Chapter 6: Come, Little Children
“Y-you're the sirens?” Discord stuttered. “What do you want?”
“Why, we just want to finally meet out little brother,” the lead one said. “I'm Adagio, this one is Aria, and the idiot is Sonata.”
“Hi there... Hey!”
“Lovely to meet you, now why are you here?!” Discord demanded.
“Why, to bring you home, of course,” Adagio stated, as if it were obvious. “When father heard you were alive, he was so happy, he asked us to come get you.”
Discord sneered. “Really? That's funny, I remember father being the one who tried to kill me in the first place.”
“He didn't have a choice. The Chaos Stone had embedded itself inside you,” Adagio defended. “If he left it, not only would it have killed you, but he wouldn't have been able to use it to fix the world.”
“'Fix the world'?” Discord scoffed. “The world isn't broken.”
“Isn't it?” Adagio asked cryptically. “Tell me, if the pegasi weren't around, what would happen to the weather? If the princesses were to vanish, what would happen to the sun and moon?”
Adagio moved closer, circling Discord like a shark as the other two just sat back, humming. “The world is broken, little brother. The only thing keeping it going is the intervention of ponies, but who's to say how long that will last?
“Father is going to fix the world the only way it can be fixed.”
“And how is he going to do that?” Discord asked, shaking his head in an attempt to clear the haze that started creeping in.
Adagio stopped, looking discord right in the eye. “By remaking it.”
“But...” Discord squeezed his eyes shut, trying to focus. Are they singing? Why are they... is that a bad thing?
“Come with us, little brother,” Adagio said.
“B-but... my friends-” Discord began.
“Don't care about you,” Adagio finished for him.
“I... I...” Discord tried to argue, but his mind just couldn't focus. He suddenly went limp, falling to the floor in a heap.
Adagio laid beside the stallion, placing a hoof on his withers. “Come with us and let us be a family again.”
Discord looked up and smiled at her warmly. “Yes... Let's be a family.”
“It worked!” Sonata cheered. “We got our little brother back!”
“Great, can we go home, now?” Aria complained.
“You two, go on without me,” Adagio said. “Father still needs a little insurance.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“And then, we were like 'that was so awesome!'” Aurora finished retelling the day's events as Missus Cake cake dried the filly's mane.
“It sounds like you four had quite the day,” Missus Cake said with a smile.
“Uh-huh, and he said he'd play with us again tomorrow,” Pumpkin added.
“Well, I'm sure that will be just as fun,” Missus Cake replied.
“Yeah!” Pound spoke up, his wings buzzing. “He said he'd show us what owlbears actually looked like!”
“So we'll be the first ponies to see one in, like, a thousand years!” Aurora exclaimed. “You know, 'cause they went egg stinked.”
“Oh my, that's such a big word,” Missus Cake praised.
“Well, yeah,” Pound said. “Her mom's probably the smartest pony ever. Of course she'd be an egghead, too.”
“I'm not an 'egghead', I'm well read,” Aurora said, proudly.
“Okay, you three, off to bed,” Missus Cake said as she shooed them out the door.
“Aww,” the trio moaned in unison.
“You can talk for half an hour while you settle down.”
“Yay!”
The three rushed out the door and down the hall to Pound and Pumpkin's bedroom.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The trucks bounced and bumped as it made it's was through the barren desert. There was no road way out there, but that didn't stop the powerful vehicles. They were built for this kind of terrain.
The ponies inside, however, not so much.
“Can you try not hitting every single rock, please?!” Rarity complained.
“No,” Jacob replied.
“Don't you have a spell for this?” Rainbow asked Twilight.
“Yes,” she answered, “but I'm not wasting my magic right now.”
“Tough it out, soldier,” Midnight ordered. “If you can't handle a few bumps, you don't need to be here.”
“You alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked the Colonel. “You seem a mite more irritable than usual.”
Midnight sighed. “I'm fine. I just feel like something's wrong.”
“Don't worry, we'll be fine,” Applebloom assured. “We're gonna take this guy down and be back in time to catch a movie.”
“Daww, is mah little sis lookin' to make out in the dark?” Applejack teased.
The young mare blushed furiously. “Wh-what? No! I'm just lookin' to spend time with Twi and Midnight!”
“Oh, so you don't want to make out with us?” Twilight joined in. “That's okay, we'll just make out together.”
“No! Ah wanna make out! Wait, no... Ah mean-”
Too late to save face, Applebloom just buried her face in her hooves as the entire truck burst out in laughter.
“Or maybe she wants to skip the make out and straight to the bedroom?” Rainbow said with a cocky smirk.
Applebloom's head shot up, eyes wide and face red.
Twilight and Midnight smirked at each other before leaning toward the embarrassed mare.
“Oh, so you want to join us for a little... victory romp?” Twilight said in a sultry tone.
“Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind hearing your 'singing voice',” Midnight added.
“A-A-Ah don't-Ah-Ah'm...”
“Alright, you guys,” Applejack interrupted, holding back a laugh. “Enough teasin' mah sister. She gonna be too embarrassed to fight if y'all keep this up.”
Midnight and Twilight both gave Applebloom a peck on opposite cheeks and leaned back.
“Sorry, but you're just too much fun to tease, Bloomers,” Twilight said.
“Wait, 'Bloomers'?” Rainbow said before laughing again.
“Alright, enough dicking around,” Midnight said before flicking on his headset to speak with the ponies in the other truck. “Time to put on your game faces. We're almost there.”
As Wingnut flew overhead, Midnight looked through its eyes. The fortress was, obviously, exactly as it was shown in the briefing room.
“I don't see any more activity than what was reported.” Midnight said. “Blue, you sure that dog saw you?”
“Without a doubt.” replied Blue from the other truck.
“Scootaloo, you have that new toy?”
“Yeah... do I have to use it?”
“Yes.”
Midnight could hear her grumbling through the headset, but couldn't make out what.
“Scootaloo, language!”
He figured it was along those lines. Still, he let it slide.
“Alright,” Midnight began. “As soon as we stop, Scootaloo, Blue, Rainbow, on me, the rest of you with AJ. I want command operational in one hour.”
“Psh,” Applejack scoffed. “In one hour? Please, it won't even take half that.”
“Good, then then I can expect some punch and a hammock, too.”
“Sure, if ya get'em yourself.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Aurora was awoken by an odd sensation. It was as if somepony was brushing a feather over her entire body all at once. She sat up, and jumped out of bed, followed by Pound and Pumpkin. Together they left their room and headed for the stairs.
Wait... Where am I going? Aurora asked herself. And why are they coming, too?
After some difficulty, Aurora turned her head to look at her friends. Their eyes were glazed over, staring at nothing as if they couldn't actually see.
“P-Pound... Pumpkin,” she managed to struggle out, but they acted as if they couldn't hear her.
They reached the front door, and opened it, without any intention to do so. It was as if she were a puppet, being controlled by another.
It was then she heard it; a hauntingly enticing song echoing through the town like a phantom voice.
As she walked towards her unknown destination, figures began appearing out of the gloom. As they neared, she recognized some of them from class. It was the town's foals, all of them.
What's going on? That and other questions ran through her mind.
She tried to scream for help, but it seemed her voice would no longer listen to her. At least she could still think and look around.
As she did so, she noticed something; none of the others were doing the same. They all had the same blank stare, so why wasn't she the same? She seemed to be the only one that was aware.
I.. I have to do something... but, I can't move.
The sound of crackling leaves and twigs brought her attention back to her surroundings. Her eyes widened and her heart began to race as she saw the ominous boughs of the Everfree Forest start to engulf her and the other foals.
No, no, no! Not the Everfree! I don't want to get eaten!
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will herself to awaken from this terrible nightmare, but she knew it was futile. This was real, and she knew it.
I have to get out of here, she told herself. What would daddy do?
Aurora opened her eyes again to look around, this time looking for anything that might help her stop herself. That was when she noticed something odd. Despite being in the Everfree at night, there was a slight glow.
He eyes looked up to the tip of her horn. She hadn't noticed before, likely due to the streetlamps drowning out the light, but there it was. Her horn was doing something, but...
She gasped as she realized what was happening. My magic! It's sucking up some of the zombie music!
She closed her eyes and focused on the magic running through her horn. I... I think I see what I did wrong!
Aurora focused on her magic, willing more power into it. Her horn brightened and she found herself stumbling and falling as her legs stopped moving.
A quick wiggle proved she had control of her body back, and she quickly got to her hooves.
I need to get help! was the first thought that ran through her mind.
As she turned to run off the way they had come, though, she froze. The dark forest loomed around her, and she was hit by the realization that she didn't know the way back.
In the silence, the haunting song still echoed through the air. Aurora turned to gaze fearfully in the direction the others were still walking to see a break in the trees. There, floating above an old castle was a lone figure.
The icy feeling of dread gripped her. She had no idea what to do. Should she run and find help through the dark forest in which she could easily get lost, or head toward the monster foalnapping all her friends?
“What would daddy do?” Aurora asked herself, this time out loud.
The answer was quite simple.
She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and started toward the castle.