The Story of Twilight Glow

by Jeweled Pen


S4 CH 10: Park Concert

“You see, the basics of music magic are fairly simple,” Moondancer said as she adjusted the wires for the sound system. She had to admit, the technology of this world was very, very strange. The cars were a bit scary, the ‘phones’ they had were incredible. But the sound systems weren’t all that different from what they had back in Equestria. Albeit, the ones back home ran on magic, not electricity. Fundamentally they were close enough to be the same thing.

“The song you sing doesn’t really matter,” Moondancer said. “What does matter is the emotion behind it. It’s a very subtle magic, though. A lot of ponies don’t even realize it’s magic. But it has the ability to alter the moods and minds of ponies around it. In fact, during battle Equestrian War Songs have been wielded to turn almost certain defeat into incredible victories. However, using music to mind control a pony, err, a person into something they normally aren’t? That’s an incredibly dangerous application of the magic and something I’ve only ever heard of in theory, not reality.”

“But you can counter it, right?” Sunset asked.

“Of course,” Moondancer said before thrusting the last wire in. There was a low hum from the speakers before she leaned forward and spoke directly into the microphone. “Testing, one two. Testing? Perfect.” She then pulled back. “It’s going to depend on you though, Sunset.”

“What, ME?” Sunset asked.

“Of course,” Moondancer said. “They’re your friends, aren’t they? You just need to remind them of that. I don’t have the connection to them, nor do I really have much of a singing voice. Even before I uhhh…” She rubbed the left side of her head, thankful her hair obstructed the damage. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem coming to another dimension altered that loss. She idly wondered if she should warn Sunset in case she saw Glow later, before deciding against it. If everything went right they wouldn’t see each other at all.

And if things went wrong it wouldn’t matter.

“Oh no, no no no no,” Sunset said, waving her hands and shaking her head. “You’re the good student, not me. I should NOT be touching magic. Really, trust me, it’s way better if you do it. Not me.”

“It’s really not,” Moondancer said with a sigh. “Listen, I can set this up and tell you what to do. But YOU need to be the one to sing the song. Emotions matter for this. There people are your friends and you need to overload the siren’s magic if you want any chance to fight them.”

Sunset whimpered before glancing towards the gathered instruments. “But I thought that was the point of getting all of their instruments to begin with? You free them and--”

“You free them,” Moondancer said. “Then all of you, together, face the sirens. If these three are as powerful as you say, then we’ll need all of them. They likely have some magic of their own amplifying their songs, you won’t. So you’ll need every edge you can get.”

“I can’t!” Sunset yelled. “Last time I used magic, I could have done so many terrible things! I can’t control it!”

Moondancer gave a sigh. It felt a little strange to be on this side of things. “Yes, you can. As magic goes, it’s fairly tame. It shouldn’t be capable of turning you into anything. Besides, this isn’t like that time. It’s like I said, emotions matter. Last time you used magic, what did you want?”

Sunset cringed and looked away, leaning back against one of the speakers. “That’s not… I wasn’t… I didn’t…”

“What did you want?” Moondancer asked.

“Power,” Sunset said. “It was all I desired, okay? All I wanted. It’s why I can’t do this! I can’t HAVE power! I can’t HAVE magic! I don’t want to do that again! I don’t ever want to be that again! If I have power then I… I might try… you don’t understand what it’s like! I’m still that person! I still want it! A part of me still craves it! I still want control, I still feel that ambition, that desire to just win at any cost. I still hate to lose! What if I get access to it and I can’t control it again? What if I hurt someone? I got lucky last time. Twilight saved me. But it almost cost us both everything. I can’t, I WON’T, do that again. I could put everyone in even more danger.”

Moondancer bit her tongue, glancing away from her. “O-oh.” She stared at the microphone. It had all seemed so simple a moment ago. But music magic truly did depend on the emotions of the singer. If Sunset truly was that kind of person, then it could all backfire on them. It could unleash that side of her, make it so much worse.

“Well, duh,” Bon Bon said before she came around from backstage. “Of course you won’t. That’s pretty obvious.”

“You don’t know that,” Sunset said, hugging herself. “I could go bad again. Rotten. I could hurt people. It’d be so easy. Last time magic gave me exactly what I wanted, but I still have some of those wants in me.”

“No you couldn’t,” Bon Bon said. “You wanted power then, fine. You want power now, whatever. But like, you’re kind of missing the whole point. That was your past. Why did you WANT power then?”

“Because I… I thought…” Sunset said softly, hugging herself tightly. “I-I don’t know. At first it was just… I thought… I thought I deserved it. I thought I was special. I thought I was going to be special. I thought it would… I thought it would… give me… I thought I’d have vengeance. I thought it would set me free to do whatever I wanted! I thought it might finally make me good enough! I thought it would finally make me WORTHY! I just… I got lost along that road, I guess. Okay? For so long I felt so overwhelmed. Like I had to either just… give in and admit I’d never be good enough or demand I was good enough and ignore everything else. There was no inbetween.”

“Geez, being Celestia’s student really does a number on somepony, doesn’t it?” Bon Bon asked. “It’s kind of like looking at a sad house mirror.”

“It’s not Celestia’s fault!” Moondancer and Sunset said in unison, before pausing and looking at each other.

After a few moments Sunset gave a sigh. “Okay. So I guess… the pressure did… get to me. A bit.”

“It… does that,” Moondancer said sheepishly.

“Is that what you want now?” Bon Bon asked. “To be ‘good enough’? Is that why you want power? Just really think on it. What is it that YOU want?”

Sunset sighed and looked down, her hand moving up and gently resting over her throat. “I want… I want power… to save my friends. I want to rescue Twilight like she rescued me. I want to stop them. It doesn’t matter if I’m good enough. It doesn’t… matter that I’ve done terrible things. My past won’t stop me.”

Bon Bon let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good. Because if you said you thought you really just wanted to go all melodramatic and evil I was going to have to figure out what other minotaur moves work on humans. Lyra is going to be sooooo jealous when I tell her about fingers. So, what’s next?”

“Uhhhh, well…” Moondancer said softly before clearing her throat. “Well, you have her number, right? Give Twilight a call, tell her where we are. When she comes here to get the magical storage device, free her. You know what you want, how you feel, so I guess just make a song.”

“A song? What, freehand?” Sunset asked.

“Eh, you’re a pony,” Moondancer said. “It’ll come to you. It always does.”

“You seem awfully confident about this,” Sunset said.

“I’m not,” Moondancer said before reaching into her bag and pulling out the Elements of Harmony. The orange gem was glimmering almost as bright as Celestia’s sun. “But the Elements are. So they--”

“Are going to be ours? Oh, you’re so right,” a voice said.

“O-oh no,” Sunset said before slowly turning around.

Three girls were standing on the hill overlooking the stage, their arms crossed and the red gems in their necklaces glowing in the light.

“You know, Sunset,” the girl in the middle with orange streaked hair said before reaching up and lightly pinching the red gem in her necklace. “Had I known you were going to find an even bigger source of Equestrian magic for us I wouldn’t have worried so much. Why, at this point you’re practically one of our team already, does this mean you’re going to take me up on my offer? We could use someone like you.”

“Really? I thought you only made her that offer because you wanted her to be the audience when we took over the world and succeeded at everything she failed?” the girl with striped purple and greenish-blue hair asked.

“Ugh. Shut up, Sonata,” the last girl, with striped lighter purple and green hair said.

“Both of you, quiet,” the girl in the middle said. “But really, Sunset. You had to know this was coming. You fail to take over your school, fail to take over this world, failed to use magic, failed to protect your friends, why, you’ve failed at pretty much everything you’ve tried. Did you really think with a little extra help you’d actually succeed? Especially with that… whatever it is shining like a beacon?”

Moondancer gulped and shoved the Elements back into her bag. “Are… are these the Sirens?”

“Oh, our reputation precedes us?” the girl asked. “I’m Adagio. This is Sonata,” she said before motioning to the second girl. “And this is Aria,” she said before motioning to the third. “Now then, are we going to do this the hard way or the--” She stopped when the three gave each other a look and then turned, running from the stage and into the surrounding treeline. Slowly a smile formed on her lips before glancing back at the other two. “Well then, hard way it is. Get them.”

“Ummmm…” Sonata said. “But what about—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Adagio said before walking after Sunset. “The audience will be here soon. Get the compact from whichever one has it now and bring them back.”

“But what if they give us trouble?” Sonata asked.

Adagio gave an annoyed sigh. “It’s Sweetie Drops and Moondancer. If they’re anything like the ones we already bound to our will, we know exactly what to use against them.”

“But—” Sonata started, only to get cut off.

“Go!” Adagio snapped, the anger in her tone making the other two girls cringe. She took a slow, deep breath before speaking in a gentler tone. “After all, those three did such hard work to ensure everything was ready for our… well. Our grand debut. Their finale. I’d absolutely hate for them to miss the show.”

Sonata and Aria glanced at each other for a moment before nodding, the first running after Moondancer and the second running after Bon Bon.

------

No no no no. This was NOT what was supposed to happen. Moondancer tried to keep her panic from overtaking her, but it was taking all of her control. They were going to lose. They were going to be crushed. Beaten. Broken.

NO. Maybe? Oh, she hoped not. She knew the application of music magic, but she’d never been any good at it. That was Lyra’s talent, not hers. She’d only ever studied it. There was no possible way she could compete against creatures who could perform it at such a scale.

That was the entire point of coming out here. Draw Sunset’s friends out here, save them, then work together to defeat the Dazzlings. If the three sirens sang together they had no chance. She couldn’t face singing magic like that. But there were still other ways to fight them. If they could stop them from singing in unison, then maybe they could beat them.

Moondancer would feel a lot more confident in this plan if she was at least used to this human body. At least she could run now. She opened her bag and looked down at the Elements of Harmony. “Ugh. I wish Sunset had taken you. You never reacted to me like that. I don’t suppose you have some magic thing you can do to help us?”

“Where arrrrrre you?” Sonata’s voice echoed through the trees.

Moondancer urked and quickly moved behind one of the trees, hiding. After a few moments she heard the other girl’s footsteps.

“Moondancer? Mooooooondancer? Where arrrrrre you?” Sonata called as she walked through the trees. “Come ooooon. I know you’re here. You know, you could just give us what we want. You can’t use the magic, right? So shouldn’t it go to us? I mean, if I had a weird magic thingie I couldn’t use then I’d at least want it to go to someone who could use it! Gasp! Like us!”

Moondancer hugged her bag to her chest and stayed silent.

“Adagio is gonna be realllllly mad at you if you don’t give it to us. Trust me, you don’t want her mad at you. She gets reeeeeeeeally nasty,” Sonata said before giving a light giggle. “But she’s also reallllly smart, if mean. She figured out you’re from Equestria, right? Just like Sunset! Ohhhh, are you two friends? That’d be pretty fun. Cause once we realized who you were we tried to find out what we could about the you from this world. You know, just in case you gave us trouble.” She peered around a tree, but didn’t see Moondancer. She gave a sigh and shook her head. “Do you know what we found out?”

Moondancer pushed against the tree, willing the girl to just keep going.

“We found… nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was like Moondancer barely existed,” Sonata said. “It was actually kind of impressive. A whole lot of people kind of knew you, right? But nobody KNEW you. It was like the Moondancer here barely even existed. In fact, the only one who had anything to say about Moondancer at all was Principal Celestia and some of the teachers.”

Moondancer couldn’t help it. Before she could stop herself she let out a gasp, before cringing. A smile crept on Sonata’s lips.

“I heard that,” Sonata said in a singsong voice. “Soooo, is it like that for you in Equestria too? Are you just a big teacher’s pet? No friends? Is that why you’re doing this? Do you think Sunset will be your friend if you help her? She wooooon’t.”

Moondancer covered her mouth with her hands and inched around the tree slightly, trying to ensure it was blocking her from Sonata’s view.

“Sunset’s only pretending to be nice, you know,” Sonata said. “Adagio does it sometimes. She’ll be all smiles and compliments and say sweet, nice things about you. Then the next moment she gets what she wants and tears you down. That’s what Sunset is going to do to you once she has what she wants. You don’t have to take my word for it. All of her old friends say that too. Well. One of them. I guess Twilight really is the only one who stuck around even after she turned on them.”

Moondancer blinked a few times and clenched her fists. She could hear Sonata getting closer.

“Is that why you’re helping her?” Sonata asked. “Is she like you? Is that why you don’t have any friends? Did you betray hers? Or are you more like Twilight? The kind of person who gets betrayed and--”

“I’m like Twilight!” Moondancer yelled before stepping out from behind the tree and swinging the bag into Sonata’s head. The girl let out a shriek, dropping to the ground in a confused heap. She stared up at her, a hand on the side of her face. “I-I’m determined to not give in and… and…”

Sonata stared up at her, tears welling up in her eyes. “Y-you… you h-hit me…”

“Well, I… I thought you were--” Moondancer was cut off when Sonata kicked her feet out from under her. She hit the ground with a grunt, barely rolling away before Sonata could grab her.

“Hee hee, wow, you really are a push over, aren’t you?” Sonata asked before jumping to her feet.

Moondancer crawled to her own feet, still clutching her bag and glaring at her. “I… I’m not going to give these to you.”

“Ugggggh…” Sonata said before shaking her head. “But I don’t want to have to fight you.” A smile spread across her lips before she let out a soft hum and then began to gently sing. “Are you absolutely sure? Wouldn’t it be great if you gave me the bag? Then nobody would have to feel sad.”

Moondancer slowly started to hold the bag out to her. The grin on Sonata’s lips grew again… Until she hit her in the face with it a second time and ran.

“OW! Again?! Seriously?” Sonata yelled.

------

“Sweetie Drops, come out,” Aria said, annoyance filling her voice. She didn’t know why she had to do this. What was even the point of mind controlling a whole school of people if you couldn’t make them do the annoying things like chase people who had what you wanted? She hoped they’d hurry up and get here soon. She gave another half-hearted glance around before sighing. She bet this girl didn’t even have any magic stuff at all. She had half a mind to go back and just say that she’d gotten away.

“Sweetie Drops, just come out,” Aria said, unable to even make it sound like she cared. She hated getting stuck with these kinds of jobs. She should have--

Aria was on the ground, now. Her head hurt but there was definitely a knee pushed into her back and she could taste dirt. She didn’t know how this happened or why, but she didn’t like it. She tried to sit up, only to have her right arm suddenly grabbed and twisted behind her back, making her yelp. “L-listen here you--”

“First of all, my name is Bon Bon,” Bon Bon said from behind her. “I haven’t been Sweetie Drops in a long, long time. Second of all, please stop struggling. I don’t want to hurt you, but I might if you keep trying to twist out of my grip. I’ve never actually done this to a human before and I’ve certainly never done this AS a human. I’m not entirely certain how much an arm can take and I don’t think either of us want me to find out this way.”

“W-what in the world?” Aria asked. “Ow ow ow! What are you?”

“Oh, a lot of things,” Bon Bon said with a happy giggle. “I did some trash hauling for a bit, ran a candy shop, I was doing some confidential work for a while too. I’ve always been a firm believer in never limiting what you can learn, you know? It turns out with the right training you can learn a whole lot and that was before the training Celestia wanted me to have as Moondancer’s friend.”

“Ow ow ow you’re going to dislocate my arm!” Aria said before giving another groan. She then took a slow, deep breath before lightly humming. A moment later she felt a hand on the back of her head.

“It’ll be really hard to sing if your mouth is filled with dirt,” Bon Bon said. “I might not understand all of the inner workings of music magic, but I know you do need to be singing to make it work.”

Aria gave a small gulp. “Fine. Whatever. You win. What now?”

“Now? My friend is trying to figure all of this out,” Bon Bon said. “I’m not sure what she’s doing, but I’m sure she has everything perfectly under control. Still, I’d really prefer it if I could go check on her. So I’m going to see if there’s a way I can neutralize you as a threat without hurting you too much, then we’re going to--”

“OW! DOESN’T BEND THAT WAY!” Aria shrieked.

“Oh, um, sorry,” Bon Bon said sheepishly. “I’m really basing all of this on minotaurs, you know? I didn’t think it would be that different but uhhhh… sorry. How about that?”

“B-b-better,” Aria managed to choke out, struggling to keep herself from crying. She really, really wished she’d gone after the other one. She’d thought this one would be EASY!

------

“You know, I really thought you’d have something more complex in mind than to just run,” Adagio said as she walked through the trees, occasionally glancing around before her eyes locked onto a few footprints in the dirt. She gave a small smirk, coming to a stop.

Sunset kept her mouth shut, instead just pushing up against the tree and hoping the girl would keep going. She didn’t know what Moondancer and Bon Bon had planned, but she was certain the two of them knew what they were doing. Though a part of her she didn’t want to admit wished one of the other girls had come after her.

“Though, I guess running is what you do best now, huh?” Adagio asked. “It’s sad, really. The Sunset Shimmer I heard about was practically a warrior. Everyone was so scared of her. The kind of person who took what she wanted. When Twilight came running to you I was actually a tiny bit worried. It had taken us a while to get Crystal Prep under our sway, now we had to capture a second school? We’re good, but I didn’t know if we were that good. Especially if someone of actual danger was waiting for us.”

Sunset closed her eyes, trying to ignore the other girl’s words.

“I really did mean that offer I made you, then,” Adagio said. “But then, that was the Sunset I’d heard about. The old Sunset Shimmer, wasn’t it?”

Sunset shook her head. She wasn’t that Sunset anymore. She couldn’t be. She wanted to be better.

“The new Sunset, though,” Adagio said. “She’s soooooo nice. All it took was just a little hint of real power and then suddenly you were running like a beaten dog, righting wrongs, being such a ‘pwecious fwiend’ to everyone, weren’t you? Did you really think you could go back? Did you really think any of them would accept you? That they’d buy it for a second?”

“I know you’re pathetic, you know you’re pathetic,” Adagio said. “But everyone at Canterlot High? They still don’t, do they? They all think you’re just waiting to play them again. After all, you’re just the girl who went around ruining all their lives. Just like you did when you first arrived. Just like you did this time. What was it you said last time? ‘I’m in a much better place now’? Do you feel better?””

Sunset couldn’t help it, she gave the softest whimper. It wasn’t her fault, she didn’t mean for this to happen. She’d tried to put magic behind her. She’d given up on it. She’d made Twilight promise not to tamper with it anymore. She never wanted this to happen. Slowly she sunk to the ground, wishing the girl would just keep going.

“Canterlot High was even easier than Crystal Prep. Do you know why?” Adagio asked, waiting for a few moments before speaking again. “Because they all hated you. Every last one of them. It was so easy to take hold and turn them against you. Well, except Twilight. She seemed to believe you were what they all needed. I don’t know why, though. If anything, you were just another cause of problems for her. If not for you, she wouldn’t have that magic. We wouldn’t have had to take over her school. Chased her all the way here. Yet, for some reason, when I got to the music room, do you know what she was saying?”

Sunset shook her head, she didn’t want to hear this. It was all tricks. It had to be.

“She was saying they should trust you,” Adagio said. “That you were different now. But they didn’t believe her. They said it was all another trick. That they were just pretending to be your friend now so you couldn’t hurt anyone ever again. Isn’t that sooooo noble of them? Sacrificing themselves just so you wouldn’t turn evil on them? I guess seeing a girl go all demon on them once really left its mark, didn’t it? I don’t know what you were expecting, though. Did you really think you could just turn around and go ‘oops, my bad’ and they’d all forget?”

Sunset shook her head, struggling to contain another soft whimper.

“None of them want you here, Sunset,” Adagio said. “You don’t belong. You’re not wanted. All you’ve ever done is make things worse. Why ARE you even here? Though, I guess I should thank you. Whatever Moondancer brought with her, well… maybe it’ll be just what we finally need. Is that what you wanted? To not just fail, but to take everyone down with you? That certainly sounds like the Sunset Shimmer I heard about.”

Sunset hugged her knees to her chest.

“You’ve already lost, Sunset. You’ve already failed everyone. So why don’t you just run away again? I want to see what else you’ll bring us,” Adagio said before giving a mocking laugh. “Or, maybe, do you still think somehow they’ll forgive you? How about you ask them yourself?”

“I trusted you,” Twilight Sparkle said. “I thought you’d come through for me.”

Sunset lifted her head and looked through the trees. No. No no no. Please no. She saw Twilight walking towards them, with others from her school walking with her.

“I actually thought, maybe, you’d changed,” Applejack said. “But you were still just the same old Sunset, huh? Just trying to play all of us.”

“I really wanted to believe you were being genuine,” Fluttershy said. “But you always were just a big meanie, weren’t you? S-sorry.”

“Is this really what you wanted?” Rarity asked. “Maybe if you would just stop trying to use everybody around you, maybe some of us could help you.”

“You’re all wasting your time,” Rainbow said with a snort. “Sunset played all of us once. There’s no way she’d ever change.”

“You even broke your Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie said. “Nobody EVER breaks a Pinkie Promise.”

“And they were the ones who were going to give you another shot,” Adagio said with a light laugh. “Even they knew you were still just as nasty on the inside as magic made you on the outside. You could try and cover it up, but it’s--” She was cut off when Sunset let out a yell of frustration before running away, back the way they’d come. The siren watched her run before lifting a hand to her mouth to quiet her snickers. “As I said. Just run away in the end, doesn’t she? What’s the saying? The best revenge is being better?” Adagio asked.

“Actually, it’s ‘Living well is the best revenge’,” Twilight said.

Adagio rolled her eyes. “Well, in this case? It’s ‘Winning is always best when you can rub it in the loser’s face.’”

“Those two aren’t really related at all,” Twilight said.

Adagio sighed and started walking after Sunset, muttering under her breath about eggheads. Only a little longer.

------

Moondancer glanced back, still hugging the bag to her chest. She couldn’t believe it. Her being half deaf was, oddly, working in her favor. She could hear Sonata’s humming behind her and feel, somewhat, that magical guidance nudging her. But it just wasn’t as effective. At least, she suspected that was why.

It made sense, she supposed. If you could block out the music entirely, then the magic in it couldn’t affect you. If it was half blocked, then it was half as effective. That was before even considering things like the ways direction could play with sound and--

Her thoughts were thrown off when suddenly someone was directly in front of her. Moondancer yelped and tried to skid to a stop, but wasn’t fast enough. The woman she ran into, however, reached out and caught her by her shoulders. “S-sorry,” Moondancer said.

“Are you okay, Moondancer?” Celestia asked.

Moondancer went entirely still. No. No no no no no. No. No please no. Slowly she looked up at the woman.

It was Celestia. Not as a pony, but definitely her. Those eyes. That mane. That concerned look. The green magic glimmering in her eyes. It was then Moondancer realized that the hands on her shoulders hadn’t let go. “N-no,” Moondancer said softly. “C-Celestia. No.”

“Moondancer,” Celestia said in a slow, calm voice. “What did you take from Sonata?”

“I-I didn’t take anything,” Moondancer said, though she couldn’t stop shaking. Please. Anything but this. She could hear the siren coming closer. She had to knock Celestia away. She had to run.

“Moondancer,” Celestia said in a harsh, firm voice. “Give it to me.”

Moondancer shook her head. “N-no. I… I can’t…”

“Moondancer, please,” Celestia said. “You’ve already disappointed me enough.”

“Do what the principal says, Moondancer,” a second voice said. She turned to look at the next woman. It was so… familiar. Like Nightmare Moon, but when she was nice. Gentle.

“Moondancer, please,” Celestia said before letting one of her shoulders go and holding out her hand. “Be a good pupil for once. Do what I tell you.”

Moondancer looked between the two of them, unsure of what she could do. She felt like her soul was being shattered. She didn’t have the will to fight anymore, all she could do was slowly reach into the bag and pull out the compact. She was slowly dragged along behind her. Silent. Even when she felt Sonata’s song wash over her, she couldn’t even care.

She really was nothing more than a disappointment.

------

“You know, it’s times like this I kind of wish I was a unicorn,” Bon Bon said. “Being able to summon some rope when I need it would be useful. I guess it wouldn’t work here though, would it?”

“You’re doing fine without it,” Aria said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Ow! Not so tight!”

“Hey, don’t blame me,” Bon Bon said before she moved the belt around slightly. “It’s your belt. Seriously, why do you need two of them like that?”

“It’s called a style,” Aria said. “Something I’m sure you’re not used to-- ow!”

“Sorry,” Bon Bon said. “Well, not really. But it was an accident, believe it or not. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go make sure that--”

“Sweetie Drops?” a voice asked.

“I told you, my name isn’t Sweetie Drops! It’s Bon Bon! I’m not--” Bon Bon said before freezing in mid sentence. She knew that voice. She turned around to see the human walking towards her. The one pony she’d have recognized anywhere. “L-Lyra.”

“What are you doing to Aria?” Lyra asked as she approached.

“W-what?” Bon Bon asked. “It’s not what it looks like. She’s… no. You’re not going to believe me anyway, are you? You’re just…”

“What are you doing?” Lyra asked. “Who’s Bon Bon?”

Bon Bon slowly got to her feet and looked to her friend. “You’re not Lyra. Or, you are. But you’re not my Lyra. You’re under their spell.”

“S-Sweetie Drops?” Lyra asked before taking a small step back. “W-why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m sorry, Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “You’ll understand later.” She ran at her… only to skid to a stop when Lyra let out a shriek and covered her face with her hands. She shook her head. No. She needed to do this. This wasn’t HER Lyra. This was another Lyra. More than that, this Lyra was under the spell of these sirens. She wasn’t… she wasn’t…

But she couldn’t. Try as she might, it didn’t matter how much training she had or what the job was. When the one person she had to deal with was the one person she couldn’t bring herself to ever fight.

------

“Finally,” Adagio said before jumping off the stage and walking towards the other two sirens. The crowd was finally gathered, standing in front of the stage and staring ahead with glowing red eyes. Moondancer and Bon Bon walked slowly behind the other two sirens, their eyes glowing green. “Took your time, didn’t you?”

“How about next time YOU go after the weird girl?” Aria snapped. “She’s a lot tougher than she looks.”

Adagio blinked and stared at the other girl. “Why are you covered in dirt and pine needles? What happened to your belt?”

Aria just glared.

“Guess what I goooooot,” Sonata said before holding up the compact.

“At least one of you were competent this time,” Adagio said. “Where’s that other thing she had?”

“Where’s Sunset?” Aria asked before Sonata could answer.

“Don’t worry about her,” Adagio said before holding out her hand for the compact. “It’s time for our grand performance. After this, we’ll--”

“Oh, there she is,” Sonata said before motioning behind her.

“Huh?” Adagio said before turning to see Sunset standing on the stage. A low hum filled the air when the microphone came on. Slowly a smirk formed on the siren’s lips. “I guess she’s still got one last lesson to learn. Let’s make it a painful one, shall we?”

Sunset gulped before gripping the microphone. She really, really hoped Moondancer was right about this. Everyone was depending on her. Everyone needed her. If feelings really meant that much, well… then she’d have to show them exactly how she felt.

She wouldn’t run away this time. She wouldn’t hide this time.

She wouldn’t lose this time, because this time she had all of the right reasons to win.