//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Heaven in a Wild Flower // Story: I Don't Need Magic // by Undome Tinwe //------------------------------// Sunset woke to the feeling of someone hammering a nail into her brain. Rhythmic pounding sent waves of pain through her skull, blocking out all other sensations. For a few eons, she simply lay on her back, her eyes closed, silently begging for the sweet release of death and hating everything about the world she currently resided in. Eventually, once the pain had lessened to the point where she could reason logically again, she decided to squint one eye open. As it turned out, this was a terrible idea since the sun had decided to park itself in front of her face. Wincing at the bright needles stabbing into her skull, Sunset closed her eyes again and welcomed the darkness into her mind. Some time later, she became aware of the fact that the pounding inside of her brain had an external source. Namely, that there was, in fact, a thumping sound somewhere around her. "Sunset! Sunset, are you there?" Each word bounced around inside her head, amplifying the pain she already felt. With a groan that strained her aching throat, Sunset slowly rolled out of bed and fell to the floor. A few moments later, she managed to pull herself to her feet, her hand still gripping one of the bedposts. Opening her eyes, she found herself able to see for short amounts of time before being overwhelmed by the fiery light coming from the windows. With a trajectory that approximated true randomness, Sunset managed to stumble out of her bedroom and into the hallway. Somehow, she managed to make it to the door, despite the fact that moving towards the knocking sounds increased the volume of the echoing thuds in her brain. With a mighty effort, she grabbed the doorknob of her front door and twisted it, nearly toppling over as the door swung open. "Finally." A purple blur stood in front of her. "I've been waiting here for minutes. Does it really take that long to… wow, you look terrible." "G'mornin'Twi," Sunset slurred, identifying the blob in front of her as Twilight. She abruptly lost her balance as she spoke, tipping over and leaning against the nearest wall. "Right, hangover," the voice boomed within her head. "Quiet, please," Sunset whispered. "No shouting." "Fine." A slightly softer voice, one that didn't cause her as much pain. "Let's get you something to drink." Sunset felt a pair of arms lift her up and prop her over a shoulder. She smiled as she trailed along while draped over Twilight. Even in her current state, she could appreciate how nice Twilight smelled and how good it felt to be in close contact with her. They finally reached the kitchen, where Twilight gently set her down on a chair. "Fridge," Sunset mumbled. "What was that?" "Inside the fridge. Leftmost shelf. Blue vial labelled 'hangover cure.'" Sunset watched as Twilight opened the fridge and grabbed the specified item. "What is this?" She asked, peering suspiciously at the liquid inside. "Hangover cure," Sunset said simply, trying to focus on the conversation rather than the pounding headache. "Gimme." "Are you sure it's safe?" Twilight said. "Things that are meant to be ingested generally aren't this color." "Just gimme," Sunset reached out her hand, and a moment later she felt her fingers wrap around cool glass. She brought the vial up to her lips, spilling a little in the process but managing to down most of the foul-tasting concoction. Slowly, she felt the pain recede and her mind start to clear. Her eyes also quickly adjusted to the light levels in the room, allowing her to open them without complaint. "Ah, much better," she said, sighing with relief. "Wait, that's it?" Twilight stared at her incredulously. "One drink, and all your symptoms are gone?" "Well, there's some lingering nausea, and my head still feels a little fuzzy, but otherwise, yeah." Sunset shrugged. "It took me years to figure out how to reproduce the anima distillation process without magic, but it was totally worth it. What kind of primitive society doesn't invent a hangover cure before anything else?" "The same kind of society that develops things like spaceships, and computers, and the internal combustion engine first," Twilight replied. "But seriously, why haven't you released this on the market yet? I can't even imagine the amount of money it'd be worth." "Well, right now, it costs way too much to manufacture and we can't figure out how to scale the process for mass production. Also, there's the problem of running clinical trials to prove that it's safe and effective and stuff. I've got people working on it, though, so one day hangovers will be a thing of the past. For now, I'm just going to enjoy my exclusive access to the potion." As the clarity of her mind increased to somewhat normal levels, Sunset glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. "Crap. It's already past noon?" "Yeah. After the party I figured you'd want some time to sleep off the alcohol," Twilight explained. "I guess we should get to work then." Sunset went over to her office, Twilight in tow. Firing up her computer, she saw a message from Velvet. "Looks like the tracking system's already online. We should start analyzing the satellite data. Give me a few minutes to freshen up and change and we can get going." Sunset quickly went through her morning routine, grabbed what she needed to bring to the lab, and met Twilight at the front door. They took the elevator down to the lab and set up in their usual place next to the spectroscope. Sunset smiled as she realized that she had started thinking of that spot as "theirs." They'd spent so much of the past week here, gone through so many emotional moments, and ultimately reconnected as friends right beside this piece of wondrously advanced technology. Her smile faded as she realized that this might be the last day she had to work with Twilight. If their data yielded the results they needed, then Twilight's role in this little investigation of theirs would be done, and she'd be returning to Hayvard. Well, after the Exhibition, at least – Sunset had been surprised to learn that Twilight had agreed to attend, which would require her to stay here for a few more days. Not that she was complaining – Sunset was really looking forward to spending time with Twilight without the spectre of the theft looming over them. Maybe then she could spend some time thinking about the relationship they had together. For now, though, she had to focus on what was important. "So, here's the live feed from the satellite," she said, pointing to her screen, where a colorful heat map of the city pulsed and undulated over time. "Right now, it's sweeping the frequencies from the entire spectrum we specified. I can focus it down to just the frequencies we need." A few keystrokes, and most of the color vanished, leaving only a few bright spots on the map. "That's promising," Twilight said, leaning over to peer at the screen. "Still too many false positives though. We'll need to refine the model to try and capture the harmonics too." "That shouldn't be too hard," Sunset replied. "We already started the derivation for that somewhere." As predicted, isolating the patterns for the harmonics took less than an hour. After that, it was just a simple matter of programming. Before they finished, however, Sunset and Twilight decided to take a quick lunch break. As they sat in the lab eating pizza and drinking what tasted like liquefied sugar, Sunset decided to question Twilight about the events of the previous night. "So, what happened after I ended up in that drinking contest? I don't remember too much except that Pinkie Pie won. Again." "Well, Rainbow Dash and Applejack decided to have their arm-wrestling rematch, which went about as well as could be expected given how drunk they were. The Crusaders had to leave early, and then we tried to play board games for an hour before we realized that half of us weren't in a state of mind to be able to do that, so we just talked about stuff for the rest of the night." Twilight smirked. "All in all, not that different from some of our parties as teenagers, except Rarity got some valet service to drive us home instead of waiting for our parents or taking a taxi. Also, all our friends pledged their total support in helping us retrieve the journal." "Of course they did," Sunset replied with a smile. "They'd never leave us hanging, even if it means facing down some evil mage without magic." "They're really far better friends than I deserve," Twilight said, looking downcast. "I abandoned them all for fifteen years, and as soon as I return, they welcome me back with open arms. Even Dash managed to stay civil all night, which is a lot coming from her." Sunset placed a comforting arm over her shoulder. "I wouldn't mope about it. I mean, they forgave me too. At some point, you just need to realize that friendship isn't about worrying over what you deserve, it's about celebrating all the great people you have around you." "Still going on with those friendship lessons, huh?" Twilight asked, a smile threatening to form on her lips. "Always," Sunset replied. "Friendship's the kind of thing where there's always more to learn, and every lesson helps you grow as a person. I know I wouldn't have made it through the first few years without the support of my friends." "I'm sorry about that," Twilight turned away from Sunset, her smile fading. "Hey, enough of that," Sunset said sternly. "I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to go it alone anymore. You have six friends who are willing to stand by you." There was a moment of heartfelt silence as Sunset gazed into Twilight's eyes, and she had to hold back the urge to lean forward and capture Twilight's lips with her own. "Well, I was going to say I didn't deserve all of you again, but instead I'll just say thank you," Twilight eventually said. She smiled back at Sunset with a new lightness in her eyes. "And now that we've finished our inevitable heart-to-heart conversation, we should probably get back to work. Let's see if we can get the harmonics filtering working before the end of the day." "Sure." Sunset got up and headed over towards the sink to wash up. As she did, however, she happened to glance at the live feed on her computer. She froze in place, her eyes glued to the screen and her mind going over all the implications of the image before her. "I don't think we'll need the filter," she said softly. "What?" "Look at this." Sunset heard Twilight moving to stand next to her. She turned towards her and saw her eyes widen in shock. "Well, unless someone just happens to be testing a new communications device using those exact frequencies, I think we've found our thief's location." Twilight pointed at the bright red spot centered around the industrial district of Canterlot. Glancing at the readings, Sunset confirmed that they were several orders of magnitude stronger than anything else in the city. "Not just that, but that signal strength implies that they're using a lot of magic right now," Sunset said, running the numbers quickly in her head. "Given the nonlinear scaling, I think that's enough magic to level a building." "Is it enough to open a portal to Equestria?" "No, not even close," Sunset replied. "But it's enough to be very dangerous. I need to stop whatever it is they're doing now." She shut the laptop and quickly stuffed it into her bag. "Wait, we're going after them alone?" Twilight followed behind Sunset as she walked over towards the safe. "No, I'm going after them alone. I don't have time to organize something more and this isn't your fight." Not to mention, she didn't want Twilight to be anywhere near the journal. "Your job is to help me track down the thief, and you did that. Wait here, and if you don't hear from me in a few hours, call Starlight. I'll let her know where I'm going and she'll have a contingency plan ready." Sunset reached over to open the safe, but Twilight's hand grabbed her arm, stopping her. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you go after a dangerous magic user alone," Twilight said firmly, determination burning in her eyes. "I don't want to see you get hurt," Sunset responded, meeting Twilight's gaze with her own. "I'll handle this myself." "I don't want to see you get hurt either, and the best way to ensure both our safeties is to stick together. Besides, we're friends, and friends stand by each other, right?" "Fine," Sunset said with a sigh. "But stay with me. We have no idea how dangerous this thief might be." "I will," Twilight promised. "So, how exactly are we going to defeat a magician without any magic of our own?" "By levelling the playing field." Sunset opened up the safe and grabbed an item from the bottom shelf. Twilight instantly backed away when she saw what it was. "I see," she muttered, her voice trembling slightly. "That would be effective, I suppose." Sunset slipped Twilight's old magical detector into her bag. "I'm sorry. I was hoping you wouldn't have to see me use it. But it's the only thing I know that can neutralize magic." "Technically, it absorbs it rather than neutralizing it," Twilight replied, "and we never figured out how to reliably reproduce that phenomenon." Her tone was matter-of-fact, but there was still a hint of discomfort beneath it. "Actually, I figured out the triggering mechanism a few years ago. Turns out, it works over a crude psychic link between the device and the wielder." Sunset turned to face Twilight, trying to sound as serious as possible. "You don't have to come with me. I can handle this on my own. I don't want to bring back any of your old pain." "Screw that. Didn't we already have a big talk about how I'm trying to get over my past trauma and learn to overcome my fears? I'm not going to stay behind just because that thing brings back bad memories. Besides, I really don't want to deal with the guilt if anything does happen to you. I've got enough regrets for a lifetime without piling on another." Sunset felt her heart warm at Twilight's declaration. "Alright, fine. Let's get going." The trip to the car was made in somber silence. This was it, they both knew. After all their time in the lab playing with equations and models, they had finally tracked down the journal, and now it was time to finish their quest. There was a certain finality in the atmosphere as they walked out into the parking lot. "So, who do you think the thief is?" Twilight asked as Sunset drove them out onto the busy streets of Canterlot. She checked the GPS system and confirmed that their destination was a warehouse deep in the industrial area of town. "We've been working so hard to track them down, but we haven't really talked about whom it might actually be." "I don't know," Sunset replied. "I have no idea how people here even know how to use magic. We made some enemies during our days as magical crime-fighters, and someone we've never even met before could've found out about the journal and stole it. For all I know, it could even be someone else from Equestria who got stuck here. Although, if that's true then they probably aren't a unicorn; those spell circles in the lab were really crude, and no self-respecting mage would be caught dead using something like that." "Well, that's comforting, at least. We have no idea whom we're about to face, but at least they probably aren't that good at magic." When they reached the industrial area, Sunset pulled into a deserted parking lot a block away from their final destination. Tall, monolithic buildings surrounded them, large blocks of metal and concrete that were washed with greyish tones except for the occasional splash of graffiti or rust catching in the sunlight. Faded signs proclaimed the names of the storage companies that owned these buildings and advertised available rentals. "I remember there used to be a lot more people here," Twilight remarked, looking around. Even though it was the middle of the day, they were the only two people on the street. Frankly, It was pretty creepy. "There was a shift in the economy starting around a decade ago," Sunset said. "Things changed, and this area didn't come out of it so well. A lot of these warehouses are abandoned now, which makes it the perfect place to hide magic, I guess." They walked along the crumbling sidewalk until they reached the warehouse where the satellite had said the magic came from. It looked the same as all the other buildings, but Sunset could sense something emanating from the walls. A familiar tingling sensation flowed through her body. "Do you feel that?" She asked Twilight. "Feel what?" Twilight looked blankly at her. "Magic," Sunset replied. "We're definitely in the right place." They walked up to the cracked wooden door affixed to the front of the warehouse by a pair of rusted hinges. Sunset grabbed the door handle and opened it, finding the entrance unlocked. Reaching into her purse, she retrieved the magical detector-slash-absorber, watching as the readings from the device spiked. Cautiously, she stepped into the warehouse, keeping an eye on her surroundings, Twilight following closely behind her. The first room was a simple reception area, which had been stripped of all furniture and other removable items, leaving only a counter on one end of the table and a few different doors scattered around the walls of the room. Looking down, Sunset saw that the floors were covered with dust save for a well-trod path leading to the door behind the counter, which was labelled "Employees Only." Signalling to Twilight to stay close, Sunset walked over and pushed open the door, which swung back with a soft creak. Oppressive darkness greeted her, and Sunset could see nothing save for the small area near the door, which was dusty and littered with office furniture. Sunset fished out the flashlight from her bag and turn it on, peering into the dusty office room that was revealed under the more intense light. Looking down, she saw the continuation of the multiple sets of footprints that led deeper into the black void ahead. Sunset and Twilight stepped into the room, and Sunset took a moment to check the detector, observing the increasing intensity of the readings. They journeyed further into the office, leaving behind the comforting light of the reception area. Sunset swept the darkness ahead with her thin beam of light, her senses on high alert for anything unusual. Behind her, she heard Twilight's breathing grow faster, and could feel the tension exuding from the other woman, a tension she shared. "So is it just me, or is this starting to feel like the setup for a horror movie?" Twilight whispered from behind her. "Kinda, yeah. But the difference between us and some stupid teenagers is that we're actually prepared. If some scary monster tries to attack us, I'll go all Ghostbusters on their ass." "My hero." Sunset could practically hear the eye roll in Twilight's tone. Before she could reply, however, she saw the trail of dusty footprints end in front of another door. Her long-dormant sixth sense screeched in warning, a warning backed up by the detector. "There's a lot of magic coming out of this door. I think someone put an enchantment on it." "Should we try to find a different path then?" Twilight asked. Sunset shook her head. "No need. I got this." Sunset held up the detector to the door and concentrated on it. Her magical senses latched onto the core of the mechanism within the device, forging a link similar to a telekinetic bond. She focused the link outwards, towards the door, and a moment later a stream of clear blue light flowed from the door into the detector. "There we go." Sunset carefully pushed open the door, alert for any signs of attack. Inside, she found an empty corridor with a staircase at the end and a clear path through the dust to it. She stepped inside and waited for Twilight to the same before closing the door, noting the arcane circle inscribed on it's back. "It's an Alert Enchantment," Sunset explained to Twilight. "It's pretty archaic too, like the one on the lab door. Let's keep going." "Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "It's obvious that whoever is here has already planned for the contingency of unexpected visitors." Sunset took a moment to think it over. "No, we need to stop them before they finish whatever plan they have in store for the journal. Besides, they don't know that we have something that can absorb magic. We still have the upper hand here." Sunset set off towards the staircase at the end of the corridor, with Twilight following behind with a reluctant expression on her face. At the top of the staircase, they found another enchanted door, which Sunset made short work of. Her whole body buzzed with a familiar thrill that she hadn't experienced in over a decade as more magic flowed into the collector. This was just like old times, chasing down a bad guy and stopping an evil spell with Twilight by her side, and Sunset would be lying if she said she didn't miss it a little – she'd always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie. She practically ran through the next corridor until Twilight pulled her back. "What are you doing?" She hissed. "You can't just go running off like that." "Sorry," Sunset said, chastised. "Got a little carried away there." "Let's just keep going. Slowly." They set off again through the twisting path laid out by the footprints in the dust. Sunset tried to keep her excitement bottled in despite her eagerness to finally face down the thief and retrieve the journal. She could feel the magic getting stronger and stronger as they continued on, and it was getting difficult to contain herself. Finally, as they reached the fourth door, Sunset sensed a much larger magical buildup behind the enchanted frame. "This is it," she said, disabling its enchantment. She pushed the door open triumphantly and strode in, ready to reclaim her magic. Inside, she saw what appeared to be a lab. Several beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, and other chemical paraphernalia were scattered around various tables, as well as some larger barrels with chemical warning signs plastered on them that sat on the floor. None of that mattered to Sunset, however; she was focused on the glowing cloverbloom sitting in the center of the room, surrounded by an arcane circle of some sort. She walked over towards the magical source, ignoring Twilight's pleas for caution. She was vaguely aware of the other woman following behind her, but her mind was focused on the prize in front of her. Sunset stepped into the circle and reached out for the flower… Twilight felt the spell being triggered before she saw its effects. She'd tried calling out to Sunset, recognizing that something was wrong with her behaviour, but Sunset had ignored her. In fact, she'd seemed more and more fixated on finding the journal, slowly throwing all semblance of caution to the wind. Twilight had suspected that something was up, but it wasn't until Sunset ran up to the cloverbloom in the center of the room that it became obvious something was affecting her mind. Twilight knew Sunset was a reasonable woman, and even if she was excited to retrieve the journal, she wouldn't have gone running off like that. None of this information helped her though, since she was unable to stop Sunset from activating whatever spell was locked inside the circle she had stepped in without even seeming to notice. A wave of magic washed over Twilight, and she knew something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. Her fears were confirmed when a sickly purple glow surrounded Sunset, flinging her onto the ground. She let out an anguished cry as the detector her hand was knocked away from her, the device clattering to the ground a few feet from Twilight. "Sunset!" Twilight rushed forward to help her friend, but a voice stopped her in her tracks. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I put a pretty nasty surprise in that circle for anyone stupid enough to walk into it." From behind one of the walls, a tall, orange-haired woman stepped forwards. Twilight's first thought was that she was middle-aged, with slight wrinkles on her otherwise pristine and hauntingly beautiful features. But within her eyes, which seemed to glow red in the dim light, she saw something ancient, and very, very dangerous. "Adagio." Sunset hissed out the name, and the pieces clicked. Adagio Dazzle. The leader of the Sirens, whose defeat had drawn Twilight into the world of magic. A master of mind-altering magic, who had nearly taken over the entire world with her compatriots. Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt herself feeling very small and very outmatched. "Hello, Sunset." Adagio sauntered over to the edge of the circle, on the opposite side from Twilight. "Long time no see. How've you been these last sixteen years?" "You stole the journal." It wasn't a question. "And you're still no fun, I see." Adagio tsked as she raised her hand, making it glow with the same purple light as the now-active circle. "You know, I always wondered how you managed to get Princess Twilight over from Equestria to help you out during the Battle of the Bands. "Of course, Sombra was more than happy to tell me all about it when I sent him that letter." Adagio let out a wistful sigh. "He was so much like his pony counterpart, which made it so easy to wrap him around my fingers. He even had that same love for music and codes." While Adagio talked, Twilight began inching over to the detector lying on the ground. The siren seemed to have completely forgotten her presence, so focused as she was on her gloating. Sunset seemed to realize this, as she continued to engage Adagio in conversation. "And the cloverbloom?" "I was lucky enough to read some of Clover's original notes. Stuff she never published, since we stole them from her. One paper was on recognizing signs of cloverbloom activities in a region that never made it into the original treatise. Imagine my surprise when I saw those signs at Camp Everfree of all places?" Adagio held up her glowing hand. "And before you ask, the time spell I used on the door was something I nicked from Star Swirl during one of our many, many fights." At this point, Twilight was standing right next to the detector. Her heart beat wildly against her chest as she slowly bent down to pick the device up, but just as she began to lower herself, it was engulfed in magical light and flew off towards Adagio's outstretched hand. "Don't think I've forgotten you too, Miss Sparkle." Twilight looked up to see Adagio mocking gaze directed at her. "I guess since Sunset couldn't get the Princess to help her, she went for the budget version instead." Adagio let out a short chuckle as Twilight glared at her. "Sombra told me all about you, and I can see from the look in your eyes that you know who I am too." "What do you want with the journal?" Sunset asked as she pulled herself to her feet. Twilight felt her heartbeat calm a fraction as she watched the woman she had once admired stand tall against Adagio, no trace of fear in her voice. Adagio waggled a finger at her. "That's for me to know and you to… well, I doubt you'll be in any state to figure it out after I'm done with you." "Funny, that's probably what you thought the first time we did this. I wonder how that turned out for you?" As Sunset casually fired her retort back at Adagio, Twilight studied the circle her friend was trapped within, searching for a way to free her. A familiar panic lurked at the edge of her mind, ready to transform her back into the scared the little teenager she'd once been, but Sunset's bravery filled her with hope, and Twilight knew she had to remain focused for her sake. Meanwhile, Adagio snarled at Sunset before covering her features with a smirk. "Big talk from someone who didn't even realize that the alarm spells were just there to hide the signature from the compulsion spell that lead you right to me. I'm actually a bit disappointed at how easy it was to trap you here. "And you even brought me a little gift." Adagio held up the detector in her hand. "I'm going to have fun figuring out what this does after I'm done with you two." She brought up her other hand and began to wave it around, tracing a complex pattern in the air. "I guess a friendship speech isn't going to get you to let us go, huh?" Sunset said as a dark mist began to emanate from the circle. Her calm demeanor was the only thing keeping Twilight's fight-or-flight instinct from making her fly very, very far away as dread crept up her spine. This time, Adagio couldn't hold back her anger. "Do you really think there's anything you could say that would make up for destroying my magic?" The last words were practically screeched before Adagio composed herself again. Her next words came out in a near-hiss. "You should know better than anyone that there's no forgiving something like that." "Oh, I don't know about that." Twilight could've sworn that Sunset's head tilted a fraction of an inch towards her as she spoke. "You might be surprised at what people can move past." Adagio scoffed. "Whatever. If you're done stalling, I think it's time we got to the main event." Symbols carved into the floor around Sunset began to light up, bathing the room in a sickly lustre. "You know, I've had a lot of time to think about what I'd do to you and your friends if we ever met again, Sunset." More dark mist swirled around Sunset, blocking Twilight from seeing Adagio. Still, the Siren's voice echoed through the storage room, loud and menacing. "In the end, I figured I'd start with something a little old-fashioned that I learned from Sombra's pony doppelganger." Twilight instinctively backed away from the dark magic building up within the circle, trembling as she wracked her brain for a way to save Sunset. "What are you doing to her?" she asked, desperate for any information from the very talkative villain that might help. "I'm going to make her suffer." The whole circle was lit up in arcane brilliance that was shrouded by the veil of darkness. "This spell will force her to relive her worst memory. And then make her do it again. And again. And again. Until she goes completely crazy. I even snuck a time dilation spell in it so that I won't have to wait that long to see her mind break. She'll relive years of pain in an hour. Won't that be fun?" With that extra bit of knowledge, everything slotted into place. Twilight could see how each part of the circle flowed into the next, drawing power from a central source – the cloverbloom, she assumed – and channeling it into a series of spellforms that maintained the circle's integrity, enforced its boundaries – violently, if she was reading the symbols right – and acted as a base and modifier for the memory spell Adagio was casting. "Now, what should we do with you, Miss Sparkle?" Adagio said as the circle was completely obscured by the dark mist. "I have to say, I wasn't really planning on doing anything to you, but since you're here and your doppelganger isn't, it might be fun to practice some of the things I'm going to do to Princess Twilight once I have my power back." Twilight could hear footsteps from behind the circle. "Now, the question is: are you going to try to make a break for it and save your own skin, or do you think you can fight me to save your friend?" A malicious chuckle. "I'm good either way. Better think fast, though; Sunset doesn't have that much time left?" "Don't be stupid, Twilight." Sunset's voice called out to Twilight from the shadowed circle. "Get out of here and wait for help to come. Don't try to pull some dumb sacrifice for me. Think about it rationally…" her voice trailed off as the dark cloud thickened further. "And now the spell's finally started." The footsteps were getting closer now. "So, what'll it be, Miss Sparkle? Will you sacrifice yourself in the name of friendship? Or will you do the smart thing and leave your friend to my tender mercies?" Twilight glanced backwards towards the door. She could make it; Adagio couldn't even see her at the moment. She might even be able to retrace her steps back to the entrance, assuming Adagio hadn't placed any more traps. There was a chance, and the sane part of her mind screamed at her to run as fast she could, to get away from the magic. But if she did that, there was no telling how Sunset would fare. The sight of the darkness that had consumed her made Twilight nauseous, and the idea of leaving her friend in there for hours was repugnant to her. Even if Adagio didn't kill Sunset at some point, Twilight had no doubts that she would be able to break her. "Clock's ticking, Miss Sparkle. Remember, the spell slows down subjective time for those trapped inside. Who knows how long she's suffered already?" No, there was no way she was going to let this monster get away with doing this to Sunset. Of course, fighting Adagio wasn't an option either; Twilight had exactly zero weapons at her disposal. She wracked her brain one last time, searching for another solution. If she had access to the magic of friendship, she had no doubts that Adagio would fall quickly as she had before. Unfortunately, her other friends weren't here, and Sunset was trapped in that spell. It seemed this time, friendship wouldn't save her. The footsteps were coming from just around the edge of the circle. What about the circle itself? If what Sunset had told her about destructive interference was true, then by activating the memory spell, Adagio had also cancelled the spell keeping her out of the circle. Twilight could jump into the cloud of dark magic if she wanted. And then promptly get swallowed up in the same spell that was wreaking havoc on Sunset's mind. There was no way to break the spell without magic, and the magic in the circle was locked in the spell. Unless… As Adagio appeared before her, blazing with arcane power, Twilight leapt into the darkness. And plunged into her worst nightmare.