• Published 6th May 2016
  • 4,144 Views, 66 Comments

The Siren's Remorse - TheronSniper



With the Dazzlings pendants shattered and their bodies fully human, they are left to life's machinations. However, a fellow banished soul might be the key to returning their former selves and taking revenge with a gout of flame.

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Ch. 9 Scrubbed Future

Ch. 9 Scrubbed Future

Full of mirth and excitement, the Dazzlings plus one had taken the morning rather slowly. Twilight had mentioned the meeting wouldn’t take place till the evening, which would allow the four to supposedly bond as their patron had wanted. With the allowance they were given, it had been more than enough bits for food and more that the young human girl had been given control of. Adagio found it appropriate to dine at a humble and well priced brunch place from one of Aria's pamphlets, one that specialized in a myriad of egg based dishes. Something she’d been craving for since her siren powers came back due in part to the gemstone, the smell alone wafting from the kitchen vents had her in a positive mood.

As they took their seats near a window, the waitress arrived in a black uniform with a white apron, "Welcome and good morning everyone, I'll be your server Carmine Berry, what can I get you to drink?"

Adagio spoke first as she eyed the menu, "Your french pressed coffee, two cup, and the dressings on the side."

"Drip Coffee, Brazilian blend, make it a four cups." Aria's tone was rather calm and lacked the usual hate for others.

Twilight nodded once the server looked at her, "I'll take a cup of the loose leaf tea please?"

"Juice! The orange juice!" Sonata loudly answered with her bountiful energy.

"Be right back with your drinks." Berry winked before she moved to a new table that just filled up.

The circular glass table hosted four white cloth wrapped eating utensils resting slightly to the right of a white coaster, to keep the glass surface from being scraped by the plates. In the epicenter stood pepper and salt shakers, some hot sauces, and a decorative porcelain vase with a few fresh flowers still sparkling from the morning dew. The girls had chosen to sit where Twilight was across Sonata, and Adagio to Aria since they were less keen on being dragged into their conversations if their eyes met during the meal. For further distraction, the air filled with the aroma of spices, herbs, and cooking eggs that were complimented by the few meats incorporated in the menu. The scent of brewing coffee delighted the two quiet sirens who were trying to deal with the inane patter of the voices next to them. With someone like Sparkle to entertain their aloof band mate, it became clear that she was still going to be annoying being within proximity.

Adagio calmed her mind from the racket, her list of things to do surfaced in light of their meeting soon to come. Things needing to be discussed before she felt somewhat safe going to wherever this man was, brimming under the surface of a placid face was uncertainty. She knew as the leader, they were relying on her to make the right choices for their survival. Choices which focused on how powerful they’d become with the gems from this world, but also their limitations. Who were the ones that owned them before? Were they human or siren in form? Where there any of them left or lurking around the town?

She hadn’t fathomed the first gem's condition and its capacity when they first received it which was a mistake on her part to accept such a gift with open arms. They were desperate however, and the jewel practically flooded their senses with the familiarity of the siren aura. Unless they were remarkable fakes, they may yet still have some kind of issue they'd have to discover soon. It took three of them together to even power it up with a full audience the first time, which meant either their voices needed serious work or the sirens of this world were far more powerful beings with such vast reservoirs to draw from. Their old pendants were mere raindrops compared to what was in their possession, such a hunger felt bottomless and must have grown into such proportions with how populated the humans were here. A shark left alone in a pool full of fish which bred faster than it could eat them.

Aria had kept to herself, primarily feeling the gemstone beneath her teal sleeveless jacket. Rather than feel ecstatic at receiving her new pendant, she couldn’t help but feel conscious about the situation as well. When she woke up, she felt safe and secure with the new ruby in her own two hands when previously an abrasive wind seemed to etch away parts of her every day since they were defeated. A feeling she'd only felt here, since in Equis if a siren lost her stone it was due to fighting their kin or having it stolen by force. Both of which were a death sentence. The need to chastise the idiot of the group quelled into the zone of complacency, she honestly couldn't care enough to waste her breathe to shut the two girls up. Though their talk was nothing she found worth her time, she simply enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant and tuned much of the sound out to a song she had been working on.

Adagio coughed into her hand to bring everyone to attention, “While I hate to disturb everyone in this fine eating establishment, which thank you Aria for being the one to shed some light on its existence. I want to ask you some... questions about this benefactor of ours. You understand right Sparkle?” she received a smiling nod in agreement.

“He only asked to keep his identity a secret, I’ve been granted to answer your queries though.” Twilight straightened up for the incoming questionnaire as her talking buddy listened.

The restaurant was already becoming busy once they arrived, and now their conversation would fortunately be drowned out from prying ears. Luck would have it that Rarity had chosen today to stop by herself before class. She done another all nighter for the upcoming Games with Crystal Prep, with the express goal to out dress the rivals. Principle Celestia thought it would be a good opportunity to expand her experience by being commissioned by the school board to design the outfits. Ideas to highlight the Canterlot spirit and bring the school together for when the contests were held since the moral was at an all time low. To Rarity’s surprise she saw the Dazzlings on the other side of the large spacious room, a heart stopping moment upon noticing Twilight sat with them. She ducked out of sight as the server delivered the beverages.

“First things first, I want to know more about these in particular if you were happened to be briefed on their limits. I’ve only come to realize how powerful they really are and I don’t want to be handling dynamite thinking it’s a firework if you catch my drift.” Adagio perched her chin on one hand while the other held to the coffee drink before.

“But we handle negative energy not dynamite?” Sonata once again brought out her cluelessness.

Before Aria could verbally slap the klutz of a girl with an insult Twilight jumped in, “I believe she means how these Siren gems work, and he was more than sympathetic to your worries. After I agreed to his deal, there were quite a few texts and old books for me to read through. The ones he gave me to start with were your basic history books, I believe what you want to know what is in the enchantments around the rubies?”

Twilight went over the gems that were discovered in well preserved pottery unearthed through more archeological digs of recent times. It was ultimately believed the sirens of this world were friends to Persephone daughter to the all mighty Zeus, then punished for being unable to save her from being taken by Hades. Sparkle covered the overview of Greek mythology, explaining how the sirens were forced to live out at sea and away from the mainland, they would sing for their companion not out of need to feed like the Dazzlings. It was a consequence of their punishment that they would be doomed to be the reason for more loss of life from this world. Ships that sailed too close would hear their voices and be lulled into attraction. They were soon stricken into idleness, and their boats wrecked among the rocks the Siren’s performed on or they died from inaction. Drowning in the saltwater or from the elements as the spell rendered them nothing more than a vegetative state. Their life force gave the cursed women their longevity even if they did not want it. Forever they were to sing until the world ended or some brave soul slew them out of pity.

“Wow… this world is… so negative!” Aria had dropped her tough girl act while Sonata lost heart herself.

“Quite, such a barren and tragic planet this version of Equis is if that's what this place really is. It’s a negative energy feeding ground since its early beginnings, but the lack of a solid magic atmosphere does make it hard to properly feast.” Adagio’s intellect made her indifferent to the fate of the gems owners.

“Those stones were originally damaged by time and constant travel from museum to private collections. He was lucky to have come across them, much less own them.” Sparkle looked up with the same lack of feeling to the history.

“Which begs my next question, they appeared to be very powerful and their stones far surpass our own. Care to explain any problems with handing over a greater sirens stone to a lesser one?” she loathed to phrase her question in such a demeaning manor, but purely out of respect.

“Ya, we may be centuries old, maybe not like windego old. But is it safe for us to use these and I don't know get cursed too?” Aria added keeping a hand to the ruby with her.

“Valid concerns, and yes normally you’d probably have starved from the needs of those gems. It’s only thanks to the spell crafting tomes I was told to memorize a portion of and rewrite the channeling spell on them. The Sirens of old were cursed by the goddess Demeter and given a level of resistance to the gems void which had been made with their blood. In doing so, they were forever tethered to their fate to live until an intervention occured. Your creatures borne from your own world’s ecosystem I can only assume, and even the three of you wouldn’t have handled a single stone alone. So a little Equestrian magic thrown into the mix and you have a new gem all its own.” The bright student answered as she made room for their coming food on the table.

Rarity had by now gotten close by with the entire table captivated by whatever they were talking about. Finding a booth to herself with an emergency set of sun glasses and a head wrap she always kept on her to further hide her features. She barely caught wind of much of the talk, having heard barely anything till their food arrived.

“So those inscriptions you worked on and the filler you used, you were minimizing the extraction rate weren’t you? What was that goop anyways? ” Dazzle asked as she scooped a part of her steaming lobster and scrambled eggs with fish roe into her mouth.

As Twilight set her dinning cloth on her lap to being her first bite of food, “I’m afraid I can’t answer that one, it’s something special that he wouldn’t divulge its contents. All he said was to never let it leave my possession, I’m sorry I can’t add more. Though to answer your question, yes, it was a spell binder that lays on top of an older one much like how you’d put a vice onto a rubber hose.”

“So, we’re like, not going to turn into shriveled husks with the second pendant?” Sonata begged to question as she took a bite of a cheesy frittata on a crisp foldable pita bread.

“What?! No! Of course not, those alterations are permanent and he guaranteed that the mender solution would essentially chemically meld with the rubies. You have no cause to be worried, trust me.” The unwitting alchemist smiled to reassure the cerulean siren.

“That’s a huge relief to hear, it seems we are in good hands after all.” Adagio let herself relax to the soothing flavors of her meal, “Well enough of this worrisome talk, tell us about yourself since you know so much of us by now.”

“I’d be happy to.” As she went on describing her family and studies, Rarity had managed to gain some crucial information she texted rapidly away to Sunset and the girls.

It would seem their little debate with their equestrian born friend would end with this chance encounter.

Canterlot Royal Dining Room

Tearing the studious princess away from the secrets of the accursed archive was a tedious job for Celestia, she worried about the contents her eyes were going over. Luna had taken one of the nights to gather her thoughts after she shared a particular moment, which left her little pony alone and without somepony to watch over her. It worried her what her young protégé had found something no pony should ever know, though there was solace in that the commanders watching the entrance were somewhat capable of scanning any dark magic. To her fortune, Twilight had no hint or trace of the foul essence, she walked out unscathed. Even with the nightly reports of her activities and the records of what she’d gone through, dark magic and the evils with it were always sinister in nature.

It took a rather conniving plan to goad the intelligent mare into presenting a short thesis over the gemstone and whose possession it was in. Twilight's quirks easily over took her desire to learn with satisfying a need to earn good grades with what she presumed were tests. With how Celestia put the sudden report into words, she managed to schedule a morning breakfast and brunch all to themselves with a couple advisors of the Scholar Arcana who knew about the topic at hand. She hated having to go about it as she did, but it was for her own good even if Luna continued to watch over her after that one night.

In the spacious room, with one side sporting natural lighting from glass murals as windows which depicted the early Equestrian accomplishments, the meeting took place at the u-shaped banquet table. Constructed of the finest oak and varnished to a deep reflective shine by the crafts ponies of Prance, it had been a treasured relic from the time her mother once lived. Its shape and majesty reminded her of her mother’s outlook on life, how the a slow meticulously made object could weather time with good upkeep much like the land her daughters oversaw. It was a reminder to be a fair and just ruler to all and prevent the circle of hate that fighting created. Much how the old tale of Hearth’s Warming Eve had been about the unification era, division and resentment only ended in hurtful results.

While the long and large table could easily accommodate twenty seven at any given time, it was rarely used for congregations of that sort. Instead, the Princesses often dined at the table with empty seats to remind them that while they sat here at the pinnacle of pony society. There were many lives they could never experience the hardships with that came and went,. Ponies who needed a fair and just government to be able to eat and have a home to go to every day they drew breath.

Surrounding the furnishing were colorful squares of marble made up the floor. They lead to the soft vanilla walls and pristine white Romanesque support columns that reached a very high arched ceiling. Historical flags of age old battles and victories hung from the ceiling close to the walls, conflicts they were forced into and won through harmony among the tribes in the first centuries of Equestria's founding. Many of which Celestia could recall each individual segment of pony history off the back of her hoof.

Her musings of Starswirls solution to a drastic drought of yore were interrupted by Twilights trotting arrival from down the room. She arrived through the main door which connected to the hallway most ponies used, her hooves clapped on the stone ground until they landed softly on the blue rug which guided guests to the table.

“I’m sorry I’m late, I just needed to reorganize my cards one last time after I spotted an error in the time frame from Nocturne’s teachings to Everheart the Dynamic’s study of diamond synthesis for cleansing unicorn magical ailments.” Her appearance showed her fatigue of what little sleep she allowed herself since her research began.

“Your early though, how are you late?" Celestia asked seeing her student still going through her notes and had her words fly past her ears, "Please, go ahead and come take a seat with me. The chef’s are quite boisterous with their newest creations for morning meals and brunch, they’ve been abroad in their studies for the finest cuisine the world has to offer. I think you'll love what they have to offer today.” She used her left wing to gesture to an empty cushion next to her.

Before she could answer, the same doors her former student arrived through opened again with the advisors trotted in. It earned an inquisitive glance from the purple alicorn who wondered if she knew the ponies that were about to hear her report. The closer they drew, the less confident Twilight felt about recognizing the faces, it would have made her moment to come easier to know who would receive the information. Unknown ponies posed a concern, it made her a tad nervous that she would deliver accurate data and not make a mistake.

Once everypony was seated, the servants began to file in and place the beverages first, wonderful silver teapots with porcelain cups complimented by glass jars containing dark amber honey of the finest quality. Two trays of dainty biscuits followed suit, meant to go with the tea which the head server announced with a very strong dark chai at the request of the princess. The smell of cardamom and clove soon wafted into Sparkles nose, caffeinated spiced brew that would be a perfect pickup so her mind could focus. Not far off were the chefs, unicorns who magically carried large trays for each of the four at the table, upon them were large plates of deliciously tantalizing items. They looked far too foreign to place an image upon them, but the aroma had the recipients salivating at the fine dining before them.

"My, you've really outdone yourself this time Head Chef Creme Brulee, to where do we owe this amazing spread? You mentioned you and your staff traveling as of late." Celestia inquired while her magic began to serve her tea.

"Princess! I present to you ze finest cuisine la ponies of Prance, Germane, and Britannia have to offer!" the prance born cook loudly explained with immense pride.

Twilight had to set her cards down and relish in the triage of wonderful smells that tickled her tongue well before she even tasted anything. Her wings twitched a little as she gave an approving sound of pleasure, a reaction the chefs could almost cry over. Eliciting bodily reactions before taste was one of the goals they sought while enduring the grueling kitchens of other parts in Equestria, especially from an alicorn. Once she forced herself to take the first bite of the sauce covered Juliette vegetables on top of a fluffy folded pancake, her taste buds went into euphoria. If it were not the intricate meshing of flavors and spices with such a texture with each chew, Twilight could have easily assumed she reacted in such a way because she hadn't eaten properly for the past week. Of course the others who received different dishes were as equally in awe, from potato based meals to stews still steaming fresh out of the pot.

The table fell into silence as the four slowly devoured the edible art, to which Creme took as their moment to leave them in peace. They had done their job and no words could further convey the success of their labors. Since alicorns could live for a long time and likely taste every dish that could ever be made, the twinkle in the princesses eyes meant they pushed their experiences to the test.

Once the last scrap of food could be licked off or speared with a fork, the air couldn't have been any calmer. Just the way Celestia wanted it, for her little pony to have a break from her research. After a few cups of the luscious tea, she let Twilight have the floor and gave her ten minutes to speak about her thesis, of why it warranted urgency of the Royal Committee and the Black Tape access privilege for a little while longer.

“I had hoped we wouldn’t need to be worried by this theft but your findings have opened my eyes to the potential problems that could occur. What say you Adept Vibrant Spectrum? You’ve spent most of your time in the field of crystal application in the mana department.” Celestia took a sip of her tea looking to the dull blue pony draped in the white Adepts trappings.

Vibrant Spectrum was one of the up and coming unicorns who sought to utilize the specimens in the crystal caverns under Canterlot in his research. Through his intense work, the medical advancements possible in using the mineral structures in regenerative spell casting was becoming a reality. His white uniform sported the badges of his well earned scholarly citations, something Twilight enjoyed knowing she was among fellow company of magic enthusiasts.

“We’ve never had a Siren’s gem in our possession, so unfortunately we can’t really say much on what kind of portal it can sustain. As you know every crystal has its limits in the same application, some are inert while others could suit the bill sort of speak. I feel with the molecular composition that can use dark magic, it’s a given that it is of the finest quality and had limitless applications.” Spectrum sighed being unable to add to the issue without a sample.

“I see, so the threat level is to remain high then, how unfortunate. Adept Lapis, is that correct? Your familiar with portal manifestation and conjuring. Let’s say this third party wishes to make a portal to equestrian lands, what would the power requirements be to cross over? Other than the mirror of course. Or could they somehow force the mirror into activity as Twilight had done?” The solar diarch turned to a soft mint green mare with an olive green mane also dressed in Adept attire.

“Just Lapis your majesty, and if I went over Princess Twilight's notes correctly. That gemstone shouldn’t be enough to sustain a portal needed to break time and space even with the modicum of negative energy remaining, that is assuming what Adept Spectrum thinks is the case. However, without a sample I'm only giving a best assessment. It would simply burst a tear for a few seconds before the gem ruptured and the gateway seal with a rather explosive effect. Think of it like this, a large stallion leaping into a pond in the bundled position, you’ll get splash and spray before the water surface settles again. The energy of any capacitor gem would need to be in such high quantity to in effect maintain a constant mass of stallion bodies going through the water’s surface every second to displace the water. Thereby keeping the portal open for a time, our third party would need more gems and a lot of power to come here. So I’m quite happy to say, in my perspective, we’re in the clear from invasion until new evidence appears.” she held her head in a regal manner with facts behind every word.

Twilight couldn’t help but loudly sigh at the revelation, her earlier assumptions were basic without an Adept’s specialist input. She may be the element of magic, but professional dedication into any one field of application was not in her nature. Celestia herself nodded with a serene sense of peace herself, such news put her ponies in a better situation even if there was a sliver of a chance with the variable unknown. Though for somepony or something to still have such a magical item at their will, her worries went to the human world. The clash between Sunset Shimmer and Twilight were clear enough in its danger remaining in that world, they shouldn't have magic in their world.

“I want to ask the both of you to set aside time with Princess Twilight, just in case there is some kind of detail we missed here. I want to be sure no pony or our neighbors are in harms way. While I'm very pleased to know we are not at a great risk of a threat, without having the gem in question for you to analyze I still want every avenue explored.” Celestia announced as she pulled out two small silver medallions from thin air.

“I can help whenever needed Princesses.” Spectrum bowed as one of the shiny metal seals floated to him.

“If it means saving our home from danger, I can take a break from my class work for a month if need be.” Lapis duly bowed as well feeling the metal clip onto her robe next to the other.”

“Twilight, I’m granting that request for interview of Luna’s officers. I feel their people would know of who might be behind this worry, the agents of the shadows are as enigmatic as their evil agenda is devious. Those medals will grant you two special access to the Black Archives with young Twilight here, as you well know the heads of the Night Guard stand watch over her in case the agents of the shadow attempt an attack on her. Those medals not only prove your you, but it will tarnish if your ever tainted or under control by them. Do not forget them if you wish to help us.” The princess finished her peace seeing the young alicorn mare beam with joy.

While the rest of the meal continued on discussing the aim of the possible threat at large. Twilight missed the messages from Sunset that sent the transdimensional book they communicated with into a furious tremor. If she had brought the book with her and not left it back in her room, they wouldn’t have felt as safe in Equis.

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