The journey back had thankfully been uneventful, with no other Phyrexian abominations crossing their path, yet as they continued through the forest Sunset could swear that the trees were slowly becoming more metallic in sheen. It wouldn’t be long before the entirety of Camp Everfree fell to the contagion, along with all the surrounding woods. Every step that they walked was filled with a sense of dread that crawled across her skin, the constant tension suppressing the urge to speak.
When they finally arrived at the campground’s driveway, Sunset was the first person to speak since they left the cave.
“We’re here,” she said, her eyes drifting to the SUV. “Twilight, can you still fix the engine without your glasses?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Twilight. “I can see the engine just fine as long as it’s close.” She stepped forward, and began walking in a direction that would have moved her at a forty-five degree angle away from the vehicle. She let out a yelp as Sunset grabbed her shoulders and spun her towards the right direction.
“Uh, the car is that way.”
Twilight flushed. “Oh... right. I think I see it now, thanks.” She paused, squinted, and pointed at the car. Her face contorted in concentration as her finger motioned back and forth between its front and rear bumpers. “Sunset? Could you tell me which end the hood is on?”
“The one on your left,” said Sunset. “Here, let me get the hood open for you.”
Sunset gently brushed her hand against Twilight’s, guiding her towards the car. She stepped aside and popped open the hood, and allowed Twilight to step forward. Her right hand glowed with purple light, and a translucent wrench materialized within her grasp as she leaned over.
“Huh?” said Twilight, voice muffled by the car’s engine. “Well shoot, that explains it.”
“What is it?” said Sunset.
Twilight pulled herself out of the car’s hood. Her hair had become more frazzled, and a twig had somehow embedded itself in one of her bangs. “There’s, um... vines. In the engine. I think Gaea Everfree sabotaged it when we drove into camp.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “That figures. Can you still get it running?”
Twilight grinned. In a flash of light, the wrench in her hand vanished, replaced in the same instant with a pair of gardening shears. “Just leave it to me!”
As Twilight began her work on the engine, Sunset turned around and gave a deep sigh. The other girls were already milling about the remains of the camp, uneasily attempting to keep themselves occupied. While her friends had begun to mingle, Sonata and Aria both stood a good distance away, making a point to avoid the rest. Before long, Sunset realized that one person in particular was missing.
“You and this Twilight seem to get along pretty well, huh?”
Sunset exhaled deeply, and turned around to see Adagio with the same insufferable grin she’d always worn. “What do you want, Adagio?”
“Oh, nothing!” Adagio said in a lilting voice. “I just couldn’t help but notice how close the two of you are. Why, you obviously care so deeply for each other that I can barely imagine you without her.”
Sunset immediately felt her body go rigid. Her teeth clenched, her right finger jabbed itself forward with accusatory force, and the sound of a single sneaker clomping against the dirt crossed her ears. “Adagio, I swear to God, if you do anything to hurt her—”
Adagio’s eyes gleamed in the dim light. It was the look of a spider that had just caught a fly within its trap. “And who said anything about hurting anyone? I’m not the one that goes around leaving others to die slow, agonizing deaths. Am I?”
Sunset couldn’t even begin to finish whatever thought she’d started. A pang of guilt had struck her so suddenly and forcefully that it caused her to physically flinch.
Oof. She certainly knows how to twist the metaphorical knife.
And probably the literal knife, too. Ooh, do you think she could teach us how to make a shank?
Sunset put the stray thoughts out of her mind for the moment. “Enough of this. Adagio, why are you here? Did you stop by just so you could torment me some more?”
“Maybe,” said Adagio. “If I’m going to gamble my entire life on some half-baked plan to save the world, I figured I might as well have some fun with it while I can.”
“Of course you did,” Sunset muttered. “You know, I honestly thought it would be harder to get you on board with all of this.”
“Yeah? Well you and your precious little friends are the only living things left for us to feed on,” Adagio countered. “If we don’t break everyone else out of their hive mind, we’ll have to spend the next seventy-odd years hanging around you until you kick the bucket. And after that, it won’t be long before we die, too.”
“Point taken,” said Sunset. She breathed in, letting the heavy forest air wash into her lungs. “Look, Adagio. I... I just wanted to say—”
“Don’t apologize,” Adagio interrupted. “You want to make up for what you did to us? You can start by making sure this plan of yours works.”
“Yeah, I... I’m working on that,” said Sunset.
“Good,” said Adagio. Her lips curved further upwards, into a grin that was outright predatory in appearance. “No need to stress yourself about it, alright? It’s only the fate of everything you’ve ever cared about that’s at stake.”
As Adagio sauntered away, Sunset was left only with the growing sense of unease building within her chest cavity. “Right. So no pressure, then.”
————————
“So, uh, how exactly are we going to do this?”
Rainbow’s question was pointed, but not unfitting. Getting the SUV running had been a simple task for Twilight once she’d removed the foliage from the engine, but the greater issue was how to get everyone to fit. Including the folding seat in the center of the middle row, here were enough seats for eight people. With the Dazzlings in tow, that left them with two short of what they needed.
“Well,” said Sunset, “unless we want to end up crammed in there like a clown car, two of us are going to have to sit in the trunk.”
“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, “that doesn’t sound very safe.”
“Maybe not, but getting into a car crash is easily the least of our concerns right now,” Sunset replied. “And it looks like it’s pretty big, so there shouldn’t be a problem fitting a couple of us in. So which of us is it going to be?”
Adagio and Aria both turned to each other and shared a look.
“Sonata.”
“Definitely Sonata.”
“Yeah, Sonata!” said Sonata. She froze suddenly as her mind finally caught up with her words. “Wait, why me?”
“Because we’ve been cooped up in a cave for an entire week,” said Aria. “And we’ve had to listen to your incessant yammering the whole time.”
“Hey! It’s not my fault it gets boring in a big, dumb, stinky old cavern!” Sonata protested.
“Sonata it is, then,” said Sunset. “But we still need one more for the trunk. Any volunteers?”
“Huh?” said Sonata. “But I didn’t—”
“Oooh, I’ll do it!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing into Sunset’s view. “Riding in the trunk sounds like so much fun! And there’s none of those itchy and chafe-y seatbelts to deal with either!”
“And now you get to know how we felt,” Adagio quipped. “Enjoy your new trunkmate!”
“Aww...”
“A-hem. Not to interrupt your sisterly love,” said Sunset, ignoring the piercing glare this prompted from Adagio, “but right now, we need to focus on getting a move on. The longer we stay here, the more likely some Phyrexian monster will find us.”
Rarity winced. “Probably a good idea.” She turned and looked to Adagio and Aria, her mouth further curving downward. “So which one of us is going to sit next to one of the sirens?”
“Not it!” said Applejack.
“Not it!” said Rainbow Dash.
The camp went went silent, save for the gentle scraping of feet awkwardly shuffling against the dirt. Fluttershy glanced between the Dazzlings, then to Sunset.
“Um, I’ll do it.”
“Huh?” Rainbow’s eyebrows shot upward. “Whoa, Fluttershy, hold on a minute!”
There was a sudden gleam in Adagio’s eyes, and she sidled up to Fluttershy and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I promise Fluttershy and I will get along juuuuuust fine.”
The very next instant, Rainbow stomped a foot forward with explosive force, giving a snarl so fierce that both Adagio and Fluttershy flinched away. “Don’t. Ever. Touch her.”
After the moment of shock had passed, Adagio quickly regained her composure, flashing Rainbow a poisonous smile. “Now, now, there’s no need to be jealous. I promise I won’t do anything to your secret crush.”
Rainbow’s face turned beet red. “What!? H-h-how—” She stopped herself mid-sentence, and put on a very forced, cross-armed pose of aloofness. “I-I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Adagio held her hand against her mouth and doubled over, sputtering into her palm with barely restrained laughter. Fluttershy, for her part, had stepped away, attempting to hide own freshly-pink face beneath her hair. “Wow,” said Adagio, “I was actually just joking about that. That’s hilarious.”
Sunset made a noise that was halfway between a sigh and a groan. A sharp pain was rapidly forming in the back of her skull. “Are you done?”
“Just about, yeah,” said Adagio. With a grand, sweeping gesture of her arms, she motioned to the car. “After you, ladies.”
Sunset gave a roll of her eyes, and entered the car through the driver’s seat. Applejack opened the rear door, and with a bit of effort, managed to fold down the central seat. There was a brief argument between her and Rainbow, which Sunset had not cared to pay attention to, that ended with Rainbow begrudgingly agreeing to sit in the back. Rarity soon joined them and folded the central seat up again from behind, allowing Fluttershy to take it, while Adagio and Aria each sat next to her. After helping Pinkie and Sonata into the trunk, Twilight climbed into the front passenger seat. With one final look over the others, Sunset revved up the engine and backed out of the camp’s driveway.
As she pulled onto the main road, butterflies manifested in the pit of Sunset’s stomach. What the path ahead would bring, only time could tell.
————————
“So then we discovered we were getting all these magic powers and we were all super excited, but then Twilight was like ‘Oh no, what if I’m turning into a big purple demon again?’ but then Sunset was all ‘Nah, don’t worry about it!’”
“Uh-huh.”
“And then we found the source of our powers were these magic rocks, but then Gloriosa was all ‘I want to make my camp the best camp ever!’ and she started getting really evil and scary and using magic to make all the plants grow around us so we couldn’t escape!”
“Uh-huh.”
“And then we were like, ‘Hey, don’t we have superpowers now?’ and then we used our new magic to—”
“Pinkie, you’re boring me.”
Pinkie’s story came to an abrupt halt. The trunk was spacious, easily large enough so that she and Sonata could both crouch by the sides of the chamber and have plenty of room to spare. As Pinkie had chatted through the journey, Sonata placed a hand on her chin, eyes half-lidded and partially glazed over.
“Boring?” said Pinkie. “Well, why didn’t you say so? I have plenty of other stories I can—”
“No stories. Just leave me alone.”
Pinkie felt her own words catching in her throat. As Sonata’s distant gaze turned out the car’s rear view window, a deep melancholy became written on her face, as plain to see as the frown crossing her lips. Looking at her, Pinkie felt her stomach flop over itself.
“Hey,” said Pinkie, “you okay there?”
“M’fine,” Sonata mumbled. “Just... thinking about some stuff.”
Pinkie tilted her head to the side, letting a pink curl bob over her shoulder. “Stuff? What kinda stuff?”
“You know... stuff,” said Sonata. “Like, things and stuff. What’s been going on since the Battle of the Bands kinda stuff.”
“Oh,” said Pinkie. The queasy feeling in her stomach returned, more powerfully than before. “Um, hey. Look. I don’t know if I said I was sorry about shattering your gems, but... sorry. We totally had no idea, I swear!”
Sonata turned to look Pinkie in the eye, her own eyes gleaming with an ancient presence and quiet curiosity. “Why are you sorry?”
“Well, duh! Because we condemned you to starve to death without even realizing it!” Pinkie blurted. It was only after she’d spoken that she realized how callous she had sounded. “Um, I mean... because we hurt you, right? Really bad. And I mean really, really bad. So, uh...” A sudden tightness formed in Pinkie’s chest. She inhaled sharply, and followed it with a sigh, letting the tension push itself out. “...I’m sorry. Whatever you did to us, you didn’t deserve what we did to you.”
Sonata shook her head. “I don’t get you humans. One minute you’re trying to burn us at the stake for witchcraft, and the next you’re acting like we matter to you. I’m a monster, Pinkie. I don’t need your sympathy.”
“What!? Don’t say that!” Pinkie cried back. “I mean, sure, you were a pretty big jerk to us sometimes, but you’re not a monster!”
Sonata folded her arms against her chest. “And that’s another thing I don’t get,” she said. “Why do you humans always act like being a monster is a bad thing? That’s literally what I am, Pinkie. I create strife and hatred so I can feed off of the negative energy of mortal souls. I’ve terrorized sailors and sunken their ships, placed curses on entire villages, and eaten people alive just to see how they taste.”
Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “What!? You’ve eaten people!?”
Sonata nodded, a satisfied smile emerging on her lips. “Mm-hmm! It’s actually really good, if you can handle the chewiness. It tastes just like the taco meat they have at your school.”
“Really? Wow,” said Pinkie. “That raises all kinds of uncomfortable questions.” She paused again, and the queasy feeling in her stomach returned, for reasons other than food. “But... why does any of that mean you deserve to starve to death?”
Sonata exhaled deeply, creases of melancholy once again returning to her face. “It doesn’t matter what anyone deserves, Pinkie. We hurt you because we’re monsters, so you hurt us back. Being a monster means always knowing that the people you terrorize could get you back someday.”
Pinkie paused again. Throughout the conversation, the fizzy, bubbling energy that she felt nearly every waking moment had faded. Now she was left with almost nothing, save for a vague unease. “But are you happy with that, though? Is that the way you wanna live? Just because you’re a monster?”
Sonata bit her lower lip. She shifted in place as she sat, and her eyes slowly drifted away from Pinkie.
“Sonata?” said Pinkie. “Hey, are you—”
“Leave me alone,” Sonata said. “I just... want to think about some stuff for a bit. By myself.”
————————
Fluttershy had not said a word since the car had left Camp Everfree. She had sat between the two sirens in silence, quietly watching the road as the scenery passed by. Against the back of her head, she could feel Rainbow Dash’s eyes pressing down on the entire row, watching Adagio and Aria like a hawk.
Though the ride back had so far passed without any danger, Fluttershy could not escape from the lingering dread that surrounded her. Her thoughts dwelled on the Battle of the Bands, on the triumphant victory they’d achieved to save the school, perhaps even the whole world.
Looking back on it now, Fluttershy couldn’t feel anything but disgusted with herself. Her friends had hurt the sirens more than they could have possibly anticipated, and she had played a part in it all. And now she was here, sitting between two people she had nearly caused to die a slow death of starvation. What could she possibly say about that? There was nothing, yet there had to be something. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, steeling herself against the overwhelming pressure.
“U-um,” said Fluttershy, “hey.”
Neither siren replied. They both seemed distant, almost bored. After a moment’s hesitation, however, Aria turned to look at her.
“Hm? Did you say something?”
Fluttershy nodded silently. A lump in her throat made it impossible to speak, until she forced herself to swallow it.
“Y-yes. I, um, just... I-I wanted to say...” Fluttershy took another deep breath. It was becoming increasingly difficult just getting air into her lungs. “...I’m sorry.”
Several seconds passed, and Aria simply stared, with an expression that Fluttershy couldn’t quite read. Finally, she spoke.
“...That’s it?”
Fluttershy flinched away. Remorse welled up deeply within her, until it threatened to burst out through the floodgates. “I... I know it’s not enough to say I’m sorry, but I am! I never mean to hurt you the way I did, I swear! I just wanted to save everyone!”
Aria rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant, you numbskull. I meant I thought you were going to say something that actually mattered.”
Fluttershy paused. “You... you’re not mad at us?”
“Of course I am,” Aria replied. “But I don’t why I should make a big deal out of it. The whole world’s turned to crap, and we’ll probably all die pulling off this dumb stunt anyway. There’s no point in holding grudges anymore.”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy. Her eyes remained fixed on her lap, and she nervously twiddled her thumbs. “I guess that makes sense, but... I really do feel like I should try to make it up to you. I just can’t stand knowing that I’ve hurt someone so badly.”
“Will you shut up about that already!?” Fluttershy let out a soft ‘eep’ at the sudden noise beside her, flinching away from its direction. In the seat to her other side, Adagio was glaring at her fiercely, her lips twisted into a deep scowl. “We get it! You feel bad that you hurt us! Now will please just drop it? Having to work with you to save our own hides is bad enough, but last thing I want to be is constantly reminded of what we had to suffer at your hands! Gah! Honestly!”
“Hey! Back off, pal!” Rainbow’s voice called from behind, and Fluttershy turned to see Rainbow Dash standing up and leaning over the seat, teeth gritted in a furious glare. “If you want to go after her, you’ll have to go through me first!”
“Sit your ass down, Rainbow!” Applejack called out. “In case you forgot, Sunset’s trying to drive! And keep your seat belt on, for crying out loud!”
“...Fine,” Rainbow huffed, plopping herself back onto the seat. “But you sirens better not even think of doing anything to Fluttershy, or I’ll shove my entire foot down your throat!”
For a moment, Fluttershy considered saying that wouldn’t be necessary, but she couldn’t find it within herself to speak out loud. As thoughts and emotions swirled within her, she was left feeling exhausted by the whole thing. She sighed gently, and slumped within her own seat.
“She must care about you a lot, huh?”
Fluttershy’s attention was pulled back to reality at the sound of Aria’s voice. As Fluttershy turned to face her, she found no malice whatsoever in Aria’s face, not a hint at anything other than detached observation.
“Oh, um... yes,” said Fluttershy. “We’ve known each other quite a long time. I, um...” Suddenly, her heart began to race, and butterflies formed in the pit of her stomach. Her mind dwelled on what Adagio had said, earlier at the camp. It couldn’t have meant anything, she told herself. Could it? “...I think she’s just terrified of losing someone she cares about. We’ve all nearly died at some point, and she’s always the one that takes it the hardest when one of us gets hurt.”
To Fluttershy’s surprise, Aria managed a smile. “Really, huh? Guess she and Adagio have something in common after all.”
At that remark, Adagio’s entire body briefly went rigid. “No,” she hissed in a stage whisper. “Don’t you dare.”
“Dare what?” Aria playfully retorted. “Tell her that you’re the most smothering older sibling anyone could ever ask for?”
“Aria, I swear, if you say a single word...”
“What? It’s true,” said Aria. “You’re the one that’s always breathing down our necks just to make sure we’re okay. Remember how worried you got the first time Sonata scraped her leg?”
Adagio’s hands clenched into fists. Her arms shook as she took in a deep breath, and placed a hand against her forehead. “I’m not hearing this. I refuse to hear this.”
“Um, well,” said Fluttershy. “I think it’s very sweet that you care so much, actually.”
Adagio turned to face Fluttershy, her eye twitching involuntarily. “Excuse me!? I am a legendary monster of the seas! ‘Sweet’ isn’t even in my vocabulary. Got that?”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy. “O-okay then. I just don’t understand it, though. What’s wrong with loving your family?”
Adagio said nothing that Fluttershy could hear. She turned away once again, muttering quietly to herself.
“Where we come from, sirens are solitary creatures,” Aria chimed in. “It’s pretty unusual to see us stick together after leaving the nest. Adagio’s just too embarrassed to admit how scared she is of being alone.”
“Am not!” Adagio called back. “And even if I was, why would I let you tell them anything about it?”
Aria shrugged. “We’re about to get ourselves killed for some dumb plan we can’t even say will work. It doesn’t matter what I say about anything at this point.”
“You don’t know that yet,” Adagio retorted. “You don’t know that any of us will die. I’m not going to let you act as though you’re throwing your own life away, because you’re not! Not on my watch!”
Aria lips curved into a subtle smirk. “Aww, see? You really do care about us.”
Adagio’s eyes went wide. For several seconds, she sputtered incoherently, unable to articulate herself further. She crossed her arms against her chest, and looked out the window, donning a distant and neutral expression. “Forget it. I’m done with this conversation.”
“Adagio,” said Fluttershy, “wait.”
Adagio’s eyebrows briefly shot upwards, but in short time she’d managed to preserve her clearly forced aloofness. “You again? What do you want?”
“Um, w-well...” All of a sudden, the air had become heavy again, yet there was no doubt in Fluttershy’s mind about what she wanted to say. “I, um... I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure your sisters make it out of this okay. Okay?”
Adagio hesitated. Her mask of detachedness had already begun to crack, emotions flashing across her eyes in rapid succession. Finally, Adagio exhaled, and her body relaxed.
“Yeah, thanks... I guess.”
————————
The SUV had dropped the group off on the outskirts of Canterlot City, far away from where the prying eyes of Phyrexians could find them. After abandoning the car, leaving it to be demolished by a wandering junker, the group had led the Dazzlings through the sewer. Making their way past the winding passages and rivers of suspiciously clean sewage, they arrived at the maintenance room.
Letting go of Sunset’s hand — When did we start holding hands? Sunset wondered — Twilight stepped forward and made a complex gesture with her fingers. A purple glow enveloped her hands, and the door made a click sound before swinging open.
As they entered the maintenance room, the three sirens scanned the unfamiliar abode.
“This is where you’ve been staying, huh?” said Adagio. “I guess it’s better than a cave, at least.”
“So when do we get to start singing?” Sonata added. “It’s been so long since I’ve my real singing voice, I can’t wait!”
“You’ll get your chance soon enough,” said Twilight. She reached walked over to her bed and opened a small case, which contained an extra pair of glasses. Quietly fitting them onto the bridge of her nose, she turned to face the sirens. “As it stands, we’ll need to come up with a way to broadcast the magic over as wide an area as possible. If enough Phyrexians start coming into conflict with each other, it’ll be impossible for the hive mind to remain standing.”
“Makes sense. Would we be able to broadcast the song over a radio transmission?” said Sunset.
Twilight nodded. “That would be our best bet. Unfortunately, because the Phyrexians are attuned to radio signals, they’ll be instantly alerted to the broadcast location. We won’t be able to send the signal from here without Starlight finding us.”
“Well that’s just great,” Aria moaned. “Now do you see what I meant when I said we’re all going to die?”
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet,” said Twilight. “Because there’s one other way we can broadcast the signal without being found. From space.”
A multitude of eyes fell hard on Twilight, staring in utter disbelief. Sunset stepped forward, holding up a hand. “Whoa, hold on a minute, Twilight. You’re not serious, are you?”
“Absolutely,” Twilight replied. “If we want to broadcast the signal over the maximum area possible without revealing our location, our best bet would be to beam it up to a satellite, and have it broadcast over the country. That way, not only will we be able to broadcast it over Canterlot, we should be able to disrupt the hive mind of any Phyrexians in a nearly five-hundred mile radius. It should only take me a few hours to cobble together a transmitter that can reach the nearest radio satellite, then we can have the sirens’ song broadcast through it.”
“Goodness!” said Rarity. “I never thought I’d say this in my entire life, but the Dazzlings may have given us everything we needed!”
Adagio beamed, basking in the sudden attention. “You’re welcome.”
Yet even still, something about the situation didn’t sit right with Sunset. As she mulled over it in her mind, a new thought came forward. “Hold on, Twilight. Let’s not get carried away just yet. I think there’s still something else we need to take care of. Remember the portal?”
Twilight’s hands shifted, fidgeting with her own fingers. “The... portal? But I thought that was destroyed?”
Sunset shook her head. “Not that portal. The one that Starlight brought to the auditorium. If the monster that activated the oil is any indication, there will be bad news waiting for us if we leave it intact. We need to take care of that before it becomes a problem for us.”
“But how?” said Rainbow. “The whole school’s crawling with Phyrexians! Starlight has them all on orders to kill us on sight!”
“It’ll be tricky, I imagine,” said Sunset. She tapped a finger to her chin, jogging her thoughts. “The best way to destroy the portal would be to have one person sneak into the auditorium unnoticed. But if we’re going to do that, we’ll probably need a distraction of some kind...”
The maintenance room fell silent, and all eyes present turned towards the siren newcomers.
“Sounds like you need some more help,” said Adagio. “Just leave it to us.”
Sunset felt a wave of discomfort bubble up from her stomach. “You’re totally going to leverage this for favors if we make it out alive, aren’t you?”
Adagio simply smirked in response. “No promises.”
Sunset let out a sigh. Like it or not, she had bigger things to worry about. “Alright, fine. I think I have an idea of how this will work. Here’s what we’re going to do...”
————————
Tactical Distraction 2U
Enchantment
Tap three untapped creatures you control: Creatures you control can’t be blocked this turn.
”You could say it’s the oldest trick in the book,” said Sunset, “but it wouldn’t be in the book if it didn’t work.”