The Dazzlings? Here? Now? Those three sister singers had come to our aid? But why? I thought they only cared about each other. But I guess there was no time for that. I was just glad to not be squashed by giant crab legs. And their voices weren’t half bad either.
“The Dazzlings?” Sunset looked on in confusion as the three teenage sirens sung from outside of the magical dome the crba made. “What are they--”
“Wait! It’s working!” Twilight pointed up at the crab. It had been serenaded by their singing. It even started to dance and shake. “If they distract it long enough, it may give us enough time to--”
I held up my hand to interrupt her. “Nah. I think we should let them have this one…”
Those three continued to sing their sweet song. It was so powerful, that the crab was completely under their control. But what would come next would be just as surprising. I saw Aria nod to Sonata, and the blue siren made an excited squeal of joy.
“MI-MI-MIIIIIIIII~!”
“AGH!” The three of us on the inside of the dome did our best to cover our ears. Sonata sang such a high note so loudly that it caused excruciating pain. Even the crab was staggered. Wait. The crab was staggered!
And no only that, but its magical armor plating had been disrupted by the high note! But we still had to deal with the barrier problem. Or so I thought. Turns out they already thought of what to do next.
Aria grabbed a microphone and spoke into it. “You’re nothing but second-rate crustacean scum. I wouldn’t even wanna eat you for dinner. Lobsters are way more intimidating!” she folded her arms with a snarky smile.
The crab was enraged at the insults. It charged right at the three, and according to plan, it busted right through its own magical dome. With it shut down, the three sirens stepped out of the way. The beast stampeded and ran itself into a nearby rock which dazed it even more.
“Set me up, girls,” Adagio commanded. Sonata gave her sister a baseball, and Aria followed it up with a bat. Adagio threw the ball straight up into the air, and got into a stance to bat it. “Eat THIS!” With a heavy swing, the ball was struck. So hard in fact, that it caught fire and bore a hole straight through the massive crab.
Her sisters watched on in excitement. In fact, so did Twilight, Sunset, and I. We all waited patiently to see what would happen.
Adagio looked at her nails, and smugly counted down the time. “And in three...two….now.”
Right on time with her words, the crab shattered apart like glass before it disappeared in a fiery magic explosion.
“Woohoo!” Sonata cheered, “You both did amazing sisters!”
Aria chuckled, “Yeah, you were pretty good too, Sonata.”
“And now the beast is beaten! Can’t stand up to our power, can it? Hmhmhm!”
I was utterly shocked. I wanted to go up and say something, but Sunset and Twilight beat me to it.
“That was amazing, you guys!” Sunset praised, “I didn’t think you were capable of working together like that.”
Twilight chimed in, “You have to show me the capabilities of the sonic frequency of your voices. How can they control people? How can they disrupt magic?”
“And Adagio...I never would’ve pegged that you were into baseball of all things.”
The yellowish-orange siren blushed and cleared her throat in an attempt to play it off. “Yes, well, ahem. You know...we tend to...yeah.”
Meanwhile, I was near the water. There it was, the Gate to Equestria that allowed magic to leak through. Luckily, no other sea creatures were nearby, so it would be a while before any other messes could occur. “Whew…”
Aria squatted down next to me, “Wow...there it is. A portal to our home…”
I looked at her. “Wanna go back? Genuine question…”
She shook her head. “No...there’s...that world rejected us and we can never show our faces again. Here, we get a completely fresh start.”
“Totally!” Sonata shouted from behind us out of nowhere, “Equestria was fine and all but their laws were way too strict. Here, we can have fun with whoever we want and not be judged! And not to mention tacos are served all the time!”
Adagio stepped forward. She rubbed her chin as she stared at the glowing light beneath the water. She giggled and shook her head, “Nah. All the magic and power in the world is nothing compared to watching over these two anvils,” she put one arm around each of her sisters. Aria rolled her eyes and Sonata giggled. “Besides...I think we have a chance to make more real friends right in front of us…”
Sunset walked over next, “That’s great to head, Adagio. But we need to close this thing up before it gets explosive. Ready to head home, Pale?”
I nodded, and tipped my hat. “Yup. It was fun working with you ladies. But I have a job to take care of back home.”
Twilight handed me the suitcase that contained all of my clothes as well as another device shaped like an arm gauntlet. “When you get back home, slide this onto your hoof. It’ll allow you to shut down any portals back to our world so no more magic will get through.”
“Oh wow, I’ll be sure to make use of this. Okay…hm?” I raised an eyebrow at Sunset who had walked out to one of the rocks. She got ready to dive off into the portal. “Um, what are you…?”
“Rrgh...going with you, silly,” she grunted while she did some stretches. “You’re a pretty hard-working investigator and I think Cozy Glow deserves another shot. Not to mention, I’ll be your evidence against Neighsay to prove he’s abused his power.”
“Oh, um, if you’re sure.”
She nodded, “For sure. I know of a safe portal to use in order to get back home, so don’t worry. Consider it a favor from one friend to another, eh?”
Ah, that was good. Sunset would be a nice asset to have in such a situation. Plus, since I helped her out, I felt less guilt since she simply wanted to help me out in return. “Alrighty then. Guess we’re both off.” I turned to the other four girls, “I’ll be on my way. And if you ever come into contact with the Pale Vestige from this world, don’t be afraid to ask him for help on any sticky situations you need investigated.”
“Ooh, for sure! If his human counterpart is as capable as you are, it could be a great benefit to have!” Twilight scribbled in her notes.
Aria shrugged. “Sure, sure, whatevs. I can think of a few sticky situations A-dawg would want him to look into,” she pointed to her eldest sister.
“Shush you!” Adagio nudged her sister into the sand, “And sure, no problem. If your counterpart in this world is just as understanding as you, then we might have another friend to--ah!”
Sonata giggled and tackled her eldest into the sand. “Ooh, if I see the human Pale, I’ll invite him to my job where we can all eat tacos and be buddies!”
I also couldn’t help but laugh as I watched the three play in the sand together. Twilight used her magic to levitate them. “Okay, that’s enough you guys,” she set them upright, “He has to get going. But if you want, I’m curious as to how you plan to cook this fish.” she pointed to their beach campfire.
Aria was first to go. “Alright, I guess I’ll show you. See ya, Pale.”
Next was Sonata, “Bye-bye! Wait, sis! Lemme help!”
Adagio waved as she walked off. “Do your best, and remember what I said…”
I nodded and waved as they left. Sunset cleared her throat to get my attention.
“Ahem--if you’re done gawking, we should get back and make your case, hm?” she said with a teasing smile. “Don’t worry. When I get back here, I’ll tell your actual human self what’s up so he can pick up the slack for you.”
“Appreciated.” I clutched the suitcase that held my items, “Now let’s get moving.”
With a nod, Sunset jumped into the water. “Woooo!” She dove into the water, and swam into the portal.
With one final wave to the others, I jumped in after her…
Twilight looked to a set of nearby bushes. “Didja get all that on camera, Microchips?”
The bespectacled boy rose from the bushes with a digital camera, phone camera, and two drones at his side. “Absolutely. This is going to be the best article that the Canterlot High Newspaper and Web Blog has ever posted!”
“Nice! Hey, come join us!” Twilight waved her hand to beckon him over.
“Oh, uh...sure!”
We landed back in. I was a pony again! Oh the sweet feeling of four legs never felt better. And the girl had become a unicorn mare. “Alright...now where...ah! Look!” she pointed at the portal we exited. “We’re right in the middle of Canterlot’s flower garden. You got the device Sci-Twi gave you?”
I looked at her and grinned, “Really?”
“Hey...it helps to differentiate, right?”
I put the silver-colored gauntlet on my left hoof. Once it was activated, it fired off a blast of magic that consumed and sealed up the portal. “Woah! It’s like…”
“Magic?” Sunset started to trot towards the castle.
“I mean sort of...hey, wait one more thing,” I caught her attention before she started to walk, “To be able to exist in two worlds with that much skill. I have to give you props in particular. I’m sure your parents are very proud.”
She blushed, “Thanks but...my parents aren’t...nevermind, heh. I appreciate that.”
As we walked around, Sunset ooh’d and ahh’d at the various changes made to the castle. Ah yes, that’s right. She hadn’t been here in a while so of course she would react differently to things. “Wow...all the guards have stronger weapons, the tapestries are purple and…” she sniffed, “Is that lavender? Things really have changed, huh?”
A familiar purple and green dragon came to greet us. “Hey Sunset! And...oh, you’re the guy that Twilight wants to speak to, yeah?”
“Spike?! Holy--you’re huge!”
“Heheh, thanks I know. I’ve been growing a lot since you last saw me.” He looked at me, “But uh, Pale...right?”
“That’s right,” I nodded.
Spike pointed to the throne room. “Twilight’s waiting for you. It’s almost three o’ clock. Better get a move on.”
I sighed with relief. Turns out I wasn’t too late. That was good. It meant we could speak with the princess before things got crazy. “Thank you, Spike,” I said, and started running down the hall. “Sunset, let’s go!”
The unicorn mare was still astonished at Spike’s size for a moment until she shook her head. “Oh, right…coming!”
We dashed through the castle, and arrived at the throne room to see the purple alicorn. “Pale, welcome--and oh, hey Sunset! I mean, ahem--welcome, Sunset.”
“Twilight! There isn’t much time, so I’ll make this quick.”
“Actually, I have a better idea,” I spoke up.
Once my idea was heard, the princess teleported the three of us to Chancellor Neighsay’s office. Once there, both myself and Sunset explained what happened to Twilight. Everything from Neighsay sending me to the human world to the Dazzlings being more friendly now.
“Woah woah woah, okay...first off, I’m happy the sirens have a place they’re comfortable to live in. Secondly….WHAT THE ACTUAL BUCK?!”
“It’s true, Twilight. He put Pale there in an attempt to get rid of him and miss your meeting to un-stone Cozy Glow. There’s probably a host of other things that geezer has done behind your back without your knowledge.”
I nodded. “Please believe me, Twilight.”
“How can I not?!” she shouted to the ceiling, “If Sunset literally had to bring you back here, then something’s very wrong. Now I understand why you requested to be brought here, Pale. Maybe there’s some evidence we can find to further prove what you’re saying. Check everything. Don’t leave a single inch of this room uninspected,” she ordered us.
Sunset and I nodded. We all worked to look through the room for whatever we could find. It was a long, painful search. But something in the back of my mind was nagging at me. The idea that I was not prepared for what I was going to find in this room. My heart pounded, my blood vessels rushed with extreme power. Was there a chance that Neighsay was more powerful than any of us realized?
“Hey, what’s this?” Sunset pulled a book from a shelf.
Twilight tilted her head, “Hm...doesn’t look like anything special to me. Everypony knows that the whole hidden passageway behind a bookshelf thing is a load of--”
A low rumbling noise was heard once the book was removed. Sunset had a smug expression.
“There’s...a hidden passageway behind the bookshelf, isn’t there?” Twilight asked with a hoof to her forehead.
The smug unicorn giggled, and walked on through with a slightly annoyed Twilight that followed. She poked her head out, “Uh, Pale. You coming?”
The whole time, I had been distracted by my fear. I played it off with a nervous laugh. “Oh, hehe...of course.” I followed the mares down the passageway. It led to a staircase. Down the steps we went until we came upon a basement-like room that was pitch black.
“Hang on.” Twilight’s horn lit up, and she tossed a ball of light into the air which illuminated the room around us.
Files. Loads and loads of them. Files all over the place. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the head of the EEA to have a separate room to keep track of certain things. But why so down deep?
“Odd...this reminds me of the crawlspaces under the castle from when I was little,” Sunset commented as she took a look around.
Twilight inspected the dark room. “Hrm...something’s off here…”
I made use of my sensory abilities. I felt negativity. Powerful black magic was used on something in this room. But what? “I think there’s dark magic here...we better be careful.”
“Dark magic, huh? Hm…” Sunset seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment. Did she have familiarity with the subject?
“Don’t worry, Sunset. If there is dark magic here, I can take care of it no problem,” the princess assured her friend. “Now Pale, can you pinpoint the exact direction it’s coming from?”
I pointed to the corner of the room. “There.”
Twilight trotted over, and used her magic to suss out what the problem was. Her prize was a small chest of sorts that was locked off with dark magic. “Eh? Why would Neighsay lock something off with such dangerous magic?”
“Probably to keep something very secretive hidden away,” Sunset commented with a long scowl, “Let’s open it up.”
I watched carefully as Twilight countered the dark magic with her own. I felt it again. My adrenaline rushed. My blood bumped. My heart raced. Why was I feeling this way? Just what was inside of that damn box?!
POP!
At last, Twilight popped it open. “Ah!” Both of the mares gasped at what they found. Inside were documents detailing information that Twilight read aloud.
“Day 5: Specimen 98 has accepted to be used for the spell. We told her it would give her more energy, but in reality, we are looking to assess the potential of implanting magical abilities into another. It has caused a heated amount of tension between her and her husband, due to the side effects making her more aggressive.”
“Subjects…?” Sunset loomed over and picked out another page for Twilight to read. “What could he be doing?”
“Day 17: Specimen 98 has shown signs of aggression not only to her husband, but her child as well now. She is now delusional due to the effects of the spell provided.”
I tilted my head. This sounded familiar, but I wanted Twilight to read more.
“Day 35: Specimen 98 has left her family about a few weeks ago. The effects of the spell have now taken root. She is now capable of levitating and firing magic blasts despite being an earth pony. However, its effects have taken an abnormal toll on her body.”
“Day 72: Specimen 98 is now a mercenary for hire and takes odd jobs. We shall consider adding her to the group should she remain alive.”
“Day 105: Specimen 98 KIA by rival mercs.”
“Killed in Action...how? So wait, hold up,” Sunset held up a hoof, “You mean to tell me Neighsay has had experiments running this entire time?!”
I felt a cuddling sensation in my throat. As if I could throw up my entire digestive system with a single cough. I spoke weakly, and could barely stand to raise my voice. “What was..that specimen’s name?”
Twilight took another look at the paper. The name was blacked out, but thanks to her skills at writing--and magic--she was able to reverse engineer the text in order to see the letters. “‘Specimen Name: Bright Memento.’”
As soon as I heard that name, I fell to the floor. I felt like a fish with no water. Unable to breathe or think properly. “...That was...my mother.” She had been under the effects of a spell the entire time which caused her to become extra aggressive towards my father. And then, she left me in his abusive care to become a wandering mercenary only to die?! That...no...
“WHAT?!” Both mares shouted aloud.
Sunset took a deep breath, and trotted over to console me. She used her magic to set me upright. “Hey...I got your back. Don’t worry.”
“Um...S-Sunset?”
“What’s wrong, Twilight?”
“...You might...you need to see...this…”
Sunset went back over, and began to read aloud.
“Specimens 24 and 25: The black magic boosters have increased their aptitude. They have both risen highly through the combat tourney that I have placed them in with the other Specimens. They are now set to face off against each other.”
She read the next file.
“Specimens 24 and 25 managed to break free of the spell and have killed each other. One could not live without the other.”
“Check the names…” Twilight mumbled.
When she found the names, Sunset nearly burst into tears. “My...my parents...they were...no...no! Is that why Celestia took me in as her student? Because my parents...Neighsay...did she know about this?!”
Twilight put a hoof around her unicorn friend. “Don’t worry...I’m going to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. For now, I will be taking this as evidence to use against--”
“Against whom?” the old bastard himself appeared at the top of the steps, “P-princess?” His usual, uptight demeanor was broken as soon as he saw Princess Twilight.
“You…” Sunset ran up the steps and tackled him to the floor. “You sick piece of shit! You were the reason my parents disappeared?! You took everything from me!”
“What the devil are you talking about?” he tried to deflect, “I don’t even know who you are.” He used his magic to levitate Sunset off of him, “Now if you’ll excuse me I--”
Twilight shut all of the doors with her magic. “Neighsay. Explain. Everything. Now.”
At last, I rose from my fetal position, and trotted up the steps back to the office where Sunset and Twilight had cornered the old stallion. “Heh...I’m gonna love watching you see your own blood as you die.”
Quite an impressive showing from the sirens. I really liked them in this short EQG adventure. I also like how quick Twilight was to act with the news of Neighsay.
Neighsay's secret was dark, random, came almost out of nowhere and quite the tonal shift. As if there any more reason to dislike and incriminate him. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I can't wait to see how he tries to get out of this one.
Smart move.
Does that count as self promotion?
Nice to see Twilight caring for the sirens.
Oh, look. Blood Viper is back.
10446793
Yeah. I didn't want to make it too long. Just enough fo the sirens to get their moment and express how they feel about returning home.
Yup. Twilight has learned to be more active than reactive.
Maybe? He's just letting them know his alternate self is there to help.
And yes, she talks to Sunset often so they come up in conversation.
And maybe Pale will go crazy. Maybe not. Stay tuned!
Kick his flank!!!
10446826
Yes!
😁 Happy you included Spike. Still waiting for his opinion, though. And the sirens as heroes for a change? Sweet!
Also...😠 what the actual FUCK?! Pale and Sunset's parents as lab experiments for that old bastard?! 😟 Could it...no way. Could Neoghsay be the very reason that Pale became the infamous Blood Viper? And as for Sunset's parents, did Celestia know about this?! 😞 Goddamnit, this is starting to turn into some type of suspenseful horror story. 'Horror' in the sense that Pale and Sunset might go murder-crazy on the old bastard for his role in orphaning these two. Twilight really needs to get to the bottom of this madness that requires Neighsay AND Celestia to explain themselves. 😟 Wait, I just had a thought. Quick Draw mentioned that Cozy's parents disappeared years ago. 😨Fucking hell, did the old bastard orphan Cozy, too?
10446842
Don't worry, he'll speak soon. And yes, the sirens deserved the chance to be heroes.
And yup. The rabbit hole is super deep now. Who knows what Neighsay and his group have done to ponies with these experiments? Stay tuned for more answers!
Holy shit. Neigh Spade is this story's equivalent of Josef Mengele.
10446930
If you wanna call it that. Is that interesting to you?
First off, I blame Starswirl. Reason; the banishment spell that he used on the Sirens that Neighsay used on Pale.
second:
Twilight has a new title; Princess of Extinction. Your magic of friendship and harmony has permanently erase the Siren Species from Equestria. Sorry for seeing it as a negative view but if I was a being of darkness, I would be killed, curse Friendship in the afterlife and Twilight, I know you’re happy for them but... you kind of permanently remove their Species’ existence from Equestria. They’ll only be remembered as monsters, no thanks to the Pillars.
And 3rd; What... the... living hell?! What did the EEA done to those innocent ponies?! I said EEA because in case Neighsay wasn’t part of it.
10446987
Well it's not all his fault. Neighsay is just abusing something Starswirl created.
And that's true, but the Sirens are happy where they are. They don't care about the past. They want to start fresh.
And the EEA as a whole aren't involved. Just Neighsay and those whom he's hired.
10447032
I understand Adagio, Aria and Sonata want a new start but what about the other Sirens in Equestria if they still exist? Is there any evidence that they’re still alive because the Hippogriffs lived underwater for so long, have they met any natural aquatic species?
10447064
That's a good question. Pale will have to get back to that one later on if it comes up.
Wait a minute... Sunset’s rusty as a pony.
10447110
How so?
10447113
Since she’s been living a human for so long (by Equestrian standards), she may not remember how to fight like a pony. Human martial arts may not mesh well with equine combat. I mean... do you see her casting fire spells in canon!?
10447120
No lol. You have a point there. She's used to the Pony Up Powers in Human mode.
10447120
While Sunset being a pyromancer has always been fanon, it's not like she needed a lot of time to get back into the swing of using magic those few times she returned to being a pony. Even in her first appearance in the original EQG movie she had no problem teleporting under stress, which is a rather advanced spell judging by how even Twilight took a few seasons to really master it.
10446793
Agreed, but it's more than that.
One of the aspects of this fic was supposed to be both sides having a point regarding Cozy's right to a parole. And in the "no" side I was expecting actual victims and broken lives by the Mean Trio.
What do we have instead? A shitty stallion blaming a filly for the failure of his marriage, a dragon who was inconvenienced by the temporal loss of his gems, a Captain with a middle age crisis, a jerkish councilor angry about having a low life detective questioning his judgement and the status quo itself...
And now in top of that said concilor suddenly reveals himself as an evil wizard whose experiments caused Cozy (and Sunset, and Pale, and shitty husband) going villain in the first place, making any of his previous arguments invalid.
So much for ambiguity.
10447608
Yea, it could certainly have used more ambiguity like when Shining explained why she was treated so harshly or Sombra's argument against her or that mare who lost her job. Neighsay already served the role as an unlikeable villainous character and there was no need to make him a supervillain.
I still enjoy this story and think there's still room for more ambiguity with having Cozy personally confront those that she may have wronged due to her actions. I'd imagine that ponies would be more willing to go out of their way to confront her directly or as a result of her reformation program rather then to track down some random detective who is limited as to how many people he can question.
Perhaps this may have been rectifiable with a longer trial with more points brought up. It seems to me that the detective thriller story took a bit too much presedence over the Cozy redemption one.
10447608
I mean, it's not as if it's hard to come up with genuine grievances against Cozy Glow that aren't just inconveniences. In the very first minutes of the season 8 finale, we see several characters almost die because Cozy's plan of ridding the world of all magic caused Starlight's cloudwalking spell to fizz out, and Celestia tells us similar things are happening all over Equestria, and by extension the world. I can easily imagine scenarios like a construction worker seriously injured because the beams he was lifting over his head suddenly crashed on top of him, or hospital patients whose lives were endangered, if not outright ended, because of events like hospital equipment starting to malfunction and unicorn surgeons suddenly losing their magic mid-surgery. And what about all the citizens of Las Pegasus who saw their entire city crash to the ground?
But now there's a genuine argument that this is all this is the result of an evil wizard doing evil things to innocent ponies. Sure, Neighsay was a racist jerk, and I was kinda disappointed this story didn't seem to believe he learned his lesson when that was kind of his brief character arc, but even the most negative of interpretations of him show no indication that he experiments on and kills innocent ponies.
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if one of the next chapters show that Cozy herself was a victim of Neighsay's mind warping and that she is entirely blameless.
10447608
As astro pointed out, it's more likely for individuals to confront her directly once she has been freed more than anything. That's what Pale's entire objective is. To help her see what she did wrong and fix herself.
10447621
10447681
And the reason being is that I somewhat hate how the show sort of tiptoed around the fact that he was an antagonist only to redeem him with no buildup to it whatsoever. I much prefer him in a villainous role because it seems as if that's what he was made for before the showrunners had to rush through his redemption in order to make Cozy look even more evil. While I do like redemption arcs, rushed ones are something I am not a fan of. Which is the entire point of this story. Either make a character good or evil and realistically portray their descent into going from good to evil or evil to good. Don't half-ass it and expect everyone to just accept that's how it is. So I decided to put Neighsay back into an antagonistic role, because that's what I wanted for his character as well as the story.
As far as ambiguity goes, I get what you're saying. Though the focus of the story was always on "various hidden secrets" rather than just Cozy Glow specifically. These include the origin of the batponies, King Sombra's life, Pale's childhood, Celestia's flaws as a ruler, and Cozy Glow's actions. The point of this story is to expose the flaws within the world of Equestria and how it's ran, as well as who runs it. In addition, it exposes just how those flaws damage the lives of those who are seen as "strange" such as the batponies, Sombra himself, and anyone who doesn't fall in line like Cozy or Sunset. I also didn't want to drag out the story for too long with characters spouting the same, or similar points to those who came before. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
I think the statue garden is going have a replacement for Cozy Glow...
10448006
Hehe...maybe. Who knows how things will go down?
10446937
Having seen Stories of War: Atrocity, which referenced Mengele...no, and it didn't interest my appetite either.
Now where did I put that chainsaw?
I took a week off.
And suddenly, the book is no longer do good anymore.
So much cringier, so much edgier.
And this.
Power Girls directed by Michael Bay.
10958242
YUP. XD
10958244
Also I highly doubt many years passed in Equestria Prime but not in the human world. I thought they would've been adults than immortal teenagers.
10958251
True. I didn't think about it too much, tbh. They're def Seniors at least.