Twilight's eyes opened slowly and with great resistance as a pleasant smell filled her nose. Spike must be making breakfast already, she thought, a sleepy sense of pride and gratitude in her mind as she rolled over, eyes meeting the fabric of a sofa she wasn't familiar with. Alarm replaced the other emotions in her mind with startling speed before the facts of the previous night returned to her. She paused, slowly bringing a hoof--no, hand-- to her face and examining the lines in her...palm, a sense of deja-vu and mild wrongness surfacing as she lifted herself to a reclining position.
Twilight peeked over the back of the couch, noting the warm cascade of Sunset's mane facing her as she moved about the kitchen, apparently unaware of her guest's wakefulness. It took another moment before she realized that the unicorn was humming a tune, a strange sort of progression that seemed somewhat repetitive to Twilight's ears. Still, there was something so heartwarming about the scene before her. She could feel herself trying subconsciously to transpose an equine form over Sunset, to picture what it would be like back home. The idea made her sigh wistfully, which had the regrettable effect of making Sunset startle and turn about, a wry smile on her face.
“Morning, Princess. Smell of food wake you up?”
Twilight flushed a little, sheepish. “Heh heh, well...ah, you wouldn't happen to have any coffee, would you?” She knew Sunset wasn't a coffee pony like she was, but maybe...
“Afraid not, Princess. There's a fresh bowl of oatmeal in it for you all the same.”
Twilight let out a theatrical groan and awkwardly clambered to her feet to approach the island, taking a seat on the stool across from Sunset, who placed a bowl of oats before the lavender girl as she yawned widely, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. The oats smelled rather bland; Twilight wrinkled her nose as she eyed the concoction. Sunset must've seen as she sat down because she remarked sardonically, “It's what I had the pantry, Princess. You don't have to eat it if you don't want to.”
Twilight shook her head vigorously, guilt rising. She rushed to reassure the cook, “No, no! It's...uhm, well...”
“Smell kinda plain, huh?” Sunset remarked, lifting a spoon to her mouth.
“Ah, yeah...”
“Well, that's because they are. Since humans are omnivores, it seems they haven't put much effort into cultivating different kinds of oats, so most oatmeal brands come out to the same thing with varying amounts of seasonings thrown in.” She took a moment to chew and swallow a spoonful before continuing, “I wasn't exactly swimming in supplies before we left, so all I had was a little sugar and cinnamon to put in ours. It's...well, they're tasteless but filling. That's all there is to it.” She furrowed her brow, an apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry, Twilight.”
The honest consternation in her voice made the alicorn want to cry in a distant way. “Don't be sorry! They smell fine! Good, even! I bet they're delicious.” As if to emphasize the point, she seized her spoon (awkwardly--fingers were so strange) and lifted a mouthful to her lips. As soon as it was past her teeth she regretted it. Sunset was wrong--these weren't just plain, they were FLAT. They didn't taste bad, per se, but they seemed so paper-like to her that they were almost objectionable in another way. The scant amount of sugar and cinnamon her host had thrown in just wasn't enough to disguise the lack of any distinguishing flavors. Twilight didn't consider herself a food critic but she honestly wondered how Sunset could tolerate this practically criminal blandness of such a dietary staple. She swallowed the oats and fixed the other girl with a doleful expression.
“Sunset. I'm so sorry.”
The amber-skinned girl was stone-still for an instant before clapping a hand over her mouth as she broke into messy, entirely ungraceful laughter, barely saving Twilight from being covered in half-chewed breakfast as she rushed to the sink to spit the rest out and alternate between cackling and groaning in annoyance at the mess she'd just made of herself.
Twilight was at first seized with shock and then a fit of giggles of her own as Sunset washed her hands, still trying to get her own snickering under control.
–---
Twilight was in the process of dabbing her mane dry from the shower when Sunset's handheld device rang noisily, vibrating against the living room table and adding the clatter of metal against wood while terrifying the alicorn as she jumped out of her seat, nearly falling down over the arm of the sofa. She picked up the offending device, the sensation of it against her entirely too soft hand surreal and disturbing. The front panel read Rainbow Dash, along with a series of numbers that Twilight assumed had to be her personal contact code. But how to activate the device?
She decided to tap the green dimly banana-shaped emblem, gingerly poking at it with a free fingertip. This was how Sunset made the thing work, if she remembered correctly, and green meant yes 91% of the time (she'd checked) in Equestrian signage (unless it meant street), so it stood to reason since humans seemed to echo ponies in many respects this was one more. Twilight wasn't quite able to hold in a small yelp of surprise as the Rainbow Dash's scratchy voice sounded on the other side.
“Sunset? What took you so long to answer?”
Twilight placed the flat little thing to her ear, answering cautiously. “Rainbow Dash...?”
“...Twilight? Why are you--how're you answering the phone when you're right over--OH! Pony Twilight? Uh, why is your voice so quiet?”
“I'm not sure...I thought I was doing this right, but...” Twilight felt sheepish, flushing there being none to see her.
“You're holding the phone backwards, aren't you? Got the ear part and mouth part turned around?”
“What? I mean, maybe.” The lavender girl rotated the device, embarrassment mounting.
“Yeah, there's your breath. Mystery solved, Princess. Anyway, what're you doing answering Sunset's phone? She playing some kinda trick on me?”
“No, no. She's in the bath right now, and the little device started making a racket, so I picked it up and the little glass panel said your name, so I decided that I should try to use it because you might be upset if Sunset didn't answer--” Twilight began to run out of breath as she went on, only to be cut off.
“Easy, easy there, Twilight. I get ya... Man, you and Sci-light have the same speaking habits even, Princess. It's kinda spooky.” The voice on the other side laughed, the scratchy voice bringing a smile to the alicorn's face, amused at the similarity between the pony and the human that bore the name Rainbow Dash. It also brought a shard of shame to the back of her mind. Spike had said that she was 'still being kind of chilly to Rainbow and Pinkie' back home. She had been disappointed with them as far as their reactions to Sunset, but it had still been far too long since she'd just spoken with either of them. A sickly guilt rose in her mind as she realized that she had prioritized Sunset over them, regardless of the rationale or her personal feelings on the matter.
Twilight resolved to sit down with Dash and Pinkie as soon as she got back to the other side. She wasn't going to let two of her best friendships languish for the sake of one, even if it was Sunset. This wasn't a case where there had to be a trade; the bonds of friendship were without an upper limit.
“Twi? You okay?” The human Dash's voice brought her back to reality. “You went kinda quiet there.”
“Uh! Sorry, Rainbow. Just remembering something I had to do.”
“That's chill. Uh, listen...Since you're answering the phone instead of Sunset, I'll just tell you. Applejack told us about a big team meeting that we're gonna have to all get together for, which is surprising considering you two left only a week ago, but whatever! You caught us all before we scattered anywhere so it's all good. Anyway, AJ says we're getting together at...” There was a pause. Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion.
“...what? AJ, no. You can't be for real. Seriously? THAT'S the only place you had? Man, whatever...ah, sorry. Wait a minute, even if I tell you, it wouldn't help.”
The alicorn responded with an indignant, “What do you mean?”
“I mean you wouldn't know where it was, Twi. Chill out. Tell you what; tell Sunset to text me back when she's done showering.”
“Rainbow, wait--” The device clicked, and silence answered Twilight as she pulled away to look at the screen, where the worlds 'Call ended' greeted her. She put the flat thing down on the table with a wordless groan of annoyance. That was another thing both instances of Rainbow Dash had in common: a penchant for going ahead and doing things without listening to her. Petulantly she folded herself up on the sofa, knees to her chin as she was reminded that as much as she was good friends with those around her it didn't mean they didn't annoy her sometimes.
Still, now she had some time to kill before Sunset was out of the bath; what to do until then? She cast about the room, the search for literature the first priority in her (immaculately organized) mental checklist for “Things to Do When I'm Bored”. Twilight's gaze was naturally drawn to the bookshelf to the left of Sunset's projection screen. There were Sunset's copies of the human version of the Lord of the Reins, and though tempting they were almost certainly too much even for her to pick up and put down in the space she had remaining. Instead, she rifled through the nonfiction offerings, scant though they were, presented to her. One seemed to be an elementary-level history textbook, so it would do for now. She could take the time to brush over the past of humanity while she waited.
The thing Twilight noted about textbooks was that they were almost insultingly simplistic in their writing and presented facts in a manner almost childish (which was appropriate, she supposed). For this reason, the inveterate scholar already knew to take what she found with a grain of salt, if only because it was likely to be spun in such a way that it would be something that a foal could read and not be troubled by. She wondered if human textbooks were made the same way, pulling open the cover only to hear the washroom door behind her click as Sunset stepped out, making an indistinct noise of pleasure.
“I swear the greatest achievement of intelligent life on any realm ever is the hot shower. EVER.”
Twilight set the book aside, her academic intellect offended by the very implication. “What? No, that's silly. I mean, hygienic standards were definitely a strong contributor to modern society and overall quality of life, but the greatest achievement would by far have to be the printing press!”
Sunset raised a hand, a sardonic grin on her face. “Easy there, Professor. I'm not ready for a serious academic debate.” She hummed, tousling her still-moist mane. “Taking a look at humanity's sordid past, eh? I brought a newer edition of that with me through the portal, but I ended up not having a chance to contribute it to the Royal Library.” She frowned as sat down next to Twilight, a pair of socks in her hand. “Come to think of it, how would you file a book from another dimension?”
Twilight's mind instantly spun into motion. “By the standard Dewhoof Decimal System, it would go under non-fiction history, but it's an educational text so it might be filed with them, except that it's foreign literature, so it'd be filed under specialty books, but there's no section in specialty literature for extraspatial literature...” She tapped her chin, thoughtful. “Honestly I don't know that there's a standard answer for that. I suppose there's an argument for it being set in the vault with dangerous texts, considering how very foreign it is, but--”
“Foreign maybe, but it's still ultimately just a history textbook.” Sunset responded, an eyebrow quirked.
“But there'd be no telling what something brought over from this dimension might have, Sunset! Look at the mess my crown made of things--”
“That I made of things.” The unicorn corrected quickly.
“Sunset, what have I--ugh, anyway, it was a magical artifact from another space that ended up adversely affecting the human world and changing the nature of your friends, including my counterpart! Who's to say a human artifact doesn't have a magic we just haven't seen yet?” Twilight argued, her irritation at Sunset's self-deprecation translating into passion for the debate.
“Fair point, Sparkle; if my bath towels start acting up, I'll be sure to let you know.” Sunset stood with a cackle as she picked up her little metal device from the table, thumbing it nonchalantly and frowning. “Dash called? And you answered?”
Twilight started, nodding. “Ah! Uh, yes. I just mimicked the thing you do with it, and it worked! Which reminds me; Dash told me to tell you to 'text' her (whatever that means) when you were done in the bath. Which I have done, uh, just now. Yep.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she continued to slide her fingers across the panel of the little block. Twilight found herself envious of her host's effortless dexterity, but supposed that Sunset had earned that skill the old fashioned way and on the run by necessity, compared to her own very brief sojourns. That said, she still couldn't shake the lingering wrongness of fingers and toes. It just wasn't right, in her mind. Her musing was cut short when Sunset pulled a grimace, sighing.
“Something wrong?”
“Yes. No Sort of? I don't know what I expected when AJ said she'd handle a meeting place for this discussion, but I guess I did leave it to her so I have no room to complain.”
Twilight's neck prickled, a seed of worry planted. “Why? Where are we going, anyway?”
–----
“Applejack, I swear by everything you and your rustic family find holy in tree and soil--” Rarity's refined, practiced accent was cut off by the farmer's drawling response.
“It wasn't my first choice either, Rares. You try findin' something to accommodate a dozen on a day's notice and we'll talk. We needed a place to discuss a Friendship Problem and I found one, so that's that. Cousin Ambrosia owed me a favor and works here for the summer, so I got it for free.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle didn't quite understand the consternation of her friends, who were wearing varying shades of irritation and nausea as they beheld the structure before them. It seemed like any of the other human businesses around...
“Ah, girls? What's so bad about this place?”
The collected assembly of Rainbooms plus the native Twilight Sparkle traded significant looks with one another.
“You wanna tell her?” Dash spoke to Sunset, the latter's nervousness evident.
“I'm not sure how I would, honestly. You can't really articulate it...”
“I can try.” Fluttershy, her sundress waving in the warm breeze as she took Twilight's hands. The alicorn felt a surge of fear in the back of her mind as the blue-green eyes of the other girl met hers, a bottomless well of sorrow greeting her.
“Twilight, this place is, nominally, a place where children gather for parties. There are games and machines that give you tickets and prizes, food and drink.”
“That doesn't sound so bad. What's the catch, then?”
“It's...they...” The girl faltered, a shudder causing her curtain of hair to cover her eyes as she looked away.
Twilight felt a hand on her shoulder, surprised as she turned to face Pinkie Pie. Her curly mess of a mane framed an uncharacteristically somber expression as she spoke.
“A place for tickets and soda, pizza and prizes, yes. But also a house of abominations. There are things in there that will haunt you. Listen to me, Twilight.” The usually-cheery girl cupped Twilight's face, locking her gaze to the alicorn's. “When we enter this building, do not look around. Face forward or focus on one of us.”
“Girls, what on earth is in that place that's so horrifying?” Twilight furrowed her brow, a truth she was hesitant to accept beginning to creep up on her mind.
–---
“How could...how could any creature find those things acceptable, let alone endearing?” Princess Twilight sat, staring a hole into the table before her while Fluttershy rubbed her shoulders. Sunset rubbed the back of her head, remembering her first encounter with the automatons in the main hall of the combination restaurant-party hall while exploring the town. Unsettling things, with awkward, stilted movements and beady eyes that seemed to follow you around the room regardless of where you stood. Their anachronistic 'attire' did little to dull the unease they inspired, and it was among the strongest evidence Sunset had that humanity as a rule was a disturbed species.
“Honestly, I don't think they're meant to be acceptable.” Rarity sniffed from another seat. The group had been given a thankfully rather plain party room off the main hall with a long table dominating the center of the room. It seemed to suppress sound, as the cacophony of music, games, and shrieking children was muffled severely to their ears. There was space enough for sixteen, which would be more than adequate for their purposes. “Are we one-hundred percent certain there was no other--”
“For the last time, yes. I checked as many places as I could, and this was the only spot that could handle a dozen people talkin' that was private, free, and wasn't my family's barn in the middle of summer.” Applejack stared pointedly at the ivory-skinned girl, irritation evident. “Maybe you'd rather have stood in a compact space surrounded by hay, farm animals and all the smells that go with that, Rares? Would that've suited you better?”
Rarity pulled a face, answer clear.
“I don't think it would've been so bad.” Fluttershy supplied helpfully, which caused most of the group to smile.
“So, who else is coming for this Problem?” The bespectacled Twilight Sparkle inquired, adjusting the glasses on her face. “Is it someone from school?”
Sunset and the Princess glanced at each other, a silent communique passing between them.
“I guess it'd be better to tell you now so you don't freak out.” Sunset remarked dryly. “The others are--”
“The Dazzlings.”
Eight faces turned to the room's entrance simultaneously, the majority with mixed shock and anger on their faces. Through the door stepped the unmistakable form of Adagio (and presumably the namesake of the trio), followed closely by her cohorts Sonata and Aria Blaze. Sunset frowned as she took in the latter two. While their leader seemed able to keep up appearances as healthy and proud as she'd ever been, Sonata's usual energy seemed to have already departed her, the Siren rubbing her eyes and taking a seat without a word before flopping on the table. She seemed to be even leaner than when she and her comrade had been in Sunset's apartment the previous day.
Aria looked worse, if that was possible. She seemed leached of color and her formerly vibrant hair was drawn into a single tail, utilitarian and without decoration. She carried herself with a certain defiance that Sunset could find she appreciated, but it did little to disguise how drawn she appeared. She raised a hand in silent greeting to the assembly giving the unicorn pause as she realized that this was the most civility she'd seen from any of the three as Aria sat down, a quiet sigh escaping her.
A moment of silence passed between the two groups as Adagio settled down, apparently still determined not to show any kind of weakness to her adversaries. Hard stares leveled all around (except from Sonata).
“Uhm, who are they?” The native Twilight spoke first.
“A trio of troublemakers is what they are.” Applejack growled, slamming a hand on the table and making most of the assembly start in surprise. “Look here, Sunset. You didn't say anything about them.”
“I had a feeling you'd react that way.” Sunset responded, standing and folding her arms. She primed herself internally to argue, hoping she wouldn't have to. “But they came to us and made what seems like a sincere request to me. We should at the least hear them out.”
“Why should we?! They're a bunch of emotional vampires that drove everyone in school against each other!” Rainbow yelled, fixing Aria with a venomous gaze that earned nothing more than a listless stare in return.
“And yet here we are, as Shimmer said, sincerely asking for help from you.” Adagio retorted primly, tenting her fingers before her in an eerie echo of Rarity.
Applejack scowled. “...Yeah, here you are. I guess we can see what you're after. Or say you're after, anyway.” She placed her hat on the table before her, frown still plastered on her face as she leaned back in her chair. Rainbow Dash tsked and folded her arms even as the rest of the group took up seats on the other side of the table, as far away from the Dazzlings as they were able.
“Uhm, no one really answered me. Who are these three?” The lavender girl asked again, confusion evident as she spoke.
Sunset opened her mouth to explain but was cut off by Aria, to her surprise.
“Long story short: we're Sirens, an Equestrian species that was banished here for reasons related to our powers and habits. We came to CHS to get Equestrian magic to go home, they stopped us and permanently neutralized our primary talent, so here we are.” Aria spoke with all the enthusiasm of a public service announcement, dry and without inflection.
“Wait, YOU'RE the sirens? I mean, I'd heard of you, but I never got the details...” Twilight's eye gleamed, sensing potential for inquiry, only to be shot down by Aria's dull response.
“The details aren't important. Let's get this wrapped up. Time's wasting.”
Twilight balked, glancing to her friends. “...Is she always this brusque?”
“Honestly, I don't know that any of us could tell you. We didn't exactly spend a great deal of time with them...” Fluttershy remarked with an apologetic shrug.
“Brusque is a good way to describe her, but her heart doesn't seem to be it. As she said, time is wasting.” Adagio interjected. “You don't want to be here or speak to us, and we're just as interested in leaving this den of horrors as some of you must surely be. Humans really are warped creatures...
“But here's our request, for the sake of those here who clearly haven't been brought up to speed.” She fixed Sunset with a measuring expression before continuing. “We want to go back to Equestria.”
Pinkie spoke up without warning. “So you and your pair of meanie-pants sisters wanna go back to ponyland so you can conquer them with your music? But you don't have your little glowy gems so you can't use your magic music to control other people so you're gonna go conquer ponyland the old fashioned way?” She didn't seem aware of almost half the congregation rolling their eyes at the label 'ponyland'.
“We're not entirely powerless, we just have to try a lot harder now.” Aria chimed in, earning a scowl from Adagio that didn't seem to move her in the least.
“Ahem! Well, Aria is correct. We're not without our talents completely, but they are greatly diminished. In either case conquest isn't our aim. We just want to go home. Back to the sea of our birth.”
“Still not seeing why we should reward you jerks for your trouble by turning you loose in a world where you're free to go and ruin entire towns.” Rainbow remarked, voice laden with scorn. “Honestly this seems like you getting what you deserve.”
“You will find we disagree on that notion, hypocrite.” Adagio retorted with considerably more venom that she'd displayed thus far.
“Hypo--how are YOU gonna call ME a hypocrite?!” Rainbow snarled as she jumped to her feet.
Sunset raised her hands. “Dash, calm down. We can talk this out. Adagio, if you want us to take you seriously, you're gonna have to argue that point. With no insults, please.”
Adagio huffed and reasserted her control. “Fine then. Here are the facts of the matter. My sisters and I are creatures from Equus. We need to return home; we're going to continue to waste away because we can't adhere to our basic nature. However you want to paint it on a moral scale, we're Sirens. To consume the emotions that come from others is our innate talent and our magical biology, so to speak. If we're not doing it, it's not healthy behavior for us. You could scarcely tell an Earth Pony to never touch the soil, a Unicorn to never cast spells, or a Pegasus to stay on the ground permanently.
“You look at us and see us as monsters who sow strife and reap hatred and anger, but that's only as monstrous as perspective paints it. It's who we are, it's what we are. If you're not going to help us, then we're just going to keep looking for another way until we're no longer able to. Which, frankly speaking, might not be far off.” Adagio concluded, clasping her hands in front of her. She paused a moment, her eyes measuring the group before adding, “This little meeting is already among the final options we had left. At least back home we'd prefer to go in familiar waters.”
“Counter-argument,” Rarity responded, her voice clear. “Your nature or not you seemed to be doing just fine before you caused our entire high-school to devour itself with infighting and rage. It seems reasonable to conclude that you were quite able to get along without all of this negative energy business.”
“We'd been doing that for months before encountering you and your school. Moreover, without our gems to actually absorb that power we're barely able to process anything we get. Combine that with our depleted talents and you find us as we are now.” Aria quipped. Sunset wasn't sure, but she though she was detected a ghost of a smile at the corners of her mouth.
“I hope you're not tryin' to argue that you're not guilty of somethin' that just ain't right.” Applejack interjected. “What you did was plain mean and you know it. You went outta your way to make our classmates bicker with each other, hypnotized our staff, and who knows who else so you could take our magic from us. And y'all have the wherewithal to know it was wrong, so don't pretend you don't.”
Adagio stared at Applejack again, apparently having decided that the farmer was going to be her primary opposition in this debate. “I never said anything about rightness or wrongness in our actions. We did what we do. Playing ponies...and people against each other and feeding on the struggles therein is how we exist. It's how we persist. That's our nature. Do you get morally offended at a mosquito that sucks your blood? A wolf that kills your sheep? A tidal wave that drowns the coast?” She punctuated her list by narrowing her eyes, managing to bring back a measure of the intimidation she displayed months prior. “No. Those things are acting on instinct or lack even that and simply are what they are. You can try to apply your right and wrong to it, but if it's our basic nature to sow strife and feed on the resulting energy, that's our basic nature.” She wore a cruel smile as she finished, “But it is entertaining to watch people struggle with one another, yes.”
"You can't really compare yourself a wild animal or natural disaster, dear. It only reflects poorly on you." Rarity retorted airily, earning her a withering scowl from Adagio.
“I-is it possible for you to just use the ambient negative energy of people around you? People can be pretty mean...” Fluttershy chimed in, her voice barely audible. “You don't have to get others to fight all the time, do you?”
Aria's emotionless tone responded, “That's the equivalent of telling someone not to go to the market to get food and instead hope they get lucky foraging in the woods for something edible.”
Rainbow Dash spoke, "We broke your gems permanently. Even if you guys go to the other side, you'll just end up giving out over there, won't you? Or do you know something we don't...?" She finished, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"We're aware." Aria answered. "But it's the last chance we have. We're guaranteed to fade away here, so we might as well take a chance there. If it doesn't work, then we can die in our homeland."
"How do we know you won't just try to hypnotize everyone around you as soon as you get over there if it turns out you can, huh?"
"You don't." Aria stated simply. The ghost of a smile returned as she finished, "You'd just have to...trust us."
A sinking sensation came over Sunset as the conversation went back and forth. She could already tell where this was headed. Princess Twilight's voice, ironically, brought them to that point.
“You three don't plan on changing your ways at all, do you?” Her face was calculating, a furrowed brow the only clue that she was deep in thought.
Adagio responded haughtily, “Why would we want to? You see what your self-righteousness has done by stopping us. We're withering away bit by bit, day by day, while you 'heroes' pat each other on the back and congratulate yourselves for a job well done!” Her voice slowly rose in volume as she continued, “We can promise that we won't cause trouble for you personally, Princess, but if something good comes of this then we're going to do what our very nature tells us because doing otherwise is KILLING US!” She finished, slamming both hands on the table as she stood.
The impact was enough to rouse Sonata, who woke up snarling and clutching her armrests, head snapping back and forth like a cornered animal as she bared her teeth at anything in sight. Sci-Light, as Dash referred to her, was the next nearest person on her left and spent a solid thirty seconds leaning as far away from the suddenly quite animated siren as she could while the argument went back and forth with or without them.
Sunset rubbed her temples, struggling to keep her own temper under control as Adagio and her friends bickered hotly with one another even as Aria seemed to find the energy to join the debate and prod things along, an unmistakable smirk now on her face as she observed proceedings and periodically verbally jabbed at the other Rainbooms and sometimes even Adagio. It seemed she was more interested in watching the carnage than actually contributing, for all her talk of time-wasting.
She frowned, feeling the headache coming on.
To one side, she observed the the Rainbooms. AJ and Rainbow might be the most animated of the bunch, but she could already see that Rarity had decided she wasn't going to rule in their favor just by looking at her face. Fluttershy seemed to be trying to hide behind her hair, which wasn't going to help bring any kind of closure to this argument. Pinkie remained cheery, but Sunset was pretty sure she was watching Sonata out of the corner of her eye (who thankfully had stopped snapping at poor Twilight and was now sullenly folding her arms). The Princess seemed to be starting to panic, sweat beading on her brow and pupils constricting more and more with each passing second. She supposed the alicorn wasn't used to out and out fighting or settling such disputes (especially when the ethics involved were thorny).
On the Dazzlings side, Adagio was had now lost herself in puerile insults and thinly veiled threats, her appearance now obviously haggard as she stopped bothering to try to appear collected. Aria was more awake, but she was actually egging everyone on instead of trying to settle anything, which could only be the pointless malice of the incredibly mean-spirited or those beyond caring (or both). Sonata just sat there, sulking and looking a blend between miserably tired and extremely put out about being woken up.
It was all so stupid.
Frustration surged in her mind, rapidly transforming into a pure indignant rage that she had tried to avoid since that night months ago. Why had they even bothered? It wasn't like her friends would ever yield to the sirens. They couldn't understand. They had no way of grasping the truth of their plight any more than they could hers. Humans couldn't know what it was to have to ignore your basic nature.
And the sirens; of course they were going to be combative and rude and unhelpful. Why would they be otherwise? It wasn't like their very survival was on the line, and they weren't stepping on the toes of the very people that held the sirens' fates in their hands.
It was all so stupid. They were all so stupid. Every raised voice wormed its way into her skull, exacerbating the mounting migraine. Boiling resentment rose. Why had the sirens come to her? Why now? What were the odds that they'd pick the very day she got back to come and drop this at her doorstep?
The logical answers came to her in order: They were desperate. They noted that she was home, or perhaps one of them saw her and Twilight in town. They had no other options, else they wouldn't have. Adagio's entire demeanor made that clear. It was possible even that her cohorts had prevailed on her to do so to start with. A nauseating sensation of guilt both for her friends and for the sirens began to fester alongside the anger, which ironically just made her more irritable, which in turn made her even guiltier in some sort of warped loop. She tried to breathe, to steady her thoughts and calm the pounding in her skull, but would've been easier if they COULD ALL JUST--
“SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS!”
Sunset started, the sudden shrill volume of her voice returning her to the present. Ten pairs of eyes stared at her in surprise as she rubbed her throat, now sore. Rainbow slowly lowered a fist she'd been balling up. Sonata seemed to be wearing a thousand yard stare in her direction. Princess Twilight blinked slowly, reaching out and touching Sunset's hand with worry on her face.
The unicorn blanched as all attention came to her. She needed to...she could...
“....Please be quiet, I mean. Everyone.”
Yep, improv was the name of the game. Again.
Twilight squeezed her hand, brow furrowed. Sunset swallowed and continued, struggling to piece together a coherent stream of thought on the run.
“Aria has the right of it. We're wasting time that the Dazzlings might not have. Look at them.” She motioned with her free hand. Adagio was unwilling to bother trying to recover her composure, mountain of curls seemingly hanging somewhat limp despite her defiant mien. Sonata was having trouble keeping her eyes open, while Aria stared at Sunset with intense interest, which only seemed to accentuate the sunken, hollow look of her countenance.
The Rainbooms assembled paused, Dash in particular glowering.
Sunset took a breath (partially to buy herself precious seconds to think), and spoke again.
“This is gonna sound really cheesy, but--” She sighed, the phrasing sounding trite even as she spoke. “To guarantee we protect ponies--and people-- from the sirens means to condemn them to a life of skirting magical starvation for the rest of their days, which will probably be brief if I know anything about the subject. At best, they scrape by miserably, barely able to meet the rest of their bodies' needs. At worst they die slowly in the next little while.” Sunset found herself clenching Twilight's fingers firmly, a weird kind of satisfaction taking shape alongside her other conflicting emotions; it was the sort of self-congratulatory pride of someone who'd barely slipped by an audition, but succeeded nevertheless.
“...a fair summation, Sunset Shimmer.” Adagio remarked, a strange smile on her face and amusement sparkling in her eyes. “So, Rainbooms, what'll it be? Do you let us die, and we most assuredly will, to keep ponies you'll never meet or care about safe...” She paused, probably for emphasis. “Or do you 'save' us like the heroes you pretend you are and deal with the uncertainty of what comes after, knowing that we not only can't but won't change what and who we are?” She chuckled, the sound wheezy and dry as she leaned back (Sunset involuntarily rolled her eyes; this was surely theatrical). “I have to say, I don't envy you! What's the 'right' decision? Is there a 'wrong' one?”
Aria chose this moment to chime in, “For the record...I won't hold not helping us against you.” Adagio looked at her compatriot, aghast, even as she continued, “You're in a tough position. As much fun as it is to watch you fight with Adagio, I understand what it is to have conflicting priorities. Think hard.” She stopped only when Adagio elbowed her roughly, to which she responded with a sardonic smile. Sunset stared at the violet siren, trying to understand her intent; was she playing for sympathy, or did she genuinely mean that?
Pinkie nodded, a sunny smile on her face as she chirped, “Welp, that's probably everything that everyone was gonna say, right? So let's take a vote and blow this popsicle stand before the robots in the next room try to eat us!” A wave of fervent nods answered. No one was interested in being in this place for much longer, however real or imagined that danger might be.
Earth's native Twilight opted to abstain, lacking perspective on the matter. This was probably for the better anyway, Sunset mused. No need for a potential tie vote.
“Okay...all in favor of helping the Dazzlings, raise your hand.”
They may be sapient but that doesn't circumvent basic needs an organism needs to survive. Sure they can be less dicks about how they go about getting it but they still need to do it (as far as we know). And making them go about a "bread and water" solution might as well be torture.
7118349 At least you don't say "Sweetiebelle" or "Applebloom." Those are infuriating.
7118083 I think the basis of the argument is that is something needs to cause harm to survive but offers no benefits to anything in return (i.e. a purely harmful existence), then should one really allow it to continue living just by the virtue of already being alive? Wouldn't everything as a whole be happier if such an entity didn't exist? The question, in my opinion, boils down to how much one values life and how much one is willing to sacrifice to preserve it (especially when said life is sapient).
Yeah honestly I don't get this chapter. Why would the humans have any say in this at all? This is a thing that Twi, Celestia, and Luna should be deciding. Why would a bunch of high school kids that aren't even from the place in question be making this decision?
It doesn't affect them at all.
To say nothing of the fact that letting someone die when you have the capacity to stop it is no different from killing them yourself. "Failure to stop and render aid" is a felony for a reason.
7118508 Thank you. Who made them the arbiters of good and evil? I'd barely trust them with a petty dispute let alone one with lives on the line.
Is it six o clock already?
7118508 They're not really fit to make that decision in any capacity, are they? But the next chapter will have something to say about that. Still, this chapter was troublesome to me for a variety of reasons (not least of which was your critique). I feel like I might've written myself into a corner in the past few chapters, but now that I'm here I guess I'll have to flail a path out however I can.
The argument could be made, I suppose, that the Sirens represent a real threat to Equestria if they're helped (Starswirl did banish them for a reason, after all), but at the same time to condemn anyone to death is a very weighty decision regardless of reason. To leave them be is to kill them, but the only way to potentially help them is reintroduce a trio of known threats to public safety/stability into a world that already punted them out.
When I thought about myself in that spot, I supposed that Sunset and Twilight wouldn't want to shoulder that responsibility alone. Should they have gone to someone with actual authority on the matter? Very much so, that's what the next chapter's about. In the meantime, who have Twilight and now Sunset generally turned to when faced with a problem? Their friends...even when strictly speaking they weren't a wise choice for the matter at hand. Their friends have been the answer to the vast majority of their problems, after all; why wouldn't they perceive their friends as the solution to this one at first pass?
7118635 see, thing is, Twilight IS in a position of authority in this situation. Explicitly. "Her Royal Highness" isn't lip service in Equestria.
7118635
To keep them on Earth is not "allowing them to die", it is straight up murder: the Rainbooms magically removed a large portion of thier digestive system on a world where they were already struggling to eat enough.
It should be remembered at this point that the sirens power was diminished just by being on earth, so taking them back to equstria will make them more powerful... But it's also been made clear that a large portion of that power came from the gems so it is unlikely that they'd be banishment level strong in equestria.
It would be reasonable to assume they'd be in a similar situation as they were on earth while the gems were intact.
Besides which Twilight, while a princess you are not the ultimate authority in equestria.
You do not have the power to simply release 3 sirens in the middle of ponyville.
I guess it's a good thing you have the cross universe messaging book to summon say Tia and a bunch of guards...
Reminds me of the parable The Scorpion.
I'd say that the human 6 shouldn't really have a say in this and they ought to contact the other princesses. As for the force of nature argument, that's pretty flimsy. We don't fault mosquitoes or wolves for acting how they do, yet we still have mosquito nets and fences to keep them out, and no one would think twice before swatting a mosquito that is on you or shooting a wolf that is attacking your livestock. Not to mention extermination is not something new, people wipe out diseases that are detrimental to humans.
Then if we move beyond just animals and include the sirens in the scope of sentient beings, they got their punishment already: life sentence to the human world. A life sentence means you stay in prison until you die. That might be from getting too old, being injured, or getting sick. In this case, we could say the sirens are suffering from terminal illness. In the end, the prisoner still dies.
If we want to draw a real life analog to this situation, we have a gang of three people who were sentenced to life in prison and they constantly cause trouble while there. Now that they're sick they want to get out so they don't die and can possibly continue causing strife in the outside world. Would anyone in their right mind let these people out? No, you leave them in prison to rot and die. If you have to, you move them to a hospital to make sure they're not in constant pain while they die. It's not a perfect comparison, but it's similar enough that I think the same approach can be taken. Let them die, they did this to themselves.
7119408 There's just one problem you're overlooking. Starswirl punted them into the human realm because that got them out of his hair. While he thought they'd be powerless there, it's clear he didn't exactly check to make sure, either. So basically he made Equestria's problem someone else's problem, and washed his hands of the outcome.
At the very least, the Princesses are guilty by proxy of endangering all of Earth by allowing it to happen at the time. While they may not have known what the consequences were going to be, this does not exonerate them of their actions. Being unaware that the dangerous criminal you exiled will go on to commit atrocities in the place you dumped them does not make you blameless of the situation. At the very least, they were criminally negligent and willfully careless in their application of punishment by allowing Starswirl to carry out that banishment in the first place in the manner he did.
All of that means that the Princesses can't be allowed to decide what happens. They've already abandoned the moral high ground in allowing it to happen in the first place, and further stayed clear of the high ground by not insisting the depowered Sirens be brought back to be incarcerated by ponies who actually understand how to do so safely. They instead allowed the girls to remain on Earth, even though they had to be fully aware what the loss of their power would mean to them. From the Princesses' perspective, this was a self-correcting problem with a terminal outcome. All of which means they don't get a say. If anything, any attempt on their part to weigh in is likely to result in their getting judged by Twilight as well. Which is why I suspect Twilight has made no attempt to pass a message on to Celestia, which she could have done in the time she had. (Book to Spike to Celestia and back. Very fast.) But instead, she's made no attempt to involve the senior princesses, probably because if she does, she knows she'll have to take a stand on their culpability, and she doesn't want to.
Looking at all of this from all sides, there's the "social justice" angle, which is where the idea that they should be hung out to dry on Earth comes from. But Twilight isn't the Princess of Social Justice. She's the Princess of Friendship. And part of her role means she has to preserve life if she can. Maybe they can't be redeemed. But Twilight can't say for absolute certain that this is set irrefutably in stone. And there is still the matter of the Princess' guilt by proxy and silence, plus Starswirl dumping Equestria's problems in someone else's society without regard for the consequences. All of that incurs a debt that as a Princess of the Realm, she has to be cognizant of, and willing to recognize.
The correct course of action is to send them back to Equestria. Maybe not just set them free, mind you. In fact, it might be considered justice to require the Princesses to oversee the resettlement of the Sirens, in some isolated location where they can't do too much damage, if it should be that any measure of their powers return. I suspect the elder princesses would make time in their schedule to accommodate the decree, because the last thing they would want is to be judged "unworthy" by their most promising young student. Twilight's good opinion clearly means far too much for them to jeopardize that over a criminally negligent action they allowed to happen on their watch. If Luna was already in the moon at that point, she might get out of this one, however. This would allow her to run the nation while Celestia is tasked with incarcerating the Sirens somewhere safe. This would also give the Sirens good reason to play nice. After all, there's only so far Celestia will go even to earn Twilight's respect back again, and if the Sirens happen to be conveniently out of sight when they push her too far...
1. they have been on earth for 1000 years not months
2. it was stated they became human at the end of the movie
3. they cant be the only sea ponies clearly the rest of there species get by fine with doing what they did
7119813
1. Even if the author hadn't stated that there is a time differential between Equestria and the human world, the Sirens being a thousand years old has never sat well with me. Mostly because that would make Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna the same age. If the comic is any indication, they have been there for thirty years at most.
2. I'm too lazy to re-watch the movie but I thought it was only implied, I don't disagree though.
3. Sea Ponies? Not sure where they come in, but I would consider them a different species(if that's the word), kinda like how a vampire is a different species from a human.
As for the Human Five having a say, I think they should. After all they are the ones that destroyed the gems the Sirens needed to live. Also they should consult the Royal Sisters, because if they decide to let the Sirens through the Sisters will need to be notified. Though if they decide to not let the Sirens through keep in mind that the Sirens have been the cause for several wars in Equestria, and if for some reason the author decides that the Sirens have been in the human world for a thousand years they would also have been responsible for an unknown number of murders. That's why the phrase 'war and strife' is a thing, it can escalate to killing. They may not have pulled the trigger so to speak but they definitely gave someone a reason to.
7121116
the comic is not canon also what do principle celestia and luna have to do with things they have no connection to the sirens
and twilight flat out stated they are just ordinary human girls after they where defeated
and they are sea ponies thats what they where ment to be and even if they are not they cant be the only sirens the other sirens clearly did not become a big threat that had to be banished just these 3 so the its there nature dont work in that case
Wow a really good chapter Orpheon keep up the good work. Obviously FNAF then in your note with the cookie thing from Bruce Almighty pretty funny movie in my opinion. Keep up the amazing work pal.
As you've presented the sirens here, I see very little point in not helping them. It's not all that likely that they'll make it either way, so why not be a little sympathetic and grant them their dying wish? Then again, who knows if what could happen, or if there's unforeseen alternatives. It's a difficult issue. However, this would be far more powerful with, say changelings, because the only sirens we're familiar with are actively malicious and have very little care for others. Ethically, I would say they shouldn't be condemned to die, but it doesn't appear anyone here has any ideas to save them - although, with such a difficult question, it really should be brought to those who might be more able to provide a solution, rather than (as many others have pointed out) these high school students. Perhaps the sirens should somehow be kept alive while, I dunno, being locked up in some magical prison.
Still, the ethical debate here is interesting enough, but it's set up a challenge for you in writing this story, and it's sorta tangential to the main plot. Not that this is bad or anything, but it's complicated this story a lot in ways that will be much harder to pull off, and it's kinda frustrating that this chapter doesn't really go anywhere narratively. Having it cut off at the decision is kinda unsatisfying. The whole headache thing with Sunset reminded me of her anger issues from Friendship Games, and I thought it was a nice touch. Hope the next chapter has a lot more going on, though.
I can't help but think this is a false dichotomy. There must be more options than letting them loose in Equestria and letting them die. Is their "basic nature" really immutable?
Also as already mentioned, this decision should be made by the princesses.
7119408
They're the only 'humans' that have a real concept of what a Siren is like and the negative consequences are. They've also been personally harmed, to a degree. In some ways there's is the only fair judgement on whether the Siren's should be trusted at all.
The force of nature argument isn't flimsy at all. Some people would argue that we abuse/dominate nature whenever we feel like it and that to do so is wrong. Nevertheless we don't really, truly expect the mosquitoes to quit biting us or wolves to not target the easy prey, like farm bred cows, sheep and chickens. To exterminate mosquitoes because we find them annoying would be immoral and potentially unethical. Diseases are a little different and complicated. Viruses aren't alive and can't really be "wiped out" in the sense of killing something. Exterminating bacteria isn't a universally good thing and if some of them didn't kill us we probably wouldn't bother trying to eliminate or substantially reduce their respective presence.
You could argue that they 'got their punishment', but we don't know what exactly they did or whether what Starswirl did was done with full knowledge and recognizance of the possible consequences or if it was a quick and easy solution like using the elements on Discord. A life sentence might mean that a person stays in prison until they die, but it doesn't mean that if they contract smallpox while there or suffer from a vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunlight that it's alright or appropriate to just let them die. What the sirens have isn't a 'terminal illness', it's much closer to scurvy. If they had their usual sustenance, they wouldn't be dying. If I insist on feeding the prisoners nothing but bread and water they might well die or become ill (http://www.livestrong.com/article/495400-side-effects-of-bread-water-diet/).
Actually you don't leave them in prison to 'rot and die', you provide the medical care they need within reason. If necessary you remove them to a hospital until they recover. A life sentence is not supposed to be a death sentence, generally the point is to keep them imprisoned on the grounds that you have reason to believe that freeing them would result in them immediately re-offending. It's not really meant to be eternal suffering until they die even it may be that way at times and people may desire vengeance of a sort.
If someone starts a gunfight, we don't just leave them to die unless they give us no choice, even if they started it.
7127379
Even if it is immutable, there are presumably other options than just letting them loose. Actually the decision to let them use the portal is sort of up to the people on the earth side. What to do about their return is the decision that really ought to be up to the Princesses. What right do the Princesses of -Equestria- have to tell anyone on the other side what they should or shouldn't do? Honestly the portal's a little weird. It's clearly linked to the statue no matter where the portal physically happens to be on the Equestrian side.
7118508
I'm pretty sure that if someone has a car accident that I'm not involved in that it isn't a felony for me to just keep driving.
Just let them die and be done with it. They cannot be fully trusted, and it is their very nature to harm others. They were such a disruptive and dangerous force in the past that the greatest magus in the old world had to banish them rather than being capable of slaying them outright. They see other sapient creatures as food, and enjoy what it takes to harvest it. They don't see other sapients as 'people'. If they can't accomplish that, if they HAVE to destroy and harm other people to live at large, then they're a (well-known and multiple offender) risk to the innocents and don't deserve to live in the first place.
... OK someone just get these girls a ticket to washington and they'll be able to glut themselves silly without lifting a finger.
Huh. This conflict reminds me of another story I'm reading, Equestria's Changeling Queen and the Abyssal Empress. The primary antagonists in that story are a race called the kelpies who have a biological need to feed on sapient creatures and as such come into conflict with Equestria and will have to in the future. Genocide was discussed both in the story and in the comments, with the counter-argument pointing out that the sapient feeding requirement is an aspect that the kelpies cannot be faulted for.
7118471
And we know they don't provide anything in return how? We've only seen them in the negative light (being antagonists and all) but we have no real way of knowing what benefit could be had from their existence. Perhaps they provide something to the Equestrian ecosystem. Perhaps their singing (though hypnotic and energy draining) is really good/enjoyable to listen to (it doesn't actually seem especially harmful in the movie).
At the very least having them in your debt (and potentially as friends/allies in the future) could be a serious advantage to Equestria if another threat showed up. After all what benefit does Discord being free give other than his potential service/friendship? We already know his existence is a massive danger (Tirak) so why let him go? Just because he's already free and is a thinking feeling being? Yes.
7373055
"Don't Deserve To Live" is a bit much IMO. They have just as much right to life as anything else. I'm sure the zebra wouldn't mind the lion being killed off. It would certainly appreciate having one less predator eating it, but that doesn't mean the lion doesn't deserve to live. Now that doesn't mean the ponies won't kill them (or allow them to die which is the same thing in this case) but that's hardly the same as not deserving to live.
Oh gawd there are a lot of long comments like mine on this chapter. I imagine most of them are ethical debate, and as such I'm opting to skip reading most of them in this case. Which is rare, for me.
*Dazzlings'
"was had?"
This is an interesting topic for sure, and I'm honestly curious how it'll play out in either case. I'm also curious now, given this fairly substantial tangent from the original premise (or arguably dual-premise) of the story, what this issue means for the story in the long haul. Are you writing this to be even longer than I imagined, with many instances of Sunlight tackling new Friendship Problems (in either world) together? Or does the particular issue of the sirens have a greater impact on the story which remains to be seen? I hope for the best in either case!
Also, Sunset finally allowing herself some open flow of tension; you go, girl!
>>Is secretly curious whether this party/restaurant establishment is instilling the same disdain as a regular Chuck E Cheese's type place, or if the implication of Freddy Fazbear's is intended
PS. You already drew a cover art yourself? Crap! I didn't even notice before. I'll have to check that out.
I've always kind of wondered if Sirens and Windigoes in this universe are related in some way...
why do i make comments but not post them