Sunset had gone over the plan numerous times at this point with her friends. She didn’t have a lot of time to study the building that Adagio was using as a fortress but she did take some mental notes of its exterior and interior when she originally visited along with getting a few photos of the place from Google Street View. Twilight and she were to go and shut down the mechanism that locks the doors. Sunset noticed a terminal station on her way in that she assumed handled the security of the building. They were to sneak Twilight in so she could hack their way in, possibly even disable the camera system so that Adagio couldn’t get the jump on them.

The others were to go in from a metal door Sunset saw on the other side so that they were heading in through two directions, from there they were to split up into groups of three and four so they could increase their odds of having the element of surprise. In the high stakes game that Adagio was playing, they would need every single advantage they could get if they wanted to win this fight. Adagio was strong, far stronger than she was the first time they met, and it was clear that she had been honing her skills and her body, her abilities far surpassed anything that Sunset could imagine. She wasn’t about to be so easily defeated by Sunset and her friends without a fight, and even then the odds were in Adagio's favor. They would need to not only bring their best fight to the table, but they'd need all the wit they could muster and every ounce of luck they could get.

The group only had enough time to go over their plan once, but Sunset hoped they were all able to commit it to memory, considering Aria barely looked like she was paying attention. Sunset questioned if not keeping her in her own care was a wise idea, but figured that if she made her mad enough, Applejack would give her the thrashing of a lifetime.

Sunset drove quietly and parked a good distance away from the facility so their car wouldn’t be seen too easily. The car was placed inside another run down old building across the street and then turned off. She sighed and looked at Twilight who was sitting in the passenger seat. Twilight gave her friend a comforting nod of approval before unfastening her seatbelt. Sunset reached into the storage on the door and retrieved her handgun before checking it for ammunition. She had a full clip, enough to get them out of a tight spot if it came to it.

Her eyes turned to Twilight who was giving her a disapproving look as she watched Sunset hold the gun. Sunset smiled and lowered the weapon to stuff into her waistband. “Last resort, I promise…” Sunset held out her pinkie finger.

Taking it and locking it with her own, Twilight nodded. “It… Better be… We… We can’t stoop to her level, you know that right? Killing her won't solve anything, right?” Twilight asked.

Releasing Twilight’s finger, Sunset crossed her arms and chewed her lip in thought. She knew what Twilight said was true, but did she know herself enough to have the self-control to adhere to those words, that was the question.

“I… I’ll try…” Sunset sighed.

“Sunset, I need you to promise!” Twilight protested.

“I can’t promise that, Twilight. Adagio murdered the only family I have in this world, one of the few people who understood me even a little… I can’t let that go so easily…” Sunset frowned and looked away, knowing if she met Twilight’s eyes it would be impossible to not make her cry.

“I know all of that, Sunset but you can’t just kill her…” Twilight attempted to meet Sunset’s face only for the girl to look out the window.

“Why not?” Sunset grumbled.

Twilight reached forward and touched Sunset’s chin. With a gentle hand, she guided her to meet her face and locked her purple eyes with Sunset’s. “Because it will make you like her… Killing will not make you better than her, it’ll just turn you into what she is… You have to be better than that…”

Sunset sighed and shook her head. “Let’s just… Get this over with, alright?”

Shoving her way out of the car, Sunset knew if she stayed inside that Twilight would continue to badger her about the subject and she may have to face the disappointed that Sunset might not be capable of what she was asking out of her. She wanted to avoid killing Adagio, sure but she didn’t know if she had it in her to meet her face to face and not end her. Adagio had taken everything from her, and the voice in her head that screamed to get her back for that was only getting louder and louder.

This is it, let’s end Adagio… Kill her… Destroy her… Make her pay for all she has done! Why even pretend you don't want to!?

Sunset calmed herself with a breath and tried to ignore the voice before meeting Twilight in front of the car. She reached forward and placed a hand upon Twilight’s shoulder. “I… I appreciate you doing this with me…”

With a blink, Twilight nodded. “Don’t mention it.”

Sunset rubbed her neck nervously as she approached her friend. “Hey… It’s not too late… to back out. I can handle this with the others… If you’re scared that is…”

Twilight shook her head and stepped forward. “Admittedly… I’m terrified, I have no idea what’s going to happen in there… Hell, Adagio could kill us all and then take over the world after because no one was able to stop her magic…” Twilight placed her hand on her chest and touched her geode that she had around her neck and a smile came to her face. “So long as I have you and our friends though… That threat isn’t enough to stop me. We can do this… Together.”

“You never cease to amaze me, Sparkle.” Sunset chuckled as she gestured toward the building.

“In that case, let’s move!”

Applejack and her company had arrived in her beat up old truck, Rarity of course sitting in the front as she refused to sit in the back where it was “filthy” by her own words. Applejack parked a good distance away and ushered everyone out. Aria and Sonata were the first two to exit, and Applejack found her eyes locking onto the two, keeping a watchful eye on their new siren “accomplices”. She, like Sunset, didn’t trust them too much, but the feeling in the air made her understand that the feeling was mutual. Applejack didn’t trust them as far as she could throw them, figuratively speaking of course as she was certain she could hurl them pretty far.

Rainbow Dash hopped out after them and jabbed Aria with an accusing finger. Aria pivoted on her foot and caught a face full of Rainbow Dash’s gaze. She raised a brow in confusion causing Rainbow to speak. “No funny business.”

Aria scoffed and crossed her arms and turned back to Applejack who was helping Rarity out of the front of the truck. The remainder of their entourage assembled and Applejack sighed as she went over their plan again quickly.

“Alright, there is suppose’ t’be some kind of backdoor here that we’re suppose’ to find and open… We sneak in through the back, Sunset and Twi go in through the front… We get the jump on ol’ Adagio, mission successful.” Applejack placed her fist into her hand triumphantly as she recited the plan, a bit proud of herself for remembering all of it and delivering it so efficiently. “Any questions?”

Pinkie raised her hand. With a sigh, Applejack pointed to her. “Yes, Pinkie?”

“Can we go to the bathroom first?” Pinkie blinked.

A long exasperated sigh escaped the entire group causing Pinkie to shrug. “‘Ah told ya’ to go before we left… Just hold it for now…”

Pinkie frowned and nodded, slouching a bit in disappointment as she grumbled in annoyance.

Applejack let out a breath and composed herself. “Alright, from here on this is the point of no return… Everyone… please… stay safe, alright?”

The group collectively nodded in agreement.

With those words Applejack lead them toward their goal, approaching the side of the building cautiously. When they reached the fence surrounding the building they all hugged the wall and allowed Rarity to peak around the corner. To her surprise she could see the door that Sunset was talking about it was unguarded. The only issue was it appeared to be made of steel and locked with a padlock.

“What do you see, Rarity?” Rainbow asked.

She looked back at the group and nodded. “I see the door, it’s unguarded-“ She didn’t get a chance to finish as the entire team bolted over to the door only to stop dead in their tracks when they saw the padlock.

Clearing her throat, Rarity stepped forward. “I was going to tell you that it was locked…”

“Great… Now, what do we do?” Sonata whined.

Rainbow sighed and held a hand out to Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked down to her hand and then back up to Rainbow’s face and blinked. “Hairpin please.”

Nodding with a blush, Fluttershy reached into her lavish silky hair and retrieved a hairpin and offered it to Rainbow. With the pin in hand, Rainbow got on a knee and began the process of picking the lock.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Fluttershy blinked as she watched in awe at Rainbow's ability.

“My dad, I was taught quite a few survival skills in my house, it never dawned on you why I’m so good at camping?” Rainbow smirked.

Fluttershy shrugged. “I didn’t think much of it… I guess his time in the army taught him quite a bit…”

“Sure did, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… So I pick stuff up pretty quick.” Rainbow winked.

“Enough chit-chattin’, hurry up Rainbow, Sunset might already be inside by now…” Applejack complained.

Rainbow attempted to ignore her and kept working for a good eighty seconds or so, licking her lips as she tried to focus the best she could under the pressure.

“Come on! We ain’t got all day!” Applejack grumbled.

“Hey! This is a delicate process, you can’t rush it…” Rainbow darted her gaze over at Applejack with an incredulous look.

“Well yer’ ‘delicate process’ is takin’ too damn long!” Applejack crossed her arms.

“Oh, and what are you doing to help might I ask?” Rainbow tilted her head, thinking she had rendered Applejack speechless with that comeback as the girl said nothing.

Applejack, however, took a step forward and shoved Rainbow out of the way while muttering, “this is takin’ too long…”

The farm girl pulled her fist backward and then thrust it forward into the door causing a considerable dent and a loud ring. She pulled back for another and this time the punch knocked the door clean off, lock and all. It tumbled and slid across the floor inside making considerable noise and clatter.

The entire group blinked and fell silent for a moment before Applejack turned around and dusted off her palms. “There… Problem solved…”

“Yeah, and you probably alerted every goon in this place that we’re here! Way to go, idiot!” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“‘Ah got us in here faster than you did!” Applejack defended.

“Girls, girls, now isn’t the time. We need to get moving before Adagio’s minions show up, let’s follow the plan and split up, Me, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie will head this way,” Rarity pointed to the right after she had split up the argument, “and Rainbow, Aria, and Sonata will go that way.” Rarity then pointed in the opposite direction.

The entire group nodded and before they broke off, Applejack stopped Rainbow with a hand on her shoulder. Rainbow halted and looked at Applejack to see a serious and stern expression. “What’s up?” Rainbow asked with a raised brow.

“Rainbow, keep an eye on those sirens… For all we know they are in on Adagio’s plan and they are leading us into a trap… Don’t let ‘em do anything strange, got it?” Applejack commanded.

A smirk came to Rainbow’s arrogant face as she gave a thumbs up. “Was thinking the same thing, I guess great minds think alike.”

Confident in Rainbow’s ability to handle the situation, Applejack returned the smirk to her and patted her shoulder to send her off. She watched for a brief moment as Rainbow and the sirens ran in the other direction before Applejack decided it was high time she went to lead her group.

She caught up with the others and they would soon begin their search for Adagio, knowing this entire confrontation could end far worse than they ever imagined.

Adagio sat lazily on a chair as she smoked a cigarette. The most irritating part of any plan for her was waiting. She wasn’t the most patient person, but the past few months of training had at least made her competent at waiting for the correct moment. She didn’t want to strike too soon or too late, she needed Sunset to come to her, she would have the advantage then. Adagio had no intention of fighting fair, and she’d use everything in her arsenal to ensure her victory. Sunset had only caught a glimpse of a fraction of her total ability.

Finishing her cigarette she tossed it to the ground and hopped off of the table she was sitting on to stamp it out. One of her henchmen looked at her with curiosity before she barked a command his way. “Hey, check the security feed, I haven’t heard a report from our guy out there in some time…”

He gave a quick salute before running out of the room to do as he was told. Adagio wanted to keep her eyes open and foresee any attack coming her way. The chance that Sunset would bring her friends existed and was quite high. While her power and skill was vast, taking all of them on at the same time would at least prove a challenge to her; not to say that she couldn’t do it, but it would definitely exhaust more effort than she’d like. She needed to conserve her power for the next part of her plan.

“Soon… I’ll be able to set the world the way it’s supposed to be… I just need more power… I’ll start with these girls… Then I’ll work my way through Equestria… Before anyone knows it I’ll be the most powerful creature to ever live and then… I can fix this broken world…” She smiled, a bit of warmth coming to her heart as she thought out loud. The idea of this all finally being over soothed her.

“I won’t fall to the Siren’s Curse… I’ll break the curse… I know I will…” Adagio sighed.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her minion returned giving a salute before speaking. “M-ma’am you should come look at this…”

Adagio sighed and shook her head as she stepped in his direction. “I swear if this is a waste of my time…”

Following her subordinate, the two came to a room with several monitors all of them which previously showed various security feeds now had some kind of odd symbol that looked much like a half sun and half moon. Under the symbol was simply the word “Sundancer”.

“What the hell? Get these things back online!” Adagio barked.

“Ma’am I tried, the entire system is locked out!”

Adagio growled and shoved him to the side as she attempted to work the computer, she clacked away viciously but nothing happened. The entire system was locked out, someone must have hacked their way in. “Damn it! Who the fuck is Sundancer? Find them and kill them! Now!” She hissed.

Nervously, her subordinate gave another salute and ran off.

Adagio pounded the keyboard and sighed. “So… You’re all trying to get the jump on me, huh? No matter… I don’t scare that easily… You’re still playing right into my hand…”

Twilight blinked as Sunset and she entered the security office. She began to examine the computers with confusion. She paused and stood there like a deer in headlights before Sunset gave her a gentle shake. “Hey, snap out of it, what’s wrong?”

Twilight adjusted her glasses. “Well… It’s just… Someone was already here… All of the cameras and the entire security system has already been shut down and locked out…”

“What!? How’s that possible!?” Sunset blinked.

Twilight shrugged. “I guess we have more allies on our side than we originally thought… Maybe one of Adagio’s men turned on her?”

Sunset shook her head in disbelief. “That’s not possible she has total control of them, remember?”

Twilight placed a hand to her chin in thought, she recognized that Sunset had a point in that Adagio’s minions lacked the ability to disobey shy of maybe the few who retained free will, but was it possible that one of them turned on her? Why though? She couldn’t think of a single benefit to turning on Adagio.

“I don’t know… Whoever it was… It works to our advantage, right?” Twilight shrugged.

Sunset nodded reluctantly. She would take every advantage she could get, but she wasn’t comfortable not knowing who else had it out to get Adagio, sure it could work for her, but they could also be competing with her to bring Adagio down and perhaps even stand in their way to get to Adagio first.

Regardless it was a problem that they would have to handle at a later point as they didn’t have time to contemplate it.

“Well, either way, let’s get moving, we don’t want to wait here too long or Adagio might realize the security system is down and come snooping this way…” Sunset replied.

Twilight nodded in agreement and gestured toward the exit. “Let’s get going then, we should enter through the side entrance.”

Sunset agreed and began to lead the way as the two made their way into the building, unsure of what awaited them.

Rainbow and the two sirens made their way down an old hallway searching for any clues to Adagio’s whereabouts, finding little everywhere they turned. They managed to find old documents from when the facility was still in operation, old time cards, but nothing truly remarkable.

Searching an old storeroom, Rainbow sat atop of a set of crates that time had forgotten and yawned. “This place is huge… There’s no way Adagio has enough men to cover this entire place, probably why shy of those two guards we gave the slip we haven’t seen anyone yet…”

“Or perhaps Adagio is keeping her minions guarding her and her hostages, have you ever considered that?” Aria raised a brow as she and Sonata began to search the room for anything useful that might aid them.

“True… Now that you put it that way… That does sound like the best plan in her position…” Rainbow placed a hand on her chin in thought. “So… Can you tell me what this is all about? Why is Adagio doing this? I mean besides her being an evil siren that is…”

Aria growled but Sonata answered for her, “Sirens aren’t evil…”

“Seem evil to me… I mean you two would probably take a crack at destroying us too if you got your magic back.” Rainbow shrugged.

“That isn’t true, in fact, we turned down the chance to get our magic back…” Sonata defended.

Rainbow blinked and looked at Aria who looked away with a blush. “Really?” Rainbow asked.

“Y-yeah…” Aria replied, refusing to look Rainbow in the eyes.

“Why though?” Rainbow raised a brow, a bit suspicious of them.

“It’s complicated, but one of the reasons is we weren’t willing to go to the lengths that Adagio is… We weren’t…” She paused and chewed her lip for a moment before finishing her sentence. “We weren’t willing to kill people…”

“You’re willing to enslave people and steal their energy, but killing is where you draw the line?” Rainbow chuckled and shook her head.

“I wouldn’t expect a mortal like you to understand, but we sirens…” Aria closed her eyes as memories came rolling back to her. “We know what happens when people kill… It never stops… It just keeps going until nothing or no one is left… Our kind have been ruthlessly murdered by mortals since the dawn of time, so I think we know a thing or two about what killing does…”

Rainbow blinked, a bit surprised at what she was hearing. “Shit… I’m sorry… I didn’t know that…”

Aria shrugged. “Why would you? No one does and no one cares. Taking control of mortals is the only way we can survive since they don’t let us live among them peacefully. Our powers scare them and when mortals are scared they get violent, it’s how it’s always been and probably how it will always be…”

“I-I’m sorry… I guess I just assumed…” Rainbow frowned.

“As does everyone. Regardless I wish I could explain Adagio’s actions, she didn’t exactly divulge the full plan to us, she kept us mostly in the dark, probably because a part of her didn’t trust us fully either… Adagio has always been hard at trusting people, but ever since what happened after the Battle of the Bands she…” Aria stopped herself.

“After the Battle of the Bands? Did something happen to you guys?” Rainbow hopped off the box and stepped closer to inquire.

Aria shook her head. “I… I shouldn’t talk about it… It’s Adagio’s business, not mine… Besides I don’t know much about it, we only found out closer to the tail end of it…”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Rainbow growled as she took another step closer.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” A familiar voice rang through the room causing silence to the entire team inside of it.

There standing at the door with crossed arms was a face that Rainbow hadn’t seen since the Battle of the Bands, though her hair was cut much shorter, Rainbow could never forget her raspberry eyes which seemed to retain the serious look they always had. Adagio’s expression was emotionless and calculating.

The tight body suit she was sporting showed off her features quite well and it complimented the strapped combat boots she wore along with her long trench coat. Had she not been their enemy, Rainbow might have made a flirtatious whistle at the attractive girl.

“Adagio!” Rainbow hissed as she took a fighting stance, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Adagio didn’t even react, instead, her eyes darted over to the other two sirens. “So, you two are working for them now, huh? About to share all of my secrets, were you?”

“It’s not like that!” Sonata defended.

“Silence, I have no use for traitors… If you want to help them, then you can share their fate,” Adagio stated plainly.

“So you really will kill us then?” Aria asked.

“I told you before it was a possibility if you stood in my way and it seems you’ve chosen to do exactly that… You chose your own fates.” Adagio shrugged.

“Adagio… You don’t have to do this…” Aria stated, refusing to take a defensive stance, “I don’t want to fight you… We were a team at one point…”

Adagio readied herself and cracked her knuckles. She looked at her own hand and saw a small surge of electricity course through her palm before she took a fighting stance against the group. “You just know you can’t beat me…” She smirked.

Aria sighed and nodded. “You’re right… I know if I fight you… I’ll definitely die… However, I am trying to help you, Adagio… I don’t want you to get killed; we can resolve this another way.”

“It’s too late for that, I’ve crossed the point of no return. I crossed it when I pulled that trigger…” Adagio hissed.

“Then what will it be, Adagio? Will you add us all to your list of victims? You’ll have to kill us to stop us…” Aria threatened.

Rainbow nodded in agreement with the siren, as did Sonata.

Adagio chuckled. “You chose it, not me.”

Moving with incredible speed, Adagio bolted forward and jabbed Sonata in the throat before anyone could even react. Sonata felt the impact instantly and gripped her throat as she coughed. Taking advantage of the moment, Adagio grabbed Sonata’s arm and pulled it over her own should and hurled the girl’s body through the air and brought it down to the hard ground with a thud. Aria attempted to intervene only for Adagio to pushed her hand into Aria’s chest and send a series of electric shocks through it.

Aria twitched and convulsed in pain from the sensation before finally taking a step back. Breathing heavy she composed herself and instantly took her stance again. She looked at Rainbow and gestured her head toward the door. “Run, we can handle her…”

Rainbow growled and shook her head defiantly. “No way, I am not leaving you guys…”

Adagio smirked. “How adorable, you three are all friends… You can share a grave together.”

With those words Adagio charged her hand with a ball of electricity, bright and pulsing, she tossed it in Rainbow’s direction who reacted fast enough to get out of the way. Sonata tried to take advantage of Adagio’s distraction to grab her leg from the ground, but the action was only rewarded with a kick to the gut from Adagio’s other foot.

“Why are you risking yourself for us?” Aria asked Rainbow as the two regrouped and kept their eyes on Adagio who didn’t even seem to be taking the entire fight that seriously.

“It’s a little thing called loyalty, you guys swore you’d help us, I’m honor bound to do the same. I’d never abandon my friends…” She gave a wink to Aria who for the first time since Rainbow had known her showed some signs of genuine happiness as a small smile came to her lips.

Adagio interrupted their moment by hurling another ball of pure electric energy in their direction. The two dispersed and dodged the attack. “So… Back to the problem at hand… I hope you have a plan…” Aria said.

Rainbow nodded. “We need to get closer to Sonata.”

Aria nodded back. “That much I think we can do…”

Making a dash toward Adagio, Aria dodged bolt after bolt of electricity that Adagio tossed in her direction. Ducking and sliding, she managed to reach Sonata on the ground. Almost as instantly as she had touched the other siren’s shoulder she felt a pulling sensation move the both of them. In a blink, she noted that the group were in a different room entirely. “W-what happened?” She blinked a few times to make sure her eyes weren’t fooling her before she looked up to see Rainbow standing over them stretching her legs.

“I used my super speed; turns out anyone I touch can move with me easily. Now come on, we have to go warn the others that Adagio will be looking for them… I’m sure Sunset wants a piece of her too.” Rainbow offered her hand.

Aria stared at the hand for a moment but took it. When she was pulled up the two both reached down and helped Sonata up. Once they composed themselves they ran to go and find the others.

Applejack took a mighty swing and knocked one of the many mindless slaves of Adagio down. Another came in her direction and she ducked and jabbed that one in the gut, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

Another came in her direction from behind but was blocked by a wall of diamond created by Rarity. Applejack blinked and looked over at her girlfriend who was smirked before she gestured for Applejack to raise her fists. Looking down at her fists, Applejack nodded and raised them. Rarity flicked her wrist and Applejack’s mighty fists were now encased in diamond. “Fashionable, and practical.” Rarity complimented herself.

“Damn tootin’.” Applejack agreed.

With that, she swung through Rarity’s barrier and shattered it into pieces, knocking the man behind it clear on his rear.

Another came in Rarity’s direction only for her to flick her wrist and knock him over with her magic. She took a step back and before she knew it, she and Applejack were back to back against what seemed to be an armada of mindless minions. “It figures… Everywhere I go with you ends up being a bunch of roughhousing and ruining of my hair…” Rarity complained.

Applejack smirked and nodded. “‘Ah guess Ah’m just unlucky is all…”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that…” Rarity stated as she placed a forcefield around the two, blocking the attacks of a few of their enemies, some firing guns in their direction.

“How ya’ figure?” Applejack raised a brow.

“Well, you have me…” Rarity winked.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Applejack laughed before kicking a part of the barrier, shattering a piece of the diamond around them and sending it flying outward into a crowd of enemies. “‘Ah sure hope the others are farin’ well…”

A series of small explosions came into their direction causing Rarity and Applejack to look up on top of a set of crates. There crouching, resembling a cat was Pinkie with a handful of sprinkles. “This party is crazy!” She squealed.

“Figures… Our lives are in danger and she’s treatin’ it like a joke…” Applejack sighed.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way!” Rarity giggled.

“Same…” Applejack chuckled before the two returned to battle, Fluttershy coming in behind Pinkie, trying to keep her distance from most of the fighting, she brought her thoughts to Sunset, wondering how she and Twilight were faring.

Twilight and Sunset were making their way down a long catwalk, Sunset was drawing from her memory of visiting this place and the video call with Adagio to try and find the room where she was keeping her hostages. If they could free them, then they would hold a small advantage over Adagio. The catwalk looked down on the entire facility, Twilight looked down below to see their friends fighting.

“Sunset! Look!” Twilight pointed.

Sunset halted in her steps and peered over the edge, watching Applejack and her group taking on a hoard of Adagio’s henchmen, and on the other side, she could see Aria, Sonata, and Rainbow taking on a group of their own. Sunset felt her heart skip a beat or two when she could see that they were all alright. Each side was taking on a good eight men at once, and Sunset looked forward to see a door at the end of the catwalk numbered 88.

“I think that’s it…” Sunset said to Twilight.

The two nodded and made a run for the door only to hear a voice come from behind them. “Going so soon?”

The duo stopped and turned to face the owner of the voice. There triumphantly standing was Adagio, her arms crossed across her average chest and a sinister smile on her face. Just looking at her made Sunset fill with anger, she could hear the voice in her head beckoning her to rip Adagio apart, to tear her into pieces and leave her unrecognizable.

Kill her! Let’s do it together!

“So, Sunset Shimmer, you decided to finally show up… I knew you would…” Adagio smirked.

Sunset took a breath and gently nudged Twilight to the side. “Twilight… Stay behind me… If something happens to me… You’ll need to finish her off… I’ll try and stop her…”

Twilight blinked. “What are you saying!?”

“Just trust me, okay?” Sunset smiled and gave a thumbs up to her best friend.

Wanting to object, Twilight opened her mouth but when she saw Sunset’s eyes she knew that nothing she said would change her mind. Right now the best person to take on Adagio was her. Truthfully, Twilight internally acknowledged that she’d likely just get in the way. She didn’t have the fighting experience that Sunset did, and she definitely wasn’t training like she was. She had magic, but she was still a novice at utilizing it, especially against someone as strong as Adagio was.

“A-alright… Be careful though…” Twilight frowned.

Nodding, Sunset stepped forward. “You know I will.”

Adagio didn’t even flinch or move when she saw sunset rise to her challenge. “So, you’re going to try and fight me? One on one then?”

Sunset cracked her knuckles and took a stance. “Are those conditions alright with you?”

Adagio laughed and nodded as she took a stance of her own. “It makes no difference to me, you’re still far too weak to do anything. You both could come at me and I’d still win, I can sense your magic… It’s still weak, very weak in comparison to mine… You could never defeat me with such a pathetic level of magic.”

“Maybe… Maybe not… Magic alone doesn’t win a fight, and you should know that,” Sunset replied.

“Let’s find out then!” Adagio yelled before moving forward for the first attack. Her leg came forward and attempted to connect with Sunset’s body only for Sunset to block it with her forearm, what she hadn’t expected however was a follow-up. Adagio connected her fist into the right side of Sunset’s head, causing her to fumble backward a few steps.

No sooner than Sunset was able to regain her composure was another series of punches and kicks heading her way from Adagio. Trying to keep up, Sunset attempted to block them all, but a few managed to get through.

Adagio chuckled and charged her hands with electricity, sparks flew from her fingertips as she stood there waiting for a moment to strike. Sunset decided to conjure up a bit of magic of her own as well as try to take the offensive. She swung her legs into a few high kicks trying to hit Adagio’s face, flames being left in their trail as she took shot after shot.

Each kick missed its target over and over as Adagio moved out of the way and eventually grabbed Sunset’s leg and set voltage up it and through her body.

Yelping in pain Sunset fumbled backward and took in a few breaths as she recovered from the attack.

“As I said… Your magic is weak… Your skills are weaker. You’re not determined enough to beat me…” Adagio mocked.

“What could a creature like you possibly be fighting for that gives you such motivation?” Sunset asked between breaths.

Adagio placed a hand on her amulet and closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t expect mortals like you to even begin to understand… I fight for something you mortals take for granted…”

“And what is that?” Sunset asked.

Adagio opened her eyes and threw a few energy blasts of electricity in Sunset’s direction, one of which connecting with her and causing her tremendous pain as it passed through her body. Adagio’s power was massive, far greater than Sunset ever imagined, every nerve in her body was screaming at her to stop, but she managed to stay standing.

Adrenaline took over and Sunset darted at Adagio like a mad woman, throwing punch after punch and kick after kick trying to land even a single hit only for every single one to be stopped by Adagio in one manner or another. Finally, Adagio saw her own opening and punched Sunset directly in the stomach with great force.

Sunset wheezed as the wind was knocked out of her and Adagio delivered a series of follow up punches all connecting in the same spot causing Sunset to grunt repeatedly as she tried to pull air back into her body.

She staggered backward and tried to catch her breath only for Adagio to knock her in the head, hitting directly in her forehead. That hit, however, caused Sunset to finally tumble and land on her back. She groaned for a moment as she rolled over, Adagio standing next to her waiting patiently for what she was going to do.

“Stay down, Sunset!” Twilight called out.

Sunset didn’t listen, truthfully she could barely even hear Twilight. Her body was screaming in pain far too loudly for her to hear anything, but one voice, in particular, rang in her head.

She’s too strong for you to beat on your own.

Pulling herself up, Sunset took a few steps back to put some distance between Adagio and herself. She put her fists up to show she was still eager to continue their battle.

“A stubborn old mule, aren’t you? It’s too bad that spirit of yours doesn’t translate into actual ability isn’t it?” Adagio smirked, clearly not threatened by Sunset’s determination.

“You plan on killing me… That’s fine, but leave my friends alone…” Sunset stated.

Adagio stepped to the right and kept her eyes locked on Sunset. “I can’t do that, they will share your fate, I can’t spare them; you’re not in a position to be bargaining with me anyway.”

Sunset’s body was weak at this point if they continued to fight, there was no way she could win. Adagio didn’t even appear to be breaking a sweat. She needed to buy herself time until the others could come and help or she could devise a plan. “Just answer me this…” Sunset began.

“Hm?” Adagio raised a brow, still keeping her distance and in a fighting stance.

“Why did you kill Shimmer? She wasn’t the one who defeated you at the Battle of the Bands, she had nothing to do with any of this…” Sunset asked.

Adagio chuckled and shook her head. “Battle of the Bands? You think I’m that simplistic? That I’m trying to kill you over defeating me? No, this is far more complicated than that… Sure, I hate you and the Battle of the Bands definitely makes me glad that I will get to end you, but I have… Other goals in mind, or rather I did… the plan has changed slightly now, but the reason is all the same…”

“And what reason is that?” Sunset raised a brow. If Adagio wasn’t doing this because of the Battle of the Bands, then Sunset didn’t have a clue why else she would.

“None of your business… As for why I killed Shimmer…” She paused, “It was a mistake… She wasn’t the intended target, you were… But I’m sure you figured that out by now and you just wanted me to say it out loud…”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, but why? If this isn’t revenge… Then what?”

“I needed you dead so I could recharge my amulet…” Adagio stated.

Sunset’s eyes widened with interest. “Your amulet? But we destroyed those things…”

Adagio shook her head. “I went back and salvaged the pieces of mine… I put it back together, but it had no charge… See a siren’s amulet is actually very difficult to forge, I won’t go into the secrets of it, but let’s just say fixing a broken one is easier than making a whole new one from scratch.”

“So how does Shimmer or I tie into that?” Sunset raised a brow as she stepped in motion with Adagio, waiting for a surprise attack.

Adagio stopped moving and held still. “Once the amulet is fixed, I needed magic to recharge it… A sacrifice with magical energy… If I killed one with the amulet on me and ready to receive that magic, I could charge it… When Shimmer got in the way, it just so happened that she had magic too, so that part of the plan still worked in my favor…”

Sunset’s eyes widened further upon hearing this. “In your favor!?”

Kill her, Sunset.

“You mean to tell me she died for no fucking reason!?” Sunset growled.

Adagio chose not to answer, but her silence spoke volumes.

“That was my only family in this world!” Sunset’s voice grew deeper as she could feel the anger growing inside of her. She couldn’t control it anymore, she didn’t want to. She had hated the person who killed Shimmer for months and struggled with the thought of what to do if she ever met them face to face.

A dark mist began to form around Sunset as the white in her eyes turned black and she could feel her hands start to form into claws.

Let’s kill her, give in, let your anger out!

The black mist eventually formed a cloud the swallowed Sunset up.

Twilight upon seeing the turn of events ran toward the newly formed cloud of darkness screaming Sunset’s name. “Sunset! Don’t!”

Opening her eyes, Sunset found herself in an endless expanse of nothing but blackness. No objects or walls in sight, just infinite space that stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Standing before her was a familiar face, the face of something she once was, and a face she had a hard time forgetting. Pointed ears, red skin, a sinister smile with a snaggletooth fang protruding from her mouth, she was just as ugly as Sunset remembered her to be.

“Sunset… it’s time for us to unite, together we can finish this…” The demon said.

Sunset looked down in frustration. “I… I don’t know…”

“Come on, if you don’t join with me, then Adagio will win. Face it, you don’t have what it takes to beat her on your own; Adagio is strong, she is trained to kill, you aren’t, but I can get you there…” The demon coaxed as it extended its hand in an offer to Sunset.

“I…” Sunset bit her lip, unsure of what to say or do.

“You want to avenge Shimmer, don’t you? You want to make her pay for what she’s done, right? I can help you,” The demon said, “together, we will be unstoppable…”

Sunset thought it over for a moment, with this power inside of her, this power of darkness she might actually stand a chance against Adagio. She remembered how strong she felt when she first transformed, but she vowed she would never let herself turn into that thing again. Now, however, the circumstances were different. She needed more power, and this time she was fighting for something right.

That makes it okay, right?

She slowly reached her hand forward to take the offer before she could hear the faintest echo of another voice ring through the empty space.

“Sunset…”

Blinking she looked all over to try and find its origin but to no luck. She shrugged it off before hearing it again.

“Sunset…”

This time she was certain it was coming from behind her. She turned around and a small rip in the black void appeared and a dainty and scrawny arm protruded from the hole. Before she knew it and entire head and torso popped out sharing the appearance of Twilight Sparkle. She looked like she was struggling just to get inside of this space they all stood in.

“Sunset! Don’t listen to her!” Twilight pleaded.

Sunset blinked and looked back at the demon whose hand was still extended, their claws twitching with anticipation for Sunset to take their deal.

“I… I’m not strong enough to beat Adagio on my own…” Sunset admitted to Twilight.

“Then don’t do it alone! I’m here with you, you can borrow my strength, all of our friend’s strength! You don’t need her to win, you have us!” Twilight stated and gave her hand a gentle shake to try and coax Sunset into taking it.

“I…” Sunset closed her eyes, unsure of what to do.

“Sunset, I always trusted you. When I needed help, I knew I could count on you to be there and give me the strength I needed to make it through, and now I want to return the favor by showing you that you can count on me and when you need it, I’ll lend you my strength!” Twilight called out.

Hearing those words, Sunset looked Twilight in the eyes. “Please, Sunset… You have to do this the right way… We’ll do it together…”

With a sigh, Sunset took a step toward Twilight. “Thank you, Twilight… I had almost forgotten what was important… You’re right though…” Sunset smirked as she took Twilight’s hand in her own. “We’ll do this… Together.”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Aria and Sonata all looked up to the catwalk where Sunset and Adagio were doing battle. They had just witnessed Sunset become encased in a dark energy, and now were witnessing the energy dissipate and a bright light began to shine from where it once was. All of the girls noted that their geodes were shining as the light from the catwalk grew larger.

Twilight could still feel Sunset’s hand in her own as she could sense Sunset was being raised off of the ground. When the light vanished, she was levitating off of the ground, a familiar friendly smile on her face, and an appearance that was almost regal.

A beautiful stylish dress with plenty of exposed skin, winged boots, and her hair seemed to float and defy the laws of gravity itself as she hovered a few inches off of the ground. Twilight had only seen this form once before, and that was when she had turned into Midnight Sparkle, she recalled that the group had named it “Daydream Shimmer”.

Sunset released Twilight’s hand and smiled. “Thank you, Twilight… I had almost given in, it’s good to know that I can count on you when I am really in a jam.”

“Don’t mention it, now… Please be careful, okay?” Twilight pleaded.

Sunset nodded as she looked over her shoulder at Adagio with a smirk. “I think I’ll manage…”

Turning her entire body to face Adagio, she held her hands out to her sides and summoned two beams of light that quickly formed into swords of light. “I’m going to give you one more chance to surrender, Adagio… Please, we don’t have to end this violently, there is a chance to resolve this peacefully.”

Adagio scoffed and shook her head. “You won’t get me with that friendship crap. I know the truth, I know exactly what your kind brings, wait until my back is turned then stab me in it… No way, I won’t fall for that trick.”

“Then you give me no choice…” Sunset sighed as she readied herself.

Adagio wasted no time in hurling a few balls of energy at Sunset, only for Sunset to wave her hand and summon the two blades to block the attacks, hitting one of them back at Adagio, who jumped and dodged the attack.

The siren could sense a new surge of powerful magic within Sunset, it was a huge increase in power, but it didn’t mean she was certain to win just yet, Adagio still had a few moves of her own that she hadn’t pulled out yet.

“That’s a cute transformation, but power is worthless if you don’t know how to use it!” Adagio hissed before taking a few swings at Sunset, all charged with electric energy. Sunset blocked every single one and caught Adagio’s fist in her palm. Adagio blinked as she noted that the electricity didn’t even phase Sunset.

“You fight with anger and hatred… You’ll never be truly strong that way…” Sunset lectured.

“Shut up!” Adagio growled as she took another swing only to be blocked. One of the two blades of light swiped at Adagio and made a clear impact, causing her to stumble backward. No cuts appeared, but the pain from the hit was tremendous. Before she even had a chance to compose herself, the two blades came swinging again making another two hits followed by a series of consecutive hits, Adagio counted eight before she was pushed back enough to be out of their range. She gripped her gut and gasped, as she looked up at Sunset with anger in her eyes. “It’s… Not possible… You can’t beat me…”

Adagio reached for her gun in her jacket only to be stopped by a voice that rang in her ears.

Stop.

She gasped and froze in place, unable to move. The voice paralyzing her ability to even think at that moment.

Sunset focused on the palm of her own hand as she held it in front of her. “This is your end, Adagio…”

Quickly she charged an energy beam and blasted it at Adagio, hitting her with maximum strength. Adagio growled in agony as she tried to resist the beam, but was failing miserably. It was too much power for her to block, she could feel her body weakening as the beam made contact with her. Screaming in agony as she heard a sound she had only heard once before: a shatter.

Adagio’s eyes looked directly in front of her as she watched shards of red float in front of herself and fall slowly. Her eyes wide with fear as she could hear nothing but her own thoughts.

This isn’t how it was supposed to be… I was supposed to win… How could I be defeated by this mortal… Again…

Sunset wasted no time and closed the distance between the two delivering a series of punches and kicks on the freshly weakened Adagio, each one landing, causing her to stumble until she finally fell backward. In almost a split second, Sunset reverted back to her normal self and stood over Adagio, retrieving her gun from her waistband and pointed it directly at Adagio’s head.

The two fell silent as Sunset stood there with the gun ready to fire in a split second. Adagio never took her eyes off of Sunset but remained silent for another moment before speaking up. “I… I don’t get it… I broke you… You’re a weakling, how did you…?”

“You underestimated my friends, so long as they are with me… I’ll always be able to overcome… It took me some time to remember that, but I should thank you for making me realize it again…” Sunset smirked.

Adagio fell silent and closed her eyes, realizing there was no escape from this. Before they knew it, the rest of the girls had gathered and made their way over to Twilight on the other side of Sunset. “Y’all alright?” Applejack asked.

“I’m okay, but…” Twilight looked over at Sunset holding the gun.

Sunset smiled and lowered her weapon and tossed it aside. “Don’t worry… I’m not going to kill you… If I did… I’d only become what you are…”

A sigh of relief escaped the girls.

“I’m not a killer like you are…” Sunset replied as she stepped off of Adagio.

“I am though…” Another voice called out to them.

The entire group looked over to see Moondancer standing there, holding the gun that Sunset had just discarded tightly in her grip. She was shaking, but stepping forward slowly with the weapon pointed at Adagio.

“Step aside, Sunset…” Moondancer stated.

“Moondancer, darling let’s just calm do-“ Rarity began but was cut off by a gunshot in her direction. The bullet missed but came too close for comfort. It was obvious that Moondancer intended to miss, but it didn’t lessen how frightening it was.

Applejack huffed in annoyance. “Okay can we please stop shooting at my girlfriend!?”

“Stay away, all of you!” Moondancer commanded.

“Moondancer… Let’s talk about this…” Sunset offered.

“There’s nothing to talk about… I’m going to put this monster down… I’m going to make her pay for what she did to Shimmer…” Moondancer stated as she took another step forward.

“Monster…” Adagio raised a brow. “You think that I’m the monster? You mortals are all the same, you don’t even realize what ugly is when it’s staring you in the face. If you want a monster, you need only to look in a mirror…”

“Shut up!” Moondancer hissed as she waved her gun. “This is for Shimmer…”

Adagio blinked. “Why though?”

“I loved her…” Moondancer growled.

“Did you? Do you even know what that word means?” Adagio asked, Sunset blinked, unsure of what was going on.

“Of course I do!” Moondancer replied.

“What was her favorite color?” Adagio smirked.

Moondancer paused and thought for a moment. She had never bothered to ask, come to think of it, Shimmer was always so secretive that the two didn’t discuss much beyond books, and small talk. When they weren’t doing that, they were usually making out.

“You don’t even know… Face it, what you mortals call love is nothing more than infatuation, you don’t even know the girl that you’re so upset over…” Adagio taunted.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Moondancer hissed.

“Kill me then, you don’t have what it takes…” Adagio met Moondancer’s eyes with her own and the two began a powerful stare down which would have likely lasted longer if Sunset didn’t step in.

“Moondancer… You don’t want to do this…” Sunset pleaded.

“Yes, I do…” Moondancer responded, her eyes still locked on Adagio who hadn’t moved.

Sunset took a chance and made a step forward. “No… You don’t… If you do this, you’ll be a murderer just like her… This isn’t what Shimmer would have wanted…”

“So she gets to go free!? Why should she get to live!? Shimmer didn’t get that chance!” Moondancer protested.

“It’s not up for us to decide, Moondancer. We have to be better than this… Killing her will not make you happier… It won’t undo what’s done… It won’t bring Shimmer back…” Sunset attempted to reason, gaining slightly more ground as she came closer and closer to Moondancer ever so slowly.

“Why are you protecting her!?” Moondancer growled.

“I’m not… I’m protecting you… I’m trying to save you from making a mistake that you’ll regret for the rest of your life… Please, we have to show her we’re better than this… You haven’t hurt anyone yet…” Sunset spoke quietly.

“Speak fer’ yerself!” Applejack called out.

Rainbow punched Applejack’s shoulder. “She’s fine!” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Moondancer… Please… Give me the gun…” Sunset held out her hand expectantly for Moondancer, hoping she would see it her way.

There was silence and hesitation on Moondancer’s part. She kept the weapon firm in her grip but stole a few glances at Sunset’s hand.

“Please, Moondancer… Let me help you, okay?” Sunset smiled.

A tear made its way down Moondancer’s face as she shakily lower the gun and within the minute, placed it in Sunset’s hand who tossed it off of the catwalk and opened her arms to the teen. Moondancer jumped into Sunset’s embrace and allowed herself to be held as she sobbed. “It’s not fair!”

Sunset nodded and stroked her messy hair. “I know it isn’t… It’s going to be okay though, you made the right choice…”

Adagio scoffed and looked away her hand went to touch the remains of her amulet, it was beyond destroyed, far worse than the last time, the chances of repairing it were slim to none, and now that these mortals around her knew that she could repair it, they weren’t about to allow her to simply pick the shards back up and begin such a process.

She cursed herself internally, where had she gone wrong? Her plan was nearly flawless, Sunset was weakened by emotion, she had trained her own body to far surpass that of which Sunset could have been capable of, and yet she was still sitting on the ground, defeated by mortals yet again. It didn’t make sense to her.

Sunset and the group heard the catwalk they were all standing on rattle as a few new people joined them, one of them that took the front lead and immediately drew their weapon and pointed it directly at Adagio was a face that Twilight and Sunset were both exceptionally glad to see. “Shining!” Sunset and Twilight said in unison.

He nodded and approached Adagio as two brutish looking men came up behind him and got on both sides of Adagio.

“Adagio Dazzle… So, we meet again at last…” Shining smirked.

Adagio rolled her eyes and looked away. “And who are you supposed to be?” Her words a farce, as she already knew who he was.

“Detective Shining Armor CPD, and you are under arrest for the murder of Sunset Shimmer,” He stated, his voice not carrying the usual friendliness it always held, but instead it came off as overly professional.

Adagio chuckled as she was pulled to a stand by the two men that Shining had brought with him. “And what are you going to do? I’m sure you’ve figured it out, but I’m an alien from another dimension, you take me down and they will come breathing down Sunset’s neck too, it won’t be long before she’s in a laboratory being treated like a guinea pig like me…”

Sunset frowned and looked down, realizing that was the truth, there was little they could actually do to punish Adagio beyond ending her life, and that ship had already sailed. Perhaps Adagio had won after all.

Shining, however, didn’t seem phased by her threat and let out a laugh of his own. “That’s why I met up with someone… Someone I’m sure who is eager to see you again…” He gestured to the door that he entered through and there came a face that everyone was relieved to see.

With her dorky blunt bangs, and terrible fashion sense came Princess Twilight Sparkle, causing the face of every person in the room (except Adagio) to light up. “It’s a good thing Moondancer sent for me, she must have assumed this was going to get out of control, nonetheless… It’s great to see everyone.” She bowed.

“Likewise, you’re a bit late to the fight though…” Sunset remarked.

The Princess nodded but stepped forward regardless and met Adagio face to face. “So, it is true… You really did go off the deep end…”

“You’re lucky they stopped me when they did, you would have suffered greatly had they not stopped me… “Adagio responded, venom filling her voice.

The Princess nodded. “Yes, I would assume as much… I guess I got lucky that these girls were here, and you got unlucky. Anyway… I have come here to bring you back to Equestria where you’ll be awaiting trial…”

Adagio blinked. “Trial?”

Princess Twilight smirked and nodded yet again. “Indeed, we intend to do this the correct way, but rest assured, you will be punished accordingly for what you’ve done.”

She turned her head to the rest of the group. “If all of you would be so kind as to accompany us, we’ll need to gather your statements and have you speak at the trial. You’re all welcome to stay with me at the castle while we sort this out.”

“C-castle!?” Rarity nearly squealed, causing Applejack to place a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

The other Twilight made her way through the crowd and came up to Sunset and grabbed her hand, causing Sunset to look down and then up to meet Twilight’s happy face. The smile of her friend told her that she had done the right thing. No matter how bad the situation got, as long as she could see Twilight smiling, Sunset knew things would somehow work themselves out. “It got pretty crazy there for a minute, huh?” Sunset said.

Twilight nodded and gave Sunset’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Yeah, but I knew you’d make it through for us, you always do.”

“I’m just mega lucky is all…” Sunset rubbed her neck with her free hand. It was partially true, she wasn’t sure how she was always able to make the seemingly impossible happen for her and her friends.

Twilight shook her head. “No, you’re just better than you realize. You just always sell yourself short.”

Sunset chuckled and sighed. “I guess there’s no point in arguing…”

“Nope!” Twilight winked.

“Thanks…” Sunset smiled back at her friend happily.

“Don’t mention it… So… What happens now? I mean we caught Adagio…” Twilight asked, her eyes wandering over to Adagio.

Sunset took a long look at the siren as she was being forced to move along with the two large men. Shining stood behind her keeping his weapon locked onto her, and the Princess was meeting with their friends briefly, probably catching up with them and sharing the latest happenings in Equestria.

Sunset let out a long sigh as she realized she had actually come out victorious. Somehow she was able to defeat the siren and make it out with all of her friends still alive. She may have failed to keep Shimmer safe, but this time… This time she succeeded.

“Let’s hope…” Sunset paused and closed her eyes. “Let’s hope this is the end of it…”

Wow! Long ass chapter, literally the longest chapter in the story thus far by a significant margin! It was a big finale with a lot going on and a lot of characters though.

So yeah! Who saw this being the conclusion?

So Needless to say... Act III I know was tough on some people, but I'm glad for those of you that stuck with it.

Stay tuned for the upcoming intermissions and then Act IV!