//------------------------------//
// Ch. 9 What's to Eat? 
// Story: The Sirens Remorse: Resurgence of the Dazzlings 
// by TheronSniper 
//------------------------------//

“We do it for her.” Midnight’s voice echoed off into the abyss the dreamer had been whisked away to.

“… do it for her.” Slowly the obscurity began to lighten from a veiled orb of illumination off in the distance=, casting an ever surmounting gray pushing past the void.

“We… for her.” Then a chorus of many voices rose from the one that had been Midnight’s, they whispered words in nearly perfect unity.

“… for her…” each voice had begun to make some sense as to each of their owners not long ago whom she’d seemingly encountered, an attempt Twilight did not make herself but their designation was lost as the screen of a dismal realm transformed into a multicolored vista with her mind finally rose from slumber.

Being stirred naturally from her deep slumber the minuscule fragments of the conversation she had with Midnight fell away till just a few shards were left as common for her to usually forget what she had experienced most nights. Fluttering her eyes they opened to a bright fair morning up above where the sun itself had risen, just enough to barely begin peaking through the tree tops like perforated construction paper with a flash light behind it. A couple of wide yawns escaped her toothy maw as if she had overslept which she did, an alarm of being late for school that came automatically to her had been stunted in its sprouting stem by the vista of raw nature that her senses only then realized in its entirety.

Among the tall pines the birds sang and flew through with practiced elegance, and the broadleaf species that had a whole new array of arboreal rodents played and ate the seeds provided by the untouched wilderness. Butterflies were fluttering to the newly opened blossoms of the clearing the girls had chosen to rest in, and bees buzzed by Twilight’s snout on their way back to their hive somewhere out of sight packing nectar and pollen. A fly landed on her right leg and danced about looking for anything to eat, its tickling legs and mouth part had her look down from up high and spot the little visitor. Her long dark tail came into view just behind the appendage which caused her to remember everything from yesterday and how close to death she had come, the rampage of the dragons and abduction of the Dazzlings followed suite.

Rather than freak out she let her well rested brain go to work and analyzing the anatomy that was beginning to warm up to her nearly as if it were natural. Her large hawk-like eyes methodically gazed at her hooves from whence the fly had landed upon first the bare flesh that bore no armor plates in terms of scales. She twisted her right forelimb which triggered the underarm fin to open like a picture book, along with the glistening plum colored skin the translucent membrane stretched taunt with the three spines. Another color seemed to be sported in bands that arched through the fin, though her specialty was science in Physics, Chemistry, and a little Astronomy from her father’s work she had a general understanding of biology. Her thoughts took in the whole limb from the cloven hoof tipped like a spear all the way up to the shoulder to which her long dexterous neck permitted with far less strain than her human form would have created. She made sense of the skeletal structure in comparison to her previous body as it had with equines, from a snippet in one of the books she had been given.

“Huh? I’ve only now been able to actually notice…” she yawned with a wide parting of her mandible, “… ah! Excuse me.”

She still needed to get out of the pit they slept within and stretch herself, only then could she really understand how much she needed to care for her new life. Though as the itch to move about began to will her into action she only then saw the absent space of Oratoria before her. Surely she hadn’t slept too long or had Equis’ definition of daylight possess a far longer degree of time than her home and a twelve hour start to a day was far more?

The depression in the bedding of gathered plant matter showed no signs of struggle or any indicators she was taken by force. This only told Twilight that she left of her own will most likely and being a fully fledged siren with her born gemstone she had some protection from Timberwolves and the like. Using her ears to pan about reactively she started to search for any sign of Adagio’s lost family member, however the tall grasses let her see only to an extent even as she rose up like a crane searching for prey in a wetland.

“No technology means no alarm clock like I’m use to. Being turned into a siren might have a whole other physiology I’ll need to understand so I’m not weakened by ignorance.” She thought as back home she’d have gone to sleep early enough and woke up by the break dawn by her digital clock that sat diligently on her lamp post, or the other one in her lab.

The routine allowed her to tend to Spike and his need to go outside to relieve himself as he usually whined and barked around her feet as she sat up out of her bed. Once back inside she immediately followed with a quick freshening of her person for the day before constructing a balanced breakfast and leaving for the bus for Crystal Prep. Her old human life swam in the back of her mind as her lazy sight gazed upon the dreary forest after ceasing to look for the turquoise hippocampus. The crinkling leaves and plant matter she had used to make the impromptu nest had become dried fragile shards, berating her sensitive hearing like the sound akin to broken glass being crunched and kicked about. As she finally made an effort to get out of foxhole she winced at the commotion she created as her weight obliterated the husks of leaves and tassels of wheat heads and stalks. Shoots of the heads clung to her armored body only for a little while before the outlying pasture inevitable scrapped them off and dropped the life bearing seeds onto safe ground. The crackling faded into the soft rustle of the fresh ground cover outside the pit and soft compressible rich soil that her taloned hooves dug easily into. Still being so early in the day she grunted trying to both haul herself out onto open land and organize her long muscled tail into assisting the effort.

“Gosh… I didn’t think… it was this… hard!” she put her all into it and inches by inches she finally extracted her freedom, “Or being so heavy?”

Twilight caught her breath shortly from being so unaccustomed to a workout once again, this time however with the aid of high capacity and powerful lungs the recovery came within seconds instead of minutes. Subconsciously her wings planted themselves firmly before her as she removed the weight off her front hooves and shaking them clean, it allowed her to ease herself into a calm state of body and mind. Her finned tail coiled around her to further support the upper body as a cobra in a defensive stance.

“Good to find that out, after all it does make sense Adagio’s species would possess a durable respiratory system being aquatic species. I wonder if both genders share the same capacity or do the females that sing have even more efficient lungs than the water faring males?” the tales that Sonata accounted and the admissions of the other two hinted at long durations of time to hunt and secure the daily feast all members of the pack required.

She took a few deep breathes and measured the sensation to put a number of what she guessed would be the dimensions of fully inflated lungs and volume they held. Hoping her mental library she had accessed at the battle by the portal would store it away for future study, her next thoughts went into further applications along the subject of submersion. She looked forward to experimenting in the limits she could test, how long she could hold a single breath, and perhaps how far she might go down before her body couldn’t take the pressure any longer. It would inspire spell crafting to allow normal humans to replicate to an extent if also to save them during an accident. Floods, storms, and simple riptides could be given a far less mortality rate by somehow trapping air around the individual or creating a siphon above water all through the use of magic.

Having returned back to her self-examination and forgetting the reason what she was looking for earlier, her protective layer of shielding that guarded the vulnerable belly drew her attention next. While she realized somewhere along the biceps and elbows that the cycloid scales ended existed along the core of her frame and ceased behind her ears and head as well as along the breast plating, brilliant smooth and uniform denticles that even gave off a faint shimmer of the color spectrum under the right light. Where her eyes picked up on the miniature lateral lines that created the rainbow effect she saw where the sun’s rays were reflected away as if bouncing from a mirror. This was true even for her tail as she noticed her frontal armor seemed to terminate around where her pelvic bone was, a larger and far denser type of scales protected the extremity the likes of which bore qualities of the gar species. Diamond shaped mineralized solid scales ran their length down to the huge paddle of a fin that truly was the siren’s way of swimming, prodding them as well with a hoof she could only assume they could take a beating before allowing any damage. They had strangely become a part of a project influencing a new kind of protective armor for workshops against the fragments of shattered grinder blades and the likes. She ran her eyes from the tip of her still freshly manifested appendage being only a day old as it were, back to the largest scales of her bosom and stomach region.

“That is rather peculiar that this mammal would even have such things? I would have thought they would be more like a dolphin or a porpoise to be honest. Their evolutionary tree must be one that even Devel Darwin would be proud of!” she said as her head had been bent down and upside down, “These have to be either singular or fused dermal denticles like shark skin! I can even… feel the roughness that the surface is composed of. That would explain how their gems a grown, these do have a blood supply unlike the other variations. Not to mention increasing their hydrodynamic advantage they already possess in this streamline design.”

She could not help but be amazed that her limited research in the possible anatomy of the siren race had hit the nail with the hammer on a try and a half. From what little data the Dazzlings could muster she had to base their true depiction using the various species on earth, even if their own amalgamation of beings made it a mind tangle when one took in the genome for consideration. In Sparkle’s mind she could only rejoice at the near eighty percent success rate with her narrowed models she constructed with a little artistic take of course, assuming they were like the mythological horses of the water god Poseidon of the Greek Pantheon. There were other entities as such and including the alicorns themselves to whom she primarily worked on the method of why they had so much mana at their compared to standard pony physiology. She wanted to break down their anatomy to see how they used magic innately being movers of astral objects such as their moon and sun, however that was a low tier priority with mana dominating everything else.

Thus she put on ice for later experiment using herself as the first test subject down the road once she’d gotten what she wanted done on the enormous list of projects. The few weeks’ worth of research had also pointed her into a notch of cautionary moves for her own well being when she eventually traveled to the pony world. She had a failsafe against mental deterioration if she did transform into another being though at the time it was a half chance off the portal would transfigure her as it did. She had her fears of what it might do to her mind by the species alteration knowing no two creatures were alike even on Earth. So her list biology work would cover the tests as she continued to discover all the listed species Yellow Tail had jotted down, following a chance encounter she’d put her mind to the task with the data she wrote into one of the books or of which she had with her.

“I.. lost his manuscripts with Spike didn’t I...” she sighed losing her mirth for a depressed groan, “I really really hope that maybe one of the exiles took my pack and has Spike with them?”

The dour mood kept her down only for a few minutes before she picked up the fresh smell of fish, the strong odd aroma permeated her nostrils with the likes of cucumber infused water as if it had been put before her as the first morning’s drink instead of coffee or black tea. She soon forgot about the troubling reveal as the far flung scent she’d known fish to be from the unfortunate sampling at the restaurant they visited for a family party was indeed a heralding factor in the edibility of the meat. How saddening that she had been to celebrate enrollment at Crystal Prep Academy by her parents and the night end vomiting in the toilet later that night. Fresh and easy on the nose that was the true scent of the marine animal, she knew it was fish by the subtle hint of the food she knew when her parents tried to cure her of her aversion by introducing unspoiled flesh though then she had been scarred.

It was far ahead of her that she’d heard the stirrings of another mixed with the source of the aromatics, she rose even higher up with her wings shaking to keep balance. The fragrance was not all displeasing to her once the wind maintained a downdraft that allowed her to truly appreciate the clean air. The odor was already beginning to ease into her personal tastes like a child’s first serving of fruits past the paste in jars, her long snout sniffed away sending every available receptor ablaze with the potential of food source her new biology found entrancing. Twilight had to admit that being a siren was not all that bad to wake up as with the plethora of information she was able to analyze, being a predator of a sorts did mean she could access more data as her eyes could collect every ounce of light in the dark.

The unripe melon heavy hint simply had her eyes close to better hone in on the delectable odor, able to pick up peculiar notes like a fine dinner much as she had enjoyed with the Dazzlings in their outings. Yet with every new variable came the unknown, you would never know what bitterness meant beside the vinegary acidity to the nose which thankfully did not exist in the air. How tanginess was pungent to the sense, sweetness in flavor given an enticing punch of a bakery, or savory into meatiness she couldn’t quite understand yet. Her bright approach tried to pin the possibilities of what each variable meant being translated from aromatic particulates as she was pretty sure even the aquatic life in Equis had no sugary air about them nor possessing any smack like a citrus glaze a Corian restaurant would use. There was no possible way there was some kind of food truck or cart lost in the forest they took refuge in either.

Opening her eyes from the short lived trance, she gave the sampling a little longer indulgence to satisfy her curiosity till she felt satisfied she had enough to go through later. Her fandango purple irises would soon fasten onto Oratoria who hovered above the forest floor away from her with a pile of freshwater fish she had gathered from the little pond she had used the other day to help the mana exhausted siren from her dire agony. How she missed the animals at first pervaded any initial queries other than her panic overwhelming her normally inquisitive sight. It turned out to be a rather impressive stack of various trout and bass which appeared to be their morning meal by the way it was displayed, whether or not she had in the human world avoided the cold blooded vertebrates she felt compelled to gorge herself as if a mental cow bell had been rung by the chief.

Absentmindedly and without notice her front legs had begun to turn her around and carry her onwards as a very animalistic tendency took over the subconscious mind, “That… looks… why does it look so appetizing?” Sparkle asked herself in a whisper feeling a little saliva start to drip from her mouth agape like spilled syrup on the edge of a table.

Lugging herself with little hassle, her tail snaked along its side as her wings motorized her locomotion in a dreary haze of hunger. She disturbed the grass and tall wheat-like stalks which drew Ora’s attention after she dumped what had been the last morsel she wanted to catch before eating for herself, her long fangs had pierced the still living things in their backwards facing design that no struggle could escape from. Licking her lips to clean them of the slime that accumulated around her lips she chuckled at seeing the mutant spellbound by the enticing buffet she harvested solely. Just like her mother she could hunt well and provide for herself and others, something she occasionally kept up while trapped in a human body. Using what books she could to perform research into how other marine creatures fed themselves, filling in on what her parents had not been given the time to instruct her of. Unfortunately for her, the books lacked in any audio capacity since she could not read at all and the entire process had been turned into a very lonely personal goal for her to endure. Nonetheless she made use of the time and effort just then without actually performing even once before, it bolstered her ego to be so capable that she even smiled at Twilight who was captivated by her own appetite.

Spitting the last catch into the mound she chuckled, “Morning Mrs. Thick Skull, lovely nightmares by the way I couldn’t sleep a wink after we went to sleep… again. Well it may not be coffee from that Hester’s place you humans seemed to love, but it’s at least enough to get us through the day. No eggs and bacon for you, but at least the mighty Oratoria can supply exactly what you need to not perish and wither into a carcass? Doesn’t that sound good?” she proudly announced as she took to a resting lay before her side of the mound held up by her elbows.

Twilight had barely enough time to startle herself enough to respond before she’d dive in with a vigor she’d never attain alone, and with a shake of her long neck did control come back to her, “Wha… fish? But I don’t like fish? Or at least I didn’t? Wait… why am I here, I don’t remember even moving over here? Oratoria? When did you…?”

The other siren hadn’t a clue about what the grotesque was talking about and soured at the words that happened to offend her, “Well, looks like you’ll just have to get use to it girl! You’re home now, so there are no human appliances, no stores, no… cafes. Sirens eat fish! And unless you wish to starve you better eat what I painstakingly captured myself!”

The sharp rebuke over an innocent inquiry into her own actions had definitely woken the poor girl up if she hadn’t already been, “Wait! I’m sorry Oratoria I didn’t mean to offend you honest!? I really don’t even remember feeling my arms move? Wings? Everything was numb to me and… and I was thinking about why I can taste the aromatics of craniates, but I’m simple interpreting the olfactory response to their presence I think? Is this how high tier predators sensed the world around them?”

Ora was about to snag a floundering largemouth bass when she was held off confused of the words the rude one had put into a sentence, “What?” she cocked an eyebrow as she withdrew from the buffet.

With a grumbling anxious stomach Twilight held firm and continued to defend herself, “I meant that this body seems to detect more information than what I am use to. I can smell saccharine and citrus notes coming from those… um rather fine and delicious looking specimens when I shouldn’t or at least I believe they are physically unable to do?”

It took a moment for the true siren to understand what was going on, but it was still too early in the morning and her magic still below average to try and care, “Look just get some of this and be happy with it already! I… We need to go find Adagio before we waste anymore time. You can save your thoughts for later. Now come and dig in!”

Finding no further way of atoning herself Twilight did as she was asked and allowed herself to feed without hands nor utensils, hesitation prevented any quick ingestion as her compatriot seemed to fancy otherwise. She watched first and observed a siren’s feeding habits which were easing herself in as curiosity drank in the invaluable visual information. Once again hoping she’d find a way back into casting spells and the likes, she waited with bated breath as she felt privileged that she was the only one entity to witness a secretive creature’s eating behavior since few even knew they existed.

She commentated on the act hoping that too would be memorized for a later biography that might paint the creatures in a better light, ‘The largest of the siren’s catch required notable mastication unlike what I thought I’d see at first, in a way it was like watching a sea otter bite into a reasonably sized invertebrate. She used her sharp cloven hooves to grasp the body and even pierce the scales into the muscle tissue itself to better hold onto the prey item, the fangs are doing most of the work before the mostly ruined head passed into the back molars announced by the squelching bone crunching sounds. I took the chance to lick my own mouth with my tongue and try to imagine what it might feel like, finding that even the molars which use to be flat possessed a strange formation when clamped down. The lower set of teeth seemed to be a little more inwards than the top and acted with a sissor-like action to work on any soft tissue and bone with surprising efficiency. They feel sharp as well with a v-shaped indentation down the center while the sides steeped upwards to complete the cutting capability. Likely used to soften any sharp bones a siren might encounter that they probably ate and shelled crustaceans of the likes Sonata favored.’ it then came to her knowledge how long her tongue was as she used it to study the innards of her orifice, had it been purposefully long to aid in facilitating singing, perhaps eating, or simply both?

She heard a muffled voice before her before she could ponder anymore into her personal capabilities, “Yoou goanna et hhoor whaaa?” spoke the voice with mutilated meat hampering it.

Ora seemed to be goaded by Twilight’s inaction with the fish mostly chewed halfway down its length in her ravenous nature of consumption. She even jerked her head that seemed to have some kind of non verbal connotation Twilight was unaware of, but knowing that the former Crystal Prep student had the patience of Aria there was no way to answer other than act.

Thus with a quick gulp of anticipation the purple toned hippocampus locked onto a flopping bronze speckled trout that gasped for water which would not grace its gills ever again. Unaware she was being watched by her superior, Sparkle let her tongue work outwards and touch the lively animal which in the act of contact her mind blossomed from the taste receptors that were as amazing as magic was initially to her. Something within took over once more and she quickly retracted the organ before snagging the food item with the forward incisors that gripped the slender streamline body, letting the mucus slide it into her waiting gullet by drawing her head backwards. She let herself enjoy the rush of data to her brain that she relished in interpreting, the academic knowledge that overwhelmed anything a human would interpret. Possibly a safety mechanism against poisonous fish to be that sensitive to taste as well as smell and thus allow them a wider variety in their diet once they figured what couldn’t be eaten.

The frantic wiggling soon rushed the morsel into her throat and she swallowed the trout whole without chewing as she was accustomed to, where the weird pleasure she derived from the intake had quickly forced her into another serving. Each fish she devoured had been given its fair share of time to scrutinize with varying sizes and body shapes, the notes she took were as in depth as she could word them in her mind with a mental voice recorder storing the observations away.

“Hmmmm….!!” She hummed as if having not eaten in days, her teeth snagged a river eel next that disappeared between her supple lips like a wet noodle.

Oratoria seemed oddly intrigued in Twilight’s eagerness to consume raw meat, how strange it must be for the former human to not pop a fire and cook the banquet. Instead, she embraced her hard constitution with fever guts and all, in a way she reminded the siren of her days as a hatchling just as enthusiastic. How she enjoyed every meal the adults brought from the ocean and the diversity that allowed her to favor specific items. A small smile formed at the corners of her mouth as she let the tail end of the bass she had been working on vanish with no further need to soften up into her throat. She figured the mutant was finally behaving well enough, while not a frenzy as the sharks they made quick work of the harvest and soon were happily sated for the rest of the day with little mess to be worried over attracting something dangerous. How well their trek would go and she not having to force feed the mutant, that was a prospect she hoped wouldn’t happen when she roused herself and hunted in the wee morning hours.

The last of the catch went to Sparkle thus concluding the final moments they’d share in the clearing of the Everfree, a lucky cut by fate that they were spared a predator’s intervention. They’d have to suffer through the horrid jungle conditions again and hope their fortune would continue to hold out till they reunited with the others. Ora knew all this and the low mana she possessed which meant she couldn’t carry the winged female either thus it would be very bad if they had to book it at a moment’s notice. Either way she needed to top off her water supply before they left, banking on what little magic her body might shrewdly give through the conversion process.

“I’ll be right back, need something to wash this all down. Don’t wander off.” she excused herself to an oblivious Twilight and levitated herself back to the pond thinking she saw a nod in the dreamy face of the package sacred to her sister.

She floated away as concerns arose to her forethoughts, she hoped they would never become obvious to the misshapen she had to look after least hesitance bubble up and stall them when the time came to move out. While Sparkle enjoyed the afterglow of a fully belly completely distracted and probably incapable of getting into a dilemma, Ora’s positive demeanor fell into a frown and her brow furrowed. A few dragonflies zipped by her muzzle yet she didn’t falter, a wasp bumped into her neck and its stinger found no way of penetrating the mineralized enamel, the trees about her swayed gently to a passing breeze as it came and went. A lone badger waddled under her shadow as she crossed its path but she ignored its snarling and gave it no trouble to make it aggressive even though it seemed ready for a fight.

Gliding over a clover patch swarming with skipper butterflies which dispersed by her proximity, ‘Great, we don’t even know how much further we’ll have to go with her having to drag herself! On top of that, there is a chance that Adagio escaped from that dragon and is heading in a different direction!?!’ she sighed, ‘Just gotta hope those things might do some good other than being useless flaps of flesh holding me back! I can’t carry her again.’

She groaned while puffing out air through her nostrils, focused on the one thing she hated about Twilight in general that added weight which would slow them down. Her long form swam in the air effortlessly as if she were in the very ocean itself, she knew how to solely from her mother’s teaching before she was taken from her. How strange she was able to utilize the proper spell on the go as she had when they returned, though she left it all to chance rather than dwell on it for too long. Ora used the extra height to scan the tree line surrounding their little sanctuary for anything off as her ears twitched each way they could possible go. The viper eyes contracted into spear tipped slits at either ends with the sunlight bearing down on her warming her body even if the pleasure was lost to her. One of her caliber could effortlessly root out and apprehend a stalking land beast before it could get the upper hoof on them, she meandered on her way to the waterhole with a worry free attitude when nothing showed up on her senses.

When nothing came forth to frighten off she dropped her guard for her thoughts once more, ‘There’s no telling what’s around us, likely that dumb dragon scared everything away at first… probably why we had such a passive night. If I remember correctly… I know what is normally out here in this kind of… creepy forest. We’ll be bait for those Boar Crocs if we don’t locate Adagio soon!’ her turquoise scales glimmered beautifully with each undulation in her movement as her mind went back to the one on one she had with Twilight last night, ‘I hope you’re okay Adagio I just know you are… I know a dragon cannot hurt you because you’ve already done enough to prove you’re stronger than them. I mean… just wow at what you did with your own magic going to do something you shouldn’t have even done and for how long did you keep that barrier up? If I can guess even a stone’s throw into the water… it just took the loss of your original pendants… one of which no siren should ever experience.”

She suddenly realized something terribly amiss with that admission “… by… Poseidon!?!!”

Her movements ceased as she literally froze in place by the jarring notion, the story she was told had been too spectacular to sit on any little detail beyond what it culminated for her to question. Apparently, she and the other two lost their magic through some kind of battle perhaps? Then there were the guardians she had seen the little mutant slap around and leech off of, so had those six been the ones that possibly shattered Adagio’s only way of life? How did they even survive for long and what were the circumstances that lead up to a certain Yellow Tail aiding them and Twilight mixed in there? How did they get their magic back and she being the one to do so? Where there other sirens in the human world she somehow missed or failed to detect, even other sirens from Equestria sent away by the ponies or another ‘Adagio’?

“By the All Father of the deep seas!? They didn’t have their stones when we came out of that portal did they?! But they had their powers before we jumped… so then why not anymore? Did they take another siren’s gem and the portal destroyed them while sending us here? Was that why mom always said why we never can nor should feed off our own kind… or lose our stones?” she felt appalled of the potential reality dawning on her, slamming into her head like a crashing tidal wave during a typhoon.

Her body lost a little altitude and started to drop to the green undergrowth below where it parted against the thick overlapping armor, “Did you… cross that border Adagio? Did you really break the sacred law just to ensure you’d get your revenge? Our revenge!?” a slight pinch of sickening nausea started to inch its way into her full belly, the idea that her sister would go to such lengths left her aghast in the traditional side of her being. She endeavored to understand how they even returned their powers if they did use another gemstone, to go with the concept that they just needed the gems fixed. Adagio was the embodiment of retribution if she lasted as long as she did with a pack she started without her, she should be anything but above the laws as to perform sacrilege upon her own kin even if they were of the other world. That was what her mother preached daily, the unwritten code passed down from each siren to the next even from those who lost their old homes they ensured the next generation would never be ill-bred.

Oratoria wanted to overcome the illness that started to push her stomach into evacuating the contents churning within the organ she’d recently stuffed into. Quickly, she reaffirmed the ponies to be the source of fault for everything even if Dazzle did enact the most blasphemous crime known to sirens aside from cannibalism. A scapegoat she found no problems decorating with her indignation and righteousness that overshadowed any wrong doing by the golden matriarch. If the ponies hadn’t done something to the water, made them orphans, and forced the two into some other realm then she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths. The guardians whom she felt pride over Twilight’s ability to sap them of every ounce of magic they had, like feeding heavily on a crowd till they were dull slugs. To her even those humans received a slap on the hoof, they were the criminals in the eyes of the siren with a building ferocity mounting at the two parties that chanced some kind of cooperation against them. Her muzzle drew back revealing her fangs as the hatred towards the offenders grew a few more inches within her heart, though it was still a distance away when compared to Adagio. After all she was willing to tolerate a human in her pod and loved her as if she were her own blood, what rage inside that soul must be and likely hotter than Tartarus itself?

She resumed her gravity defying hover towards the pool up ahead feeling as if the latter was the true reasoning, “After all she’s been through those ponies have to pay for what they did to us! If not taking away their livelihood then what? I lost my family too!! Doesn’t that mean anything!?! They should have made sure everysir was dead… because now they have a very pissed off siren and not just Adagio to deal with!”

The irked female arrived before the small waterhole and edged herself towards the water’s shore, her reflection in the mostly calm glassy plane showcased her adult features reminding her of a mother long lost to time. She let the burning bonfire of her spirit collapse under its own weight, if it was not from a full stomach making her incapable of being angry for long. Thus she eyed the curve of her cheek bones, her glorious fins she so missed, the pointed bony chin, and even the patterns on her fins which were nearly identical to what memory she could fathom of her parent. Gruffly groaning inwardly she capped the foam of recollection and nostalgia at the tip before it spilled over, remembering the tragic moment that her mother had decided to hide her in an old ghost shrimp hole rather than take her into the water. The moment the blast came she had been practicing with her mother to reach a new octave to enhance her standing in the chorus, and when the sand rumbled from the shockwave it was almost as if the sleek and fabulous parent of hers knew what was happening. Where she herself had been safely protected within the wall of the adults tail, all of the sudden she had been told to stay and keep out of the water. That she would be safe where she was and to never move until she returned, and Ora did as she was told as any good little hatchling did because there was no room for doubt. There was more to the past that wanted to come forth but it was shut off at the valve when a few leaves dotted the waterhole, and disturbed the dead flat mirror of her mother’s visage.

‘Was I right to track her down mother?’ she asked herself as her head dipped downwards lowered just enough that she could sip away quietly feeling the chill along her chin. The refreshing flow of the sacred crystal clear reservoir put out the warmth in her gut created by the bile of stress, she needed to calm down before she bit off Twilight’s head metaphorically speaking.

Left alone bemoaning the question itself, the forest seemed to feel her wrath as if it were somehow empathetic to her situation. Trees began to creak and croak though their leafy canopies and crawling vines seemed unaffected, the noisy sparrows and doves left the area as crickets went silent. Something mystical blew through the mana winds that saturated the atmosphere as the air itself, even though Ora was daft to its ethereal presence it happened to concentrate around the most permeable substance available. The water itself glowed a faint white just enough that she might have noticed had she not closed her eyes to settle down, though it was nothing beyond what could have been a reflected ray of sunlight to anyone else for the short duration it lasted.

She swallowed the last mouthful while keeping her lips just below the pond’s surface thinking once more, ‘I could have easily looked for others and joined another family? I could have grown up like a normal girl instead of wasting all those years, so then why didn’t I?’ she sniffled holding back a growing regret of knowing so little about Adagio with what little time she had with her, once more she was separated when the future had been within her hooves. She felt confused and lost as to what she should continue to do when fate seemed to persist on hinting at quitting the duty altogether, three issues that all made it harder for her to believe the old pack could even be restored.

A twig snapped the in brush across the waterhole but she failed to detect it as she mired in the stew of doubt, and she continued to lay in the trance as further stems of shrubbery gave way to something sneaking forward exceptionally obscured as a proper hunter should. Every ten seconds the leaves and branches shook as a bulk of fur pushed through the vegetation bending them forwards until they slid back into their proper place, that very disturbance Oratoria hadn’t noticed even then.

“What I want may not be what Adagio seeks, does that mean we’ll be safe or will we both be doomed to exile again by those sinister ponies? Am I so focused at being her second best that I might… be…” her cheeks scrunched as the natural order vied for control of her actions, comfort came with going to the norm and dread from simply heading out to sea in hopes she’d find others. Both meant she’d find a horrible end meeting a dangerous monster or the fearful ponies and their magic, either side of the scale had little incentive to go for other than familiarity with Dazzle.

From the densely packed leaves of the hedge-like plant two golden orbs stared out barely blinking as hunger kept them concentrated upon the young siren. A small lizard shot from the scrub brush and ran through the leaf strewn ground intent on getting away from the massive hunter that invaded its territory. Though even in its panic powered sprint nothing could wake Ora from the haze of uncertainty, black ridges of hair above the eyes of the observer knew it as well as their linear state was set by a focal point of concentration. The beige coat rippled above dense muscle and sinew primed and readied to spring forward at a moments notice, veins poked out like tree roots of shallow timber when adrenaline had been injected into the beasts blood preparing for the coming hunt. Darkened claws dug into the earth anchoring the fiend for the right moment to act on the front paws, they would soon find purchase in a plump meal and hook deep so they wouldn’t be able to escape. A long, thick, segmented tail of that which possessed a needle-like stinger poised ready to dart forward, and once the prey had been fastened within its jaws the poisonous tip would seek the victim to end its struggle if it did not suffocate first. A long flat tongue licked the furry lips of the massive boulder of a head, the long awaited meal it had stalked from afar would soon be eaten and cease its hunger for weeks.

“I want the ponies to pay. I want to restart our family together! But… how will she go about doing so? Will she break more rules? Will I break a rule? I don’t want to be a Karuesh… to shame our lineage!?” unable to make a choice before the two of them ventured off with no guaranteed that she’d see everything she hoped for.

The shallow breath of the beast hunting her ended, its body locked and in place for the leap over the pond. Large leathery bat wings hugged closely to its barrel of its ribcage, intent on not getting snagged on a raking branch and receive an injury. A small fly buzzed in front of the living dozer and landed upon the black nose where a jagged scar ripped along the visage of the Manticore terminating just under the left eye like a bolt of lightning. The tiny insect tickled the hairs and scar tissue, eliciting twitches to its intrusion but nothing was done to remove it other than that. Instead the giant feline used the feeling to trigger the ambush with nothing abating its enormous bulk. Leaves flew in its wake as he arched over the miniscule pool with a powerful bound, he did not growl, he did not even so much as hiss, his claws and open maw readied to receive the kill as the stretched as wide as they could. The glorious auburn mane flowed nearly silently in the air like a fire in a windstorm, the majestic handsomeness lead a justified respect for the mighty hunter of the Everfree. Though most who would were usually given mere seconds before trap jaws of his naturally born weaponry clamped down to give death’s sweet embrace.

The lone siren had no time to react as she heard the disturbance only a moment too late, her drooping head had only rose halfway up when the features of the closing Manticore encompassed all she could see. From side to side were the claws spread out waiting for contact before retracting, a huge pink maw wide open sought her head and neck with long fur filling the rest of the background as two bright doubloons instilled even more horror as they gave life to the encroaching end. In a matter of existence and death she activated the levitation spell just as the lion closed in around her, with a split second decision she saved her most vulnerable weak spot from the harvester of all life and placed her dense armor breast plating of her chest in the orifice of long fangs designed to puncture the jugulars. The claws wrapped around her form and the momentum of the assault sent the two tumbling head over back which the centripetal force alone parting the two accompanied by disorientation. Oratoria had felt the sharp stabbing in her shoulder and the blunt pressure on her chest, there had thankfully been far too much flesh for the beast to properly secure himself on which likely saved her from any serious damage. Where his paws grasped they had found only the slippery surface of her shingled armor which no purchase to be found, forcing the lion to twice scrape over her body to keep her from escaping until they parted from the landing.

Dazed out of her mind, Ora had quickly risen and taken herself off the ground, she felt sore unlike anything she’d ever felt before where the monster had bitten. There were indeed scales missing where the flaring pain the canines had landed, whatever the creature was its mouth was the strongest source of pressure it had. She shook her head to remove the remaining dizziness while her attacker had a little harder time coming to, allowing precious moments to locate and face the new foe she hoped wouldn’t have shown just yet. It was a lion that was clear enough as she’d seen plenty in the human world held in zoos, but this thing before her was an Equis breed by the two modifications it possessed. The situation deemed it worthless to find a tag for it as she needed to either escape or fight it off, knowing as a predator herself the hunt wouldn’t end until it won or she discouraged it.

Swelling started to develop on the bite site but she fought through the pain, “You!! I may not have a siron with me… but Poseidon curse me I won’t let you take me!” she threatened watching the four legged mammal regain clarity and leer at her with an unquenchable hunger.

Those golden eyes sought her flesh and blood giving nothing to signal that the battle was personal, no roar echoed from its whiskered mouth as he began to strafe her and she the same. The scorpion tail curled up ready to stab away when the time came, large wings expanded to make it all the more intimidating and attempted to force her into opening herself up to a proper attack. They did have some effect as the siren found semblance in their closeness to Twilight’s own, for something as heavy as he they were likely never used for flight and she found it rather funny out of honesty.

“You stupid overgrown house cat!! You will not be the death of me.” She seethed in indignation, “You were lucky! But now… you have my full attention.”

Her muzzle drew back her lips in an aggressive display showcasing the very type of teeth which could doom the Manticore if she got a lucky bite. The threatening show however did little to deter the lion on the hunt if only to entice it even more, it licked its chops as the taste of a siren had become its new favorite food. The face off maintained for three laps as they continued keeping distance from each other all the while gauging the next, the rest of the world mattered not to either of the combatants as the fight for life took over their mental faculties.

The paws soon gripped the soil once more before the Manticore threw itself at her in a daring charge intent on smashing into her to gain access around her neck with little effort as it predicted. In three gallops he erased the distance and once more pounced at her bearing all it could muster waiting to open its jaws until it had the siren secured, and then sweet victory would bring pleasure to his aching stomach. However, what it had not expected was the swiftness of the prey he selected as she used her long powerful tail to bat him off course and miss her body with a swiping claw just inches from purchase. She had put her all into the defensive move and it showed as the lion rolled onto the grass several times before it came to a stop. Her heart blasted away every chemical that gave her the heightened abilities in the fight, the successful push was a welcomed morale boost but it wouldn’t last for long.

“You see you mangy cat!!?!” she shouted as her ruby began to glow weakly.

The animal charged again and the same thing carried out, where it leapt at her she countered and slammed it away while evading the hooks trying to seize her. Bearing in mind the beasts repetitive attacks resumed with no change in tactic, Oratoria began to play with him in a sadistic way by approaching at the attacker from either side and even under it where he was launched through the air away from her. While the monster could best her in sheer mass and stamina, the siren had mobility and agility to which exploited its linear pattern of assault. Yet those golden eyes did not lose their resolve as it pressed on no matter how much it was hurt, he wanted the meal badly enough that in an eons old strategy of any predator there was a way with a will.

She huffed as exhaustion started to take root, “I’m… not through with… you yet!”

Another couple of series of goes and soon the siren began to slow down enough that the sharp nails were almost causing sparks from contact upon her bony shielding. Determined as ever before the Manticore had felt the touch and it emboldened him to greater lengths with shorter recoveries, the hunt was drawing to a close. The death machine breathed for dear life as he braced for a burst of speed far greater than any other spring, each gallop he took sent a wave throughout the monstrous body. The savannah grass fur coat swelled like a shoreline on a windy day glossy from proper grooming and a healthy diet, the stinging tail arched tightly for a whipcord muscle to pull it forwards and deliver the deadly injection. He had hampered her readiness and bore down on the siren before she had a chance to sweep her armored appendage at him, it was then that they at last made contact for a second time in death’s hold. Though this instance they merely skidded on the grassy pasture with the Manticore’s hulking body staying low to the ground and pinning her underneath him. She would be dead to right if in the tussle her forelimbs hadn’t placed themselves under the snapping jaws that could very likely crack her skull with ease. The paws were fastened onto her shoulders to grip her still as his broad flat head attempted for the sweet spot, but for every try she snaked her vulnerability out of the way or snapped at the nose of her aggressor in a bid for her life.

Yet the fight was gradually becoming a losing game with no aid fathomable, she couldn’t afford to think about anything else as her lungs were failing to refill by the weight that sat upon her ribs and stomach. She began to cry however out of the desperate battle’s closing conclusion, her own body burning from exertion as the last of her adrenaline was squeezed out of the glands to maintain the deadlock. The Manticore worked every angle and every spot to an unsuccessful attempt to draw her into his waiting fangs, but he could feel the waning strength that continued to deny him of the prize. This was nature taking its course for the weak to fall, populations kept in check, and a fate that awaited any who ventured into the forest of curses and dangers.

‘I can’t DIE!’ she shuttered at the mere idea of defeat.

‘I won’t DIE!’ deep down she wanted to live in some way or another.

‘No!!’ her mind ablaze with defiance to what life seemed to be placing her in.

‘NOOOOO!!!’ she screamed in her head just as she nailed a lucky chomp of which pierced the nose and whisker region of the chimera, her long curved teeth performed their gruesome work and hooked into the mighty foe’s flesh as it had been trying to do to her.

The titan of a large cat roared in pain and tried to pull himself away only to cause even more damage than it already suffered. The large flat paws soon went to work on her face and began to slash in an attempt to push her off, it resulted in only more spikes of agony in the form of a bellowing groan that rumbled Ora’s heart being so close to the source. She endured the scratches she felt, the lacerations that would scar her for the rest of her life by the audible tearing that came of it, but she wouldn’t let her life be claimed that she was certain of. As she glared venomously at the golden eyes of the vile thing which harbored panic, the satisfaction had been drunk to the last drop seeing the weakness in the predator so openly evident even as it tried to twist its head to shake her off. In a last bid for relief the lion’s forelimbs rose up above ready to sweep down and gouge her eyes out as well as ravage what made her her, a moment which felt as if it lasted for minutes as the curved nails reached their climax.

A wondering thought popped into her mind beyond her willpower, she wondered if she might still be able to sing after she won the struggle. Would Adagio even want her back after the mauling? Would the others find her repulsive and offensive to their pack and disown her? Would any others take her in or simply toss her away like a damaged hatchling?

Her answers wouldn’t come, she huffed out a bellow of air before biting as hard as she could and hit bone in the process with the feeling of a wavering shiver flow through the Manticore’s body. Her face braced for the impact to come and squeezed her eyes as far as they could shut, her antennae drew backwards as her ears had been throughout the fight in hopes they would not suffer any damage. As ready as ever to see the engagement come to a close something came to her rescue just before the powerful limbs came crashing down upon her. As the creature had been tossed away off her chest with a mighty slap of flesh upon flesh, the force of which pried her own jaws wide open caused a dull pain as her fangs were moved unnaturally forward if only slightly. Her whole head followed the pathway of the lion as it had been thrown to her left, and as her eyes shot open she could see a glowing ring and a pentagon within it swirling clockwise where her assailant has been.  She could hear the crashing sound that meant she was free of the immediate danger, yet her attention went to the hovering dull indigo tail fin which quivered over her prone. body A magical spell had been implemented somehow and that very limb had been connected to the mutant herself, the girl panted terribly as a power glossed her eyes like they were the stars in the darkness of Luna’s night. A stunned look was worn by the winged siren that appeared to have made a mad dash to save her, using her arms and wings to anchor herself while her tail swung with all its might and knocked the monster off of her.

The coursing rune diagram vaporized into the air until nothing remained, the magic in the form she saw she knew a siren had no capability of utilizing. The wide paddle of the tail fin steamed a little or simply had gotten hot enough from the impact that it warped the air around it though short lived as the effect was. Twilight appeared to withdraw her body back towards herself as she snapped out of her stupor, instantly going for Oratoria worried and concerned for her health as she voiced it clearly.

“Please tell me you’re okay?! Please!! Did it break anything? Do I need to make a splint? Do you have any internal bleeding? Ohhh there are no villages even nearby for medical attention!!” she asked fervently using her large black wings to help Ora up.

The victim yelped a little as the stimulants her body injected were already close to wearing off, she could feel bruises and open wounds zinging with tenderness though she was sure they were not very serious. Her magical reserves were weakened by the brawl she could still crawl despite the worn out state she was in, allowing Twilight to help support her as she righted herself.

The winged siren stuttered as she tried to provide any help she could, “I… I don’t know… what came over me?! I heard the commotion and came over as soon as I could, but then I saw it… then you!” she trembled as the magic in her eyes vanished.

The utter stun of the near death experience had both of them incapacitated, but a quick glance to her left and Ora found relief as the body of the Manticore lay immobile in front of a tree it had wrapped around. Whether it was just knocked out or dead she cared not for as it was no longer a threat, plus she still had both her eyes and what she presumed were minor blemishes along her muzzle that would heal over time she hoped. She never wanted anything more than to have the ability to sing to some ponies and drain them of their negative energy to speed the rebound, but the truth was they were going to make due with each other. To some extent it was now all on Twilight since she had some magical capacity to protect the both of them with, how funny the tables had been turned to her favor?

Closing her eyes for a moment to rest as her only other ally held on with care, there came a relaxing feeling that she only experienced with her mother. Although without the rubbery wings it was as if she were with her mother again, it helped minimize the pain she felt from the taxing battle and the traumatic end she almost signed away on. Her mind submerged with a fading vision that meant sleep was coming whether she allowed it or not, perhaps a short nap would be good for her? Adagio couldn’t be too far off and they’d soon see one another with a story to tell that could very well land her into her good grace for protecting Twilight sans the ending.

Her breath slackened as she prepared to doze off hearing Sparkle ramble on about not being sure of what she did and if she killed the beast. It would have been worth a giggle at her expense but she had no energy to do so, thus instead the only decent thing of her honor to commit to had to be spoken. What was a watcher over her unconscious body if they were confused and guilt ridden, she’d need to speak only the words that would pacify her rescuer and no energy to refute the unbelievable.

“Twi… light?” she murmured barely loud enough to be heard.

The very siren ceased running her mouth once she heard her name, “Yes Oratoria? Are you hurt? Is there anything I can…”

“Thanks…” the body the former human girl cradled then went limp quickly and the weight sent them toppling backwards catching her off guard.