Princess Twilight patrolled the inner sanctum, fixing up the ruined walls with her magic. After two hours, she had finally finished it; the surrounding wall looked like it had never been broken down to begin with.
“Thank you, Twilight,” Princess Celestia trotted up to the lavender alicorn. “I couldn’t have fixed all this up without you.”
“It’s no problem, princess,” Twilight answered with a smile. “I had time today. And you look like you could use some help, and well… Princess Celestia, I’d like to learn more about Stardust.”
“Ah, Stardust…” the sun princess sighed. “Yes, she was an old friend of mine, Twilight. Long before you were around, while my sister was imprisoned on the moon, she would visit from time to time, telling me about her research and showing me her new inventions. She’s a little like you, Twilight. Curious about the world around her and how it worked, oh, and not forgetting reading. She loved books.”
“How did she get left behind? If you don’t want to talk about it, princess-”
“It’s fine, Twilight,” Celestia shook her head sadly. “While we were investigating the Void, studying it, learning what we could, the Corrupted emerged.”
“That’s right,” Twilight remembered the stories her friends had told her. “They attack anything that enter the towers. Then… she was taken?”
“Yes. We were almost out, but…” Celestia turned and looked at her console. “They took her. Just before we were to board the liset. They yanked her out of my grasp… I couldn’t help her…”
Twilight put a hoof on the white alicorn’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault princess. You couldn’t have known about the Corrupted then. They came with no surprise.”
“Yes. But now I do, and I know of the Neural Sentry thanks to her,” Celestia looked up confidently. “I’ve got to make this right, Twilight. We have to free Stardust from the Sentry's control.”
Twilight gave her a supportive smile. “We will, princess. You can count on us.”
Twilight had only learnt of Princess Celestia’s questionable past for only a month now, but she understood why her mentor did it all. Without Luna or anypony else to help her, she had to resort to drastic measures. Anything she could do to keep Equestria and the human world safe, even if that meant utilizing the Warframes and Tenno.
The two alicorns shared a moment of quiet together before a sound like a small knock got their attention. Then there it was again. Then another, and another.
“What is that?” Twilight got into stance, keeping her eyes peeled. “Is it Duality? Is she back?”
Nyx was instantly by her side, folding out from Twilight’s saddlebag, sybaris at the ready.
“I am ready, Lotus. I will stand by your side. And you, Twilight Sparkle. It is strange, standing beside you.”
Twilight listened, but the knocking wasn’t coming from beyond the sanctum this time. It was coming from…
“The pods,” Nyx was the first to say, rushing over, placing a hand on the glass of one. “My brothers and sisters. They’re alive!”
“But how are the active?” Twilight turned to the sun princess. “Didn’t the Stalker destroy them?”
“That is what I believed…” Princess Celestia placed her Lotus mask atop her face. “Something’s wrong. To be active like this… Their tracking systems have been activated. They’re looking for a pilot, but… I didn’t activate them.”
“We’ve got to get them out!” Nyx replied, not caring how they turned on. “They’re alive!”
"Wait, Nyx," Twilight floated forward towards her partner. "Maybe we should-"
Nyx activated the pod doors, releasing the ones trying to get out. She tried to grab ahold of the first one’s arm, but it moved too quickly, hopping over the Lotus mask pedestal and joining the others by the entrance before disappearing up the stairs.
It all happened so fast that Twilight was still trying understand it all. “What just happened?”
“They’re searching for pilots, just like that time with your Flash Sentry,” Nyx took a few steps and beckoned for the lavender pony to follow. “But their colours... Come Twilight Sparkle. Let us see who was chosen.”
Twilight cast a teleportation spell, taking both of them back to her castle, right before the mirror.
“Nyx, do you know where they are?”
“They’re still on their way, Twilight Sparkle. Why?”
“Princess Celestia didn’t activate them. Hay, we thought they were destroyed. Don’t you think this is a bit odd?”
“My brothers and sisters are reactivating, Twilight Sparkle,” Nyx turned her head to the pony. “I don’t care how they returned. I just want to see them again.”
“But Nyx-”
“Wait. Here they come.” Nyx tilted her head back to the entry way just as three Warframes rounded the corner, sprinting straight for the mirror.
“Woah!” Twilight yelped and flew herself out of the path of a female Warframe that sort of resembled a flower. Before she knew it, all three were through the mirror, off to find a suitable pilot before reactivating the Tenno within.
Nyx placed a foot through the mirror and waved for Twilight to join her. “Let us go. I want to know who they’re bonding with.”
“I hate it here…” Adagio Dazzle slapped a palm to her face. “Why did we have to come back?”
“Well, I love it here!” Sonata Dusk exclaimed, deepening her sisters’ frowns. “I mean, sure, we did try to take over once, but it’s still a nice place!”
“Yeah, as nice as your face when you’ve walked right into a door,” Aria Blaze said plainly, folding her arms and looking as annoyed as she could.
“What do you know about walking into doors?” Sonata stuck her face in Aria’s.
“Less than you, obviously,” Aria said and pushed Sonata.
“Girls!” Adagio screamed, her headache worsening. “Please, could you not fight for two seconds?”
“Only two seconds?” Sonata blinked. She mouthed a countdown before giving Adagio a wide smile. “That’s two seconds!”
“She didn’t mean it literally,” Aria slapped at her sister’s hair.
“Hey!” Sonata pouted and the two began fighting again.
Oh, why am I stuck with these two? Why? Adagio sighed and turned away from them. On the bright side, at least they weren’t immortal anymore. She would only have to put up with them until the day she breathed her last.
Adagio looked down where her crimson gem used to be. She missed her powers and her singing. Now they sounded like frogs, trying to please a crowd of angry wild boars. It wasn’t pleasant.
“Hey, girls!” a loud, shrill voice popped out behind her, startling the siren.
She grumpily turned around, coming face to face with one of the Rainbooms. The pink one with poofy hair.
“Hi, don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Pinkie Pie! We stopped you during the Battle of the Bands when you tried to take over the school? Anyway, I wanted to welcome you to CHS since you’re new! Although, you’re not new! You’ve been here before! Hi!”
“Right…” Adagio groaned internally as the pink girl grabbed her hand for a shake. “G-Glad to be back…”
“Right?” she giggled and bounced a few times, shaking Adagio’s hand, along with her whole body. “Most of the students here are still sour about what you tried to do, but in time, we’ll all come to love you like our own! Just like Sunset Shimmer!”
“Woohoo!” Sonata cheered. “That sounds like a great plan!” Aria made a face at her. “What? It is!”
Adagio ignored them and gave the friendly girl an extremely forced smile, at the same time, patting all her hair back into place. “Yes, we’d love to be a part of this great school…”
“Great!” she hopped over all three of them in a single jump. “Well, we better be off to class, or we’ll be late!”
“Come on, girls…” Adagio resisted the urge to smash her head against the nearest locker. “Let’s just get the day over with.”
Their next few classes were a total drag, at least to Adagio. Sonata seemed to be enjoying herself, and the orange haired girl could never tell what Aria was thinking, though it was probably along the lines of, “Whatever.”
However, she did get to sit by the blue haired boy she bumped into the other day. He was different from the rest; he didn’t seem to bother that they had once tried to take over the school, almost like he didn’t know what had happened.
“Hey, Dagi,” Aria whispered over. “Stop staring at him.”
“I am not!” she hissed back. She only realized it a few seconds later. Thankfully, he was focused at the front of class, listening to the teacher drone on about historical stuff. She blushed for a second and looked down at her table. She’d never experienced this before; she figured it must’ve been a side-effect of losing their gems.
The other Rainbooms were in the class as well, seated among the three sirens. Adagio caught the glance of Sunset Shimmer more than once, likely keeping an eye on them, making sure they behaved.
As soon as the bell rang, the three sirens swooped out of class, finally free from the schedule they had to follow all day.
“I had fun!” Sonata skipped along happily as they made their way out the main entrance. “Didn’t you two? I think I could get used to classes.”
“No,” Aria simply spat.
“Sonata,” Adagio tried to make sense to her carefree sister. “This school took our powers from us. Our singing. Was that fun?”
The blue haired girl immediately slumped lower and shook her head. “No…”
“That’s what I figured, Sonata.” Adagio led them to the road where they were to wait for their ride.
Something in the corner of her vision caught the siren’s attention. She half-turned her head, annoyed that it was probably the pink Rainboom from before. Adagio widened her eyes as she noticed she was completely wrong. Instead, a large grey and red robotic… squid thing lunged out at her, reaching both its hands forward.
“Aaah!” Adagio involuntarily yelped as it crashed into her, enveloping over her like a cocoon.
"Let your anger flow. Feed my followers. Power my Acolytes of Reckoning..." a voice seemed to say in her head.
The orange haired siren could hear her sisters shouting, likely experiencing the same phenomenon. Everything around her turned dark, only for her vision to return after a few minutes. A red and black sign appeared before her eyes, blazing once into her retina before fading away into a reddish screen. Something seemed to be moving her as well, along with a new feeling welling up inside her.
Anger.
Something was feeding emotions into her, adding a tinge of red to the view around her. Adagio despised the Rainbooms. She hated it that they took their powers away, their gift of singing away. Now here they were, pretending to play nice. Why? Probably to ridicule then even further. Adagio was going to have none of that.
This shell around her made her feel something she thought she had lost when their gems broke. She felt powerful.
“Where are you, Rainbooms!” she yelled. “Adagio is looking for you!”
It appeared her sisters were also encased in the same metallic shells, though their appearances were different. Sonata had one with a triangular head with big bulky legs, while Aria had a more organic looking frame, also coloured in grey and red, just like Adagio’s and Sonata’s. Adagio could only recognize them by the hair sticking out the back of their helmets.
“Wait, stop!” another robotic figure ran up to them, stopping just in front of them. Other students were gathered around the front lawn, looking at them. “Adagio, can you hear me?”
The green and grey figure before her had purple hair sticking out the back, but Adagio couldn’t quite place it. “And who are you to tell me what to do?”
“It’s me, Twilight Spar-”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence as Adagio punched forward, sending her sprawling across the floor.
Twilight Sparkle. Adagio knew her. She was the one who helped break their gems. And all the students around them. She was going to make them pay for chasing them off the stage that night. Adagio leapt up and activated the new power within her shell. Water began spilling out from her suit, forming around her like giant tentacles.
“You’re all going to pay!” she yelled and swung a limb at Twilight.
Home Run found himself rushing out as soon as he heard the commotion. Princess Twilight and Nyx were already there, lying on the ground, while another Warframe, kind of resembling a squid, stood close to her, whipping four watery tentacles around in the air. One soon went for Twilight, picking her up and tossing her around in its grasp.
“That’s enough,” he muttered as Vauban folded himself around him. “Let’s go, buddy. We’ve gotta help.”
The baseball player quickly rushed in their with his jat kittag, ready to swing it at the new foe. Two other Frames stood behind it, but they weren’t doing anything. Not yet, anyway.
“Home Run,” Vauban said as he ran. “That’s Hydroid. He’s a brother. What is he doing? And beside him… Loki and Saryn? But their colours are different… Something is wrong. How are they *zzzt* here? Let me see if I can establish a connection.”
“You do that, Vauban. I’m going to see what I can do for Princess Twilight.”
Home Run tossed a bounce grenade ahead of himself and hopped on it, launching himself up in the air towards the water Warframe, Hydroid. He swung his hammer, only to feel something hit him in the chest, hard, sending him falling back.
“Careful,” Vauban took control and flip both of them back on their feet. “You need to watch out for the tentacles.”
“Thanks, buddy,” Home Run rubbed at his chest. “Any luck contacting the Tenno?”
“Not these three, I’m afraid,” the Tenno admitted. “Though… I did manage to contact these ones.”
Vauban pointed a finger back, directing Home Run’s view. The rest of his group ran in, joining him in front of the swarming tentacles. Home Run noticed there was a red sigil with spiky tendrils pointed down on each of their chests. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t recall what it was at the moment.
“Glad you guys are here,” he smiled and grabbed his hammer in both hands. “We gotta help Princess Twilight.”
“Right,” Rainbow nodded and took to the air, pelting the Warframe with her bullets.
Before the others could rush in, Rainbow disappeared above them in a puff of smoke, crashing face first into the ground where one of the other Warframes had been. Home Run looked up, swinging his jat kittag high above his head as the Warframe with the pointy head dropped down, aiming a kick for Trixie’s head.
“Uncalled for!” the white haired girl yelled and cast a banish on the rogue Warframe, sending it to the rift.
It turned around and tried to kick out at Applejack, but its foot simple went through the cowgirl.
“Nice one, Trixie!” she chortled and ran for Hydroid. She jumped over one tentacle and dived straight for the Warframe, but Rhino’s leg malfunctioned at the last second, sending both Tenno and pilot spiralling into another tentacle, which grabbed her and swung her around, just like Twilight.
“Heeeeeelp!” they both screamed.
“I’ll deal with the other two!” Home Run hefted his hammer. “The rest of you try to get them free.”
“I’ll help Home Run,” Sunset ran after the baseball player. “He won’t be able to face them on his own.”
Both students ran for the organic looking Warframe while the horned one danced around, still trapped in the rift, trying to find a way out.
“Be careful, Sunset,” Ember said in the fiery haired girl’s head. “Saryn is a master of poison. You don’t want to get too close. Burn her from afar!”
“You’re not taking this power from us too!” the Warframe screamed at them, releasing a cloud of toxic gas, spreading it across the area.
Home Run halted himself and jumped back, avoiding the gas, while Sunset pressed down the trigger of her glaxion, freezing the particles before her, holding them back.
“How’re we going to get close?” Home Run asked aloud, watching Saryn approach them through the toxic gas.
“Pilots, Tenno.” It was the Lotus, or Princess Celestia, appearing in the corner of their HUDs. “Those are the sirens. It seems they have been taken by dark magic. I cannot establish a connection to their Warframes. You will have to disable them while I find a way to separate them. This is likely the work of the Stalker. Stay alert.”
Home Run recognized the three girls in the Warframes he had met earlier. Now that he thought about it, the hair and skin should’ve given it away; the same went with the Rainbooms before he had received Vauban. He should’ve known it was them through their hair. Sometimes, it was the obvious things that you miss.
“Home Run,” Sunset quickly called. “You’ve got more grenades. Use them.”
“Right.”
The baseballer took out a vortex grenade and tossed it right in. It sped right past the poison, latching on to Saryn, who looked down at her chest in surprise. Before she could react, the grenade activated, spinning her in circles around the small vortex, dissipating the toxic gas around her.
“Now’s your chance, Sunset,” Home Run ran along to the other Frame, who Vauban mentioned was Loki.
Sunset lifted her gun and fired, encasing Saryn in an icy sphere, careful to make sure she immobilized her arms and legs. Home Run arrived at the Loki, just as it returned from the rift, giving him a strike to the jaw with a punch. Vauban took over and maneuvered Home Run sideways, bringing up his hammer to Loki’s legs. At the last second, Vauban’s arm failed, sending the hammer out of Home Run’s hands and into the Loki, sending it flying.
“I apologize, Home Run,” Vauban said as Home Run ran after his hammer and Loki. “I should’ve calculated my malfunctions into the attack.”
“It’s fine, Vauban. We got her.”
Unfortunately for them, the Loki grabbed the hammer in the air and disappeared. The next thing Home Run knew, he was falling from where the Loki was, looking down at her, waving to him before being tackled by Applejack.
Speaking of Applejack, Home Run looked over to the others fighting Hydroid. Twilight and Applejack were no longer in her grasp, but watery tentacles still thrashed around, trying to beat down the others.
“Their suits have an anomaly within them,” Princess Celestia said on his HUD as he fell. “You will need to immobilize them before I can get a better look. I have sent for Loregiver and Eclair. They’ll be around shortly.”
The blue haired boy quickly returned his attention to himself as he neared the ground. With a well-timed bounce grenade, Home Run found himself launching forward as he landed on the bounce field, straight for the Hydroid.
The rogue Warframe turned to face him just as he barreled into her, rolling a few meters before coming to a halt. The orange haired girl threw a punch at his face, but Home Run ignored it and grabbed for her arms, pinning her down.
“Stop this!” he yelled, hoping to snap them out of their weird enchantments. “You’re being controlled!”
“No!” She yelled, struggling in Home Run’s grip; she was pretty strong. “All of you did this! You took away our powers! You are just trying to be nice to us to harm us! You think I don’t know that?”
“What?” Home Run was confused for a second, almost letting her go. He pressed down harder, keeping her on the ground.
“Just knock her out, Home Run,” Vauban suggested. “Much easier. Here, I’ll do it for you.”
“It’s fine, Vauban,” Home Run cut in. “I can handle this.” He looked back at the girl, Adagio or something, pulling his helmet back. “Hey, see? It’s me. You remember me? I don’t want to cause you any harm. Hay, I wasn’t even here when you tried to take over, so I’ve got nothing against you. Just relax. Stay down.”
“You…” Adagio seemed to slow, her struggling lessening. “You’re like the rest. You want to make fun of us.”
“Seriously?” Home Run lowered an eyebrow. “None of that. I just want to be friends. I’d rather have peace, if it’s okay with you.”
What Home Run got was not even a verbal rebuke, but a primal roar from the enemy Warframe’s helmet, just before the entire suit dissolved into water around him.
“What in the-” Home Run muttered as he was suddenly dragged into the shallow pool. “How does this even… Vauban!”
“Hang on, Home Run,” the Tenno said as he folded their helmet back on. This is Hydroid’s skill, undertow. Well… Good luck, Home Run. You’ll have to wait till she deactivates it or runs out of energy.”
“Are you serious?” the boy struggled to stay afloat, slowly being pulled down into the thin puddle.
“She can’t have much energy left to spare, looking at all the tentacle swarms she’s been casting, but just in case...” There was a hiss as Vauban sealed off Home Run’s suit completely.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Home Run muttered.
Meanwhile, Sunset was surveying the frozen form of Saryn. She tapped it with the tip of her gun, only for the entire statue to fall to pieces.
“What the- !” Sunset barely had time to say before Saryn’s heel connected with the side of her body, sending her flying into the puddle that Hydroid had become. Immediately, she began to sink, the water engulfing Sunset’s legs and waist, climbing rapidly.
“Of course!” Ember said. “Saryn can molt. It wasn’t her in the ice!”
“Help!” Sunset shouted at Applejack, but the farm girl was grappling against Saryn’s pilot, swinging a fist at her. Behind her, Loki rematerialized and cast a wave of energy that sent sparks down Applejack’s furax gauntlets, weighing them down.
“What gives?” she yelled and dropped them. She got into position to face the Loki, but the Saryn jumped at her from behind, knocking her down.
“Coming to help, AJ!” Rainbow shouted as she and the others rushed over to help. Halfway in the air, Rainbow found herself appearing somewhere else again, teleported by Loki, but this time, she found herself falling into a pool of water beside a sinking Sunset Shimmer.
Flash dashed forward, arcing electricity all around. He grabbed on to Rainbow’s hand, but fell forward when Loki gave him a light shove from behind, flipping over the athlete and landing face first in the pool, sinking faster than the two girls.
“Flash Sentry,” Volt said sternly. “I don’t even know what to say to you…”
“Sorry!” the guitarist's voice came out distorted underwater.
“Sunset, can you still hear me?” Ember said. The fiery haired girl was now completely submerged, feeling the water begin to seep in through her hair. “If you can, I want you to fire your glaxion at the water around you.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it, Sunset. At least I’m not asking you to light a fireball underwater.”
Sunset did as she was bid, her finger tightening around her weapon’s trigger and blasting the immediate area with a ray of subzero temperature. Sunset felt herself begin to slow down as the water around her began to turn to ice.
“No offense, Ember, but how is this supposed to help? Now we’re underwater and freezing.”
“It will help because all this water is Hydroid. If we agitate it enough, it will cost more energy to maintain this form and hopefully…”
There was a gargantuan splash as all four of them were abruptly thrown from the pool of water and onto dry land.
“Phew!” Home Run banged a hand against his helmet, knocking out some water. “Thanks, Sunset. I’m hoping we don’t have to experience that again…”
“It was nothing!” Rainbow placed her hands on her hips. “But alright, let’s wrap this up.”
Hydroid lay flat on the ground, struggling to get up, while Loki and Saryn stood close by, facing off against Trixie, Rarity and Pinkie Pie.
“We don’t wanna harm you!” Pinkie screeched at them for the fourth time. “We just want to help!”
“No you don’t!” the girl in the Loki Warframe yelled and let out another wave of energy, forcing everyone to drop their weapons.
“Pilots,” Celestia appeared again. “I almost have it. Keep them busy for a few more minutes and I think I can deactivate the bug in their Warframes.”
“We have nothing against you!” Home Run stood up and raised both hands, trying to show he wasn’t going to try anything.
“Actually, we kind of do,” Rainbow muttered.
“Not helping, Dash!” he turned his head and hissed. He looked back forward just in time to dodge a spore of some sort as it flew past him. “Look, okay, I know you tried to take over the school and all, but we don’t need to fight. That anger inside you, it’s not yours.”
Mr. Loregiver and Eclair arrived at the side, both still without their Warframes on, but they didn’t interfere, continuing to watch from the side instead. Home Run nodded confidently and folded Vauban’s Warframe away.
“Home Run!” Sunset reached a hand for his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“I know what I’m doing,” Home Run told her and stepped out of reach. “I think. See? We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to be friends.”
Saryn readied another explosive spore in its hand, but Loki held her back.
“What do you mean, you wanna be friends,” the helmet folded away to reveal Sonata’s nonplussed face.
“The past is the past,” Home Run continued, remembering that line. “If you’ve changed, you have nothing to worry about. You can start over. There’s always another chance.”
“Home Run’s right,” Sunset joined him, pulling her helmet back. “I was the same back then. I did some horrible things, but I’m a part of this now. The people here are my friends.”
Hydroid curled her fingers into fists, but Sonata looked thoughtful.
“Dagi,” she said slowly. “This isn’t what we came here for, is it?”
“What, for revenge?” Hydroid looked up and folded her helmet off her head. “To do what they did to us? Taking away our singing? You did all this to us! You!” Adagio pointed a finger at Sunset.
“You know, Adagio,” Saryn also folded back her helmet. “For the first time in forever, I think Sonata’s right. This isn’t what she told us to come here to do, is it?”
Adagio squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, but soon, she relaxed her face and shook her head. “No. No it’s not…”
“That’s right,” Home Run put both hands in front of himself. “We don’t want trouble. We’re your friends.” The rest of the team joined them, stowing their Warframes away. “The name’s Home Run, by the way. I’m new here.”
“I have it,” the alicorn said in their heads as the sirens’ Frames disarmed around them. “The Stalker can no longer control them.”
“Hey, what gives?” Sonata said as Loki stepped away from her.
“The Stalker, this, uh… evil alien guy was controlling your suits, turning your anger against us. He can’t do it anymore.” Home Run walked over and helped Adagio to her feet. The orange haired siren’s hand lingered in his for a second before she retreated behind her sisters.
“Well, we appreciate the help and all,” Aria replied. “But really? You think you can keep the other students from making fun of us and stuff?”
“I’ll make sure they try,” Home Run looked to his friends, who nodded in agreement with him. “We all will.”
Before anyone could do anything else, Princess Celestia’s face appeared on their HUDs again, except this time, it had worry written all over it. “Pilots, we have a problem. The Stalker, he’s-”
Static cut out the rest of her words before the image flicked out of their views.
Mr. Loregiver was immediately beside them, his new gleaming Warframe already around him. “The princess is in trouble. We need to go. Now.”
He nodded to Eclair and both dashed through the portal, leaving the others standing there, watching.
“Don’t just stand there!” Home Run returned to reality as Jetstream walked up to them. “Mr. Loregiver’s already gone ahead. I mean, you probably have something important to do, so go do it!”
“Right, right… Let’s go!” Home Run waved for the others and dashed to the portal himself, re-equipping Vauban as he entered.
It all made sense. The Stalker had set up a distraction using the three sirens while he himself slipped into Equestria without their knowledge. It was a good plan, and they had all bought it.