//------------------------------// // Resurgence // Story: Insurgence // by Rose Quill //------------------------------// The magic surged and threatened to consume me. The only sound I could pick out was the harmony being sung by the Sirens, having shifted away from the song of the Rainbooms and into a more ethereal and haunting melody. I found myself seeing the events of my past flash before me, as though watching a movie made from the events. I saw Sunburst getting his cutie mark, discovering the spell that let me steal the marks and special talents of other ponies. I tried to hide from them, but no matter where I turned the reel continued to play. I saw the theft of my friend's cutie marks, my defeat, and the months of research. “No,” I whimpered. I watched as I broke into the castle that I now called home, casting the time loop spell. My long combat with Twilight. The mistakes made since then, and my quest into the Changeling Hive to rescue my friends. I realized something, as the reel started over again. The memories were crisp and clean, not dulled with time like when I would remember the events. They were my memories, thrown into sharp relief, and showed me how I had become the pony I was. I sensed the light from whatever magic that flowed in the room fade, and I opened my eyes as the singing stopped. I looked around and saw that each of my friends had less confusion in their eyes and more determination. “The songs of a Siren have many properties,” Aria said almost as though remembering a long lost memory. “Ensaring prey,” Sonata said in the same tone. “Distracting predators and enemies.” “Inducing emotional states,” Adagio said. “And dispelling madness,” Sunset said. *** Memories swirled in my mind, the thick cotton that had dampened my thoughts starting to clear. Then I felt something in the back of my mind, a familiar presence, a warm comfort. There you are, a voice said. I was afraid I had lost you for a while. I felt nothing remotely surprising about it, but remained silent as a flood of feelings rushed through me. Sunshine… Yes. It’s me, love. And anger surged up into the forefront of my mind. The Queen sniffed, following the scent of the mana back to the castle. She stalked the halls, the entire building filled with the smell, though much of it fainter, older. Wings buzzing in impatience, Chrysalis turned a corner and sensed powerful magic just past a set of doors. Pushing in, she spied a spacious library, several tables filled with stacks of books and sheafs of paper and parchment. And in the middle, up against a wall, stood a large mirror with a strange apparatus next to it, a book resting canted against a bracket above it. Stepping up to the mirror, the Changeling saw her reflection slowly distort into a strange, bipedal form lacking a horn or wings. She grinned her shark’s smile, seeing it echoed in the placid glass. Interesting. i pounded through the forest, bursting past the boundaries of the Everfree and into the plains beyond. I was breathing hard and I could tell my coat was beginning to lather from the sheer exertion of near constant running, but urgency pressed me on. Only when the sun began to set did I rest, lungs heaving and burning. I could feel the press of the displacement spell all around me, but as the battery powering the spell I was exempt from it. Only the caster dismissing it or losing the power source would end the spell. Chrysalis showed no rational thought behind her using it, so that left one option. But first, I had to deliver some important information to a set of ears I’m certain weren’t eager to see me again.