By the time Sonata and Marble exited the back door of the house, they were watching two different battles going on.
Spicy Hot and Thunderbolt were doing their best to keep Applejack from hurting either of them—exploiting Thunderbolt's strength to help hold Spicy's pins a little longer than they otherwise would have lasted.
Adagio and Aria (the latter of which seemed to be gaining power as they watched) were working hard to sing over the top of the Rainbooms.
What worried Sonata was that it seemed like her former kin were winning.
"We have to do something," Marble said. "They're losing. Look, F-Fluttershy is almost hiding behind her mic."
Sonata shook her head. "I can't. I'm a siren too. I'd only make things worse!" A hand touched her shoulder, and Sonata turned to see Marble looking into her eyes.
"You can't make anything worse, Sonata. I-If they beat my sister and her friends, I don't think there's anything that could stop them. It took me hours just to deprogram one person." It was more words than Marble spoke at any time when she wasn't hypnotizing someone. She took a deep breath. "You have to help them."
Closing her eyes, Sonata Dusk looked for the strength she needed. She was a siren, which meant she had all of the wrong kind of strength. With her eyes closed, however, she saw what Adagio had done in the house.
A whimper of pain left Sonata's throat. Sickness and agony hit her hard. "I have to help."
Pony Pinkie only had a little magic in this world, but what she had she used to protect Twilight from the blasts the sirens sent her way. She heard them start their next verse and braced against what she knew was coming. When the first blast of Adagio and Aria's vocals hit, however, they felt weakened.
Lifting her head, Pinkie Pie froze at what she saw. Floating in the air before her was a translucent blue siren, but standing under it was Sonata Dusk. New hope filled Pinkie as Sonata turned aside and sent several blasts of sound back at their attackers.
It was a losing tactic, Sonata knew, which was why she'd chosen it. Buy the Rainbooms some time to come up with their big number and finish off the Dazzlings. What she wasn't prepared for was a hug and a pink, floofy mane of hair to snuggle against her. "P-Pinkie?"
"Come on, Sonata, we're just what she needs now." Pinkie's energy was surging with proximity to Sonata—that's how she knew this was the right thing to do. "Come on, we're backup singers."
Fluttershy was almost a wreck. She'd used up every ounce of raw energy she'd gotten from Bridget, and she was almost ready to collapse. When Pony Pinkie took one of Fluttershy's sides and Sonata the other, she almost jumped. "W-W-W—?"
Sonata called back her spirit-self and put an arm around Fluttershy's shoulders. "You looked like you needed help."
"Yup!" Pony Pinkie's voice roared from the speakers, causing everyone else to look at the three of them. "Come on, Fluttershy, we've got your back."
"I-I don't have—I need something to work with. Bridget—"
"Fluttershy, let me be your fierce side." It was the easiest and best answer Sonata could see. She didn't trust herself to unleash all her siren magic, letting Fluttershy take control of it seemed perfect. Sonata leaned a little closer and kissed Fluttershy's cheek.
Bridget's power was that of a predator living in the moment. Fluttershy had been curious at the new implacable aspect that being a timber-wolf had brought, but what Sonata offered was different.
A wolf was an alpha predator—one of the big-bads of a forest. Sirens were a whole other level of monster. The surge of Sonata's nature caused Fluttershy's eyes to snap wide as over a thousand years of life thundered through her. Every part of her body felt afire with a need to hunt, but nothing could have prepared Fluttershy for how her throat felt.
Opening her mouth, Fluttershy began a slow song.
"It used to be so simple, it was a world I understood;"
Sonata was compelled to lift her own voice to meet Fluttershy's.
"I didn't know what I didn't know, and life seemed pretty good."
Twilight jerked as a beam of light hit her. She lifted her mouth up to the mic.
"But then the darkness rose up, from somewhere deep inside of me;"
That she didn't know the words didn't matter to Pony Pinkie, this was a song that needed singing, and she trusted magic to get her through it.
"Her power overtook me, but I kept the monster from getting free!"
Sunset's hands moved on their own as she leaned up to her mic, the song having a firm grip on all of them now.
"If we can stay with the light, I know we'll be free;"
"And we can always be whole—" Rainbow Dash hadn't anticipated her own need to sing, or how abruptly that need would leave her mid-line.
"—I will always be me!" Sonata's eyes were filling with tears again.
Rarity leaned forward and almost kissed the mic.
"We will always be struggling—"
"—with all that we see!" Human Pinkie wasn't playing her drums, not until now. The sharp staccato of her sticks was met by Sunset's deeper bass, Rarity's trilling keytar, and Rainbow's vibrant guitar.
The symphony of modern instruments lifted Sonata up, bore her skyward with their power and love. She had to finish this—she had to do it.
"But these friends help me see, there is no monster in me!"
The music crashed around Sonata. She felt part of something again, but it had nothing to do with being a siren or hunting humans—she had friends. But it wasn't one way. She was their friend too, and she stood with them against the real monsters. Again she felt compelled to sing—just as the music dropped off, and eight voices rose.
"There never was a monster in me!"
Rarity's fingers returned to her keytar, and the sweetest notes left it—tinkling.
"There never was a monster in me," Sonata and Fluttershy sang together.
Silence descended over the scene. The sound systems in the two cars hummed softly with potential, and their engines were a dull purr that kept the big amplifiers fueled.
"Alright. What the fuck is going on here? You sucked the energy out of those two, now what?" Limestone Pie was glad to finally be off her phone. As important as backing her sisters' friends up was, calling in for help was higher on her priorities.
The Rainbooms (along with Sonata—Pony Pinkie considered herself at least marginally part of the band) all turned to look at where Adagio and Aria had been. The two sirens stood, staring, hands cupping broken red gems.
The sight of two broken gems made Sonata jerk as she realized the weight at her own neck hadn't changed. She cupped her own gem and held it up so she could see it.
"What's it mean when it's glowing blue like that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Darling! It's gorgeous!" Rarity barely had time to slide her keytar to the side so she could wrap her arms around Sonata and kiss her.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie walked over to her older sister and giggled. "Your ears are cute!"
"Don't even fucking start, Pinks. What happened?" Limestone didn't even want to look. She knew the magic had hit her too, and knew that would probably mean her career was over.
Pinkie Pie took a deep breath, preparing for the rush of words that was to come, only to get tackle-hugged by Marble. With a wheeze, she hugged her twin back for all she was worth.
Marble couldn't stop herself from sobbing. All the emotion and worry rushed back into the emptiness the action had forced onto her. "They killed a bunch of people inside. Trixie and Lavender got a bunch out, but—"
Limestone Pie stiffened. She had a duty to carry out, but she didn't want to make a bad call. Leaving civilians (no matter how awesome she actually thought they were) with two known monsters was not something she was prepared to do, but without a verified eye on the bodies she couldn't take care of matters either. "You guys got some rope or cable? Those two need to be tied up while help arrives."
"Anyone mind tellin' me where my clothes are?" Applejack wasn't completely opposed to being naked, but what she did at home when swimming was not quite the same with a crowd around her. "Or failin' that, what the heck just happened?"
Sunset took off her jacket and walked toward Applejack. "Here you go. Sorry, but it's all I've got."
"Kill them all!" Adagio was almost as furious as she'd been in her life. "Aria! Tell your pets to—"
"Shut it." Limestone Pie had had enough. She could tell who the bad guys were but couldn't justify shooting them—yet. "You know how the police give you all those fancy words about what you can and can't do when they arrest you?"
Aria, having been arrested once or twice in her life, rolled her eyes.
"I'm not police. Mouth-off again, and I'll shoot you. Got it?" Limestone walked around behind the two, her hand slowly drawing her weapon and holding it at her side, muzzle pointed at the ground and her finger well off the trigger. "Now, we're all going to wait here like good little kids until friends arrive, got it? Why don't you both just kneel right there?" All her questions where rhetorical. Limestone didn't care about their opinions.
Adagio started to turn to snarl a reply. "Friends? Who are—" What she got was the butt of Limestone's pistol to the side of her head and a kick to the back of one knee. Unceremoniously, she was forced to the ground while her head spun.
Aria moved on her own. She hadn't lived all this time just to have a human shoot her because she couldn't play along. "Adagio, shut up."
"So, uh, friends? What kind of friends?" Spicy made his way up to where Applejack was having a recent history lesson.
"No clue. I called an alert number for military personal who get tangled up in this kinda thing. Whoever comes'll be local, at least." Not taking her attention away from her prisoners, Limestone had a fervent wish that whoever was coming would hurry up.
Applejack, hearing of what'd happened to her, reached her hand up to her neck and dug her fingers behind the collar there. Clenching a fist, she ripped the leather from her throat with a disgusted grunt. "Oh, hiya there. Spicy innit?"
"I'm famous!" Spicy gave his wings a little ruffle and tried to do a coy tilt of his shoulders. "Spicy Hot at your service, and happy you're not trying to kill me anymore. Sorry about the knee and shoulder—I almost dislocated both."
"We had a tussle? An' yer still standin'? Don't tell m' brother, he'd want us t' get hitched." Applejack couldn't stop herself from looking at Spicy a little admiringly. "What's yer secret?"
"Martial arts—well, a little. You can't remember anything?" Plucked from his feet, Spicy missed any answer Applejack may have given him. He was being crushed, pinned, and wrapped up. "Hey, big guy." He reached up and around as much of Thunderbolt's neck as he could.
Thunderbolt had never felt as emotionally drained, yet charged, as he did at that moment. "I was scared of—for you. Where's Rainbow?"
"I'm here, ya big l—" Seeing the grab coming wasn't a problem for Rainbow, not trying to be tough and avoid it was. She let the huge draconic hand press to her back and pull her up into a hug with her two favorite men. "We can look after ourselves, Thunderbolt."
"I saw that. It didn't stop me feeling scared for you."
Rainbow Dash leaned her head against Thunderbolt's chest. He felt more solid than anything had in her life, and she actually found herself needing that at that moment. "What was all that with the fire? I saw you fighting Adagio, that was pretty awesome."