Sunset Shimmer, the most noteworthy victim of Anon-A-Miss's secret spreading spree, walked down the streets with her bag over her arm, taking a look around the scenery as she headed to a particular building: the Sugarcube Corner.
Along her way, she walked past Adagio Dazzle as she talked about something with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, a sight she failed to process at first. Once she did, though, Adagio and the girls got up and left the scene before Sunset saw them, convincing her she was just seeing things.
Once she took a step inside the building, Sunset walked to the table that was the closest to the door, where Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were sitting at.
"Hi girls," Sunset greeted as she sat down. "Where's Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack?"
"They're coming a little bit later," Pinkie Pie answered. "Apparently, they need to talk about something in private first."
"As for Twilight, she said she was going to see if she could find them, see if she could help them with the discussion," Fluttershy added. "She should be coming back soon-"
Suddenly, Twilight herself barged into the building, sat on the table, and rubbed her forehead as she took a couple deep breaths, apparently failing to notice Sunset's presence.
"Um, hi, Twilight," Sunset greeted, lightly waving her hand.
"Oh, hi Sunset," Twilight scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, I'm just not in the best mood to talk right now."
"You went to check on Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity, right?" Sunset asked, earing a nod from the bespectacled girl. "Was their discussion that heated?"
"Discussion?! That implies they're bothering to be civil!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "They're not talking to each other, Sunset! They're fighting!"
Sunset's eyes widened. "They're what?!"
Twilight guided Sunset, Pinkie, and Fluttershy to the spot where Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were having their "discussion", where they saw that the trio were not only in the middle of a heated argument, like Twilight said, but that they were in their ponified states.
"At least I didn't give her any intentionally bad advice!" Rainbow Dash snapped, pointing right at Applejacks nose. "Not unlike a certain Applejack!"
"Hey, all ah told Apple Bloom was dat honesty was ta best policy!" Applejack snapped in return, slapping Rainbow Dash's hand away so hard, the winged human grabbed it and winced. "'Er usin' it as a base t' make Anon-A-Miss was not intentional!"
"What matters is not whether it was intentional or not!" Rarity stated, slamming her hand on the table. "What matters is that she got the idea in the first place!"
"Geez, I didn't think it'd be this bad," Sunset took a couple steps forward. "I'll go see what's up with them-"
Suddenly, Twilight grabbed Sunset's arm and pulled her back. "Think things through first, Sunset! In their ponified state, their legs gain strength that's double their enhanced upper body strength!"
"And how do you know that?" Sunset asked, only to realize upon a closer look that Twilight's glasses had their lens partially cracked. "Nevermind, I just answered my own question."
Sunset freed herself from Twilight's grasp and called, "Why are you girls yelling at each other?!"
The trio stopped their bickering
"Well, some of us are unwilling to accept their part in creating Anon-A-Miss," Rarity stated, folding her arms and looking away. "Mostly Rainbow Dash and Applejack."
"You have some fault too!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack yelled in unison.
"What? Me? Puh-lease!" Rarity folded her arms and looked away from the duo. "You were the ones who, directly or not, gave the girls bad advice that brought that handle into existence!"
"But you're responsible for getting those three to break off their friendship!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Not to mention having the brilliant idea to have one of the Dazzlings be her babysitter!"
Sunset's eyes widened. "You did what, Rarity?!"
"I had to go to work for an unexpected night shift, and I had to get the first babysitter I could find!" Rarity responded sternly. "If I hadn't been in such a hurry, I'd have looked a little bit longer for a different babysitter!"
"But ya didn't get a different babysitter, and now we're havin' this argument!" Applejack stated, Rainbow nodding in agreement. "Ya should've known that leavin' your sister alone with a siren was bad news!"
"Actually, now that you bring her up, where's Sweetie Belle right now?" Sunset asked, scratching her head. "In fact, where are her friends?"
Applejack tipped her hat and frowned. "Apple Bloom's back at home, tryin' t' deal with ta fact the three of them ain't no longer friends."
"Scootaloo's at the library reading Daring Do to cheer herself up," Rainbow Dash said as she hit the ground and folded her arms. "She's so upset about what happened she doesn't even want to go out and play."
"And I don't know where Sweetie Belle is, but she said she-" Rarity paused, growing incresingly angry as she resumed. "Was going to see a friend..."
Rarity clenched her fist and slammed it down, surrounding herself in light blue magic before she disappeared from the spot, leaving behind a burnt mark.
"Wow, she got so angry she exploded!" Rainbow Dash remarked, both shocked and amused.
"That's not it, she must've teleported to Sweetie Belle's location," Sunset said, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as she looked around, trying to get an idea. "Does anybody know where Sweetie is?"
Suddenly, screams came from the spot the girls came from, and once they went back, they saw people running away as Rarity confronted Adagio and Sweetie Belle, the latter clinging to Adagio's arm.
"Wait, Adagio was around here?" Sunset raised an eyebrow. "So I didn't just imagine things?"
"So this is the friend you were talking about, Sweetie Belle!?" Rarity snapped, narrowing her eyes.
"No! I mean, yes! I mean, uh, maybe?!" Sweetie asked, clinging Adagio's arm harder.
"H-Hey, lady, you might want to lower your voice a bit, you're scaring the kid!" Adagio said, trying to free herself from Sweetie Belle's surprisingly tight grasp. "Otherwise I might lose my arm!"
"You stay quiet!" Rarity yelled at Adagio, before turning back to Sweetie Belle. "Listen up: I know you would never hang out with someone like a siren, Sweetie Belle. But whatever she's doing to trick you into following her, you don't have to listen to her!"
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow and released Adagio's arm, the siren quickly taking several deep breaths as she rubbed it, and Sweetie Belle took a couple steps forward. "Do you really understand what's going on?"
"Of course I do! That siren took the chance of my babysitting blunder to manipulate you into joining her side!" Rarity responded, shooting a glare at Adagio as she added, "I mean, manipulating people to do what they want is what the sirens do!"
"Can't argue with that!" Adagio said in the middle of her breathing.
"Now come on, Sweetie Belle," Rarity said, giving her sister a stern look. "While she can't mess with your mind, come back to me."
Sweetie Belle frowned, and glanced between her sister, who spread her arms to welcome her with a smile, and then Adagio, who was still breathing heavily from her tightly held arm. Sweetie Belle lowered her head and took a step towards Rarity...
And then she lifted her head, threw a furious look at the fashionista, and ran back to Adagio, hugging her stomach while keeping the glare at Rarity.
Everybody gasped, especially Adagio, who began sweating bullets.
"B-B-But, Sweetie, that's a siren! And not just any siren, but the leader of them!" Rarity stated, clenching her fists. "Why would you want to stand by her side?!"
Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes. "Because where you yelled at me without giving me a chance to explain myself, she remained calm as she heard me out! Because where you left me to figure out what to do by myself, she at least gave me some advice and an idea!"
"O-Okay, look, kid, I'll admit I did talk with you and heard you out, but I was just doing my job as your babysitter, I didn't expect you to take the advice to heart," Adagio said, looking nervously at the furious Rarity. "Now, please, take back everything you said before you put us in even thinner ice-"
"I don't care! Let the ice thin until it shatters beneath us!" Sweetie Belle proclaimed, snapping a shot at Rarity. "If I'm never going to be forgiven for the Anon-A-Miss fiasco, I might as well hang out with another person who'll never be forgiven!"
The jaw of everybody present fell down, Adagio in particular losing all color on her face as one thought crossed her mind:
I'm so dead right now.
And Rarity was going to make sure that thought became reality as she charged her magic, aimed it right at Adagio, and shot a diamond-shaped magic blast at her, Sweetie Belle pushing Adagio away before Sunset ran and got in the blast's direction, receiving the blast directly.
The blast caused Sunset to jump a couple feet and roll a bit once she hit the ground, but she didn't seem to have any significant bruises.
"Darling!" Rarity exclaimed as she and the rest of Sunset's friends ran to her side. "W-W-Why did you take the blast right there?!"
"Rarity, we're in public! We can't just use our magic like that, we could cause a panic!" Sunset said as she stood up. "Even if we weren't in public, you can't just lose your cool and attack like that!"
"But she stole my sister!" Rarity snapped, throwing the pointer finger at the Adagio-Sweetie duo. "She-!"
However, once everybody turned around, they saw Adagio and Sweetie Belle were nowhere to be seen. "She vanished!"
"Actually, ah think Sweetie Belle used ta same teleportation spell ya did," Applejack answered. "We saw both of them be surrounded by a light blue aura while Sunset was being struck by the attack, an' they vanished seconds later."
Rarity took a deep breath, and stood up, dusting herself as she spoke. "Guess I'll go look for the-"
Suddenly, Sunset put a hand on Rarity's shoulder and shook her head. "Leave it here for the moment, Rarity."
"B-But, that siren, Adagio was her name right? She did something to my sister!" Rarity stated, narrowing her eyes as she reached for her pocket. "I mean, just look at the drawing she made when she was done babysitting her!"
Rarity revealed the drawing, and most of the girls weren't sure how to take it... except for Pinkie, who smiled. "Sweetie's quite good at drawing."
"That's besides the point, Pinkie! That siren did something to Sweetie Belle and I need to do something about it!"
"Okay, but before you do anything, shouldn't you come up with a plan first?" Twilight suggested. "I mean, if you just barge in without a plan, you're not going to get anywhere."
Rarity rubbed her forehead for a moment, then took another breath. "You're right, Twilight: I was being reckless, and we all know that's Rainbow Dash's thing."
Rainbow folded her arms. "And for everyone's sake, I think it's better if it keeps being just my thing."
"For now, let's go back home and think of something to do," Sunset winced. "And if somebody could take me to a medical center, that'd be great."
And so, Sunset and her friends walked away from the spot, Sunset looking at the sky as she hoped that whatever was happening between Sweetie Belle and Adagio, that it wouldn't make things worsen before they got better.
Speaking of Sweetie and Adagio, the girls sat on a bench at the park, Sweetie twiddling her fingers nervously while Adagio leaned back and sighed wearily.
"I don't know what you did, but it certainly saved us from having to deal with your sister," Adagio remarked, taking a deep breath as she bemused. "And, I never thought I'd say this, but, my life has been both saved and endangered by someone other than my fellow sirens for once."
Sweetie Belle lowered her eyelids. "Are you angry with me too?"
"No, Sweetie, I'm more angry at myself than anything," Adagio took a deep breath. "I mean, this week just hasn't been the best one for me. I gave you advice I didn't think twice about, you and your friends broke up and I started feeling guilty about it, and now you sister's more than likely going to hunt me down until she finds a way to get you back."
"Well, she's going to be wasting her time," Sweetie Belle folded her arms and looked away. "I'm not going back with her anytime soon!"
"That only makes me worry even more, kid!" Adagio stated. "Seriously though, you just put me on some very thin ice right now: it was already difficult to live while the battle of the bands is still fresh in everyone's mind, now we're going to have to worry about your sister coming for you too!"
"Speaking of my sister, I don't think it's necessary to say this, but after what I just did I don't think I can go back home," Sweetie Belle rubbed her arm. "Could I stay with you for the meantime?"
Adagio felt a chill go down her spine. If this wasn't the clear point of no return, then she didn't know what was: after convincing Sweetie to break off her friendship with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and getting on Rarity's bad side, letting the girl stay with her was probably going to be the final nail in Adagio's coffin.
But then again, Sweetie was right. She couldn't go back home after what she told Rarity; if she did, she'd be grounded potentially forever and some charges would be put on Adagio. But if she didn't stay, then all it would need was for the wrong person to see the girl in her house, and believe she had been kidnapped, putting some charges on the siren.
It was a lose-lose situation, though it was clear which one was the lesser lose.
"Alright, Sweetie Belle, you can stay with me and my bandmates," Adagio answered, scratching her hair as Sweetie looked at her with hope. "But, it's not a permanent home: you'll just stay with us until this whole situation with your sister cools down, okay?"
Sweetie chirped "Okay!" as she hugged Adagio, the siren flinching before she lowered her arms, calmed down, and brushed Sweetie Belle's hair with a light smile. A smile that turned into a frown as she looked at the sky, and hoped that things didn't get any worse before they got better.
For the love of Celestia's cousin, please don't get worse.