In an alternate ending to ‘Rainbow Rocks’, the Dazzlings still suffer failure, but their powers remain.
However fortunate, the repercussions are far worse than they can imagine, as Princess Twilight wishes to ensure the safety of both worlds by taking one of the Dazzlings back to Equestria to try and reform her. A “ward” if you will, which to the Dazzlings is just a fancy word for “hostage,” for if the other two act up, the ward will be sent to Tartarus, or worse.
Follow the Dazzlings as each copes with this situation.
Chapters (3)
Punch them and make a run for it!
Valid question, looking at their track record (give or take 'King Neptune'). Either they're dominating entirely or getting hit with unstoppable instant-win magic from nowhere.
I find puzzling that the power born from Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Friendship and Laughter can cause excruciating pain in the victim.
7405583 The power of love didn't exactly seem like a warm and tingly sensation for King Sombra
You must be doing some serious hand waving to get past this plot hole.
7405609 How so?
7405583 Um, getting hit with the Elements didn't seem pleasant when Nightmare Moon, Discord or Tirek got hit, nor did it look pleasant when the Dazzlings got hit in Rainbow Rocks.
7404441
They didn't believe the Rainbooms would manage to pull themselves back together, and when they did, the Dazzlings took their challenge head-on—and lost.
Or underestimating their enemies.
7406161
Yes, underestimating their enemies in a head-on conflict of who can get bailed out by happenstance first. The sirens manipulated events at every turn to land everything exactly where they needed it, including the immune-to-their-spells-for-no-discernible-reason Rainbooms bickering in a locked room. This excludes Sunset and Twilight, who stayed passive and oblivious right up to the end, respectively. Sunset brings them together again with a short, but meaningful speech after they spend the entire movie failing miserably to prevent the sirens from gaining more power.
And then, Spike shows up with just the perfect timing to bring Vinyl, who couldn't hear the sirens because she never takes her headphones off, but could somehow be persuaded to follow the random purple dog in the middle of the night, and just so happens to possess a transforming super-car that does just what the Rainbooms need it to out of nowhere.
Near as I can tell, the Rainbooms didn't win through skill or resourcefulness, they won through lucky breaks and automatically having more power by clicking their heels and wishing really hard (as is par for the course by now). If you completely ignore everything up to the moment where the Rainbooms start singing, then yes, the sirens learned the hard way that stealing Harmony magic to fight the source directly was never going to work in their favor (or such is my guess for why they were overpowered so easily after the lucky break kicked in). Or, as I concurred, not a fair fight.
7406303 I love how on the money you are.
7406412
To be honest, I don't think I noticed much more than the highschool girl somehow having a shape-shifting car on my first viewing.
Does this mean that, given Aria's comment, it was a similar situation with King Neptune?
7406442 Nah, that fiasco is more grounded but is no less unfair.
I like your portrayal of the Dazzlings... well, mostly Adaggio and Sonata: The first tries her best to be a ruthless, strong leader who preaches with her example; and the second one is a half-a-mile away from the "idiotic yet misundertood girl" usually depicted by the fandom. Aria is sadly the most one-dimentional of the trio.
Also, I understand their reluctance to embrace the magic of friendship after being burned by it; it´s like asking them to swim in a pool of chloridric.
Welp, I feel strangely gratified. I say strangely because the details of the event go ignored surprisingly often.
Sonata's internal dialogue is fun to read, and feels very fitting for the girl we saw. Dim, but not brain-damaged, more mischievous and perhaps indulgent (for lack of better words) than outright evil, even with "Being evil involves none of this dumb stuff. Being evil is simple, and fun, and I like it for that."
Also, "Aria wishes she could be that scary. She’s not though, she’s just a dumb-butt." ...maybe a bit childish as well, but not 'innocent' like many depictions.
If the POV is going cyclically between the sirens, I'm guessing Aria is next, doubly so with the last few paragraphs.
Plenty of insight into their backgrounds in this chapter, too. Or, at least Sonata's psyche.
I also figured Aria would be best to send first, because she'd probably have the most trouble getting along with either remaining siren, let alone behaving in general. Unless that outburst makes them change their minds? Looking forward to finding out in the next chapter!
7406871 No worries about Aria, I will be giving her the depth she deserves. She may be the least popular, but she is the coolest in my opinion. There is a fantastic character centric story about her and the Dazzlings I highly recommend called Welcome to the Show
Adagio is right. It's a hostage scenario. Not that Twilight has an choice. It's the only way to control the other two. Aria is the logical choice. Sonata will stay in line. Adagio needs all a full trio and she knows it. Aria is the only wild card so it makes sense to separate her.
Ohhhh yes! I approve! Yes, yes I do!
Wait...who's Typhon? You're using Roman mythology? Well it's called Greco-Roman for a reason, I guess Neptune/Poseidon could be interchangeable, yes?
We.
Need.
Zeus the Pegasus Lord.
7407700 I picture Zeus being a big buff pony, with a magnificent beard and hurling thunderbolts.
And nah, Typhon is a seapony OC that will be shown shortly. With the names I was sticking with the Greek mythology theme
7407713 I can just feel like now there is an entire pantheon for the greek mythology and like Celestia and Luna are like helping Apollo and Artemis, by raising their celestial body, but Apollo and Artemis are the real bosses. I could totally see Cadence and Aphrodite and the other Love Gods (Eros, Anteros etc) all just gossiping and raiding malls...
New Headcanon!
7407727 Sounds like someone should make that a fic!
Actually, I think the fanon name for Celestia and Luna's father is Artemis.
7407731 Interesting, but I disagree, as in all myths Artemis was female and very sexist.
What'cha say, wanna collab? Also, by the way, I'm Lord Nitro from Fanfiction.
7407734 It sounds like a fun idea, but honestly I'm juggling quite a bit over here myself, along with trying to round up some editors and proofreaders for Where There's Life, There's Hope.
7407740 We can do it later
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to write some more Of Insects and Moons
7406303
And as Adagio noted in this story, they (or rather she) knew this could happen, but she was confident they'd completely broken them. Which they hadn't.
Did I say you should ignore that? No, actually. But you shouldn't ignore the moment the Dazzlings believed they couldn't lose when the moment of a straight magic-fight came either, unless you want to lionise the villain.
Now, onto the story!
I agree with the sentiment that you keep the Dazzlings very well in-character. That goes for all characters so far, actually. And I must laud your great attention to creating effective, atmospheric scenes. It's fun reading your work.
All in all, this story is criminally underrated.
7407995
They were confident of that because the Rainbooms had been stuck under the stage with no apparent means of escape or retaliation, only to have one granted to them out of thin air. They may not have completely broken them up, but without all but having their victory handed to them, the Rainbooms were sunk. Adagio says that they bet their entire plan on Sunset's insecurity, but locking them under the stage was the back-up. They were confident because even if they knew their friendship could be mended, they'd at least trapped them under the stage where they'd be out of the way until it no longer mattered. Then Deus Ex Vinyl Scratch happens.
You didn't say it should be ignored, but it sounded to me like you did anyway. You said "They didn't believe the Rainbooms would manage to pull themselves back together, and when they did, the Dazzlings took their challenge head-on—and lost." as though the Rainbooms 'pulling themselves back together' consisted entirely of Sunset's speech and them getting free under their own ability, which it didn't.
Furthermore, what makes you so sure they believed they couldn't lose? It's also said in this story that they've lost their one chance to restore their full power. By the time the Rainbooms showed up (and all of their failures were swept under the rug), it was either flee and lose their chance of getting everything they'd been working toward while inches from the finish line (and likely any chance of doing it again, as the Rainbooms weren't going to fall for the same thing twice), or standing their ground for a chance at winning. The 'chance', of course, was slim to none, but it'd have only gotten smaller if they weren't confident.
Then again, I guess things like "Never give up!" and "Believe in yourself!" are soured a little when the bad guys can do it too.
7408377
Well, more like "They don't believe it'll work for the Good Guys anymore". Adagio was very condescending when she accepted the Rainboom's final challenge; they thought they couldn't lose a song battle. As it turned out, that belief was wrong. They could lose, and they did lose. Which at that point wasn't a surprise at all. They put stolen Friendship Magic against actual Friendship Magic. They even put up a solid showing, but in the end, it was their failure to turn Sunset against the others that sealed their fate.
Also, I'm not trying to say Vinyl having a transforming stage-cum-car wasn't bullsh*t, because it totally was. However, there were also mistakes on the Dazzling's part that led to what happened, such as not minding Spike (when they knew about Sunset, knew Twilight was a princess from Equestria, knew all the other girls' names etc.), thinking they were done with Sunset Shimmer, and thinking they could easily win the final battle.
7408521
Right, their failure to turn Sunset and fate bailing their enemies out at the last second. If not for Vinyl showing up, Sunset's speech wouldn't have mattered.
Still, I think I see what you mean now in them thinking they could win with song-based magic, which had been their bread and butter their entire lives, against the girls that failed and fumbled constantly in that exact effort up to that point. They underestimated them because the Rainbooms hadn't really shown they could stand on the same level, and then suddenly could, like a man with a gimped leg lagging behind in a race, then hopping on a rocket surfboard until ten steps from the finish line and sprinting the rest of the way there.
If that's what you meant with that first post, then sorry to have dragged this out.
7408545
Weeeeeell... If they truly knew as much about what happened to Sunset Shimmer during her turn as Resident Mind-Controlling Monster of the Week as they claimed—including the part about how the final battle went down—it might've been prudent to expect a last-minute power surge.
Just sayin'!
7408583
Subtle difference: One mind-controlling monster used a power she had no claim to, and it betrayed her. The others used a power they'd been using for years against people that apparently weren't a match for them, and then suddenly were, to ridiculous, omnipotent degrees.
If the sirens were completely genre-savvy, they'd have never tried and there'd have been no movie.
7408593 Thankfully, the girls arent genre savvy. Theyre vicious idiots and for that we got a fun movie and this story
Really excited to see where this is going, I think you're doing a great job characterizing the sirens.
Exactly this. This is Earth/EqG land, not Equestria. Twilight Sparkle here isn't a princess, she's an undocumented immigrant, and Equestria holds no jurisdiction in this country and has signed no extradition treaties. This is kidnapping and all the Rainbooms are complicit in this felony. Unless the Rainbooms and Twilight are willing to come forward to the earth government about magic, Equestria and the threats the sirens pose, they are just using illegal brute force to kidnap the Dazzlings.
Don't get me wrong, I understand why they need to do that, I just hope the illegality of their actions (and the fact that all the earth citizens are committing major felonies here) gets called out at some point.
7414067 Though at the same time, the Dazzlings are technically undocumented immigrants/castaways
7414538 They were forcibly brought here by someone else and exiled, technically they could qualify for refugee status (banishment as punishment for a crime is considered both unconstitutional in the US and is outlawed by the UN).
Okay, holy shot, I love this.
The premise? Our little ponies have to change someone's heart without a magical rainbow? Yes please! I can see all the struggle and awesomeness to come!
The Dazzlings are FINALLY perfectly in character! Even now, Sonata is my favorite! A ditzy child who knows she wants to be with her family and that she should probably follow Dagi, but not too much else! Super cute, but not really sympathies.
I could gush more, but I suppose I don't need to restate what's been said. I agree with Aria being the choice. Adagio is too smart, too cunning, too ruthless. Putting her back in her natural environment is exactly what such would want. Sonata? It wouldn't help too much. She's too innocent to realize what she's been doing wrong, and would be lost without a sister with her.
Aria is angry, but she doesn't have a solid reason for it. Her pleasure is mostly from challenging Adagio and subjugating others. Removing her from her broken family and putting her in a controlled environment could do her a lot of good.
Besides, with Aria gone, Adagio will be too busy babysitting Sonata to plan properly.
I can't wait for more!
Great story so far! Looking forward to more.
I like their unity. Makes them sympathetic
Very nice work. Despite the fact that they are indeed the bad guys here, you've got me angry at the Rainbooms and princesses on the sirens' behalf. I almost hope they outwit their captors and defeat them, or at least manage to escape from them. Oh well, I'm sure reformation will be better for the sirens in the long run.
Holy crap this is good. I await the next chapter!!!
Or deaf girls with transforming cars out of nowhere. Seriously, did any of them catch that part?
Aaaand so did the Rainbooms, as Aria herself pointed out just last chapter.
7417069 Yeah, it was stated last chapter. No need to dwell on it especially with the conversation they were having.
7417185
Sorry, it's kind of become my instinctive reaction to the "all your fault!" thing directed at Adagio by now, because that line is always delivered with a few details overlooked. I would have guessed Aria was just lashing out and looking to score some pettiness points wherever possible, but that Adagio just kind of goes along with it makes me think it's being played straight.
7417204 Nothing is being overlooked here.
The Dazzlings were playing the blame game throughout the chapter - on each other, the Rainbooms, Starswirl, etc. They're scared, angry, whatever. We've already established, in both this chapter and the last, that they had victory if it weren't for Spike or Vinyl. And on that note, no I'm not going to have anyone question her transforming car. In the realm of a cartoon that's something you just have to roll with - picking at it, especially in a story like this, comes off as pretentiously douchy to me.
The point of Adagio realizing it was her fault is that, in the end, it was her call as a leader to move forward. It was her call to reveal themselves in what was admittedly a risky gamble from the start, it was her call to attack the ponies a thousand years ago. She was simply realizing the reality of it all: that they're in this situation ultimately because of a decision she made and her teammates followed because they trusted her lead, despite Aria's criticisms.
But if you think it'll make it better, I'll add a line of Aria telling Adagio that she should have remembered "the brat's dog".
7417479
That's the part I wasn't sure about. It's perfectly understandable that they might not be at their most rational right now, but the way Aria frames it, it doesn't sound like this-
(the part it makes much more sense to apologize for, even if the alternative was apparently to do nothing at all)-is the part she's addressing, just that it's 'all her fault' in general, ignoring that her 'manure plans' work just fine until they're hit with the unfair hands Adagio bemoans at the very start of the story. As that's a depiction I've seen over and over and over again, forgive me for thinking this was just more of the same.
It's pretentious to not ignore the blatantly obvious? Sorry if you feel that way, but I have difficulty taking people seriously when they do exactly that.
I wouldn't be so annoyed about that scene if they escaped and made a comeback under their own power, or since they fell with their instruments, started playing under the stage to counteract the sirens' spell from there, but as it stands? "Oh, don't worry about that looming threat, this is just a cartoon!"
Will you be employing a similar save for something in this story, erasing what was shown to be a serious problem with something Pinkie pulls out of her hair?
Probably not, because I'd immediately wonder why Aria and Sonata have no liability in remembering him themselves, or not knowing about his aforementioned prowess for finding the perfect bailout either.
On the bright side, I am one of apparently very, very few people that even notices this sort of thing, let alone cares, so I don't think the story as a whole will suffer for it.
7417598 You know, the thing about Vinyls car is that most teens like her these days at least have sound systems in their vehicles. I think her car transforming was just a funny sight gag but she just as easily couldve had equipment for them
This chapter has one of the best AdagioxAria scenes I've ever read, anywhere. It really sets the stakes for the Dazzlings.
Also, now the Rainbooms are complicit in sneaking a secret military force into their country to carry out operations and abduct people? I really hope none of them are getting good grades in civics classes, because then they would realize just what kind of legal troubles they could get into by being a part of this. It also suggests Equestria has no long-term plans to make themselves known and establish peaceful contact, or they wouldn't be doing things that can't be forgiven later. On the other hand, if Adagio and Sonata do escape and hurt innocent civilians on earth, Equestria will hold the blame for this for not warning the public about the threat they pose...
I can't wait to see what Adagio and Sonata will do when they think the time is right, and if Celestia and the other princesses will actually follow through on their implied threat to punish Aria for the actions of others.
7417891
A non-diagetic bit that wasn't indicated as such? I'd take that, but it still doesn't fix the rest of her part in the movie. Still, if someone like her (obsessed with her tunes, if the pre-RR short told us anything) had a car at all, I can see her spending whatever she had on music at all times, so maybe hers is just the Megabux version of a normal sound system or something.
7417907
In Interviews at the Canterlot Exchange, one of the explored issues is what happens when Human Equestria´s authorities discover the portal and the natives who use it. While the situation doesn´t escalate into war, the Government leaves clear to the Princesses they are NOT amused about having been kept out the loop about the events of the movies (aliens crossing between dimension back and forth, magical mind controlling monsters, almost end-of-the-world, etc...).
Absolutely loving this story so far, very much looking forwards to reading more. The premise is a fascinating one, but the sirens do a great job in the last chapter of finding its flaw - to help the Dazzlings discover friendship by separating them from their friends? Sonata is absolutely right in her assessment of it, and it's telling that we've never seen those kind of standards applied to friendships before. The hot coffee was obviously a tactical mistake, but damn it was satisfying to read. I very much hope the sirens manage to get out of their situation without redemption; they're happy as they are and deserve to be true to themselves, even if it is in the depths of Tartarus.
Keeping an eye on this one