Chapter 5: Enemy
Through Twilight's eyes, Sunset saw the events that took place prior. From the moment they all returned home.
"One day Spike..." Twilight said to Spike, watching him eat his food. She smiled, hopefully things will finally be back to normal, she thought. "One day..."
She was putting away all the papers and boxes back into her closet. She locked it up and placed the key back onto Spike's collar.
Twilight heard a knock at the door, and some glass breaking. She went to open the door because she was unable to see out the window. She was greeted by three figures standing in the dark. The porch light appeared to be broken.
"Hello?" Twilight asked.
"S'up!" The figure in the middle said. The figure from the right, drew her arm to Twilight's neck, and she felt an aggressive static shock in her neck, which made her fall to the floor. She heard Spike make a run for it in her bedroom.
Twilight, on the floor, was whimpering and continued to feel the shock running through her nervous system. Her eyes became drowsy.
The figures came into the light. They had their hoods on, and they took it off when Twilight nearly shut her eyes closed. She saw three girls, one of them had long curly blonde hair, magenta eyes. The one on the right, that electrocuted her, had long purple hair that had a streak of turquoise on each side of her twin pigtails. The other had light blue hair with purple highlights. They all wore black clothing. They smiled and snickered as Twilight fell asleep.
Twilight woke up. It was pitch black inside her living room. She felt herself tied to a chair and gagged. She muffled a scream, and tried to untangle herself sitting in the chair. There was a spotlight shined on her the moment she opened her eyes. It made her stop and try to make out who was behind it. She heard one of the girls call out to someone.
"Is she finally awake?" The girl asked.
"Yes, she is Adagio!" The other girl said.
"Excellent!" The one they called Adagio said. "Light toward me!" The light was pointed at Adagio, the fluffy curls, and magenta eyes she met, standing in the center. "Remember me?" As she gave a sinister smile in the light.
Twilight shook her head.
"What?!" Adagio said, as her smile went away. "You don't?" She looked at the other two, they were just as confused. "Well then, listen up!"
Adagio got up, and placed her hand on her chest to introduce herself.
"I'm Adagio." She said. "To the left, Sonata Dusk, and to the right, Aria Blaze. Got it?" Twilight nodded. "We are here because we have been watching you." Adagio said, swerving her hips as she walked over to Twilight's side view. "That amulet you had, I want it! Will you give it to me?" Twilight shook her head, and tried to say something to her. "Aria?" Aria came up and had the taser in hand. She pushed the button in front of her that made Twilight squirm, and tried to sound off her fear of it.
"We already searched the house, and it doesn't appear to be anywhere." Adagio continued, as she threw off the gag from Twilight's mouth. "Where is it?"
"Please... I don't have it..." Twilight cried. Her body constantly shook, her heart pounded against her ribs, cold sweat fell from her head, and could not slow her breathing.
"What?!" Adagio yelled. "What happened to it?! We saw you, taking away magic out of people! Where is it?!"
"It's gone..." Twilight whimpered.
"Aria..." Adagio said. As she went up, placed it on her shoulder. She did not hesitate to shock her again. Twilight screamed, while she pulled it away. "We've got this place covered. No one can hear you scream. You're stuck with us, until you tell us where it is, or how we can get one!"
"I-I m-made it..." Twilight cried. Her arm burned, and the feeling never stopped making her twitch.
"You made it?" Adagio asked. "How?" Twilight looked up. She was staring at the locked closet. Adagio followed her eyes to see where she was looking. She told Sonata to check it out.
"It's locked." Sonata said, as she pulled on the door.
"Where's the key?" Adagio continued. Twilight looked away, and shook her head. "Aria!" Twilight screamed again, but she heard a growl coming from behind her. It made Aria stop, and look to see what it was.
"No, Spike, no!" Twilight pleaded, as she tried to get her arms free.
"Get the dog!" Adagio ordered. The girls went for it, Spike had bit one of them when she heard one of them scream. "Bring it over!" The last thing Twilight heard was a loud thud, and a squeal.
"Spike!" Twilight wailed. Adagio returned toward Twilight's side. She brought up Spike. He was still alive, but was hurt and could not muster the strength to do anything but be held in an awkward position.
"Where is the key?" Adagio asked, as she shook the hanging dog. Twilight looked up, and nodded her head to point it out on the dog's neck. Adagio looked at his collar, it was a small oddly shaped object sitting inside of the dog tag. She took it off, and dropped Spike on the floor. He was too weak to move, but sat over to Twilight's right foot.
"Open it!" Adagio ordered Aria as she threw the key at her. Aria got it open. Adagio went over to it, and found all her books, and papers. She was impatient, and got them all to throw out everything inside until she had reached one that didn't move until she tugged it out of it's slot. The closet opened up to a secret compartment. "Well, well... Sonata, go ahead!" Sonata appeared to Twilight side, she saw her hand bleeding and with large teeth marks on the palm of her hand. She had a cloth in the other, and brought it into her face, going into the dark again.
Twilight awakened to her face directed to the floor, she looked up, and found her hands tied above her head on the ceiling. Her feet were tied, but had them both nearly touching the floor with her toes. She couldn't move at all, her arms felt sore and her head felt heavy with pain still urging from her neck. She cried, and the gag was replaced in her mouth.
"Adagio, she's awake again!" Sonata said.
"Good!" Adagio said. "Look!" Adagio said, coming from the side of her, holding out a blueprint of her locket. Twilight shook her head, trying not to see. "This is it, isn't it?" Adagio unwrapped the gag from her mouth.
"Please... please stop..." Twilight pleaded softly.
"This could be simple." Adagio assured. "Make this for each of us... and we'll let you go."
"No..." Twilight cried. "I can't... I promised..."
"I don't care. I want it!" Adagio demanded. "Make it for us!" Twilight shook her head. "Very well... if you want it the hard way."
"Please... no!" Twilight fretted, as she tried to get out of the chains that held her arms. It strangled her hands, and stopped once her hands fell asleep.
"Is that a yes, then?" Adagio mocked. "Let's start it up... girls!" Both Sonata and Aria came into focus with a couple of things meant for Twilight in their hands.
"No... please no!" Twilight cried.
"Say yes, or else!" Adagio requested. The girls held a couple of clips hooked up to a battery connecting them to her toes. Twilight shook her head. The girls went back, and they both flipped the switch. It electrocuted her entirely throughout her body, strangling every nerve and vein in her body. Twilight could feel it pulsing through her, making her have a seizure, and uncontrollable movements. She screamed to the rhythm of the charge. They turned the power off, and unhooked the clips. Twilight hung there, breathing heavily, coughing, and had tears falling. There was smoke coming from her feet, it burned as she felt heavier.
"Want some more?" Adagio whispered in her ears. "How about your damn dog?!" Adagio brought up a metal cage, with Spike trying to get out of it. They unhooked the clips and placed it on the cage. "Say yes, or it's just one flip of the switch?!" Twilight saw the sadness in Spike's eyes, feeling helpless inside. She couldn't take the pain. She would have rather them torture her, and leaving Spike alone.
"Okay... okay..." Twilight yelled in a whisper. Adagio smiled, and the girls took away the battery and clips. They had let Twilight go, but her arms and legs felt too numb to try and make a run for it. Twilight freed Spike, and held him close. He was sad for Twilight, but was happy they were both alive. Adagio quickly came to place him back inside the cage.
"Don't get any ideas!" Adagio said. "We can still do a lot of terrible things! But, we'll let you both go, once we've acquired our little trinkets! And if you think about seeking help from Sunset or whomever..." Twilight got up, and nodded. For Spike, she had to go through with it. Sonata and Aria both came in with boxes of materials needed for them. They read the blueprints, and went to various locations to search for them.
Afterward, Twilight was making them all lockets. When they weren't looking, she had a plan to do something about them. She had used some of the material to craft a familiar object. One that she knew she could use to put all that mess behind her.
She got the drawing from Sunset when she asked her about it during the time they almost forgot about her. She let her keep it. Along with a sample kept inside a small container. She used the sample for reference to know what material to use. It was in terrible shape, given they had kept her up for the past how many hours, by giving only an hour of rest in between and to feed Spike.
But, it felt too much for her to handle. She had to get help... somehow...
It was the second night, and Twilight finally finished the lockets. Twilight had given it to them. Adagio smiled once she handed it to her. She came up to the cage, and she focused it on Spike. Adagio wanted to make sure the lockets were working. She ended up absorbing an unknown force out of him. He laid inside unconscious. Twilight fell as it was too painful to take in. Aria picked her up, but Sonata came out with something from her closet that looked nothing like the others.
"What's this?!" Adagio asked. Sonata pulled out more information about it. "There's nothing about it besides a stupid drawing with a couple of Equestrian markings on it." She gave it to the others, unsure of what to do with it besides take it with them.
They loaded up everything in their van, and shut the door. Twilight was dragged along. She was awake, and tried to get away from them as she was being kidnapped. They've given her another shock at the neck, while the girls trapped her inside. Twilight kept resisting. She grabbed her geode as she found one of the boxes of her belongings inside, and had caused them to stop the van from moving. She had made them crash the van in a standpoint at the end of the street.
"That's it!" Adagio had enough of her, so she grabbed Twilight out of the van and slammed her into the ground. She had the stone in hand, and was about to throw it at her, but she looked at the back of the stone, and read what it said: perdet animum tuam
The stone glowed, the skies opened up. Each of them felt lifted up. As the stone glowed, it blasted each of them away in different directions. All the while, the reels had been taken away.
Twilight went blank, leaving her geode somewhere, and the girls that tormented her were out of sight.
She appeared to Sunset's front door.
Sunset came back into focus, and she sat down to the floor with her back against the wall. Her eyes were flooded, and left her unable to breathe, as if she felt everything Twilight felt.
"Twilight...?" Sunset cried, looking deep into her eyes. The horrible things that happened, made her realize why.
"Sunset..." Twilight spoke, with tears running down her face as well. Sunset got up to give Twilight a tight hug. "Ow..." She flinched, and backed away. Having to remember every small detail made the pain return without fail.
"Sorry!" Sunset said, pulling away from her. "I'm so sorry Twilight..."
"Sunset, it's okay..." Twilight replied. "It still hurts a little."
"You were protecting us..." Sunset replied, she felt her lungs unable to open to speak. "I can't believe... after all that..."
"I know..." Twilight responded, she turned to face the opened cage on the kitchen floor. "But... you're here with me now... that's all that matters..." Twilight held Sunset's hand, held it tight. Sunset smiled.
"Adagio... I'll make her pay!" Sunset yelled, as she clutched her empty fist. She looked directly at Spike, lying on the couch unconscious. Every ounce of her wanted to make the Dazzlings suffer. After everything they had done to clear their names, they've become unforgivable.
"No, Sunset..." Twilight pleaded, as she scooted closer toward her. "I need you here... with me..."
"We have to stop them, we need the girls together right now!" Sunset's anger took control and wanted the Dazzlings to pay for the torment they brought to Twilight.
"Sunset, please... they won't listen." Twilight continued. "At least, not right now they won't." Sunset sighed, letting it all sink in.
"I guess you're right. They won't listen. Even if I tried to talk. They're too angry at the both of us." Sunset admitted. She looked back at Twilight. "What do we do now? Spike's still gone?"
"Yes, they have him. But, I'm so weak right now..." Twilight said. "I can barely walk..."
"Let's take you back to your room." Sunset requested, as she helped her get up. She was on her feet, but she was wobbling like she was before.
"Okay..." Twilight agreed. "Thank you..."
Sunset helped Twilight to her room. She brought her to the bed and carefully laid her down, and she began to rest. Sunset looked at her, even though the whole situation became a lot worse, she smiled for Twilight's return. She took pity on Twilight, and decided to lay next to her. Twilight felt Sunset taking refuge in her bed. She blushed, but felt guilty for everything she caused on herself and the others.
How can we stop this now? Twilight thought.
The sun was down, the skies grew dark, and both Twilight and Sunset were laid to sleep. Sunset kept tossing and turning, she felt uncomfortable but didn't feel like getting up. Twilight was too tired to notice. Sunset was having nightmares, the Twilight that haunted her... never left.
Sunset felt the cold, chilling air, as she walked through a large forest. The forest was familiar to her, she found some lights in the distance. Sunset went to it.
She came across a large body of water that had a dock and small boats tied to the wooden barriers. A small campsite, which Sunset recognized, the log cabins and symbols planted on the front doors. She was in Camp Everfree, the Everfree Forest.
She went to one of the ranger's cabins, and she saw Gloriosa sitting there on a desk, drawing what appears to be Gaea Everfree. Gloriosa was relaxed and fixated on the drawing. Sunset heard a twig snap behind her.
She looked behind her, but there was nothing. She turned back to look, and Gloriosa stared directly at her. She started on a new blank page, and drew another picture. Her movement was unnatural, and she was drawing abnormally quick. Although, she kept her eye on Sunset the entire time as she drew. Her hand withdrew from the paper, and dropped the burning pencil on the floor. She lifted up the drawing for her to see. It had Sunset looking through the window as she is doing now, but behind her was Twilight with no facial features and huge eyes.
Sunset quickly turned to look, and at the center of the camp, Twilight stood there. Sunset couldn't move as she was stunned to see her appear. She tried to look away from her, back into the cabin.
Gloriosa slammed into the window, smashing it. She screamed, transforming into Gaea once again. It pained her, as if she was cursed with darkness. She waved her hand, and used the vines to restrain Sunset by the neck. She couldn't get out of them, as it began to block her breath from releasing any air. Twilight slowly walked to her. The closer she came, the fear began to encapsulate her. Sunset tried desperately to resist having Twilight come to her, and from suffocating. She came to her, and lifted up her hands to touch her face.
Sunset woke up and screamed. Twilight was facing her, with her hands on her face, and she screamed when Sunset did.
"Twilight?!" Sunset yelled, as she flicked off Twilight's hands. She was breathing heavily, and touched her neck to make sure it was free from any ropes or strings. But, it was her geode that was tucked underneath, as she forgot to take it off.
"I'm sorry so Sunset..." Twilight apologized, as she sat up to turn on the lamp next to her bed. "I don't know what that was..."
"It's okay, Twilight... I'm sorry if I scared you..." Sunset said sincerely, as she sat up in the bed. "Just a nightmare..."
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked softly.
"It's been terrible for the past night." Sunset added, as she looked down to the floor. "I haven't been able to get much sleep. It's been making me feel paranoid."
"I'm sorry Sunset. I wish there was something I could do about that." Twilight said sincerely. "Do you need any medications?"
"Don't worry about it, Twi. I'll be okay." Sunset assured, looking back at her with a passive smile.
"Are you going to try to sleep again?" Twilight said, as she placed a hand on her right shoulder.
"Yeah, but... I might just head home. Try to get some rest there."
"In the middle of the night?" Twilight cried. "It sounds like a hurricane out there too."
"Don't worry, my place isn't too far." Sunset assured, as she got up on her feet and stretched. She put on her boots, and her leather jacket from the floor.
"Oh..." Twilight moped, as she looked away. Removing her hand, and cupped them down to her lap.
Sunset looked at Twilight, she looked a bit sad about her decision. She didn't want her to leave. Sunset went down to sit next to her.
"Hey, I'll call you to let you know I'm safe, okay?" Sunset assured, as she held her hands. "I just need to have some space to think about our next move. Alright?"
"Alright." Twilight said, as she gave a passive smile while looking at her, face to face. She smiled back, and wanted to give her mind at ease.
Sunset was at the door, and Twilight got up to watch her walk out. She saw how violent the winds grew. She looked back to find Twilight's jacket sitting on the coat rack of her closet. She took it down, and silently asked if she could borrow it. Twilight nodded. She put it on. Sunset turned back, smiled, waved, and headed out the door. Twilight went to close it, and sighed. Unsure if anything was coming through to her. She still felt guilty, unsure of what to do next without everyone.
Sunset walked out into the night. She protected her face from catching too much wind, and felt as suffocated as she did in her dream. There were a few cars that drove out giving light toward where she was heading to, but none of which she could clearly see far ahead. Sunset felt the cold shifting through her hair, so she used her hood to cover herself, but immediately blew off. The wind made her dizzy and blind to see, which made her accidentally walk into someone down the street.
"Sorry!" Sunset apologized, as she continued through the storm. The figure looked back.
Sunset finally made it home, and tried to shut the door with the wind pushing back. She got up to her couch to sit, and wanted to call Twilight.
"Hey Twi, I made it. Okay?!" Sunset said.
"That's good!" Twilight responded, feeling relieved. "I guess I'll see you later!"
"Yeah! Goodnight." Sunset said, as Twilight replied. She ended the call.
She let out an exhausted sigh, and wanted to get comfortable.
She happened to look back at the door, and realized she didn't close it all the way. She went to close it. As she walked close, the door slammed her across her face and pushed her body to the floor. Sunset felt the pain in her left cheek and left arm. She laid on the floor, groaning from the pain. Sunset looked up, and saw the person she passed by earlier. The hooded figure revealed itself.
"Adagio!" Sunset grunted, she gritted her teeth having to hold back her pain.
"In the flesh." Adagio sang, having taken pleasure in her hurt. "How convenient it was to bump right into each other. Like it was some kind of... cheeky love story!" Sunset got up to face her.
"You will pay for what you did to Twilight!" Sunset assured. She clenched her fists, and adjusted her stance for when she will make her move.
"Oh you will, huh?" Adagio mocked, smirking. Making Sunset feel weak against the bruising of her body. "How will you do it without your little friends?"
"I don't need my friends to finish you!" Sunset continued, waving her hands around to make her push away.
"Such bold words. I'm afraid even you won't be able to lay a finger on me... unless I want you too." Adagio added, as she gave a naughty smile and pointed her hips. Her hands rested on them. Sunset was trying to transform, but her power was not strong enough to manifest. "What's the matter? Your friends are not around to help you?"
"Shut up!"
"Oh you poor, lonely girl. How will you be of any use to me?"
"Use? What the hell are you talking about!"
"That's okay! I'll make use of you!" Adagio focused on Sunset. With the powers she recently gained, she was able to move before Sunset was able to see her coming. She knocked her to the floor, grabbed her arm and twisted it. Her strength was far greater, as it felt like the strength of a muscular man pinned her down. She restrained her to the floor, and Sunset was unable to get up and move. Sunset struggled, as Adagio's strength made Sunset squeal in pain. "Yes, continue to grunt and squirm. You're making me excited!"
Adagio laid her hand on her back, and she began to feel something coming out of her. A light was pulsating through her arm into her chest where a locket appeared to be. Sunset felt weak, and her body started to feel cold. Her skin turned gray, and her eyes rolled back into her head. She was gone.
"Now... for my pleasure..." Adagio picked her up, the dead-weight of Sunset made her struggle to keep her where she wanted her. She pushed her seductive lips into Sunset's. There was a change in her cold body. It burst into flames. She levitated off the floor, and grew large wings, her hair stood up and waved like fire. Her clothes burned into her own style. She opened her eyes, it was pitch black with irises that glowed bright green. She screamed like a banshee to the ceiling. "Well... this got more interesting!" Adagio said, as she maniacally laughed.