over her. “You’ll get your chance, but one way or another Serenade will be free soon, and when that happens she is going to look for her disciples. Where would you rather be? Here ready to submit to your master’s will and beg forgiveness, or somewhere else for her to hunt you down?”

Biting her lip, Lightning considered that alternative. She had seen the kind of things that Serenade had done to betrayers and deserters, which she was close to being already. She had deserted when Serenade needed her, that already didn’t bode well. Arax had hunted her down and promised that he could put in a word for her so Serenade didn’t hunt her down and end her, or worse. Lightning had heard stories that Serenade possessed abilities that could put you in states far worse than death itself.

Testing Serenade’s patience probably wasn’t a good idea, and Lightning had to consider herself lucky that Arax would go out of his way to get her a second chance, but it was likely that she was just at the right place at the right time and that Arax was likely just looking for more pawns to do Sereande’s bidding. Serenade would be weak when she was freed, still strong enough to decimate all of them with the tap of her hoof but not strong enough to destroy Equestria. She would need her disciples to help her rebuild her power, and that meant there were plentiful opportunities for ass-kissing.

If Lightning could stay within her good graces, she might be able to convince Serenade to overlook her disloyalty in the past. It was possible that Serenade could even forget about it entirely if she was lucky enough.

“I guess you’re right... So what do we do from here?” Lightning asked.

In the back of the group, Blaze rolled his eyes as he stepped forward. “Why are we wasting time here? Let’s just go and break open their skulls and spring her from the prison there. We can take them if we all team up!”

The stallion’s eagerness was admirable but stupid and Arax knew that. He looked over at the young unicorn and shook his head. “We have to be more careful than that. The castle is protected by Luna, Celestia, and tons of unicorns that have completed master level training. Breaking into such a fortress by storming the gates would be suicide even for us.”

Eight Ball laughed. “Clearly you’re very poor at playing this game...” His slanted tired-looking eyes glanced at Blaze who grew an indignant look upon his face. The two of them never got along mostly because Blaze didn’t much care for Eight Ball’s odd demeanor and strange tendencies. Everything to Eight was a game, and that was enough to annoy virtually anyone, but especially someone with a short fuse like Blaze.

Rolling his eyes, Blaze gestured toward Eight behind himself and focused on conversing with Arax. “Seriously, can we ditch him? What’s he bringing to the table anyway besides annoying the ever-living piss out of everyone...”

Eight chuckled and shook his head. “Perhaps we should play to see if you can demonstrate your own usefulness if we’re basing the right to participate upon what one can give to the cause, hm? I’d love to play with you...”

The eager look in Eight’s bloodshot eyes definitely made Blaze uneasy. There was clearly something not right about the guy, and it was more than enough to make Blaze want to avoid him at all costs. He hoped that when they had freed Serenade he wouldn’t be stationed with the guy in their next endeavor.

“Can you two stop flirting and focus?” Arax groaned.

Eight didn’t appear to take offense to the accusation, but Blaze stuck out his tongue and wretched at the thought of even being even remotely romantic with Eight.

Clearing his throat, Arax began to explain their plan. “Everyone has a purpose, and you’ll all fulfill that purpose.”

“And what exactly is our purpose, boss?” Lightning Dust emphasized the last word with a sarcastic tone as she spoke.

Arax reached over and gripped her face in his hooves, giving a tight squeeze that made the girl struggle a bit. His grip was strong despite his less than impressive physique. Changelings seemed to be weak on average, so when one was above average it always threw others off guard.

It made sense that Arax was stronger than he looked though, as he spent so much time as Serenade’s second-in-command, which that alone was a testament to his ability. There was no real telling what kind of powers the master had bestowed upon him, or what abilities he brought with him prior to their alliance.

“For now your job is to help us get Serenade free, after that, you’ll be given your purpose by her, understand?” Arax asked.

“Gotcha, boss...” Lightning managed to nod before he let her go after he sensed she wasn’t being sarcastic this time.

“Be thankful you’re even getting this chance, Lightning. Had I not needed all the help I could get, I would have had to kill you on Serenade’s behalf. Consider that merciful compared to what she would do to you...” Arax reminded.

Lightning rubbed her cheeks and turned away. “You’re a real bastard, you know that?”

“Complain all you like, but you still have a job to do. So all of you listen up... The plan is simple, but I’m sure you idiots can still manage to fuck it up, so pay attention.” Arax cleared his throat as he began to command the group.

“Illusion, I need to create a distraction for us at the royal castle where Serenade is being kept. I was thinking fabricating a national emergency like a dragon attack, just something long enough to keep the princesses distracted,” Arax spoke.

In the back of the group, Illusion blinked, he was a small unicorn but possessed a natural talent for illusionary magic. “That’s going to take a lot of concentration... I’ll need at least two other unicorns to siphon magic from to keep an illusion like that going at my current power level.”

“Consider it done, Blaze, you and Shield are on that job.” Arax pointed at the two.

Blaze and Shield looked at each other and shrugged. There definitely could be worse things they could be forced to do, so they chose not to complain about being glorified magic batteries.

“Next, I need Copy Cat to break into the royal archives while the city is distracted,” Arax ordered.

Copy Cat was a master at copy spells, able to recreate virtually any book or text in a matter of eight seconds. Prior to joining Serenade, he worked at a printing press where he was treated as a lackey. His desire to not be stepped on and looked down upon had driven him to join the demon siren.

He pointed to himself confused. “Why though? I thought our target was the prison to break the master out?”

Arax nodded. “Yes, but we will need information to get our operation off the ground once she’s free. There’s no doubt in my mind that master Serenade will want all the information we can get so she can begin formulating her revenge. Your job is to copy any important texts there, and also anything within Twilight’s own personal records in her castle in Ponyville too. Anything you can find, copy it so we can study it.”

It sounded like a nearly impossible mission, but if they created a large enough distraction in Canterlot, he knew that he could use another subordinate named Galaxy to pull it off. Twilight would likely head to Canterlot to deal with the issues there, and that meant it would be easier to sneak into her own archives prior to Canterlot’s.

Galaxy had a superb grasp on teleportation, and thus they could set up a relay between the two places so that Copy could instantly teleport right to Galaxy after so long as he had an idea of where to be when Galaxy opened a portal.

Teleportation over long distances was a tricky endeavor and Galaxy’s abilities would only allow him to do it a few times over a long distance, so they would need to discuss prior where they both needed to be to pull it off, but it was very doable.

“Fine...” Copy nodded.

“I’ll use my transformation abilities to sneak into the prison. Should be a cakewalk with the guards distracted. Ordinarily, the princesses would be checking for imposters, but I think with the distraction going on, their guard will be let down...” Arax explained.

Blaze shook his head. “You still have the problem of the lock that will no doubt be keeping Master Serenade locked up. Have you considered that?”

Arax sighed and rubbed his temple. He was surrounded by incompetent idiots, such was his curse. “I’ve already figured that one out. The jail cell she’s in is designed to block demonic energy from leaving it. It works by suppressing energy, but if we build up enough demonic energy outside of the cell, it will pull the spell toward that energy creating enough time to get her out. I can just use some of my energy to do that...”

Blaze blushed with embarrassment, not realizing how thoroughly that Arax had planned it all out. “Oh, right.”

“After I’m done, Galaxy can teleport us out of there, and Lightning Dust can coordinate everyone at the rendezvous point so we can get out of there...” Arax explained.

“Where is that going to be?” Lightning blinked.

Sighing once more, Arax unrolled a map and tapped a spot. “Here, just outside of Canterlot. The remainder of everyone else who is not working the mission will wait with you there. When we have Serenade, we head toward our hideout, understand?”

Lightning blinked but nodded. The entire plan seemed simple enough on paper, but she wondered if this band of incompetent idiots could actually pull it off. Breaking Serenade out of prison likely would get them all in a lot of trouble should they fail, though if they succeeded, they would be in deep as well.

Lightning regretted siding with the siren. She had truly gotten herself into hot water that she couldn’t escape now. If she deserted again, Serenade would hunt her down, but if she sided with her, there was no going back. She would be a traitor to Equestria and that meant if Serenade’s plan failed, she would likely meet the same fate as Serenade then.

Looking at the group around her, Lightning realized that all of them were in the same boat. They had no choice but to see their loyalty to Serenade through to the end. She may have been beaten before by the mysterious Glitch, but she was still a good horse to bet on. Serenade’s power had managed to defeat Celestia, Luna, and all of Equestria and with her defeat at Glitch’s hooves under her belt, she was sure to be far more cautious this time around.

The more she thought about it, the more confident Lightning became. Serenade couldn’t lose a second time. She would have grown wiser, stronger but more importantly: angrier. There was little doubt in any of her disciples’ minds that Serenade’s fury had reached new levels while she sat in prison these past few years. Arax knew it more than the others, as he could sense it, feel it, and almost share it. Serenade’s anger had definitely grown, so much that he knew she would reach new heights once she was free. Equestria had something to fear for sure.

Arax had gone over their plan in great detail, and after that, they had agreed to initiate it the following day. For now, they would all get some rest in the nearby woods so they would be completely focused on their prison break of their master. After only eight short minutes, virtually everyone in the group had fallen asleep, except for Arax.

He sat awake awkwardly, unable to get comfortable enough to enter a night of proper REM sleep. After enough effort, he had managed to get into a position where he felt he could begin to dose off as he closed his eyes. He surmised it was well past midnight, and he too would need his rest just as the rest of his group did. A challenging day awaited him when he awoke, and he knew that.

As he laid there putting his head down, he thought back to the words of Starlight who had offered him a better life outside of his servitude to Serenade. A part of him wished he could have taken her up on that offer.

What would that be like? Would Starlight really want to spend her life with a creature like him? A bug that would be viewed as unworthy to even have her? A beautiful mare like that was certainly a prize to any stallion, but was he worthy of such a prize?

What would their life even be like? Would she make him breakfast every morning? It sounded almost like a sitcom when it played out in his head. He imagined the two of them would continue their usual banter, but he wasn’t sure if they would get more “physical”. His entire time with her, he had avoided getting sexual with her, because he didn’t feel right doing so. He was in a position of power over her, and he didn’t want her to have sex with him, not of her own volition.

To top that off, he knew his instincts, and his kind mostly survived through rapid breeding, making him a fairly feral creature in the bedroom. A part of him was concerned he’d go too far and scare her.

Then again, he had known Starlight to be fairly fearless. He missed her, and wondered what she was doing, and if she would think about him from time to time as he did with her.

He had to push her out of his head though, as he was only causing himself pain and grief. It was as he said before, Starlight and he could never be together, no matter how much either of them may have wanted. Arax’s place was by Serenade’s side, and he had accepted that. Not to mention he had already crossed lines he could not go back upon.

Still, a part of him wondered what it would be like to wake up with a breakfast by Starlight made for him. She would wear a frilly apron, and he could even see himself in a tie. Perhaps he would get a job working in the business sector of Canterlot. His mouth watered as he could almost taste the pancakes she would make him, only for his fantasy to be interrupted by a familiar voice ringing in his ears.

Araaaax.

He flinched and opened his eyes as he sat straight up. The soft sound of Serenade’s voice startled him.

Come to me, Arax. Come free your master.

He sighed as he realized it was her telepathically sending him messages once again. It had started only shortly after she had been imprisoned. While he expected her to expect him to break her out (not as though he had a choice), he had never anticipated she could send her thoughts to him to ensure he would do so.

The connection was weakened by whatever kind of barrier she was kept behind, and so she could only send out such thoughts to him once in a while, and he could not send anything back to her. She likely knew that her messages were reaching him, but it was doubtful that she could see him, or know what he was thinking.

The more time that passed, the more her little messages began to get to him. After a while, it was driving him mad. He was going as quickly as he could, but it was evident that Serenade was not patient, which was understandable considering she was locked in a prison, and she was always an impatient spoiled brat for as long as he had known her. Serenade always got what she wanted and when she wanted it, and if she didn’t, people usually died until her demands were met.

Lightning Dust opened an eye to see Arax panting gently as he sat awake and she let out a yawn as she watched him. “Shouldn’t you be getting some rest too?”

Arax nodded. “Sorry, just woke up because I was getting another telepathic message from Serenade... She’s growing more and more impatient...”

Feeling somewhat sympathetic, Lightning sat up and looked the changeling over. If he weren’t Serenade’s second-in-command, he really wouldn’t be anything to write home about, but because he was Serenade’s favored subordinate, he was someone who was feared and obeyed. What kind of pony was he before meeting her, Lightning wondered.

“How often does that happen?” Lighting asked.

“Getting close to daily nowadays,” Arax answered.

“Why did you choose to serve, Serenade, Arax?” Lightning transitioned into what she really wanted to talk about. She had been curious as to what drove Arax’s loyalty for some time now, but it was taboo among the group to ask him anything personal.

Looking away, Arax huffed. “What difference does it make? We’re working together now, right?”

“I guess so, but I prefer to know what my motivation is before I give something my all. Like, I know when this is all over, I can beat Rainbow Dash at anything. What about you? Is there something that you’re trying to accomplish through working with Serenade?” Lighting explained.

What Arax wanted was not feasible, and he knew that.

“I want to survive at this point. As for why I joined... Let’s just say that I have more than everyone else around here invested into this,” Arax answered.

Lightning wished he would explain further, but she knew it was the best she could hope out of the mysterious Arax. No sooner than when she gave up on quizzing him on the subject did he come to a stand and wander off. She scoffed and laid back down, questioning why she even cared. It wasn’t as if Arax was that important to her, but she surmised that she was just trying to fill a gap between them. They were all stuck together, after all.

Coming to the edge of the woods, Arax stood staring at Canterlot in the distance. At one point in his life, he recalled thinking it to be a fantastical place that was out of his reach. A creature like him would never even be permitted in, however, he dreamed of being accepted there one day.

Those dreams were long dead though. Now when he looked at the city, it only brought back memories of Serenade. His entire life had become about her, and he didn’t know how to feel about it. From the moment Serenade appeared before him, his entire world now revolved around her, even now when she was nowhere to be seen, everything he did was for her.

Yet, despite all that he did, Serenade had only done one thing for him. He placed his hoof upon his heart and closed his eyes as he remembered.

Fate had not been kind to the young changeling. For months Arax had wandered Equestria trying to find purpose. He had long since been exiled from his hive and had attempted to live among ponies to find a place for himself, but it had proven harder than he ever could have imagined.

Ponies were still very prejudiced creatures who looked down upon his kind, and he was always met with disgust and skepticism. When it wasn’t that, it was blatant racism.

It was always like that. He would be tolerated for a short period until he was ushered away, forced to go live in another town and repeat the process. His ability to look past ponies’ prejudice was waning and he found himself less and less able to see them as anything but creatures of bigotry and hatred.

His body had been growing weaker though, so he couldn’t focus on it. Every day, simple tasks were becoming more and more challenging, and now as he made yet another pilgrimage for the eighth time to find a new home, he could feel his heart beating irregularly.

Since he was born, he had been told that his heart was irregular and it had held true. He gripped his chest and collapsed as he was short of breath. His chest ached and he struggled to keep his eyes open. He still had a great distance to go before he could get to a doctor and hope they would see him, so he needed to get himself up. The changeling tried to lift his body but found himself unable to move his hooves.

All he could do was lay there in agony as he groaned in pain.

His blurred vision would observe a set of light-colored hooves in front of him and trying his best to look up, he could make out golden yellow mane with touches of red. He could smell the presence of a mare as he failed to speak.

The young-looking mare tilted her head and squinted as she looked down at him. She tapped him with her hoof and delivered her words with an annoyed tone. “What’s wrong with you, bug boy?”

Arax couldn’t respond, instead, he curled up further and groaned.

Sighing, the mare made a black tendril come out of her back that reached down and touched the changeling’s head. She closed her eyes as the appendage analyzed him and told her what his prognosis was. Nodding, she made the tendril return inside of her as she smirked at the changeling laying there.

“I see, I see, you’re as good as dead, kid.” She chuckled without much care.

His eyes widened only slightly, as he knew she was right. He could feel it in him; there was no way he could continue on with this condition as he was. It would only get worse to where eventually he would die anyway. It looked like she was able to see how bad it was and by the look of it, he only had a short time left.

“Your heart is going to give out pretty soon. I give you another eight minutes to live, honestly...” She shrugged.

He was shocked to find out it was so little, even less than he originally thought. He let out a cough as the mare began to walk past him, and his hoof grabbed hers.

Angrily, she turned around and kicked him in the face. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me, you worthless piece of shit!”

Arax held on tightly. If this mare had the power to tell that much about him just from that simple touch from her odd appendage, then maybe she knew how to help him. He held on tightly, not wanting her to go. When he didn’t let go though, she kicked him in the face a few more times, but no matter how battered he became, he held on.

Coughing, he managed to get words to leave his lips. “Please... Help me...”

The girl laughed. “Why do you think that I can help you? Do I look like a doctor? Besides, even if I was, I already told you: you’re doomed. May as well just embrace death.”

“I’ll... do... anything...” Arax got out.

Raising a brow, the girl looked him up and down and nodded as a wry twisted smile came to her face. “Fine, I’ll help you.”

The black tendril came out of her once more and this time it went into Arax’s mouth and wiggled down his throat. He coughed and gagged as it continued to worm its way into his body and he could feel it going through his innards. It was incredibly painful, and he screamed in agony as it stuck out of his mouth.

Finally, he felt a sharp pain in his heart before the tendril quickly pulled out of him and retracted back into the mare. After that sharp pain, he felt relief as he lay there panting.

After a few seconds, he was able to get himself to sit up, just looking at the mare who had saved him. To his surprise, she was quite beautiful. He imagined that stallions from all around would bend over backward just to have a chance to gaze at her. “W-what... Was that?”

Grinning, the girl pointed to his chest. “You have no idea what you’ve just done, do you?”

Arax shook his head.

“What’s your name, bug boy?” She asked.

Clearing his throat, he spoke up, “It’s Arax.”

“Well, Arax, you’ve just made a deal with the devil...” She smirked.

“What did you do?” He asked.

Tapping her own chest, she then gestured back at him. “I planted a part of myself in you. A demon vine, even right now it’s wrapped around your heart. It will keep your heart beating.”

Arax looked down and touched his chest. “So then you’re...?”

“A demon? Yes.” She nodded.

“So what do I have to do for you then?” Arax stood up and tried to compose himself.

“You catch on quick.” She laughed.

“A demon doesn’t just help someone for no reason. I assumed that because you helped me, you must have had some kind of ulterior motive...” Arax explained.

The girl giggled with a malicious aura about her as she turned her head and cocked that same mischievous smile. “Very astute of you. Yes, you’re right, I have expectations of you now that I’ve helped you.”

“Which are?” He squinted.

Tapping her chest again, she began to explain the demon vine. “So long as that demon vine is in you, you will live. However, that vine is a part of me. The requirement for it to continue to pump your heart is that I have to be alive too...”

“So if you die...?” Arax began.

“Then you die.” She nodded.

That meant their fates were intertwined from then on. Wherever this girl went, Arax had to make sure that he followed. Given her demeanor, he imagined she was the kind of girl who got herself into trouble all the time anyway.

“So I just need to do whatever you say from now on, is that it?” He asked.

She stomped her foot on the ground proudly as she nodded. “Yes, that would be correct. From this moment on, you do whatever I say. Because not only can I remove that vine at any time... I also still have control over it in a mental sense...”

Demonstrating her words, the girl raised a hoof and like clockwork, Arax felt a sharp unbearable pain in his chest. He gripped it and groaned for a few seconds before the pain stopped.

“At any time, I can make it kill you too... Do you get it now?” She smirked.

Nodding, Arax came back to a stand. “I understand... I do whatever you say from now on...”

Giggling, she held out a hoof. “Kiss your master’s hoof then and seal your contract.”

He blinked and stared at it. “Huh?”

“Are you stupid? I said kiss your master’s hoof.” She grinned.

Doing as he was told, Arax stepped forward and took her hoof in his own, and planted a kiss upon it before looking up at her as he knelt down. She was short and petite, but fierce looking.

“My name is Serenade, but from this day forward you will know me as your master. You belong to me, you will do everything I say without question or you will die, do you understand? My life is entwined with yours, so I would recommend doing everything in your power to ensure that I’m happy, or you will find yourself... Very unhappy to say the least...” She grew an evil grin across her face.

He nodded in agreement.

“I can’t hear you...” She mocked.

Clearing his throat, he came to a stand and locked eyes with the mare. “Yes, master.”

“That’s good. I have a feeling we’ll get along great.” Serenade winked.

Arax had no idea that he had just gotten himself into a situation he would never escape. It was exactly as she said: he had made a deal with the devil.

Copy Cat wasn’t a huge fan of Arax’s plan, in his mind, he felt it was all a bit on the sloppy side, but he did as he was told, like always. Copy wasn’t the kind of stallion to voice his opinions often, he was a follower, not a leader after all. He gathered as many things from Twilight’s library as he could while the distraction that was provided was going on. However, he knew that there was one last thing he had to grab before he left to be teleported by Galaxy to Canterlot; Princess Twilight’s personal diary.

There was little doubt that such a book would contain a myriad of secrets that could be used not only against the princess but the kingdom as a whole. Who knew whatever kind of secrets the Princess of Friendship kept hidden would be more valuable than gold.

Arax’s plan for a distraction had worked flawlessly, and sure enough within the hour, Twilight Sparkle had headed to Canterlot to deal with the illusion that they had set up. If all went according to plan, they would even be able to slip Serenade out without their illusion falling apart. It would give them some time before Twilight and the princesses would even realize that Serenade was no longer in her prison cell.

What Copy had made copies of so far was all fairly standard stuff, spells that were deemed “off-limits” to the general public, records of Twilight’s routines, and general royal affairs.

Copy was far more interested in her personal dairy as he made his way into her bedroom. With his magic, he cast a spell to locate any books in the room. Blinking as he could sense many results, he reminded himself who’s room it was and fine-tuned his spell to reflect such. In particular, he was looking for books that Twilight had written in, and sure enough, there was one in her bedside drawer that seemed promising compared to the others. She had scribbled in it extensively.

Greedily, Copy popped it open and began to flip through the pages to get a sneak peek of the contents he would soon be enjoying. Once he had confirmed it was indeed the book in question, he conjured an exact copy of it and placed the original back in its place. The temptation to take it was great, but he knew she would get suspicious if her dairy had gone missing, so he settled for the copy which he knew he’d be rigorously studying for the next few days for his master.

Once he had a saddlebag full of the books he needed, he raced out of the castle and checked the map he had been drawn to go and be at the correct location so that he could be teleported directly to Canterlot.

After making it out of the castle, Copy found the location near a marked spot on the map and patiently waited for pickup.

Fortunately for him, he had timed it so well that a portal opened up only a mere eight seconds after his arrival. He gulped and prepared for portal travel, something he wasn’t too fond of, as he got sick fairly easily, not to mention he wasn’t 100% sure that Galaxy’s abilities were completely stable.

Gritting his teeth, he stepped forward hearing voices on the other side already complaining about him.

“What the fuck is taking that useless idiot so long?”

Stepping into the portal, a pulling sensation overcame him, but Copy wound up on the other side in one piece. Glancing around the room, he could see Galaxy standing there giving him a nod. “Glad you made it here in one piece, now hurry up and start making any copies you think are important, we have to get to Arax as fast as possible.”

“I work better when I’m not rushed...” Copy complained as he put some distance between himself and Galaxy.

“Hey, I’m just relaying my own orders...” Galaxy waved his hoof dismissively.

Copy rolled his eyes and began to wander about the archives, making quick copies of anything that seemed remotely important, stashing them away. Galaxy just stood by the door and waited with his long scruffy lightly purple mane that covered half of his face. He blew a strand of hair out of his eyes to no avail, and just settled for standing there with no concern.

“Have you met, Serenade, Copy?” Galaxy asked.

Copy blinked and stood up straight. It had occurred to him that many joined their operation after Serenade’s fall and a few just before it, so they never had a chance to actually meet her in person. Copy nodded.

“Once or twice...” He said.

Galaxy perked up and stood up straight as he listened. “What’s she like?”

The thought alone made Copy bite his lip and grimace. He only really remembered how powerful she seemed standing before him. Everything about her being exuded power, she was like a monolith of pure magic. Gulping, he rubbed his neck. “She’s intimidating, to say the least.”

“Sounds cool, I can’t wait to meet her...” Galaxy smirked and looked off into the distance in thought.

Copy couldn’t remember if he ever had enthusiasm in him to meet Serenade. Maybe the first time, but even then he wasn’t sure as at that point he had already heard tales of her ruthlessness. He knew that after that he was never excited to come face-to-face with the siren again. He served in a manner that meant he would not need to come in direct contact with his master too often. He feared the siren, but he wanted the power she had to offer.

“I would curb your enthusiasm, she’s not exactly somepony that you will want to see on a regular basis, given that most of the time it usually means you’re screwing up, and she’s not a character that you want to be messing up for,” Copy offered.

Galaxy blinked and squinted. “She’s that demanding, huh?”

“What can I say? Serenade Dazzle expects perfection.” Copy shrugged.

“I suppose I’ll see for myself then,” Galaxy replied.

For his sake, Copy hoped he didn’t have to find out.

A large-looking stallion in guard armor approached the entrance to the dungeon. He nodded at his colleague and gestured with his head. “I’ll take over for a few minutes, why not go take a bathroom break and such?” The guard offered to his fellow guard.

Raising an eyebrow, the stationed guard reduced his resistance and nodded before he began to walk off to relieve himself at the lavatory. Once he was out of sight, the other guard stepped into the doorway and made his way down the stairwell. Once he was certain that there were no other guards protecting the basement dungeon, he began to make his way past the locked-up criminals.

Equestria’s worst were imprisoned under the castle, but at the very bottom layer, kept in a cell all to herself designed to contain demons was the worst that Equestria had ever faced: Serenade Dazzle, and that was this guard’s destination.

Making it to the very bottom level, he observed a warning on the door that granted access to Serenade’s prison cell chamber.

Beyond this door is the cell of Serenade Dazzle. Due to her status as a demon, this cell is sealed with a demon lock that could be potentially harmful to any who enters. Do not proceed unless directed by Princess Celestia, Luna, or Twilight. Failure to adhere to this warning could result in potentially fatal injuries and termination of your employment in the Royal Guard.

For Authorized Personal:

Demonic protective gear is required to enter this area. Please speak with the Royal Guard Captain to receive a set or report your current set as damaged. Failure to wear protective gear may result in serious injury or even death. Only guards who have passed the demonic safety training course may handle demonic protective gear, please meet with your supervisor to take the course. A minimal rank of Corporal is required.

The guard disregarded the warning and pushed the door open before closing it behind him. Once he was in the room and certain that none would follow, he dropped his disguise and transformed back into his standard changeling appearance. Arax sighed as he could feel the demonic energy within the room. Twilight’s demonic containment spell was certainly impressive, but not that impressive.

Approaching the lone barred cell in the room, Arax could sense Serenade’s energy as he got closer.

There, sitting on a bench within the cell was his master. He bowed his head gently for a brief fraction of a second before examining the room. All the bars of the prison cell had some kind of black energy around them, clearly part of the protection spell that kept Serenade inside.

“How nice of you to finally join me, Arax. You’re a few years late though...” Serenade commented.

Arax nodded. “Sorry, it’s not exactly very easy to plan the biggest prison break in all of Equestria...”

“I don’t really need your excuses. Make yourself useful and get me out on here, alright?” She scoffed and turned away from him.

He couldn’t see her face too well, the room was far too dark.

Obeying his orders though, he focused his demonic energy and sure enough, was able to pull the spell off of the bars for just long enough for Serenade to break the metal bars with her now unsuppressed ability. Once the bars were broken, the Siren walked out of the cell and Arax allowed his spell to cease as he got a good look at his master.

The right side of her face was covered by her long mane, and on her chest on the left side was a scar that resembled a stab wound. He pointed to it with question. “I thought your body could heal from any wound?”

She shook her head. “That bastard, Glitch and his Siren’s bane were able to give pause to my power and my body cannot heal from any wounds it caused. It is a very unique weapon in that a siren can never heal fully from it...”

“I see...” He was quiet.

Serenade stomped her hoof. “Look at what he did to me! He ruined my perfect body...”

Arax rolled his eyes at how vain she was but said nothing about it.

Serenade continued her plight. “I won’t make the same mistake twice though, this time I’ll be more than prepared...”

Nodding in approval, Arax gestured toward the entrance. “Shall we get out of here then? I’ve arranged for one of the new subordinates to teleport us out of here, we should get going.”

Serenade grinned at the comment. “New subordinates? So you’ve been gathering me new pawns? Excellent work, Arax, there’s a reason why I rely on you.”

He shrugged. “Just doing what needs to be done, now can we get going?”

He took his first step toward the exit before he heard Serenade’s low voice ring in his ear as she stared toward the ground with her words coming out a bit on the ominous side. “Arax... Before we leave this place, I have something I need from you...”

Blinking, he tilted his head. “What could possibly be so important that it can’t wait until we get out of here?”

Placed a hoof over the section of her face that her hair concealed she spoke in a dark sounding voice now. “That Glitch fucked up my eye...”

Blinking, he shrugged. “So what?”

“I’m not going to go out there again like this... It’s time for you to prove your loyalty...” Serenade had a slight grin as she gripped her eye.

“What do you need me to do?” Arax asked.

“Your eye... Give it to me...” Serenade reached a hoof out.

He blinked and froze. While he wasn’t keen on sacrificing one of his eyes, he knew that whatever Serenade wanted, she usually got and if she didn’t, she would take it.

Turning slowly and obediently, the changeling lowered his head for her and opened his eyes wide so she could extract it. He knew the pain would be unbearable, perhaps even enough to want to die, but he wasn’t afraid. Fear had long left his body to the point where nothing scared him anymore. No amount of pain or suffering could make him back down.

His eye would go to her, and he had no say in the matter; there was no point in arguing, resisting, or even being afraid. Serenade would get what she wanted in the end anyway.

He never got a good look at her face from behind her mane, but he knew that he likely never would. Of all things that Serenade was, she was also vain; she couldn’t bear to let anyone see her in an “imperfect” state.

A long slender tendril came out of her and gently caressed Arax’s cheek as the siren stood menacingly looking at his eye that would soon be hers. It would be a mismatch for sure, but it was far more appealing than what was hidden under her mane. Her good eye watched him carefully, curious as to why he didn’t seem even the slightest bit afraid about what was going to happen to him.

“Aren’t you going to beg me not to?” Serenade smirked.

“Just get it over with,” Arax spoke plainly.

She pouted and shrugged. “You’re no fun.”

With those words, the tendril dug under his eye and wrapped around the chord in the back. A burning sensation overtook and caused Arax to scream in agony as he could feel the tendril pulling.

After another few seconds of tugging and the eye exited his head, snapping off its end and the tendril burned the stem, preventing it from bleeding out.

The stallion fell downward and gripped his empty eye socket with his hoof. Serenade aided him by using the same tendril to burn his eyelid shut. He screamed in pain, but she ignored it as she finished the job.

As he stood there with his hooves on his face, Serenade had the tendril move the removed eye behind her hair, where she turned around away from the changeling. Another tendril gripped her own damaged eye and pulled. She howled in pain and screamed before the eye came out and the new one that she had taken from her subordinate went in. The demonic power in her body attached the stem to her own stem and the new part seemed to be working, albeit, appearance-wise it didn’t match in the slightest.

Serenade panted before putting her hair back in front of the new eye and turned back to Arax.

“You’ve proven your loyalty at least eight times over, Arax.” She grinned.

Looking away, the changeling tried to hide his now disfigured face. “Let’s get out of here now...”

She laughed and nodded before tossing her old eye into the cell. The eye rolled and revealed that it had been sliced down the middle and was completely useless. Arax caught a glimpse of it and had determined that Glitch’s spear had blinded her in that eye.

“Before we go, I am going to set up an illusion spell so that they still think that I’m here. It should keep them fooled for a few days if not weeks.” Serenade’s tendrils whipped and black energy came out of her body that projected a vision over the entire room of an annoyed Serenade still sitting in the cell looking quite eager to get out.

An illusion that complex would only be held for a few weeks at a time even at Serenade’s power level, but it would certainly give them all time to plan their next move. He nodded as the two began to head out to meet up with Galaxy. He had done it, his master was now free once more.

Galaxy’s teleport spell had proven quite effective, and before they knew it, the entire group had been assembled at their new base of operations on the outskirts of the swamplands. Serenade counted and there were forty-four subordinates that were either already in her order prior or had joined after she was imprisoned. She was certain that many of them would not last long though, just by looking at them. Many of them gave off an aura of weakness, and would sure to be eliminated fairly quickly. Weak subordinates had no use besides being cannon fodder, and Serenade made a mental note to send the weakest ones on tasks that would likely kill them off.

Looking around, she could see an assortment of familiar faces and ones she had never gazed upon before. She had conjured herself a white medical eye patch to cover up her new eye prior to her arrival and gave one to Arax as well before he entered the room with her.

She observed her new headquarters briefly before sitting down at the end of a long table that had been fashioned for them all to have meetings at. There were far from enough seats, so many of them had to stand.

Clearing her throat, she looked around the room. “Before we go any further, who secured this location for us?”

A tall stallion stood up and saluted her. He had an odd orange-brownish coat and a high and tight manecut. Serenade surmised her must have come from some kind of military life prior to joining her order. “I did, ma’am.”

Nodding, Serenade smiled at him. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Ma’am, my name is Ranger. I’ve been a scout my entire life.” He kept his hoof up in his salute.

“Well...” Serenade smirked before a tendril came out and whipped him so hard that his head came clean off his shoulders.

The others yelped and many stepped backward to put distance between the corpse and themselves. “Now you’re the dead fucking ranger.”

There was whimpering and panic in the room for a mere eight seconds before Serenade looked up at the rest of them. Her powerful and threatening stare had managed to calm the room abruptly. “Listen up, I have no tolerance for incompetence. This place is a fucking dump, and he should have seen that. I expect the best out of all of you, and if you can’t deliver that, then you just saw what your punishment will be, does everyone understand?”

The entire room nodded silently.

Serenade licked her lip and nodded back at them. “Good, so long as we all understand each other...” She cleared her throat and placed both hooves upon the table. “Many of you have been my disciples for years, but I see many new faces, so I’ll make sure you all understand who I am and what I want...”

Glaring around the room with her exposed eye, Serenade took in the sight of all of them. “I’m not going to bother getting to know all of your names and faces because many of you will be dead long before we get too far. I am Serenade Dazzle, and you’re here because you wish to join me as demons, but not just any demons, demons who wish to be at the top with the soon-to-be demon lord. I don’t give half of a shit about your reasons for joining me, as I’m sure you all have your own motivations, but know this: I will kill anyone who disobeys, anyone who disrespects me, and anyone who isn’t worthy, do I make myself clear?”

The entire room gave a half-hearted “yes” in reply causing Serenade to bang her hoof upon the table.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

This time they were much louder and more convincing with their replies, though obviously intimidated.

“You all will be given demonic power by myself. Use them how you see fit, as they will extend the power of your own abilities. My suggestion to all of you though is to start working on perfecting your abilities right after you get them because starting tomorrow, we begin anew, and anyone who can’t hack it with the best of them will meet the same fate as that pathetic piece of trash...” Serenade announced as she pointed to Ranger’s split corpse.

There were no objections, and after that, Serenade went to work turning every one of her subordinates that weren’t already into a demon.

Once she had finished with her new subordinates, they all went off throughout the facility to begin practicing their powers while Serenade wandered off to the top levels where Arax awaited her.

To Serenade’s surprise, she was stopped on the way to meet with her second-in-command by a face she had not expected to see ever again. A young-looking mare stood before her with a slicked-back mane and eyes that hid her true feelings. Serenade could only laugh as she witnessed the girl.

“Lightning Dust, I have to say, the next time I expected to see you was when I put a hole where your head should be... A surprise that you came to me voluntarily...” Serenade grinned.

Lightning was silent.

Serenade laughed once more and shook her head. “Arax told me that you have seen the error of your ways and decided to come back. Ordinarily, I don’t give deserters another chance, but I’m feeling somewhat generous for some reason. You should be happy; you get to live another day.”

Bowing her head, Lightning laid down in front of her master as she submitted. “I’m sorry for leaving. I panicked, and I wanted to live to fight another day... I knew if I stayed then I’d be captured too and I would be of no use in breaking you free when they took you in.”

“You should have been preventing me from being stabbed by that bastard, Glitch in the first place...” Serenade shook her head.

“If the master was overpowered by him, what was there for me to do? If you couldn’t take him, I would have stood no chance,” Lightning pointed out as she looked up at Serenade with serious eyes.

As much as she hated admitting that others were right, she couldn’t argue with that logic. If Glitch was powerful enough to bring even her to her knees, then her subordinate was as good as useless. It made more logical sense for Lightning to wait until Serenade was captured so she could aid in her escape. Serenade laughed internally though, as she knew it was just a bullshit excuse that she was making now just to save face.

It didn’t matter though, whether she was lying about then, or if she was going to lie about her future loyalty, it made no difference to Serenade. She was no threat to her, but just to be precautions, a long tendril came out of Serenade’s back once more. Wiggled menacingly as it hovered only mere centimeters from Lightning’s face.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re lying. Time will tell, and if you are, well then I think that you’re already aware that I have a few tricks under my hat so to speak for those who would betray me. Know this, Lightning Dust...” Serenade came very close to the mare, her rounded nose only an inch or so away from Lightning’s. “There are things far worse than death, and I happen to know of quite a few of them. Disregard this warning and watch what happens to you...”

“It won’t happen again, Master.” Lightning made sure to emphasize that last word.

The display of obedience was satisfactory enough. Serenade nodded and dismissed her. “I have to go and meet with Arax, but do try and make yourself useful around here.”

There was a fake smile accompanying her words, but Lightning just as quickly faked one of her own as she watched the siren that was now her master once more wander off. She had resigned her contract with the devil, and this time she was certain there was no way out of it. She had heard that Serenade had walked through hell itself, and broken out of the tightest prison in Equestria, there was little doubt in Lightning’s mind that the siren was invincible.

A few days had passed and Serenade remained undetected. Canterlot was none the wiser that she had escaped her prison cell thanks to her illusion. Since few were ever willing to actually go into her cell, the chances of any of them figuring out that the mare that stood in that cell was nothing more than a construct created from Serenade’s power, were exceptionally low. There was no reason to ever get too close to her cell, and Serenade knew that.

As a demon as powerful and as old as she was, she had evolved beyond needing to eat, drink or sleep, so they didn’t even need to slide food or water into her cage. All guards in the cell made sure to maintain an eight-foot distance from the bars of her cell. Serenade savored the irony that the system put in place to keep the guards safe ironically ensured her prison would be the tool the aided vastly in her prison break and ultimately why no one would notice she was gone. It was always delectable to bring a bit of irony to a fight after all.

Arax had been going over the texts that Copy Cat had acquired for them. He was a rather useless minion, and as a result, he did not survive the demonification process only a day prior, he perished almost instantly. Still, he served his purpose and got her the texts she needed. A few of their members died or became useless husks that were then killed when they were given demonic powers. It was a process that favored the strong-willed, and those with weak constitutions usually faced death or became a lifeless husk controlled by instinct; no better than a zombie.

It was a shame, but nothing of value was lost really. Copy was a subpar subordinate, and he didn’t really bring much to the table outside of his ability to copy texts, a skill that would not be particularly useful after that point.

Most of what Arax read was a waste of his time, but he found something that intrigued him the most. Compiling everything he had learned into a convenient scroll, he called for Serenade to meet with him right away.

Naturally, the siren took her time getting to him, but once she finished her bath she wandered into the room that Arax had made his main quarters and gave him a curious raise of her brow. “What is it, Arax? I hope it’s worth my time, I finished my bath early for this...”

Arax laid out the scroll he had been working on onto the table. “I found something that may interest you...”

“What?” Serenade questioned.

“I know why your sister was put to death now...” Arax stated.

That sentence caught the siren’s interest. She came closer and sat at the table where Arax was and nodded. “Go on...”

“It seems as though Adagio was actually living in another world, a whole other dimension actually,” Arax began.

“Like an alternate reality?” Serenade blinked.

“Exactly, another world where the dominant species are these things called ‘humans’ apparently. Twilight’s notes document this place as somewhere beyond a magic mirror she keeps at her castle, but the mirror only opens naturally once every thirty moons, otherwise, she needs to power it herself. Apparently this place also transforms our kind into humans when we travel there...” Arax explained.

“And Adagio was living in this place?” Serenade’s confusion only grew.

“She didn’t have a choice, apparently she was banished there by Starswirl the Bearded. He used a spell to send her to another world, but he had no idea where she would end up. Ultimately she ended up sent to this human world far into the future. She lived there for a few years unable to get back to Equestria,” Arax continued.

Serenade was unusually patient as she absorbed the information, something that Arax wasn’t exactly used to. She leaned in with interest. “So why did she get executed then if she was already being punished?”

“Apparently she attempted to gain her power back and it didn’t go so well. The other two sirens we saw aiding Glitch, Aria, and Sonata assisted her as you know, but it failed. After that, little is written about what happened to her until she did a second attempt to regain her power and it involved the murder of a human girl that is only named ‘Shimmer’ in Twilight’s notes. She kept a lot of the details unwritten, but she said that it was a speedy trial and the order was given to put her to death...” Arax finished.

Serenade shrugged. “So Twilight killed my sister for killing a girl in another dimension that she didn’t even have jurisdiction over? Typical that ponies seem to think they have the right to just police everywhere...”

“But that’s not the end of it...” Arax said.

“Oh?” Serenade blinked.

He nodded. “There’s something else you should know, Adagio’s amulet shattered when they defeated her, but the pieces are still in that world...”

“And I should care about this, why?” Serenade shrugged.

“Well, what I found out next will definitely be of interest...” Arax smirked.

After her briefing with Arax, Serenade had met with what remained of her subordinates. They were all starting to get the hang of their powers and after a good week or so of training, they were getting fairly competent with them. All of them would likely turn into fairly useful demons one day, but for now, they still needed practice, but it wouldn’t matter in the short term as the next phase of her plan would put them on a playing field where they had the advantage.

Clearing her throat, Serenade sat at her chair at the end of the long table in their meeting room. She hated the entire facility, but she had to make due until they could relocate.

“Alright, so Arax has discovered some important information that will change the shape of our plans...” Serenade began before pointing to Arax.

The entire group looked over at the changeling who stood and took the floor. “Another world exists outside of this one. A whole other realm where ‘humans’ are the dominant species. This place apparently is where Serenade’s sister was banished to.”

“So, our next plan is we are going to go to this world, I’ll explain the rest when it’s time, but for now we will have to head there. The good news is that according to the information that we got from Twilight’s journal there isn’t much magic there, so that means even as fledgling demons, you should all be more than powerful enough there. Still, we are going to continue training for everyone for a short while before we go there...” Serenade explained.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how are we getting there, Master Serenade? Do you plan on trying to steal the mirror from Twilight?” Arax asked.

Serenade shook her head. “It’s too risky. As much as I’d love to kill Twilight, the reality is we don’t know how that mirror even works. If Twilight’s magic can force it open, then likely it won’t simply work on demonic power. We’d be breaking into one of the most guarded places in Equestria all over again to steal an item that could be useless to us.”

“Then how are we to get there?” Lightning Dust chimed in.

“There’s another way, but it’s not an easy one...” Serenade glanced over at her.

“Explain?” Lightning tilted her head.

“We can use a demon portal...” Serenade stated plainly.

“A demon portal?” Arax raised a brow; this was his first hearing of such a thing.

Serenade nodded. “Truly powerful demons can use Hell itself as sort of an in-between for portal travel. However, the process isn’t simple. To attune a portal, one has to travel through Hell itself. I could go, then set up a portal between our two worlds using Hell as sort of a gateway between them. It’s a difficult process, and it will use a lot of power, but it should get us there.”

“Sounds pretty difficult...” Lightning suggested.

Serenade shrugged. “I’ve been through Hell a few times, what’s once more? The only catch is that we would likely be stuck using the mirror’s portal to get back when we’re done as I don’t believe I’d be able to open the portal twice. I am going to have to burn a lot of my demonic power just to do it once, power that will take a considerable amount of time to regenerate. If this human world really lacks magic, then I can’t just siphon power to recharge, and I’ll have to do it naturally over time...”

“Isn’t it risky to give up that much of your power?” Arax asked.

Serenade shook her head. “The power I will still have will still put me miles ahead of the majority of demons and when we get back here, I should be able to siphon power from all over to return to my former level.”

“Essentially though, we’ll be stuck until the mirror is open and we’re ready to go back though?” Lightning asked seeing if she followed.

There was a gentle murmur among the rest at the table, but they quieted down when Serenade coughed to get their attention. “Yes, but once we get there and I can initiate my plan, we should be able to come back here with the potential to get stronger than ever.”

“How are you so sure?” Lightning asked.

“You’d do wise not to question me...” Serenade sneered.

Lightning nodded and looked away. “Sorry, master...”

“Don’t worry though, I have it all in the bag...” Serenade smirked.

Sorry for the long delay, haha! Life and stuff. So now we're getting to Serenade's half of the story for what she was doing prior to the events of Act VII. And yeah, now you know why Arax is so loyal to her. :c