The lost origins of Equestrian pop music

by sunsetsjournal

A gift to remember us by

“Oh, Aria, look! That must be it!”. Sonata shrieked, shaking her older sister by the shoulder.

“What are you even talking about?!”. The purple siren asked, annoyed, turning her gaze toward where her sister was pointing with her hoof.

“It's over there, Aria, right in front of you!”. Sonata insisted excitedly.

“All of I see is a bunch of constructions made of stones”. At the sound of those words, Sonata's jaw almost dropped; the youngest of the sirens could not believe her ears.

“How can you say that, Aria?!”. Sonata yelled hysterically at her older sister who was already trying to get away from her. “How can you make such a mean comment about the Akropolis?!”.

“The what now?”. The purple siren questioned, being clearly not familiar with the term that her younger sister had used.

“The Akropolis”. Sonata repeated with her usual smile on her face, being sure that her fancy talking had managed to attract Aria's interest. “Its name comes from the words ἄκρον (akron),which means the highest point, and πόλις (polis) which instead means city. In a nutshell, it's the local citadel. They need it for defensive purposes”. Hearing what her younger sister was saying left Aria absolutely speechless.

“Since where do you know so much about Canterlot?”. The purple siren exclaimed, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

“Oh, I don't really know that much, silly”. Sonata giggled, taking delight in her older sister's reaction.

“But...”. Aria mumbled out, still not believing what she had heard from her own sister's mouth. “What about all those morphological roots and stuff you just mentioned? In all the time we spent together, I had never heard you talking like that. How is it that you know so much about this city, if we only got here a few minutes ago?”.

“It's not anything special really...”. Sonata quickly replied, still unable to stop giggling, seeing her older sister's surprised face. “I read all that stuff in my tourist guide book”.

“Tourist what?”. Aria exclaimed, finally realizing how her younger sister had tricked her. “Tourist guide book. It's basically a volume where you can read lots of interesting information about the places you go”.

“I know what a tourist guide book is, Sonata”. The purple siren shouted, interrupting her sister. “What I don't understand is how you happen to have one. We've only been in Canterlot for like...fifteen minutes or even less”.

“That was plenty of time for me to purchase one from the pony behind that corner”. Sonata replied, waving at a blue-furred stallion, selling stuff at the tourist who happened to pass by.

“I cannot believe it”. Aria sighed desperately, placing a hoof upon her forehead.

“What?”. Sonata asked, curious to know what her older sister was talking about.

“I cannot believe that you did something so silly as buying a tourist guide book from a random stallion”.

“Hey, my tourist guide book isn't silly at all”. Sonata replied, clearly annoyed by her sister's comment. “It's filled with knowledge. Besides how else am I supposed to remember about our journey to Canterlot without it?”.

“This is not a leisure journey, Sonata!”.

“What? You're kidding right? Is this one of your jokes about me, Aria? Because I am not getting the punchline”.

“There is no punchline, Sonata, because this is no joke”. The purple siren went on saying, fixing her eyes on her younger sister. “Look at me, Sonata”.

“I am...”.

“Do you see me smiling?”. The azure siren shook her head in response. “Exactly, I am not smiling right now, because I am dead serious! I don't know what you were thinking, before coming here, but I can assure you that we have not come to Canterlot to do any touristic activities”.

“No touristic activities?”. Sonata exclaimed in shock. “Then we have come here for nothing. This Is gonna be the lamest family trip ever”. At that point Aria was lost for words. She had surely heard her younger sister mention a few places that she wanted to visit in the big city, when the trio had agreed to go to Canterlot, but she had not predicted that Sonata would actually forget about all about the real reason that had brought her and her sisters to the capital city of Equestria in the first place.

“Listen here, Sonata”. Aria sighed in the end, understanding that is she wished to get along with her younger sister for once, she would need great patience.

“We came here to submit the local folks, like we did in Trottingham or in every other place we visited so far, not to enjoy the sightseeing. Is everything clear now?”.

“Oh, I knew that”. Sonata answered once more with a giggle.

“I just thought that we could squeeze a little sightseeing into our schedule, since Adagio isn't here with us, but if say that it's not possible...”. As she spoke those words, Sonata simply threw her book away. In the meantime Aria turned around, searching for her older sister, who was indeed missing, with her sharp eyes.

“Adagio! Adagio!”. She shouted calling her older sister's name.

“She's gone, Aria, like I said”. Sonata repeated calmly.

“I cannot believe we lost her!”. The purple siren went on saying desperately. “I cannot tell where she might be. This is Canterlot we're talking about, not some random little town like the ones that we visited. How in Equestria are we supposed to find her now?”. Aria went on saying, while sweating worried.

“Excuse me, ma'am”. The purple siren suddenly heard saying, while lost in the depth of her thoughts.

“Have you seen a giant see creature like me and my sister over there, flying around the city?”.

“Sonata what are you doing?! You're gonna blow our cover!”. Aria shouted in her mind, as she noticed that her younger sister was conversing with a red-maned mare.

“Oh yes, I did. Is the creature we are talking about covered in golden scales, perhaps?”.

“She sure is”. Sonata replied, smiling at the mare.

“I did see her then. She was right in front of the Theatre of the Bearded. Probably waiting in line to sign up for the musical contest”.

“Musical contest?!”. Aria exclaimed, reaching Sonata and her interlocutor.

“You've never heard of the annual Canterlot musical contest?! Why, you two must come from far away!”.

“You could say that”. The young azure siren said. “But please, continue, we are terribly interested”.

“Every year all the best artists in Equestria gather up here in Canterlot to compete for the honour of the title of master musician. It's the most exciting event we have in the capital; the rest are...Let's just say a bit dull. I am not an artist myself, but I love to go and watch all those incredibly talented ponies”.

“Sonata, this is perfect!”. Aria whispered in her younger sister's ear. “Adagio must be have gone to the theatre to sign us up for the competition. If this event is really as popular as this mare says, we could submit everypony in the capital in just one single blow and nopony will ever get the chance to see through our cunning spell, just like Adagio said”.

“I know, awesome, right?”. Sonata murmured excitedly.

“Forgive me for interrupting, ladies”. Sonata's interlocutor intervened.

“Did you just say that you were going to sign up for the competition?”.

“Of course we are”. Sonata replied, feeling as excited as a child the moment they receive new toy.

“So you must be...Musical artists!”.

“Please”. Sonata went on saying proudly. “We were stars back home. Isn't that right, Aria?”. Sonata's sister quickly nodded in response, hoping that the azure siren would shut her mouth, before saying anything stupid that could cause them to get caught.

“Well then, I can't wait to hear you two on stage!”.

“Truth to be told, ma'am, our group is more of a trio than a duo”.

“Oh yes, your friend. You'd better reach her soon. The even starts in an hour”.

“Holly Molly!”. Sonata shrieked, shocked. “We'd better hurry, Aria. There's no time to loose!”.

“How perceptive of you”. The purple siren said in response.

“Could you please avoid teasing me right now? We need to get to the theatre fast. Adagio must be waiting for us there”. Thanks for the help, ma'am!”

“Don't mention, I was happy to...”.Before the mare could finish her sentence, Sonata had already flown away, dragging Aria along with her.

“Do you want to know something really funny, Sonata?”. Aria asked her younger sister who was flying quickly as an eagle.

“What are you taking about?”.

“Of all the things you and that random pony talked about, you didn't even think to ask her directions!”.

“That's because there was no need”. Sonata replied calmly. “I already know where the Theatre of the Bearded is”.

“How so?”.

“I read it in my tourist guide book”.

“The one you threw away just a few minutes ago?”.

“That one. It had a special chapter on this theatre, too! Now listen here. The Theatre of the Bearded is the major theatre in all of Canterlot and it is even considered to be Equestria's very first theatre. It has an excellent acoustics and can contain a maximum of 17,000 ponies all at once. Isn't that incredible?! Furthermore...”.

“Okay, okay, I get it”. Aria intervened, preventing her younger sister from getting carried away with her speech again.

“Look, I don't want to know how old this place we are going to is, how many ponies can get in there together or worse why they decided to call it Theatre of the Bearded. Just tell me where it is.” After a moment of blunt silence Sonata sighed. “It's located on the south slope of the Acropolis. You are no fun, Aria”.

“Then let's get going...and hope Adagio isn't too mad at us for being late”.

---

It did not take long for the sirens to reach the Theatre of The Bearded, where they immediately spotted a familiar figure, waiting for them just outside the main entrance.

“Adagio!”. Sonata exclaimed, joyful waiving at her sister; meanwhile Aria's reaction was quite different. As soon as she laid her eyes on Adagio, the older siren's gaze sent a shiver through her spine.

“This is not gonna end well”. She then thought to herself, gulping.

“Well, look who has finally decided to show up”. The oldest of the sirens began to speak. “Just, where have you two been?”.

“Sonata here thought we were gonna go sightseeing”. Aria intervened, trying her best to convince Adagio that the only one to blame for their delay was Sonata.

“I did not...”. Sonata quickly protested. “I told you I wanted to go sightseeing, but I meant to do it only, when our schedule allowed it. Honest”.

“Yeah, yeah, same excuses as ever”. Aria went on saying, determined to prove that she was the responsible one. “Point is we would had not gotten lost, if you hadn't stopped to buy that stupid guide book of yours”.

“You mean the one that you made me throw away?”.

“I didn't ask you to throw it away, you did it on your own free will”.

“Only because you kept harassing me”.

“I...don't...I mean”.

“Okay, stop!”. Adagio yelled, finally intervening. “Listen, let's just pretend that this didn't happen. All that matters now is that we found each other again, which means that we can put our plan into motion. This here is the Theatre of the Bearded, the major theatre in Canterlot”.

“And the oldest in all of Equestria, I know”. Aria whined, interrupted her older sister. Adagio looked at her both surprised and confused. “I'll explain you later”. Aria answered briefly. “Sonata gave me some history lessons, while you were gone”.

“You mean, while you were gone. I was the one who didn't find you following me like you were supposed to in the first place".

“Oh, yeah...that”.

“Anyway, every year this place holds one of the most important events in Canterlot”.

“The annual Canterlot musical contest”. Aria interrupted once more. “We know that, too”. Adagio looked at her sister even more shocked than before.

“Don't make that expression, Adagio”. Sonata giggled, seeing her older sister's staring face. “It makes you look funny”.

“ How?”. The oldest of the sirens finally asked.

“How what?”. Aria questioned in return.

“How do you know all this?”.

“A nice mare told us!”. Sonata quickly answered.

“A mare?”.

“She was passing by”. Aria began to explain. “Sonata asked her if she had spotted you, flying around Canterlot; turns out she had. So she said you were headed to this theatre, then started talking about the musical competition that they hold here every year”.

“ Alright then”. Adagio added, after hearing what her sister had to say. “I presume that you also know why we're here”.

“Please, Adagio”. Aria went on, smirking. “Who do you take us for? We can take a hint”.

“Yeah, who do you take us for?”. Sonata repeated nervously.

“Let's see...the ones who got lost, after spending ten minutes in the capital. The ones that would rather fight to death instead than agreeing on something. The ones who were once so distracted that they sung off key, causing our spell to fail and force us to run away from Vanhoover, while the inhabitants were pursuing us!”. As Adagio brought that memory up, her two sisters gulped in unison. “It was pure luck that we managed to get away. You hear me?! Pure luck!”.

“Adagio...”.Sonata intervened, while Aria remained silent. “We apologized for that mistake a million times, yet you still refuse to put it behind you”.

“That's because you clearly didn't learn your lesson. I...”. While still speaking, Adagio noticed that Aria had been strangely silent. The purple siren had in fact decided to stay hidden behind her younger sister's back. He eyes, staring the ground ad her face frowning; the oldest of the sirens knew Aria too we for not guessing what she was thinking about.

Right at that moment the guilt was devouring Aria's soul. The purple siren had felt responsible for the incident of Vanhoover from the very first day. Even if Adagio had always blamed both her and Sonata, Aria knew that who had caused the sirens to fail that day was her.

Witnessing that sight made Adagio's heart cry. The golden siren might have been the most authoritarian of the trio, but deep down she cared about her younger sisters and knew that all too well.

“Fine...”. Adagio finally sighed. “You are right, Sonata. There's no point in discussing this now, what has been done cannot be fixed”.

Aria did not like those words: they made her feel even worse. Adagio noticed that from the expression on her face. “Right now we need to worry about something else”. At that point the golden siren turned around and pointed out the main entrance to the theatre.

“C'mon, ladies. The show is about to start”.

Once the trio had entered the theatre they found themselves before a long line, which was not surprising at all, considering that they were taking part in the biggest event in Canterlot.

---

Many musical artists performed before them: some played instruments like lyres and cytharas, others preferred trusting their voices instead. The sisters' turn to perform came much earlier than they had expected, yet, after their previous argument, none of them had showed sign of being worried.

“It's finally time!”. Adagio said, turning to her sisters, when the judges asked them to step forward. “Everything we ever dreamed of: the fame, the glory; we'll have it here and now in Canterolt. With a smirk on her face the golden siren, approached the judges, waiting for her and her sisters.

“Are you the S-Sirens?”. The judge in the middle, a black maned thin stallion, asked from his seat.

“Yes, yes we are”. Adagio replied proudly.

“You may start your performance”. Without waiting a second invitation the sirens levitated high up in the sky. As soon as Adagio gave the other two her secret wink, they closed their eyes and began to sin in unison.

The melody of their voices spread in a powerful wave, loud and clear thanks to the excellent acoustic of the theatre. Their gems glistened in an intense red light, as their spirits soured. Now all of the ponies in the capital would be under their total control, a life spent hiding under the water of the sea, luring ponies to shipwreck, spreading negative energies amongst the folks of Equestria would finally pay off.

Everything they had dreamed of would now be theirs forever.

When the sirens opened their eyes, a dead silence had fallen upon the audience, giving the sisters the impression of being in graveyard. Witnessing that sight, Adagio, Aria and Sonata grinned to one another in satisfaction.

“It was true pleasure to sing for you all”. The oldest of the sirens giggled, eager to order her new puppets around. “You may now cheer for us”. But instead of a standing ovation what the sirens received from the crowd was only whistles and hisses of disgust.

“What in Equestria was that?”. The judge from before yelled from behind the sirens.

“But...”. Adagio mumbled out, confused.

“What's happening, Adagio?”. Sonata questioned,freaking out.

“I don't know. This was unexpected”.

“It wasn't me this time, I swear!”. Aria intervened. “I wasn't off key”.

“I know, you were perfect”. Adagio replied, reassuring her. “We were as bit as amazing as always”.

“Not in their opinion”. Sonata gulped.

“And you call that music?”. The judge went on saying. “I've heard better from my ten years old niece. Next!”.

And so it was the three most powerful creatures in all the Equestrian Sea flew away from the Theatre of the Bearded with a devastated mood and their eyes, facing the ground. The other musical artist, who had heard them performing, had fun teasing them.

A single fellow found particular interest in them and carefully followed them with their eye, until they were completely out of sight. Nopony noticed though that the individual in question looked a lot like the statue of Starswhirl the Bearded in front of the theatre.

---

The long journey to the capital had tired the sisters up, so for that night they decided that it would be best for them to take some rest there, luckily they found a nice tavern, close enough to downtown, to spend the night.

“Unbelievable!”. Adagio shouted repeatedly in the room she and her sister had been given for the night. “How dare does insects not recognize our brilliance?! They should have been eating out of our hooves!”.

“They kind of have a point, Adagio”. Aria intervened from the comfiness of her bead. “We've been using the same song for forever”.

“And it has always worked. Why change what works?!”. Adagio went on saying nervously.

“Canterlot is more sophisticated. If we wanna dominate this city, then we need to modernize our repertoire”.

“Meaning?”. Sonata asked, confused by her sisters vocabulary.

“We need to come up with new songs!”.

“I suppose you're right”. Adagio replied, stroking her chin. “But how?”.

“Maybe we could try out some of those instruments we saw today at the theatre. Those lyres looked pretty popular!”.

“No”. Adagio said, shaking her head. “We should stick to our strengths”.

“Maybe then we could write some poetry...”.

Instead of replying, Aria's sister looked at her deeply in the eyes. The purple siren knew what that meant.

“...You're right. None of us can write poetry. Even I can't tell an ode from an elegy”.

“We will never get popular, just copying what's in style. We need to come up with something new, something with pizzazz!”. At point Adagio was interrupted in her speech by a popping sound. Aria turned around immediately only to see Sonata chewing something in her mouth, something pink.

“What are you eating?”. The purple siren asked her younger sister curiously.

“It's this stuff, called gum”. Sonata quickly replied. “It's like food you don't eat”.

“Pop...pop...pop”.

Adagio repeated to herself in her thoughts, while her sisters were discussing.

“Pop...pop...pop”.

At that point an idea flashed in her mind, and idea that made the siren shrieked in happiness. “Pop. That's it!”. Hearing those words, her sisters turned toward her confused.

“What did you say?”. The two younger siren asked in unison.

“Our new music shall be pop!”.

“Pop music?”. Aria asked with a confused tone of voice.

“Sounds dangerous”. Sonata intervened.

“Nay' tis the solution to our dilemma”. Adagio replied, floating proudly to an isolated corner of the room. “I must work now. This will be my finest magical music”.

---

The following morning the trio flew straight back to the Theatre of the Bearded. Luckily for the sirens, Canterlot annual music festival lasted a few days, so all they needed to do in order to put their new plain in motion was convince the judges to give them a second chance.

Having reached their destination, the sisters signed up again for the competition with no problem, all they needed to do now was endure the waiting line.

When the sirens' turn finally arrived, judge from the previous day could not believe his eyes.

“You three again”. He sighed desperately. “Didn't you get enough yesterday?”.

“Oh, please, et us compete again”. The oldest of the sisters asked, trying her best to impress the judge with her begging. “I think that you'll find that we've improved our act”. Sighing, the judge nodded in response.

Without wasting any time the sirens levitated above the ground and with an evil grin on their faces they began their performance.

“It's all about the pop!”

“Pop!”

“It's what will take us to the top!”

“It's what's new, it's what's hot, it's what can't be stopped”.

Contrarily to what the judges expected, the melody of the sirens was quite the hit and everepony, themselves included, seemed to enjoy it.

“Pop is the word! It can't be captured, only heard!”.

The sound of the sirens' voices soon penetrated the spectators' minds. Suddenly everypony fond themselves unable to move their bodies and with their eyes fixed on the amazing singing trio.

“Pop Burns! It's what makes the word turn!”.

A thick greenish smoke arose from the ground. A smoke filled with all the negative energy and hatred the hypnotized audience felt within.

“It'll make your legs hop!”

“Hop!”

“Your hooves clop!”

“Clop!”

Soon the gems on the sisters' chests started shining and absorbing the greenish smoke cloud. When the was no more the ponies of Canterlot's minds had gone completely blank.

“It's the pop!”

Nopony in the audience managed to escape the sirens'curse, nopony but the old fellow who had curiously observed the sirens during their previous performance at the theatre.

“That was amazing, Adagio!”. Sonata shouted, as soon as she and her sisters had gotten away from the screaming audience.

“And here I thought for a second that we would have failed”. Aria teased, giggling.

“I knew you two had little faith in me...”Adagio said in response. “Yet we succeeded nonetheless”.

“So?”. Sonata asked curiously. “What's next?”.

“Next?”. The oldest of the sirens repeated with a malicious smile. “Next we submit all of Equestria! Think about it, girls! Soon our fame will reach out to all the regions of this land and everypony will want to see us on stage. We'll have a better chance to submit all of Equestria, if we remain here in Canterlot.”.

---

Naturally Adagio was right and in nothing but a few hours the news of the amazing singing trio that had rocked the annual musical competition spread like wildfire among the folks of Canterlot.

The following morning every theatre in the city had invited the three sirens to perform; requests that the sisters were more than happy to satisfy. What they did not expect was to find competition...well sort of.

Strarswhirl the Bearded had in fact decided to fight the sirens back with their own strength and constantly interrupted their night performances with his musical acts. Unlikely for him, Starswhirl quickly realized that he was not as good with music as he was with magic.

The sirens and him fought roughly night after night, making the Canterlot theatre shine with the colors of new types of music,the likes of which nopony had heard before. Salsa, barbershop, EDM,funk, metal were all invented by the sirens or Starswhirl, competing.

Despite his countless effort, the great magician did not manage to defeat the sisters, playing their game, so in the end he had to change the rules in order to save Equestria.

So it came the fateful night. Starswhirl prepared his spell, believing that, as the sirens' power required magic, sending them to a world without it would solve things. Deep down he might have known that he was doing things the wrong way, but of all the great magic he possessed, he lacked the most powerful of all; the one that could have redeemed the sisters.

The sirens had after all given Equestria a grate gift, a gift to remember them by forever. They had shown the ponies the power of music. Starswhirl could have indeed used their magic for good instead of evil, but it was not to be. It was perhaps his greatest failure ever.

---

“My head...it hurts...”. Adagio mumbled out to herself, opening her eyes. “What happened?”.

“Adagio”. A familiar voice came from behind her back. “Is that you?”.

“Aria? It's me! Hep me up”. As soon as she stood up on her new legs, Adagio set her eyes on her younger sister, noticing that something about her was odd. “You look different”. The oldest of the sirens slowly said, studying Aria's new features.

“You too”. The other girl replied briefly.

“Ah, what are these?!”. The two sisters turned around, recognizing that familiar voice. “Where's my tail and the rest of my body?”.

“That old fool!”. Adagio hissed, furiously. “He must have sent us to another world!”.

“And a pretty weird one too, I should say”. Aria added, examining her clothing. “Can someone tell me why I am wearing this stuff?”.

“All I know for sure is that the bearded mule sent us here to stop us from reaching our final goal. We had all of Equestria at our command”.

“Almost all of Equestria”. Sonata specified.

“But he'll see. Look!”. The oldest of the trio exclaimed, grabbing the pendent around her neck between two fingers. “We've still go our gems, which means that we can still collect the energy of chaos, we can get stronger and maybe...Just maybe one day go back home”.

Author's Note:

And that was it. I hope you enjoyed this little story. Next week I'll start working on something new.

As always, yours
Sunsetsjournal

Comments

[Crystal Aura]

Liked the story, but there were typos. Seems like you wanted to finish & didn't revise before publishing. Anyway,
I'll be glad to point out the typos if you want me to! xxxx

[Anonomis]

Nice to see refererence to the story in 'Fiendship is Magic'

[sunsetsjournal]

9157005
Glad you like it!