Beyond the material plains of Earth and Terra, there exists an enclosed realm reserved only for the most dangerous of all villains. It had gone by many names over the countless millenia. The Inferno, the Netherworld, the Abyss, Hell. However, in modern times, most of Equestria and her neighbors refer to it simply as Tartarus.
As with its many names, the Realm of the Forgotten also has been theorized to appear rather differently to any who discuss it. A realm of fire and lakes of lava, barren plains where the inhabitants are hunted by waves of monstrous creatures, and even nothingness itself.
In reality, Tartarus was none of those things. It was….underwhelming, really. Cold, a damp feeling to the air that made one’s skin crawl, the ground always moist, squishing under one’s hooves with the occasional rock that would trip up the endless pacing of your jail cell. Indeed, that’s all Tartarus was in the end. A prison. An eternally boring one at that.
One of the realm’s most infamous denizens knew it well. The frail cloven hooves of a ragged centaur echoed around the massive plateau as he completed another circle in his cage. Defeated once again. Not even by a fellow demon this time, but by a miniscule purple princess...of friendship. How degrading.
Tirek stared out across the plains, not expecting anything out of place. Things were always the same down here. Change was alien to the subterranean world. There was no sense of time passing, no change of light, not even erosion of the cave around him for how long he’d been here, and for how long he’d surely be here again.
Tirek growled. Kicking a front hoof into a bar on his small cage, “Only after the briefest taste of freedom am I returned here.” His tone held an edge that hinted of great power and pride, but it escaped from his throat as a wheeze of a tired old man. “So close to finally winning, only to be defeated by another brightly colored weapon of Lumencia’s gelding.” He snorted, truly hoping that by some magic that the divines would hear his insult, if only to offend more. “If I must wait another thousand years to try once more, then so be it.” However, his third monologue in the past few hours was halted as a strange feeling crept over him. The crushing sense of isolation vanished, replaced by the grim paranoia of being watched, the atmosphere now hanging down on him heavily.
“Hello, Tirek.” An unfortunately familiar voice rumbled through his mind, shaking him to his core.
“M-master!” He nearly collapsed on the spot from the force of his presence and the shock of being contacted after all this time. “I-I am humbled by your presence to-”
“You have failed me, Tirek.” He cut off the shriveled husk of a demon with little care for groveling.
“What? M-master, time is of little concern! I will escape again and-”
“Silence.” That single word brought Tirek to a screeching halt, nodding to this nothingness. “I have no care for your galavanting in Equestria. I speak of the sirens.”
It took a moment for Tirek to process what he had just heard, “Master, my curse was thorough. The sirens starved to death, every last one of them! Those who didn’t were attacked by their own pr-”
“Inaccurate! Three survived, on another world, cast out by the mage, Starswirl.”
Tirek stared into the darkness. Survived? But how? They would’ve had to land in a world thriving with strife to survive his curse. “How do you know this?” He dared to ask.
“Lumencia has allowed Crescendo to pass on her crown. She thinks she has found a loophole in not intervening directly. This is not the case, as she has sent one of her worshippers to intervene…”
“You may as well,” Tirek finished the thought, catching onto the plan, “Master, I am honored that you would-”
“My right hoof will be in contact. I said I had no care for your galavanting, I never stated that your defeat wasn’t pathetic, my servant.” The dark tone grew icy and Tirek shivered. Without his power, Tirek found himself feeling that much more powerless against the force surrounding him. “Complete the task this time, Tirek. If not, you’ll be answering to me.”
Tirek summoned his courage, nodding in understanding, “Yes, Lord Grogar. I await this contact.” He bowed his head, frowning internally. Whoever this new siren queen was, she’d suffer just as the last one had.
“Is she okay?” Sonata blinked, poking the cheek of Rainbow Dash. The dull prismatic girl had just collapsed on a nearby bench, lower eyelid twitching uncontrollably as her face was frozen in a contorted sneer.
“That...is a good question.” Sunset responded, looking over her friend in surprise. She had just rushed out of the storefront, shouted the name of a close friend of hers and then proceeded to collapse after what might have counted as a dramatic pause. Sunset drew her mouth into a line and glanced over at Daring Do. She could probably assume what the shout of fury and the broken expression on her friend’s face meant on it's own, but it’d best to hear it from the source.
“She made a weird noise after getting a text, and then ran out shouting about Scootaloo.” Daring shrugged. Clearly, the books didn’t do her analysis skills justice.
Truly a reliable source. Sunset sighed, swiping the phone from Rainbow’s vibrating hand and searching through the new set of messages from the soccer team. Scrolling down, she saw who the most recently read messages were from: Misty Fly. The small chat that started was simple enough, Dash texting her just to be sure Misty had the new number when…
‘The Crusaders are Anon-a-Miss.’ The message was more than clear on the phone’s screen, ‘Scootaloo admitted it to me, and I brought her to Celestia. Dash, the team and I are so sorry for ever doubting you. I hope we can make it up to you and Sunset somehow.’
Sunset stared at the screen for a good while. She wasn’t entirely sure at what point she had started spacing out, but having Sonata start poking her cheek was a good indicator that it was long enough. “Huh?”
“Oh! Sorry, just making sure you’re not gonna go nutso like Marred over here.” She backed away as her fellow siren came to, eyes snapping around in surprise, “Are you okay?”
“...I don’t know.” She looked down. Sunset honestly didn’t know how to feel over this revelation. The fact that the it was the Crusaders of all people that had set her up brought feelings of anger, embarrassment, a mountain of vindication, but… surprisingly, a lot of apathy to it all. Anon-a-Miss had hardly crossed her mind since returning from death. That tended to take priority over a lot of things.
“Yeah? Well I do!” Sunset flinched as she found the phone ripped out of her hands, Dash now on her feet and fuming, “I’m pissed! Those three were behind all this?! When i get my hands on them, I’m gonna fuc-!” Dash descended into mumbles as Sunset clapped a hand over her mouth, slightly bug-eyed. Rainbow had always been a hot head, that was undoubtable. She was also known for starting a brawl or two, but that outburst had been a bit unexpected, especially with how public it had been.
“Marred, chill.” Sunset said through clenched teeth, feeling her friend still trying to yell behind her hand.
“Marred.” Daring came over, kneeling down at their sides. “Don’t make a scene. You can rant to your father as much as you want when we get home.” She handed Sunset her own phone.
Stanza nodded a thank you, pocketing the phone as Dash seemed to calm down. “Right, later. ‘Kay.” There was still a clear edge of poison to her words. Sunset had a feeling she’d be hearing a long rant later if they didn’t both just collapse at home.
“Stanza, are you okay?” Sonata asked again, “It sounds like you knew these guys?”
“Sorta...They were two of my friends-erm-ex-friends’ siblings, Scootaloo just kind of being...there.” She shrugged, “I didn’t know them. They were just three more students that hated me.”
The three Dazzlings cast a look between them, “Well, that’s the past, right?” Adagio raised an eyebrow, “This is today, and today has you among not-enemies.”
“Not enemies?” Sunset looked back up, face deadpan as she noted a reminder to throw a certain bit of sheet music out when she got back.
“I did say we weren’t friends quite yet.” Adagio reminded with a teasing smirk, “But as also stated, you are one of us now and removed that blasted curse.”
“Hey, speak for yourself!” Sonata responded, slipping over to Sunset’s side, “If you wanna wait, you can. If Zaza needs a friend, then I’m happy to oblige!”
“...Zaza?” Stanza deadpanned harder.
“Expect a lot of nicknames from her, especially bad ones.” Aria chuckled, “It's one of her hobbies.”
“You know it, Ari-Dari!”
“And one of my pet peeves.” The chuckle quickly melted into a slight scowl.
Sunset chuckled awkwardly, “Heh, yeah. Thanks...I’m kinda worried about Marred though. I’ve never seen her act like this before.”
“What? Loud and angry? Seems par for the course based on what we saw at CHS.” Adagio responded with a simple shrug.
“To be fair, Dagi, we were the cause of the loudness and angrynesses.” Sonata pointed out, grinning at her complete understanding of the English language.
“No, no, Dash isn’t anywhere near this bad.” Sunset mused, watching Rainbow get shuffled towards the car by a rather confused looking Daring Do. “She started acting off ever since we got back from the hospital. All I used on her was a healing spell, dark magic or not, so that shouldn’t have a bad affect on her, right?”
“Can’t say.” Aria shook her head apologetically, “None of us are that versed in healing magic, and we’re not a species that’s alien to all magic, let alone dark. Maybe this is a side effect? Maybe she’s mad about someone she knew betraying her?”
“Twilight did mention her pony self was the wielder of Loyalty…” Sunset admitted with a nod.
“Then she’s being pissy over a knife in the back.” Adagio shrugged, “To put it bluntly at least. Let her calm down, it should be fine.”
“I doubt it’ll be so simple...just ‘cause it never is, but we’ll see.” Sunset sighed, crossing her arms as she stared off in thought.
“You seem to be taking it well.” She pointed out.
“I dunno. I don’t know how to take it. Like...what do I say to that, after all this?” Sunset questioned, wrenching her eyes shut. “I mean, I honestly wanted to change, fighting you three finally showed me that, but-”
“Fighting us?” Adagio noted with interest, “I thought you were trying to change before we showed up?”
Sunset paused, recollecting herself, “I, um…”
“Stanza! Are you coming back now or are your friends bringing you? I have to get Marred home!” Daring called from the driver’s side of the car, looking back at the four.
“I gotta go. Catch you later?” Sunset smiled awkwardly. She seemed to have mastered that expression in recent weeks. She was met with a slip of paper from Adagio, three phone number scratched onto it with pencil.
“Do keep in touch, your majesty~” Adagio gave an alluring smile, earning a light blush from Sunset, turning on a heel and leading the group away. Aria hesitated for a moment, whispering back.
“Step one is not letting her get to you, otherwise the sirens may have two rulers in the next few years.” With an even hotter blush coating Sunset’s face, Aria was off too.
“...thanks?” She tilted her head, watching them go and sighing. ‘There’s too much shit going on right now. Just...focus on one issue at a time.’ Sunset strolled back over to the car, putting the Crusaders out of her mind for now. Dash’s breakdown was more important. She’d have time to worry about the fallout of Anon-a-Miss later.
Sunset saw Rainbow splayed out in the back as she took her seat. Daring glanced aside to her, “So… Any idea what’s up? I know I’m not around much and all but… Dash doesn’t act like this. At all. Usually she just steams over this kinda stuff for a few hours at the most, and then it’s done. But recently she’s been unusually aggressive.”
“I’ve noticed. She tried to convince me to use my powers to get out of the CP uniforms earlier. This is after saying that I should watch using this power at all.”
“You know I’m not asleep, right?” Dash asked from the back seat, frown evident in her tone.
“Yes, Dash.” Daring said simply. “I’m glad you heard it. What’s up?”
“I’m just pissed, okay?! Scoots was like a little sis to me, and she goes around and starts doing this shit? Not just leaking the secrets, but then framing the both of us?!” She snarled, “Ugh, I can’t believe that little brat!”
“I get that, Dashie, but you’re not usually that brash with it. You made a huge scene back there.” Daring looked at Dash through the rearview mirror. “I’m just worried, alright?”
“Yeah? Well, sorry. Never been backstabbed by a friend like this.” She muttered bitterly, turning over on the seat.
“Do you know for a fact that it’s Scootaloo?” Daring asked, eyebrow raised as she pulled out of the parking lot.
“Wh-yeah! I just got a text from Misty and the other soccer players! Anon-a-Miss just got outed!”
“Well then don’t you think Celestia is handling it?”
“W-well yeah, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be involved!”
“How?” Sunset glanced back. “And be charged for assaulting a group of freshmen? Dash, if we’re gonna focus on anyone right now, how about Gilda and them? The ones that framed us versus the ones that nearly killed us?”
Rainbow sputtered, “B-but none of this woulda happened if they hadn’t made the account!”
“Indeed, but they did, things happened, and we were nearly killed! Beyond that, we now have a group at Crystal Prep that desperately needs our help! So can we please focus on some priorities?” She asked, turning to look at Dash with pleading expression. It was clear Sunset didn’t want to discuss the Crusaders at all right now.
Dash sighed, “Ugh, so we’re just going to let them get away?!”
“Let them get away?” Sunset tilted her head, “Dash, they’re undoubtedly getting in mountains of trouble with Celestia. What I’m saying is that we have bigger things to focus on!” She felt her own annoyance start to rise at Dash’s insistence. What would they even do? The case had been closed with them. Gilda was the bigger worry now. If she just wanted to yell at them, that could wait.
“Alright, alright, fine.” Dash put up her hands with an annoyed huff. “I’ll stop worrying about getting backstabbed so much.”
Sunset frowned a bit at her, giving Dash a worried look, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“No.” Dash groaned into her hands, “I’m really, really not. There’s just been so much shit, you know?!”
“I do, I’m a part of it too.” She nodded, “But getting this upset over it won’t get us anywhere.”
Dash sighed again, shaking her head, “I’m sorry! I just can’t help it! I knew Scootaloo for years.”
“Maybe we should just relax. We got our stuff, school’s out for winter...let’s just go watch TV or something.”
“Relax. Yeah, that sounds good, maybe collapse and nap.” Dash looked over at Sunset, “I’d just love to feel normal again.”
“You and me? Normal?” Sunset offered a weak smile.
“Well, we can dream.” Dash replied with a tired chuckle.
Sunset’s body drooped, feeling relieved. Maybe Adagio was right, Dash just needed time to decompress. There was so much going on already, maybe things would calm down a little now.
“Alright, Gilda, what’s going on?” Pixel Pizzaz asked in a huff, “I’m missing a good photo shoot for this, so it better be important.” The pigtailed girl demanded as the offending group of several nights previous gathered behind CHS. “Last one before I head to So-Peg with the folks, so come on.”
“Oh, yeah, it's real good.” Gilda replied back in a humorless tone, showing them all Fluttershy’s stolen phone, MyStable up with a certain trio that was being put on blast by the website as a whole. ‘Anon-a-Miss revealed!’
A freezing wave washed over the group of students, unrelated to the weather, “We...no, no, don’t tell me Dash was innocent.” Dumbbell flinched back, gritting his teeth.
“It means Dash and Shimmer were innocent.” Lavender Lace gulped, the blonde holding herself as she shook nervously. A silence descended on the party, glancing around. There weren’t any cops present, not here at the least.
“...what do we do?” Hoops asked eventually.
“I’d advise keeping away from the Chateau.” Gilda grunted, “I think it's safe to assume that those two were found, given all the pigs around. You all need to lay low.” She dropped the phone on the ground, stomping on it with her boot, “One less loose end. I’m gonna go pick up Lightning Dust. She should be getting outta the hospital soon. Keep quiet and play it close to the vest.” She was met with nervous glances from around her and hesitant nods, “Remember, if one of us squeals, we all go down.” Her gaze drifted across the group again, steely and cold. The affirmations from them were a lot stronger this time.
“Alright, see you later then, Gilda.” Violet Burr nodded, strolling off with her fellow photographer. The rest of the group would follow suite soon enough, Gilda heading to the parking lot and hopping in her truck, peeling out much to the ire of a few nearby students.
The ride was silent, Gilda mulling over recent events. It would take some effort, but burying this all and moving on wouldn’t be too hard. As for Sunset and Dash? Well, wherever they were, they couldn’t prove anything. Innocence to the situation didn’t matter, only that of saving your own skin.
She pulled up outside the hospital’s entrance a little bit later just in time to catch sight of Dust walking out, a bandage over her swollen nose. It almost looked comical...and kinda crooked at that. “Yo, runt!” She called out.
“Gilda? What are you doing here?” Dust looked over in surprise, expecting to walk home from here. ‘Grandad didn’t send her, did he?’ She thought for a moment, ‘Nah, he doesn’t even know her.’
“Hey Dust. Good to see you’re alright.” Gilda greeted, shifting a little.
“Well, it was just my nose. No worries. Little stitches, wanted to keep me for a bit. I’m fine now. What’s up?” She approached, not getting in just yet.
“I wanted to talk. Y’know, about that night. We got some news.” She said, motioning her in, “Get in, I’ve got a shitty story to tell.”
“The best kind. Did someone get caught?” Dust raised an eyebrow, climbing in and shutting the door, “Don’t have my phone with me.”
“No. We didn’t. But that isn’t the problem.” Gilda leaned back in her seat, furrowing her eyebrows. “We got the wrong chicks.”
Dust felt herself grow cold, “What are you talking about?” She asked with trepidation, feeling the answer coming and dreading it heavily.
“Dash and Sunset aren’t Anon-a-Miss. The Crusaders are, the little shits.” Gilda cursed, struggling to get the engine started on her scrap heap.
“Dash was...innocent?” She stared, “Damn it.” Dust sagged, rubbing her forehead, “She’s gonna kick my ass and now I deserve it too.”
“Well, you’re pretty safe from her for awhile.” Gilda said, “I don’t think she’ll be coming back to CHS any time soon.” She finally got the car started, and heat blasted in the two girls’ faces.
“Why do you say that?” She glanced over, frowning, “Don’t think we hit ‘em that hard.”
“Yeah,” Gilda looked all around her as she backed up the truck, “You didn’t. While you were out, some of us bailed and the rest took it a bit too far.”
“Define too far. Oh God, you didn’t throw them in a lake or something did you?!” She sat up, looking scared.
“Heh, no.” Gilda leaned back, “We just beat ‘em senseless and left them at the Chateau D’If. It escalated too far, and I kinda stabbed Dash, and uh, the others branded Sunset’s cheek with a branding iron. A homemade branding iron.” Man, this was sounding worse and worse the more Gilda said it out loud.
Dust stared, “What. The actual Hell?”
“That’s the big thing. We’re in deep shit, all of us.” Gilda said, gripping the wheel. “We’ve gotta play it cool for a while, or we’re all going to the shithouse.”
Dust nodded slowly, “Yeah, sounds like...Just drop me off at my place. I’ll keep clear of the cops.”
“They’re swarming all over the school, and I suggest you keep away from the D’If, too.” Gilda urged.
“No intentions to ever go there. Place gives me the creeps.” She shuddered, biting her lip, “Yeah, I think I’ll be staying in for the break.”
“Good.” Gilda pulled up to Dust’s house. “Have a good break, Dust. See ya at school.”
“Yeah. You too.” She forced a smile, hopping out and walking up the path to her grandfather’s house. She pushed open the door, looking for him.
“Dust.” Wind Rider got up from his recliner, going over to her. “Hey sweetheart, how’s the nose?” He asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
“Recovering.” She responded, letting her expression drop to one of slight terror, “Gramps, I...I did something bad. I screwed up big time!” Dust collapsed onto the couch and rubbed her face, wincing as she disturbed the bandages, “Dash and Sunset. T-they went way too far and-” Dust started to stutter off into incomplete words, taking several rapid breaths and starting to panic.
He went over, sitting down on the couch next to her, “I know you got in a fight, but did something happen?”
“I need you to call the cops. There was an incident just outside town. I...I know what happened. G-gilda and them, they took it too far.” Dust sniffled, emotions crashing down on her. They were just supposed to rough them up, and that was under suspicion of being guilty, but with all this? Dust broke down entirely. It was all just too much.
“Call the cops?” Wind Rider asked in surprise, “Dust, what’s going on?!”
“Sunset and Dash! Gilda set them up to be jumped at the school!” She gasped a breath, forcing it out, “I joined in for what I thought they exposed - Anon-a-Miss!” Rider recalled the day well, one of the few other times he had seen Dust in tears like this, “Dash headbutted me in the nose when I grabbed her. Got driven to the hospital and made up a story about a street fight.” She sniffled, rubbing her face again, “Gilda just told me what they did. It's...oh dear God, they tried to kill them!”
Rider pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, “Oh, damn it, Lightning Dust.” He breathed, shaking his head. He glanced down at the phone, “And you didn’t try to kill them?”
“No! I had no idea they were going to try that!” She shook her head rapidly, face flush and eyes brimming with tears.
“Alright.” Rider seemed more firm as he put the phone to his ear, dialing the number of the local police. “Yessir. I need to report a crime.” He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, “It’s about my granddaughter, apparently she was apart of an ongoing investigation…”
“Dash, Sunset! Get up!” The call from the other room jerked both girls up in the bed, jumping from the voice of Daring Do. The shock quickly wore off as the two noticed their closeness.
“Dash?”
“...uh...hey. What’s up?” Rainbow was blushing brightly.
“Did you fall asleep here? In the bed?”
Dash shot to the side, now standing next to said bed and looking sheepish, “Nope! I mean, I don’t think so, I mean that was weird! Hey, let’s go see what my mom wants!” Her panicked response led her out the door.
Sunset blinked, watching the pale girl dart out. She was already getting a feeling that this was going to be a strange day.
Daring and Blaze were watching the local news, Blaze sitting on the couch inhaling a waffle, and Daring standing up behind the couch with a coffee. She glanced behind her at the girls coming down the hall, and nudged her husband.
“Alright, Daring, rewind it.” Blaze said.
“...But it’s live.” Daring replied.
“Yes, and?”
“You can rewind live TV?” Daring frowned down at the remote.
“Mom.” Dash had recovered from her embarrassment in time to witness the conversation before her.
“Uh, yeah? Why do you think we paused the broadcast?” Blaze asked.
Daring began to rewind the news, “Well, I wouldn’t know, would I?! I’m in tombs all the time, babe, do you think I’m watching television in there?”
“Yep!” Blaze snickered.
“I’m playing ball all the time, ball is life and all that.” Dash snarked, “I have time for TV.” She stretched, yawning, “Ugh, I’m exhausted.”
“We’ve been asleep since like 7 last night.” Sunset pointed out, “What did you want to show us, Mr. Blaze?”
“This.” Daring hit play on the remote.
“They were asking me!” Blaze pouted.
“It seems the mysteries just keep piling on us, folks. Not even several months after the Everfree Fire and now a new inexplicable phenomenon has occured. Last night, two homes were struck by lightning, starting minor fires across their respective roofs. Sweet Apple Acres, home to the prominent Apple family was the first, reports of the strike occurring around midnight. Not even five minutes later were calls received of a mirrored event taking place at the Burr household a few miles away. Strikes like this are rare enough, but happening on a cloudless night should be impossible. We’ll have further updates for you after the break.”
Sunset stared, “Obvious statement, but that’s...not normal.” She shook her head, “Two consecutive lighting strikes with no turbulent weather?”
“Yeeaah,” Rainbow Blaze drew out the word, “I don’t know about you ladies, but that sounds like magic to me.”
“Well it couldn’t have happened to a nicer set of people.” Dash snorted, walking over to the kitchen to search for her own cup of coffee.
Daring and Blaze grimaced, looking at each other in confusion. Then, Daring looked over to Sunset.
“What I think she means is: After everything that’s happened, one more magical mystery is all we need.” Sunset smiled awkwardly, begging for the tension to disperse. Yeah, this was gonna be another long day.