A tired and exhausted Moondancer yawned as she stretched and found her way out of bed. She threw her legs over the edge of the small twin sized bed in the room, and let them touch the heated floor, bringing a gentle bit of pleasure to her. The entire room had a very controlled temperature, and Moondancer was regularly adjusting it to ensure maximum comfort. Given her low BMI and her bad habit of forgetting to eat, she was cold virtually all the time but found herself overheating as well; a walking contradiction of herself.

This facility wasn’t doing her any favors, but she knew that to survive here, she needed to stay on top of taking care of herself. There wasn’t a soul around to remind her to eat, exercise, bathe or even sleep. She had learned to take care of all of that on her own without reminders over the past few years living inside what she considered a tin can. How long had it been since she arrived? She was sure it was a little over three years now. That sounded about right, but she didn’t really keep much track of time anymore, and given that she didn’t go outside, every day felt like every other day. Moondancer hadn’t seen a season change in years now, so everything felt the same.

This building, this confined space (admittedly still the size of a medium house) had become her entire life over the past three years. She didn’t go outside, she didn’t have friends over, and the only socializing she did was through the internet and on the phone. This place was her everything, her castle, her fortress of solitude.

For food, she had at least a decade’s worth of MREs, freeze dried food, and items with ridiculously long shelf lives to eat. Most of it was disgusting, and at first it was hard to stomach any of it, but she grew used to it, so much so that she wondered if she could ever readjust to “real” food when she got out. Many nights she spent contemplating what kind of food she would eat when she finally got out. There were even times when she googled pictures of food just to look at and drool over.

Life in the facility was all about routine, and Moondancer had her routine down to a schedule. Every morning she woke up at eight, pulled herself out of bed, checked her messages, ran on the treadmill, showered, made breakfast and then sat down to get to work, occasionally reading a book on her iPad as she performed many of these steps. Every week she would go prowling for new books to read on the Kindle store and stock up her library. She probably read a good eight hundred books over the last three years. Fortunately, this gig gave her plenty of opportunities to get caught up on reading. There was a tremendous amount of downtime some days, but she was alright with that; no news was often good news.

Yawning once more, Moondancer forced herself up and scratched just under her butt cheek, reaching under her boxers to do so. The girl pulled her tank top down over her stomach since it had ridden up while she slept, and grumbled. The last thing she wanted to do was exercise that early in the morning, but she knew it was necessary. She would spend the majority of her day sitting at a desk, and that meant the possibility of becoming immobile over time was greater, so she needed to stay on top of physical fitness. She’d run for two hours, let herself cool down and she’d be ready for her job.

Despite this though, she still found it annoying to exercise daily. Nothing would make the bookworm used to the activity it would seem. She cursed herself for not getting that exercise high that she often heard about from others, it certainly would make the entire ordeal easier.

Grumbling she made her way to her phone and picked it up, checking the missed calls, noting only a single one, her mother, sometime last night before she went to bed. Moondancer composed herself and wiped her eye. She located her glasses and place them upon her face before wandering around the room with her phone to her ear.

After a few seconds of dial tone, the deeper voice of her mother exited the speaker. “Moondancer, it’s good to hear from you. I tried to call you last night, but I guess you were busy.”

The girl nodded as she stretched. “Yeah, sorry about that, mother. I’ve been pretty busy with this project.”

“How is London treating you?” She asked.

Moondancer bit her lip at that question. “Oh, you know... The weather sucks, but it’s a nice culture.”

“It feels like you’ve been there for a decade!” Her mother commented.

Moondancer concurred there, more than her mother would ever know. “Yeah, it definitely does, I can’t wait to be done with all of this and head back home. I’m doing some great work out here though, I’m sure Shimmer would be proud of me.”

“I know she would be. She always fawned over how smart you were, sweetie,” Her mother spoke.

Moondancer found herself smiling at the topic of Shimmer, even if she still felt guilty about being deceitful to her mother. “Yeah, she was great. Either way, I hope I can wrap things up soon, I am so over this project at this point. I want to get back home to start on my next big thing, you know?”

“Why not take a break first, sweetie?” Her mother suggested.

“Can’t, busy hands keep the mind sharp, right?” She stated.

She could hear her mother’s familiar chuckle. “I suppose so, but try not to burn yourself out though, alright?”

Moondancer nodded as she approached the treadmill with dread. “Easier said than done, but thanks mother. I’ll do my best.”

“I guess I’ll let you get back to work, sweetie, I love you and I can’t wait for you to come home!” Her mother spoke.

Moondancer paused for a moment, hearing her mother speak to her in such a way. She could not deny that she was beyond homesick, but she had a job to do.

“I love you too, mother. I gotta get going.”

“So long, sweetie.”

“You too.”

After hanging up, Moondancer sighed and set her phone aside, and decided to kill two birds with one stone this morning. At her desk was a series of monitors and a keyboard where she conducted the bulk of her work. A wireless headset sat next to the keyboard which she picked up and placed over her ear. After fastening it, she stepped over to the treadmill on the other side of the room and hopped on, getting it started up.

A few seconds passed and she got herself into a gentle jog before tapping a button on the side of the headset to speak.

“Hey, I’m up and about now, how you been?” Moondancer spoke.

The voice on the other end chuckled at her. “Hey, it’s been a crazy night, you missed out on a lot.”

“We can talk about it after I perform your diagnostics test for the day. Have you experienced any bugs?” Moondancer asked, cutting straight to the chase.

The voice on the other end laughed. “You could say that...”

“Fuck, what’s the nature of the problem?” Moondancer asked curiously, her eyes focused on the distance counter on the treadmill as she approached her first eighth of a mile.

“Are you on the treadmill?” The voice asked.

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

“Whatever works for you, but are you sure you can handle all this? This whole thing could go on for some time...” The voice over the headset informed.

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

The voice sounded concerned as it replied. “That’s not exactly a good thing, but I guess we both have to do what we have to do.”

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

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

For all the guilt that Moondancer was feeling for deceiving her mother, her family, her friends, and everyone, that praise alone made it almost worth it. She felt like she was doing something useful like she was contributing to something greater than herself, even if it wasn’t what she told others it was. She just hoped her contributions would be enough to make a difference.

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

That was the truth, Moondancer couldn’t guarantee anything. For all she knew, everything would fall apart at the last minute. She prayed that wasn’t going to happen, but it was impossible to tell.

“True, but here’s to hoping,” the voice replied.

Moondancer sighed and shook her head. “So quickly go over what’s wrong before I do the diagnostic later? Might help to pre-emptively know what I'm looking for.”

There was a short pause followed by the voice getting relatively quiet. “Well, there is sort of a... How do I put this...? A hardware compatibility issue?”

“Hardware compatibility? What the hell are you even talking about?” Moondancer asked with a confused expression, her eyes watching as she got close to the quarter-mile mark.

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

Moondancer blinked, her confusion only growing. There was no way that new hardware could have been added. She designed the entire system herself, it was custom made and she was positive that no one else could design anything as sophisticated out there. She wasn’t even confident that anyone could figure out how what she had built worked, let alone add modifications to it.

“Okay, you are definitely going to have to fill me in on this.” Moondancer placed a hand to her ear.

“Well, this girl-“

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

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

“Moondancer out.”

And with those words, she turned off the headset and sighed. It looked like she was going to be pulling another long day, possibly even skipping lunch. She wasn’t about to complain (not that anyone would hear her do so anyway), but she wasn’t lying to her mother when she said she was eager for this all to be over. The sooner she could be done with this all, the better.

The rest of her exercise time was relatively uneventful, but Moondancer kept her mind on the prize. After her two hours were up, she found her way to the shower near the back of the facility in a small bathroom. Turning it on, she removed the little clothing she had and pulled the clip keeping her hair out of her face off.

The girl checked the water and when she was satisfied with the temperature, she stepped into the shower and sighed. As the hot water hit her, she could feel some of the stress start to wash away. The past three years had weighed down heavy on her. Soon though, everything she had worked for would be tested, everything she had been doing would be pushed to the limit. A part of her feared what would happen if she didn’t succeed.

She recalled the gun that had been left for her on day one and what she was told to do in a worst case scenario. Could she though? Was she strong enough to pull that trigger if the situation called for it? Would she be able to? She didn’t want to think about it, she didn’t even want to humor the idea of the situation getting that bad. Too much was at stake to consider failure.

Her mind instead went back to how this all began three years ago, that fateful night where she was brought to this place, and when she swore herself to this cause. Though it had been so long, and she had grown so much between now and then, Moondancer still remembered that night so vividly.

Sunset walked over to the portal where Princess Twilight had come through and placed her hand upon it, feeling it ripple as she did. She sighed and looked back at the group that had assembled. She couldn’t believe what she was doing, she had agreed to leave her newborn child behind and travel back to Equestria to aid the Princess in a fight against a demon siren, a demon siren that was the sister of the one who tried to kill her only a few years ago.

She had no choice now, she couldn’t bring herself to ignore the fate of all of Equestria, or to tell Princess Twilight to go home and deal with it herself. While she would have loved to tell her to piss off and go take care of her own problems, it just wasn’t in her. The reality was that Princess Twilight would not call upon her unless she was desperate, and by the sounds of it, she was beyond desperate. Even so, it didn’t make her okay with how she chose to approach the situation.

Sunset sighed as she stood tall staring at the gateway between their worlds. This portal was where it all began, it was how she had entered this world in the first place, it was how she had been able to start her life away from Equestria. It was a portal that she was hoping she never had to go through again.

She centered herself before speaking to the group standing behind her, her eyes still locked on the gateway. “You said you can only keep the portal open for a short time?”

The Princess of Friendship perked up and nodded, running a hand through her short messy hair. “Yeah, if I preserve my magic, I can give us a little time, but hopping back and forth... Won’t be that doable. Once it closes behind us though, I probably won’t be able to open it back up until I get my magic back.”

“And that can only happen by defeating Serenade, right?” Sunset asked, refusing to face the woman.

“That would be correct. I’m assuming your next question is how long I predict that could take?” Twilight asked.

Sunset gritted her teeth, hating the fact that the princess was predicting her thoughts. “Yeah...”

“I can’t really say, Sunset...” Twilight admitted.

“Guess!” Sunset growled.

Sighing, the princess placed a hand on her chin in thought. “To be honest with you, it could take months, even years. Serenade’s power is immense. There’s no certainty we can even beat her.”

That was not news that Sunset had wanted to hear, but she needed to confirm something more. “Serenade has absorbed Celestia and Luna’s magic?”

Twilight nodded as she crossed her arms. “Yeah, as well as mine, Discord’s, Shining’s, Cadance’s, and Flurry Heart’s. That’s not even counting all the unicorns she’s drained. I don’t think there is any magic left in Equestria besides the tiny bit that I have left. She has the other Elements of Harmony captured as well, shy of Applejack. You’re my only trump card, Sunset.”

All things that she didn’t like, but Sunset now had a full grasp on the situation now, she understood what needed to be done, and a plan was forming in her head. “Then we have a few preparations to take care of first. We can start with this...”

Closing her eyes, Sunset placed both hands upon the frame of the marble block where the portal resided. Her geode around her neck glowed slightly as an aura surrounded the block. After a few seconds, Sunset released it and tested if her spell worked. She tapped the block and nodded when there were no ripples this time.

“What happened to the portal!?” Aria asked, who had decided to stay silent while Twilight and Sunset discussed the situation back and forth, but now she had become slightly concerned that their way back to Equestria seemed to vanish entirely.

Turning around to face the team, Sunset grinned mischievously. “Don’t worry, I didn’t destroy it, I just moved it to a new location. Somewhere where it’ll be safe. We will need it out of reach for what I want to do.”

“So what now?” Aria asked, her fear reducing as she was assured the portal was in a safe place.

“We have to move quickly. I have to make a stop at my house to drop off a letter first though, then we are heading out.” Sunset stepped toward the group and gestured toward her car. “Everyone in,” she added.

No one dared challenge her words as Sonata, Aria, and Princess Twilight entered the vehicle. When Twilight tried to enter the passenger side of the front of the car, Sunset just looked at her with an “are you serious?” Expression. Taking the hint, Twilight didn’t even bother sitting down before switching with Sonata to sit in the back. Once Sunset was satisfied, the group was on the road in no time.

The trip back to Sunset’s house was made in silence, not even the radio played. Sunset stopped the car when they arrived and took a deep breath before looking back at the group. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

They all nodded as Sunset left the car.

She came to the steps in front of her estate and stopped for a moment. This could be the last time she set foot on these steps for a long time, possibly ever. There was a chance that her wife would hate her forever for what she was about to do, and there was even a chance she wouldn’t come back. Serenade was powerful, there was no telling what she was capable of.

Sighing, Sunset came inside the building, the darkness outside was still fresh, and the night was young, but she knew she would need to hurry.

Coming to the kitchen, Sunset opened a drawer and retrieved an envelope with some paper she kept for writing letters when she needed to. She took a breath and tried to think of something to jot down quickly, not wanting to draw it out for too long, or she would start to try and talk herself out of it all.

Dear Twilight,

I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to understand. I love you so much, and I’m really sorry for what I am doing.

Love,

Sunset

Short, simple, and it didn’t give too much away about what was happening. It was probably better that way. She folded the note up and sealed it in the envelope before grabbing some tape.

The only question now was where to leave it to ensure that her wife would find it. She contemplated leaving it in Twilight’s study, but then remembered that it could end up lost in a mess of books. The bathroom was out of the question because it could end up getting wet somehow and ruined.

She continued to think it over before the perfect location came to mind. She could tape it to Horizon’s crib, Twilight would be certain to find it there; it would be the first place she looked when she woke up tomorrow morning. With a nod, Sunset headed upstairs to the aforementioned room and gently creaked the door open.

The young mother approached the crib of her daughter and placed both hands on the railing to look down at the sleeping girl before her. Reaching down to touch her, she stopped herself only inches from Horizon’s face. She had to use all of her restraint to not place a single hand on her daughter, for she knew if she did it would make all of it that much harder. It was bad enough to think this could be the last time she saw her daughter for a long time, she didn’t want to make it more painful on herself.

Quickly, she ripped off a piece of tape and taped the letter to the crib, fighting back tears; not tears for herself though, but for Twilight. While it was painful for her to do this, Twilight was about to endure so much more pain when she woke up tomorrow a single mother. Sunset prayed the girl could handle it, but she wasn’t entirely sure. There wasn’t time to debate it, however.

Stepping out of the room, she forced herself not to look back. Putting one foot in front of the other, Sunset painfully made her way all the way back down the stairs and to the front door. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in and exited, making her way back to the car where she quickly hopped in and started the engine.

The other three girls in the car remained silent for an awkward for minutes before Princess Twilight broke that silence. “So...”

“What makes you think I want to talk to you right now?” Sunset quickly snapped at her.

The Princess ignored her sass, knowing that she had every reason to be upset. “What did you tell her?”

“Nothing.” Sunset kept her eyes on the road.

“Nothing? What do you mean?” The Princess raised a brow.

“Exactly what it sounds like, I told her nothing. I left a note just saying I was sorry and didn’t tell her where I was going.” Sunset squeezed the steering wheel hard, trying to control her anger.

“You’re just going to leave without telling your wife or daughter where you’re going? Is that wise?” The Princess questioned.

Her questions were already getting annoying to Sunset. “It was the best option available to me.”

“I don’t follow...” The Princess squinted, trying to make heads or tails of Sunset’s logic.

“You’ve never been in love before, have you, Princess?” Sunset asked.

What an odd question.

“I guess not... I don’t know to be honest.” The Princess shrugged.

Sunset kept her eyes on the road as she made a right turn. “The reality is that I might not come back from this trip. There’s a real possibility that Serenade could kill all of us. If that is the case, then it might be better for Twilight to not know where I’m going. I’d rather she be angry with me thinking I’m some kind of trash that abandoned her than her worrying if I’m dead.”

“She believes in you, she would think you’re going to win this fight...” The Princess suggested.

“She’s only human. A part of her will always worry. No matter how strong she thinks I am, she will assume the danger is too much. It’ll always be in the back of her mind. Which will create a new problem...” Sunset explained.

Princess Twilight couldn’t argue with that logic. It was in the nature of people to always assume the worst case scenario and prepare for it, she herself was a testament to that. If there was a storm coming, Princess Twilight Sparkle was the first to start preparing for it, even if everyone was told it wasn’t going to be a big deal.

“Which is?” She dared to ask.

“She’s worried that her wife will try and follow her...” Aria chimed in.

Aria had hit the nail on the head.

“That’s foolish, Sunset could just tell her that it’s too dangerous...” Princess Twilight proposed.

“She won’t listen,” Sunset finished Aria’s statement for her.

“Her feelings and fear for my safety will cloud her judgment. She’ll follow me into oblivion if the option is there, so I have to eliminate the option. In the event that I die at least, she’ll be spared the pain of knowing,” Sunset said bluntly.

The Princess could feel the guilt in her grow, but she suppressed it. She pushed it deep into the recesses of her mind. She couldn’t afford to go soft now, she couldn’t afford to let emotion guide her, she needed to remain logical, tactful and plotting. Her mind was about to be tested, after all.

Still, she could appreciate that Sunset was sacrificing more than Princess Twilight had the right to ask for. After this was all over, there was no doubt that she would despise her. There was no chance that Sunset Shimmer would see the Princess of Friendship as anything more than the person who ripped her family apart and stole her from her daughter. It was cross she was prepared to carry though. A cross she would need to carry.

“Where are we going?” Sonata asked, trying to change the subject.

“There’s someone else’s help we have to enlist before we do this,” Sunset stated.

“Who?” Sonata blinked.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

The car arrived at an apartment complex that Sunset had grown fairly familiar with over the past few years. It was one she visited as often as she could, and a place she had a lot of fond memories of.

Stopping the car, Sunset looked over at the group and nodded. “Alright, we’re here. Everyone out.”

“You could be a bit nicer about it...” Sonata complained.

Sunset gave her a death glare, which caused her mouth to shut, not daring to voice another complaint. She nodded and stepped out of the car without so much as another word.

Looking back at the other two women, they obeyed her orders and stepped out of the car, shutting the doors to the expensive car on their way out. Sunset followed and removed the keys from the car and stuffed them into her jacket pocket.

The redhead lead the group up the stairwell to the desired apartment where she tapped on the door.

Sunset composed herself and tried to not seem as annoyed. Her emotions were a volatile cocktail at this point, but she knew she needed to control herself. She couldn’t let herself explode, now wasn’t a time for that, now was a time for focusing.

The other three girls stood behind her silently. Aria had her arms crossed as she looked off into the distance while Sonata rocked back and forth on the balls of her heels. Twilight just stood with her hands at her sides, not speaking, and her expression remaining quite neutral. She hadn’t a clue what they were doing, but she wasn’t about to risk Sunset’s wrath.

The door to the apartment opened, and there with her signature, messy hair and dorky glasses was the face of Moondancer. She blinked as she saw Sunset first, about to open her mouth to greet her until she noticed the three women behind her. She wasn’t a huge fan of the two sirens, but when she saw the face of Princess Twilight with them, she became more confused.

“What’s... Going on?” Moondancer gulped.

Sunset looked over her shoulder at her entourage before looking back at the innocent eyes of Moondancer. “May we come inside, Moondancer? There’s some stuff we need to talk with you about...”

“Is this bad news?” Moondancer placed a hand on her chest.

“Well... Why don’t you let us come in and we can talk about it, okay?” Sunset gave a sheepish smile to the girl.

That answer alone already confirmed to Moondancer that she was about to given a bombshell. Deciding it was best not to delay the inevitable, she stepped back and opened the door more, ushering the girls inside. Princess Twilight was the first behind Sunset, followed by Aria, then Sonata (who still seemed to be staring off into space, which was far from out of the ordinary for her).

Once inside, they all sat down, Sunset on the armchair, while Twilight, Sonata and Aria all sat down on the couch. Moondancer decided to lean up against the wall as she listened. “So what’s going on, exactly?”

Twilight looked over at Sunset and then at the two sirens before she sighed and opened her mouth. “I guess it’s time for me to tell a lot of you about things I know that I haven’t said out loud...”

“I’d say that’s a good place to start...” Sunset crossed her arms.

Twilight came to a stand and nodded. “First of all, yes, I think by now a lot of people know that I was with Adagio in her final hours... She requested to speak with me before her execution. I sat in her cell with her for several hours and she told me a good deal about her life, her time in the human world, even her romance with Shimmer...”

Moondancer twitched visibly at the mention of Shimmer and Adagio together but bit her tongue.

“The truth is, I knew she had a sister for a while now, but I thought nothing of it... I had come to find out though that Adagio’s sister, Serenade has spent a long time with her hatred toward ponies and mortals festering...” Twilight frowned.

“That girl had a sister!?” Moondancer covered her mouth in shock.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, and when Serenade found out about Adagio’s death, she came to Equestria to avenge her. I attempted to prepare for her arrival via extensive training, but something I didn’t anticipate came about...”

“Which was?” Moondancer raised a brow.

Sunset finished the thought. “Serenade is a demon. She gave into darkness a long time ago, and because of that, her powers are unpredictable. She’s some kind of absorbing demon, capable of stealing magic and increasing her own power. As a result, she snatched up all the magic in Equestria, including most of Twilight’s save for a small bit.”

Moondancer blinked and shifted her focus back to Twilight. “Is that true?”

Twilight nodded in confirmation, a frown on her face as she admitted her own failures. “Yes, my power is limited now and Serenade has managed to conquer all of Equestria. As we speak, she has taken over, putting ponies into work camps, executing others, and enslaving others to do her bidding. At this time she’s an unstoppable force.”

“That’s... Wow...” Moondancer didn’t even know what to say.

“Twilight has asked me to come back to Equestria to help fight her. I’m the only unicorn left with magic besides the tiny bit she has left,” Sunset spoke.

With those words, Moondancer was mostly up to speed on the important details.

Moondancer was stunned. She never really considered much about what went on in Equestria, or if Adagio’s execution would have any long term effect on their world. She had just assumed that with the death of her, this would all finally be behind them, but it looked like the effects of Adagio Dazzle lingered even after her death. It was almost like taking out a hydra; they would cut off a head but two more would take its place.

Would there be no end to this?

“Not that this is all not incredibly fascinating and I am sorry for what’s going on, but why are you telling me about this?” Moondancer asked.

Twilight shrugged. “It was Sunset’s idea.”

Moondancer’s eyes now shifted over to Sunset. “Well?”

“Moondancer... I’m going to level with you... Serenade’s power sounds incredible. She’s going to be impossible for me to beat even with my magic back in Equestria. I’m good, but I’m nowhere near strong enough to fight her on my own. I’m going to need every advantage I can get over her if we want to stop her,” Sunset explained.

The studious girl adjusted her glasses as she listened. “And I come in, how?”

“I need your help. I think you have the intelligence and know how to build us some technology that could be used in Equestria to give us an advantage over her. She may have magic, but technology is alien to Equestria, we’d have tools that she doesn’t understand at our disposal, and I am confident you could build something like that,” Sunset stated.

The entire idea sounded insane. Sunset was more or less asking her to build weapons to fight some kind of magic sucking demon siren. Moondancer was tempted to pinch herself to make sure this was all real.

“How though? You want me to go to Equestria?” Moondancer tilted her head.

Sunset shook her head. “Only temporarily. Twilight has enough magic to open the portal for you to come, study our world for a bit, build us some stuff and then head back. From this side of the portal, you can communicate with us back in Equestria.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Moondancer tapped her foot.

Sunset rubbed her neck nervously. “I figured you could probably make some kind of inter-dimensional way to communicate or something? I know it sounds crazy...”

“It sounds insane.” Moondancer raised a finger in a matter-of-a-fact manner.

“Yeah, it does, but you’re the smartest person I know besides my wife, and you're better with computers and stuff. If anyone can pull it off, it’s you, I know it.” Sunset nodded.

Moondancer closed her eyes and tried to take all of this in. The longer this went on, the more insane it seemed to get. Demons? Inter-dimensional travel? Magic? This was all Nobel Prize kind of stuff if she could ever tell anyone about it, but naturally, she knew that wasn’t possible. Most would just think she were crazy if she tried anyway.

Once she opened her eyes, she started to collect the information she needed. “Princess Twilight, how long could you keep the portal open for me?”

Twilight thought for a moment and then gave her answer. “I estimate about a month, then it would have to close until I got my power back. If you are the only one using it, then it’ll take a lot less power.”

“So let me get this right, you want me to study, learn, and understand Equestrian physics, and then apply it into making not only some kind of combat gear that could fight a demon siren, but also make an inter-dimensional communication system, and you expect me to be able to do this all within the course of a month?” Moondancer removed herself from the wall, but kept her arms crossed as she gave a “really?” Face to the group.

Sunset grinned at the girl. “I intend to give you the best tools for the job. Understand though that if you agree to help us, you likely will not be coming home for some time. We’ll need you somewhere specific after you come back to the human world to cover a few more duties.”

Moondancer didn’t like the sound of that. It sounded like she was about to involve herself in something that if she agreed was going to take over her life for the time being, and it wasn’t something she could back out of if she got cold feet. She knew at that moment that she needed to choose carefully because whatever she decided to do was going to be a permanent choice.

Looking back at the two sirens in the room she gestured with her finger to them. “And what about you two? What’s your role in all of this?”

Aria looked up with serious eyes, her “tough girl” demeanor as prevalent as ever. She just kept her stern face as she gave her answer. “We want to show we’re committed to redeeming ourselves. We didn’t have anything to do with Adagio murdering the girl.”

“But you knew they were together at one point?” Moondancer asked.

Sonata shook her head. “Only a little bit. We didn’t find out until closer to the end of it. We don’t know how they broke up or anything like that. Adagio didn’t ever really tell us about stuff, honest!”

While Moondancer had trouble trusting the two of them they currently had no reason to lie, and she had no real reason to doubt them, after all, they had offered their help before.

She nodded and looked over at Twilight. “Have you seen this Serenade yourself?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah...”

“What’s she like?” Moondancer asked.

“A monster... A creature of pure evil. Ruthless, heartless and cold. She kills without even blinking.” Twilight closed her eyes.

“If she were to ever find the portal... If she came to this world in her current state, what kind of damage could she do here?” Moondancer asked.

Twilight blinked. “Well, the portal has a spell upon it to prevent demons from using it, but at Serenade’s power level she could easily push her way through regardless. If she makes it through the portal to this world... The kind of damage she could cause would likely be...”

The Princess paused and bit her lip.

“Well?” Moondancer goaded.

“Total. Everything wiped out. Serenade would destroy this entire world just for the fun of doing so. With her powers, I’m not sure anyone could stop her. Maybe human weapons could take her by surprise, but there’s no certainty that they could kill her, especially if she got a hold of them herself...” Twilight explained.

Moondancer sighed and closed her eyes, trying to imagine a creature that powerful. Serenade sounded at least eight thousand times worse than her sister, she was the very definition of a monster.

“I’ll do it.” Moondancer opened her eyes.

“You’re certain?” Princess Twilight blinked.

The bookworm adjusted her glasses and nodded. “Yes. Realistically, there isn’t much of a choice here anyway. If what you say is true, and I’m inclined to believe it is, since you have Sunset convinced,” Moondancer gave Sunset a nod before continuing, which Sunset nodded back, “then our world is at stake here too. I can’t walk away and let that happen.”

“Is that the only reason?” Twilight raised a brow.

She shook her head. “Shimmer died because of that... Thing’s sister. I owe Shimmer the decency of helping Sunset in any way I can, especially if it’s to prevent her killer’s sister from getting to this world to kill more.”

“You know that you could die with us, right?” Twilight suggested.

“I don’t care.” Moondancer crossed her arms, her blouse crinkling as she did. Interestingly enough, she was wearing a pink shirt, a color she didn’t wear too often.

“You will likely be separated from your family and friends for the duration of this all, which could take years. Are you prepared for that?” Sunset asked.

Moondancer stomped her foot in annoyance. “I already said I was. I’ll think of something to explain my absence, but I want to do my part to help. If I don’t, I doubt I could live with myself. I’m not going to let you do this alone, and there’s no way I’m going to risk letting Serenade make it to this world.”

Sunset came to a stand, a grin on her face as she approached the girl opening her arms for a hug. Moondancer took the gesture and allowed herself to be embraced by Sunset. The redhead patted Moondancer’s back and smiled. “Thank you, Moondancer... You have no idea how much I appreciate this...”

“It’s no problem, Sunset...” Moondancer blushed.

Sunset shook her head and released the girl, holding her forearms in her hands as she made eye contact with Moondancer. “It is a big deal. You’re putting your life on hold for us, you’re risking everything...”

“I’d do anything for you, Sunset... You’re my friend. You’ve done so much for me, as has your sister.” Moondancer smiled.

Sunset blinked. “I haven’t done that much.”

Moondancer smiled at the woman in front of her. “That’s where you’re wrong. I owe so much to you and your family, Sunset.”

Sunset smiled back and nodded. “Well, then let’s get going. There isn’t much time to waste, we have to work as quickly as we can.”

“Let me just grab some of my things...” Moondancer said as she wandered over to pick up her laptop from a nearby counter. Sunset placed a hand atop of the laptop and prevented the girl from lifting it. She shook her head and smirked.

“I got you covered, all you need to grab is clothing to wear. Go pack a big suitcase with as much as you can, and we’ll head out,” Sunset instructed.

Moondancer blinked but obeyed. She left the laptop there and left to head to her bedroom to begin packing. She focused mostly on comfortable attire as she was certain that formal clothing was not going to be necessary where she was heading. She stuffed a few T-shirts, sweaters, and tank tops in first, followed by a selection of bras and sports bras.

She debated if she would want pajamas or not, but ultimately decided it couldn’t hurt. She threw in a few pairs and before she knew it, Moondancer had packed half of her clothing into a suitcase. She dragged it out of the room and met with the girls standing near the door, ready to leave. Sunset nodded at her and offered to take her bag for her, which Moondancer declined.

Shrugging, Sunset pointed to the door which all the girls followed, Moondancer at the tail.

Once they reached Sunset’s car, Aria and Sonata came around to the truck and relieved Moondancer of her bag which they tossed in the trunk and shut it.

When the doors opened and Aria took the front seat, Moondancer realized she would be required to sit next to Sonata. She paused briefly and stared into the car where Sonata waited in the middle of the back seat, Twilight on her other side.

Sonata noticed Moondancer standing there and smiled at her, patting the space next to her. “I don’t bite.” She insisted.

That might have been debatable to Moondancer, but she realized she didn’t really have many other options. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with sirens still, but she would have to deal with it. Sighing, she sat down next to Sonata and kept her eyes focused on the seat in front of her. Sonata yawned and stretched. “I can’t believe we’re going to be back in Equestria again! This is so exciting!”

“Too bad we’ll be stuck in our pony forms, no magic means we can’t ever access our siren forms again...” Aria groaned.

Moondancer ignored the conversation that Aria and Sonata began and realized she needed to take care of a few loose ends first. She quickly began writing up an email on her phone to her landlord.

Dear Mr. Porter,

I am writing to inform you that I will be leaving for an extended trip. I will send my rent payments for the duration of my time away directly to you. If you could reply and send me your information so that I can make the deposits. I apologize for the inconvenience, the situation was very sudden.

Thank you,

Moondancer

That seemed sufficient enough to her. Moondancer nodded and sighed as she looked up at the group talking.

“So, Twilight... What’s Equestria been like since we’ve been gone?” Aria asked.

Twilight shrugged. “Have you forgotten that when you were sent here, that you were sent forward in time? You all were alive in Equestria long before I was ever born, so I wouldn’t really know much of how it’s changed since you were around. Regardless, at the current moment, it’s changed for the worse...”

“Any plans for beating Serenade?” Sonata asked curiously.

Twilight shook her head and focused on the driver’s seat in front of her, specifically at the red hair she could see. Sunset had remained quiet this entire car ride, but Twilight knew a million ideas were swirling through her head, along with a million emotions.

Sunset, of course, didn’t speak a word about the subject. Plans were definitely brewing in her head, but none of which she felt like sharing just yet, then again, she wasn’t really sure what to do entirely yet. She would need to study Serenade, learn her powers and then come up with a plan, but she had a few rudimentary ideas already.

Twilight wanted to apologize for how she had forced Sunset’s hand; she wished it didn’t have to be this way, but a part of her felt apologies were going to be pointless at this time. Nothing she said could fix the fact that she was ripping Sunset from her family and that was just the brunt of it.

Moondancer blinked as she realized she had no idea what she would tell her mother. “Shit, what do I tell my mother? How exactly do I explain why I’m gone?”

“Call it a research project overseas. She won’t question it so long as you call her from time to time, just don’t tell her where you really are,” Sunset finally spoke up.

Moondancer nodded and checked her phone. It was approaching five in the morning now, but no doubt her mother would prefer a phone call over some kind of text message. Moondancer gritted her teeth and dialed her mother’s number.

It took some time for her mother to answer, but as expected a series of yawns could be heard on the other end. “Moondancer? I know you like to stay up late, but don’t forget that some of us sleep during human hours...”

“Sorry for calling so early, but it was something that couldn’t wait...” Moondancer began.

She knew she would have a hard time lying to her mother, but she was off to a good start.

“What is it, sweetie?” Her mother’s voice rang in her ear.

Moondancer gritted her teeth as she prepared herself. She needed to make it all sound convincing. “I was given a very prestigious offer to go to...” She paused and said the first location that came to mind, “London.”

Sunset grinned as she listened to Moondancer struggle to lie.

“London? What for?” Her mother asked.

With her eyes out the window, Moondancer decided it was best to go with Sunset’s plan. “Well, there is a research group out there, and after reading one of my essays, they want me to be a part of a pretty big top secret project. They think it’ll change the world.”

“Really!? That’s amazing, Moondancer!” Her mother exclaimed.

Guilt instantly hit the woman. Her mother was proud of her, but she knew it was undeserved as she wasn’t actually doing anything of the sort.

“Yeah... It is...” She responded with a frown.

“What are you all researching?” Her mother asked.

“I can’t tell you, it’s classified,” Moondancer replied.

A giggle could be heard from the other end. “Well, I’m sure you’ll do fantastic, sweetie. When are you leaving?”

“That’s why I called you. I’m going there tonight, I’m on my way to the airport right now.” Moondancer closed her eyes.

“Awwww, I won’t even get to see you off?” Her mother pouted.

“Sorry, it was last minute and they want me to get to work right away, there wasn’t any time to deliberate it,” Moondancer explained. At least that much was true.

Her mother didn’t sound upset, instead, she sounded somewhat giddy. “Well, you do your best, sweetie! I’ll. Be rooting for you! Just make sure to mention me when you win that Nobel Prize!”

Moondancer giggled and nodded. “I will, mother. I love you.”

“I love you too, sweet pea, now go make me proud.”

“Can do.”

After hanging up, Moondancer let out a long sigh.

“Never had to lie to your mother before, have you?” Sunset asked, peeking at the girl from her rearview mirror.

She shook her head. “No, have you?”

Sunset laughed. “My mother was an inattentive workaholic. I could have been brewing drugs in my room and I wouldn’t even need to lie about it, because she wouldn’t even know.”

“Sounds rough...” Moondancer frowned.

Sunset shrugged. “My parents put food on the table and a roof over my head, in their minds, their job as parents ended there. I guess I’m not really much different, huh?”

Twilight somehow felt that comment was directed at her, but she kept quiet.

The drive went on for a bit longer before pulling up to an old steel framed warehouse on the other side of town. It was all but abandoned, but Sunset turned from her seat and gazed at all the girls behind her with a smirk. “We’re here, get ready to say hello to your home away from home, Moondancer.”

Moondancer looked at the building, finding it unimpressive, but she had no idea what was in store inside.

There was a minor issue and somehow this chapter got skipped over. So you’re technically getting it late, but I felt it necessary to include it as it sort of includes some foreshadowing and extra details. I’m a bit embarrassed that I somehow didn’t notice that I skipped over it and thus the chapters after were all incorrectly titled and numbered.

I need to be more diligent.

For those who are reading this AFTER the fact... Well I guess it won’t matter to you.

Either way, sorry!