Twilight Sparkle stood at the ready in a narrow hallway inside the prison that was the gate to Paradise. Sunset was just as eager to battle as she stood behind Twilight, the two staring down Applejack who snarled through gritted teeth from the other end of the hall, a bound and gagged and completely helpless Coloratura lying on the ground squirming in the center of the hallway between them.

It was a tense situation, as Twilight had basically given Applejack a hopeless ultimatum; the werewolf could try to untie her friend so that they could fight Twilight and Sunset on even footing, but in the time it took for Applejack to untie her, Twilight and Sunset would have already advanced on her. Or, Applejack could risk fighting the two alone, with Coloratura stuck in the crossfire.

Twilight certainly didn’t envy Applejack’s position; in fact, she almost felt bad about resorting to such devious tricks, but right now her top priority was saving herself and Sunset and getting to the Paradise in one piece.

Applejack was indecisive, her eyes darting between the captured siren and Twilight. Just when it looked like she was going to make a move, a door behind her swung open, and the salamander girl from before came waltzing through it; bad news for Twilight’s advantage.

“Autumn Blaze!” Applejack barked, her voice a mixture of relief and frustration. “Perfect timing! Hurry up and help me take these gals d—”

“Now, now, Applejack,” a dainty woman’s voice said as another figure appeared from the door, “let’s not be hasty.”

The woman was a silvery white mare—or at least, she looked like a mare, but the blood red eyes and protruding fangs gave away her true vampiric nature— with a meticulously curled purple mane, nearly every inch of her body on display due to the skimpy red slingsuit she wore; Twilight tried not to notice but… holy crap. Uh anyway, she also had a cape? And uhhh her body was… wow.

“I see someone didn’t do a very good job at keeping the prisoners imprisoned,” the woman teasingly chastised Applejack.

“Well maybe if you hadn’t taken yer sweetass time!” Applejack snarled back.

“Excuses, excuses,” the woman shook her head and clicked her tongue. She walked ahead of Applejack, completely ignoring her, but then paused when she locked eyes with the squirming siren on the ground and sighed. “Autumn Blaze? Be a dear and take Coloratura someplace else. I’d like to be alone with Applejack and our new friends here.”

“You got it, boss!” Autumn Blaze said with a cheerful salute.

“I trust that won’t be an issue?” the woman asked Twilight.

“No, it’s fine,” Twilight said hesitantly. It didn’t look like this woman wanted to fight, and even if she did, Twilight didn’t have a good reason to stop her from shuffling off two of her allies.

The salamander picked the siren up off the ground and slung her over her shoulder, the siren squirming and squealing, likely in a vain attempt to stay by Applejack’s side, even as her ally carried her away.

“Now then,” the vampire said and did a little curtsy, with her hands on the edges of her cape, “it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, darlings. My name is Rarity, and I’m the boss of the First Circle.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Rarity,” Twilight said politely, lowering her weapons. Sunset didn’t look too thrilled about it, but she stood behind Twilight in stoic silence instead of talking back, which Twilight appreciated. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, the pony whose soul everyone is fighting over.”

“And I’m Sunset,” Sunset said firmly, not a hint of irony or snark in her voice, which felt SO strange to Twilight. “I’m the one who’s actually holding that soul.”

“As I said, it’s a pleasure,” Rarity said sweetly. “Instead of murdering each other over that soul however, I would very much like to get a chance to speak with both of you. But first, I need to apologize for the way my subordinates treated you.”

“Right, as if you didn’t order them to threaten and arrest us!” Sunset spat, and while Twilight wasn’t going to say as much, she was certainly thinking something along those lines.

“It’s true, I did,” Rarity said. “I won’t deny that, as it’s simply how I handle business here on the First Circle. But I realize now, that doing so was unnecessary, and if I had simply approached you diplomatically from the start, so much pain and struggle could have been avoided.”

Rarity bowed deeply, Applejack reacting with visible shock, and Sunset staring in apprehensive confusion. Twilight was mostly there with Sunset, though she found herself appreciating the gesture sincerely as well.

“So for what it’s worth,” Rarity said with her head down, “I am genuinely sorry for the misfortune I’ve caused you.”

“Holy shit, Rarity,” Applejack blinked. “I ain’t never seen you bow yer head to anyone!”

“An apology should be an entire body affair,” Rarity said, lifting her head back up and fixing her mane just a touch. “It’s not something to take half measures on.”

“Does she actually think we’re gonna fall for this crap?” Sunset grumbled to Twilight, intentionally loud enough for Rarity to hear her.

“If you don’t believe my apology, then don’t accept it,” Rarity shrugged.

“So, what,” Sunset scoffed and pushed her way past Twilight, who decided to stay quiet herself as she was curious to see Rarity’s response to Sunset antagonizing her, “if we say we just wanna bounce, are you just gonna let us go?”

“Yes,” Rarity replied immediately, Twilight’s eyebrow arching and Sunset’s eyes narrowing. “But tell me, Sunset, where exactly will you go? I’ve heard you’re looking to get inside Paradise, and I’m here to offer you a free ticket.”

“Eh,” Sunset faltered for a second; Twilight’s cue to speak up.

“I accept your apology, Rarity,” Twilight walked forward and bowed her head just a tad. “We are in fact trying to get into Paradise, so if you’re inviting us in, we will graciously accept.”

“Some of us more gracious than others, clearly,” Sunset said and crossed her arms.

“Clearly,” Rarity said flatly, though she quickly returned to her polite posturing. “What I propose is a frank and open discussion about the soul, and how all of us want to use it. But at the end of the day, I believe it is the right of the soul’s owner to ultimately decide for herself.”

“Yer really gonna just let it go?” Applejack scoffed and crossed her arms, and Twilight could tell by the slight smirk on Sunset’s lips that she was thinking the exact same thing. “Just like that, after all this trouble you went through?”

“Applejack, you underestimate me,” Rarity chuckled and lightly tapped Applejack’s cheek; the werewolf didn’t seem to appreciate it. “I have no qualms about admitting the truth. I’m confident that Miss Twilight Sparkle and I can come to an agreement that works for both of us.” Rarity turned to Applejack and winked playfully at her. “And you’re welcome to that dialogue as well, dear Applejack, if you’d like to be.”

“Alright, Rarity,” Twilight said sternly, taking another step toward the vampire, who waited patiently for her to speak, “I’ll agree to this dialogue on one condition. Tell me, honestly, what you will do if I refuse your terms.”

All Rarity’s talk about Twilight and Sunset being free to go was just words, and Twilight was extremely hesitant to put her trust in any monsters, much less ones with as much power as Rarity had. And of course Twilight’s little ‘condition’ was only giving Rarity another opportunity to lie, but the real purpose was simply for Twilight to get a better read on Rarity.

No part of Twilight believed Rarity would just let her go, so Rarity was obviously going to feed Twilight a lie; Twilight just wanted to know what kind of lie Rarity would go with.

“Well as I said, I’m confident that it won’t come to that,” Rarity said with a plastic smile, and when it was met with an ice cold reception from both Twilight and Sunset, she faltered. She drew herself up and took a deep breath, returning her gaze to Twilight with a sharp glare hidden behind a predatory smile. “I’ll tell you what, Twilight.

“I am sincere in my desire to work together with you instead of trying to subjugate or force you to bend a knee to me, and a relationship like that requires trust. So in that case, I will be entirely honest with you. If you refuse my terms, I will fight you for the soul regardless.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and Sunset clicked her tongue, stomping toward Rarity before being stopped by Twilight’s outstretched hand. The very last thing Twilight expected from Rarity was honesty, but she had no reason to disbelieve what Rarity had just told her.

“But again,” Rarity sighed and twirled a strand of purple hair around her finger, “I’m certain we can come to an agreement.”

“Rarity,” Twilight chuckled in disbelief at what she was about to say, “I appreciate your honesty. I would love to have that dialogue with you.”

still fine tuning the update schedule tbh,,, going down to 4 chapters a week will completely annihilate the pacing of this story, which was specifically tuned for the 6-day update schedule :T

and while that's not a problem with azure edge, i also don't rly wanna play favorites... it's also entirely possible that i'm overthinking everything. i dunno! i'll keep y'all posted! :v

Anyhoo, if u enjoyed this chapter please let me know by leaving a comment. I always adore reading them. Thank u for reading, and i hope u enjoyed! :>