Sunset Shimmer's disembodied head floated above the scene to observe. Hair trailed like an inferno. From her confrontation with her predecessor, Shining Armor, she knew it was her sole weak point. However if she separated too far from it she'd be rendered immobile and easily picked off. Her headless body raced on a motorbike below, blindingly bright and with a sword raised, markings alight and her feather plume spread to fullness when she bore down on the Dazzlings.

“Fuck this,” cried Aria who dashed around her at rapid speeds. She couldn't quite reach Dash's level yet, but she'd picked it up quickly, sneering while she summoned a pair of switchblades into her hands. “Just stay still, damn you!”

Adagio rolled out of the way as a tire almost struck her. Her marks lit when she tried to form a construct around the huntress, but she rode out of the way, turning for another pass. Her first instinct was to summon a gun but it failed to materialize. “Huh? Guess firearms are off-limits for some reason.” But there was little time to think, and so she called a crossbow into her hands instead. “This will do nicely!” She rained a hail of arrows on the biker, her ride skidding as she was knocked loose.

“Good!” Aria was almost instantly on Sunset, who likewise hopped to her feet, slashing at her with a wild swipe. The punk winced as the blade bit into her chest and left a thin cut across it. “Shit! She's almost as fast as me!” She was forced to retreat when the huntress stalked towards her, stomping through the trails of blood she left and leaving red footprints.

“There,” whispered Adagio who stared up at the head high above. It could have been so different. If only Shimmer would've become the fourth siren like she'd wished. They could have ruled this world and Equestria side-by-side. She was the sole person she would have treated as an equal and taken as her lover. “Goodbye, Sunset.” She almost shed a tear when she fired.

A shuriken sped through the air and sliced the arrow apart. “What the-?” She couldn't see who'd tossed it, but followed its trajectory, hearing the faint, almost silent pad of feet when the apparently invisible assailant ran. She snarled and gave chase.

“Hey, don't leave me! Goddamn you, Adagio!” Bitter tears obscured Aria's eyes when the creature closed in on her and seized her by the throat. She'd wanted to believe her older sister had finally embraced her, that they'd formed a real bond, but once more she was tossed aside like so much garbage. The blade drew back with a gleam. “Well? What the fuck are you waiting for?! Finish it already!” The taste of salt filled her mouth with each sob, reminded that no one really cared about her.

For a moment Sunset was still as a statue. The head floated down and reconnected with her neck, a nasty red line still across the flesh. She banished the blade. (No. Death won't come swiftly for you. You must be properly punished,” she stated coldly. She pressed a palm over Blaze's face and funneled her power into it. Warmth filled the pair of them.

She intended to make Aria relive all her sins. But she didn't expect to see the siren's life also laid out before her. Almost like she lived it within mere moments. “St-stop,” whimpered Aria who was forced to once more endure a lifetime's worth of Adagio's psychological abuses as she manipulated her to serve as a tool. A mad dog she kept on a short leash. She blubbered.

It was almost too much for Sunset to take as the sparks of humanity returned to her. She cried with her, forced to share in her pains and fears, piled on top of her own. Seconds later she dropped the Dazzling, sunk to her knees, and held her. “It's okay.”

She would either accept her sins and allow Sunset to absolve her...or reject her and self-destruct in the process.

“Don't you dare pity me,” cried Aria who shook in her arms. “I killed Shining Armor! It's my fault Rarity and Rainbow Dash are dead! I murdered Sunny who'd still be rotting in a grave if not for Tirek! I tried to kill Tree Hugger! Hate me,” she demanded with a scream when she beat her fists upon Shimmer's breast. She winced certain bruises would be left behind but simply drew her even closer.

Planting a kiss on her temple, Sunset stroked one of her pigtails. “Let it all out, Aria. I love you.” Maybe she should've despised her for all she'd done. But all she felt was pity now. She'd touched her soul and walked that darkness with her. But what to do now? She had no idea who her mysterious ally was, only that they somehow seemed terribly familiar...

Adagio drummed at the trigger to her crossbow which reloaded multiple arrows at her mental command. “Do you intend to cower forever?” She'd tracked the mysterious stranger to a roundabout. The wind whistled and tree leaves fluttered around her. She stood still as her eyes almost casually darted about, waiting until her assailant made the first move.

She hadn't wanted to abandon her sister. She'd come back for her. If she was still alive. They had bonded, after all. Plus she rather liked her company. Growing impatient, she formed polygonal shapes almost about random around her surroundings, trying to flush out her adversary. “You don't want to come out? Fine. I'll simply level the whole block.” She smashed a cube into a home which partially crumbled amidst a cloud of dust. “Better hope no one's still squatting here. Or do you even care?”

She continued to casually demolish everything in sight. Lost in the moment, her smile widened, understanding why Aria found this so much fun. It wasn't unlike what she'd planned for the Dazzlings had Sunset joined them. Only when they sang their sweet song it would have been an orgy of sex and violence between their victims that would spread over the world and eventually into Equestria. She and her sisters would've made passionate love with Shimmer in celebration of their ultimate victory.

Another shuriken hurled towards her. She instantly ducked, strands from a p;oofy curl cut by the blade, and fired a storm of arrows in her attacker's direction. “Ah,” came a cry when one shaft struck home. It hung in seeming mid-air for a moment as a red spot spread. A woman appeared with aquamarine hair and a similar skin-tone. She winced and yanked the arrow free.

“You,” she cried then rolled her eyes to one side as she tried to remember. “Um, who are you?”

Once upon a time Wallflower Blush would've been insulted. But she'd become quite comfortable with herself, especially since she won the second Equestrian Suicidal Girls contest. Unfortunately the constant pain made it difficult to concentrate and vanish at will, and even when she did so the dark splotch on her wound remained, dripping while she ducked away.

“Mmm, now you're the hunted.” She raised a shield which several more shurikens bounced off of with loud pings. “You are kind of cute. Love the freckles. And you seem clever and talented, too. Why not join me?” She readied the crossbow with a slow, sensual lip of her lips. “Imagine the sweet music we could make. I promise pleasure like you wouldn't believe.”

Blush had scurried up a tree trunk, taking shelter behind a bushel of leaves while she clutched the injury, trying to staunch the bleeding while she stood still. However she could smell the scent of blood in the air, and hopped up beside her. “Boo!” With a laugh she pinned her wrists and straddled her. “You'll make a tasty snack.” She hissed and revealed her fangs.

Turning her head to one side, Wallflower froze up when the vampiress bore down on her. Her face burned pink and she moaned aloud, lips closing around one of her small but perky breasts when Dazzle started to suckle from the nubile woman. She found her lithe frame paralyzed, and felt her lower lips turn puffy and messy, while a pink muscle circled her areola.

She lifted one of Blush's legs, groping a freckled buttock, the fatty flesh pinched between her nails. It tempted her to fuck her absolutely senseless right there. But she wished to savor her latest morsel while she broke her in.

“Stop!” When she ignored the voice a switchblade suddenly sailed her way. She pulled away from her prey with a shriek and barely threw up a barrier in time which deflected the knife. “Let's...let's stop this, sister.”

“Don't interfere, Aria! You'll have your turn!” She tried to turn back to Blush, but another blade sailed her way, and she blocked this one too before she hopped down. “Okay, that's it! Looks like you need a spanking, little sister!” She stalked towards her, only to be tackled from the side by Sunset, who restrained her. “What the hell? You betrayed me, Aria?!”

Aria shook her head, her eyes moist. “No. I've saved you. Saved both of us.”

Adagio screamed when a warm palm closed over her cheek. She flashed back over her life. The way her race had been exploited and driven to the depths of the ocean. How she'd trained her sisters and played them against each other. When she'd approached Celestia and Luna with her plans to keep all males down, convinced they were all lust-driven brutes who'd merely exploit females, no matter how much some pretended to be kind and caring. But she'd been rejected and eventually banished.

No matter how painful it was for both of them Sunset refused to break free. Her friends had saved her from the brink, twice, and she wouldn't even abandon an enemy if she could help it. Underneath all that rage she was still rather soft deep down. “Release...me...” Dazzle wheezed the words, her mascara a runny mess, like her sister tears rather than blood oozing free.

“I can't. I won't.” She didn't stop until it all played out, and Adagio was also left a blubbering mess, who she and Aria held between them. “Wallflower Blush?” She sniffled and smiled up at her. “Why don't you come on down?”

With a wince Wallflower landed by them. She wrapped her thin arms around herself. “Sorry, I'd wear a costume or something, but unfortunately these powers don't extend to clothes. Hell, I had to strategically place a bunch of weapon caches around the area in case something like this went down since they'd give me away. I can't simply summon them up like you lot!”

“Nice. You're sharp as ever,” said Sunset who stroked poofy orange-blonde curls. “I owe you one. Thanks. But where exactly did your powers come from? You don't seem to be a monster like everyone else who's been transformed?”

“From that weird electrical storm like the rest. I almost lost myself, too. But I thought about what would happen if I lost control and decided I'd rather disappear again.” She looked away rather forlorn, digging nails into her upper arms. “Anyhow, I almost did vanish forever completely, I think. It felt like I'd be swallowed up in a void. But I wanted to help out.”

“So you're like a super heroine,” said Aria whose voice now seemed free of venom.

“You could say that. I tried to recruit others but they'd all turned mad, been captured, or slain. Sombra, Somnambula, Nightmare Moon...they've carved this town up into little territories. I've sneaked around and taken notes. I'll show you a map later.” It had been quite risky, and she'd almost been caught a number of times, but it seemed her efforts would finally pay off.

Adagio sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. “So, what do you expect us to do about it? You think they'll ever accept us after what happened to Rarity and Rainbow Dash? Sonata probably still would, but the rest of them...” She shook her head.

“That's probably true,” admitted Sunset. “But I'll be your advocate.”

“I doubt that'll ever be enough,” replied Aria with pursed lips. Once she'd been filled with so much hate. But now that it had died away she simply felt a kind of empty. At this point affection for her sisters and a need to somehow repay Sunset kept her somewhat centered. Even so her stomach turned when she remembered all the terrible crimes she'd committed. “Sonata had a point. It's like that vampiric bloodlust stirred some primal part of us up that made us more psychotic all the time. Not that I was too far from that already. But it's like I've been reborn. Still, it's not like I can take back what I've done.”

Adagio chewed on a curl. “What did you do to us? That's not the Aria I know. You warped our souls.”

“Not at all. I simply helped you work through the pain. We faced it together.” Sunset cast them a sad smile. She remembered how Adagio had tried to convince her the Elements of Harmony had 'killed' her real self and replaced it with a caricature; she imagined Adagio probably felt about the same right now as if she'd raped her soul. But she'd simply shown them their own sins. They either accepted them and attempted to alter themselves...or the purifying magic within her would have burned them away.

“You two should come with me. I've been squatting at one of the museums in the downtown district. It's where I got all my weapons,” explained Wallflower who plucked up a nearby leather bag filled with more shurikens tucked inside. “I mean, even if you did try to rape me,” she mumbled somewhat sourly. But she tried not to linger on that, aware it wouldn't help them move on.

They'd have to start anew. Aria at least seemed surprisingly ready to change. Perhaps because it was the first time in life she wasn't in constant pain. But would Adagio's pride allow it? Or would she simply fall back on what she was used to?

Sunset decided she'd visit this museum later and bring Sonata along. Perhaps seeing their sister would help the Dazzlings adjust to their new status quo? She'd have to work on them constantly if they wanted a shot at another chance. Worse still, she'd have to break the news of what happened to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. She studied the wrecked neighborhood, and the warped sky, a constant reminder of how it had all spiraled out of control. But she felt more determined than ever to somehow fix it.

The automatic sprinklers kicked in from the smoke and flames spreading throughout the wax museum. Figures melted into slimy, steaming puddles wherever Sunny passed, the she-demon screaming as her hair blazed behind her. She sailed about with wings parted and claws raised, razor-sharp teeth visible from her open maw, her irises twisted in a crazed manner.

She didn't bother to clothe herself. What reason was there to? She felt free in this state. Unbound by the rules of society which had always rejected and kept her down. People considered her a loser? Well then she'd simply drag them all down to her level! But first she needed to liberate Inky and Pacific. They were outcasts like her. Sisters, so far as she was concerned!

“Sombra! I've come for you!” She hurtled towards the furthest back rooms where he kept his slaves. Glass exploded into fragments that scattered over the hallways under the pressure. She struggled to tone this vulgar display of power down, not wanting to kill her friends in the process of rescuing them. After all, she'd already been enough of a fuck up as a plain girl. She sucked in a breath and quelled her rage best as she could, morphing into something between a woman and a devil.

Were it not for her eyes, the way her hair trailed behind her, a spaded tail above her buttocks, and the way her hands and feet were shaped in a claw-like manner, she would have looked exactly like her old self, only that devil-may-care swagger had been replaced with predatory confidence. A forked tongue traced her jagged teeth. She easily smashed in a locked door and stormed inside. The warlock stood near the restrained and bloated Glow, Rose by his side whose eyes were lined in thick dark circles.

“Keep your distance,” he warned and placed his hands around his slaves' throats. “Or I'll snap their pretty little necks.” His gaze locked with her own, trying to mentally dominate her, like he had these two. All it took was the slightest bit of attraction to him and they were soon putty in his fingers. “That's right.” He grinned when she wavered. “You belong to me.”

Sunny felt him trying to play with her head, needling at her brain, and she shook free of his hold with pursed lips. “Wrong. You're mine.” She continued towards him, unconcerned with whether he killed his slaves, figuring they were better off dead than under his control. He released his followers and desperately searched for an exit. But the sole way out was through her.

She was suddenly atop him almost swifter than he could follow. Her claws ripped away his open robes when she straddled him. He tried to wiggle free but found his strength was somehow no match for her own. “How?!” She wrenched one of his arms behind him, almost snapping it, and he winced, her puffy cunt grinding against his flared dick. “Stop this!”

“Ah, but you obviously want it.” She traced his precum smeared tip and took a taste with a smack. Groans escaped him when she slid him into her slimy folds, and she started to violently bounce atop him, riding him as if she wished to see how long it would take for him to buckle. He looked to Pacific and Inky for help, but the pair were smiling, like their loyalties had no transferred to her. She kneaded her breasts, which expanded to suit her wishes, until the bulbous orbs drooped and swayed.

She forced her digits into his mouth. “Now, don't bite,” she warned. “I'd rather not have to dislocate your jaw.” She took him in deep, even puncturing past her cervix entrance, hissing and rolling her eyes in satisfaction when he crossed into her womb. He lost control with a grunt and his veiny penis directly flooded the slick, contracting walls of her uterus. He continued to spurt in her, until she drained him dry, but she kept him locked inside her, even when he dizzied and nearly lost consciousness.

But she was far from satisfied. Guiding his palms onto her buttocks, she expanded those two, the supple flesh smooshing in his grasp. She pressed her mouth to his, sliding her elongated tongue down his gullet like she was fucking it. Her spade pressed to his back entrance. “No, don't!” She drove her tail up his ass, making him squirm and shriek when she took him deep. She continued to mount him, despite how sore his penis and testicles were, unable to spill anymore of his seed for the moment.

Sunny called over her shoulder, “Why don't you let Pacific take a closer look, Inky?” The goth woman nodded and undid the binds to Glow, who leaned on her as she struggled to rise, udders sloshing with milk that still beaded on dribbled from her nipples. Her swelled belly likewise churned, the raver having been reduced to his personal blood-bank for days.

Inky's head was still fuzzy as his control over them faded. “Are you okay, sister?”

“Y-yeah,” she sniffled while they held each other. “I'll be fine. I think. What matters is that you're okay.” They exchanged an affectionate kiss. “Sombra used to take such good care of us. I-I still don't fully understand why he betrayed us?”

Inky watched the she-demon ride him into exhaustion. “He thought we'd made him weak. That cruelty would make him stronger. But as they say, no man is an island. Our bonds can make us stronger too,” she murmured laying Glow's cheek on her bosom and stroking her twin-tails. “Sunny? Can you hear us? What do you intend to do with Sombra? Kill him?”

Sunny smirked at them. “No, I'll keep him as my slave! Just like he did to you two!” Her sweaty shape rocked him until she'd fucked the occultist unconscious. “Yo, let's see if that little vampire trick applies to me?” She extended her fangs until they were more like a pair of curved nails, biting into his chiseled chest. He howled like a wounded animal when she drank from him.

She siphoned all the blood she could from him with messy slurps, like a rabid animal, engorging herself on his slumbering form. He started to rock in a seizure-like manner, his former slaves looking on in wide-eyed horror, while she threatened to draw out every last drop in a fit of madness. But since he'd inherited Tirek's abilities he'd also claimed his terrible curse.

He stirred back awake but found himself paralyzed. She couldn't stop lapping up his sweet nectar, invigorated by his tainted essence, until his muscles started to shrivel up. After a while he looked even more mummified than Tirek's thin frame had, as she stole his power and added it to her own, leaving him little more than a limp husk. Even when he'd been burned alive he'd never experienced a pain quite like this. He was dry all over, and popped out of her limp, skin sagging and creaking like sandpaper.

“Kill...me...” He strained simply to beg.

Inky and Pacific shared a look between them of pity but refused to intervene.

Sunny picked his light shape up and cradled him in her arms like a baby, pressed to her breast as she cooed. “No, that would be too easy. You need to learn a lesson and I'm here to teach you.” She flexed her wings experimentally. She'd never felt so alive. Like she finally had some sense of purpose and no longer needed to live in Sunset's shadow. Not that she resented her. No, she'd offered her another chance, helped make her who she was now. In fact she loved her counterpart more than anyone.

Steamy vapors rose throughout the museum where the sprinklers continued to run long after the fires were doused. The stench of burnt wax permeated the atmosphere. Inky and Pacific struggled to walk alongside her while she carried the corpse-like Sombra through the debris that now made up this wreck. “Be careful of broken glass, okay? It's time we claim this city for our own!”

She sensed darkness all around town. So many potential targets. Other would-be conquerors nestled away in their little territories, making plans and trying to gather followers and resources. But which to attack first? She settled on the Equestrian Suicidal Girls headquarters. The power that had unlocked the she-demon by messing with her dreams originated from there. She would introduce the mysterious mistress of the night to her own nightmares once she finally confronted her!

“I knew someone would intrude upon my sacred domain eventually,” stated Somnambula who stood in the midst of her museum. For now she would leave them to the traps prepared and the guardians she'd placed all over her lair. Golden chambers that were designed to resemble the interior of a pyramid. Her faithful swarm of locusts had carried her newest servants here, who she'd enclosed in sarcophagi, then wrapped in bandages while they were prepared.

The first to rise had been Moondancer, her skin cool and pale, eyes glassy as she was reduced to a zombie. She'd been easy to turn in her deceased state, unable to resist mental domination. Flitter and Cloudchaser fell next, their wills already weak since they had fallen to Chrysalis. But even now Twilight Sparkle twisted in her well-decorated prison, refusing to be broken even while she whimpered. She would set her free in short intervals to feed, bathe, and exercise her. “Do not fight it. No good can come of resistance. This is your destiny,” said the would-be Queen who petted the sphinx at her side.

Her breasts slid about in her sheer top, exposed with nipples poking through the thin fabric, her likewise transparent skirt rustling when she swayed in a casual manner. Her pet almost looked like a human woman, from her face with feline-like features and a bobcut of hair, a pair of voluptuous breasts swaying from her chest.

“Ignorant philistines. Modern culture has warped their minds and spirits. I shall work them to the bone. Those who cannot keep up will be put to death. Perhaps I shall have them stoned like the barbarians they are. Ah,” she wheezed when her swarm brought in a fresh pair of corpses. These two were Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who she recognized as special like a number of her acquisitions. She pressed her lips to theirs, sucked the souls from them which like all spirits were trapped in limbo here, since the dome of blood prevented them from crossing over to the afterlife, and deposited their essences into soul jars.

“Place them in the sarcophagi immediately.” Her slaves carried the corpses and placed them in their temporary tombs as commanded; once inside they would be bathed in ancient healing elixirs which would heal and preserve their physical forms. Albeit they were now little more than twisted shells without the life force that normally helped animate them.

Her enemies continued to pick each other off. More carcasses for her minions to pick through and scavenge. Led by Chrysalis, Applejack and Pinkie Pie penetrated her domain, the self-proclaimed Queen determined to hunt down one of the most elusive rulers of darkness...

Sunset parked her bike outside Twilight's home, spotted a note pinned to the fence, and plucked ip up, skimming it while she headed inside. “Great. More bad news.” She crossed the threshold where Spike waited, patted his head, and headed further in. “Everyone here? It's important.” She showed her friends the scrawled message. “According to this, Chrysalis took Pinkie and AJ with her. She said she's sorry, not that it makes much difference.” She tossed it into a bin with a frown.

“We should've seen this coming,” said Tree Hugger with a shake of her head. “Hey, what happened to you?” She stared at Shimmer's rather angelic appearance, not to mention the red mark across her entire neck where she'd been beheaded.

“It's hard to explain. But not really important right now.” She sucked in a breath, looking between them all; Tree Hugger and Fluttershy in meditative positions, Flash Sentry weakly strumming at his electric guitar, Trixie playing with a deck of cards to keep her nervousness at bay, Sonata doodling in a coloring book. She closed her eyes and tried to find the right words.

“Rarity and Rainbow Dash...didn't make it.” Those were the most painful words she'd ever had to relay. Worse still she felt like she'd failed them. Would a similar fate befall Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack? Nor could she bear to tell them she'd offered the Dazzlings one last chance. She trembled when a pained howl escaped Spike, mourning for the loss of their own.

“N-no...” Shy buried her face in Tree's bosom who stroked her. “It can't be!”

Flash paused and hardened. “Who did it?”

“I don't know.” She turned and hoped none of them could sense her lying. She knew how good Hugs was at reading others, but if she recognized the lie she said nothing. “Wallflower Blush helped me chase off the Dazzlings. She also showed me where a number of our enemies are hiding at. Soon we'll be able to take the fight to them. Hey, Sonata.”

“Y-yeah? Um, what can I do to help?” She bounced onto her feet.

“I have a special mission for you. You'll have to come with me.” She remembered the idea Rarity had about the walkie-talkies, and fished through her suitcases which she'd left here, mostly packed with clothes and costumes, until she found the collars tucked within one of them. She prayed Twilight and Moondancer had left their notes behind in a safe place, searched the lab in the basement, and dug up some of the schematics. “Bingo! I'm not quite the science whizz they are, but maybe I'll be able to complete this? Looks like they were already at work on a way to shrink the size down. Trouble is, will I have time?”

“Let me help.” Flash rose. “I do recall a little.” He scratched the back of his head. His mind was still fuzzy but he was eager to help nonetheless. “Do what you need to. I'll start it up. Don't worry, I won't let you down.” He offered a thumbs up.

“Thank you, Flash. I don't deserve you.” She tried not to let her voice crack. Knowing she'd lose it if she stood here any longer, she headed back down to the depths, where the wrecked device remained, and stared at Tirek's shrunken, mummified head. She picked it up and his haunting eyes stared into hers. “Still alive, I see. You're going to help me fix this mess.”

Rather than respond his cold gaze simply met her own.

She dived into his mind. He tried to resist her, a gurgle that would have been a scream escaping, sizzling from the purifying power which she funneled into him but still unable to perish even in this wrecked state. She gazed into his past. An ancient tribe. A temple he and his brother Skorpan desecrated. Slaughter, betrayal, a live burial, and awakening to the modern world.

Most importantly she saw his rituals to open the hellish portal to the netherworld and realized what it would take to close it. She dropped him with a thunk. “Thank you.” But when the time came would she be able to do it? She doubted anyone else could.

She took Sonata's hand, led her outside, and folded her wings entirely into her back before she sat in front of her on the motorcycle. “Hold on tight.” She felt warm hands wrap around her bare midsection and sped off. By the time she noticed Trixie had followed on her scooter they were a ways into the trip. Had she made the right decision with Adagio and Aria? Well, too late to turn back now. She refused to even entertain the idea that she would fail. Not when so many still depended on them!