//------------------------------//
// One Last Song 
// Story: A Dazzling Mismatch 
// by Shadowmane PX-41 
//------------------------------//

"So, here we are again, Rainbooms." Adagio said, walking forward towards the teenage girls with a fire in her eyes and venom seething from her voice. "It feels like yesterday, doesn't it? When you all callously struck me and my sisters down with your ragtag song. And here you thought that I was just a flash in the pan..." She chuckled briefly. "I think not."

"Adagio..." Sunset calmly stepped forward, looking deep into the rogue siren's eyes. "Of all the things you could've been, why did you have to do this; to revert back to the hatred-stealing Siren you once were? Your sisters turned over a new leaf just fine, didn't they?"

"Sisters? What sisters?" Adagio tossed her hair backwards as the rain lavished it. "They're nothing more than other Sirens. That's it. I don't need any sisters in order to stand at the top now, do I?" She said, caressing her crystal as the green mists of hatred continued to fly into it. "All that I need and all that I've ever needed since the day I was born is to cause anger; so that I can eat it all up and keep growing my own magic. I don't need to believe in some pithy, saccharine, worthless ordeals like friendship in order to feel like I'm on top of the world; contrary to what you believe, Sunset Shimmer." She jabbed a finger out at Sunset. "Aria and Sonata can survive on their own now that they've got you. They don't need me anymore either, don't you, girls?"

"No! That's where you're wrong, Dagi!" Aria barked out; her blue ponytails getting soaked and floppy as she begged Adagio. "Without you, we wouldn't have changed at all!"

"Yeah! You're the one who found those crystals and caused all of this mind-switching stuff!" Sonata clasped her hands together and pleaded for Adagio to return to the way that she once was. "Without you, we'd have nowhere to go! You've been the leader for the longest time that it wouldn't feel right to just say goodbye to you!"

"What a novel concept. A pair of Sirens who've turned over a new leaf despondent on their old leader; when in truth, they don't need anything more than themselves and their new 'friends'." She air-quoted, then gagged at the idea. "You've made yourselves weak, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. Whatever happened to the two hippocampus sisters I knew who pillaged Equestria; ravaged it, and turned it into a harmonious dystopia and an all-you-can-eat buffet of hatred and anger?" Adagio's eyes glowed red once again. "You've grown soft. Too soft for my liking."

"That's enough!" Rainbow Dash boldly stepped forward and threw her arm out to the side; defending Aria and Sonata. "What Aria and Sonata did in the past doesn't matter anymore! They wanna change and be friends and that's all I need to hear! They don't need to be swayed back into evil when they see all the awesome things friendship can bring!"

"I for one completely agree with Rainbow Dash." Rarity said, walking forward like a dainty lady, despite her soggy hair and running make-up. "Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk are far from the ruffians that they once were at the Battle of the Bands. The only one who's still holding onto the past and doesn't want to change is you, Adagio Dazzle."

"Oh, please. What would you Rainbooms know about my sisters? You don't know a thing about them." Adagio folded her arms and turned away from the Rainbooms, showing off her fish-like wings off to them once again. "All that you know about them is that they're my sisters, they were involved in my schemes, and now they want to be your friends. It's actually adorable how little you know about them and how unaware you are of their true natures!"

"NO!" Sunset stomped on the ground as the next bolt of lightning tore through the air. Her hands were coiled into fists and she cast a steel glare at Adagio Dazzle. "Aria and Sonata might have been cruel back then, but the past is the past. Their past doesn't define who they are as people. Believe me, girls. I know." She cast a smile back to Aria and Sonata, who just stared at her in awe. Then, she turned back to face Adagio once again. "If you just hang onto the past, always accept grudges as the iron-clad truth, and refuse change, then you'll get absolutely nowhere! Aria and Sonata see that and now I can see that there's some good in their hearts after all!" Then, she jabbed her own finger back at Adagio. "Adagio! YOU are the one who doesn't understand!"

"SILENCE, SUNSET SHIMMER!" Adagio screamed at the top of her lungs; her entire eyes turning red as the next lightning bolts struck; making her look like a true demon. "I've always HATED your wretched little face from the MOMENT you wanted to save those pitiful teenage BRATS!" As she spoke, a magical aura erupted from her body and took to the skies. It punctured the clouds and turned the skies blood-red. "You think you can just solve EVERYTHING with the Magic of Friendship, but you're wrong! There are just some people out there that REFUSE TO CHANGE!" She snarled, and as she did, a golden hippocampus monster descended to her side; one that she stroked tenderly across the forehead. "Let me be the one to break that insignificant, insipid, INFANTILE FANTASY OF YOURS!"

The hippocampus let out a monstrous roar; casting red rings to symbolise the soundwaves it was emitting. The roar itself was so powerful that the teens all had to fight back against the sheer power; feeling that the noise was starting to push them closer and closer to the edge of the platform. Aria and Sonata were horrified at what Adagio had become and just seeing her utilise her Equestrian Form cut them deep in their souls. To think that they were once like that; as desperate and far-gone as her was enough to send shivers down their spines and leave them stricken with fear and grief. And to have that very same hatred and anger once cast upon the Rainbooms made them truly see just how awful their past lives were.

"C'mon, girls! Let's go!" Pinkie Pie stood stoically and threw her arms out, ready for a fight.

"There really ain't nothin' fer it now." Applejack just lowered her hat at the sight of Adagio's true self. "The only way we're gonna knock some sense into Adagio now is if we knock her down a peg or two."

"Right." Twilight pushed her glasses close to her face. "Everyone! Now!"

The Rainbooms all nodded and went for their geodes. Together, in a bright whirl of light and magic, they donned their Pony-Up selves. Their ears on their heads, the hair extensions and their tails formed, as did their wings and any other appendages that they needed for their new forms. As a unit of super-powered teens, they now stood before the monster known as Adagio Dazzle, ready to put an end to her madness and bring back order and happiness to the world.

"Awww, isn't that sweet? You don't need to play music anymore to fight me. GOOD!" Adagio gnashed her teeth, which made her hippocampus double do the same. Then, throwing her arm forward, she ordered the beast to fly towards the girls like a shark speeding through the oceans. A roar came from the beast, then it lunged at the Rainbooms, making them all jump or fly out of the way as it smashed against the floor of the rooftop, leaving a mark where it struck.

"Try this on for size!" Pinkie Pie said, then procured a jar of sprinkles out from her hair. She popped off the top and took some of the confectionary tidbits out. Charging them up with her magic, she tossed them at the rampaging Adagio Hippocampus and watched as they all exploded on her cheeks and face, making the beast snap its' head back as it tried to withstand the exploding sprinkle barrage.

As the beastly fish-horse tried to get back to the fight, its' tail was then clamped down securely by Applejack. It tried to flail and thrash around, but it couldn't shake itself loose. And once it lurched at Applejack; teeth ready to crush her arms, Applejack just swung the tail around, then leapt into the air and threw the tail down at the ground, which caused the whole thing to collapse in a mangled-up mess. "Yee-haw!" Applejack said, jumping at the monster's tail and delivering a super-strength punch straight to its' gut, making it screech some more.

But that didn't stop it as, after Applejack's punch landed, it slipped out and flew into the air. Hanging above the girls, it roared another supersonic roar and dove down on top of them like a falling meteor; only to collide head-first into a diamond barricade erected by Rarity, who was trying her very best to keep the monster from breaking through, straining and struggling as the fish-horse monstrosity smashed, crashed, and headbutted the diamond shield over and over again; each strike being more vicious than the last. Once it deciphered that Rarity was keeping the shield active, it turned towards her with its' eyes burning with hatred and sped for her, teeth opened wide, ready to devour her.

Only for a super-fast Rainbow Dash to fly in its' way and deliver a backwards kickflip to its' chin, followed by some other lightning-quick strikes to its' body. The attack flurry hitting over and over again, Rainbow could see that Adagio's hippocampus double was struggling to fly straight and instead collided with the pipes; causing them to hiss and expel some of the pent-up steam out; charring the monster's face.

"Oh my... You're such an angry thing, aren't you?" Fluttershy, keeping as brave as she could in these harsh times just walked forward towards the monstrous Adagio. "You need to calm down a bit, don't you?" She clicked her fingers and sure enough, the monster quickly found itself circled by birds hanging above her head. Small birds flew around its' dazed body and birds of prey circled the skies above like vultures ready to make their move if Adagio's monster did react. And sure enough, with another frenzied roar, it burst back into the air, which prompted the eagles, condors, falcons, and other sharp-clawed birds to make a move. Ordered by Fluttershy, the birds of prey struck the ghostly hippocampus with their talons. Each slice caused the monster to spasm out in pain and anguish, letting out more roars.

Sucking up air, Adagio's hippocampus let out a monstrous roar and screamed as loud as it could, pushing the Rainbooms to their butts with the sheer noise and magnitude alone. Then, it sped for Fluttershy, who yelped and put her arms over her face; scared to meet her end at the hands of this ferocious beast from another world. When she opened her eyes again, Fluttershy saw that the spectre was once more halted by magic; this time, from Twilight, who was holding her arms out as if trying to physically hold onto the thing with a purple aura surrounding it. Flicking her arms to the side, she tossed the beast back into Adagio, who just skidded on the balls of her heels straight to the edge of the skyscraper; as another bolt of lightning—one red as the skies themselves this time—tore the skies asunder.

"Looks like you've got some new tricks..." Adagio sneered as she looked over the body of her ghostly animal companion, staring at the Pony-Up empowered Rainbooms. "Honestly, I should be thanking you. Just destroying you without a challenge would've been boring; a real waste of time. Just goes to show you how much FUN you're making this!" She had a twisted grin on her face; one that you would've seen on a demonic clown in a horror movie as she clambered over the body of her downed horse and walked forward with the grace of a runway model.

"Fun? FUN?! You think we're doing this for fun, Adagio?!" Sunset chided, her brows lowered as she trudged through the falling rain towards Adagio. She might have been a patient girl, but when it came to her and her friends' lives, she couldn't abide by what Adagio was doing to all of them. One way or another, it would all end here and now. "We're doing this because there's a better way to live than just relying on your anger like this!"

"Oh, really? And what's that better way you're talking about? Having to work hard and play nice? Feh. I've LONG since outgrown the need for niceness and pleasantries. Especially when it comes to you and your irksome little friends down there!" Adagio cast a finger at the Rainbooms, who were all just staring back into her eyes. "Do you girls honestly care one shred for me? Do you think that there's someone else trapped inside of this body waiting to come out? That the Magic of Friendship can overcome anger and hatred? Oh, how delightfully imprudent of you to think about that..."

"We're doing this because there is a better someone deep inside of you, Adagio. As well as a much better life you could be living here and now!" Sunset continued her march through the bleak, somber atmosphere. "You might think that there's anger in your soul, but I know that you weren't always like this. Something changed. And now that something is gonna rip you apart if you don't get rid of it now!"

Adagio just cackled like a wicked witch from a fairytale. "You're still going on about that? That I'm really just deluding myself and think that I'm not being the Adagio Dazzle everyone wants me to be? This is priceless!" Adagio flew to the skies as another lightning bolt came crashing down behind her. "Friendship... All that it's done is cause me to lose everything. The home where the three of us once lived, the magic that we all held dear and used to our utmost to make ourselves happy, the reputation that we'd established in this world as singers, and now it's taken my sisters away from me!" She snarled once more, making claws out of her hands that the green mists of hatred coiled around like spider threads. "You, Sunset Shimmer, are the VILLAIN of this story. I'm the one who's trying to live my life, and you're striking me down for it!"

"NO!" Sunset spat back at the top of her voice. "I'm not the one who caused the Battle of the Bands! I'm not the one who's causing all of this! And no matter how much you might think that I'm in the wrong, I'm not the one who's got the glowing red eyes, the demonic body, and the giant monster fish horse that's attacking everyone!" Sunset's pitch was as high as it could have gone for someone having a verbal war with someone like Adagio. "ADAGIO DAZZLE! YOU ARE THE REAL VILLAIN!"

"SILENCE, SUNSET SHIMMER!" As Adagio yelled back as high as her pitch would let her scream; almost making her sound like she was screaming at the sight of bloody murder, more lightning struck the skies. "I've had JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF THIS! I'll silence you AND YOUR INSIGNIFICANT, INSIPID, AND INFANTILE FRIENDS RIGHT HERE AND NOW!" A dark red aura engulfing her, Adagio crackled lightning between her fingers; the very gesture invigorated her beastly double, making it attack and move so much faster, catching the Rainbooms off-guard and swatting them away with deadly force.

"She's going crazy..." Sonata watched as the infuriated Adagio's warpath resumed; her body now working in tandem with her hippocampus doppelganger. The resulting fight started to swing more towards her, with the Rainbooms magic and attacks being blasted into bits or outright refusing to work in time with how aggressive and swift both of the siren's forms were moving and attacking. "What are we supposed to do, Aria?"

"I don't know!" Aria despaired as she too winced and cringed with each hit that Adagio dealt to the Rainbooms. "Everything that Adagio's doing, it's just so... wrong!" But for all that she was saying, it was even worse to know that she couldn't do anything to stop her, not unless she too tapped into the hatred that she was using against the girls.

"C'mon, Sunset Shimmer. Where's that fire you once had?" Adagio sadistically smirked as she barrelled towards Sunset; her claws clamping down hard on Sunset's arms. The way that she was hunched, how she was grabbing the girl, and how she was now determined to send her flying off of the edge with her jerky movements was enough to strike fear in the hearts of anyone. "Aren't you supposed to be the hero of this world? The one who uses that stupid friendship stuff and praises it to the high heavens? Fight me!"

"I'm not going to fight you because I'm angry with you, and you're not gonna make me get mad at you just for the thrill of it, Adagio." Sunset firmly stood her ground and yanked her arms in the opposite direction after Adagio tried one last yank. Freeing herself, Sunset leapt backwards as Adagio lurched forward again. Before she could make another move, another of Rarity's diamond walls stood in the two girls' ways.

"Are you alright, darling?" Rarity asked, her eyes focused on Sunset.

"Yeah! I'm fine, Rarity." Sunset called back, but then she watched as Adagio let out a screech and came flying towards Rarity, claws ready to slice. "Look out!"

"I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash quickly cut in and, using her own wings, she intercepted Adagio; causing the two of them to get into an airborne scuffle with each other. Both of the winged girls fought their hardest, but neither one was managing to overpower the other. In the middle of the fight, she saw that Adagio's ghostly hippocampus was also continuing to the fight, aggressively snapping the air in front of Applejack; as if trying to eat her whole. "Why don't you eat someone your own size, Adagio?" Rainbow taunted, then quickly broke free as Adagio pushed forward. She flew over Adagio and delivered a swift, diving kick to her back like a superheroine would, sending Adagio falling straight into the jaws of her beast as it brought its' teeth down again. It struck Adagio and both she and the beast let out anguished howls as they both fell to the ground, only to get back up again shortly after.

"This thing just doesn't stop!" Pinkie cried as she took another handful of sprinkles; charging them up with her magic. She lobbed the exploding sprinkles at both Adagio and her hippocampus, making both of them shut their eyes in the bursts of light and sprinkle bits. Noticing that she had burnt through all of the munitions in that jar, she tossed it to the side and went for another. "I'm running low, here! Can't we just blast them to bits with our rainbow laser or something?!"

"We're tryin', Pinkie!" Applejack called back, then found herself butting heads with the hippocampus monster again. One bite, another bite, and Applejack tried to lasso the beast up by its' muzzle, only for it to shake and thrash about even more, causing her to start to lose her footing. "This thing's more violent than a bull in a red-china shop!" It was becoming apparent for Applejack that this was gonna be a losing battle, so rather than get thrown off, she lost her grip on the rope as the beast snapped its' body to the side.

"This is Adagio's true power..." Fluttershy tried her best to be brave, but the way that both this monster and the girl controlling it were working in tandem with one another was striking all kinds of horror into her heart. She didn't dare move, lest she get caught up in the chaos as well, but she didn't dare run either to abandon her friends. Locked in place, she just jumped as another lightning bolt painted the skies and made Adagio's silhouettes dance and race for a brief instance. It was a picturesque nightmare given form.

"All of this is coming from her bitterness from the last defeat she had..." Twilight used her magic to levitate some of the nearby pipes off of the hinges, letting the steam be ventilated into the air. She tried to contain Adagio's monstrous form in the pipes by sticking her inside of it, but it wasn't long before she was met with the siren's claws and piercing red eyes. She flapped her wings to get to safety, but that was when the hippocampus made its' move, sped behind Twilight, and swatted her to the floor with its' tail.

The Rainbooms in a beaten-up mess, the hippocampus craned its' head to the skies and let out another blood-curling towards the teenagers. The resulting rings of red-energy that struck the girls made them fall to their knees and put their hands over their ears; as the force from the scream also pushed them towards the edge. The beast kept on roaring until at last, the girls were pushed straight off of the edge.

"Girls!" Aria and Sonata rushed over to the skyscraper's edge and saw Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight having to carry Sunset, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity. Though, it was starting to look like a challenge. Instincts to save their friends kicking in, both of the sirens reached over the edge and offered hands to the winged teens. Once those hands took the hands of the non-winged Rainbooms, Aria and Sonata pulled with all of their might and hoisted the girls back onto the rooftop.

Splayed at the edge of the rooftops, the group of girls could only watch as Adagio advanced with her hippocampus by her side. A monstrous grin on her face as red veins grew across it; almost like a deadly virus eating away at her body. The fish-horse hybrid stood by her side, ready to pounce like a coiled-up cat. Though, the way that she had been brutalising the Rainbooms, it didn't seem likely to make a move while they were like this.

"You see now? You're nothing." Adagio said calmly as more of the dark energy flew into her pendant; making it continue to shine with its' eerie red light. "The Magic of Friendship might have been powerful for you in the past, but this is an entirely different kettle of fish, ladies." She folded her arms and floated off of the ground by inches. "Friendship won't help you survive in this world. In order to survive, you need to take everything that you can from whoever you can. Thinking about others is only going to get you killed."

"Adagio..." Sunset just looked up as the rain continued to fall all around her and the others. Her already-soaking mane might as well have been made of water with how much it had been drenched; same for the other girls.

"Just stop fighting. It's easier if you just accept the truth," Adagio said coldly. "The Magic of Friendship is what got you into this mess, girls. If you had just never bothered to use it and let us get what we needed back then, you wouldn't have been in such a dire situation. Now, the Magic of Friendship; the very thing you believe in, has abandoned you when you truly needed it." She brushed the muzzle of her monstrous deity with the palm of her hand, making it snort gently. "How do you think the three of us lived back in Equestria? Did we get along all gal-pal-style with the ponies of that wretched world? No. They were nothing more than livestock for us. Cows for us to drink from. All the while, our songs tore apart the very fabric of peace and tranquillity as a result.

"You see, Sunset. Where I come from, the Magic of Friendship never existed. Nobody ever challenge me and my sisters with such a gaudy lightshow as you and your friends did. And back then, we thrived without it. All because of one particular thing: Hatred." Adagio drifted down to Sunset's side and picked her head up, looking into her eyes with her seething red ones. "Hatred is what drives me. It invigorates me; gives me power. Every song I sing plants more seeds of hatred in the souls of ponies and humans alike. And every single one that blooms is a morsel for me to snack on. As long as I need hatred in order to survive; to be happy, then I don't need anything else. What will the Magic of Friendship do for my happiness, if hatred was already making me happy in the first place?"

"Please... just give it a chance." Sunset, despite being put in such a hostile and tense situation, with Adagio holding the girls in the palm of her hands. "I know... I know that the Magic of Friendship took everything away from you, but it's got so much more to offer you than this endless cycle of hatred, Adagio. It's changed all of our lives for the better, and it's going to do the same for your sisters too."

"My sisters were happy before this, Sunset Shimmer." Adagio just spat to the ground, looking towards the skies. "All three of us had the same hatred motivating us to keep on singing back in Equestria. I don't just speak for myself, but for all three of the Dazzlings; whether they're my sisters or whether I excommunicate them." She cast a stare at Aria and Sonata, who just shivered at the sight. "A siren can't change their tune, Sunset Shimmer. No matter how hard you and the others try, we'll still keep on crawling back to the same thing that we've always been hungry for; negative energy, spurned from anger, hatred, and rage."

"And what'll that lead to, huh? Didn't you say... back then... that you wanted adoration?" Sunset said, feeling her breath starting to leave her.

"What do you mean?" Adagio cocked a brow.

"You said before, over and over again more than anything that you just wanted to be loved. That you wanted everyone in the school to adore and worship you, didn't you?" Sunset stood back up on her own two feet again, standing before Adagio stoically. "Do you think that, by singing your heart out and spreading this misery and discord, that they'll ever love you at all? All of your mantras and goals of being loved from your visit to Canterlot High. You're tearing them all up before your eyes and you don't even know it." She curled her hands up into fists again. "I can help you, Adagio. We can help you. It's not hard to be loved, you know. All you have to do is—"

"Love?" Adagio just chuckled under her breath, a laugh that got louder and louder until she burst out into hysterics, laughing like a hyena. "All that was just a phase! A way for us to live like queens in this wasteland of a world! That phase DIED the moment you and your Rainbrats cast that little spell on us to break ours. Now, hatred's all I need. Who cares about being loved in a world when you're the only one who's not barking their head off and destroying themselves with arguments and physical conflict? Why would love ever need to exist when I can just continue to eat anger from these wretches down below?" Her laughter then grew weaker and weaker. "No. I know what you're trying to do. You can't win, so you're resorting to wordplay to try and strike down my stance. Just like you, Sunset Shimmer. If you're trying to get a psychology degree, you've got a long way to go before you can read exactly what's on my mind."

"It's true, though!" Sonata spoke up from afar, getting both of the girls to turn towards her. "Adagio! You wanted to be loved more than any of us back then! Even before we can to CHS in the first place!" She threw her arms downward. "Why are you lying to yourself? That's only going to hurt you even more!"

"Sonata... you..." Adagio's eyes returned to normal, moreso because she was so awestruck by her sister's sudden surge in guts.

"I know that hatred gave us ultimate power, but look at what else it's doing to you!" Aria also called out, noticing the marks on Adagio's face. "Those veins on your body are making you look hideous! The people would never want to love a monstrous face like that! It's like something out of a horror movie!" She jabbed a finger at Adagio's face. "Please, sis! Stop this! It's not like you to fly off the handle like that.

"But... I..." Adagio didn't even get to finish her sentence.

"ADAGIO!" Both Sonata and Aria pleaded, getting down on their hands and knees, looking up at their bigger sister with saucer-like eyes.

Adagio couldn't even process what was going on. Even with all of the hatred that she was delivering to the Rainbooms, they were refusing to roll over and accept defeat. And now, even her own sisters were telling her to stop doing this; to stop collecting power and be happy. If there were words to try and get out of her head, she couldn't find them. Now, all that she was doing was looking for a reason to validate her position. But when she couldn't find any, she just brought a hand to her gemstone and gripped the gem as tight as she could, an aura of red magic projecting out of it and covering her body from head to toe.

"What a waste." Adagio muttered at last, making both Aria and Sonata gasp with fright. "You've let those Rainbooms poison your minds, girls. Everything that we've lived for; that we've survived for, you're throwing away like that? You really want to act like Equestria never happened? That we were born like these skinny meatsacks in this desolate void they call a home? We had EVERYTHING! And those horrid... things just took it all away from us! We could've been immortal, but you settled for less." She let go of Sunset and turned towards her sisters. "You. Are. Sirens." She boomed, her eyes turning red once again. "You do not care for the wellbeing of anyone else other than yourself. You feed on hate and only hate. That's why you were made in the first place! Equestria molded you, so now you have to live with what you are. And if you won't see that yourself..."

And with that, Adagio delivered a powerful kick to both of the siren sisters, knocking them towards the edge. Their bodies were very close to tumbling over to the city below. Even with the state both of them were in, Adagio didn't see reason. Instead, she cracked her knuckles and marched towards the two siren sisters. "It's a dog-eat-dog life, girls. Whether it's Equestria or this world, you either take or get taken yourself. And since you didn't take, you're about to pay the price. This is the way of life, girls. A shame you forgot about it..." She delivered another kick to both girls and knocked them over the edge. "Goodbye." She said simply, as the two sirens fell down to the streets.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Fluttershy flew as fast as they could after Aria and Sonata, while the other Rainbooms were locked eye-to-eye with Adagio once again. Once more, Adagio projected a climate of fear. But now, with the magical aura, she was only making herself even more monstrous. Her hair grew like snakes, her teeth became as sharp as a wolf's fangs and her nails became as sharp as bird talons. This magical aura was mutating her body and it was doing the same for her hippocampus too. Now, even the fish-horse monster's eyes glowed red as it grew in size, as spikes burst out of its' body and the tail it had became bladed.

"Sunset Shimmer. I'll show you and your friends how WORTHLESS the Magic of Friendship truly is in a world without friends!" Adagio threw her hands to the sky, creating a giant red pillar of magic that pierced the stormy clouds above. The clouds then started to swirl and ripple like a whirlpool in the skies. The lightning bolts that spat out of the lightning became more and more frequent, until they were coming out in groups.

In the middle of that cloudy vortex, a massive hippocampus head appeared, looking down from above. It too had red eyes. With one, massive roar, soundwaves echoed and rippled across the entire town, stretching out to every single man, woman, and child's ears. Everyone who heard the roar entered a dystopian state, fighting, arguing, and attacking anyone and everyone that they found offensive or angering. With each new conflict that was bred, more and more mist came spewing out of their bodies. Except now, the magic was painted red. Said magic was flying towards Adagio and empowering her from all sides.

"See now, Sunset Shimmer? There is no friendship when a siren's involved. Nobody is going to believe in your stupid little religion of friendship ever again." Adagio gnashed her teeth and leered at Sunset as she and the other Rainbooms regrouped, with Aria and Sonata joining their side. "No amount of singing is going to break this magic. And no amount of friendship you girls can muster is going to put a stop to this madness. This entire world's about to become the most anarchistic, hatred-filled world you've ever seen. It'll be a heaven for me, and hell for everyone else!"

"That's a big siren..." Pinkie pointed up towards the now titanic hippocampus that was staring down at the group of girls. "I don't think my sprinkles are gonna cut it here! Not even with the heavy-artillery stuff!"

"Adagio's really lost herself..." Applejack just grimaced as she looked at the sight of the monstrous beast looking down on the world and its' inhabitants. "All that negative energy's made her mind go cuckoo. And considerin' she didn't really have her own mind to begin with, that's saying somethin'."

"At this rate..." Twilight looked over to the city and watched as more and more negative emotions rose from the mist. The sounds of hatred and fighting grew louder and louder as the smoke engulfed the city; all of which traveled towards Adagio's choker and the gemstone that rested on it. "Forget endless infighting, Adagio could wipe Canterlot City off the map with this power!"

"That's right, princess!" Adagio barked; her voice becoming demonic and double-toned like two separate people were speaking at the same time out of the same head. "This whole city's become an eyesore with how much you girls tainted it with your virulent friendship. It's better off to tear this place down! Then, I can just fly off to whatever other cities and places I can think of, and sap more hatred from them! I'm sure I can do without the magic of this piddly town when there's a whole world of anger to be had. It's a mere after-dinner mint in comparison!"

"After dinner..." Sonata let those words sink into her head. For all that Adagio thought of food, the fact that she now saw this whole place as disposable was putting her on edge. As she stressed out and the muscles in her forehead twitched, she made a fist out of her hand.

"All that these people are to me are just livestock. Cattle. Sheep!" Adagio bit her teeth hard, looking more and more like a venom-filled demon with each word that tumbled out of her mouth. "They're not special. They don't have anything unique about them. All they are are the same, unthinking, endlessly manipulated, emotion-shackled monkeys that I've known since I arrived in this world. Say the right words, get into their heads, and they'll do whatever you want them to do!"

"Whatever... they want..." Aria felt her heartbeat as she thought back to the time before. Was she really that mindlessly cruel towards the people of these worlds; so blinded by hunger that she cared not for the fate of their food? Even now, looking at the Rainbooms and the mess that they found themselves in, Aria felt like she needed to do something; if not to save them then to stop her berserk sister from going even further off of the deep end.

The two sirens looked towards each other and gave a nod. Looking towards the edge of the city, they both took a deep breath and let out one of the loudest musical calls that they could have mustered up. Their voices were as smooth as silk as their notes swept through the city. Though the people were still fighting and their song didn't do them any favors, the two girls still had access to the same kind of darkness that Adagio was tapping into. They clutched their gems as hard as they could as the mists surged into them and closed their eyes as they started to let the ferocious screams and anger-filled voices fill their heads.

"Look at you now, Rainbooms. Even now, your so-called friends are refusing to change." Adagio pointed a finger at Aria and Sonata, who were both trying to contain and control the negative energy that they were taking in. "Your friendship might have burrowed into their heads, but even now, at the end of the world, they see the correct path to take. Hatred is the only thing this world needs. It's the only food that we sirens can properly grow healthy off of. Isn't that right, Aria? Sonata?"

Aria and Sonata took in the hatred and made pained noises as they fell to their knees. This truly was the power that they had been using. It was different to their usual acquired tastes for anger though, something that Adagio had done to these people that was making the anger much more toxic than usual. Both of them let out a little yell as their eyes also turned red and they propagated hippocampi doubles of their own. Aria's was purple, and Sonata's was blue, as usual.

"Girls..." Sunset just looked at the pain that Aria and Sonata were inflicting upon themselves. "What are you doing?!"

"Doing... the right thing!" Aria grit her teeth and put her hands to the ground as she tried to control the hatred and fury that was building up in her gemstone.

"Adagio... Please..." Sonata let out a growl as she looked into her sister's eyes. "Come to your senses!"

Both the Hippocampi for Aria and Sonata let out a ferocious roar and as the girls weakly threw their arms forward, the two beasts flew off. However, instead of hurting the Rainbooms, the two hippocampus doubles instead attacked the one that Adagio was controlling, turning the sky into an airborne scuffle between the three fish-horses; each one letting out a series of groans, roars, and other animal-esque noises.

"What?!" Adagio snapped her head towards the chaos that ensued, seething as she watched Aria and Sonata get back onto their feet and grow their wings and hair extensions. "What are you doing?!" She barked and threw herself towards Aria and Sonata, her wings barely even moving as she careened through the air.

As she reached Aria and Sonata, both of the siren sisters grabbed Adagio and just threw her backwards, making her tumble towards the ground. The two of them stood up with a fire in their eyes and their hands made into fists. The two of them walked forward slowly, rain continuing to pitter down around them as they stood by the Rainbooms.

"Get..." Sonata growled.

"Off..." Aria added.

"Our friends!" Both girls declared together, with Aria throwing her left arm out, and Sonata doing the same to her right arm, moving in sync with each other.

The Rainbooms just watched as Aria and Sonata stood before them; renewed and reinvigorated by this display. One by one, they were all helped back up to their feet by the two siren girls, standing like a true set of heroes against the tumbling rain and crashing lightning.

"You're just shells!" Adagio writhed and stomped back onto her feet. "And you're standing with the very people who sullied your powers! What good will helping them out now bring?!" She spat, swiping her arm like a sword.

"What good is going to send everyone into anarchy bring?!" Aria barked back, with a similar kind of fury. Whether or not it was brought on by the negative energy that she had been taking in with her magic, the Rainbooms had yet to decide on. "You... you're just carelessly using these people for your own benefit! You don't even care if they get hurt and you lose the power that they give, do you?!"

"Do you even know what you're saying or doing, Dagi?! This isn't like you at all!" Sonata also argued with her sister, giving her a ferocious glare back into her own eyes. "You've become so blinded by this petty hate for the Rainbooms that you've never even bothered to consider that there's a better life you can live without this anger-sapping spree! In fact, you've made yourself so ironclad with these rules that you're being consumed by the very hatred you wanna control! You're becoming a monster!"

"Says the girls who just did the same thing." Adagio just crossed her arms. "This is proof-positive that you can't change; that none of us can change! We are who we are and ONLY who we are. So we're always going to spread hate and only hate, eating that very same hate for our own survival!" Flapping her fishy wings, Adagio flew into the air and let out a growl with her own mouth, making her hippocampus double overpower the other two fish-horse ghosts.

"We're not going to use our gathered hate to get rid of these people, Adagio. And we're surely not about to use them to bring pain and misery to everyone around us!" Aria tightened her fists, making her hippocampus beat Adagio's back with more force and stamina.

"We're gonna use it to save everyone!" Sonata punched the air, and as she did, her blue hippocampus drove into Adagio's hippocampus' chest, driving it towards the sky. A roar from the same beast and Adagio's monster was blasted back into the mouth of the larger one. "Sunset... the Rainbooms... they're not as bad as you think. Sure, they took everything from us, but they want to help us get better! They don't want to hurt us!"

"Then why... why do I feel NOTHING BUT PURE, UNBRIDLED HATRED FROM THEM?!" Adagio's red eyes pierced the Rainbooms. "WHY ARE YOU OFFENSIVE TO ME, RAINBOOMS?!"

"Because... Adagio... You're afraid." Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Everything that we've done to you back at CHS, you're afraid that I'll be repeating history again by having me and my friends blast you down with rainbow magic again. You don't want to lose everything that you've worked so hard for. And I can understand that entirely. Who woud ever feel happy if they lost everything that made them who they are?"

"But, Adagio, you have to understand. There's more to life than singing and magic." Rarity also stood firm, her shoes splashing against the waterlogged roof. "There's a myriad of things that you can invest into in this world. Clothes, flowers, spas, poetry, and many more."

"Yeah! Why would you ever wanna be a big, bad, meanie when there's always something that'll make you happy again?" Pinkie asked, as she pulled out another jar of sprinkles, which she could have used as a weapon, but instead swallowed a huge mouthful of them. "Even the food can make ya happy, y'know! And not just that weird misty food you and the other girls liked sucking up."

"Sure is! There's tons 'a' things you can be doin' with yer time." Applejack said, pushing her hands together. "Ain't gotta spend yer whole life suckin' up dark magic just 'cause ya'll need ta eat."

"I mean, if you're angry or ya need to eat anger up, there's plenty of safe places where you can go if you're really in trouble." Rainbow Dash added her own words to the conversation. "Don't go lookin' for food if you're just gonna be a jerk with that food."

"Or, if you want, try and see if you can use that magic to feed on stuff that isn't just anger. Plenty of people can change in ways that they didn't even know were possible." Fluttershy clasped her hands together and peacefully looked into Adagio's vicious countenance. "Even if you don't think it's possible, just give singing for good a chance."

"We might have caused something horrible to you and your sisters, Adagio. But look at Aria and Sonata now!" Twilight stretched her arms to the side. "Aria and Sonata have changed their tune and now they're fighting for the good of everyone! So they can change, even if you think that they can't!"

"What?" Adagio watched as the Rainbooms and the two other sirens held each other's hands as a sign of unity and togetherness; a sight that made Adagio sick to her stomach. But even as she tried to think of hatred as her way out, she couldn't help but shiver and shake. Looking down at her hands, she could see that they were trembling. "What... nonsense... is that? Me... afraid...? No. No, that can't be." Adagio's breathing became heavy and frenzied. "No. No, no, no! You're all trying to deceive me! I don't need to change! I'm happy as I am! I'm not afraid! I'm... not... afraid..." She could hear her own sense of dread and entered a berserk state as she and her hippocampus flew towards the giant head in the skies. "NO! I! AM! NOT! AFRAID!" With one final roar, she, her hippocampus, and the titanic ghostly hippocampus head in the sky roared together, releasing a ferocious, torrential, colossal beam of red energy, crackling as it tore through the sky like a falling meteor.

"Adagio... Please..." Sunset Shimmer spoke as she, her friends, and Aria and Sonata glowed with a bright veil of rainbow-colored light. Magic gathered and shone around them, as a ring of light spawned around them. Aria and Sonata's two hippocampus doubles were loaded up into the magic. "STOP BEING SO SELFISH!" Sunset declared as the other girls said it at the same time as her, and a ferocious torrent of rainbow magic erupted from the teens, with Aria and Sonata's hippocampi copies flying to match Adagio's magic.

The two beams of magic; Adagio's blood red one and the Rainbooms rainbow-colored one collided in the air, lighting up the entire sky in a dazzling display. Adagio grunted and groaned as she willed the magic to keep on fighting back against the Rainbooms, while the Rainbooms, Aria, and Sonata believed in themselves, their bonds, and the belief that people can change for the better. The power struggle went on and on, and at one point, Adagio's magic got the upper hand, pushing the heroines' magic back further and further down.

With one final yell, the Rainbooms stepped forward, with Aria and Sonata doing the same. The rainbow laser grew exponentially, quickly pushing Adagio's blood-red beam of hateful magic back at her. Aria and Sonata's hippocampi fought through the red power, guided by the rainbow light. Until at last, the red beam was shattered, and Adagio was blanketed in endless rainbow light, with the two hippocampi from Aria and Sonata barrelling into Adagio's hippocampus clone, causing all three of them to disappear in a ghostly roar.

As for Adagio herself, she tried her best to resist the rainbow magic, but she couldn't. Groaning, grunting, and standing her ground in the air, she writhed and cried in pain as the magic overwhelmed her. The pendant around her neck was starting to break again; the cracks forming slowly, but all gathering at the center of the jewel again. "No... No, no, no, no, no! NOT AGAIN!" Adagio despaired as she put her hands to the crystal. But as she did this, the light ate away at the rest of her body again. The pain intense, Adagio's arms and legs splayed outward and she let out a blood-curdling scream as the light devoured her whole, and shattered her pendant at last.

A magnificent explosion erupted from the roof of the Summer Sun Skyscraper, sending out a shockwave of rainbow-colored energy across the skies, erasing all of the storm clouds that blotted out the night skies. The wave of light sent twinkles down that washed over the populace, making them quickly put an end to their fighting and bickering. But at the epicentre of the blast, both Aria and Sonata's pendants shattered under the force of the shockwave as well, leaving all three sirens without any power again. When the light show came to an end, the night skies were filled with the colourful streams of aurora borealis. But what became of the Rainbooms and the three sirens on the rooftop of the skyscraper?