Horizon knew she couldn’t give into Serenade’s demands. Her mother was right. She closed her eyes and focused all of her energy on the amulet. Everything she had into the palm of her hand, and began to squeeze.

Serenade’s eyes widened as she could see what Horizon was up to. Sensing the distraction, Eclipse quickly went into action and severed the tendrils holding Jasper, and scooped him up, pulling him to safety. Serenade’s attention was too focused on what Horizon was doing to even notice.

Feeling the amulet begin to crack, Horizon squeezed as tightly as she could, focusing all of her magic into her hand, until she finally felt it crush within her grip.

With the amulet turned to dust in her hand, Horizon opened her palm and allowed the sand-like shards to blow away in the wind. It was crushed beyond any level of repair, and finding the specs of dust would be next to impossible anyway. As it left her hand, Serenade watched with widened eyes. Her entire plan, her entire reason for coming to the human world was destroyed right in front of her, and there wasn’t a thing she could do. With no more leverage over them, Horizon saw no reason to keep the amulet. Up to this point she had only used it to lure out Serenade’s minions and Serenade herself, but now with nothing left, there was no more need for it.

Serenade’s plan was over, there was no chance of restoring the amulet and bringing Adagio back into her fold now. The question of where she was, still remained unanswered, but now it mattered not. There was no way to undo what had just happened. Serenade cursed and shook her head before she hissed. “You bitch… You will regret doing that…”

Jasper spit in her direction and gave a smirk. “Y’all got nothing now. Nothing left to threaten us with, why don’t y’all just get lost?”

Serenade sneered, wanting to respond to him, but she thought better of it. An idea popped into her head and she quickly raced back to the motorcycle she had arrived on and started the engine. Not even throwing on a helmet she revved the engine and gave a middle finger to the entire group before she sped off. She peeled away and was out of sight within eight seconds.

The entire group let out a series of cheers and praise as they celebrated. “It’s finally over!” Cloud exclaimed.

“Guess we won’t have to deal with her anymore! No more amulet, no way to get stronger, no more minions, she’s on a tight leash now!” Bolt agreed as the two gave a high-five.

Horizon glanced over at her mother and noticed her demeanor hadn’t softened. She still wore a concerned face as she ran over to her own motorcycle and quickly placed the helmet on her head. She strapped it on before taking off without saying a word to the group.

The cheers died down as they all noticed her leaving. Jasper blinked in confusion as he stepped forward next to Horizon. “What did she say?”

Horizon shook her head. “Nothing. She just left.”

“Where the hell is she going?” Bolt questioned.

Eclipse stepped forward, his expression was somber as he spoke in a monotone. “She’s going to fight Serenade…”

“Huh? Why? There’s no reason now. Serenade’s plan is foiled, if she steps out of line now, she’ll just be tag-teamed by all of us, she stands no chance!” Bolt pointed out.

Eclipse was already formulating what would happen in his head. He knew all too well that Serenade wouldn’t give up that easily. “When backed into a corner, Serenade can unleash all of her reserve power. It would drain her to a level where it would take decades to recover, but if necessary she will do it, so she’s still a threat…”

“But if she did all of that and it wasn’t enough… She’d be a sitting duck?” Candy chimed in.

Nodding, Eclipse continued. “You’re correct, however, that’s why she’s keeping that as a last resort, she has another plan now…”

“Which is?” Bolt tilted his head.

The white-haired man had known this all along. There was always a possibility it would turn out this way. He looked down at his phone and checked a countdown timer he had set a long ago. They were approaching the last 80 minutes before the portal to Equestria would open up naturally once again. Eclipse had set a timer for it when he had gone through the first time.

“Given the new circumstances, Serenade’s next highest probability for success is to use the portal to return to Equestria. From there she can regain much of her power, and return with an army…” Eclipse explained.

“How long would that take?” Jasper asked.

Thinking for a second, Eclipse already had an answer. “Given how she is… I would imagine she would be able to accomplish that task before the portal re-opened. She was able to conquer all of Equestria in only a few months after all…”

“And how long before she would come back through the portal?” Cloud questioned.

“Thirty moons. So around twenty-nine to thirty months. In that time, none of us will be able to become strong enough to stand against her… If she makes it through that portal it’s game over…” Eclipse explained.

“Why didn’t she just do that from the start?” Horizon asked.

“Serenade is too proud, she wanted the joy of her revenge all by herself, but she’s not stupid. She won’t let herself die over pride, now that she has no choice, she’ll use her backup plan…” Eclipse said.

Bolt placed a hand on his chin as he thought. “So what’s Sunset going to do then?”

“Sunset will fight Serenade…” Eclipse said plainly.

Cloud blinked. “Wait a minute, if Sunset uses any more of her power she’ll die, won’t she?”

“She doesn’t care. She will make sure she destroys the portal when it opens before that happens, then she will gladly die.” Eclipse sighed.

“Why aren’t you going to try and stop her then!?” Bolt growled.

“She won’t listen to me.”

“Then we’ll go!” Jasper nodded at Bolt.

“She won’t listen to any of us. If keeping Serenade from getting to Equestria means destroying the portal, Sunset will gladly do it. Nothing any of us say is going to convince her otherwise. She will fight that monster, and destroy herself doing it…” Eclipse sighed.

“So we just let her die then?” Jasper growled.

“There is nothing we can do…” Eclipse explained.

“Fuck that! Come on, we all have to go meet her there! We might still be able to intervene!” Bolt suggested.

The entire group gave sounds of approval toward Bolt’s suggestion, and before they knew it, they were all rounding up in their vehicles to go after Sunset. Eclipse sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to change their minds, so he casually made his way over to his motorcycle and grabbed his helmet as he heard all the engines starting. Placing the helmet on his head he sighed once more. “You’re a real pain in the ass, Sunset…”

Sunset pulled up and parked her motorcycle before she took off her helmet and tossed it to the ground as she hopped off. The woman marched toward Serenade confidently while she gripped her belted sleeve and ripped it off. She followed by removing the glove on her hand as well. The black skin on her body had already gone past her shoulder anyway, there was little point in trying to cover it up. It reached toward her chest at this point.

She clenched and unclenched her fist, and the tendrils on her arm began to whip violently as a black flame surrounded it, the flame shot up a good eight feet as she approached Serenade. All of her anger, all of her rage, it was all focused on ending this. It was now or never, she wouldn’t get another chance after today.

Serenade smiled carelessly as Sunset approached. She placed her hands upon her hips as the wind blew, moving her hair out of her face, and revealing the eye she had stolen from Arax. A part of him lived on in her.

Sunset came to a stop and stared at her opponent. The two were silent for a few moments until Serenade broke the silence. “I had a feeling you’d come here…”

“Let’s not pretend we both don’t know what’s going to happen here…” Sunset replied.

Nodding, the Siren smirked. “Our little rivalry has grown tiresome, hasn’t it? You’re like a cockroach, no matter how many times I step on you, you just keep coming back…”

“I could say the same for you…” Sunset responded.

Serenade shook her head as she pointed. “Look at you… You’ve grown so weak that you can’t even hold the darkness in. You have no control over it anymore, you’re pathetic.”

Sunset shook her head. “You’re wrong.”

“Oh?” Serenade blinked.

Looking at her arm, Sunset spoke with conviction. “The darkness outside of my body is eating me. It does this because it can’t touch my heart… My heart is too strong so it resorts to devouring my body… Unlike you… Who has already been consumed. We are not equal, I am better than you. I am better than you in every way there is to be better.”

Serenade growled in annoyance. Every time this woman lectured her, she couldn’t stand it. She hated that she always seemed to lack a rebuttal as well.

“Why don’t you shut up, you old hag!? I’m so sick of you talking to me like I’m a child…” Serenade growled.

“Why not face the music, Serenade? You can’t win. This is over. You can give up now and make it easier on yourself, or you can drag it out and come to the same ending that we all know you’re going to reach… Victory for you is impossible.” Sunset offered.

Serenade laughed. “Oh, it’s so cute that you think that you are going to offer mercy to me. Have you forgotten? I was the Lord of the Demons? I have been to hell and back, it’s going to take more than you to destroy me!”

Sunset sighed and shook her head. “So you’re insistent on making this needlessly painful for yourself?”

Serenade hissed. “You know, I really am growing tired of you… Every time I turn around you’re there to ruin my plans. It’s really quite annoying.

Cracking her neck, Sunset kept an emotionless expression as she replied. “Then let’s not do this anymore… This can be the last time…”

“Then it’s agreed…” Serenade nodded.

Sunset took a fighting stance, as Serenade conjured up her weapon from nothingness. The flaming whip appeared in her small delicate hands and then she cracked it fiercely to intimidate her foe. As the two stood at the ready, Serenade laughed. “This shall be most glorious!”

Lock looked down from the hill at Sunset and Serenade staring each other down as they exchanged banter. She yawned and looked over at Key who was petting a nearby stray dog.

She smirked as she saw him pet the small dog. “I thought you hated little dogs?”

He shrugged. “I just don’t like the leg humpers, that’s all.”

“Whose dog is that?” She asked.

He shrugged once more. “Don’t know.”

“Shouldn’t you be focusing on Sunset and Serenade though?” Lock tilted her head.

He stood up and picked the dog up with him. The small Yorkshire terrier barked contently as he handed it off to Lock. She took the dog in her arms and petted its head as she looked up at him in confusion.

“A present.” He grinned.

She giggled and nuzzled the dog before returning her attention to the problem at hand. “Anyway… Like I was saying, we should be focusing on this fight, shouldn’t we? I mean those two are about to obliterate each other, right?”

Key glanced over at Sunset and Serenade, noting that they were still rambling on. “Eh, it doesn’t matter. We can observe from here, but I don’t think it really matters if we witness all of it.”

She frowned. “You still never told me how this is going to play out.”

He grinned as he placed a hand upon her cheek flirtatiously. “That’s part of the fun. I decided not to look into that, after all, observing would be boring if we always knew the odds of the outcomes, right?”

“What an odd mentality to have for one in our line of work…” Lock blinked.

He chuckled and petted the dog in her arm. “What are you going to name him?”

She looked at the dog and tried to think of a name. “Finn.”

“Why Finn?” Key blinked.

She grinned. “Cause I used to have a stuffed shark named Finn.”

Key laughed and nodded. “Finn it is then.”

Lock held the dog up and made a fake voice to speak for him. “We should get out of here before the battle starts.”

Key nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

Horizon and her friends managed to arrive at the scene in time to see Sunset and Serenade already in the heat of battle. Serenade cracked her mighty whip at Sunset, only for the redhead to dodge it, and then stomp the ground, sending a pillar of flames in Serenade’s direction.

The siren only swatted the flames away with her hand and rushed Sunset. The two exchanged blows, blocking each other back and forth as the group of teens came to the top of the hill to watch the fight.

Jasper blinked in awe as he watched the two battle. It was clear they were giving their all, and were going completely all out. Horizon stepped forward to get a closer look and watched silently.

“They’re really going at it down there…” Bolt commented as he came up to where he could see the fight.

“You can say that again…” Candy added as she crossed her arms and watched.

Eclipse had made it to the scene and nodded in agreement. “They are fighting with all they have…”

“How much more can they possibly give?” Bolt asked curiously.

Eclipse’s reply seemed somber. “Everything.”

“Huh?” Bolt blinked.

“They are going to fight to the death…” Eclipse explained.

“What? Really?” Jasper’s eyes widened.

Eclipse nodded. “It’s clear they don’t care anymore. I said it before, Sunset will gladly die to finish off Serenade. This is the end for the both of them… She’ll kill Serenade, and then die shortly after that.”

“What!?” The entire group, shy of Horizon exclaimed. They then all looked in Horizon’s direction who tilted her head in confusion.

“Horizon… Did you hear what he said?” Yuna asked in a panicked tone.

Horizon glanced down at the two exchanging blows. “It’s the most logical choice, really…”

“Horizon… Your mom is going to die, how can you talk like that?” Cloud questioned.

The teenage girl shrugged. “Her only option now is to destroy herself. Even if she were to conserve energy during this fight, the fact is that she would burn herself out eventually. The darkness within her will ultimately do her in with enough time. It’s better to use all of her power now…”

“She’s right. Sunset has weighed out what this fight will take, and she’s determined that it’s less risky to go all in, she may die, but she ensures Serenade goes down with her,” Eclipse chimed in to explain.

Serenade cracked her whip at Sunset, who whipped it out of the way with her demonic arm. Ordinarily, the intense heat of the flaming whip would harm her, but the demonic energy around her arm had grown so strong, that she couldn’t feel the effects of the hellish weapon.

Serenade leaped forward and swung at Sunset, who grabbed the siren’s fist in her free hand. Serenade raised her other hand and tried to ready her whip again, but Sunset gripped her wrist with her other hand, holding it tightly. The two stood there locked together as Serenade struggled to break free. Their faces were mere inches from each other as Serenade felt her anger pour out of her.

“You know… I didn’t think it was possible when I first fell to you… I thought it wouldn’t be possible to hate someone as much as I hated you at that moment. When you beat me, I swore I would rip off that mask and find out who you were so I could kill you slowly…” Serenade hissed.

Sunset was silent as the siren rambled.

“But then, when I saw the face under the mask… When I saw you for the first time, somehow I found room to hate you even more… I found space in my very being that I didn’t know I had left to fill with more hatred… Hatred for you… I wanted to kill you for so long…” Serenade explained.

“Too bad you waited for nothing,” Sunset replied calmly.

Serenade leaned in and touched her forehead to Sunset’s as the two continued to struggle to break free of each other. “I always get what I want, Sunset Shimmer. Always.”

“Then I suppose this is the first time you’re going to feel what it’s like to be disappointed…” Sunset smirked before she kicked the girl in the stomach.

Serenade and her released each other and both of them jumped backward, putting a good eight feet between them. Serenade cracked her whip and repositioned herself to attack again. She wasted no time and began to crack her whip repeatedly in Sunset’s direction.

Moving swiftly, Sunset dodged attack after attack, and managed to avoid a dozen lashes coming in her direction before she managed to catch the whip in her demonic arm which suddenly began to emit even more energy; black fire came from it that reached up into the sky as she held the end of the whip.

“Aren’t you a little old to still be playing with toys, Serenade?” Sunset asked.

Serenade tugged and freed her weapon from Sunset’s grasp and gave it another few whips, but all of them failed to connect with the redhead. “You’re the old hag!”

Sunset chuckled after dodging more of her attacks. “Last I checked you were far older than me… Though still just a baby when it comes to sirens, aren’t you?”

“Taunting me isn’t going to work this time, Sunset Shimmer… I am wise to your tricks now. You’re not going to get in my head this time…” Serenade hissed.

“There’s no need to do that… We both know what kind of creature you are, Serenade…” Sunset said as Serenade whipped at her. Sunset moved out of the way and continued. “The kind of creature who fears death so much that she will do anything to hide from it…”

Serenade grunted and whipped again, this time Sunset swatted it away with her demonic arm. “The kind of creature who failed to protect her own sister…” Sunset continued.

Serenade tried to tune the girl out as she swung a few more times, but it was no use, Sunset continued to dodge and deflect while she kept taunting her. “The kind of creature whose own kind turned on her and sees her as nothing more than a monster…”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Serenade growled.

“Why not just give up, Serenade? There’s no point in dragging this out. Lay down quietly, and I’ll snap your neck and make it a quick death for you…” Sunset suggested.

“I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF YOU AND YOUR COCKINESS! I WILL MAKE YOU BEG ME TO KILL YOU, SUNSET SHIMMER!” Serenade’s voice was filled with venom, Sunset could detect how much this creature despised her just from her tone.

“So you’re going to choose the hard way then? You want to be dragged down kicking and screaming…” Sunset smirked.

Hissing, Serenade tossed her weapon aside, and as she did, it dissolved into smoke in the air. Serenade’s eyes narrowed, and the red changeling eye began to glow as Serenade clenched her teeth and formed her hands into claws as her nails began to grow.

Black mist began to cover Serenade’s body and she began to grow taller from her pygmy height. As she grew, Sunset stepped back and watched her size increase more and more, before she knew it, the petite attractive female that stood before her had turned into a towering giant standing at least eighty feet tall.

Serenade’s hands had transformed into razor-sharp claws, and her mouth had turned into a huge gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. All of her body was covered in black skin that radiated black smoke.

Sunset conjured up her bow from her abyssal pocket and readied it. As she prepared to draw an arrow back, she heard the sound of running feet and turned to see Horizon, and Eclipse had joined her in the fight. She blinked in confusion and gave an expression that asked them why they were there.

Eclipse smirked. “I told you before… I won’t let you hog the glory of killing her all to yourself…”

Sunset turned to Horizon. “And you?”

“We’re all in this together,” Horizon replied.

“Fair enough… Let’s do this then…” Sunset smiled as she aimed her bow.

Unleashing a volley of arrows, Sunset couldn’t even break the skin of Serenade’s massive body. The huge behemoth before her balled her hand into a fist and thrust it down at them.

“Look out!” Eclipse warned.

The group bolted out of the way, and fortunately for them, Serenade’s massive size made her movements slow and sluggish and easy to dodge. “Well, at least she’s slow…” Eclipse commented.

“Doesn’t do us any good if we can’t hurt her…” Sunset replied.

Eclipse focused his energy while Serenade lifted her fist back up to try and attack again. He only needed eight seconds before he could see what he needed to do. On Serenade’s body, he could sense points where the dark energy surrounding her was significantly weaker.

He turned to Horizon and called out to her. “Horizon, can you see what I’m seeing?”

Eclipse knew that Horizon’s affinity to light meant she would have similar capabilities as himself, and likely could see what he was seeing.

Horizon focused and sure enough, she could see the weak points. “Yeah, her body has several points where they’re weaker…”

“Thinking what I’m thinking?” Eclipse smirked.

Sunset dodged another attack before she unleashed another arrow. “What are you two planning!?”

“Horizon, you said you were good at climbing, right?” Eclipse asked.

Horizon nodded, already knowing what he was getting at. “Yeah, I’ll need a good distraction though…”

“We can do that.” Eclipse nodded.

“You can’t possibly be suggesting…” Sunset didn’t even want to finish that sentence.

Both Eclipse and Horizon nodded. “I can deliver a light attack to her weak spots, that should be enough to bring her down.”

Sunset wanted to oppose the idea, but Serenade lifted her giant foot to try and crush the group. Sunset leaped backward to get out of the way, and Eclipse and Horizon moved to the right as the mighty foot came down, causing the ground to shake as it struck the earth.

After realizing that time wasn’t on their side, Sunset agreed to the plan. “Okay… Eclipse and I will distract her, just stay safe, Horizon…” Sunset instructed.

Horizon nodded before jumping into action. As Sunset lobbed arrows at Serenade which did absolutely no damage, Horizon circled around behind her and readied the claws on her suit. She inhaled and sprinted toward Serenade’s foot and jumped, latching onto the back of it as she began her ascent.

The teen had managed to get a good eight feet from the ground before Serenade noticed her there and began to shake her foot violently to try and throw Horizon off. Sunset aimed an arrow higher up on the body to try and keep Serenade’s attention on her and Eclipse while Horizon held on tightly.

The attempts to throw Horizon off proved fruitless and once the shaking had stopped in favor of using the other foot to try and stomp on Sunset and Eclipse, Horizon continued upward, eventually making it to the back of the creature’s knee. Using her power, she could sense a weakening in the demonic barrier around Serenade’s body at that exact spot.

Horizon hoped that Sunset and Eclipse could distract Serenade for her entire ascent, but at the very least until she was able to hit her weak spots. Focusing her power into her hand, Horizon forced her magic into the sharp tips of her clawed gloves. She inhaled and delivered a series of vicious scratches to the back of Serenade’s knee.

The effect was nearly instant, the giant monster groaned in pain and the struck knee went down. Horizon wasted no time and took the chance to hop up and grab onto the creature’s rear as she began to scale it more. Serenade reached behind herself and tried to feel around for where Horizon was, but the young teen was too clever for her. When the hand came around, Horizon timed a jump and landed on the back of the massive hand. She charged her gloves once more and delivered a good eight slashes to the back of the hand which only caused the giant more pain.

After the strike, Horizon quickly scaled up the arm and headed toward the giant’s shoulder, avoiding a swipe with the other hand as she made her way to the giant’s back.

Sunset… Horizon thought as she climbed, holding on tightly as Serenade shook her back violently to try and get Horizon off of her, but the teen held on too tightly as she ascended.

You were always trying to be strong for all of our sake. I understand now. Horizon continued her thoughts as she made it to the neck. Serenade couldn’t reach up to get her though, as Sunset released a volley of arrows at the monster, forcing her to block them with her massive arm.

No one was there to be strong for you though. You sacrificed yourself for all of us. You never wanted any of us to experience the pain you felt, you never wanted us to suffer… So you endured all of it for yourself… I understand now… Horizon charged up her claw, staring at the nape of Serenade’s neck as she readied her attack.

It’s my turn now though. You don’t have to be strong anymore. With that thought, Horizon delivered a mighty slash to Serenade’s neck. The damage was enough to bring the giant to her knees. Horizon could feel the massive body that had formed around her start to fall apart. The dark matter that made up the giant started to dissipate.

Quickly. Horizon slid down the creature’s back as the body disintegrated above her, making it to the ground only seconds before she would have suffered a serious fall. Once she landed, she came to a full stand and turned to face Sunset and Eclipse. She nodded approvingly as she watched Sunset lower her bow.

The group glanced over at the now normal-sized Serenade on her knees before them. She looked up and forced herself to stand. Her eyes were full of fire, she was far from finished.

“You really are a cockroach, you know that? You just won’t die…” Serenade spoke.

As Serenade raised her hand to summon another attack, her hand was knocked away by a burst of light magic. The trio all blinked and looked in the direction of the attack. There atop the hill was a familiar face smirking as she looked down at the group.

Her long red hair moved gently in the breeze, and Sunset instantly recognized the ponytail she was sporting. She had come prepared, wearing a pair of tight shorts and a black tank top.

Hopping off of the hill, she nodded at Sunset as she approached. “I didn’t want you having to do this without me, sis.” She spoke.

Sunset nodded at Shimmer and smiled at her. “We finish this together then?”

Shimmer gave a thumbs up. “One last go, right?”

Sunset looked over at Eclipse and Horizon. “We’ve got it from here. I wanna do this with Shimmer.”

Horizon and Eclipse both nodded in agreement. “She’s weaker now, I can sense it,” Eclipse said.

The two stepped aside to make room for Sunset and her little sister. Shimmer summoned a series of swords made of light around her as Sunset conjured a light blade in one hand and a demonic one in the other. “Let’s end this.”

Shimmer launched the first attack, throwing one of the swords at Serenade who deflected it with her whip that she pulled back out at the last moment. Sunset followed the attack with one of her own, coming at Serenade, swiping with both blades.

Serenade dodged both swipes before kicking Sunset in the stomach. The redhead grunted but composed herself quickly to counter-attack. She swiped at the siren, only for her to block it with the hilt of her whip, but Shimmer took advantage of the distraction to throw another sword, but Serenade blasted it into nothing with a dark energy attack.

The siren laughed and pushed Sunset back with tremendous force. She laughed as she wagged her finger at the two. “This is absolutely rich! Do you think that the two of you are enough to beat me? Look at you!” She pointed to Sunset mockingly. “The dark energy is eating you faster than you can even resist! You’re going to burn yourself up long before I lose enough power for you to be a threat.”

Shimmer threw another sword, this one narrowly missing Serenade, clipping a strand of her hair off. Shimmer lunged forward with a blade which Serenade stopped with her hand, catching the edge between her fingers. She had placed dark energy around her hand to protect her from its light.

Shimmer stood there gripping the sword tightly, trying to move it, but Serenade’s strength was far too much. Serenade shook her head disappointedly. “This time your sister doesn’t have the Siren’s Bane. The only reason she beat me before is because of that weapon… It drew its power from the amount of sirens in the world, but here in this world… I am the only one, so even if she had it now… It would be useless, just like you. A worthless human getting involved in matters that are far beyond your comprehension…”

Shimmer stood still with the blade still in hand, locking eyes with Serenade.

Serenade smirked. “She should have taken the chance she had all those years ago and killed me. Now that chance is gone, and I will make her regret it.”

Smirking back at her, Shimmer sent her energy through the sword blasting at Serenade. The attack landed and knocked her back. The woman tumbled and was forced to pick herself back up. She looked down at the sleeve of her dress and grunted in annoyance as she saw it was sliced. “I really liked that dress you know?”

Lowering her sword, Shimmer looked over at Sunset. “I think she still has plenty of power left. We can’t expect her to tire out…”

“I’m open to suggestions…” Sunset said.

Shimmer glanced over at Serenade who was getting ready to attack, then back at Sunset. “I can unleash most of my power if you can hold her off…”

Sunset blinked. “But then you’ll…”

Shimmer nodded. “It has to be done.”

“No. We won’t do that.” Sunset shook her head.

Shimmer sighed. “It’s too late, Sunset. I’m almost out of time. I’ve only got a little bit of time left anyway. I am going to use it to stop Serenade, and that’s all there is to it.”

Sunset glanced back at Serenade who was charging an energy attack. She grunted before agreeing. “Ugh, fine. I’ll hold her off, you prepare yourself.”

Shimmer nodded as she watched Sunset rush in swinging her blades. The younger of the two sisters began to focus her energy. She could feel her connection to Angel’s body begin to fade as she powered up. There wasn’t much time left, she would need to make this attack count.

Sunset engaged Serenade, and the two exchanged attacks repeatedly while Shimmer watched, a smile playing her lips as she watched how much passion her sister fought with. She had grown up so much. Shimmer wished she had been there to see it all, but it simply wasn’t possible. She was needed elsewhere, and now she was close to finishing what she was meant to do. “It’s a shame, sister… I would have loved for us to spend more time together…” Shimmer said as she felt her energy reach its peak.

“This is all I can do now…” Shimmer spoke to herself.

Without hesitation, she unleashed a massive energy blast, and knocked Serenade down, burning through the skirt of her dress and burning one of her sleeves away. The siren was sent flying a good eight feet. She landed on her stomach and growled as she looked up to see Shimmer tumble to the ground. Sunset glanced over at her sister, but without getting a chance to do anything, Horizon rushed to Shimmer’s side.

Shimmer smiled at her niece weakly. “Sorry, Horizon… I wish we had a chance to get to know each other better.”

Horizon nodded. “I’ve heard stories about you. In a way, it’s like we already know each other.”

Shimmer nodded back. “Yes… How nice… Take care of things for me, okay? My power is almost all used up, I won’t be around much longer… If you excuse me… I have one last thing that I have to do…”

Horizon watched as the girl’s body transformed back into Angel Song. Angel had passed out from all the exertion. Horizon let her rest as she came to a stand.

“Maybe this will get you angry…” Serenade spoke before digging her fingers into the dirt in front of her. The black tendrils up her sleeve followed her fingers and dug through the ground before coming back up around Horizon.

The teen blinked, and she was surrounded by dark energy. She had no way to stop it, no time to react.

It would never touch her though, because standing there after using her ability to walk through shadows was Sunset. Her demonic arm had grabbed the dark energy, and she held on tightly, not allowing it to move as she struggled to contain it. Beads of sweat ran down her forehead as she grunted in agony while holding it in place.

Horizon blinked and looked at her mother with surprise. Sunset stood struggling, but unfaltering. “I don’t think so…” She managed to get out between strained breaths.

Holding the energy tightly, Sunset spoke to it. “I know you can hear me… It’s been so long that I know you so well…”

Horizon was silent as her mother spoke to someone she could not see. “You’ve taken everything from me already… My family, my arm, my life… I wasn’t strong enough to stop you…”

The two were silent for a few seconds before Sunset spoke again. “But I won’t let you have her… I won’t let you take my daughter. I draw the line there, that’s the one thing I won’t let you have… Take me instead… I’m the one you really want… I’m the one who has cheated you for so long… I’m the one who resisted you… I’m the one who kept pushing you back… It’s me you want…”

Horizon stepped backward as she saw Sunset’s grip couldn’t hold out forever.

“So take me then… Let’s stop pretending that this wasn’t the way it was always going to turn out, and just finish this…” Sunset spoke.

As if the darkness had answered her words, it stopped trying to head toward Horizon and instead all became absorbed into Sunset’s arm. The dark energy around her arm spread, covering half of Sunset’s face, changing the white of her eyes to black, and glowing blue veins could be seen through the black parts of her body that the demonic energy had taken hold of.

She smirked and nodded at her daughter. “Sorry, Horizon. Please let me finish this myself, okay?”

Her daughter nodded and stepped aside as Sunset turned back to Serenade, who had managed to get herself up and was now clapping to mock Sunset. “Well, well… Finally you embrace the worst part of yourself… Maybe now you’ll actually be a challenge?”

Sunset cracked her neck and readied her arm. “I should have killed you back then, but now I can correct that problem…”

Serenade laughed and took a stance ready to fight. “Let’s see you try…”

The two within seconds were exchanging blows, blocking each other as they did. Serenade focused on footwork, repeatedly kicking Sunset. The two charged their hands and blasted at each other, but the attacks only pushed both of them back.

Sunset summoned her bow and unleashed an arrow in Serenade’s direction, but the siren caught it mid-air and threw it back at Sunset. The girl moved her head out of the way, the arrow narrowly missing her.

Rushing Serenade, Sunset drew a revolver from a pouch on her belt and tried to fire at the siren, but Serenade swatted the gun out of her hand, causing it to land over near Angel. Sunset glanced for a second at the gun, but then Serenade swung at her. She grabbed Serenade’s fist in her hand, and then the other as another punch came her way.

The two stood there locked together as Serenade laughed. “It’s just as I thought… You’re still too weak. This is you at your full potential? I’m disappointed…”

Sunset growled, but Serenade kicked the girl in the stomach causing her to kneel and release her grip on Serenade. The siren followed up with another kick that sent Sunset flying back. Sunset landed on her feet now standing next to Angel. She growled in annoyance until she heard Shimmer’s voice.

“Sunset…” The voice was nearly a whisper.

She looked over at Angel to see that her eyes had changed to the same color that Shimmer’s were, and out of her mouth came Shimmer’s voice. “Sunset… My power is almost gone, but I need to tell you something before I finish my last task…”

Sunset kept her eye on Serenade who stood there taunting her to come back and fight. “What is it?”

“Sunset… Stop resisting…”

Sunset could almost feel her heart stop at those words. How did Shimmer know?

“Sunset… You’re still holding back. You’re afraid… You’re afraid that if you give in, you’ll turn into Serenade…” Shimmer explained.

Sunset was silent.

“You don’t want to turn into a killing machine like her, I know… But the power to stop her is in you, I could sense it when my magic got stronger. Your heart is strong enough…” Shimmer continued.

“But if I…” Sunset didn’t even want to finish her own sentence.

Shimmer smiled. “Horizon and her friends won’t let that happen. You can trust them. It is not wrong to use the dark power within you for the right cause. Just give in… If you don’t stop Serenade now… Everyone will die, that is a certainty. Please, embrace your power, save this world, save your own world. Your life will always have meaning if you do that…”

Sighing, Sunset nodded as she closed her eyes.

Standing in darkness, Sunset opened her eyes, and there before her was the demon she had known for so long now. The version of herself that she hated so much, the version of herself that she regretted.

“I can’t run from you any longer…” Sunset spoke.

The demon nodded in agreement. “You finally understand then? I wasn’t pulled from Hell and placed within you… You created me. The worst parts of you won out and made me. We are bonded in such a way that you won’t ever be rid of me. I have grown stronger as you have grown stronger.”

“In the end, all I was doing was delaying the inevitable. I tried so hard to get rid of you, but the reality is… That was never an option,” Sunset spoke.

Approaching, the demon smiled at her. “I can at least promise you that we’ll kill Serenade together. Her living is disadvantageous for my goals.”

Sunset sighed. “You realize that my body won’t be viable for you to use for very long if we do this? I’ll die shortly after.”

The demon shrugged. “I’ll just have to find a way to transfer my power to someone else. I’m definitely strong enough now.”

Sunset sighed again. “Fine.”

“So we’re doing this then?” The demon asked.

Sunset nodded. “Yes. Let’s embrace oblivion together.”

The demon offered her hand, which Sunset took.

Opening her eyes, Sunset placed her hand over her eye. Once Horizon realized what she was about to do, she protested. “Sunset, don’t!”

Sunset ignored her daughter and continued.

“Your power is mine… My body is yours… Together…” She paused but finished only a second later. “We are one!”

The moment she removed her hand, the darkness began to cover her entire body. Her other hand turned into a claw, and the claws on both hands grew their talons. Sunset’s clothes had vanished and her entire body was now covered in black skin that emitted dark smoke. Her hair had transformed into fire and blue veins began to glow across her entire body while tendrils started to protrude from her back.

Once the transformation was complete, she stood tall and looked at her right claw with a devilish smirk, her teeth all replaced with sharp fangs. “This power…” She spoke with a distorted voice. “Finally… I get to feel it…”

Serenade grinned and clapped. “So, you’re finally going to try for real now? Maybe now you’ll be a challenge?”

Sunset grinned as she stepped toward Serenade. “You really have no idea how dead you are…”

Serenade laughed. “Let’s see what you have.”

Sunset kept walking, not raising a hand to even strike Serenade. The siren blinked and conjured her whip. She slashed it at Sunset, and it made direct contact with her skin, but to Serenade’s shock, nothing happened, the girl didn’t even flinch.

Grunting, Serenade whipped her eight more times, and each time the weapon just bounced off of Sunset’s body, until the last time when she grabbed the whip in her left claw. The burning fire of the weapon didn’t even seem to affect her. With a quick yank, she tore the weapon from Serenade’s hand and threw it on the ground.

Stomping on the hilt, Sunset shattered it to pieces as she wagged her finger. “We don’t need toys.”

Serenade growled and swung at Sunset hitting her directly in the chest, but the girl didn’t even flinch. Serenade began to deliver blow after blow, and Sunset didn’t even try to dodge them, she just stood there tanking hits without a care.

Returning the favor, Sunset punched Serenade in the gut, causing her to gasp for air as it made her feet slide across the ground. The siren gripped her stomach and looked up to see that Sunset’s single punch had pushed her back at least 30 feet. “So you’re a little stronger…” Serenade spit out a drop of black blood.

Sunset tilted her head and gave a cocky smile. “Are you going to start trying now?”

Serenade grunted but quickly started unleashing dark energy balls from both her hands in rapid succession. Sunset just kept swatting each one away as she slowly walked toward Serenade. Once she was within arm’s reach, she gripped Serenade’s dress and held the petite girl up, and punched her directly in the stomach again.

This blow knocked the wind out of Serenade as Sunset tossed her aside and kicked her while she lay on the ground, sending her rolling. Once Serenade had recovered, she forced herself to stand and wiped away a trail of blood from her lip. She blinked as she assessed the situation. Something’s wrong. She’s not supposed to be this strong, what’s happening? I would have sensed her demonic power earlier if she was this strong. What’s going on? Serenade thought to herself.

“So you’ve got some strong punches, big deal…” Serenade dismissed.

“How about another trick then?” Sunset grinned.

Serenade blinked in confusion, but after the blink, Sunset was standing directly in front of her. Without hesitation, Sunset delivered a series of punches to the Siren which sent her flying back once more. As she soared through the air, she realized what had just happened. She’s faster than me… I couldn’t even see her move…

Sunset grinned as she cracked her knuckles. “That offer of a quick death is still on the table, you know? Just let me snap your neck and we’ll call it a day, how about it?”

Serenade growled as she began to think of a plan. The Oubliette. It’s the only chance. Even a demon as strong as her couldn’t survive an attack like that. It is the power of a demon lord, after all. Even with her power, she could never master something like that.

Sunset yawned and gestured for the girl to answer. “Come on, I don’t have all day.”

Serenade began to focus her energy. The attack would leave most of her power drained, but it would be enough to vaporize Sunset.

Sunset crossed her arms waiting for Serenade to answer.

The siren grinned deviously. “You’re overconfident… And soon you’ll be dead. There’s no way you can stop this attack. If you dodge it, it’ll crack your planet in half, and if you try and block it… You’re dead.”

Sunset tilted her head but didn’t seem too threatened. “Get on with it then…”

Serenade laughed and jumped into the air, giving herself a good ten feet as she could feel the attack almost ready. “With pleasure… NOW DIE!” She screamed as she held her hands in front of herself unleashing all of her power. Every bit of magic and demonic energy she could spare pushed out of her hands creating a massive black beam of energy that raced toward Sunset.

Sunset grinned as she saw the beam come toward her. She raised her left claw and swatted the beam, sending it back at Serenade.

“What!?” Serenade blinked as she saw the attack returned to her.

Taking a direct hit from it, she felt her bones snap and blood pour out of her body. Capitalizing on the hit, Sunset moved quicker than Serenade could see and punched the girl so hard it sent her down to the earth below her, smashing her body into the rock, creating a crater upon impact.

Sunset landed gracefully next to the crater and smirked as she walked over to see the result of her attack. Serenade reached a hand up from the crater, but with a quick swipe, Sunset sliced her fingers off. Black blood oozed and spurted from the stumps as the hand fell back into the crater.

Serenade lay there as Sunset looked down at her. Her good eye had been popped, leaving only a bloody mess where it once was. All that was left was the changeling eye. Her body was battered and Sunset could tell she was in no condition to fight anymore.

“I have to say… I’m surprised you’re still alive…” Sunset stated.

Serenade’s voice was shaky and strained. “I don’t understand… How… How did I lose to you? How is it even possible?”

Sunset crossed her arms as she looked down at the girl. “You still don’t get it, do you?”

Serenade shook her head ever-so-gently. “No… Please explain it to me…”

Uncrossing her arms, Sunset placed a claw where her own heart was. “You spent centuries pushing your body and mind to their limit. You grew them as much as you could, but your heart never grew. You only used your powers selfishly, so your heart never grew. Sunset used her powers to protect others, she gave herself selflessly to protect…”

Serenade listened quietly.

“Because of that… When I took over her body, the power from her heart was enough to make me this strong. You were never able to achieve this level of ability…” Sunset explained.

Serenade laughed gently between coughs. “All this time… I spent getting stronger… But I never stood a chance. I had lost before I had even begun… It’s almost like a cruel joke really… My heart was never strong enough. I was always going to lose to you…”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah. It was already decided before it even began.”

“What an unfortunate outcome…” Serenade sighed.

“Yeah, it is. We do want to know one thing though…” Sunset crossed her arms again.

“What is it?” Serenade coughed up blood.

“Why did you do it? What did you hope to gain by killing all mortals? Making yourself a demon? What was your motivation?” Sunset asked.

Serenade chuckled. “I guess you aren’t going to buy the whole schtick about how much I hate how my kind was treated by them anymore, are you?”

“Tell me the truth…” Sunset spoke.

Serenade sighed. “I just… I wanted to feel normal, that’s all. I figured if everyone was like me… I’d feel normal. Since the moment I was born, I was treated like an outsider, an outcast, a monster… I just wanted to be seen as more than that… Maybe even respected… That’s all…”

Sunset nodded in understanding. “Sunset knows those feelings as well. I can sense her emotions, those feelings you have, she has had them too.”

“That’s ironic…” Serenade laughed. “So… You’re going to kill me now, right?”

Sunset shook her head. “No. You’re already as good as dead in that state. You won’t survive much longer, the damage is too much for your body to heal from. Just wait a little while… I have no need to waste my time finishing you off…”

Serenade sighed and nodded. “You’re so cruel…”

Sunset laughed before stepping away from the crater and cracking her knuckles. “Now that that is done…”

She turned to the teens watching her from atop the hill. Jasper gulped as he saw the look on her face. “I think it’s safe to say that Sunset has lost control… This isn’t good.”

“So she killed Serenade only to replace her with something worse…?” Bolt questioned.

“Looks that way…” Jasper nodded as sweat ran down his neck.

Down near the battlefield, Horizon stood up and took a fighting stance. Eclipse blinked in amazement. “Horizon, you can’t possibly think you can beat her!”

Horizon shook her head. “I can still do a dark pull on her…”

“Horizon if you do that, you are guaranteed to die…” Eclipse reminded.

“If I don’t do it, she’ll kill everyone…” Horizon replied.

He sighed and nodded. “Fine… Do what you have to do…”

Horizon stared down the creature that was formerly her mother. The two locked eyes before they both lunged in to attack.

Angel found herself on the ground in a blank white abyss. She opened her eyes and forced herself to stand, her body felt lighter than air. She could tell she wasn’t awake, instead, she was in some kind of dream state that she had come to recognize. There standing in front of her was the friendly face of Shimmer who wasn’t wearing her signature smile, instead, her face had a more serious expression.

Adjusting herself, Angel nodded at Shimmer who nodded back. Shimmer spoke up as soon as Angel was standing. “We’re running out of time, Angel…”

“I know…” Angel nodded. “I can feel your presence fading… The magic that keeps you here is running out…”

Shimmer nodded back in agreement. “Correct. I’ll be gone soon, but before I go, there’s one last thing I must do… I can’t withhold this any longer, but I would prefer to be here when you see it…”

“See what?” Angel blinked and tilted her head in confusion.

Shimmer sighed and waved her hand, causing two women to appear before them, both faces that Angel had recognized. One was the masked villain, Ghost, and the other was Adagio Dazzle, whom she recognized from the Adagio Shades that they had encountered on their journey. She was confused as Shimmer stepped forward.

“The time has come for you to learn the truth, Angel…” Shimmer spoke.

For some reason, Angel felt unsettled, she felt her blood run cold. “W-what do you mean?”

Shimmer sighed and glanced at the two women who had appeared. “A long time ago, Princess Twilight did something she wasn’t supposed to do…”

“What do you mean?” Angel blinked.

A memory of Princess Twilight appeared before the two, the young unicorn paced in a room with her old friend, Spike.

“Twilight, you are certain about this?” Spike asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, I think this is the right call…”

Spike sighed and shook his head. “You know this is treason right? If you do this, you’re going against the ruling of the royal family, you’d be freeing a murderer, an international criminal…”

“I now see what we failed to understand before…” Twilight explained.

“Maybe you should explain that to the royal family? To the others?” Spike suggested.

Twilight shook her head. “After that display, they all want a corpse. Sunset alone is too distraught to listen to reason…”

“So what will you do?” Spike questioned.

Twilight glanced over at her oldest friend. “Give her a chance…”

The memory vanished as Shimmer stepped forward. “She defied the results of the trial when she learned Adagio’s story. She cast a spell on her in plain sight, using a kiss to transfer the effects to Adagio’s body…”

Another memory appeared before Angel, this time Twilight entered the morgue of the castle, a place where the deceased were taken to their final resting place. She had signed herself up for the disposal of Adagio’s body personally, an act that was viewed with raised brows and questionable expressions, but no one dared defy the Princess’ request. She insisted it was to ensure the body was disposed of properly.

When the slovenly princess arrived, she had dismissed the other workers, insisting she would cover for the remainder of the night. Pulling the siren’s body out, she removed the blanket over it and sighed before planting her lips upon the siren’s. A gentle magical twinkle was seen and the siren’s eyes opened, confused as she glanced around.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Twilight Sparkle. The Princess smiled at her and covered her mouth before Adagio could speak. “There’s no time. We have to leave here, I’ve arranged everything.”

“I don’t understand… How am I still alive?” Adagio blinked.

“I used a spell to protect you from death, it would put you into a death-like state until I awoke you…” Twilight explained.

“Why though?” Adagio questioned.

Twilight smiled. “There’s no time, come.”

The memory vanished as Shimmer explained more. “She took her to the human world, she set her up far away from where she had been and established a new life for her, a new identity…”

Another memory appeared, this time it was the two in the human world, Twilight returning with a set of keys that she placed in Adagio’s hand. The siren looked down and then back up at Twilight in confusion. “I don’t get it…”

“Tomorrow you’ll have a roommate come interview for the room, I think that will be a good start…” Twilight explained.

“Why are you doing all of this, Princess? Wasn’t it you that sentenced me to death?” Adagio asked.

Twilight thought for a moment before answering. “Well… I guess it’s because I want to prove something…”

“Prove what?” Adagio tilted her head.

“You weren’t born this way, Adagio. All the things you’ve done… They were because of the circumstances you were put into… I wanted to prove to everyone that if you had been given a real chance, you’d turn out different… I just wanted to give you that chance…” Twilight explained.

Adagio looked at the keys in her hand before looking back up at Twilight. “What do I do now?”

Twilight smiled as she placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Go to sleep. When you wake up… You won’t remember any of this… You’ll begin your life anew. I’ve already arranged it. The spell on you will erase all of your memories and you’ll wake up a new person tomorrow…”

Adagio blinked and shook her head. “I don’t know what to say…”

“You needn’t say anything… Goodbye Adagio… And good luck, I know you’ll prove me right…” Twilight smiled.

The memory once again vanished as Shimmer appeared. “When she went to sleep that night, she forgot who she was… Her memories were erased, but Twilight had not counted on one thing… Me.”

“When Adagio’s memories were erased, I was a part of her. In my last moments, I used my magic to transfer my consciousness into her. We were lovers at one point, so I was able to use our deep connection to push myself into her… I’m not sure if I am a copy or the original, but she was close by when it happened…” Shimmer explained.

Angel wasn’t sure what was going on. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

Shimmer sighed. “The person who killed me, the reason I am here… Her name…”

Shimmer transformed into Ghost. “Her name is Ghost.”

Ghost’s body shifted and turned into Adagio. “Her name is Adagio Dazzle.”

Finally, Adagio transformed into an exact copy of Angel. “Her name is Angel Song.”

Angel’s eyes widened as the apparition before her split into three, Adagio, Ghost, and herself. All of them speaking in unison. “They are one in the same.”

Angel stepped backward shaking her head in denial. “No… It’s not… It’s not possible…”

The three of them transformed into a single Adagio who stepped forward with a powerful gaze staring at Angel. “Angel… You and I are the same person, I know it’s difficult for you to believe, but it’s the truth…”

“No! I’m not you!” Angel cried in defiance.

Adagio shook her head. “Angel… Do you remember a single birthday you ever had?”

Angel tried to recall, but she quickly realized Adagio was right.

“And you don’t ever recall your parents coming to visit or even calling you?” Adagio pointed out.

“That’s because…” Angel tried to think of a valid explanation, but none came to mind.

“They don’t exist. Those were merely memories that Twilight had given to you to keep the facade going… She never counted on Shimmer locking our memories away, but with her power fading, we will have to become one again…” Adagio explained.

“No! I don’t want that! I don’t want to be you!” Angel felt tears run down her face.

Adagio smiled at her. “I didn’t want to be me either, but this is the truth. We can’t run from it any longer… You won’t disappear, we’ll be whole. Everything you’ve learned, all of your experiences… They won’t go away, they’ll just become a part of us…”

Angel whimpered as she looked at an extended hand offered by Adagio. “I… I can’t believe this… I just wanted to find answers…”

Adagio grinned wider. “And we can find them together…”

Angel nodded and took the woman’s hand, feeling memories rush back to her the moment the two became one.

Horizon clashed with Sunset and the demon pushed her back, Horizon flipped and landed on her feet as the two locked stares. The demon laughed defiantly against the young teen. “What’s wrong, little girl? Do you want to die that badly? Do you miss your mommy? Too bad! She’s mine now!”

The teen’s expression didn’t change as the demon threw a dark energy blast at her, but Horizon side-stepped and swiped it away with glowing claws of light before the two began to exchange blows.

Horizon was managing to stay in the fight, but she knew she couldn’t keep up with such a fierce creature for long, and the longer she waited, the less likely she was to pull Sunset back. Her spirit was burning up quickly, and it would only be a matter of minutes before there was no going back. It was now or never, she had to save her mother now.

Quickly, Horizon summoned a series of light spears and tossed eight of them at the demon. Without even thinking the demon began swatting them all away, but she fell right into Horizon’s trap.

The teenager had bolted forward quickly and pierced the demon’s body with a glowing light claw, her hand now turning into an ethereal state as she could feel herself grip on the demon’s very essence inside of Sunset. Horizon and the demon locked eyes as the demon quickly gripped Horizon’s arm with both of their arms.

“You little brat!” The demon hissed.

“Now it’s time to end you…” Horizon said before she began to pull. The demon tried to hold her back though and the two began the final struggle.

Inside of Sunset, the redhead could hear the voice of the demon within her call out to her. “Sunset! Stop her!”

Opening her eyes, Sunset could see the demon in her begin to be pulled apart, she reached for Sunset’s hand. “Sunset! Have you forgotten? I saved your life!”

Sunset stood there staring as the creature pleaded for her help. She stepped forward and with a blank expression Sunset began to voice her thoughts. “Saved my life? What a laugh… All you’ve ever done is take from me… You’re nothing more than a parasite, and now you’ll finally be gone…”

“You ungrateful welp! I made you into what you are! I helped you destroy Serenade!” It screamed.

“And now you are no longer needed…” Sunset replied.

Horizon pulled as hard as she could, and before she knew it, the dark shadow within her mother exited Sunset’s body and was clutched in her hand. Horizon knew it would only be seconds before it went back into Sunset if she didn’t absorb it, so she pushed it directly into her chest where her heart was and the entire dark form vanished into her.

Eight long seconds passed as Sunset returned to normal, and collapsed in front of the teen. Horizon exhaled and then felt a sharp pain in her chest. She gasped for air as she clenched her chest and tried to breathe. The girl fell to her knees, unable to take in air as she felt vomit build up in her throat. She spat out black slime before falling onto the ground convulsing.

Seeing it all unfold before him, Eclipse quickly ran to Horizon and dragged her away from the fight scene. Her friends began racing toward the two as Eclipse turned her on her side, holding her head down so she didn’t injure herself. “Fuck… Come on, Horizon… Fight…” He spoke to her.

Horizon coughed up more black slime and the veins within her eyes began to turn black as she felt the darkness in her body try and take over her. Her entire body was shutting down trying to fight it, but she could hear Eclipse’s voice joined by her friends.

“Horizon, stay with us!” Jasper instructed.

“Just hang on!” Bolt added.

She could feel their hands on her as she struggled to stay awake, the pain overwhelming her.

Sunset opened her eyes and panted lightly as she looked down at her hand, all of the demonic energy surrounding her was gone. She was confused, but then saw her daughter, laying there struggling. She couldn’t believe it, Horizon had sacrificed herself to save her.

Forcing herself up with her hands, Sunset coughed and panted.

Across from them all, Angel had finally come to, her eyes were wide as she remembered everything. She spoke to herself as she let it sink in. “I’m… I’m Adagio… It’s true…”

She glanced over in front of her and saw Sunset’s gun from earlier had landed only about eight inches from herself. She reached for it and grabbed it, the moment she touched it, she could hear Shimmer’s voice. “It’s time to choose, Adagio…”

Looking up, she could see Serenade had managed to force herself up, and the portal was getting ready to open with energy starting to swirl around it. If Serenade made it through that portal, she could have a chance at recovering, a chance at returning with the power needed to destroy the human race.

Sunset came to a stand about to attack Serenade but then noticed Adagio holding the gun.

“Oh shit…” Sunset nearly whispered, but Eclipse heard her and looked over at her.

“What is it?” Eclipse asked.

Sunset nodded her head toward Adagio. “I think… In the end… It was never my choice… It was her’s…”

“What?” Eclipse blinked and looked to see what she was talking about and sure enough the gun in Adagio’s hands was pointed between the two of them.

“This whole time… I thought I was going to be the one to choose, but it turns out, it was her choice all along, how this turns out… Is entirely on her…” Sunset said.

Key watched closely from afar as Lock clung to his side, her pygmy height making her seem worlds younger than him, but in actuality, the two were near the same physical age, she was just more youthful.

Speaking as he held the girl close, caressing her black hair, he added his commentary. “So, it’s all come down to this then… What will she choose? That will determine what happens next.”

“If we put everything in place the way we were supposed to, then we already know the outcome, right?” Lock asked.

Key nodded. “Yeah, but people can be surprising sometimes…”

Sunset froze, waiting for Adagio to make her choice. The siren thought for a brief moment that felt like an eternity before pulling the trigger. A loud flash came from the weapon, and Sunset winced, trying to shield herself with her arms, but to her surprise, she wasn’t the one hit.

Instead, Serenade was struck in the shoulder, causing the girl to scream in pain. In shock, Sunset glanced around, watching as smoke came from the end of the weapon in Serenade’s hand.

She looked over at Serenade in confusion before the girl called out to Sunset. “Sunset, the mirror, now! You have to destroy it now!”

Nodding, Sunset quickly tried to summon her bow, only to realize every item she had placed within her abyssal pocket had simply fallen to the ground around her when she lost her demonic power. Scrambling, she retrieved her bow and a single arrow.

Pulling back the string, she channeled her magic through the arrow as she took aim at the mirror. With the destruction of this mirror, there was no going back, there was no way to return to Equestria, and the link to magic within humans would be broken. She inhaled and exhaled as she released the arrow.

The arrow sailed through the sky as Serenade watched with her remaining eye widened. “No…” She whispered.

As the portal began to open, the arrow struck it just before it formed and shattered it, leaving nothing but shards as it did.

As the mirror shattered, Adagio could hear the voice of Shimmer dissipate as it spoke her final words to Adagio, “Thank you.”

Sunset lowered her bow and then placed it around her back as she went to check on Horizon who was now coming around. The girl was starting to breathe normally and appeared to be in much better shape. Sunset smiled at her daughter and gave an approving nod. “I guess we underestimated you.”

Horizon just gave a weak thumbs-up as the entire group laughed. Their laughter ended quickly though, as they turned to Serenade who was on her knees, gripping her wounded shoulder.

Adagio approached the petite girl with her gun at her side until the two were only a foot apart. Adagio looked at what was left of her sister and said nothing.

“Why, Adagio? Why would you betray me? You of all creatures…” Serenade asked.

Adagio shook her head. “You didn’t give me a choice… It was all I could do to stop you from what you’ve become. I’ve had a lot of time to think about things, Serenade, and I think I understand now… We went through life hating mortals for what they had done to us, that we were blinded to the fact that we both just became the very thing we hate…”

“So that’s it then?” Serenade growled.

“Serenade… You are too far gone, the darkness has claimed you long ago…” Adagio pointed out.

Serenade blinked and then turned her head to Horizon. “You, I have seen your powers before… You can remove this darkness within me! I know you can! Magic may be severed for mortals, but you are half Equestrian! You should be able to…”

Eclipse shook his head. “Even if Horizon was in a state to do that, it won’t work.”

Horizon chimed in with a strained voice. “Unlike Sunset, you accepted darkness into your heart fully from the start… Meaning if I pulled it out, your heart would stop beating and you’d die instantly… Your only fate is to die or become a demonic husk eventually.”

Serenade blinked before she looked back at her sister who had a somber look on her face. “Adagio… You were supposed to be there to protect me… You promised!”

Adagio nodded. “It was my fault. I wasn’t there, I wasn’t there to stop you from going down this path, but now I have a chance to save you.”

The older of the two sirens pointed the gun at Serenade’s head. Serenade for the first time in her life, felt tears run down her face. “Why…? Why did it have to be like this?”

Adagio frowned. “I’m sorry, little sister… I really am…”

Serenade just sat there sobbing as Adagio pulled the trigger. A loud crack echoed through the air as the bullet pierced the girl’s skull, exiting the other side. Black blood sprayed out of the wound. Serenade’s body collapsed but dissolved into black dust before it even touched the dirt.

Adagio lowered the gun and sighed. “Forgive me, sister…”

Sunset approached carefully, paying mind to the gun still in Adagio’s hand. The siren looked over at Sunset and turned to face her, not raising her weapon. The two came into a good foot or so of each other and stood staring at each other.

Adagio was the one to break the silence.

“I’m sure you want me dead, right? After all, I should have died back then.”

Sunset ignored her question. “How are you still here?”

“Princess Twilight used a spell to make it appear as though I died back then, but she erased my memory and brought me here… I think she wanted to prove something…” Adagio explained.

Sunset felt more disgust toward the princess.

Adagio looked at the gun in her hand and raised it, but to Sunset’s surprise, she offered it to Sunset. “Here. I know that I don’t deserve to be here right now, not after what I did.”

Taking the gun in her hand, Sunset stared at it. The two were silent as Sunset removed the clip and tossed it aside. She then dropped the gun on the ground. Adagio’s brow raised in confusion.

“I should kill you… That’s what I should do… But for whatever reason, Shimmer wanted you alive… I intend to honor her wishes…” Sunset smiled at the girl and offered her hand. “Go live your life, Adagio.”

Adagio looked at her hand before taking it. “Thank you, Sunset… I’m really sorry… For everything… I wish I could take it back…”

“Don’t be sorry. Just prove that her sacrifice wasn’t for nothing…” Sunset stated.

The two released each other’s hand and nodded. Adagio smiled at the redhead, who smiled back at her. Somehow, they both felt at peace.

It was over. It was finally over.

WOW.

It's crazy that I wrote this so long ago, now to finally have it come out. I wrote it months in advance for the record.

Yeah, that is the finale! Serenade meets her end. Kind of sad in a way, but at least now we get to see her motivation a little bit. It was really fun writing her, but her time had to come to an end naturally.

Stay tuned, tomorrow is the true ending: the epilogue.

You may start leaving any questions you have now though, I'll answer them as best I can!