In the basement of the hotel, Twilight is over at her desk, further examining the gem as she keeps a voice recorded log. "Twilight Sparkle's log: Experiment seems to be going well. As I expected, the gem reacted upon contact with it's original owner despite the chemical treatments I performed on it earlier. This seems to have caused some discomfort to this Sonata Dusk. The pain seems to have only lasted a short while and the subject is now resting." She looks back as Sonata rests from her ordeal as she observes the stone under a microscope. "It also seems to have caused a change in the stone as well." As she begins to take a closer look at it, her eyes begin to glow, seemingly entranced by the gem. "It's amazing. Like nothing I've ever seen before." She slowly reaches her hand out, picking it up and clutching it tightly to her chest as it begins to glow brightly.
The increasing light stirs Sonata from her sleep as she looks on in terror at what is happening. "Twilight don't!" Before she can say anything further, a blinding light covers the room. As it dies down, the siren opens her eyes to see the girl that once stood there gone, replaced with a being with similar colored skin, bat like wings, sharp claws and red eyes. "Twilight?" She says in disbelief.
She turns around slowly to look at her before hurling an energy ball at her. It strikes the base of the table where she is fixed, throwing it and her through the air. The blast fortunately frees Sonata's hands and feet on impact, separating her mid-flight as the table smashes against the wall. She hurriedly crawls behind a pillar and curls up into a ball, hoping not to be found as she hears the creature moving about the room, smashing anything in her way. Sonata slowly opens her eyes, turning her head slightly to the right as she sees the damaged picture Twilight had on her desk earlier, laying on the floor. She looks up, filled with a new resolve. "I have to help her." She jumps out of her cover to draw Twilight's attention. She turns around, roaring at the girl. "I just hope I can think of something."
A few blocks away, Sunset and her group with the addition of Lyra head straight for the hotel to find Twilight and Sonata. As she rounds a corner she and Adagio run head long into each other. "Ow. Adagio, you made it back." She says as the other girl helps her to her feet, accompanied by Aria and the others. An excited Winona leaps forward to Applejack.
"Hey girl. What are you doing here?"
"Granny Smith said it would be okay if I borrowed her for a bit. I hope that's okay." Aria says from the back.
"It's fine. What are ya'll doing here?"
"Same as you I suppose. Going to get my sister." Adagio say.
"Lave!" Fuchsia Blush says as she rushes over to Lavender Lace. "I did like you said. But where's Trixie? Don't tell me she's still there."
"Yeah, Trixie is not really feeling her best. I'll explain later."
"Right now we need to get to that hotel." Aria says.
"Surprised you actually care." Rainbow Dash says with her arms folded.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy says.
"If you've got something you want to say, say it! You wanna call me a monster go ahead. Just say it!" Aria says as Curly and Wiz Kid attempt to hold her back.
"Everyone just stop." Fuchsia blurts out.
"It was all our fault. We caused all of it just because we were jealous of how popular you all were. Trixie and us felt like we got robbed at the Battle of the Bands so we followed her and Twilight thinking they would take us where we wanted to go." Lavender admits.
"We know we were wrong to do that to all of you so please be mad at us not each other."
"It's alright." Adagio says. "You didn't mean for it to go this far. Maybe there were some hurt feelings from back then and that was my fault. Believe me I know what it's like to get in over your head. What's important is that you realized it and now we can fix things. But to do that we all need to put any other problems we have out of our heads, all of us." She says staring at Rainbow Dash and Aria.
"Alright, I'm sorry for what I said before." Aria says as she offers her hand to Dash.
"Me too."
"I need to hang out with you guys more often. This is exciting." Lyra says with a wide grin, sharing a bucket of popcorn with Pinkie Pie.
"Where did you get...?" Lavender attempts to ask before Applejack places a hand on her shoulder.
"It's better if you don't think too much about it. Now let's get a move on." The group finally arrive at the hotel and make their way around back as Lavender Lace leads the way. They reach the back door, where Lavender reveals to them that it is unlocked and they prepare to head inside. "Alright I think it'd be best if some of us waited out here."
"Right. Lavender, Fuchsia, Lyra, Wiz Kid, Curly Winds, you guys should keep guard until we come back. And keep an eye on Winona and Ticki." Sunset requests of them.
"Hold on a second. I didn't come all this way for nothing. Besides, Twilight's an old friend. She might listen to me before she listens to a bunch of aggressive strangers. No offense." Lyra complains.
"If she's going than so am I. You never know when you'll need some muscle." Curly says confidently.
"Fine, you can come, but you do exactly what we say. Understand?" Aria says as the two nod in agreement and follow them inside while the other three keep watch.
Fuchsia sits atop a turned over a garbage can, anxiously kicking her feet before turning her attention to Wiz Kid. "Soooo...techie huh? You think you could tutor me on some trigonometry?"
Inside, the group having made it to the basement, cautiously make their way around to where they see a dim light down the hall that leads them to a room that has been wrecked, with tables overturned and objects strewn about. "Shoot, it looks like a twister ran through her." Applejack says as they survey the damage. In the center of the room they spot a figure laying motionless. Aria quickly rushes over lifting them up slightly. "Sonata?" She is surprised to see it is not her sister but a girl bearing a striking resemblance to Princess Twilight.
"Wow, she really does look like Twilight." Fluttershy says.
"Hey does that mean that there's a Sunset Shimmer around somewhere?" Pinkie ponders.
"Or an alternate me." Lyra says. This warrants annoyed looks from the others. "What? It's a semi legitimate question. I'll bet pony Lyra never gets this kind of treatment."
The girl weakly opens her eyes, looking upward as Lyra pops up over her. "Hi old best friend."
"Lyra?"
"What happened? Where is Sonata?" Aria demands as the girl's gaze never leaves the ceiling as her eyes open wide. Aria and the others look up to see a winged, blue skinned creature hanging upside down above them. It opens it's eyes and dives on them, forcing them to take cover on the other side of the room behind whatever they can find. "What is that thing?" Rarity asks.
"It's...it's Sonata." Adagio says.
"Just like what happened to me after I used the crown." Sunset explains.
"What did you do to her?" Aria says, grabbing Twilight by the front of her lab coat.
Twilight begins to tear up as she speaks. "She got it off of me. She saved me from it."
"From what?" Aria asks.
"The pendent shard." Adagio answers.
"I was running tests on it when it...it...something happened. I can't explain it."
"It overwhelmed you."
"But Sonata should be able to control this like she did before." Aria says.
"Whatever I did to it made it this way, did that to her."
"You idiot! You have no idea what you've done." Aria says, furiously shaking her.
"I know, I'm sorry. I just..."
"Just what?"
"I just wanted everyone to stop making fun of me."
"It'll be okay. I can fix this. All I need is some time and..." Adagio says, stopping as she and everyone else see Pinkie Pie in the middle of the room, a cupcake in hand as she approaches Sonata.
"Pinkie!" Everyone says in unison.
"Hey Sonata. You look...different. I'm here to help okay? Just relax." For a moment, Pinkie's odd behavior seems to be working as she reaches down slowly taking the treat from her. "There, better?" The pink haired girl is surprised as she receives the cake to the face. "Hey!" Sonata then raises her clawed hand to swipe her but is stopped as Curly Winds yanks on her wings from behind, giving Pinkie the time she needs to get away. She spins around and attempts to slash him only for Applejack to lasso him and getting him out of her range.
"Got ya." She says as she gathers her rope.
Curly sits there for a moment as Lyra helps him up. "You alright?"
"I think I'm in love." He says as he looks over at the farm girl.
"Slow your roll muscles. We've got a bigger problem right now. One with sharp teeth and claws." Lyra reminds him as they avoid another one of Sonata's attacks as she soars overhead. As everyone scrambles to get out of her path, she manages to corner Fluttershy and dives on her.
"Fluttershy, move!" Dash shouts as the girl is frozen in fear. Suddenly, she is snatched up and out of the way as Sonata's claws become wedged in the wall. Fluttershy opens her eyes to see her rescuer. "Trixie? You saved me?"
"Don't look too much into it. I'm only here because she owes me a proper reward." The white haired girl says as she turns toward Twilight.
"Thanks anyway."
"Don't mention it. Now how do we stop her and get my gem back?"
"I've got this." Adagio says. "I can drain off the energy and hopefully it will get her back."
"But you've only done it once and you don't even know if it will work." Aria say in protest.
"You know I have to try."
"Let me help."
Adagio looks over and sees that Sonata has freed herself and searching the room for them."No, we almost lost you once because of me. I'll be alright. The rest of you need to get out of here."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Lyra says as she and Curly Winds help Twilight to the exit with the others.
"Good luck." Sunset says.
"Don't do anything I would do." Dash says with a smile. Everyone else heads out of the room as Adagio gets Sonata's attention with a sharp whistle.
"Come on little sister. That's right, focus on me." She holds her palms out toward her and begins to focus as Sonata circles her. She strains as she begins to siphon off even a small portion of the energy. Adagio quickly loses her footing as she begins to feel weak from trying to absorb so much power. Trixie's smoke had been one thing but this was proving too much for even Adagio to handle. Sonata gets closer to her as her sister falls down on one knee. Suddenly a pellet hits her in the face that explodes in a cloud of smoke and forces her into a frenzy as she flies upward, hitting the ceiling before crashing on the other side of the room, taking down a support column before scrambling into the shadows.
"You alright?" Aria says as she helps her sister up.
"She's got too much power to drain. I don't think I can do this."
"Not alone maybe. But we've got your back."
"We?" She looks over Aria's shoulder and sees the other girls plus Twilight.
"I'll do whatever I can to fix this." Twilight says humbly.
"Thank you. It's going to take all of us to do this." Adagio says as Aria takes her hand and the others join hands one by one. They look over as Sonata charges at them again. "Alright, just focus." Adagio holds out her hand once again. This time she can feel the energy moving through her and the others. Sonata begins to slow as the process continues, her monstrous features beginning to diminish, though she continues to advance on them.
"Just a little more." Sunset strains to say as Sonata, though weakened, is almost on top of them.
"It's not enough." Twilight says. She stops as she feels someone take her free hand. Turning she sees Trixie, with a determined look on her face.
"You've got the abilities of Trixie on your side. It is more than enough." She joins in with the others and, sure enough, her added help makes all the difference. As she adds in her efforts, the girls, Twilight and Trixie included, begin to form the ponytails and ears, to the latter two's surprise. Inches away from Adagio, Sonata finally stops, returned to her original form.
"Woah." She says simply, falling over as Adagio and Aria catch her. Sonata looks over to her other sister. "Adagio, you're back."
The orange haired girl's eyes tear up as she hugs her sister. "Yeah."
"Are you gonna stay for a while. I wanted to throw you a party when you got back."
"That would be nice. And yes, I'm staying."
"I had the weirdest dream. You wouldn't believe it."
"I think we would." Aria says with a smirk. The others gather around, unaware that the ceiling is beginning to crack from Sonata's rampage.