Twilight came to her senses. Everything was wet? She opened her eyes to find she was underwater, with light filtering in from above. She began to panic, hooves flailing in an attempt to reach the surface, only to discover she was bound to the ground of the pond by a thick metal band around her midsection. With a rush of water, Sonata appeared before her. "Hello, Twilight! It's nice to have you over." She sounded as cheerful as ever, even if sharp teeth were being bared in that smile.
Aria swam up to join Sonata, purple scales glistening in the dim light, "We forgot how long our spells work in a world full of magic. Go ahead, breathe."
Twilight glanced back and forth between the two before taking a tentative breath. The water flowed like air, if thicker, and she stopped thrashing. "What do you want?" she asked. "How did you get here?"
Sonata held up a hoof, "That's two questions!" She paused, peering at her hoof with concentration.
Aria rolled her eyes. "Hooves don't have fingers," she reminded. As Sonata came to grips with this amazing insight, Aria moved up to Twilight, almost face to face, "We want you, and we got you. You made a mess for us back at that high school. Now you can be our toy until we get bored."
Twilight's ears rolled back against her head, "What?! I was just defending my friends. You were trying to control them all."
Aria pushed forward, brushing against Twilight and forcing her back, "We were controlling them, successfully. But no, you had to hog all the magic for yourself. Well where's your magic now?"
Twilight cringed back as Aria pressed into her personal space, but the question was a good one. She spoke the first syllable of magic before Aria struck like lighting, sinking fangs into Twilight's neck. Her spell fizzled with a yelp of pain, but she couldn't draw back with Aria attached to her.
"Kissy kissy!" exclaimed Sonata, circling in place as she watched, "We're finally away from that lousy world thanks to that grey mare."
Aria licked the wound before she drew back, "Stop talking about her. She said not to name her." Aria glanced at Sonata before looking back at Twilight, "And you, be a good girl. If you're good enough, we might let you go, eventually."
The water became a world of bubbles as Adagio and her orange scales joined the group in a hurry, "Did you get it yet?"
Aria rolled her eyes, "I was toying with her first. I'll get to it."
Adagio scowled at Aria, "No time. Once we finish the job we can relax." She spun in place to face Twilight, "You. The half breed, where is she?"
Twilight shook her head defiantly, "You'll never find out from me!"
Adagio swam up into Twilight's personal bubble, brushing her side with her gem studded chest, "I'm sorry, but that's not the correct answer. If you aren't going to give us the answer, we'll just take it."
Twilight shrank away, but there was nowhere to run to, "You three haven't changed one bit. I almost felt sorry for you, leaving you there without your powers."
Adagio spun in place, striking Twilight across her snout with a powerful fish tail, "You did do that, didn't you? Thanks for reminding me. Girls, we'll do this the old fashioned way."
Spike finished explaining their battle with the sirens in the world of Canterlot High, "And their amulets broke, leaving them powerless."
Long Road nodded, "Alright, but they are clearly not powerless now. I think this just became larger than us."
Pinkie tilted her head, "There are five of us and only three of them."
Long Road smiled at Pinkie, "Not like that. They're controlling the castle guards. That's a problem for more people than just us. For all we know, their influence could have spread to the castle itself."
Soft Mane nodded, "At least the Queen isn't in there."
Pinkie tilted her head the other way, "Why isn't the Queen in the castle? Where else would she be?"
Long Road huffed softly, "It's a long story, and I'm not much of a history expert, but the Queen lives in another city."
This did little to soothe Pinkie's questions, "Then how is this the capital?"
Soft Mane reached out and pet through the bushy mane, "We'll figure that out later. What do we do right now, Long?"
Spike suddenly lit up with an idea, "We go back to the Seekers!"
Long Road nodded in agreement with the idea, "We should inform the guild that the castle is compromised. They will know who to inform next, and they have many well trained people to help us."
With a plan firmly in hand and hoof, the four took off at a brisk pace through the city.
Twilight tried to fight their song, shaking her head back and forth as each note battered against her defenses. Her struggle only seemed to encourage the trio as they watched her squirm, but she couldn't get away, or fight back. It was only a matter of time before her thrashing slowed down and she began to smile. Twilight looked at her temporary mistresses with a hopeful expression, "How can I serve?"
Adagio swam up and put a hoof under the compliant Twilight's chin, raising it, "I prefer her this way. Shame she isn't a stallion."
Sonata grew rapidly perplexed, "If she was a stallion, she wouldn't be a she. What do you need one of those for anyway! We could always call one of the guards over if you want? What do you want with one?"
Adagio peered at Sonata's rambling, "I swear. Sometimes I think your brain got damaged between worlds."
Sonata frowned, "Hey, I was just asking. Besides, I've always been this way." she crossed her arms indignantly.
Aria shook her head, "There's no point arguing with Sonata." Sonata nodded quickly even as Aria continued, "You may as well be arguing with a wall."
Sonata recoiled, "Come on, girls. Stop being so mean! We're in this together."
Adagio spun back towards Twilight, "Finally, a bit of truth comes out. We are stuck together, for now. Alright, Twilight. Make us happy by telling us all about that half breed of yours."
Twilight struggled for a moment, hesitating before her mouth opened and she began to speak, disgorging everything she knew.
They hurried onto the guild house property, only to be intercepted by a griffon. Swift Strike held out a talon, "Hold. What has you running in such a rush?"
Spike shook his head quickly, "No time! Twilight's been captured by sirens!"
"The birdwomen? I've never heard of one in the city before," he confessed. "Where is she?"
The others rushed past Spike and his teacher with barely a wave, leaving Spike to deal with the griffon. "Uh, at the castle, but not birdwomen, more like horsefishes."
"The castle?" Swift Strike gripped Spike at the shoulder, giving a shake, "Be more specific. I don't like the direction this story's headed."
Spike pointed up at the castle, "Right in front, beside the path up to it. They were making the guards act all funny and the sirens grabbed Twilight when we saw them."
Swift Strike released Spike with a snort. "I hate underwater fighting." Despite that, he spread his wings and took off.
Spike glanced between the departing griffon and the guild house before making up his mind and soaring after the griffon. "Wait up, I'll help!" Despite his words, he easily caught up to the griffon and flew at his side.
Inside the guild house, the remainder of the group made their way to the master's office. Lilac Vision was present, eyeing them as they burst into her office. "I wasn't expecting you today. Is something wrong?"
Soft Mane rushed the desk, but was panting more than she got out useful words. Thankfully Pinkie was there to tell the tale, "Twilight's been captured by mean fishponies!"
"Sea ponies?" asked Lilac with confusion. "They are not usually hostile sorts. Tell me what happened."
Long Road stepped forward, "Sirens, in the form of deeptide horses. They're controlling the front gate of the castle under their magic."
Soft Mane won the battle to regain her breath, nodding with the others, "They're controlling the guards to say who's allowed in or not, and they're holding Twilight."
Lilac frowned at the news, "We can't just assault the castle. That could be taken the wrong way, even if they are under some sort of mind control. Have you told anyone else about this?"
"Well," said Pinkie.
Swift Strike and Spike landed in front of the gate. The griffon strode confidently up to the gate, "We're here to clear out your siren problem."
The guards peered at Swift Strike before raising their swords, "We have no siren problem. Go home, citizen."
Swift Strike looked over the guards, "I'm afraid I must have been misinformed then. Everything is alright then?"
"Everything is in order, citizen," reported one of the mares, though they kept their blades held at the ready. "Move along. There's nothing to see here."
"Ah," said Swift Strike, making a flippant gesture with a talon. "I must have been misinformed. My apologies, ladies, gentlecolt."
He backed away, to Spike's surprise. The dragon tailed after him quickly, "What are we going to do?"
Swift raised a feathered brow, "Me? I'm going to start knocking heads together. You can tag along, consider it on the job training." He threw himself against the wall before suddenly clambering over it. Spike followed quickly to see Swift creeping along as quickly as his name would suggest. Sticking back, Spike watched Swift work for the moment.
Swift lurked just beneath a window of the guard house, waiting as still as a statue until one of the guards stepped out to relieve herself and received a sap to the back of her head instead. Swift caught the guard as she slumped and hauled her out of sight before he advanced into the building where the other two guards waited. Spike could see Swift was enjoying his work, and wondered if he got the same smile when he was fighting people.
Spike flew in quickly to see what was going on. Swift was inside, engaged in a fast battle with the other two guards. The mare and stallion pressed on him, but lightning strikes with his sap had them seeing stars. Swift ducked a high swing before he brought about his own weapon, the sap knocking the mare's helmet free of her head. A blade swung brightly, leaving a red line across a leg as Swift leaped away, only to bounce in and bring his sap down on the stallion's head in a brutal blow. The griffon let them slump to the ground with only a few small cuts for his trouble. "No problem at all," he proclaimed, "Now where are these sirens of yours?"
I actually hesitated out of dread before starting this chapter. Good job for establishing the mood to such a degree.
Ah, interrogation. And attacks of opportunity. Ouch. I'm still wondering how the sirens' oh-so-mysterious sponsor found them, or even knew to look. I suppose that's what divination magic is for.
The
princessqueen is in another castle? Did the royal mycologist tell them that?I do feel that you're pushing Sonata's slow-wittedness a bit too much. She may be spacey, but she's not quite that bad. Of course, being assigned a tangible Intelligence score probably didn't help.
Twilight disgorging everything she knows? Wow. Talk about being careful what you wish for...
Oh dear. That could very good or very, very bad...
I couldn't detect any typos, but they may be hiding behind lead sheeting. In any case, looking forward to more.
5535929 Aw, but she's adorable. I'll try and tune it down a little.
You'll be happy to know the queen being in another castle is established as part of Everglow lore. As much as I can, I pull facts that are already established for the world, and it's fun bringing them to life in the story. Everglow is explained in large in the Ponyfinder campaign book and expands out through the adventures written for it, the god blog, and other sources.
Heck, I'm working on a book that will include a lot more facts on Lashtada. Writing, gooooo!
I love this chapter,
I just hope when everything is said and done the sirens don't die. They may be villains, but they don't strike me as the so bad they gotta die villains.
My first thought when they said "We should get help from the other seekers!" was "Can you really afford them?"
5536290 Only time, and the power of friendship, will determine!
5536328 i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc45/snesfreak/neogaf/bender-doomed.jpg
5535929
I found video to argue that Sonata is... kinda out there. Adorable, but out there.
Not sure how I feel about the Sirens returning... I know some people liked the idea, but I'm sort of iffy about it. Not that I didn't like Rainbow Rocks, I just don't think the Sirens should be a returning antagonist. Granted, they haven't been redeemed, but still...
5710919 Do you mean within the framework of the story, or because of their feel, or?
5710930 I'm not really sure, myself.
Kara sicced the sirens on Soft? Heh, called it. (Not the sirens, bit Kara going after Soft again.)
5875116 Kara is not quite done with them.
Couldn't get way? Even after all this time, the typos are still among us.
6826133 That typo had one day to retire! One. Day.
SAP ATTACK! I love when the players use unusual weapons during the fights. I once beat a kobold with a wet soap.
For some reason, the quick battle of Swift Strike and the guards reminded me of Assassins Creed Unity.
I should make a fanart of these characters! But I can only draw cartoons.
7574141 Is there something wrong with a cartoon?
5535929
Yeah, depending on the Strengh of the brainwash spell and how much Twilight is able to fight back, she could have tried to buy time not by fighting the spell but instead going on and on about everything about Soft that was completely pointless and useless to the sirens. Try to frustrate them like Rarity did with the Diamond Dogs