//------------------------------// // Ch. 10 Resolution // Story: The Sirens Remorse: Resurgence of the Dazzlings // by TheronSniper //------------------------------// The sound of crashing waves filtered through the nothingness that blanketed the senses, a void where reality could not be seen yet there was a world somewhere all around. The roaring static of the white caps maintained the audible atmosphere, perhaps thirty feet away once a few mighty crests came down upon the shoreline to the left. That was what Adagio came to once her mind’s gears began turning accompanied with a jarring headache pounding in her skull not even a few seconds in. Though being who she was it was nothing more than a short lived freezer burn. That one time she let Sonata talk her into trying one of the human foods made out of frozen milk from a cow, how terrible it went once it set in after the fourth bite. “Ugh… wher… what…” she moaned as she turned over onto her belly from her side, feeling the soft welcoming sand and the chilliness it provided. Her eyes opened as she fought off vertigo, it was as if she were pulling her own soul from where she had laid. In a way much like those strange gummy toys shapes like hands that stuck to anything, human young often deposited bits to attain them from red dispensers at stores. Slowly she rejoined herself while being led to a queasiness she subdued through sheer will alone, being in the state she was in meant she was vulnerable and instinct dictated a swift recovery. Already it became imperative to get her bearings lest she risk endangering herself by posing as a meal for something hungry. She swayed her long gorgeous tail to get a further feel of where she was just as her vision cleared enough to comprehend. In a moment it became clear she was indeed along some beach she couldn’t recognize. There was a dune of nearly white sand ahead of her facing towards the sea to her left. Swarmed by grasses and stalks of seed tassels that capped the mounds and others nearby, giving a sense of a bad toupee on a bald scalp. Up above was an ominous sky where the sun tried to break through the chunky blobs of rain clouds which did not lose a single drop of rain, instead the hidden orb of light only succeeding in highlighting the weaker cracks in the chaotic aerial sea. She turned to her right only to gaze upon an endless plain of wild pasture with no tree in sight till the horizon simply stopped, just an expanse as vast as the ocean on the other side. The vegetation had stopped two tail lengths from her leaving the beach alone as if it feared the salty brine. What became a mild surprise were the lack of trees and wildlife that should be sparse and milling around, if the location was devoid of any other beings but her was she either lost or in a dream. How did she come into such a predicament and where had she been before being sent to the lifeless place, the nameless sea which churned like a boiling pot of water. The mild chilly wind graced her scaly body as it waved her crest like a sail, “What was I doing? How did I get here?” She asked herself as the last of the little migraine left her in solace with no lasting side effect. The golden siren pulled herself across the dull beige grains closer to the water’s edge, allowing herself no pleasure in feeling the homely environment that tingled the nerves of her hooves or rubbed the underside of her lower body down to the tail fin. It was tempting naturally but she had questions that needed to be answered and somehow she felt like she was in some kind of prison, one that she wouldn’t let contain her. All around her there was such a sterile environment that it had to be a fake reality, something or someone had purposefully trapped her. Yet she was certain it couldn’t hold up to her standard, she is Adagio Dazzle one of the last Daughters of Cappella’s domain, she who survived the untamed jungles beyond the safety of the beach as a mere hatchling, the songstress who brought down many kingdoms, the near usurper of Equestria, and finally a survivor of another realm that nearly ended her pack. If she could survive all that and losing her own gem then she would escape the timeless world she was in at the present. The passing thought of her own stone soon stirred up answers to some of her inquiries which jogged her memory, “My stone… that’s right Aria and I…” she gazed down upon her own chest to discover a beautiful and glorious ruby nestled into the third plate over her heart, “We were singing to lost… in Yellow’s hideout… I… I am… complete?” her awestruck dumb her focus as she kept looking at the reclaimed power source. The reality dawned on her, no matter if she was dreaming or for whatever intents and purpose had been teleported somewhere she had her powers back. Never had she dreamed of still possessing the pendant in the human world after the Rainbooms shattered it, each night had been nightmares lacking the blood gems. She could see it as the moment visualized in her head, when one of the rubies deep within the heart of the mound of long dead sirens rose into the air. It pulsed with a deep blood red that radiated into lighter hues the farther it expanded. The very light itself through the dark and aged from an unknown era of Equis that the soul had departed broke through the blue air of the chamber to claim its own territory. The last thought had been of embracing the stone after failing at first with every other song she had created throughout her life, down to the point that Aria and her nearly lost their voices trying. It was neither a song nor the attempt that had finally graced them with their new stones, but after almost retreating in defeat she stumbled upon the solution. She smiled fondly as she felt the red gem with a cloven hoof, “It was you mother… your… lullaby.” She giggled in defiance of her situation. Adagio’s memory went only far enough before the merging between the magical item and her, of when her own off key voice mournfully recited the song of the departed. Not even the crashing sea could distract the warm feelings building within her soul from the days when her mother put her to sleep. She somehow could still help her little Dazzle even beyond her dreams, it was then that the realization came forth as to how it might have been allowed at all. “Was it from the heart mother?” a large wave rolled into foam in the distance that popped and fizzled like a shaken soda bottle, “Was that why nothing happened at first? Have I really been that detached from my music?” As a shock akin to when Sonata discovered static electricity and pocked her flesh on the first years of their banishment, someone answered her and it was not even her mother’s visage. “I’d have to agree on that.” an older woman’s voice responded from behind her. Adagio whipped around in a defensive display from the suddenness, her fins propped up and a snarl upon her muzzle to make herself as intimidating as possible. She could never forget the age old response to a threat, especially being returned to her natural body which translated from the goose bumps of the ape flesh that once trapped her. Her all seeing sight soon drew upon the one thing that stood out from before, where there were none suddenly appeared one she couldn’t have imagined seeing. Atop the vegetation swamped dune she had first seen since she stirred another siren had come forth, one who looked very much older than even her own mother’s image. With the exception of the noticeable marks upon her whole body which marked some kind of violent history they endured in their living years. Adagio could see the jagged scars that striped from head to tailfin, in half of the healed over injuries there were no replacement scales to make her spotless again. Such a sight pinged at Adagio’s heart strings if for a single note, her mother always spoke of how their appearance and voices together produced the strongest harvest. She thought to herself, ‘What in Tartarus did she go through?’  The numerous marks reminded her of the teeth of something ravenous and relentless, so deep and wide were the ancient wounds that they couldn’t restore her glamour. Yet it did not seem to affect her and only served to make her all the more of a concern, just like Dazzle herself they had survived the gauntlet of life and it could only made them stronger. In her own case she managed to avoid the wide fanged maws and racking claws, which in a way seeing the intruder made her see how she might have appeared had she not been so resourceful or simply small enough. ‘I could have had those had I… been older? My beauty pot marked into something so gruesome!’ She gulped as a small shiver went down her spine.  She shook the tangent from her mind and focused back upon the foreign entity, one who appeared relaxed and starred out to the sea as if reminiscing over fond memories. It had been many lifetimes since she had seen a fully grown female beside her moments in the dreams cape among her lost family.  In all her nearly repugnant glory, the mauve hued adult had propped herself upon the dunes highest point to give her the most favorable view of the lively sea, with torn fins of white lavender ornamented by light purple patterns along the velvety membrane from cheek to tail. It was a sight to behold another of her kind and one of such an age, the patterns upon her fins were so alien that she couldn’t remember seeing such a thing in her own  pod while it still lived. The stupor nearly dumbfounded her into a passive mood, yet she countered by tensing her muscles and putting on a confident smile befitting of a matriarch such as herself. Dazzle kept her crest half high as a sign to the interloper that she was not pleased to be surprised, “I could ask where I am and who are you, but then that would be mundane would it not? Might be better to instead... ” she stopped as soon as the ancient one moved their head till they gazed upon her like beams of searing light. The unknown siren showed little emotion to derive from their features, eerily the cerise violet eyes shone upon her with a coldness of the departed or a hardened veteran merchant pony. The foreign siren remained on the hill of sand and grass with the kind of look of uncaring Aria usually sported. It was just enough to shake her but only that, for what was to come Adagio could only hope would not end in how that one banished seemed to flip with a hair trigger. With an aged crackly voice like that exiled lich hag only more pleasant to the ears and without lethal magic in the air, “If the purpose that you drove yourself brought you to this point, with what use was the purpose?” she asked giving nothing else to discern from beyond baffling words. Dazzle held her tongue for a moment as the reply came with a rather bitter after taste. She still wanted to push the other being to probe for information and hope for some insight into where she might. It wouldn’t be in her best interest to blow up and lose any hope of returning to the girls, but that was a restriction she found hard to resist. She clenched her jaw tightly to still words of vehemence as she waited for the other to continue. The glimmering irises did not cease their tunneled vision upon her like the soulless eyes of a doll, “Where does it end? Is it in the now… or when you feel satisfied?” Adagio frowned at the new question and returned with a hateful snarl she couldn’t contain, “You know what? Tartarus to all this!! Who are you?! Enough with these… confusing questions!” she spat as her patience fell through. The wind gusted past her and fluttered her fins, they tickled slightly but she paid them no heed. The rolling shore had become a snow of noise she barely managed to push out, yet despite that the wind frustrated her as it blew around them in eddies. Muffling their voices ever slightly as the tense air thickened just as Adagio’s patience dwindled. With a heavy exhale the unknown old one she replied as casually as if they were friends, “From the victories are they not hollow and worthless? To what do they mean to you little one?” The golden matriarch growled as she misinterpreted the response, “Victory means everything! You are a siren yourself, it should be in your blood as much as it is in mine!! Why are you here and who are you!” she slammed her tail onto the ground, blasting sand into the air which caught the particles and sent them cascading away. From the cold dead gaze of the other came a harsh answer, “I heard a call for help… and so I listened. Now I am here… but where I am, I am trying to deduce.” Adagio gave another once over of the older female finding nothing of use, but she still insisted there had been something off. Her anger faded away as the exchange dipped out of her favor, the calm placid exterior of the stranger forced  a calm simmer from the recent spat. “So what are you? A figment of my imagination or some other?” Dazzle asked as her tail twitched to the contained anger within. Instead of giving some relief through an answer, the other siren took the chance and slid down the dune’s steep face till the sand led her to ground level. The size of her bulk became all the more real as she dwarfed Adagio by thrice her size, even from their distance between themselves it was all too clear how young Dazzle soon saw herself in light of an older siren. Though was it all a trick of the mind or a real thing happening she couldn’t decide just yet. “You called out to us and I heard you… of all the others I found you singing that special note of pain, of love, and heartache.” she said stopping just twenty feet away, her hooves digging into the sandy beach using no levitation spell to propel her forward as her forelimbs moved her long after the momentum died. Dazzle curled into herself putting her full crest up for display though she did not realize it, she made herself look bigger than she really was. The brilliantly stripped flesh did little to impress the company, but for what it was worth it did earn some acknowledgement if the trace of the eyes proved anything. They had broken contact with her own to study the threatening display, though Adagio knew it was just a passing interest and nothing for what was unintentionally aimed for. “I don’t remember calling for any help! I was simply trying to acquire a gemstone.” Adagio fired back as she speared the sand with the tip of her right hoof. “You did… and I listened as I have said. Out of all the others you woke me from my slumber. To what end I can only fathom.” The old one took the passing time to study the young matriarch with a mild judging eye, one which made Dazzle all the more uncomfortable and fidgety. Snorting out her nostrils in frustration, “Then tell me who you are and why are you giving me such enigmatic answers!! I have no time for any of this! I need to return to those idiots and set out to take over Equestria!” Another loud crash of a rolling white cap graced their ears until it vanished into the surf, the mist from the tumultuous coastline floated onto Adagio with a mild coolness. Droplets of seawater spotted her fins and scales which brightened her already magnificent presence even in the dimly lit conditions, but it still did not affect the muted violet siren before her. “I’ve waited thousands of years in that forsaken hairless ape world and I will not wait any longer! I can’t let those ponies put my vengeance on hold, I can’t give them time to try and send us back to that Tartarus cesspool. Not again… not again…” Adagio sighed as the utter dread reared its ugly head on how much time she was wasting, how might the ponies by readying to banish them once more before she even started their tour. Her voice vanished into the air which gave to the breeze passing through, the words slipped into the atmosphere for no other ears to reach. The grass ruffled to the wind like confetti skipping along concrete during the human’s many festivals which involved fire bombs that lit up the night sky, how loud they were and how much she hated them with fervor. Moments passed by before an answer came, but for Dazzle it was an eternity as she busied herself suppressing the fragment of anxiety and laid it to rest. With a strange placidity the intruder answered, “I found you interesting enough… your pain I know by heart yet I cannot remember why. Where we are is the Abyss.” Dazzle heard all too well but she seemed confused as to whether the name was a designation or a state of mind, “The Abyss? So this is a dream or somewhere in waking world?” There was a hesitation that bordered on awkward, “All sirens know of the Abyss… were you not taught of it? All those who reach breaching age are taught about the Hymn of the All Father?” the older siren dipped her head closer towards Adagio’s level as if the answer was immensely important. She grumbled at her personal space being violated, “My pain you spoke of is the reason why! I regrettably know only what I need to survive and dominate this pathetic world… and perhaps the human one if I get bored in the future.” Admitting the reason the two were likely even meeting in such a way still had a sting, but she felt a tinge of gratitude that it had been dulled. It was all thanks to her new Dazzling and former human, which only pushed her to be more focused on the task at hand so she could locate her before the Arcana did. “Hmm…” the lumbering female backed away as she gave Adagio breathing space, “Suffering… yes… grievously wounded and left to wither away as many have before you… and will after.” Adagio shot forth at the insinuation feeling wronged by the assumption, “But I didn’t, I lived through Tartarus and back. Being sent to another world by some rusty old goat, survived the loss of our pendants, and returned home to honor… the second life my mother and father gave to me!” she speared a hoof into the sand holding back her eyes attempting to water over, “After all this time I cannot let them down… NOT after all the… the… the…” She felt the steam of her vindication drip away as she was painfully reminded of the constant drawbacks that were sustained since their banishment. Always near success only then to fall from the height of victory to wallow in the muddy dank marsh, even then she easily began to lose her composure by recollecting what she’d sooner forget. ‘No! Not again. I won’t lose the chance no matter how much it pains me to do it!’ she screamed in her head as she tried to control herself once more. Blinking away the water from her sight, “I’m sorry… where… are my manners.” She chuckled morosely to herself as her mind swayed all around torn apart by the circumstances surrounding her. The other siren seemed to register the change as her ruby seated in her chest gave off a small glow, “I feel you and I have much in common, but I cannot yet remember my life beyond my mother’s given name.” she reached out and with her left forelimb she lifted Adagio’s sullen chin so they looked at one another receiving no resistance, “Kindred spirits we are… that much I know by your voice alone. For as long as you live we shall share the same heart until we return to the King’s Throne under the waves as is destined for us all who are born of the water.” Dazzle could feel the careful gesture and almost motherly caution the other siren took upon handling her, it was just like the dreams from before only far more real. How sad it was for someone like her to feel the contact from another and almost melt into it. The sea seemed to calm beyond them as did the coast air, the relaxed state gradually easing the thick air into something of a peaceful moment. The lack of a harassing environment softened the worried matriarch until she could question her very state of being. Had she been so stressed and overwhelmed by the merging with the fallen siren’s stone that the mere interaction affected her so? Or was there something else at work, the feel of the coastline fade away while she remained absorbed in the contact. “Until then… I will lend you my power to whatever ends you seek. As for who I am?” she said as her ruby took on a bright shine as if it had an internal source of illumination. Dazzle waited with tired eyes that tried to close against her will, as the lids fluttered her magenta orbs quivered wildly while flailing to maintain sight upon the scarred old one. Sleep was coming no matter how hard she fought it, her fins of her cheeks to her dorsal crest relaxed flat against her body as control seeped away. Whatever was happening to her it was beyond her scope of control or comprehension, but she could make out the last words of the ancient female. “I… am… Senza… Oasis.” the dark veil of slumber greeted the gold singer once more as she was laid gently upon the soft sandy beach, where even the sensation stopped completely.