Serenade couldn’t remember how old she was exactly anymore, she knew it was around eight hundred years, but she had stopped keeping track. For a siren, she was still relatively young, but crafty enough to have survived as long as she had. She kept her wits about her and as a result, stayed alive. Many sirens like her would meet their end from interacting with mortals too much, letting something slip and ultimately being killed by them.

Not Serenade though. Instead, she kept interactions with mortals to a minimum and focused much of her time improving her ability to fight and defend herself. While she could use magic drained from mortals to mount a defense, she needed backup plans. It was always a good idea to have a backup plan, and Serenade had grown fond of maintaining backup plans whenever there was an option to do so. Staying alive was her top priority, followed by her secondary priority of trying to find her lost sister.

Adagio and she had been separated for centuries now. The world was a vast place, and with the both of them likely moving all the time, they had not encountered each other since their separation. It was extra difficult since it wasn’t as if they could advertise where they were or that they were searching for each other since most would not aid a siren, and many would try and kill them if they revealed themselves. To top this off, Serenade knew one thing: mortals couldn’t be trusted. A siren who fell for the trap that was trusting mortals was a siren that didn’t live long.

Her days were mostly split up between looking for trouble to get into, feeding, honing her abilities in combat, and looking for potential leads on finding her elder sister. It had occurred to her some time ago, that she may not even know what her sister currently looked like.

The siren’s search had brought her a small village on the outskirts of a forest region. It wasn’t too densely populated, and the village in question she had heard of from a saloon she spent a good weekend in trying to find a drink strong enough to keep her mind from wandering (unsuccessfully, of course as the poor ponies out that way couldn’t afford anything beyond homemade moonshine).

She had been told of an amulet called the Amulet of Desires. It was a special artifact, blessed long ago and said to be capable of guiding its wearer in the direction of what they desired most. For Serenade, it seemed like the perfect tool to use to finally hunt down her sister.

From the saloon she had heard of the place from, it had taken her eight days of travel time to reach. She adjusted the belt around her waist with its many small bags and compartments as she passed through tree after tree to reach the village in question.

At her sides were chains with hooks at their end rattling as she walked with them holstered. They were one of the many tools she had learned to master when traveling through the wilderness by one’s self. Given that using her siren form to fly made her a target, she had to find other means to achieve vertical mobility. The hooks provided a double purpose in that, as they could achieve that for her, and cause damage to would-be foes.

The mare poked through the final bit of brush to see the village only about eight hundred feet away, but to her surprise, it seemed as though she wasn’t the only one about to give them a hard time that day. Standing just outside the village, a massive dragon stood howling as it cast black flames from its mouth. There was something off about the creature though, part of its body was completely covered in some kind of black substance that moved as if it were alive. Tendrils flared from its body whipping all over without much pattern.

It’s mighty maw opened up once more and blasted out more black flames which Serenade didn’t recognize. She sighed and shook her head before making her approach to the village. She could already tell it was going to be a long day.

It wouldn’t take much time before she found herself in the town square where general panic seemed to overtake the village. Mares were fleeing their homes, some with children at their side and men, of course, were organizing to mount a counterattack against the impressively sized creature.

Serenade could tell by looking at it, that the dragon was at least 1,000 years old, not quite full size yet, but getting close. She had learned a bit about dragons in her time.

The green creature hissed and spat as several villagers were running toward it with various weapons, trying to cause damage to its thick hide. Serenade sighed at the amateur level of fighting they were displaying but shrugged it off as she approached a stallion standing by his him watching the entire ordeal unfold.

“Hey...” Serenade began, grabbing his shoulder in her hoof.

“I haven’t seen you around here before? Are you an adventurer?” He asked, eying her up and down, figuring she matched the general build of such a profession.

“You could say that.” Serenade shrugged.

“You chose a bad place to explore, stranger. That demon is going to burn this entire village down. If you are smart and value your life, you’d run,” He said.

Looking back at the dragon, Serenade brushed her yellow mane back and shook her head. “I don’t care about that. I’m looking for an artifact called the Amulet of Desires, tell me what it is, now.”

“Unfortunately, I’m pretty certain that no one is getting anything with that demon just doing whatever it pleases. I doubt the amulet is going to reach your hooves with that thing around. You’re better off adventuring elsewhere,” he lectured.

Once again, Serenade eyeballed the dragon before turning back to the stallion. “So if I kill that thing for you, you’ll take me directly to the amulet?”

“You say that as if that’s as simple as moving a hay bale...” He chuckled.

Serenade looked the dragon up and down once again and nodded. “Stay here,” she commanded.

He blinked, curious how a single mare as small as this girl was going to take down such a mighty demon, but he said nothing as he watched her approach the fiend in the distance. She was either exceptionally brave or exceptionally stupid, he was better on the latter.

Getting close to the fight zone, Serenade approached a stallion hiding behind a building for cover. The stallion was barking commands at others who were all throwing spears at the beast to no avail. She grunted to get his attention. Once he had noticed her, he looked her over and raised a brow. “What do you want, stranger!? Can’t you see we’re under attack!?”

Serenade looked around at the ragtag team fighting the monster and then back to the stallion. “How much experience do any of you have with killing dragons, let alone demon ones?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever killed one...” He responded.

“Then stand aside and allow an expert with over eight confirmed dragon kills handle this,” Serenade said as she stepped forward and out into the open where the foul beast screeched at her, spit and black sludge flinging in her direction. She stepped out of the way of a huge glob that almost hit her and grunted.

The creature swiped at her with his enormous front claw which she dodged by ducking low. Another swipe caused her to jump over its claw and land atop of its arm. Quickly, it tried to swat at her with its other arm, but the mare backflipped landing on her hind legs. Serenade utilized the momentum to grab one of the chained hooks at her side and with a quick twirl, she hurled it into the arm that swiped at her, latching onto it.

Serenade gripped the chain tightly as the beast pulled her from the ground by lifting its arm high in the sky to raise the mare to level with its face. Hastily she readied her second hook and tossed it at the creature’s jaw, latching onto his lip. It screeched in pain, but couldn’t do a thing. With both its jaw and arm hooked tightly and held together by the mare gripping the chains tightly, he was at her mercy for the moment.

Serenade pulled as hard as she could on both chain, forcing the creature’s arm and mouth to come closer. Once she was close enough, she forced her body upright and landed atop the dragon’s back, abandoning her hooks in the process. It didn’t make much of a difference, as she could recall them with magic when she had need of them again.

On top of the creature’s back, she retrieved a small dagger from her belt and pierced a soft spot between the dragon’s scales between his shoulder blades. It was a weak point that she had learned in her travels that all dragons had, difficult to hit, but it would cripple his ability to take flight again.

The effect was instant, as a howl went through the air chains rattled from the dragon’s face as it struggled.

There wasn’t much time to celebrate, however, as the black substance that radiated from the dragon’s body began to form a series of tendrils that approached Serenade. Acting quickly, she leaped off of the dragon and landed with a slide on the dirt below. The townsfolk looked at her in awe, amazed at her skill and talent in the slaying of dragons, though their beast problem was far from over.

She barked at them with annoyance. “It’s far from dead, throw your spears at its underside if you can, its scales are weaker there. If you’re going to stand there, at least do something useful!”

He blinked and nodded quickly ushering his other fellow villagers to follow the mare’s commands. “You heard her!”

The dragon growled in agony before the long tendrils extended and whipped at Serenade. She dodged most of them, but the last one gripped her hoof, a burning sensation left where it touched as she sliced it away with a small sword she kept in her belt. Her hoof felt like it was being scratched over and over at the spot where it was touched.

She suppressed the pain in her mind and focused on the fight. She didn’t have the luxury to be sweating over small things.

The dragon had recovered from her initial attack and howled at her, saliva sputtering from its mouth as it flew through the air and splattered onto Serenade. She hissed as she wiped a splotch of it from her face. “You are just as disgusting as you are, ugly aren’t you?” She asked, not expecting an answer.

The beast growled and snapped at her with his mighty jaw, only for her to roll out of the way, and piercing the short sword through the bottom of his mouth. The beast moved away the moment the pain of the blade overtook it, but Serenade didn’t let up, instead, she threw the sword, stabbing it again in the underside of its jaw.

With the advantage in the fight, Serenade decided not to let up, and instead tossed a dagger to follow up her sword throw and hit just under where the sword had pierced the creature’s jaw. Following up, she cast a spell, the amulet around her neck glowing brightly as lightning exited her horn and hit the sword sticking out of the underside of the dragon’s jaw. Acting as a conductor, the bolt coursed through the dragon’s body.

While magic was usually only partially effective on a dragon’s scaled body, when it was pierced with a conductor, the effects of magic could hit their innards and thus the effects were usually greater. This time, however, the magic didn’t seem to have much of an effect. The creature only twitched slightly before administering a counter-attack, swiping at her with its claw.

She surmised that demonic powers allowed it to be even more resistant to magic than usual. “A lot tougher than other dragons, aren’t you? Too bad for you, that I’m Serenade Dazzle, and nothing stands in my way, including you, so I hope you’re ready to die today, ugly!”

The creature emitted a chuckling sound from his maw which caused Serenade to raise a brow in confusion.

With a deep inhale, the monster then let out a powerful breath that carried a black mist with it, a mist that quickly surrounded Serenade, making escape impossible. She pivoted on her back hooves, but could only see more black mist. Within seconds, she found herself surrounded by blackness, an ocean of darkness as far as the eye could see. She remained still, unsure of what awaited her.

The sounds of the townsfolk screaming and barking orders had completely vanished, instead, it was dead silence, enough to hear a pin drop. She lowered her hooves and relaxed herself. There was no sense in panicking.

What this place was, was irrelevant to her, she needed to find a way out.

A voice echoed through her ears, deep, distorted and eager. It spoke directly to her, despite her not being able to see where it was coming from.

You who have come to this place, your hatred, it is so... palpable. If you hope to leave this place, you will need to demonstrate your skills to us. Should you fail, you will join the lost souls who have never left this vile place, should you succeed, true power may await you.

There was no certainty she could trust the voice to keep their word, but given the circumstances, she had little choice. She would need to obey if she wanted to escape this place. Sighing, she readied herself, taking a battle stance.

Around her, dozens of pony-esque creatures began to appear. At first, there were maybe twenty, then thirty, then forty. They continued to multiply until they were well in the hundreds.

These creatures stood lopsided, their jaws ajar, and their bodies covered in black leathery skin with tendrils swaying about them. They moved without much purpose, but their glowing red eyes all focused on Serenade. She surmised that these must have been the lost souls that the voice spoke of. With so many before her, she would need to plan her attacks accordingly. Killing that many targets all at once while maintaining her energy would be no small task.

“Come to me...” Serenade beckoned the lifeless creatures who shambled toward her without much concern for their own personal safety.

Drawing another sword from her belt, she gripped it in the cleft of her hoof and held it upright before piercing the skull of one of the shamblers and pulled the sword out. It bled a black sludge before falling to the ground and decomposing just as quickly as it hit.

Another came up from behind her and opened its mouth to expose rows of sharp-fanged teeth as it tried to pierce her neck with its dangerous maw. Serenade held it back and jabbed it in the face with her hoof. After the first hit, she smashed at it another eight times bashing its face in. Once it had stumbled backward, she gripped it and smashed its head into the ground, crushing it.

Taking the sword once more, she sliced around her, slicing two more. She didn’t waste a second as she gripped one with both of her hooves and grabbed the sliced area pulling it apart and ripping the head off of the creature, throwing it at another in the distance. She stomped on the ground and beckoned more toward her. “COME ON! COME GET ME!”

As if following her commands, they all began to shuffle faster toward her. Hundreds, as far as the eye could see all surrounding her, but not a single one intimidating the siren. She would destroy every single one if necessary, leaving nothing but piles upon piles of guts and entrails if necessary.

Time seemed to stand still as she tore into them, slicing, smashing, tearing, and eviscerating any who came within eight inches of her. She stopped counting how many she had killed and just kept dismembering them all. Exhaustion wasn’t even a thought on her mind as she did so, her body was pumping pure adrenaline, her heart racing faster than it ever had in her entire life. A normal creature may have felt horror at what it was being forced to do, maybe even exhaustion, but for Serenade, she had never felt more alive.

Every bit of black sludge she had spilled from those creatures brought her an almost orgasmic pleasure. She had never tasted the pleasures of sex in her life, but she imagined it paled in comparison to the thrill of the kill. She had killed before, but never like this. Just a never-ending slew of victims lining up for her, lambs to the slaughter, a never-ending faucet of blood for her to bathe in. She was loving every second, she couldn’t even feel the pain of her front hoof where the demon had originally touched her.

Before she knew it, she had slain hundreds and saw their numbers begin to dwindle and potter out. The last one that stood in her way appeared before her and she impaled it with her blade and pulled upward, cutting through its skull and slicing it in half. It’s head split down the middle and both halves flapped down to its sides as sludge spurted from the fresh opening. It’s body collapsed and like the others evaporated into nothing.

Serenade was covered in the sludge, black goo dripped from her entire body as she stood panting in excitement. “More...” She grunted. “I want more... Give me more!”

There was silence.

“I SAID MORE, DAMN IT! GIVE ME MORE TO KILL! IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE!? I WANT MORE!” She shouted.

Again, there was no reply.

“I AM NOT DONE YET! I WANT MORE TO KILL RIGHT NOW!” Serenade screeched.

Enough.

She blinked and looked around, trying to find the origin of the voice from before that now echoed in her ear a second time.

Seldom does a creature with as much hatred as you appear. There isn’t an ounce of remorse within you, not a shred of kindness, just pure bitter hatred...

She stood still and raised a brow as it stated the obvious.

With that much hatred, you may become our greatest creation yet...

“What do you want from me?” Serenade asked.

To give you power beyond your wildest imagination. You, Serenade Dazzle, will become a demon worthy of legends. The kind of demon that will be spoken of for generations.

“What do you want in return?” Serenade asked.

Kill, destroy, use your power however you see fit. Accept this gift, and you will be able to do anything you’ve dreamed of.

Serenade blinked. She didn’t even need to think about it, this power they spoke of, she wanted it, no she needed it.

“I accept,” She spoke loudly, her voice echoing into the abyss.

Excellent. Close your eyes and accept this gift.

Serenade did as told, closing her eyes, she took in a breath which was immediately followed by a surge of pain. Pain far greater than anything she had ever experienced up to that point. Her chest ached, throbbed and felt like a thousand needles pierced her heart. She fell to her haunches and groaned in agony, but the pain only grew worse, like something inside of her was constricting her. She could barely breathe.

Her hooves twitched out of her control as she laid on her side trying to find relief from the pain. “FUUUUCK!” She screamed.

Embrace the pain, endure it.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK!” She screeched, it was almost too much to take, but she refused to let a single tear leave her. Serenade never cried before, and she didn’t intend to start at that moment. She could take it, she told herself, she could endure it and then all the power in the world would be her’s.

It only took a few more seconds before the major part of the pain subsided and trickled down to a gentle throb before disappearing entirely as if nothing had happened. She panted and helped herself up.

How does it feel?

“Absolutely incredible...” She looked down to her hoof which had healed from the mark left from before by the demon dragon.

She could feel a dark power coursing through her veins, beating from her heart and through her body. It was unlike anything she had experienced before. All she wanted to do was use it immediately.

Focusing made black tendrils come out of her back that dangled in the air, acting on their own. She grinned as she watched them, content with the new abilities she was now permitted.

With these powers, you shall become the greatest demon that has ever lived. The more you use your powers, the stronger they will become. Right now, you are merely a fledgling, but in enough time, you will rise to become a legend. Go now, Serenade Dazzle, use your power as you see fit.

Behind Serenade, a portal appeared, shining brightly in the dark world she found herself in. With a grin on her face, she stepped through it.

Back in the world of mortals, she appeared exactly where she had vanished, the black mist around her clearing. The dragon was still laying siege upon the village, albeit with some fresh wounds caused by her. Naturally, the townsfolk were useless in causing any real damage to the creature. She grinned at the opportunity to see the ability of her new power.

Teleporting her hooks back to her side, she threw one toward the beast and latched onto his cheek. With a tug, she felt her strength had increased significantly, and even a beast well over eighty tons felt as light as a pebble as she pulled it down, causing its jaw to crash into the ground.

She tugged the chain and jumped, pulling herself on top of its head. With the other hook, she threw it downward and latched onto the creature’s eye. It hissed in pain, but that didn’t stop the new demon from throwing the other hook into the other eye of the creature and pulling up with both hooks. With her newfound strength, she easily tore both eyes from the sockets, black sludge spurted from the holes and the creature roared in pain before its head fell down and landed on the ground, motion slowly halting as it spat out more and more black sludge.

After it ceased moving, the creature’s body began to decompose just as quickly as the creatures she had slain in the other world. Was it even another world? She didn’t know, and personally, she didn’t care either. With the dragon defeated, she grinned as she felt the demon slowly fade into black sludge underneath her. “Out with the old... In with the new,” she said to herself.

Once the beast was completely faded from existence, she stepped forward noting all the townsfolk cheering for her.

One face in the crowd she recognized, it was the same one that had told her of the amulet she sought. Carefully stepping forward, she approached him and spoke up. “The amulet, where is it?”

“I can’t believe it, you killed it! Amazing!” He blinked.

“The amulet, I said,” she demanded.

“Of course, but first we should celebrate! I’ve never seen anything as amazing as what you just did!” He grinned, reaching forward to shake her hoof, a crowd starting to gather around her.

Serenade looked left and right at the group of ponies now surrounding her, she then met his face and swatted his hoof away. “You shouldn’t be celebrating, I have only saved you from a terrible fate...” She paused as fresh new demonic tendrils came out of her back, floating in the air ready to strike. “To deliver you to a far worse one...”

Before anyone could react, two of the tendrils whipped down in front of her slicing the stallion she was speaking to clean in half. Turning to the crowd around her, she grinned as the many tendrils attached to her body began to quickly attack everyone gathered around her. With a few quick gestures, she had managed to decapitate every single pony in the crowd before anyone even had a chance to scream.

The rest of the town was light work for her new powers. It only took a matter of minutes before there wasn’t a single townsfolk left alive.

“This power... This is... Incredible...” She grinned as she examined one of the tendrils that dangled in front of her.

She had forgotten about the amulet when she had made that first kill. The rush of it had only made her want to kill more and more. Was this the power of a demon?

It didn’t matter. She liked it.

Sunset lifted an armored hoof and took a few labored steps inside the newest weapon in her arsenal against Serenade. The suit was incredibly advanced, even if it were made in the human world, and made her feel somewhat like a superhero. She recalled a comic book or two that depicted a man in a metal suit, but couldn’t recall the name. Comics wasn’t her area of expertise or one that she was familiar with.

She managed to get a gallop going before she started to understand the system. With her body finally feeling somewhat less stiff in the suit, she managed to jump, using the rocket propulsion in the hooves of the suit to leap over a log that had been set up for her by her newest trainer, Moondancer.

Moondancer holding a pen in her hoof made a quick check on a clipboard she was carrying and nodded as she watched Sunset. “Impressive, you’re getting the hang of it quickly. We have a few more days before I leave, so hopefully, you can have it all down so you can train the others in a pinch.”

“Why would I need to train them?” Sunset raised a brow as she began to perform some pushups in the suit to limber up some more.

Moondancer rolled her eyes. “In case of an emergency, it’s good for them to know how to use it, though they obviously won’t have full functionality without magic like you.”

Sunset nodded in understanding as she continued her pushups.

Moondancer sighed and watched her friend, admiring her fitness that she had maintained over the years, even through childbirth and marriage. Sunset seemed like she was too determined to allow anything to make her waiver from the path of self-care.

Watching her go up and down, she couldn’t even see a bead of sweat on Sunset’s neck, implying that this was barely a workout for the girl. Moondancer wished she was in such great shape, but she often got winded from running up and down the stairs too many times. She supposed she would have plenty of time to get in shape however, given that she was going to have a lot of time at the facility that Sunset had left her.

Speaking up, Moondancer smiled at her friend. “You know, Sunset it’s a pretty brave thing that you’re doing.”

Sunset continued her pushups as she conversed. “Not really, I’m just doing what I have to do. There really wasn’t much choice in the matter, I couldn’t just abandon Equestria to Serenade, and on top of that, if she ever finds the portal to the human world, she would unleash destruction worse than World War III.”

That much was likely true. Moondancer hadn’t seen Serenade’s power, but if it was as bad as the Princess has said, it was more than likely that even a second in the human world would be enough for her to cause the kind of damage that a nuclear warhead caused. She’d set fire to everything around her and stand by and watch it all burn out of control.

Serenade was an odd creature to hear about, and Moondancer wished for even a second that she could look into the girl’s psyche, to see what had turned her into such a being. There was no way that darkness alone had made her as she was, though she supposed it was possible. The only question then would be how would she have given into darkness in the first place then? Twilight said it herself that as a pure demon, that meant she had given her heart entirely to darkness. She wasn’t just corrupted, she was easy to turn.

It was unsettling to keep thinking about, so she shook her head and returned to the conversation at hand. “Still, it’s not an easy undertaking that you’re taking up, Sunset. You should be proud of what you’re doing.”

Straining herself a little, Sunset counted pushup number eighty-eight. “Be proud when we win... If we win that is...”

“So you’re not completely confident in victory?” Moondancer asked.

“Can anyone be?” Sunset responded, “Serenade’s power is massive, she has the combined strength of Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor, Discord, and Twilight. It’s pretty clear that she isn’t going to go down that easily. I don’t anticipate an easy victory.”

Moondancer frowned. “Aren’t you worried that you’ll never see Twilight or your daughter again?”

“I’m very worried about that, actually it’s the only thing I’m really worried about. I chose to not tell them where I was going and prevent any chance of them finding me in the event that I don’t make it back. It’s easier to just accept that I disappeared somewhere than that I died, I guess. That and I didn’t want a chance of Twilight chasing after me and getting herself killed too,” Sunset explained.

Moondancer felt bad knowing how much Sunset was risking and knowing she was risking significantly less in comparison. That meant she had to make sure that her suit and gadgets worked to an optimal level to increase Sunset’s chance at victory, and survival.

“I’ll do everything in my power to get you home safely, Sunset. You can count on me.” Moondancer stepped forward.

Stopping her pushups, Sunset looked over at her and smiled. “I know I can, Moondancer. I have complete faith in you, if we fuck this up, it’ll be because of me.”

“Don’t say that...” Moondancer shook her head.

Sunset stood up properly and shrugged. “Either way, we’re going to give this our best effort. No half-assing anything, we go all in.”

Moondancer giggled and nodded. “Agreed! Let’s win this thing!”

Starlight sat on a bench awaiting instructions. Several guards who worked for Serenade passed over the past hour, giving her an occasional glance, sometimes muttering a comment. She knew their attention was drawn to the unique collar on her neck which to the untrained eye looked like a simple black choker with a black gemstone in the center. Albeit with a dog tag attached to it, clearly intended to make her out to be some kind of animal.

She could hear a comment at one point about being “Arax’s bitch”, which made her chuckle almost to imagine Arax in such a way. He didn’t strike her as a particularly possessive creature, so the fact that she was considered “his” was a bit amusing.

Finally, Arax himself would arrive after making her wait for hours in this spot. He stood before her, tall and proud looking down at the mare with fierce red eyes. Starlight studied him, noting that he was a hair taller than most changelings she had come to know, though she didn’t know that many and most of what she had seen were from photos.

With his cloak that showed his loyalty to Serenade draped around him, he raised a holed hoof and gestured for her to stand. “Sorry for keeping you waiting, many things require my attention these days.”

She came to a stand and raised a brow, confused by his demeanor. “I don’t think one usually apologizes to a slave.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t think too hard about it, some of us just have some learned civility. You’re still a slave, and you’re still my property, do you understand that?”

“As much as I can, I suppose.” Starlight shrugged. The gravity of her situation somehow hadn’t set in yet. Arax made it difficult to take his talk of slavery too seriously. Something about him was somewhat off, making it all feel like a dream; that or there was something about his demeanor that just didn’t make it seem real. She imagined if it was Serenade, however, she would have been broken already.

“Get used to it, because that’s how things are going to be from now on, you don’t do a damn thing unless I say so. You eat when I tell you, you sleep when I tell you. You will follow my rules from now on, understand?” He growled.

Starlight just nodded.

“Good, follow me then.” He tilted his head to gesture the direction they were heading. She followed and allowed him to speak along the way.

“A few rules, so I hope you’re paying attention,” he started.

“I’m listening,” Starlight replied plainly.

“First, you are expected to bathe daily. I don’t want a disgusting bitch stinking up my work areas or quarters. You will stay clean at all times, do you understand?” He grunted.

She shrugged. “I guess, I never took you for a germaphobe though.”

“I’m not, but I believe in presentation and organization. That is why the second rule is that you will always wear the outfits provided for you. I don’t want to see you walking around in anything less. You’re my trophy and I expect you to look the part at all times,” he commanded.

“Fair enough, do I call you master from now on?” She smirked.

“Arax, or Master, doesn’t make a difference to me, so long as you answer whenever I call.” He grinned back at her.

She fell silent once more before they came to a door at the end of the hallway in the castle’s living quarters wing. Canterlot castle seemed less familiar to her, despite being fairly familiar with its layout after visiting several times on Twilight’s behalf. It felt wrong to see the entire castle occupied by Serenade’s guards, some who had been turned by her magic, others who chose to follow willingly.

Opening the door, he pushed it open and gesture for her to enter. Doing so, she stepped inside and blinked as she took a look at the room. A four poster bed was in the back corner near the window that opened up to a balcony that looked over the city below. The entire room was immaculate and had plenty of places to keep her things, had she had any of them.

He gestured to the wardrobe in the room. “You may put on a dress from there right away.”

She blinked and stood still for a moment before looking over at him. He grunted and increased his volume as his voice became more commanding. “Now.”

Nodding she approached the wardrobe and opened it. Eight gorgeous and finely crafted dresses looked back at her, each more elegant and attractive than the last. She was stunned at the craftsmanship, finding it hard to even decide. Eventually, she settled on a blue one with black trimmings. It had all the right frills, and a laced up back with a long skirt that draped over her backside.

She slipped it on with ease and tried to find a way to tighten the laces on the back, only to feel an aura pull the strings for her. She peeked over and saw Arax’s horn glowing as they tightened to the perfect setting. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled as she saw herself. “Wow, far better than I was expecting... I sort of imagined I’d be wearing literal rags all over.”

“What is a trophy if it isn’t shining?” Arax proposed.

She never imagined he was so vain as to want to rub his achievements in the face of others, but then again he did work for Serenade, so it should have been to be expected.

“So, what am I supposed to do as your slave, exactly?” Starlight asked.

Stepping forward he placed a hoof under her chin and forced her to look up at him. “Anything I desire. You’ll wait here now until I come to fetch you for dinner. Master Serenade is coming by and I want you looking your best, so you have time to clean yourself up a little.”

Starlight nodded and decided it was best not to question it any further. This meant she would have another chance to see Serenade face-to-face perhaps. It was a chance to study her and maybe locate some kind of weakness in her. It was a long shot, but given her circumstances, all she could do was try.

She prayed that Twilight was making some kind of progress.

The day of Moondancer’s departure had arrived. The previous few days were intense on Sunset, but she was confident that she understood the ins and outs of the suit now.

The best part was that the suit would allow for Moondancer to not only communicate with her from the human world but see her even. All kinds of high tech cameras and sensors meant that Moondancer could keep a direct eye on what Sunset could see. It meant that working together was going to be key to success, something that Sunset had no issues with. Having someone as smart as Moondancer watching out for her put her somewhat at ease, even against such terrible odds.

Serenade’s power was unrivaled, that meant that the chances of beating her in a head-on fight were slim. They would need to be crafty and cunning to take down such a foe. The game of chess was on, all they needed to do was take out the Queen and the game was over, the only problem was that said Queen was heavily protected, so it really wasn’t that simple at all.

Moondancer smiled at the group as she stood in front of the mirror, ready to go back home, amazed that so much time had already passed. “Well, I guess this really is it, huh? Training exercises over, time for the real thing.”

Sunset nodded and smiled at her. “No worries, I have you on my side so I’m not worried in the slightest. You’ll be a great support.”

Moondancer blushed and adjusted her glasses. “Yes, well...”

“I’m glad we get the chance to work with you, Moondancer!” Sonata clapped her hooves together excitedly.

Moondancer found herself unable to think of a thing to reply with. It was sweet that Sonata thought so highly of her, even if it was unexpected. The bookworm, however, couldn’t deny how fond she had grown of Sonata in those short few weeks. She would miss her new friend, but there was work to be done.

“Thank you, Sonata, that means a lot to me.” Moondancer placed a hoof on her heart.

“Everything we’ve been through, all the bullshit that Adagio, and now her sister... This is our chance to redeem ourselves. Maybe we can become more than just some sirens...” Aria chimed in.

Princess Twilight smiled and placed a hoof on Aria’s shoulder. “If you two help us pull this off, I’ll personally see to it that we work to change Equestria’s perspective on sirens. You two can prove that there is good that they can do, I know it.”

Moondancer nodded in agreement. “Well, Equestria is in good hands... Errr.... Hooves.” She rubbed her neck as she stepped toward the portal.

Sunset spoke up to her friend. “Moondancer.”

Moondancer turned around and raised a brow. “Hm?”

“Remember, if anyone comes through that portal and it isn’t one of us...” She paused, “kill them.”

Moondancer nodded. “Understood.”

With those words, Moondancer stepped into the portal and returned to the human world, making the beginning of their conquest. From here on out, they were officially done training and preparing, and their attack on Serenade was to begin. Sunset only hoped that she was prepared enough to take on such a powerful creature. She would bide her time and plot her advance, but it would still take a miracle for her to defeat something so powerful. In the end, she knew that a direct confrontation between Serenade and her was unavoidable. Their powers would clash and the stronger, wiser and faster of the two would triumph. The other would likely be tasting death that day. The only question was, which of the two of them would it be? Sunset or Serenade?

Serenade adjusted her cloak and trotted confidently toward the dining hall where she had requested to meet with Arax for her weekly status report on the location of Princess Twilight Sparkle. She had hoped he was going to deliver her some kind of news that suggested they were hot on her trail, but she knew better. She knew that her minions simply were too incompetent to catch such a crafty mare that easily. In reality, she knew it was a big waste of time, but she found herself doing it anyway.

She approached the large doors and chuckled as she looked the lavish dining entrance over. She tried to remember the last time she had eaten food. It must have been a good 1,200 years ago at least. With her powers as strong as they were, she had outgrown the need for food, the need to sleep, even the need to use the bathroom. Her body lived off of the energy she absorbed. No food going in meant no waste.

Opening the door with a flick of her horn, she stepped inside to see a red-eyed changeling standing at attention waiting for her. Next to him, was a rather elegant looking mare, one she had only seen once before when she drained her of magic. She was a far cry from the girl she had drained, no longer a haggard mess, but a cleaned up lady almost.

Approaching, Serenade nodded and Arax relaxed as she came a few steps from him. “What do you have to report, Arax?”

“No new updates, sadly, Master. Wherever Twilight Sparkle is hiding, it’s really out there. She can’t hide forever though,” Arax responded.

Serenade’s attention was drawn to Starlight once more. She approached the mare and locked eyes with her. Starlight’s blue eyes didn’t leave Serenade’s watchful gaze. The mare kept herself composed while Serenade stared her down, not wanting to show even an ounce of fear. Starlight had only had a taste of Serenade’s power before, but she knew there was likely more to her.

“Starlight Glimmer...” Serenade spoke, her voice was almost sensual. “You were Twilight Sparkle’s star student, weren’t you?”

Starlight nodded. “I was.”

“How the mighty have fallen, I don’t suppose you will tell me where she is, will you?” Serenade grinned.

“I don’t know where she is. She kept a lot of secrets from all of us in the event that you captured us,” Starlight lied, or at least partially. It was true that Twilight kept some aspects of her plans in the dark, but Starlight knew where she was.

“You’re probably lying,” Serenade responded plainly.

“And if I am? How do you propose to get the truth out of me?” Starlight asked.

Serenade shook her head. “I wouldn’t waste my time. I can already tell that torturing you will yield nothing, you’re stupidly loyal like the rest of Twilight’s dogs.”

“Loyalty is something you wouldn’t understand, I suppose?” Starlight raised a brow.

“Oh, I know loyalty. None of my consorts would dare betray me, like Arax over here,” she gestured to the changeling behind her, “he wouldn’t dream of crossing me.”

“And yet you’re still miserable.” Starlight smirked.

Serenade chuckled and shook her head. “I like your confidence, Arax chose a sassy pet. Don’t forget though, that you’re still alive because of my graciousness to him. To me, you have no practical value. Had he not said he wanted you as his plaything, I would have killed you myself.”

Starlight decided that she wasn’t likely going to get another chance any time soon, so she spoke her mind. “Serenade... You don’t have to take this any further, perhaps we can negotiate a way for this to end peacefully? I can get Twilight to hear you out, we can help you.”

Serenade was about to respond when one of her guards entered the dining hall giving a salute before speaking. “Master Serenade, we have apprehended the ponies you wanted! Shall we bring them in or take them to the cells for you to address them later?”

Serenade glanced back at him and then to Starlight. She kept her eyes locked on Starlight as she answered. “Bring them in.”

Starlight and she shared a powerful glare before Serenade turned around. “Excuse me for a moment.”

The guards dragged in a young blue pegasus in chains. Yanking them to get her to follow their commanded, they smacked her in the back of the head to get her to kneel down before Serenade. Serenade just approached casually and stared down at the mare, her powerful eyes making the mare feel small.

“So, you’re the one who was trying to lead a group to rebel against me, are you?” Serenade asked.

“Fuck you!” The mare hissed.

Serenade laughed. “Feisty, but let’s see if you remain so when your punishment comes...”

“Even if you kill me, there will be others!” The mare barked back.

Shaking her head, a playful smile came across the siren’s face. A smile that made Starlight uneasy, a smile that Arax had seen many times before and knew it to mean that what was to follow would be interesting.

“No, you’re not going to die today...” Serenade replied softly.

Blinking the mare looked as though she was about to question her until a group of more guards came through the door with two small children, one a male earth pony and the other a young female pegasus. The mare’s eyes widened as the two children were brought in. Neither of them looked older than eight to Starlight, who didn’t like where this appeared to be heading.

“We did some digging and we found your children. You may not care about your own life, but what about their’s?” Serenade asked, her voice filled with smugness.

“Please leave them alone! Don’t hurt them!” The mare pleaded.

“Not so tough now, are you? Don’t worry though, I’m not going to decide their fate... You are.” Serenade pointed to the mare as the two children were brought next to her, one on each side. The children trembled as they saw the demon’s tendrils come out. “So, which one will it be? Which of them is more important to you?”

“Please!” The mare pleaded once more.

“Choose. Now.” Serenade barked.

“I don’t want to do this!” Tears started rolling down her face.

“Too bad, pick one or they both die,” Serenade ordered.

“Take me instead!” The mare begged.

“That’s not an option you have. Pick one or the other...” Serenade’s gaze narrowed as she observed the mare pleading with her. A long tendril came out and came inches from the little girl’s face. “Her?” Serenade asked.

“Keep your disgusting claws off of my daughter!” The mare blurted out.

Nodding Serenade’s tendril retracted. She took her hoof and tapped the child forward, gesturing for her to return to her mother. “I guess we have our choice now.”

“Wait no!” The mare reached forward as her daughter came to her side whimpering.

“Too late, you have made your choice, now watch it play out...” Serenade said. A black tendril gripped the child, lifting him into the air.

The pain of being touched by the tendril caused him to scream in agony. “It hurts, mommy! It hurts! Make it stop!”

The child writhed and twitched trying everything he could to escape the demon’s grasp, but it was useless. Serenade’s grip upon him simply was too tight. The pain kept getting worse and worse every second that he was held, the feeling of his skin burning was all he could focus on as the demonic appendages touched him. “Make it stop!”

“Please! Let him go! I won’t do it again, I promise!” His mother begged.

“Face your punishment with some dignity...” Serenade shook her head. “Look at the boy...”

The mare whimpered and sobbed.

“I SAID LOOK AT HIM!” Serenade shouted.

“Please... Let him go... I’ll do anything...” She looked at her son suffering. She was helpless to do anything about it.

“The boy deserves to see the face of the one responsible for his death, doesn’t he?” Serenade asked with a smug grin.

“Please...” The mare spoke again.

Serenade shook her head. “Just remember that you did this to him...”

Without another word, another tendril came out of Serenade and shoved itself directly into the boy’s sobbing mouth, causing him to gag. His mother screamed and Starlight tried to divert her eyes, but couldn’t. With a twisting and tearing noise, the tendril exited the boy’s mouth with a violent jerk dropping a bloody tongue onto the ground as the boy gagged and choked on blood.

Serenade dropped the dying corpse onto the ground as blood spurted out of his mouth, staining her face and cloak.

The mother of the boy had gone hysterical. “YOU FUCKING BITCH! I’LL KILL YOU! YOU’RE A MONSTER!”

Serenade seemed unfazed by her outburst as she gestured to the guards. “That’ll be all.”

One of the guards looked back at the mare and then to his master. “What shall we do with her, Master Serenade?” He asked.

Serenade shrugged. “Take her out back and have your way with her if you like, but get her out of my sight. What you morons do with your free time doesn’t concern me.”

“And the child?” He asked.

“Make sure she lives, I want her to remember which one she chose,” Serenade instructed.

He gave his master a confident salute before gestured to his men to follow her orders. They took the screaming mare and her crying daughter away while another stallion picked up the lifeless body of the child to take it away. Serenade stopped one of them and removed her cloak, offering it to him. “Have this cleaned and brought to my quarters, please.”

He bowed and accepted the cloak before Serenade turned back to Starlight and smiled at her. “Now... What were we talking about?”

“You’re sick.” Starlight snarled.

Serenade chuckled. “What? That? That was just business, Starlight.”

“He was a child...” Starlight retorted.

“We were all children once, but eventually we have to learn about the harsh reality of being an adult, don’t we? I had learned that the world was a harsh unfair place already by the time I was his age.” Serenade rolled her eyes.

“You would murder a helpless child? He didn’t do a damn thing to you!” Starlight growled.

“It was to send a message, Starlight. Sometimes you need to attack your enemy’s mind, not their body. I’ll show you when we capture Twilight Sparkle, you’ll see.” Serenade patted the girl’s shoulder.

Turning around she nodded to Arax. “Enjoy your meal, you two...”

As she left, Starlight watched the mare with the bloodstained coat leave and she was certain she had never hated another creature as much as she hated Serenade. It was obvious that no terms of peace could ever be negotiated with such a heartless creature.

After a long intense training session, Sunset wanted to wind down for a bit and relax before she began her briefing with the other girls. She knew that it was soon time to tell them what they would be doing and what her plan of attack on Serenade was, but the redhead felt it was necessary to get just a little more training in before going over the plan. She wanted to be completely certain she was used to the functions of the suit.

With the suit still on, and the helmet over her head, she sighed as she spoke directly to Moondancer. “Quite an impressive piece of equipment you’ve built, Moondancer. I’m insanely impressed. Clearly, your genius knows no limits.”

Moondancer’s face appeared in front of Sunset inside the helmet on some kind of hologram projector that was displaying a live video feed to Moondancer in the human world. The girl rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her comfortable chair and sipped from a water bottle. “You’re giving me too much credit. Princess Twilight’s knowledge proved invaluable and a lot of what I built wasn’t possible without her.”

There was a short pause before Sunset replied. “If you think that I’m praising her, you’re mistaken.”

“Yeah, I figured there was going to be a continued bitterness between the two of you, so that’s fine,” Moondancer responded.

That was an understatement. While Sunset was willing to work with the Princess to do what she needed to do, she still was exceptionally annoyed with her about dragging her into this all and essentially ruining her life possibly. There was no telling how upset her wife and child were, but she couldn’t think about that now.

“Do you think this suit can withstand Serenade’s magic?” Sunset changed the subject.

Moondancer shrugged. “It’s designed to resist dark magic, but no one has ever really seen the full extent of Serenade’s power, so it’s hard to say how much the suit could handle. Still, it’s better than going naked against her, right?”

“Yeah, I agree there.” Sunset chuckled.

Her eyes focused on something that moved behind the curtain of her quarters. While sleep was not necessary at their location, beds and rooms were still provided for some odd reason. Perhaps they were placed before the spell was put on the Royal Training Ground that made time stand still.

“I’ll call you back, Moondancer...” Sunset said before hanging up.

Approaching the curtain, Sunset raised a hoof, ready to utilize her new suit’s diamond blades if necessary.

Moving the curtain, she sighed as she saw nothing there. It had to have been her imagination, she thought.

Those thoughts were dismissed, however, when a familiar voice called out to her. “Nice to see you, Sunset.”

She quickly turned around with the diamond blade drawn as she stared down a physical impossibility: Adagio Dazzle, adorned in a pony version of the stealth suit she once wore as Ghost.

“You’re dead, I saw you die!” Sunset exclaimed.

“Perceptive of you, but that’s irrelevant...” The siren chuckled as she began to approach.

Sunset kept her blade drawn. “How are you here?”

“Going to fight my sister, I see?” Adagio ignored her question.

Before Sunset could answer, however, Princess Twilight burst into the room and sliced at Adagio with a newly crafted hoofblade that Moondancer had built for her. Her cut diced the siren in half and both halves turned to dust almost instantly, fading out of existence and Twilight came to a proper stand. “So they’re affecting you too now...” Twilight spoke.

“What the hell was that?” Sunset raised a brow before tapping her chest and making the helmet of her suit vanish.

“An Adagio Shade. They started appearing a few years ago to me, but lately, they are starting to appear before anyone who I meet with magic capabilities. They’re kind of like a virus,” Twilight explained.

Sunset was more confused than ever. “Adagio Shades? What causes them?”

Twilight just shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t know much about them, and they’re a very odd phenomenon, but I think they have something to do with the memories of a siren releasing when they are killed or something. It’s just a theory.”

“Great, another thing to worry about...” Sunset sighed.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about them, anyway, are you ready to brief everyone?” Twilight asked.

Sunset sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I suppose it’s time. We begin plotting our rebellion tonight.”

Twilight nodded in agreement as the two headed for the door. She stopped at the frame and looked at Sunset with serious eyes. “Let’s not tell the others about the Adagio Shades for now, okay?”

Shrugging, Sunset agreed. “I have no reason to anyway, let’s focus on the currently alive and dangerous siren, not the dead one.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Twilight grinned.

Standing in their briefing room, Aria, Sonata, Twilight, and Sunset all had gathered to discuss Sunset’s battle plan. Every single pony in that room was waiting with bated breath; eager to hear what Sunset had to say.

The redhead collected her thoughts as she looked over the various maps and notes upon the table in front of them before looking up at the group. “So, I’ve been doing all kinds of research to make sure this goes smoothly. This has not been an easy endeavor in the slightest. I’ve had to get myself up to speed on months of events in a small time frame...”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “If anypony can do it, it’s you.”

Sunset didn’t even bother responding to her compliment. “Anyway, the challenge we currently face is that Serenade focused her conquest on hitting high unicorn population areas. She’s absorbed so much magic now that her power is more or less immeasurable. There’s no way to read how strong she really is.”

“So you can’t beat her, even with the suit?” Aria asked.

Sunset shook her head. “The suit alone won’t do it, we’re going to need an army.”

Sonata frowned at that statement, her demeanor appearing a bit saddened by that statement. “Where are we supposed to get an army?”

With a grin on her face and a plan in her head, Sunset levitated a nearby quill and circled a section on the map in front of them before turning it toward the girls, all of which who leaned in to see she had circled a town called “Appleoosa” on the outskirts.

Twilight was all too familiar with the town, as she had visited a few times with Applejack, whom she knew was currently there.

“A cult of outlanders who have been worshiping King Sombra as some kind of God is posing a threat to the village.” Sunset tapped her hoof on the map.

Aria raised a brow in confusion. “So what?”

“So, Serenade doesn’t value that part of her new kingdom that much. She clearly sees it as garbage land and is willing to let the Cult of Sombra slaughter everypony there,” Sunset stated.

“Where do we come in?” Sonata chimed in.

Sunset smirked at that statement. “We go in, defeat the cult and win over the town to our side. The seeds of rebellion have already been planted there, we just need to water them. We might be able to enlist a good chunk of them into joining our cause if we show them that we are serious about taking down Serenade, not to mention showing them what we can do.”

The plan made perfect sense. They could build their army from the ground up, starting small and growing it under Serenade’s nose. Twilight had to admit; it was a good plan.

Speaking up, Twilight added to Sunset’s point. “Applejack is currently residing there, we may be able to convince her to help us.”

Sunset liked the sound of that plan. A pony as strong as Applejack surely was (if her human counterpart was anything to go off of) was likely to be a huge boon in their favor if they could convince her to join them.

“Sounds good, we move out tomorrow everyone,” Sunset commanded.

Wow this chapter ended up super long. It wasn’t intentional, but there is a lot going on in this Act, so it had to be this way. I apologize in advance.

Serenade is obviously our main villain of the story and we’ve been building up to her for some time. Naturally, we’re probably going to delve into her in these authors notes a few times before the story is over as there's a lot to cover when it comes to her character.

Her conception came about sometime around the planning for Act IV. She quickly became the central villain for our story and ultimately the big bad.

At first glance, she may come off as "I am evil because I was born evil", but that's merely to the untrained eye when we are first introduced to her. We can actually start to see some layers to her that are coming into focus slowly, but surely.

We can clearly see from this chapter that Serenade’s mind was not merely “corrupted” by darkness to make her into an evil creature, she had a love of evil long before that point. She had allowed herself to be consumed by anger and hatred for centuries before she achieved demonhood. A pure demon such as herself obviously will have a lot of abilities at her disposal, which we haven’t seen all of yet. For demons, she is very potent and full of potential. For one to become a true demon in this universe is akin to how I had light and dark affinities work, something we'll get into later though, as I'd be spoiling too much to explain it. Act VI and VII will deal a bit more of the "science" behind magic.

Her contempt for all mortals is evident and we can clearly see from her willingness to murder even a child that she lacks any and all sense of empathy. A true villain never sees anything as "sacred", as such things could be seen as weaknesses to exploited by enemies.

She is indeed the very definition of “a villain”. There is no redeemable qualities to speak of with her unless you count the fact that she is portrayed as attractive. You know, if you’re into a murdering lunatics.

Still, this is all only at first glance. We've only gained a small fraction of Serenade's past and what goes on in her head. To summarize what we do know:

She was born to a mortal father with her mother who was a siren who broke one of their sacred covents (this is shown in Silence of Siren briefly).She was forced out of her childhood home sometime when she was still a toddler, so maybe between 4-6 or so where she watched her mother get burned at the stake.From there she lived in the shadows with her sister for many years until the two were separated.Judging from this new information, she spent a good deal of time after that learning how to protect herself, fight and become a mercenary. She descended into demonhood sometime around age 800.At some point leading up to the events of Act V she resided in Dragon Scar where she spent a lot of her time drinking and doing various odd jobs.

This all points to various personality traits or inferences we can draw up to this point:

Drinking problems are usually evidence of someone with things they wish to forget or bury. Serenade clearly has something in her that she wishes to forget or escape from if she spent so much time at Dragon Scar accomplishing little despite her impressive power.She obviously has an addictive personality. She became addicted to killing the moment she tasted blood for the first time, and we can see it's what gets her those rushes she desires. This is important because it's part of her driving force.The only creatures she seems to care about are other immortals which she considers equals. This kind of points less to someone who is all self-important and more to someone with a "racial purity" mentality.

That's probably enough analysis for now.