//------------------------------// // Episode 3: Hollow Patrol // Story: Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls // by thatguyvex //------------------------------// Episode 3: Hollow Patrol Sunset watched her namesake with a slow, relaxing breath, trying to settle her nerves and pulling her jacket tight against a chilly wind that was blowing in from the west. On a Saturday evening like this the area in front of Canterlot High School was all but deserted. Sunset leaned against the back of the school’s front statue, recently repaired after its destruction just a few months ago. On her back she wore her school backpack, within which were several items, including a heavy mag-light, some snacks, water, a small first aid kit, and her journal. Her Zanpaktou was carefully looped through her belt. She wished she had some kind of sheath for it but there were a couple of problems with that. One, she didn’t really know a store that just sold katana sheaths. Two, while the sword itself was invisible to normal eyes, a sheath wouldn't be, and the last thing she needed tonight were police pulling up next to her to ask why she was carrying around a sword sheath. She’d just have to be careful how she moved so she didn’t cut herself, at least until she had a reason to draw the sword. As for her journal, she’d just tucked it away a few minutes ago, having finished writing to the Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. While she didn’t expect, nor specifically call for help from the Princess of Friendship, Sunset felt a lot better being able to pour out some of her worries and fears to her friend and fellow unicorn from another world. She held her friends in the human world close, but when it came to certain matters it felt just... more natural to vent to Princess Twilight. Especially Sunset’s worries about what the creatures known as Hollows might do, what kind of threat they represented. Did Equestria have anything like this? Sunset had never heard of such creatures. Maybe Wendigos could be seen as similar? Spiritual entities that fed on other beings, but really that was only a superficial comparison at best. It really did unnerve Sunset, how foreign the Hollows felt. A supernatural entity, but one that seemed unique to the human world. This is what I wanted, isn’t it? To discover magical and exciting things in the human world? To defend the city from dark magic? Heh... well Sunset, you got what you wanted. Really ought to be careful about what you wish for. Her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of approaching footsteps and she saw her friends approaching. Apparently they’d managed to meet up on the way here. That or Sunset had just been early. Sunset laughed at herself, realizing it was very likely the later. She’d been so antsy, pacing around her apartment, she must have left at least half an hour earlier than needed to make the meeting. “Hiya Sunset!” said Pinkie Pie around a cheerful smile as she bounced up, brimming with energy as usual, “Been waiting long?” “Nah,” Sunset lied, leaning off the statue and meeting her friends down at the sidewalk, “Just got here. Everything ready?” “I was just able to make the last adjustments,” said Twilight as she knelt down. She had her backpack slung around her shoulder, but also carried a smaller cloth case and unzipped it. Inside were seven small devices that looked very much like color coded cell phones; blue, orange, yellow, pink, white, purple and red. Each bore a marking on its clean plastic surface that Sunset recognized as, well for the humans they wouldn’t be ‘cutie mark’s per se, but in her mind that’s what they were. Rainbow Dash leaned over Twilight’s shoulder, looking at the devices with a wry grin, “Great, now all we need are matching spandex suits and to decide who gets the Dragonzord.” “Wrong crossover, silly!” Pinkie Pie said, snatching up her own pink device, which really did resemble a simplified cell phone as she flipped it open and examined it with wide eyes, “Oooh, pretty. How’s it work?” The other girls had given Pinkie a strange look at her initial comment, but then again Pinkie tended to make weird off hand comments like that, so they ignored it as Twilight distributed the devices to their proper owners. Sunset looked at her red device quizzically. Her cutie mark was inscribed on the top back of the plastic case, and as she flipped it open she saw that it’s top portion had a wide screen while the bottom half had a few simple buttons, including a clearly marked on/off switch. “These Hollow Detectors operate on the same basic principles as my metaphysical scanner,” said Twilight, unfolding her own to turn it on. The screen glowed to life with a soft luminescence, showing a menu screen with three rotating icons; a radar circle, a magnifying glass, and a alarm bell. “This icon is the long range scan,” Twilight said, using the buttons to rotate to that icon and selecting it. The screen turned into a rough satellite display of the town in the immediate vicinity, with a green scanning line rotating around much like a radar. “It will pick up any energy signatures corresponding to a Hollow's, or at least what we can guess is a Hollow based on the data I gained last night, up to a kilometer and a half away. Sorry I can’t boost the signal beyond that, but it’s what I can manage on such short notice.” “Oh that’s perfectly alright,” said Rarity, body tense but a certain relief in her voice, “This is quite amazing on its own and certainly make it so any of those dreadful brutes can’t sneak up on us.” “And if one does get close that’s what this feature is for,” Twilight said as she backed out of the scanner screen and went over to the magnifying glass. Activating that icon looked as if it turned on some kind of camera function as Twilight showed the screen displaying a real time image of whatever was in front of the phone. Looking more closely at hers Sunset noticed there was a tiny camera lens hidden near the top middle of the Detector. “This feature will concentrate a scan directly in front of the phone and render any unusual energy signatures into an approximate shape,” said Twilight, blushing slightly, “I know it’s not ideal, but it doesn’t seem like we can all see the Hollows clearly yet, so this will have to do in the meantime.” “An’ I’m gonna guess this here last icon is a’ panic button, right?” asked Applejack, to which Twilight nodded. “Exactly. If any of us are in trouble, hit that icon and it’ll send an alarm signal to all the other devices, including pinpointing on the radar map where the device sending the signal is. Actually I ought to add active tracking for all the devices at all times, but... I only had the one day.” “Its okay Twilight, these are just like Rarity says; amazing.” said Sunset with an encouraging tone, and her sentiments were swiftly echoed by the other girls. Twilight’s blush deepened as she looked at the ground, as if trying to hide her smile. “I just hope it’ll be enough,” Twilight said, then reached into her book bag and removed a series of small walkie talkies, “These are for just checking in with each other when it isn’t an emergency. They have more than enough range to reach across town.” One by one the girls tucked the small black and yellow walkie talkies into skirt or pants pockets, after Twilight let them know what frequency to use. “So what is the plan?” asked Rainbow Dash, “How’s this ‘Hollow Patrol’ going to go down?” Sunset took a deep breath. She’d been putting some serious thought into this while she’d been waiting for the girls to show up, “My first instinct is that we should stick together. We won’t cover much ground, but we’d be more able to deal with any Hollows we find. That said, with these devices, we might not need to worry as much if we split up. The town is basically broken up into three parts; downtown, the suburbs, and the outlying farmland and forest. I’m pretty sure the Hollows will be where there are people, so for now I’d say the downtown and suburbs are our main concerns. So I say we split into two groups. Me, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie will take downtown. Twilight, you, Rarity, AJ, and Dash will cover the suburbs. We patrol until at least, say, midnight, then we meet up at one of the twenty four hour diners to refuel and then the teams will switch off locations.” “Sounds good ta me,” said Applejack. “Alright, let’s do this!” said Rainbow Dash, pumping a fist. With that the girls set out, just as the last bit of sunlight slipped away behind the horizon. ---------- In the shadows shrouding the top of Canterlot High a figure stood, watching the girls depart down the street. The figure wore a dark cloak, but beneath it a bit of ragged, wild gray hair could be seen, and equally wild magenta eyes as the figure chuckled rather erratically to itself. “Seven little piggies out to play. Will they find the wolves before the wolves find them? Heheheh!” ---------- Life sucked. This was the fundamental conclusion Adagio Dazzle had come to in the months following the humiliating defeat of herself and her sister sirens at the hands of a bunch of irritating, two-bit high schoolers. It still didn’t make any sense to the eldest of the sirens, her hands clenching in barely contained ire as she thought about what had happened. Equestrian magic or not it should’ve been impossible for a bunch of random human teenagers to defeat three sirens fully empowered by the adoration of an entire crowd of hypnotized people. It was all Sunset Shimmer’s fault! We had them beaten! Then she steps in and turns it all around. Where did she get that kind of power? It’s not fair! We were so close... so damn close to having enough magic to... To what? Escape this purgatory of a world that Starswirl had cast them into? Adagio wanted nothing more than to return to Equestria, although having masses of loyal, dominated subjects worshiping her was a close second. She figured achieving the later might somehow help with the former. With enough magic, anything was possible. If she had to she’d find a way to tear a hole between worlds with her own two hands! If only... if only... “Hellooooo! Dagie? Anybody home?” A pair of blue hands waved back and forth rapidly before Adagio’s eyes, and with a sigh like a bellows she glared at the blue skinned girl sitting across from her. Sonata Dusk’s cheerful smile seemed like a bur in Adagio’s gut, annoying the older siren in human guise all the more as Sonata let out a relieved sigh and held up a fork with a speared piece of fried chicken on it. “Was worried you’d checked out there Dagie. Eat up! Got to keep our strength up you know.” “Ugh, what’s the point?” muttered Aria Blaze, scowling and staring off into the crowd milling around the downtown mall’s food court, violet eyes hard as flint. “Human food might keep us alive, but it won’t make us any stronger, idiot.” “Hey, I’m not an idiot,” said Sonata, pouting, “And it is important to eat! Or were you planning to go to work on an empty stomach?” Aria’s jaw tightened, her pig-tailed head of blue and teal streaked hair bristling as she turned on the younger siren seated next to her, lips curled in a snarl, “I’m this close to just quitting this job, quitting the two of you, and ditching this town!” “How far do you think you’d get?” snapped Adagio abruptly, fixing both her younger siblings with hard eyes. She held Aria’s gaze with steel in her own eyes, her voice coldly practical without raising above a low octave, “How far, Aria? If you’re not willing to work, how will you make money to live off of? Without our gems we can’t hypnotize anyone to give us what we want, can’t gather power by feeding off of any emotions. We’re trapped, powerless, in this worthless world. Leave if you want, but have fun starving alone, or freezing to death. Heh, if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll find a few of these monkeys that like your body enough to pay for it, because you sure won’t have any other way to make money on your own.” Adagio only got a small bit of satisfaction at the absolute fury sparking in Aria’s eyes, but that feeling died rather quickly, leaving her feeling even more empty than before. Sonata gulped, looking between the other two sirens worriedly. “H-hey guys, let’s just chill, huh? I know things are rough for us right now, but no need to be at each other’s throats over it, right?” Aria literally spat, arms crossed, as much seeming to do something other than deck Adagio, “I don’t have to sit here and take this crap. Sell my body? As if I’d slink that low. I’d rather starve. But don’t sit there all high and mighty and pretend like you’re enjoying this any more than I am, Adagio!” “Yo!” came a call from one of the burger joints lining the food court, “Lunch break is nearly up new girls!” All three sirens shuddered a bit, looking over with tired, unhappy eyes at their present form of employment and seeming jail. Some back corner of Adagio’s mind knew they were lucky to have landed even these part time jobs. It’d taken all of her persuasive ability and charm, sans her siren powers, to convince the manager to take a chance on the three of them. Between all three of their meager paychecks it was barely enough to afford one cramped apartment and cheap food to keep them fed each week. These lunch breaks with free food from their work was a blessing, really, and Sonata had taken to sneaking away all sorts of stuff from the shop to concoct imaginative dishes at home. It just left Adagio feeling more irritated to think that Sonata, the youngest and weakest of the three of them, seemed to be adapting to their hopeless situation the best. “Well, our shifts going to be done soon anyway, so we can tear each other apart at home,” she said sourly, munching down on her tasteless burger. This time of evening the mall was winding down anyway, and in an hour or so they’d be off and could go ‘home’. Except for Adagio it’d never be home. No place in this world could be home to her. Home was lost, an entire world away, and only the thought of somehow, someday returning to it acted as the single ember in her mind that kept Adagio from sinking into utter despair. ---------- The city’s downtown district, especially on a Saturday night, was lively. Cars beeped and honked down the streets glittering with lights, and people both young and old jostled this way and that either out for a night of fun or taking care of last minute errands before heading home. On one hand Sunset was grateful for the crowd because it made her feel less conspicuous, but on the other hand it just meant that if a Hollow did appear then that many more people would be in danger. “Anything yet?” she asked the two girls beside her as they rounded a corner that’d take them by the downtown district’s central mall, a place built within the first five stories of a high rising skyscraper, one of only three in the downtown that were tall enough to dominate the skyline. She had her own Detector out as well, looking at the screen as casually as she could so that she looked like any other teenager glues to their phone. “Nope, not a peep, pop, or pip to be seen,” said Pinkie Pie, waving her Detector around as if that would improve reception, “Maybe the Hollows ain’t feeling peckish tonight?” “I hope so,” said Fluttershy, looking around the passing crowds, “There’s so many people out tonight I can’t imagine what would happen if a Hollow attacked now.” It would be ideal, Sunset supposed, if no Hollows appeared. It was foolhardy to immediately jump into trying to hunt Hollows down when, really, they’d barely scraped by when facing the one from last night. Yet it just didn’t sit easy with Sunset to do nothing. She kept her eyes alertly scanning their surroundings as they wandered along the sidewalk. Each shadow within a dark alley seemed to pop out at her, and her nerves grew tense with each passing step. The three girls were just passing within the front of the entrance to the shopping mall when Sunset felt a chill seep into her, making her halt in place. “Sunset?” Fluttershy looked at her curiously. Sunset turned, frowning, “I don’t know. I just thought I felt something.” Pinkie Pie made a ‘hmm’ noise and looked herself over with a curious glance, “Not feeling any twitches myself. You sure yooouaaaah-” Pinkie Pie suddenly shook like an accordion from head to foot, her hair frizzing in several places. “Whoa, okay, never mind, I felt that!” “Where’s it coming from?” Sunset grunted in frustration, looking at her Detector, “If we can feel it surely these things can detect it!” However no sooner had she spoken that the scanner screen, displaying a detailed image of the downtown area, lit up with a blinking yellow dot. Information displayed, indicated the energy signature was up in the air, fifty meters, just to the north of the mall building. All three girls looked up in that direction just as a Hollow’s piercing howl froze the air. In the sky there was a strange darkness, like a black tear in the air, or perhaps an opening maw. As Sunset watched this hole in the sky open wider, something dropped out of it, a long sinuous shape that wiggled through the air like a snake. Or a centipede. Sunset’s eyes widened as the figure became more clear to her eyes as it fell and then latched onto the side of the mall building. Almost twenty meters long from head to tail the Hollow had the shape of a large, many legged centipede. Each leg was curved and bladed like a scythe, and its face was a wide bone mask much like the last Hollow’s, save that flanking the Hollow’s mouth were massive mandibles as big as broad swords. Yellow light glinted within the eye-holes of the Hollow’s mask, and it howled once more. “Wow, that one’s way bigger than the last,” said Pinkie, shading her eyes, despite not really having to, “Uh, should we hit the panic button yet?” Sunset’s eyes narrowed, her hand going to the hilt of her Zanpaktou, slowly drawing the blade from her belt. The Hollow hadn’t moved yet, and she saw that it was weaving its face through the air as if sniffing for something. Had it sensed her and her friends yet? Or had something else drawn it here? “Fluttershy, get on the walkie talkie and let the others know we have one here,” Sunset said quietly, eyes darting around. So far they hadn’t drawn any attention from the crowd, despite stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. A few eyes curiously glanced their way, one or two passers by looking up at the building to see what the three strange high school girls were staring at, but upon seeing nothing the continued on about their business. Fluttershy nodded and got out her walkie talkie, “Girls? Um, hello? Girls?” Soon enough Rainbow Dash’s voice crackled over the walkie talkie, “S’up Flutters? You guys got one?” “Y-yes. There’s a Hollow here. Um...” she glanced nervously between Pinkie Pie and Sunset, holding up her Detector and switching it over to the imager mode, “I-I can’t quite see it as clearly as Sunset and Pinkie Pie seem to, but it kind of looks like a big centipede.” Twilight’s voice suddenly spoke up, “What’s it doing? Are you under attack yet?” Sunset pursed her lips, wondering just why the Hollow was handing out on the side of the building, almost looking confused, and she said into her own walkie talkie, “It hasn’t attacked yet. It looks more like its looking for something. Maybe us, maybe not-” At that moment, however, the Hollow’s face turned downward and pointed directly at the three girls, and Sunset felt a sweat drop trickle down her neck, “Actually, scratch that, I think it just noticed us.” With a piercing howl the Hollow began to crawl down the side of the skyscraper, its scythe legs punching holes in glass and concrete alike as it went. Sunset tensed, “Its coming! You girls better hurry up and get here!” “On our way!” said one of them, but Sunset was too busy focusing on the approaching Hollow to even pay attention to who. She pocketed the walkie talkie and Detector and held her sword with both hands, readying to dodge. “Fluttershy, Pinkie, stand back! Try to clear the crowds!” Pinkie Pie saluted, “No problem.” She then sucked in a deep breath and let out a shriek louder than any Hollow’s howl, “AAAAGHH! Gas leak! The street’s gonna blow! Everybody run for your lives!” If there was one person who could act psychotically panicked, and enjoy doing it, it was Pinkie Pie. She grabbed Fluttershy, laughing between screams, and drew the other girl away while waving her other arm around to ward off other people who were now looking at her as if she’d gone nuts. “Hurry up people! Run for it! My nose smells gas, and it might blow any second! Don’t you people watch the news!? It happened yesterday!” That did spark a few memories in people’s minds about the ‘explosion’ at the grocery store yesterday, so many started to rapidly back away from that part of the street, others walking faster, though none yet broke into a run. It was enough, however, as Sunset was in the clear with nobody else nearby as the Hollow reached the street level and hit the ground with a heavy impact that cracked the ground and created a cloud of dust. Here we go... Sunset thought as the Hollow burst from the cloud of dust, mandibles flashing and mouth opened wide as it came straight at her. ---------- Adagio gratefully threw off her sweat soaked work shirt and apron, only marginally feeling better as she put her her normal dark purple hoodie and let her massive head of curly orange hair hang loose, free of the hair nets she had to wear on the job. Ugh, jobs. It was so asinine. “Can’t wait to get home,” said Sonata happily, practically bounding towards the back door that’d lead to a short hallway that’d in turn open up into one of the alley that ran along the side of the mall, “Mmm, a comfy couch, free network television, and no customers yelling at me about forgetting to hold the pickles. I don't know why. Pickles are tasty!” Aria said nothing as she changed into her own hoodie, face a dour scowl since the lunch break. For a moment Adagio felt a twinge of regret that she’d torn into Aria so hard, but it... it’d angered her to hear Aria talk so casually of leaving. The three of them were sisters. A trio. They’d done everything together since childhood. How dare Aria talk about leaving like she could just do it like that without even thinking about it!? After all Adagio had done to try to make their lives on this miserable rock better! Seething, Adagio stepped past Aria without saying anything and followed Sonata out into the alley. Aria fell in behind, glaring but also refusing to speak to Adagio. It was going to be a long, awkward night back at the apartment, Adagio thought to herself, before bumping into Sonata. “Oof! Sonata! Watch it! Why did you stop?” It was then that Adagio noticed that at the mouth of the alley a bunch of people were running by, several shouting or screaming, moving as if their lives depending on it. There was a faint dusty fog in the air, and as she watched Adagio heard a loud crashing noise and saw what looked to be a news stand flinging through the air, passing by the alley mouth in an instant. “W-what?” “Maybe we should take a different route to get home,” said Sonata with a nervous chuckle, backing up. Behind both of them Aria halted in the doorway, face a confused mask. Adagio, feeling a sudden and very intense spike of unease put a hand on Sonata’s shoulder and pulled her back behind her protectively, “Yeah, another route. Good idea.” Amid the crashing noises there was something else in the air. A sound faint but distinct. A howl? “What is that?” asked Aria, “You girls hear that?” Sonata gulped, “I think its time to mosey. Like, really fast moseying.” The howls got louder, almost painfully louder, then someone appeared at the mouth of the alley and Adagio’s eyes turned wide as dinner plates and her heart ignited with anger. Her! It was Sunset Shimmer, looking quite a bit more haggard than last Adagio had seen her, but no less annoying defiant looking. In fact that look of hard determination on Sunset’s face was much like the one she’d worn when she’d ruined all of Adagio’s plans. Only now the look wasn’t directed at her and her sisters, but at some danger out of sight beyond the alley mouth. For all Adagio’s anger she wasn’t without her faculties, noticing that Sunset was carrying a strange sword in her hands, and that whatever she was facing down, it was probably the thing making all the noise. Well, I don’t know or care what kind of trouble that little witch has gotten into. She can deal with it by herself. I need to get my sisters out of here! Without thinking about it further Adagio pushed Sonata down the opposite direction, deeper into the alley, and grabbed Aria’s arm as well, “C’mon girls! Time to go.” Aria looked sharply at Adagio but didn’t argue, and Sonata certainly needed no urging. However the three siren siblings only got a few steps before a massive crash behind them made Adagio look back. Sunset Shimmer had jumped back into the alley, avoiding something that was chasing after her. Adagio couldn’t quite see it clearly. It was like some kind of huge, hazy shape that was partially invisible. It moved quickly, like a rabid animal, and slashed with some barely visible limb at Sunset, who leaped aside as the attack cleaved apart bits of the wall next to her, exploding plaster and concrete like confetti. When Sunset, breathing heavily, glanced back at them, Adagio saw Sunset’s eyes snap wide in shock. The thing chasing her took advantage of the distraction, bearing down on Sunset. For a second Adagio felt an immense sense of impending payoff, thinking of seeing this girl, this symbol of her torment, crushed in front of her. She began to smirk at Sunset’s shocked face, but at the same moment Sonata’s voice rang out. “Look out behind you!” Sunset was snapped out of her shock by Sonata’s warning and ducked the blow, slashing out with the sword in her hands and apparently hitting something because Adagio heard the nearly invisible thing howl loudly, making her head hurt. Dang it Sonata! she thought, but there wasn’t much ire in it. A part of her was actually a bit relieved. She hated Sunset Shimmer, but she wasn’t at all sure she wanted the image of the girl’s dead body haunting her memories either. Sonata’s warning was probably for the best. “Ugh, run you idiots!” was all Adagio said, turning and fleeing with her sisters towards the back of the alley, leaving Sunset to face whatever monster that thing was alone. ---------- It was around the point where the Hollow was pushing her back halfway down the alley, her Zanpaktou barely holding off one of its scything legs, that Sunset realized that perhaps this was all a rather terrible idea. Getting a lucky hit in on one Hollow was not the same as being ready to battle another that wasn’t going to just let her slice it with ease. The centipede Hollow was canny and swift, attacking relentlessly while not giving her a chance to get a counter strike in. Her feet skidding across the wet pavement of the alley, Sunset pushed off with her Zanpaktou, the blade sparking against the centipede’s scythe leg, and she managed to leap back to get some distance. So far that was all she’d been able to do, keep her distance and try to lure the Hollow away from the crowds. That was why she’d heading for the alley. She hadn’t expected to see, of all people, the sirens. It’d taken her completely off guard to see those three just standing there in the alleyway, looking just as shocked as Sunset had felt. She’d lowered her guard in that moment, and knew that the Hollow would’ve struck a possibly fatal blow on her if one of the sirens hadn’t shouted a warning just in time. Sunset was grateful, surprised, but grateful, but she still was finding it difficult to do more than defend herself against the Hollow. What was worse was that the sirens were fleeing down the alley, but Sunset had been to this mall before and had once or twice explored the back alleys on pure curiosity. The way the sirens were running led to a chain link fence. They might be able to scale it, but it’d slow them down. Sunset had planned to do that, but hadn’t expected just how hard the Hollow would press her. She wasn’t sure where Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy had gone, until she saw both girls at the mouth of the alley behind the Hollow. Pinkie Pie had grabbed a fire extinguisher from somewhere, and Fluttershy while unarmed and shaking, looked determined to try and help. Sunset wanted to shout for them to run until the other girls showed up, but she didn’t even have breath for that as the Hollow ducked its head low and tried to snap at her with its mandibles. Sunset side stepped, slashed in downward arc with all her strength. The edge of her Zanpaktou clashed with one of the mandibles, the force of the impact jarring Sunset to her core. The strike had managed to redirect the Hollow’s lunge into a dumpster, smashing the metal bin inward but slowing the Hollow for a second. Sunset took advantage of the moment of bought time to turn heel and join the sirens’ in their flight down the alley. One of the sirens, the one with the orange hair (what were their names again?) turned her head and glared at Sunset. “Hey, stop following us! You’re just leading that thing towards us!” Sunset gulped air, trying to catch her breath, managing to shout, “D-don’t have much of a choice! There’s a fence ahead, better be ready to hop it!” “Oh for the love of-! This is your fault!” growled the orange haired siren, but one of the others, the one with the dark purple pigtails shouted, “Less blaming and more running, Adagio!” “Y-yeah, running waaaay more important right now!” said the blue haired siren, who was beating feat faster than any of them. The Hollow was right behind them, having thrown aside the now demolished dumpster and bellowing out a howl that made Sunset want to clutch at her ears. The sound of its many legs ripping into the pavement as it tore after them was like a thousand daggers digging into her brain. She imagined she could feel the Hollow’s breath on the back of her neck, even if she wasn’t at all sure Hollow’s bothered with things like breathing. Up ahead the alley made a sharp right between the mall building and and office building behind it, and Sunset saw the sirens rush that way just ahead of her own sprinting form. Feet a blur, Sunset just barely avoid the Hollow’s charging body as she sped off down the turn while the Hollow’s momentum carried it into the wall in a resounding crash that saw the wall of the office building smashed in. Up ahead was the chain link fence, a good eight feet tall and blocking off the alley from what looked to be a small garden area around the back of the office, the kind of space that office workers might go for a quick smoke break or lunch. Beyond that was another sidewalk and street, and Sunset could see more pedestrians that way either passing by or milling around curiously due to the commotion a street over. Only the commotion is coming to them. I got to stop the Hollow here before we reach the street, Sunset thought grimly as the sirens hit the fence like squirrels up a tree. Made Sunset think those three had some practice climbing fences. Sunset herself was no less swift, for all that she had a sword in one hand. She shoved the hilt into her mouth, holding the sword tightly as she clambered up the cold, hard chain link fence. The move wasn’t so unnatural to her. She’d been a pony, once, and holding objects in her mouth, while awkward with human anatomy, wasn’t too strange for her. Reaching the top of the fence she swung one leg over and got her sword back into her hand, and was about to hop down, when the Hollow reared above her. It stretched its centipede body upward, and began to swing its whole body down to try and crush her. Sunset flung herself from the fence, not a controlled drop but a desperate lunge for safety. She was still clipped by the Hollow’s smashing body, sent spinning to hit the ground roughly and roll through several garden bushes and beds of pebbles. The Hollow’s size was enough that the move also smashed several of the garden’s small trees, and catch up to the sirens, flinging them in different directions. Sunset breathed heavily, head spinning. The fall had hurt, but she hadn’t broken anything, and was able to stand fairly fast, before even the Hollow had managed to regain its balance from its body slam. The three sirens were also standing, though now the three had been separated with the orange haired Adagio on one side of the Hollow with Sunset, and the other two sirens stuck on the other side. As if the Hollow sensed its prey was scattered it slithered its long body forward, coiling it to block the way out of the garden and to the streets while using the other half of its body to keep a firm barrier between Sunset, Adagio, and the other two sirens. “Dagie!” shouted the blue one, “What do we do?” Adagio, face a swirling torrent of both fear and fury, shouted, “Run you morons! Don’t wait for me!” There did seem to be a fire escape leading up the side of the office behind the other two sirens, so Sunset imagined those two could escape easily enough, but to her surprise she heard the blue one shout, “No way! We’re not running off without you!” “Beside who’re you calling morons!” shouted the other, “Think you can try and play it cool!?” Adagio roared with frustration, but the Hollow wasn’t waiting for the sirens to argue it out and snapped its head towards her. Sunset moved faster, lashing out with her blade. She managed to catch the Hollow beneath the mask, slicing a shallow cut along its lower jaw, which made the Hollow break off its attack with a pained howl. Behind Sunset, Adagio blinked. “I-I didn’t ask you to protect me.” Sunset shook her head, “I’m protecting everyone! That thing will consume whoever it can get its filthy claws on! You, my friends, me, random people! I have to stop it!” Adagio’s eyes burned with some smoldering mix of resentment and fear, but as she looked at the Hollow that look only turned harder, “Fine, then how do we kill it!?” “I just need to be able to cleave that head with my sword,” Sunset said, “That killed the last one.” “Last one!? How many of these things are there?” Adagio shouted, but the Hollow forestalled any more talk as it shook off the shock of its wound and lunged once more, lashing out with several of its scythe like legs at Sunset. Adagio threw herself backwards, while Sunset instead ducked forward and to the side, dipping beneath the Hollow’s slashing legs while thrusting up with her blade. Her Zanpaktou managed to penetrate a joint between the scythe and elbow of the leg, and Sunset dug her heels into the ground and twisted the sword, pulling hard. The move ended up cutting through more than half the leg, leaving it hanging limply as blood splattered from the wound. Sunset would’ve felt more satisfaction if the Hollow didn’t have so many more leg’s left, and if she wasn’t already feeling dog tired. She was definitely not used to this kind of heavy activity. Being in a band was tiring, but this was a whole different level of tension as she pushed her body to keep moving. The Hollow twisted to face her, faster than Sunset was prepared for, and bite furiously with gnashing mandibles. Sunset stumbled back, losing her footing, and saw the sharp mandibles reaching for her. Abruptly a burst of fire extinguisher smoke billow out and engulfed the Hollow’s head, distracting it and throwing it’s attack off just enough to miss Sunset by inches, cutting her jacket. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had just hopped the fence, Pinkie with the fire extinguisher in hand and blasting more smoke at the Hollow. “Hurry Sunset! Get it!” Sunset wheeled around, fully intending to get the Hollow while it was distracted. Its head was lowered and shaking, half obscured by the billowing white smoke. Sunset charged, then jumped, slashing down hard with her sword at the Hollow’s head. At the last second the Hollow turned its head just enough that the sword hit a mandible, rather than the mask itself. The Zanpaktou bit deep into the mandible, then cut through, severing it entirely. Yet whatever sense of accomplishment Sunset felt was short lived as the Hollow rammed its head into her gut and sent her flying backwards. She felt herself hit the fence, bouncing off and hitting the ground hard. Struggling to regain her breath and her senses, Sunset staggered to one knee, hand gripping her Zanpaktou tight. She could feel a warmth from the blade, as if it was heating up, or perhaps heating her up. Either way, despite the pain she found herself able to stand. “Come on then!” she shouted at the Hollow, eyes gleaming dangerously. “I’m not done yet!” Off to the side Sunset saw that Fluttershy was making her way towards Adagio, who was on the ground. When had Adagio been hit? The Hollow was flailing around enough Sunset supposed a stray limb might’ve clipped the siren. She looked only a bit bruised as Fluttershy helped her up, but Adagio shoved the other girl away with an angry look. By now the Hollow had moved around enough that the other two sirens had a clear line to Adagio and the blue one hopped up and down, waving. “C’mon Dagie, make a break for it!” Adagio didn’t hesitate, turning and running from the concerned looking Fluttershy to head for her sisters. In that moment the Hollow followed the siren’s movement and Sunset saw the beast’s yellow glowing eyes narrow. No! The Hollow, ignoring Sunset, lunged at full speed for Adagio Dazzle. Sunset rushed to try and intercept the blow, but could tell in the sick, slow motion of her adrenaline rush that there wasn’t a chance that she’d make it in time. ---------- Adagio ran faster than she’d ever run before, hating her weak human legs every step of the way. In front of her she saw her sisters waiting for her, Aria halfway to the fire escape already, but looking back with wide eyes showing genuine worry and fear for the first time in a long while. Sonata remained at the bottom of the fire escape, waving with her arms as if she could pull Adagio to her faster. The pure terror flashing into Sonata’s eyes was the only warning Adagio got before the entire world seemed to explode and twist, her whole body feeling numb as everything spun wildly. Then there was a moment, just a brief moment, of blackness. When Adagio blinked her eyes open, she felt strange. Light, and not very tired. It was almost like waking up from a restful sleep. She sat up, and saw she was still in the garden, still facing that horrible centipede monster, with her terrified sisters nearby. Only Adagio was now up against the wall for some reason, and Aria and Sonata weren’t even looking at her. “W-what are you two fools doing!? Hurry up and run already!” she snarled, standing. Why did these two have to be so difficult!? Didn’t they understand she didn’t want to see either of them get hurt!? Something was wrong. Her sisters weren’t looking at her, even as she shouted. Enraged, Adagio shouted again, “What’s the matter with you!? I said...” She trailed off, finally turning her head to look at where her sister’s horrified eyes were glued. Something made a metallic clinking noise as she turned. The Hollow was in the middle of the garden. Impaled on its one remaining mandible was Adagio. Or rather, Adagio’s body. A body she realized with stark fear she didn't appear to be inside anymore. From that body a chain sprouted, the chain leading across the way until it connected to Adagio herself, who looked down to see the chain was linked straight into her chest, as if it were a part of her. Fear colder than any she’d ever felt washed through her as her trembling hands reached for that chain, tugging at it. It was solidly connected to her. Her stupor was only broken by the scream that tore itself from Sonata’s throat, a soul killing sound of despair. “Adagio!” That scream pierced Adagio, making her reach out for her sister. “No, it’s okay, I’m right here-” Adagio’s hand passed right through Sonata, the younger siren not responding at all as she fell to her knees and started bawling, tears streaming down her face. Aria, on the other hand, jumped down from the fire escape, eyes filled with such raw rage that Adagio took a step back from her. “You...” Aria stepped towards the Hollow, veins throbbing on her forehead, fists clenched so tight blood seeped from between clenched fingers, “You... don’t touch her!” Aria charged, completely of control, screaming her rage and denial. All Adagio could do was stand there stunned, uncomprehending of what was going on as Sonata cried beside her. ---------- Sunset Shimmer couldn’t fathom what had just happened, but she had her guesses, but all of it had to wait. The siren with the pigtails was charging the Hollow in a mindless rage, and if Sunset was going to prevent... prevent another death she had to move! She continued her initial charge that’d been meant to save Adagio, whose body now hung limply from the Hollow’s mandible. Sunset could see the chain leading from the body to what she had a sickening feeling was Adagio’s soul standing not far away, but there wasn’t time to think about that. This Hollow had to be stopped, now. Both her and and the pig-tailed siren seemed like they would reach the Hollow at the same time, and Sunset prepared to jump to go for a decapitating blow. The Hollow saw them coming, rearing up to strike, but then a voice cackled out loudly. “Bad dog! No more play time!” A roar of what sounded like gunfire exploded in the garden, and a barrage of bolts flew in from above and smashed into the Hollow’s head. In a split second the Hollow’s head was blown half off with a final howling wail. The beast dissipated, its form shimmering out of existence, leaving Adagio’s body to fall. “Sister!” the pig-tailed siren shouted, diving to catch the falling body. As the siren cradled her fallen sister Sunset looked up at where the voice had spoken and the gunfire had come from. A hooded figure stood on top of the office building, outlined by the glow of the full moon. The figure carried a huge weapon that looked like a many barreled bazooka wrapped up in tight white cloth, obscuring most of its form save for its vague shape and a single handle with a trigger. All eight of its barrels were smoking. The hooded figure leaped down from the top of the office building, easily a height of over a hundred feet, and landed lightly beside the siren cradling her fallen sister as if she’d dropped no more than a step. A unhinged female voice spoke from the depths of the hood, “Whoops. Guess I should’ve acted sooner, but I seriously thought the Soul Reaper sub had this. Hooooo boy, ain’t she a mess?” “Who are you!?” snapped the pig-tailed siren. Sunset found herself stepping forward, while Pinkie Pie came up behind her alongside Fluttershy. The figure removed her hood, revealing a woman just shy of her middle years. Light blue skin and a vulpine set of features were accompanied by a wild, utterly unruly head of gray hair. The woman’s eyes had a skittish look about them, of a reddish purple hue. “Me? Call me Screwloose. Been ordered by my boss to keep an eye on the lot of you. Well, not you three,” she said, gesturing at the sirens, “You three piggies just joined in the chase on your own. But these piggies,” she pointed at Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, “They’re the ones I’m supposed to watch. Which I did! Can’t say I didn’t do that. Just maybe I guess the boss wanted me to act as well, but he said not to unless I had to and seriously, how am I supposed to be able to tell when I should or shouldn’t step in, right?” “You... you could have killed that thing at any time,” said the pig-tailed siren, holding her fallen sister tightly, “And you waited until after it impaled my sister to do it!?” “Yeah, yeah, my bad. Hey, look, you want to save your sister or what?” said Screwloose, fingering her ear and not even looking at the fuming siren. “S-save?” the siren breathed. “Can you do that?” asked Sunset, stepping closer. Looking at Adagio she noticed that the siren’s body didn’t seem to bear an actual wound, almost as if the Hollow’s mandible went through her spiritually rather than physically. “Oh, maybe. The Hollow knocked her soul out of her body so it could feed, but technically her body isn’t dead yet. Not unless something severs her soul chain,” said Screwloose with a bored air, “If we get her back to the shop the boss might be able to stitch her soul back in. Assuming you can pay him for it.” “Pay?” Sunset frowned, “To save a person’s life? Who is this boss anyway?” Was this the ‘expert’ that Clover had said she’d arrange to watch over her and girls? So far she wasn’t exactly impressed. Screwloose didn’t seem to be bothered by Sunset’s ire, making an offhand gesture. “Eh, I’ll let him worry about introductions, and payment. The boss doesn’t deal with common cash, and could ask for just about anything as a price for his help,” Screwloose said, eyebrow twitching slightly, “Yes, he has all sorts of prices he likes to ask for.” “It doesn’t matter!” said the blue siren, standing suddenly as she wiped at her tear streaked eyes, “Whatever it is, I don’t care! We’ll pay! Please, we’ll pay anything! Save her! Save Dagie!” Screwloose grinned widely at that, “Well then, an eager customer. The boss’ll be happy. Why don’t you girls follow me then!” At that moment, rushing across the street at a full spring, were the forms of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity. All four girls came to a skidding halt, Twilight all but shouting past panting breaths, “I’m so sorry we came as fast as we could! Where’s the... Hollow?” All four of the newly arrived girls blinked at the scene before them, the trashed garden, the woman with the bazooka-like weapon, and the three sirens, one of which looked all but dead. Twilight scratched the back of her head, “So, uh, what did we miss?”