//------------------------------//
// Chapter 46: Winds of Shadows 
// Story: The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover 
// by Tarbtano 
//------------------------------//

“YOU!-” 

Adagio roared as she instantly saw red while looking at the tied-up Twilight Sparkle. She remembered it all in flashes of pain and rage. Finding her sobbing baby sister backstage with a hideous new scar, a once proud siren so helpless and broken, trying fruitlessly for days to get Sonata to so much as say anything or stop crying even after she ran out of tears. She cooked a dozen dinners, put on those dumb campy films Sonata loved, offered to fly her out to a marine park or take her to the ocean, let herself be used as a pillow for hours on end to the point her shirt got covered in tears and mucus, barely slept, and even swallowed her pride to practically beg a returned X to stay around so he could guard her even before he made it clear he was after another quarry.

When Sonata finally spoke in gasped whispers or wrote things down, Adagio Dazzle’s wrath towards Twilight Sparkle was palpable. She tore through any record of her she could find, discovering the Fall Formal’s events from a school newspaper and a few students who’d break the general silence about what transpired. She got pictures, names of associates, and last known location. Thankfully X was keen to assist due to thinking whoever attacked Sonata was also what he was hunting, but it was obvious he was also motivated out of a desire to protect Aria and by proxy, the pod. Adagio Dazzle was never more thankful nor gleeful when he agreed to her little plan on how to draw the apparently hiding Twilight Sparkle out, practically pointing him to her friends and saying “Sicc ‘em”.

Between that and X agreeing to allow her to sing to him and emulate some of his power like Aria had for safety, her approval of Aria’s choice in suitor increased greatly, even if she didn’t show it much. She even let him sleep on the couch!

And now he and his compatriot had delivered that wretched witch to her! Oh she was going to rip her apart, demand the necklace back, and then rip her to shreds! Semantics be damned, she was ticked off and about to take it out on someone.

“-BITCH!”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened and her face paled when Adagio got airborne to tackle her. It was only by a last minute motion of Gigan whirling his cables back into their holsters and yanking the girl off her feet did she not get tackled. Adagio evidently crashed into someone else based off the yelp and sound of a thump outside as Twilight was reeled into Gigan.

“Megalon, grab her,” Gigan grumbled as he held Twilight up against him with an arm extended in front of her more for her protection than to keep her from running, “She needs to hear everything.” 

“On it!” 

Over the chorus of swearing, archaic and modern, Megalon paced inside from outdoors. Having caught up to Gigan and X while they were transporting Twilight alongside Irys, he came inside holding a kicking, snarling, and thrashing Adagio Dazzle in a full nelson. And judging from the audible, metallic ‘klunk’ sounds coming from them, the siren was ramming her heel into his shins to try and force him to let go. An action Megalon only started to notice when Adagio started to turn very slightly darker, her eyes got a bit of red in them, and her necklace roared to life with visible light. Irys quickly closed the door behind them and grabbed Adagio’s feet, holding her out with Megalon to keep her from hitting anyone in her rabid quest to get to Twilight.



Link!


Aria Blaze was just as livid at the sight of their hated target. She’d have joined Adagio immediately if she hadn’t been helping prop up the injured X and had her hands full. But at the drop of a hat that almost changed. She nearly snarled and started to rise, only for a hand to grip her wrist and force her to look down. X shook his head rapidly, red eyes looking into half red-half violet.

“It’s not her, Aria,” the purple siren paused when she heard her significant say that, “it’s-”

“I’m not her!” Twilight Sparkle cried as she rapidly waved her hands before her.

Adagio finally stopped her thrashing, having been trying to pick between a kick to the crotch or a knee to the face when she heard that, if only out of sheer befuddlement. Thankfully, Gigan backed up the statement.

“We got the wrong damn Twilight.”

“... WHAT?!” Adagio snapped, breathing heavily as she stopped moving while still held aloft by Irys and Megalon.

Twilight slowly nodded, “I-I um, was told of what happened. At least, parts of it. I just got here though, I didn’t hurt anyone!” 

Adagio Dazzle was still seeing red in her vision to match parts of her eyes, “Liar! You took Sonata’s heart!”

Aria Blaze nearly broke out of X’s grip, only staying so less out of his sapped strength and more knowing if she launched herself at Twilight she’d probably hurt him in the process, “Sonata knows who she saw. It was Twilight Sparkle that- that… ripped her heart off.” 

Her hand closed over her own necklace unconsciously as she glared at the other purple haired woman in the room.

Twilight was honestly just flummoxed, “H-Her what?” 

Gigan grumbled and deadpanned, praying for this drama to die already, “The necklace. You didn’t have it on you and never did.” 

Adagio Dazzle’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at the cyborg, “And how would you know, metal-head?” 

“Hey!” Megalon piped but was ignored.

Gigan tapped at his glasses, “Because not only did she not have it with her, but because neither I nor any of my team could sense even residual siren magic on her, meaning she was never even near any of it. Trust me, I can’t track it well but I can tell your crazy signatures up close. X reeks of the stuff almost as much as you do. It’s all over him like a claim!” 

The purple siren and black kaijin both redded slightly and gave aside glances, which was also ignored.

“M-Meaning she stashed it away!” Adagio snapped but thankfully didn’t struggle to try and break free to see how far she could ram her foot up the newcomer’s a-

“Meaning she never had it to begin with,” Gigan barked before shrugging, “According to her and any traces I could pick up of where she’d been, she’d literally just got here.”

Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze’s faces contorted slightly in confusion before they looked to Twilight, who cringed as she glanced to them both and cleared her throat.

“I um- ahem.. What Gigan says is right. I’ve never been back in this world since I left last Fall, I promise! I only could return so soon because of an invention and I only did so when I got news that a friend of mine here had been attacked. I was only out and roaming about for maybe an hour or so until he,” she nodded towards X, “abducted me with Gigan.” 

X took in a deep breath and sat up, something he did with no small amount of cringing from restrained pain. The only reason he didn’t collapse back from exhaustion was due to Aria coming up behind him to further prop him up, putting an arm around his waist while still sporting an expression of, ‘Explain. NOW!’

He thankfully did so, “I picked up her trail near the school and got into a confrontation. Another kaiju had come with her and I had to hold one of her friends hostage to get her to come with me, though I’d have failed if Gigan hadn’t arrived.” 

He swallowed back the soreness in his body and shook his head, “She could have tried to run at any point, but when I so much as threatened to harm a friend of hers, she offered herself up willingly… Call it experience, but someone so driven for power as to cut ties to others wouldn’t do that. Takes someone who cares to offer themselves up-”

Adagio was about to retort when he finished, “-both you two did just that. Remember?” 

The two remaining powered sirens went quiet as recollections from the conflict with the shadowy creature, unknowingly called Enjin, flooded back. Aria of when she willingly took her necklace off and put it on X’s neck to try and ensure his survival, and Adagio along with Sonata when they offered all the birthright they had left to the same daikaijin to save their cousin. If it had been a year or so ago, when the sirens were at each other’s throats and falling to pieces, none of that would have happened. But it did.

And perhaps empathy spoke better than logic could for Twilight's innocence.

Adagio panted lightly to regain her breath before stabilizing and closing her eyes to let her mind stew on this. She eventually took in a deep breath and exhaled out her nose like she was venting off the maddening hatred. Her normal colors returned by the time she opened her eyes and looked to Irys and Megalon.

“You dolts can put me down now. I won’t go tiger shark on her, alright?”

Knowing it was the best they’d get, they complied. Didn’t stop Adagio from glaring daggers through Twilight to such a degree Gigan didn’t dare put his arm blocking the former alicorn down. Said former alicorn swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to keep her voice as calm and stable as possible.

“I-I... I don’t know what’s going on, but I know something horrible happened and,” she whispered to the enraged siren, “I know somepony who looks just like me did it. This might be a big mix up, but I don’t want to make it worse…” 

Aria and Adagio exchanged an aside look as they both still simmered, but not at each other. Being mutually ticked off at something helped unite a family. A silent agreement was cast after Adagio glanced to the Dark Hunters with Aria following suit, before the eldest siren turned and walked down the hall and into a bedroom.

Muffled voices were heard, with an audible gasp that was cut off into a spurt of coughing. After a short time, Adagio called out from the shade.

“Megalon, get back here.”

The youngest cyborg tilted his head, “Um… why?” 

“Just do it!” 

Megalon glanced at his compatriots for a moment, getting a nod towards the back of the house by his brother before he followed suit and walked back. As soon as he disappeared behind the door, there was a muffled gasp and hushed talking between the oldest siren and youngest cyborg of centuries in age each. Irys listened in closer, turning head to point her more sensitive ears in the direction to pick up parts of the conversation.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!” 

“I’m right here sis.” 

“... Th-thanks…”

Megalon called out as he poked his head out from the bedroom, “Gigan, keep a hold on her!” 

The coils and cables tightened around Twilight’s arms and waist slightly, knowing something had to be up to make his brother frown so heavily. Gigan almost swore he saw Megalon glaring, “Roger.” 

Megalon stepped out of the room, one arm before him to prepare for conflict as the other very gently held a quivering blue one as Adagio held the owner’s other hand and rubbed her back. The sight was extremely pathetic in the worst ways possible. Sonata Dusk’s color was diluted, clad in only a set of pajamas that were slickened and stunk of cold sweats, with her face covered in liquid from her eyes and nose. Even after Adagio pulled up a tissue to dab her baby sister’s face, the pain from the ugly scar and lost magic refreshed the sobbing near instantly.

The moment Sonata saw a shocked Twilight Sparkle looking back at her, she recoiled in sheer terror and tried to scream; only for her throat to emit a gasping, choking voice that was more a whimpering squeak than a shriek. She’d have fallen over entirely as she tried to backpedal, had Megalon not quickly held her tight up to him to physically shield her from the defenseless young woman. Adagio swore and held onto her sister, who tried her best to burrow into her friend’s chest and neck and hide under her sibling. A look of discomfort flashed across Irys’ face as Aria’s grip on X tightened on impulse. X and Gigan kept the nerve to be stoic, the former holding his wrath in.

Twilight Sparkle, seeing someone react to her like they had just seen sheer terror incarnate, felt like the lance of cold was rammed through her chest. Her jaw dropped and she pressed against the bonds, wanting to run and try and comfort the poor girl. As if sensing what she desired to do, the cables tightened. Even behind his glasses, Twilight could tell Gigan was glancing at her in a way that spoke ‘don’t even think about it’.

“Nata,” Adagio whispered, stroking her sibling’s back, “It’s safe, no one can hurt you…”

Megalon shifted to put himself a bit more between Sonata and Twilight for assurance, an action Adagio nodded slightly at. At least one gear-head was agreeable to her!

She cupped her sister’s cheeks and forced Sonata to gaze upon her, “I need you to look at her. Look at her and tell us… Is. This. Her?”

Sonata’s eyes winced and strained from the tears, but she sniffled and nodded slightly. Sinking back further into Megalon, her eyes finally met Twilight’s. If Twilight Sparkle felt horrible before, she felt absolutely atrocious now. The pain and fear in the blue woman’s eyes and manner was plainly visible, from her shuddering back to how she gripped Megalon’s arm a bit tighter and leaned towards her sister. Twilight Sparkle’s agape mouth closed, expressing the best sorrowful, empathetic look she could muster. It was the only thing she could offer to the poor soul she knew was hurting.

Sonata Dusk swallowed and slowly closed her eyes. After a long moment of tensed time with all eyes upon her, she shook her head. This young woman wasn't her attacker.

Aria and Adagio’s expressions flattened before they sighed.

“C-Can’t I be let go?” Twilight muttered sadly, still not taking her eyes off of Sonata.

Monster X’s eyes just widened as he started to stare off into the ceiling, the implications as to what this all meant fully striking home now that he had confirmation for sure that this wasn’t Sonata’s attacker, nor the suspected target his master dispatched him to seek. He was worried before, but now it was all striking home. Gigan took in a deep breath before letting out a long, exasperated groan. A metallic palm hit his metal-skeletoned face with an audible clang.

“No can do, we have to go. Now,” Gigan grumbled.

Adagio Dazzle’s brow perked, “I was considering that earlier actually, why now?” 

Gigan tilted and turned his head towards his best friend in a way that made it abundantly clear he was leering at him behind his glasses, before craning his head back around towards Adagio.

“Because we just snatched someone under the protection of a Mothra for nothing, and it’s about to go full Daiei if we stay close enough for her to sense us…”



===============
Two Days Later
===============


“So, you say your mother and aunt were actually the original Mako princesses?” 

Sonata Dusk swallowed her drink and nodded. Had it been Aria or Adagio asked that question, they’d probably given Twilight Sparkle silence or an angered look to hide the pain. Sonata was the baby of the three, so while she did have a few fond memories of her aunt Hymnia’s voice or warmth, she was very young when the three were orphaned. Rather than learn from her aunt or mother directly, as Adagio and to an extent Aria had, she mostly learned her nature and abilities from her older sister and cousin. Parts of her wished Hymnia stayed with them more, both so she could remember her and know her more directly, but she’d been spared some of the pain of loss by her aunt’s life coming to an end just as Sonata’s life was getting old enough to remember things in detail. She could only guess at what her mother sounded like from very vague feelings and guesses as to what an older Adagio might sound like, Princess Melpomene leaving the world to bring Sonata into it. Old wounds her mother fought off for her sake had finally caught up with her.  

Pretty much everything she knew about her family’s history came from Adagio, who’d been told it by aunt Hymnia and their mother. For a moment Sonata pondered why Twilight didn’t just go to Adagio and ask her about this, but then she remembered the circumstances and pushed that aside. Tentative allies or not, Adagio trusted Gigan ten times more than she did Twilight; and Sonata was pretty sure the oldest siren and cyborg didn't like each other much… Probably.

Placing down her orange juice, Sonata sat on the other end of the couch from the eagerly listening former alicorn. Twilight’s eyes widened with excitement and wonder of knowledge.

“Oh, oh this is amazing! I always wondered about where you three sirens came from given there was never any record of anything like your trio before or after you, Wow!” Twilight gasped as she beheld Sonata in an awe.

True, she was hardly the first centuries-old being she’d ever talked to, her own mentor was over one thousand as well. But aside from the time-locked crystal ponies, the diarchs, and extreme individuals like Sombra, Discord, or Chrysalis, there was a scant few historical witnesses of any century still alive. And other than from some crystal ponies and possibly a few old dragons out there, she was sitting on the same couch as potentially one of the oldest mortals in existence! Plus, despite being outcasts, the sirens had been from what had been a, until very recently, highly secretive mermare culture no less!

“Wow- so... Wait, if there’s still a queendom there, are you three ever... You know, going to try and use the heir card?” Twilight muttered with a tilted head, “I mean, I’d have been opposed to it before, but it seems a lot has changed since Starswirl’s time.” 

Sonata shrugged, about to say something but the stinging in her throat caused her to wince and instead opt to take a drink and write as the cool liquid numbed her innards. Scribbling with a colored pencil, she passed the paper to Twilight.

-’Eh, that was the plan actually. Adagio wanted us to get some more power and breach the Shroud that kept us out, but it caught the wrong tide there. They probably have a new queen and don’t want us back. We already caused a mess with them and the seaponies.’-

Twilight cocked her head back and blinked in mild confusion, mind traveling back to an adventure with friends in the sparkling seas and a feud between the aquatic races.

“The seaponies under King Leo and mermares were at odds until recently, my friends and I helped finally break the ice that had been thawing, so to speak. I always assumed given they had a feud that there had to have been a time without one.”

Sonata nodded in answer and Twilight’s expression grew equal parts fascinated and puzzled, “What happened?” 

At that, Sonata cringed and glanced about nervously, even though there was no one to be anxious about overhearing her. Nor was there a reason to think the only other two souls who knew the story, unless Aria told X, would object. It was a cringe from stressful memories more than anything, but seeing the eager look on Twilight’s face dissolved into worry spurred Sonata to quickly pull up another piece of paper.

-’It’s a long story. Kinda bad one. Adagio can say more but who I think mighta been King Leo’s ancestor took pity on us and took us in for a bit while calling out Mako for not helping us. Bit of us not being the best school at the time, Adagio really being upset at being pushed out when mom and Auntie Hymnia died, bad song magic use, and some in Mako thinking King Driger + Mermare Heir = Puppet ruler; it didn’t end well…’-

Twilight frowned and said nothing as she reread it.

-I knew Equestria was a mess back then, but wow… When they say Celestia’s full rule ushered an era of peace that spread, they weren’t kidding!- 

Her expression grew more morbid by the second, especially when she saw the glum expression on Sonata’s face that made her want to hug the poor girl. The blue siren looked like a kicked puppy dog whimpering for attention. Twilight grimaced and unconsciously lunged forward to embrace her, but the moment Sonata saw her coming the siren’s eyes widened with shock and fear. The warm inside of the cabin became replaced with the chilly darkness of a backstage outdoor consort hosting, Twilight Sparkle’s empathetic expression and gentle outstretched arms turning into her counterpart’s gleaming glasses and hands clutching her beloved necklace, her heart.

Sonata gasped a mute shriek and backed off after reflexively shoving Twilight’s shoulders and stomach with her hands and arms. Her strength was pathetic and barely nudged Twilight back, but what really stopped the poor alicorn beyond the terrified look on the traumatized woman’s expression was the door suddenly getting kicked open.

One could swear they saw crackling sparks on Megalon’s forehead and behind his goggles when he stood in the entrance way he almost knocked off the hinges. Twilight yelped and froze up, the cyborg quickly looking between her and Sonata. Thankfully for everyone’s nerves, Sonata managed to catch her breath and waved her left arm to indicate she was okay while remembering to stop clutching at a necklace that wasn’t there with her right.

Instantly, with a slight mechanical ‘shink’, Megalon straightened backup and was practically beaming in a way that left Twilight hyperventilating and flabbergasted. Bulkier build, decent height, eerie glow, and high strength meant Megalon could easily match his brother in imposing manner if he put some effort into it. But nope, few seconds later and he was turning aside and cheerfully stepping inside with a smile on his face and tray of snacks in his hands he evidently had set down beside the door before sensitive hearing caused him to react to Sonata’s squeak.

“Howdy!” the Nebulan demolitionist piped with a tilted head, closed eyes, and upturned, chirping grin.

Megalon paced inside, the wrapped foodstuffs who’s smell perked Sonata’s interest. Twilight perked her head up and also sported a small, polite smile. Of the four kaiju, Megalon was the one who took best to her and seemed to readily accept her as part of the group the moment the misunderstanding was cleared up. Still, seeing him go from 0 to 100 and then back to 0 so quick meant it took some time for her nerves to tone back down.

-Like a male kaiju version of Pinkie Pie as the Termarenater…-

Megalon stopped in front of Sonata with a click of his booted heels and undid one wrapping, eagerly holding up a bite sized mini-taco, “Whipped up fresh, big brother downloaded the recipe for me and Ms. Daisy didn’t mind me using the kitchen.” 

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Did you remember to use a door like just now?” 


=================


A loud shriek came out of the showers, quickly followed by a sprinting Aria Blaze and Monster X piling in to follow the source. They found Gloriosa Daisy and Twilight Sparkle backed up into the stalls with the curtains drawn and towels clutched, eyes wide at the intruder. Megalon had the top half of his torso poking out of a large hole he’d burrowed out from in the packed dirt and mats outside of the stalls, twisting and looking around in alert confusion like he was some kind of giant gopher.

"Howdy, just checking in! Thought I sensed a magic spike."

Aria Blaze groaned and smacked a palm  to her face as X just shook his head.

“There was a doooor!” the purple siren groaned.


=================


“I did on the way out!” Megalon quipped, proud of himself.

Doors were a concept he was still grasping. Not his fault most every experience with them thus far included knocking said doors down. He thought he was being courteous by going around it without damage! Fact he didn’t ram down the door to check on Sonata was a miracle in itself.

“Open up Sonny!” 

Sonata flushed when he held out one of the samples but after eyeing the food for a moment, she lurched forward and snapped it up.

“Phew! Good thing I got metal fingers in case you bit further!” 

Sonata squeaked a bit at his words and narrowed her eyes slightly in a jesting manner. The fact she was brought out of any pains was a refreshing change of pace to Twilight, who took solace from her fright in that. Was helped by-

“Want one Ms. Twilight ma’am?” 

The called-for alicorn-turned-human glanced over to see Megalon beaming at her and offering a snack. The smile was infectious, though she took it by hand as opposed to being fed. After a brief sniffing, her plopping it in and instantly her eyes widened. Twilight Sparkle packed it into a cheek to try and avoid tasting it without spitting it out, despite her reflex to cough demanding to act out.

“Ahp… Ag… M-Megalon,” her tone grew into a choking gasp, “What’s in this?”

Megalon passed another to Sonata, who was gobbling it up and holding her cheeks, picking through one slightly to inspect the contents and ensure it was fully cooked. He was completely oblivious to how Twilight was turning green.

“Oh well I made these for Sonny, so I thought of mostly water foods. Bit of mosses, bit of water stalks, some ground up beans,”

Twilight wondered if maybe she was overreacting and tempted another taste by moving the taco out of her cheek and testing it onto her tongue.

-Huh, w-well that doesn’t sound too bad.-

Megalon piped and finished, “and about four whole fish I yanked out of the lake this morning and diced up!”

“HRMPH!” Twilight gagged as she lurched forward. After some struggle not to spit it out over the carpet, she managed to strain and look over to the left to see a confused visage on the cyborg’s and siren’s face. It was, in the interest of not being rude, the hardest swallow in Twilight’s life and she’d be fighting not to spit it back up for an hour. Forcing it down, she gasped and grabbed at the soda she’d had and drowned out the taste to only partial effect, chugging the whole can down in a few moments.

It was only when she coughed and put the can back down did she hear it. A tiny, muted, snicker. Twilight Sparkle looked over at her audience and glimpsed the most adorable thing she’d seen since she got here. Sonata Dusk giving weak, quiet giggles for a few moments before her sore throat caused her to lurch forward and cough, holding at her throat. Megalon quickly held her shoulder to keep her from doubling over. A second hand joined his on her other shoulder with a hand very gently rubbing up and down the shaking siren’s back.

Sonata caught her breath to look up at Megalon’s tiny, reassuring smile before turning her head. She winced only slightly at Twilight Sparkle as the latter patted her back soothingly, and after a sigh, she managed a weak smile the princess returned in kind.

Twilight eyed the fish tacos-taken-very-literally warily, cringing as she picked one up again gingerly.

“So, would it make it better or worse for me to try another?” 

Sonata Dusk’s smile grew slightly and she reached over to take the treat, casting her eyes to the cyborg who sniggered. With a flick of her wrist she tossed it to him and Megalon wolfed it down whole. An idle thought crossed into Twilight’s head even as Sonata emitted a tiny chuckle, not risking another giggle or chancing a coughing fit.

“So um, you’re a cyborg,” Twilight muttered as she motioned to Megalon.

He nodded, a very tiny mechanical churning sound audible. He was far less robotic than his brother, but one could still pick up on it if he made no effort to hide it.

“So, do you even still have a stomach?” 

Megalon let out a voluminous, hearty laughter as Twilight’s eyes widened when she began to see and smell wisps of smoke coming out of his mouth; “Ahahaaaaa!.... Nope, just an incinerator. Like the taste, though.” 

At that point she couldn’t fight the snicker herself as she waved the smoke away from her face. She gazed at Megalon and Sonata, still feeling great empathy and pain for the condition of the latter.

-Even if history remembered her and her group as monsters,- 

Sonata looked back at Twilight and managed a smile as she pushed away the bad visions. When she set up however, Twilight could plainly see the ugly, jagged burn scar that marred her neck. Twilight’s lip quivered and her breath ran cold when she noticed it again, especially when Sonata followed her line of sight and pulled up her shirt collar slightly to try and hide it even as Twilight looked away. That just made it sting worse.

-She doesn’t deserve this. Especially if they’re turning over a new leaf by their own choice. She’s changed like Sunset or Starlight.-

One last look at Sonata’s face, quivering lips, and raspy breath even as the siren hummed lightly when Megalon passed her another fish taco, it made her heart sink. Pain. That sealed it.

-And it’s the right thing to do…-

She took in a deep breath and steeled herself. Thoughts collected in the former alicorn’s mind. Thoughts on this conflict, the perpetrators, the effects, and the victims. She nodded before standing herself up.

“Thaaaat does it, I will not sit around eating fish tacos anymore!”

Not the oddest statement of her life but it did get her some perplexed looks.

“As fascinating as it is to learn about Equestrian history,” she cast a nod to Sonata, “and do trust me, it is really interesting…! I’m not letting this stand!” 

“Um, that’s nice but what are you planning on doing?” Megalon chirped with a tilted head.

Twilight Sparkle turned around, fire and conviction sparkling in her eyes in a way Sonata couldn’t help but feel warm just looking at. She looked a lot like Adagio when she was motivated like this, much as her sister might deny any comparison.

“Taking action! I’ve been doing friendship and magic lessons for years now, I know a problem when I see one. I came here to fix a problem, so that’s what I’m going to do!” she piped.

“You sure, you don’t really have magic anymore and, well,” Megalon noted as he poked her arm, “You’re squishy, not sure if action suits you.” 

Twilight rolled her eyes, “I’ve dealt with things without using or having magic before.” 

Her eyes cast down from the ceiling to Sonata, not caring how dramatic she was being, “A Twilight Sparkle caused this, and by Faust a Twilight Sparkle is going to help fix this! I’m getting involved!” 

Sonata blinked at her in sheer confusion before the realization started to hit her. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped slightly, lurching out and grasping Twilight’s arm before she could march out the door. She held on for a moment to tug her back before fought fears forced her to let go. The youngest siren quivered, trying to find the right words she could easily say. So, she quickly wrote them.

-’Dagi and Aria are tough and have the others helping them. You didn’t cause any of this, why are you helping me?!’-

Megalon peeked over the two women’s shoulders and read it himself, “Yeah she has a point. Besides I don’t think the others like you very much Miss Twilight. You’re not a part of this and if you got hurt, it only make the situation worse with your friends.”

He shrugged, “Just because someone with the same face and name did something doesn’t make you responsible.”

Twilight shook her head, “You’re not wrong… But you are wrong about me. I am part of this, I couldn’t stand by if I tried-” 

Sonata’s brow perked. Twilight beamed at her benevolently in a way she had very rarely seen cast to her.

“-Because that’s not what I do. Any magic help can’t hurt, and I’ve got some ideas how to dodge some conflicts. Besides, who would I be if I didn’t help my friends?”


A ways away, Gloriosa Daisy carefully overturned the small packet and spilled the seeds into her palm, picking through them carefully to find one that, for lack of better terms, felt right. Pocketing the rest, she clasped her hands together with the seed inside and blew into them before rubbing her palms against one another. It was for luck more than anything else. She pushed aside all stray thoughts of her odd camp guests, budget and payment issues, the revelations she’d gotten as of late, and of her own situation; and instead focused on the seed alone. Dropping it in the pot, the herbalist pushed it into the loose soil and backed up a half step.

“Okay… Ooookay,” Gloriosa muttered to herself as she rolled her shoulders and crackled her joints before placing her palms onto the soil.

“Now, slowly at first. Don’t try a crescendo on the first cord.” 

It was a good thing she’d been in band during high school and understood what some of her audience was saying. Closing her eyes, Gloriosa took in a deep breath and keyed in on the pot, searching for a single lifeform, the seed, and pushing all else aside. It was harder than it looked, given the wealth of small animals, fungi, or plant spores already in the topsoil. She could influence and use many of those if she so wished, but this was the difference between influencing and controlling. If she demanded it, with some effort, she could swell up vines of growth from near everything around her; a wildfire of flora. This was lighting a single candle and keeping it, like fire, from spreading against its own base desires.

That was why she was having some difficulty.

“Focus, focus,” Adagio Dazzle noted as she stood behind Gloriosa and watched the flicker of light settling upon the camp director’s hands with interest, “Find a task that zones you in and keep doing that. Find the right octave.”

Gloriosa, whom still had her eyes closed, winced and tried to keep the flow of energy she felt coming through her body and into her hands directed. She placed her fingers upon the topsoil and half turned her head backwards to better direct her voice, “I-It’s not song based like yours. It might still help to be quiet, though. I gotta-” 

Adagio scoffed, “Focus yes, but regardless of anything you need to get properly tuned or you won’t be attuned. Trust me on this one.”

Gloriosa heard her but didn't listen, instead trying to focus directly on the seed. Unfortunately it was like trying to pick out a single pixel from a background of static. The topsoil began to shift from something moving inside it, the only warning before a menagerie of vines and tendrils burst out from the surface. Gloriosa yelped and jumped back from it as the potted vines as well as the plants in the other nearby pots within the garden all started to rise, writhe, and overgrow.

The tendrils swelled up and rose up from their bases, beginning to lurch forward. Gloriosa heard a word she didn't understand and yet got the sneaking suspicion it was an expletive of some sort as a flash of metal swung past her. In a few quick blurs, Gigan soon stood amongst a patch of dismembered vines and tendrils with a blade shaped like a scythe emerging from where his wrist was. The cyborg slowly turned back and looked at the surprised Adagio and Gloriosa, whom had both backpedaled with their hands on their necklaces in reaction to the plant life. An awkward stare was cast with Gigan slightly tilting his head up and down along with the metallic whirl of his eyes moving in a likewise manner to indicate he was glancing between them, Gloriosa in particular, and the hacked down tendrils. Just a moment ago he had felt something touch against his back. It, what had been a pumpkin vine, was now hacked up into even more pieces than the other vines.

Gigan retracted his scythe and grunted, “.... Don't ever do that again.”

Adagio let out a relieved sigh, both from the little garden of horrors being gone as well as Gigan putting the blade away, “Oh? Got a phobia, bolts-for-brains?”

Gloriosa shot her a stiff look at the same time Gigan had. Adagio noticed them both and audibly shrugged, “What, I'm the one volunteering my time here so I can speak as I please. Don’t give me a look.” 

Gloriosa cringed and rubbed at the back of her head, “Sorry, yeesh. Look I appreciate you offering to help me with the magic parts more-”

“Makes you less of a target and better defense,” Adagio corrected at the word ‘help’ with a raised finger, “Since we’re stuck together and you’ve got a magical source, the last thing we need is whoever it is hunting us to see you as an easy target and add you to the list.”

“Makes sense too,” Gigan shrugged, having hung around to further survey and study what he could, “Only reason Sonata logically would have been targeted was because she had magic and no human did. Ms. Daisy is just as much a potential victim as you and Aria are.” 

Gloriosa’s face paled from the thoughts of being hunted and she cringed, “You sure they’d do that?” 

Gigan nodded his head to the side, “I would... All the more reason you shouldn’t let yourself be easy prey, my team can't be everywhere at once to protect and keep more magic from falling into our target's hands.” 

“I-I don’t! But I just don’t think my magic works like yours does,” she shrugged to Adagio, “So why should singing help?” 

Adagio rolled her eyes like she’d just been asked why water was wet, a question so utterly redundant it didn't make sense to even question at all, “Because all magic is about focus, doesn’t matter what kind of magic it is. No conscious drive, no magic. Lesson one my aunt taught me.”

Gloriosa raised her shoulders, still not buying it, “Well sorry, but whatever lessons your aunt gave me don’t seem to work for me.” 

Adagio raised an eyebrow, “Did you even try a single note?” 

“.....” 

“Even hum?”

“I um,” Gloriosa muttered with a brief glance to their audience which caused her to quickly look away.

Adagio nonetheless caught onto it and groaned, twirling her hand in a clockwise motion, “Gigan, turn around, you’re scaring the human.” 

“I’m trying to figure out this magic so I can try to scan better for it. If something happens, I need to observe,” he grunted in retort with crossed arms.

“A-Are you sure singing even would help? You mentioned off handedly unicorns,” she paused momentarily in the brief recollection of finding out unicorns of the not-a-one-horned-rhino kind actually exist, “can do magic, and I don’t remember you saying they sung.” 

“That’s because usually it’s enough to just concentrate, but you lack an organ to channel the magic through, like a unicorn horn or how my necklace used to be attached to my chest. In these bodies, you need a pattern to ‘tune’ it to. So for conscious magic not totally born from just an item, like something generated from you yourself or by something acting in tandem with you, you need something to give your body the means to tune everything out and focus. It’ll come.”

“....”

“What, can’t sing?” 

Gloriosa glumped, glancing between the cyborg and siren, not denying it, “Are you sure about this?” 

“Well by not doing it you managed to create one of Sonata’s weird foreign comic monsters,” Adagio noted with a raised eyebrow.

Gloriosa looked to what had been several promising vegetables and vines, “I’d say it’s more along the lines of diced salad.”

Adagio massaged her temple, groaning in her tone, “Gigan’s correction, not yours. Don’t confuse the subject. You wanted some magic expertise and I gave it… Here.” 

Gloriosa heard her approach and turned to see the siren’s necklace starting to glow with a slight green hue as a simple melody came from her throat. She instantly did not like the feeling, getting negative vibes of anger and frustration trickling into her. The feeling was mutual from Adagio as she enacted the strife melody, sucking up small pieces of the green smog coming from the frustrated director. But as the cooing siren closed in and placed her hand upon Gloriosa’s multicolored necklace, sparks seemed to spurt out and her hand was shocked as if by static.

“Yeatch!” She hissed, retracting her hand and shooting Gloriosa a glare, “Why you!” 

Gloriosa rapidly waved her hands back and forth in front of herself to try and hold off the snarling siren, “Wasn’t me! Wasn’t me! It-It did it on its own!” 

Adagio stomped closer and raised a hand. A separate, metallic hand wrapped around each of their waists and pulled the two apart, a deadpanned Gigan putting them away from each other. He put Adagio down and held a flushed Gloriosa up, who was too confused and surprised to wriggle free if she could.

“Blurry and almost unreadable as it was, I did see it. Gloriosa didn’t have much magic on her at all and yet there was a localized spike of energy when Adagio tried to touch it,” Gigan noted as he pulled Gloriosa around and got her closer to Adagio.

Visibly, Gloriosa’s geodes started to glow a bit brighter when they were brought nearer to the siren necklace. Adagio, whom could see the green smoke her magic gave off, perked her brow both at this and at how said smoke seem to avoid Gloriosa and give her a wide breadth. It was enough to convince her the red faced woman was telling the truth.

She rolled her eyes and stepped back with arms folded before her, “Fine fine. But this never happened before.” 

“Did you ever sing that song around her? Sounded different than other times.” 

Adagio pursed her lips and tapped at them, letting her mind travel back, “Now that you mention it, though I haven’t done much singing here, first time I’ve used that particular number in weeks. Other one is stronger.” 

Gigan was about to put Gloriosa back down when he noticed a few small tendrils sprouting from the ground near his feet. His eyes whirled wider and he shot the woman an angry glare. Gloriosa’s eyes spread and she squeaked, roughly put back down on the ground on wobbling legs.

Adagio looked between them and her mouth soon flashed a not very friendly, toothy grin, “Oh? Looks like she has another way of focusing. Should I excuse myself and allow you two to study privately?”

The vines grew larger, Gloriosa’s face got redder, and Gigan muttered something that was almost assuredly Nebulan expletives as he angrily started to stomp on the tendrils. Adagio cackled and strutted forward, waving away the green smog and clearing her throat.

“Reason I tried to grab on was to push some of my magic into you,” she said plainly to a confused Gloriosa.

“What good will that do? Would I keep it?” 

Adagio deadpanned, “No. Can’t do that. But I can give you a sensation of it so you can match it. Kinda like giving you a jumpstart.” 

“But it’ll just shock you back.” 

“I have something in mind that’ll work,” Adagio quipped as she began a new melody.

This one was much calmer than the other, soothing almost like a lullaby. Quite the opposite of the other melody, this one involved positive sensations. Even devoid of context, Gloriosa couldn’t fight a smile starting to tease at her lips as she felt happier, less stressed, and not alone or isolated. This time when Adagio, surrounded by trails of red smog, placed her hand upon Gloriosa’s necklace, it was welcomed for the benign magic it was.

She cooed a chorus, one devoid of lyric but still understandable in tone. And this time, Gloriosa followed suit. And follow she did to surprisingly good degrees. Closing her eyes, she focused upon it and felt at her necklace. The background static from before seemed to ebb away as the picture became clearer. Her hand glided to her side, feeling a sensation and soon gracing her fingers cross a piece of topsoil from a half overturned pot.

It was quite beautiful in fact, their singing. By the minutes end, it stopped. Gloriosa looked over to her side and a happy squeal erupted from her mouth. All around them, especially where her hand had been, small plants were blossoming and growing over the shattered pottery and chopped tendrils. The half ruined garden had become a parade of small flowers and tender green leaves.

Adagio grunted to herself and smirked, “Not bad pitch. No siren, but you’re certainly not horrid.” 

Knowing it was about as good a compliment she’d get from Adagio, Gloriosa beamed a bit brighter as she admired her craft, “Used to be in a band in school, vocalist actually.” 

“Seems your necklace can be touched in some conditions, but in others it has defenses like ours do.” 

“Really?” Gloriosa looked to Adagio’s glowing siren heart and raised a hand.

Seeing the orange haired woman rolled her eyes and not budge, Gloriosa reached in and felt a wave push it back as soon as it got too close, like what one would feel when pushing the north ends of two magnets together. She in turn saw Adagio’s hand still on her necklace, flickers of mild jealousy and some fear trickling in before the siren pulled away.

“Means you have to protect yours more.”

They both perked up at the sound of a choked gasp. When the two looked to the side and saw a glowing-red-eyed, sneering Gigan staring back, they both flinched up. His arms shot out but as each started to react, they found themselves pushed aside when a flash of red light sprung forth from Gigan’s glasses. Pushing the women aside, the cyborg angrily fried a flower-covered, large tentacle Gloriosa had created from the ground both of them had missed until it was nothing more by ashes. He even swung his aim down and shot into the ground to ensure he’d burned away the roots. Retracting his arms, Gigan’s neck creaked with grinding gears and he looked at Gloriosa with wisps of red coming from behind his glasses.

He reached over, pulled her shirt out and dropped the necklace behind it before letting go. Gloriosa barely got a yip out before he muttered, "Amethysts are common, makeyourselflessobvious."

As it sat now, one could only see the purple geode poking out from behind the counselor's shirt, making it look like it was the only one there. Gigan snarled lowly, muttering something incoherent whilst storming off, “Dmn mckng tntcles tnaka dmn evrywre thse dys, rther ghdorya tn thsnd tnaka dmn tmes…” 






============
Present Time
==============



Sunset managed to truck through the whole tour of the school dutifully despite feeling dumbstruck and an eerie chill settling across her back. Given how close Peachy Keen was settling towards her to the point their shoulders touched and she caught Celestia observing the three behind their backs more than once, she wasn’t the only one noticing that something was amiss.

“That’s the science lab,-” 

She immediately recognized Adagio and Aria even before they gave their introduction, but the third member was all wrong.

-Don’t remember her name but wasn’t the third member of this group blue and short? Y-Yeah she couldn’t have been any taller than me!-

Sunset Shimmer cast a brief glance at the towering ‘Hymn’, who easily stood at least half a head taller than herself and was noticeably taller than the already statuesque Adagio. Not to mention whereas she remembered the blue woman being of about average build and young, this dame had a noticeably mature figure in some areas that made her at least as old as, if not slightly older than Adagio.

-No, no it couldn’t just be the one from before with a hair dye! Hairdo’s the same, sure, but no way could I miss a detail like that!- 

A creeping feeling returned to the back of her neck, clueing Sunset in that she was being watched closely. A fact partially confirmed when she managed to sneak another peak back and caught Aria Blaze looking directly at her and not where she’d been pointing for the lab. Sunset Shimmer shivered slightly, but kept her composure the best she could by attempting to deflect attention to what was on her left.

“-Co-computer lab is in there.” 

It didn’t work and she didn’t need to turn around to confirm it. Peachy Keen might have lacked personal experience, but she had a good sense of vibes and observation after 1000 years. The observations were that these three young women would look to the school amenities as they passed, but only brief as they often kept glancing at Sunset Shimmer herself instead of looking directly ahead. Or at least the orange and purple one were. The pale pink individual was looking over at Celestia herself with a face that was almost entirely neutral, but still carried what Celestia could tell were pinpricks of curiosity or observations of her own. One way or another, between how the newcomers were acting and how Sunset was reacting to them, a cold vibe of suspicion and concern was settling over her. Something was going unsaid and yet was very, very wrong.

She didn’t know what, but she was already almost dead certain these were not ordinary young women. Her eyes worriedly looked to her student, almost sad they couldn’t shake some of that same suspicion also casting itself onto Sunset. Thoughts briefly trailed back to the walk-through Canterlot Museum.

-I know there is something you weren’t telling me, Sunset… Was this part of it? Is it tied to Twilight?- 

Part of her demanded an answer, but it was forcefully shoved back by other parts conscientious of their situation as well as wanting to hope the best with her student. It didn’t help Celestia’s conscience that her own memory was beginning to flare up when she looked at the coloration of Adagio and Aria. Something in the back of her mind was recalling something, but what exactly was vague because she couldn’t piece Hymn into it. The pink one was throwing her memory off enough for it not to get a fixture, but not enough to completely dissuade it.

Peachy Keen’s eyed Eventide Hymn for a time and they both took a pause, clearly studying each other with some curiosity before breaking contact. But just before she averted her eyes as not to be obvious and, more as a shy teenager looking about, Peachy noticed something else.

Adagio and Aria both had simple, red gemstones as necklaces around their necks of seemingly identical making. Hymn however, had a different type of necklace entirely. Still one bearing a hint of a gemstone poking out from behind her shirt, but it looked almost like it was wrapped in a vine for the chain and she glimpsed a purple, amethyst-like color coming from it. Almost like a geode of sorts.

Their action didn’t go unnoticed and all parties took a momentary pause with awkward glances cast between Adagio, Aria, and Sunset. Thankfully the mood was unsettled by Sunset noticing both that they were at the end of their tour and at something she knew would make a completely normal talking point to the completely normal new students who were entirely normal girls with nothing out of the ordinary. She jogged ahead, grabbing Peachy Keen by the wrist to tow her along.

“O-Oh! We’re uh- having a big musical showcase this weekend!” she piped with an only marginally forced grin as she motioned to the poster, “the whole school is basically rallying around it!”

The new trio’s eyes all perked and the smiles they cast seemed very satisfied.




Link!


“Ah!” Adagio gasped in what almost look like a feigned expression. She glanced back to her compatriots and saw that Aria was casting a wide smirk and Eventide was raising her hand to hide a grin that widened.

It was so wide in fact it made her look downright adorable for a brief moment, like she was very proud of herself about something, at least until Aria elbowed her lightly and she reined it back in.

Adagio rolled her eyes lightly, “A musical showcase? I hope they allow new entries…”

Chuckling a bit to herself, more out of awkwardness than anything, Sunset nodded, “Oh I’m sure Principal Celestia would still let you sign-up if you’re interested.”

Peachy Keen leaned out from behind Sunset, having been privy to the fact her student was trying to hide her with her body and put herself between Peachy and the newcomers. The pink was still throwing her off, but the orange and purple were beginning to look very familiar from something Starswirl once told her.

“If you are capable o- um...” Peachy winched as she tried to rein in her tone and speech pattern to both hide the suspicion as well as her typically regal manner of talking. It took some effort, as she hadn’t been an awkward teenager in over a millennia, “Well, if you can perform, that is.”

Aria Blaze’s eyes got a hint of red in them for a brief second before she rolled them and pretended to inspect her nails, “We have been known to sing from time to time.”

But what happened next threw seemingly everyone for a loop for the briefest moment. Eventide Hymn apparently slipped out of her typically quiet persona and spoke up with a wide smile in her voice that was surprisingly higher pitched than one would expect for someone of her height.

“Pfft, we’ve sung like, all the time!” 

Sunset and Peachy were more shocked at how slightly off her voice sounded, having clearly expected it to be a lot deeper.

-Wow um, she sounds a lot chirpier than I thought she would!-

Eventide Hymn chuckled, and when she spoke again it sounded a bit deeper “Not the first band I’ve been in either I’ve-”

Aria and Adagio’s eyes both widened and they soon were both giving strong looks to their third member, who promptly shushed. Peachy thought she saw Adagio make a cutting motion across her throat as Aria grabbed Eventide in a way Sunset couldn’t be sure if it it was tugging the larger girl down by her arm to whisper to her, or if it was Aria putting her in a headlock. Adagio spun around on her heels, blocking Sunset and Peachy’s view of the two behind her stature and gigantic hair. Adagio facepalmed as she groaned loudly, blotting out the sound of whatever Aria and Eventide were discussing.

“You’ll have to excuse them, they’re idiots…”

Peachy Keen narrowed her eyes and gazed upon Adagio Dazzle’s gleaming gemstone necklace, privy to how  it seemed to almost shine and pulse with light all on its own, “Your- um, necklace is prett-”

Adagio Dazzle seemed to sneer briefly and flinched before she reacted to a tapping on her back and suddenly beamed, “In fact excuse us all, thanks for the tour!”

And before anyone could stop her, Adagio spun around and promptly power walked away with Aria and Eventide, leaving a very confused Peachy Keen and Sunset Shimmer to look at each other.



Several minutes later and the both of them were seating themselves at the lunch table with the rest of the Rainbooms.

“Soooo, anyone seen Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash muttered worriedly as she glanced around to no avail.

“O-Oh, um,” Fluttershy quipped as she drew her phone out and drew up a photograph of her pink, poofy haired friend grinning while standing beside a section of road near the edge of town amidst a large amount of traffic. The caption read,

-'Got Maud to call me in sick. Sense going bonkers! Don’t worry, extra super duper safe, lots of folks around and could be back there in a jiffy if I see tall, dark, and spooky!'- 

Rainbow Dash cringed at both the notice and mention of he who wouldn’t be named, or preferably described given she already had goosebumps, “Are we sure that’s smart thing to do?”

Flash Sentry shrugged his shoulders, “Optimistically, if anyone could weasel herself out of an attempt at getting kidnapped, it’s Pinks.” 

Peachy Keen nodded, “And besides, she’d probably blend in with the mundane humans in a crowd. With the other four of you clustered here any magical signature would be far enhanced and kaiju are drawn to energy, any attempt would go for here first.”

The said formerly mundane humans and Flash cringed and looked over at the youthful Celestia uncomfortably, soon shifting to the windows and walls like they were being watched.

“Ehe, um… thanks,” Rarity muttered as she rubbed at the back of her head.

Finally after seeing Sunset sit in silence for a good few minutes, Applejack finally thought to nudge them with her arm that wasn’t in a splint from crashing her enhanced punch into X’s own swing.

“Sooo, how was the tour?” 

Sunset Shimmer flinched and jolted back to awareness, “I-I don’t know! I mean, nice and all but these girls there were-” 

-The fact you saw them next to giant monsters before?- 

She mentally flinched as she waved her hands, “-something… off about them.” 

Peachy Keen cringed and nodded astutely, “I have to concur with Sunset Shimmer’s assessment. I got an impression from them not unlike what I feel around you lot sometimes.”

She got a few blank stares from the Rainbooms, more for how she said it rather than what she said. Sunset Shimmer coughed into her hand and cleared her throat, “Um, ‘Peachy’... speech pattern.” 

The pink haired former alicorn winced, “R-Right, I guess acting’s not my strong suit. Um… I got a bad vibe. A magic vibe… I think they’re from Equestria.” 

That perked everyone’s brow and they leaned in, Rarity tilting her head closer “Are you serious?”

Peachy Keen nodded, “I’m sure of it. They have some sort of magic on them, and logically it’s more likely that would be the cause. You mentioned Twilight and Lea said they sensed someone else with magic nearby right?”

Sunset Shimmer nodded as she jumped onto the tracks laid down for her train of thought, “And if you girls got magic from exposure at the Fall Formal, how else could anyone else have magic?” 

Rainbow Dash’s eyes fell upon Peachy Keen, “Waaait wait wait wait! But I thought whenever someone from the ponyland came here, they lost their magic. Like you and Twilight did for the most part… The only reason Sunset turned into that she-demon was…”

Sunset Shimmer didn’t even feel like clarifying her own self put down of ‘raging she-demon’ when her memory flung back to when Celestia took notice of the newcomer’s necklaces. Her eyes widened and she slapped her forehead, “Not unless they brought something with them that had magic itself…”

“The necklaces!” Peachy quipped as she snapped her fingers, “Gemstones no less! It all makes sense now! WhyDidn’tISeeitbeforewiththemirrorand-” 

All eyes fell upon her and Peachy went quiet when she noticed her own self-muttering caught everyone’s attention.

Rainbow Dash rolled her hand about in a circle, “So, again in English please?”

Peachy Keen collected herself, took in a deep breath and slowly let out. Some of her old self was still there when she opened her eyes and addressed the group, captivating and demanding them with a gleam in her eye and strength in her posture even at being far smaller than she should be. Was amazing how much the repeated drills to slouch and keep her gaze downward as Rarity hammered into her would do to diminish that authority.

“Over 1000 years ago I was in a very bad state. I had lost my sister, I had been cut off from the Elements of Harmony in a dramatic event, my body was permanently changed with my powers out of control, and honestly I spent most of my time in self-exile to waiting rooms I’d end up destroying by presence alone…” Peachy Keen shrugged out of her nose, rubbing at the bridge of it under her fake glasses, “That’s when the sirens came. Three witches from the sea… To this day nopo- no one is really sure where exactly they came from or what exactly they were, but it was clear they were power-hungry and exploitative. They used song magic to hex ponies into spreading disharmony, over competition and differences. They eventually came to Canterlot.” 

Fluttershy leaned in closer, clearly enthralled in the tale being told and mentally illustrated before her with Peachy’s swaying hands that swung wide slowly, “W-What happened? Did you beat them?”

“An’ how did they end up here?” Applejack chimed.

Peachy Keen closed her eyes and shook her head, “I was incapacitated the whole time with my own out of control magic. Had it been a calmer day and I knew what I was up against, I probably could have stopped them but it fell to my mentor, an archmage called Starswirl, to halt them… The details were always a bit vague, on account of a lot of the city being hexed at the time and Starswirl not wanting to talk about it. Something about a banishing spell or music competition, I’m not really sure which one. But, he couldn’t beat them outright so he got creative.” 

“The mirror,” Sunset Shimmer muttered as she rubbed at her chin and got a nod from Peachy.

“It was in Canterlot at the time so Starswirl still had it outside of his vault from when he and I used it to journey around. Knowing this place didn’t seem to have magic, he must have sent them through it when he couldn’t overcome them directly!”

“Oh, so he used our home as a dumpin’ ground for something an archymage couldn’t best?” Applejack deadpanned in a monotone, “Whadda joy.” 

She shifted back a bit when Peachy Keen shot her a defensive glare on account of her father figure’s honor for a moment before clarifying, “Again, when he and I came here briefly we didn’t seem to have any magic at all; if only a very little. So he probably thought they’d just be either turned into any normal human or be barely distinguishable and not a threat. Most humane way of doing it if he was going to put them somewhere they couldn’t hurt anyone.” 

Rainbow Dash groaned, running her fingers through her hair and placing her elbows upon the table, “Oh that is great. That is juuuust great! First we got freaky red eyes, then Twilight gets kidnapped by the teleporting Terminator, Lea starts losing it, and now we have ancient ponyland monsters running about.” 

“Silver lining? I think only two of them are sirens. Starswirl and the old paintings always showed the third one was smaller and blue, so there’s something off with that big pink one,” Peachy muttered with a shrug.

“And hey, least they don’t have much if any of their magic left?” Sunset assured with a pointed finger towards the sky in a hopeful gesture, “I mean, they’re joining the school so maybe they just want to be normal people like Starswirl maybe intended?” 

Her answer got a very firm retort when slow, seductive melodies from a trio of singing voices started to filter into the cafeteria, hushing it. The glass doors were illuminated with three filtered lights coming through it, two red on either side with a multicolored one in the middle. Eventide Hymn pushed the doors open and she along with Adagio and Aria began to saunter in, their melody starting to pick up. To any whom might see it, there was a mixture of green and red smoke emanating from the students and beginning to collect in Adagio and Aria’s necklaces.

One student hanging back in the corner saw it clear as day and ran out of the room, drawing up her phone. She mashed at the buttons, pulling up her contact list. It was fairly large, but most of the names were greyed out from no one returning the action and linking the contact on both ends of the phones. There was only one non-family contact on the list that had returned her number and kept a correspondence with her.

-’They’re here and up to something! Come quick! Get Zephyrus’!-


Adagio laid it on thick as Aria’s melody helped to balance the discord-inducing vibes her song gave off with Hymnia’s happiness- and love-inducing number. She kept an eye on Eventide as she kept up, making sure to stay between Adagio and her cousin.

-Good. Got some power of your own but keeping between us helps mask how yours is different.-

With Sonata absent, the alpha siren was pouring out as much magic as possible and it was obviously having an effect. Various students were giving competitive leers to others, but were kept enthralled and joyfully eager by Aria’s tunes. Green and red smoke billowed out into them for a minor power boost that immediately went into amping up the song. Honestly, the two melodies together was helping work them up even more than just one or the other.


“You're a star and you should know it, you can rise above the rest~”

She almost smirked at how enthralled her audience was as she slipped past a student. For an impromptu song number, this wasn’t doing bad at all. Aria picked up the tune and slid past where Adagio just had been after Eventide helped by taking her hand and spinning her into that direction.

“It’s not like someone’s getting hurt, if you're just showing off your best!~” 

Adagio was just about to pick up the next line when she caught a glimpse from the corner of her left eye. For a moment she felt a spike in confusion when she saw the purple-violet hair and hoodie looking in from the window, mind trailing elsewhere and wondering why she was seeing Twilight Sparkle outside of the lunchroom. And then it hit her full force when she glimpsed something around the girl’s neck giving on a red glow identical to the one coming from her own neck.

She froze up for a moment, dropping her line. There was the briefest moment of pause in her as eyes locked with the other Twilight Sparkle’s, loathing, confusion, and hints of fear looking into gleaming glasses. She was snapped out of it by Eventide slipping in front of her, using her larger height to physically shield the siren. The audience hardly noticed as she took up Adagio’s words, given her appearance and surprisingly enchanting voice.

“Battle! You wanna win it? Let's have a battle, battle of the bands!~”

Granted, the lack of siren-born discord song meant there was nothing to intensify the negative connotations of competitiveness, and due to being a bit confused as to what was up with her cousin, Aria didn’t stop using the harmony song use when the two kicked up the melody. Instead of leers and grudges as planned, the students were forming up into groups and accompanying playful glares with grins. Less open war so to speak and more sports competition in manner. Adagio snapped out of her stupor fully and joined back in, singing alongside a bit louder to keep this from being a sales pitch for a pillow fight. They’d worry with semantics later.

She snuck a hand behind her back and clicked a small button attached to the back of her boot while showing off some of her leg. A tiny beep was inaudible over the song and resulting cornucopia of cheers and discussion that followed by the students.

Only the cyborg across the street hiding behind a rooftop ‘heard’ the transceiver beep.

Gigan had been letting his mind drift with speculation, running through coded notes about everything that had been happening and what he knew. Adagio had been the most chatty siren, on account of Sonata being largely mute and Aria spending most of her time around X, though that wasn’t saying much. He didn’t press the issue much either. Their mission was to group up with X and capture the unknown magic signature here; a feat all the harder given it wasn’t that powerful and thus didn’t stick out much like the last objectives did. Finding the Electro Orbs were like looking for the one lit bulb in a room full of outages. This was like looking for one bulb slightly brighter than most others in a city full of lights. Their mission was not to help the sirens, but they ended up doing so on account of circumstance.There wasn’t anything personal in the sirens not being the priority, much as Adagio ground his gears, he was just doing his job. But it had ended up happening for some valid reasons, granted.

X was part of the team and Aria was basically his significant other at this point, meaning she was to be afforded protection like the rest of them. Her and X’s tie, though abundantly clear as it was, Gigan didn’t feel privy to telling their master about it. He half-assumed they already knew anyways and wanted to respect his friend’s privacy. The theory that whatever they were hunting was also the one that had attacked Sonata was sound. Those with power often sought to gain more power for one reason or another. In a way the Dark Hunters certainly did, or at least their master did.

Their target, at least one of which heavily resembled Twilight Sparkle, was very likely the one who stole a siren’s magical heart. Gigan grumbled to himself again at that word. He hadn't been idle in the last five rotation cycles and had studied it the best he could. Irys’ odd power source still eluded him, but he had at least been able to figure out that this power called ‘mana’ was something emitted by her existence of living, like radiation from a source, and she got more of it if she absorbed fire. Baffling yes, but at least he could write it off as just some feature of her biology. This world and the other three places he’d been to? Still made no sense. True, there was much less magic here than in the other two realms, but it still made his sensors go ballistic if he tried to study it too closely with a scan. He’d had to rely on physical testing, of which Aria and Adagio rarely obliged him. Gloriosa was much more forthcoming as she explored her own powers she’d apparently recently acquired; especially with that purple geode she’d let him handle. But there is only so much she could demonstrate that was applicable to the very different siren magic.

Shame Adagio didn’t behave more like her, and shame Gloriosa kept making those damn root tendrils. He could maybe actually like either of them if one of those facts weren’t true. Damn magical dames…

But by extrapolation from Gloriosa and the few tests he could run, he did confirm one simple truth he'd been briefed on already from X’s experience. One could not remove a siren’s necklace without their permission. Didn’t matter how hard one tried to yank, didn’t matter how much force someone had, and it didn’t matter if they were mechanical or biological or trying to use a tool like a set of grill tongs. One couldn’t get those necklaces off unless they were the siren it belonged to, another siren as Aria could touch and move Adagio’s and vice versa, or the siren herself gave permission to do so.

He thought through the scenarios again. Could the necklace have belonged to ‘Not-Twilight’ and she reclaimed it? Obviously not, given the physical effect its removal had on Sonata. Could Sonata have granted permission for her to do so? Also obviously not the case, given how traumatized she was and the apparent violent nature of the removal in Sonata’s case, as when Aria gently lifted the necklace off Adagio’s neck there were no harsh effects. Gigan had sat with her and recorded her recollection of the events several times and each time she gave it with perfect clarity, so any potential drug or mind alteration magic was out of the picture. Could it have been removed by another siren then?

Gigan hummed and tapped his metallic middle finger to his thumb. It was the only option that couldn’t be untrue from the onset, but that didn’t make it highly improbable. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata insisted they were the only ones of their kind and almost certainly even if they weren’t, chances were extremely remote to begin with and any other sirens that might’ve ever existed likely wouldn't also be banished here. Sonata also never mentioned her attackers having necklaces and one of them was male. Gigan grumbled, not liking finding dead ends.

The beep caught his attention and he shoved any stray thoughts away to the side, instantly snapping up to a standing position and looking out from the rooftop. His head quickly snapped to and fro in the direction of Adagio’s signal, scanning best he could and using just raw visuals in the other cases. They had a crude system at work. Two beeps if the attacker was close, one beep if they were away but visible. And given Adagio was in the lunchroom building based off the tracker in her attire with the knowledge she had given off just a single beep, Gigan knew to look to the outside. And he spotted a single individual looming outside the cafeteria window with a hood on, obviously trying not to be noticed.

He noticed alright and jumped down, not skipping a beat after landing on the sidewalk sprinting across the street to close in on them. Unable to teleport safely, he relegated to tightening the distance before confirming it was the target. That last part wasn’t needed promptly as he picked up a blinding flare of magic coming from the individual, one near identical to the signatures he got off of Aria and Adagio. A siren heart. Gigan picked up his pace, metallic boots mashing into the ground now that he knew for sure what it was.

The lure, the siren’s song number, had been set and the trap had been sprung.

Gigan almost smirked when he saw a face near identical to Twilight Sparkle turned to face the noise coming towards her and she gasped, visibly recoiling in surprise and fear.

-You're mine.-

Gigan fired out his grappling cables, locked onto her midsection and legs so he can quickly pin her down and restrain her both for transport back to Zenith and removal of the necklace by Aria or Adagio. She tried to run, throwing her hands out in front of her as if to shield or block away the oncoming restraints and at that he almost laughed. Oh this was too easy!

It wasn’t so easy when he suddenly felt a blizzard seemingly out of nowhere, blowing the cables away and slamming into Gigan. The chilling gale forces of wind hit him head on with enough force he almost lost his footing. Gigan winced and crouched slightly while not stopping his slowed advance. He had endured the vacuum of space for hours, if not days on end and endured multiple missions to polar biomes of planets and planets whose entire biomes might as well be polar. The only thing that ever felt truly cold to him was Zenith until his master shifted their quarters. And this.

Frost formed across parts of his sleeves and attire, misting his glasses. Through it all he looked at the source and saw it due to the bright red illumination coming from her necklace. She really did look just like Twilight Sparkle, just with a different hairstyle and glasses. And the fact, flickering as it was, Gigan could see the faintest image of an eerie teal horn on her forehead and veil around her eyes. In the howling gales blowing past her, he almost thought he could see the outline of fins or wings.

But it didn’t last long.




Twilight honestly wasn’t sure what had come over her. A moment ago she was spying on the sirens after getting a signal, trying to collect as much data and information she could as they hexed the entire cafeteria.

-Three again?! I-I thought it was only three of them! This is bad! This is really bad! If there’s four and they might be tied to that other magic Spike and I detected a while back…-

Then she felt a familiar cold chill come roaring into her and a similarly familiar, masculine voice cry out to her.

-”LOOK OUT! To your right!”-

-”W-What, Zephyrus?!”-

She felt him fly into her and bond to her, an invasive act she still loathed to happen despite the benefits, especially with how wary, easily angered, and paranoid it seemed to make her. But that quickly went away when she turned to her right and saw a large man barreling towards her. At first she might’ve hoped he was actually running past her for some reason, but when she felt and saw a pair of red eyes glare at her through those glasses she knew exactly who he was looking at and bearing down on.

Then he, it, fired a pair of cables from his arm. Typically she’d be fascinated by such a feat, wondering what manner of technology it was hiding in its sleeves to be capable of that; but then she saw that the cables were actually coming from its wrists and glimpsed hints of metal forming its fingers.

-”It isn’t human! Don’t let it get the necklace!”-

Zephyrus roared as she felt a cold so powerful her whole body went numb. No, no she would never let it have it! She wouldn’t let what happened before keep happening! She’d have to stop it. By understanding the magic, containing it, and controlling it, she’d stop it. Stop them.

Twilight Sparkle threw her arms out and shouted, knowing she was about to do something but not even really being sure of what. She hardly even noticed the howling gales that blew past her and slammed into the monster. She almost emitted a panicked, stressed laugh with a frozen tear when she saw Gigan stumble and slow with icicles forming over him. She hadn’t had the faintest idea what she was doing other than vaguely sensing Zephyrus channeling something through the necklace’s power, but it was working! It was working!

Then Gigan took another step towards her and Twilight’s heart stopped. It took another step. Then another. Then another. The gales intensified and yet she still felt those red eyes looming at her. A new cold, the chill of fear, slithered through her as Gigan advanced through the wind and ice.

-N-No! Stay back! Stay back!- 

Red eyes, she felt them burned into her memory. She gasped and buckled, the power starting to falter even as she felt it surge to new heights for brief moments. It. Kept. Coming.

The power shorted out and she stumbled back.



Back in the present, Gigan remained eerily silent as he broke the icicles that had formed over his limbs off by flexing a fist and snapping his arms; moving his legs in jerky, robotic motions to break the frost formed across them too. The other Twilight huffed and panted, trying to backpedal and falling to a knee from the effort as she tried to catch her breath.

-Nice parlor trick.-

Gigan ran through the data. Magic was such a fickle thing but he could put two and two together based off observation alone. Other-Twilight was clearly wearing Sonata’s necklace, even if the gem was housed inside some sort of small device. He idly wondered about inquiring how she contained magic within technology, but brushed it aside to focus. Facts were facts, the necklace was glowing when she did that sudden blizzard and he could detect some other energy signature encircling her that was distinct from the necklace’s radiating energy. He knew it couldn’t have been coming from her directly as it didn’t resemble the type of reading he’d get coming from Irys or Gloriosa when they output any power. Rather it was like something occupying her space was doing it, using her as a conduit to channel magic through the necklace. Given none of the sirens demonstrated freezing powers, nor ever brought such up, he could best conclude the necklace itself wasn’t as much the source of the ‘spell’ as it was the amplifier.

Something else cohabitating the girl’s space was the cause of the energy output, and he had a very good idea of what it was. Exactly what he’d been dispatched here to get.

Eyes visibly glowing behind his glasses, Gigan stomped forward as he reached over, gripped, and tore a hunk of ice that had formed over half his chest off. He cast a glance up to a nearby school camera, having considered frying it to avoid being documented and make this as discreet as possible. Evidently however, judging from the frost formed over it that jammed it away from him, that had already been taken care of. How very convenient.

He closed the distance and before Other-Twilight could scramble away, he lurched out and grabbed a wad of her hair. She whimpered and yelped, snatching at his arm and kicking her legs as the cyborg hoisted her off the ground. Gigan’s eyes locked upon her necklace as a stray idea came forth. The original plan was to restrain her and have Aria or Adagio take the necklace off, but considering this wasn’t a siren herself he wasn’t sure such a restriction on who could or couldn’t remove it would even be required. And if he could save himself the trouble of any other magic outbursts while having a chance to look over the device…

“N-No! Don’t!” Twilight gasped through the pain in her hair when the mechanical hand of the monster reached for her necklace.

She gasped and suddenly fell back when a large mass threw himself full force into Gigan.

-”I’m here! Run!”-

-”Zephyrus?”- 

Zephyrus screamed into her head, -”GO GO GO! LEAVE!”-

The native Twilight Sparkle obeyed, limping up to her feet and scampering off as she heard a large crash. She glanced over to see a large young man, presumably someone Zephyrus had jumped into, pulling himself out of some shrubs he’d been thrown into. The thought of that still made her skin crawl and breath chill.

-Greater good, for the greater good. Must understand it to counter it… Be careful of him.-

She tried to run but still felt the wind snatched from her lungs and she almost fell. Thankfully, another pair of hands grabbed her shoulders. For the briefest moment, Twilight felt a slight ease when she saw the grayed brown eyes and leafy green hues. In a life that had been thrown into chaos with ancient spirits, alien monsters, and cyborgs, seeing her only normal acquaintance beyond her dog was a minor relief.

Wallflower Blush pulled Twilight to her feet and backpedalled with her, “Come on!”

Gigan was both confused and annoyed. Confused as to who this sluggard was who tackled him and kept throwing himself into him, annoyed at how he was having to respond. Typically he’d just extend a blade, lop an arm or limb off if not jam it into the skull and let it be over with. Unfortunately he was privy to where he was. The idea was to ambush and snatch up a girl while everyone was distracted by the big singing lures in the cafeteria. Quick, clean, discreet. What was the first of those three but the opposite of the second two? Dismemberment and, contrary to film, stab wounds.

The possessed man knocked Gigan over and pinned him, repeatedly punching him in the face with metallic clangs ringing out. Judging from the bruised knuckles, it was hurting him more than the other way around. The cyborg thought through his options in a millisecond.

Intelligence was key. The enemy didn’t know the Dark Hunters’ ranks nor the fact they and the Sirens were working together. The sirens doing their magic was the most reliable way of drawing them in as Aria and Adagio seemingly had the only thing they wanted. If he spoiled their best chance at being a lure for them, their job and the siren’s survival was put in jeopardy. And given how X was bonded to Aria and Megalon took so well to Sonata, if that second part went sour he would never hear the end of it.

The attacker cackled maniacally, clapping his hands down on Gigan’s throat to try and strangle him. The same energy spiked again, though less so than it had with Other-Twilight; probably on account of lacking a gem. Cold bit in, ice crystals forming across Gigan’s throat. The cyborg sparked, actually wincing from how some crystals dug inside him and started to grow.

The attacker stopped laughing when a pair of metallic hands grabbed him on either side of his head. He looked down just long enough to see a robotic eye looking at him behind busted glasses. It constricted like it was a narrowing camera lense before he was promptly yanked down as Gigan sprang up. Metal plated forehead crashed into organic face multiple times, busting a nose and fracturing skin. Throwing his attacker off, Gigan ignored the sparking in his neck and grabbed him by the arm. With a firm yank backwards, he was pulled into a tight throat lock. The man kicked, thrashed, and grabbed, but was powerless to throw the stronger cyborg off. Not even freezing the sleeves and skin on Gigan’s arms managed to force himself free, the desperate struggle getting weaker and weaker as the hold on the throat became tighter and tighter.

Just before Gigan could snap his neck, the body went limp. He was about to drop it when a surge of emotion came over him. A cold, a frigid cold started to pierce through his body. There was anger, distrust, contempt, and rage brewing. The worst thoughts imaginable became a whirlwind of conscience, with a strong temptation to make them a reality. Something whispered at him to do it. It demanded he do it. He wanted to after all…

Through the haze of mind and body, a tiny piece of Gigan’s vision displayed a reading. Whatever had been encircling Other-Twilight and the man who randomly attacked him, was now trying to climb onto him. Something he couldn’t quite see nor touch was attempting to claw its way inside him. Gigan’s wrath was incurred, but this time it was at a proper source.


All the negative thoughts and frustrations he felt aimed at his own teammates and their allies, nominal or not, were shoved aside. Megalon was annoying, petulant, bordered on stupid, and got him hurt way too many times to count; but Gigan would fight the world to keep his baby brother safe. Irys was new, emotional, green, rushed into situations, and carried a lot of baggage on her own; but she was a valued teammate and had more than proven her worth. X came with a record setting number of problems, had almost killed him thrice, endangered their team, and dragged them into more complex a situation than he hoped; but his best friend saved his life, had exceeded expectations, and was a better soul than he certainly was.

A slight glow settled upon Gigan, flickers of a power he’d once used standing up to Kaizer Ghidorah. For a devastating giant mercenary for hire, he still had bonds. And in worlds like this bonds could turn out to be the one thing he was flummoxed by. Unknowingly so on the cyborg’s part, Harmony’s gift of magic from friendship wasn’t exclusive to Equestrians.

He was also glad he didn’t have to try and think up stuff for Adagio and Gloriosa, you’d probably have to end up ramming his head into a wall to get those thoughts cleared. As far as he was concerned they were barely better than Mane-iac…

The presence was expelled, forced away and thrown up into the air. Gigan panted and huffed, falling to a knee with relief falling over him. He glared up at the vaguely anomalous cloud. He couldn’t quite see it itself, just the outline because of how it cooled the air around it and permitted him to use thermal vision. The front, or at least what he had to presume was the front, was very vaguely equine with a particularly long snout into forelimbs that resembled hooved legs. The back into the body tapered away until virtually nothing, leaving just wisps like misting air. Even if he hadn’t the faintest idea on how to read any expressions on such a life form, he got the impression it seemed both shocked and enraged. Like it had been hit with something it remembered and really didn’t take kindly to.

It didn’t seem to take kindly to Gigan firing an optic beam into its midsection right as it started talking, even if it didn’t seem to meaningfully hurt it. It let out a shriek like a howling gale of wind and rapidly flew off into the unknown too fast for Gigan to follow.

The Nebulan Cyborg huffed, gathering himself to his feet and pulling out an ice crystal lodged in his collar with a free hand.

-Oh that is just great… Ghosts now!?… That is just Showa Daiei levels of great…-

A door opened in the back of the cafeteria and Gigan nearly opened fire on instinct, thankfully calling off when Adagio Dazzle quickly threw her palms up and waved them in front of her.

“It’s me lunk head!” she gasped at the sight of his glowing red eyes.

Gigan grumbled and rolled his orbs as the glowing went away.

Adagio huffed and shook her head, pacing up to him as she surveyed the local terrain. Ice was still visible across parts of the wall and roof, with slurry and sleet covering half the lawn between the buildings they had been standing in. That along with the busted foliage and blood on Gigan’s forehead made it abundantly clear something happened.

Adagio narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, “What happened?” 

“I’ll give you visuals when we get back and I can hook my eye up to a computer,” that visual gave the alpha siren a cringe, remembering how disturbed she was when he first did that.

“-But I can confirm two things. Firstly, trap worked. Whoever it was that attacked Sonata really does look just like Twilight Sparkle. Change up the hair, take a bit off her height, shift her demeanor; it’s a mirror image. Secondly, I’m thoroughly convinced what we were sent to hunt down what is collaborating with her. Seems like some kind of ‘spirit’ that can possess or coat bodies,” Gigan noted.

“Hmph, I never thought I’d hear you use a magical term,” Adagio frowned.

“There’s a difference between not understanding magic fully and denying it, only a fool would do the latter. Besides, if I said 'amorphous, charged plasmatic field' I’d be wasting both our time.”

Adagio, smarter than she looked or sensed he gave her credit for, leered and opted to ignore that implication for brevity, “Quite. So, I take it considering you’re holding someone who looks completely different, she got away?” 

Gigan shrugged, “Not for lack of trying. Point is, the trap worked. If you sing, she will come. Her and those working with her.” 

Adagio’s eye twitched and she held back a swear. She still loosed an insult or two under her breath, more out of frustration than anything else. She stepped forward and pulled a napkin from her pocket, dabbing it on Gigan’s bloodied forehead to wipe the sanguine off.

“That’s not mine,” Gigan grunted with an aside glance, still sparking from his neck.

Adagio just rolled her eyes and flicked him across his nose, “Yes and it’s not like you wouldn’t cause a stir and get too much attention if you just go waltzing around with half a cup of blood on your face, you moron.” 

His eyes narrowed back and got likewise in return. A muffled groan from the man still in his grasp perked both of their attention.

“Well, let’s just hope he didn’t lose that much,” Gigan grunted as he started walking towards the tool shed.

“What are you doing?” Adagio deadpanned.

Taking mind to the now thoroughly unconscious man still held in his grasp, Gigan thought through his options. Parts of his internals had some minor frost damage, messing with some sensors. That as well as the fact he didn’t know if she was still around the school or not meant there was no way he’d catch up to Other-Twilight in the time he had before the students started wandering about. He wasn’t probably going to get anything meaningful out of the annoyance he’d knocked out for awhile, at least, as long as he was unconscious. But since he was coming to...

“Checking for answers,” was all Gigan said before stepping in and closing the door behind him.

Adagio glanced about, both to check around for safety and keep an eye on the perimeter, as well as confirm they were alone for another reason. She tiptoed up and put her ear to the old wooden wall. Details were extremely fuzzy, all the speech was unintelligible due to how quiet it was and how much stuff on the inside must’ve been muffling the noise. But she could hear a young man’s voice as well as Gigan’s. There was an exchange, she thought she heard Gigan saying “Only reason-” “-is because I don’t-” “-her trouble-”. 

Then she heard what sounded like a ‘shink’ noise akin to what happened when Gigan popped out his blades. Adagio’s brow perked and she leaned in closer, her ear to the door. A chainsaw revved up and roared. Now the young man’s voice was louder but when the saw started revving up, he was calling out so loudly and whimpering so much she still couldn’t make out what he was saying. There was a scream and the saw went quiet. Adagio’s eyes widened as liquid spilled out from under the edge of the wall, it was dark and vaguely red. Her lips scrunched together and she backed up warily, hand on her necklace as the door started to open.

A deadpanning Gigan, spattered with fluid, stepped out of the door. His entire front half was stained red and the source became clear from what was dangling on his arm with a saw impaled through it.

“Thought a scare tactic would work, over did it,” he grunted as he held aloft his arm, who’s hand and wrist were transformed into a chainsaw that had a large canister of motor oil stuck on it.

Adagio blinked at him, not realizing how much she had been hyperventilating, “I-I thought you…” 

“Eh, would cause too much attention and I’d never be able to clean it up. Useless anyways. Worked though, but I think he-”

Adagio’s nose crinkled as she smelled the sticky, pungent smell one usually got in a bathroom that hadn’t been cleaned. Closing her fingers on her nose she wafted her other hand in front of her face, “I get it! Say no more.” 

“Well, saying anything he won’t be. Fainted. Plus when he wakes up, who'd believe him? And given the demeanor showed I can confirm one theory.” 

“Which is?” 

Gigan flicked the oil can off his arm and kicked it back into the garage shed, “When I disabled him I felt something that was previously on top of him try to push itself into me. The ‘spirit’ tried to influence me. My best guess is this guy was just a puppet given he claimed to have amnesia while voiding himself.” 

“Influence how?” 

Gigan’s face darkened and he glanced away. For the briefest moment, he even looked uncomfortable. It wanted him to do things beyond just kill. He shook it off, disgusted.

“Take everything you don’t like about people you associate with, and amplify it off the chart. Nasty stuff. It was trying to drive me to the point that anger or strife would block out all else and make me take it out on others.”

Adagio went quiet for a short moment, thinking through what was being implied. Eventually she huffed and poked him in the chest, something she regretted as she was promptly wiping her finger off on the part of his sleeve not covered in oil to get the viscous liquid off.

“Wouldn’t affect me much, already like that given I work with you don’t I?”

The annoyed leer was mutual, especially when Adagio scrunched up her nose at his scent.

“Yeah yeah, I get it. Need a clean out when we return to camp,” Gigan huffed.

“You’re lucky we’ve got a tarp in the trunk I needed to throw out anyway, Eventide could help you with that. We’ll probably have to toss you into the lake,” Adagio Dazzle rolled her eyes, “Not like Gloriosa wouldn’t mind watching that.” 

One could literally hear the whirling in Gigan’s neck as it snapped around to look at the departing siren, “Reeeepeeeat that?”

Adagio waved him off as she started inside to rejoin Aria and Eventide, “Just deal with the passed out idiot, bolts-for-brains. If someone finds an unconscious guy in the middle of the school it will cause almost as much attention as if he were dead.” 

Gigan incoherently him grumbled to himself, “Sana ranan rigga franan”




==============
Camp Everfree
===============


Megalon perked up at its arrival. Seismic vibrations of an unusual variety. With his feet burrowed under the ground, he twitched to turn around and face where it was coming from. The fact he could sense something coming free of energy signatures that might be unreliable and could do so without the dense foliage or twisting roads obscuring his vision was one of the reasons he was left on guard duty for the camp; aside from the fact stealth wasn’t his forte and he wanted to keep an eye on his friend Sonata. If prepared, he was effectively impossible to sneak up on unless the target was flying, in which the situation was extremely rare in this realm.

Turning about and focusing on the sounds all around, Megalon was able to distinguish between the known sources and the new signal to figure out which direction the latter was coming from. He could perceive the few signals he expected to find at camp, such as Sonata inside her room pacing; so the new source was easy to pinpoint despite how weird it sounded on the ground. It wasn’t heavy enough to be a car and yet didn’t sound like footsteps. And it was closing in. Fast.

Closing directly in on Sonata’s cabin from the other side! Megalon jumped up and pointed his hands in front of himself, arching forward in midair like he was diving into a pool though in this case his ‘splashdown’ was in dirt. Able to move just as fast as he could normally run, but now free of obstructions once he diverted under the foundations a safe distance, Megalon rapidly tunneled through the camp and made a beeline for the signal. A very confused onlooker stepped out from a cabin, carrying a load of turkey chops, and felt the shaking earth underfoot while pausing in confusion.

Able to confirm the target was indeed heading directly for Sonata’s cabin at breakneck speed, Megalon accelerated as fast as he could.

-Aaaah no you don’t!- 

It suddenly diverted course in a wide loop, forcing him to chase after it instead of the attempted collision he first sought. He neared the surface, going through the looser soil to keep up with it and making it look like he was a certain rabbit taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Able to close the distance, the cyborg burst from the ground in the manner of a land shark and tackled the intruder just as they started to make their way towards the cabin. Only when he managed to regain the visuals after shooting out of the ground, he found his hands whiffing empty air and absolutely nobody being in front of them, just an oddly shaped puffy cloud that resembled the outline of a young woman with poofy hair. Instead he landed on top of a vacant, extremely bright pastel bicycle with the helmet soon flopping on his head.

“Whooaah! What the Dai-Daaaieee-” reflexively grabbing the handle bars, Megalon yanked them back and forth to try and keep the bike from falling over.

His efforts were for naught however, soon hitting a fallen tree branch on the dirt path he’d been on that jammed the wheel and caused the back end of the bike the buck upwards. Yelping, Megalon fumbled through the air and landed on the ground with a hard thud. Or at least he would have if he hadn’t crashed hips first into a comically huge whoopee cushion. Fall broken but still skidding across the ground atop the fart-sounding airbag, Megalon hollered out while flying forward and into the opened backdoor of Sonata’s cabin. He could hear voices inside not belonging to anyone that should be in camp. Revving up his drills while flying through the air and shifting his legs to land foot first, Megalon prepared for battle to protect his friend!

If Irys was confused at seeing Megalon burrowing through the camp again after Gloriosa asked him to stop, it wasn’t on account of her personally liking Gloriosa much or heeding heavily into what she said and more at the fact Megalon had taken a shine to “Miss Daisy Ma’am”. But now she was flummoxed when she heard the vulgar flatulence-like noise call out from behind the cabin. She dropped the turkey, on a table as not to waste the delicacy, and rushed to the cabin. She might not be able to fully access her true state in this form, both from needing more practice and lacking fire to jumpstart it, but she could still feel the flickers of that energy even in this state. A vague ‘Eta’ symbol resembling a capital ‘H’ formed on the backs of her hands as she charged in with surprising speed that helped make up for her lack of flight in this body.

She tore the door open and paused both out of confusion due to not finding the battle she expected and confusion in itself.

Sonata was sitting at a table, sniffling with a slight smile on her face and pointed hair on her head; gazing at the small batch of ocean blue frosted cupcakes in front of her with a little music symbol layered onto them. Megalon was standing close by beaming at her through his goggles with a dopey grin on his still half dirt-covered body with the other half of his body covered in confetti. And standing on his shoulder and upturned hand was a perky, slightly chubby young woman with bright pink skin and extremely poofy, hot pink hair that contrasted with baby blue eyes. Those same eyes along with a wide, toothy grin spoke of energy and vigor. Her actions were all the more confusing when Irys saw her hurl something towards her and she dodged aside.

-What the?! What is that?! Has she hexed Megalon?!- 

Irys eyed the streamers suspiciously and prepared to lunge when the pink woman seemed to vanish from Megalon’s shoulder. Eyes wide, Irys turned aside and soon found herself recoiling when the intruder apparently reappeared right beside her without her sharp vision or hearing noticing.

“Hiya! Sensed there was a pouty face about and came a’ runnin! Or Bikin’! Welcome to the Get-Well-Soon-Loco-Amigo-Partyyy!”

Pinkamena Diane Pie yelped before yanking the string of a party popper pointed at Irys, showering the albino gyaos in streamers and confetti.

Irys’ eyes dilated from latent memory, smelling the faintest amount of combustion powder that smelled like gunpowder and hearing loud popping noises. She was back on Terra, back when she was small. She shook, eyes starting to glow with a light that also emitted from her mouth behind her fangs.

“Oooh cool party trick!”

Pinkie Pie leaned in, Megalon hopped up and bolted over, and Sonata frantically waved her arms while rising up. The three goofs were reunited for a minute and already something was going awry, like the universe couldn’t handle this meeting.






=============
Police Station
=============


The young woman gripped the edge of her chair’s armrest, her fingers curling and clutching it like a set of raptorian talons. The old wood started to give from the pressure and splinter. She huffed and took in several deep breaths to try and control herself. She still didn’t let go of the hardwood and an audible crack could be heard when she snapped her orange tinted eyes open. The police clerk gulped when he felt those eyes upon him from under the cloak, feeling like she was looking through him rather than at him.

Lea felt Maud’s presence nudge against her foot, reminding her of one crucial detail. This was the second time in the Police Department, they didn’t want to botch this.

-Leave the fantastic aside, just focus on crucial elements. Let their pathetic tiny primate brains be able to grasp the story and they might actually be of use this time…-

The first time she told the story she was on such an emotional high the clerk offered to call a psychiatrist to see her when she spoke of teleporting cyborgs and her lithe frame being strong enough to “hold a projectile launcher” strong enough to level part of the demolition yard; their feeble attempts to understand her powers she was barred from showing outright, for fear they would get all the attention rather than the kidnapping story. So, with extremely heavy reluctance and even more reluctance not to reach across the desk and grab the human’s collar and demand they heed her, she let Maud do the talking this time with a different clerk.

Lea sat back as Maud stood at the desk and explained everything in a more feasible manner, still glaring daggers at the obstructive human.

“And that’s how it happened. Some sort of gang fight near the demolition yard, we don’t know the details. However my sister was present alongside several other witnesses that I have signatures of who are willing to talk to you for the case. I understand this sounds extreme in some measures, but I can assure you the situation is dire,” Maud noted in a monotone utterance.

“Well, I see your point m-ma’am,” the clerk grunted, still in a cold sweat from the glare he was getting past Maud’s side.

As if privy to what was going on, Maud sidestepped and blocked Lea’s view of the poor man.

He seemed to relax somewhat and started to work at his computer, “Certainly much more believable than the previous fantastical tale we got. What did you say the kidnapping victim’s name was again?”

Maud paused for a moment, pondering if she should include the ‘Princess’ title and opting against it knowing that if the profile said royalty had been taken it could cause even further questions that were pointless, “... Twilight Starla Sparkle.” 

The clerk nodded and tapped at his keyboard, “Alright, just adding this into the database to make sure there are no pre-existing reports given you said others witnessed this or might have noticed her gone; could just combine the case as if that were true… Oh, got a match.”

Maud tilted her head silently, expecting an answer and eventually getting it.

“Does she have dark purple hair with a rosey streak and light violet skin? Roughly 60 kilograms and deep violet eyes?” 

Maud didn’t shift expression even as her mind wondered for a moment to think about it, “I never met her in person myself, only seen pictures. But I know she was just about the same size and age as my sister so that sounds about right. Color is a perfect match, though I’d describe her hair as more a moderate sapphire. Why do you ask?” 

The clerk cringed and shrugged, “Well I suppose you all might be getting worked up over nothing. Something stressful might have happened for sure, but I got a Twilight Starla Sparkle precisely matching that description safe and sound in the next city over.” 

He turned his monitor aside so Maud could see with Lea leaning over far behind her to glimpse the screen.

Maud looked at it for a moment but shook her head, “That can’t be her. None of the pictures of her I’ve seen have her with glasses, and my sister would not have left out that detail. She’s very attentive. It also says here she’s attending Crystal Prep High School, but I know she was at Canterlot Public High School last Fall.”

“Well this is the only Twilight Sparkle in the database ma’am,” the clerk cringed and rubbed at the back of his head, “We can still put out an alert but with her living so close and precisely matching the description, it might cause some problems.”

“Such as?”

“Well any person who sees the alert and might pass by young Miss Sparkle on the streets could grab her and try to take her to ‘safety’ thinking she’s been kidnapped. Says here she has an older brother, so what happens if some would-be Good Samaritan with a taser sees him next to her and pulls it on him thinking he nabbed her? And this is on top of there being lots of other purple skinned, purple with striped haired young ladies out there. Someone might see this Glimmer gal who matches up to part of the description and assume she was Twilight forced to dye her hair.”

“What about the description of the kidnappers?”

The clerk shrugged, “Well we can certainly put something out, but given how, well, fantastic the descriptions sound we might not get too far. Lots of folks with grays, yellows, or blues around here.”

“The second one had metallic looking hair and metal gauntlets,” Maud noted dryly, unable to withhold that little piece of information at Lea’s insistence. With both Gigan and this ‘Ghidorah’ wearing masks or face obscuring sunglasses, not to mention mostly being seen at a distance, she supposed they had to get specific about a few details even if they could leave out things like optic blasts or teleportation.

“That’ll certainly go out, but I don’t think too many folks would take it too seriously. This town doesn’t tend to talk much about the weird stuff like the school’s Fall dance so word of mouth might die off quicker if you throw that in.” 

“And if we don’t get specific, the details are so vague and reliant on clothing, meaning they could be faulty and not very useful.” 

The clerk nodded, “Afraid s-” 

He cut himself off when a tall figure cast a shadow over his desk. He looked aside from Maud and saw those same, orangey, fiery eyes glaring at him with so much intensity they literally did look like they were burning. A hand slapped onto the oaken table, lightly cracking it with claw-like fingernails digging into the wood.

“First you dismiss our story because it sounds too fantastic, then your kind continues to obstruct us because you relegate yourself to non-description of detail because you can’t comprehend it…” 

The voice carried a venom that chilled the air.

“I’m trying… to find… my friend.”

The officer’s hand started to shift towards the silent alarm but he didn’t know why, a primal fear starting to seep in more and more as he got the distinct feeling something with great power was very angry with him.

“I-I’m trying to help miss, I’m serious! If someone is missing the last thing I’d ever want to do is neglect them!” he piped in a quiet voice forcefully hushed, “I’m just trying to figure out the best way to do it without disturbing someone else’s life and so that the public can help the our biggest set of eyes and ear-” 

He was cut off by the eyes widening, glimpsing a hint of fangs in the place of normal canine teeth. The eyes’ glow was turning purple in small flickers.

Lea’s hand slid towards him, dragging her nails through the wood, “You seem more intent on obstruction than doing your job-” 

Maud’s hand snatched at Lea’s wrist. It took all the strength of a college champion arm wrestler and geode smasher to hold her still.

“Excuse us.” 

Several moments later in the two were outside the Police Department, Lea lifting her arm up and with some effort, hoisting Maud up into the air when the eldest Pie sister refused to let go. Lea’s eyes narrowed in frustrated annoyance.

“You are impeding me.”

Maud’s sky blue eyes looked back unflinchingly, “And you are acting irrational. You show off what you can do in there and you’re going to cause a lot of confusion. It’ll only make matters worse.”

“They’re dragging their feet with formalities.”

“They’re doing their job. The only thing we can do is to make sure they’re doing it the best way possible. Extraordinary circumstances are not the norm and most who have even heard of them are dealing with them however they can,” Maud paused and Lea saw her mutely shrug as she put a hand on the former kaiju’s shoulder, “I understand you are upset. We all are. Allow me to handle this.”

Lea stood still for a moment, eyes still flickering slightly with purple sparks. She closed her eyes and let out a deep shrug. When she opened them they were back to their normal color, though still puffy with frustration. Lea lowered her arm and reacquainted Maud Pie’s feet with the ground. She said absolutely nothing, only staring at the Pie for a moment or two before looking away with an unreadable expression. Maud blinked stoically before slightly nodding, letting go of Lea’s wrist and walking back inside to finish filing the report.

Lea just listened to the door opening and closing, not looking back. The headache was returning in force, the delirium returning with it. It wasn’t just one emotion coming over her, but an unbalanced cornucopia of sadness at the loss of her friend, worry and distress at not knowing where she was or what state she was in, anger and frustration at her circumstances and what had been making her upset, and confusion at the fact for the first time in her foreseeable memory, human beings were not looked upon so fondly. Their world seemed dead with so little magic or mana moving through it, they reacted with confusion and negligence to what their feeble minds couldn’t understand, and they had the gall to insist she withhold exerting herself in correcting the mistake that happened here?! When there was so much at risk?! She was trying to play it by their rules and find her friend who was in the clutches of a monster, and they had her guarding five stand-ins for magic bearers while restricting herself in her attempts to search for Twilight on the chance of it possibly being ‘disruptive’?

-If this world’s Twilight had even a shred of decency that her counterpart did, she wouldn’t mind a ‘disruption’ if it solved a hostile kidnapping! And I could’ve covered so much more ground in my search if those whelps had stopped worrying about Gigan coming back for them and insisted I stay with them!-

She swung a foot out, kicking a trash can that thankfully was anchored to the pavement, meaning she only dented-in the metal mesh surrounding it rather than punting it across the street.

-Fools, the lot of them! They had magic, but Twilight is magic. If they were truly targets too, the Apple would have been snatched instead of being used as a hostage!-

In actuality one reason she hadn’t been able to travel much out of town to search and try to sense anything was because of a promise to Celestia they were going to help Sunset Shimmer, and that she was to be protected as well. Truthfully, Lea could tell there was a magic about Sunset as well even if she hadn’t ‘pony’d up’ like the others and that she thusly was another prime target for Gigan and Ghidorah. If she wanted to get to them, sticking around Sunset Shimmer was a good bet as well as a good option to protect her and her friends, something the Guardian of Mortals naturally wanted to do.

But in a confused mind, rational want was rare. Lea only saw humans, and she only saw the worst of them and their kind, especially when her eyes turned orange. For reasons beyond her logic nor her desire to answer, the new surges of power she’d been tapping into to be stronger for the next confrontation were making her look at these talking, furless, bipedal monkeys with less and less fondness.

That lessening fondness was evident when two of them started to approach her. Two males, well past teenagers but still well below the loss of their prime. That, as the week revealed, often resulted in them like many teenagers from the school eying up her human husk in ways that only increased her annoyance. But when she returned what she expected would be a coy gaze with a glare, she found herself pausing unfamiliarly. The shorter male put the map he had in front of him down and blinked curiously, tilting his head at her.

“... Lea?” 

Anguirus felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when the woman he presumed was his ally respond to his voice but otherwise did nothing. She just looked between him and Godzilla in total silence, an unnerving look in her eyes that was complemented by an unnerving look about her body. To be honest, he couldn’t tell if that really was her or not. In hindsight he should’ve asked about her attire but he had presumed he could still pick her apart from the crowd by both sensing any energy coming off her as well as her distinctive color scheme.

He certainly could sense the energy coming off this woman alright, it made her light up like a Roman candle in a field full of actual candles. And for the most part, what he was sensing did match up to Lea as he knew her. But it was… off. As were her colors. She was still pale-hued with green overall like he expected, her skin and hair matching up to where they were on her Equestrian body’s chitin and mane. If she was the same as everyone else he’d seen thus far, she’d have been identical in tint. She wasn’t. And she was leering at him.

Lea didn’t see the downtown street in the modern day. She was in north India over seven hundred centuries ago. Rage, hateful, potent rage broiled into her mind. The fact King Manjusandra and his creation resembled one another made it all the worse. She remembered killing the former before… She winced, memories fighting with themselves from recalling the same event from two perspectives. The event that drove a Mothra and Battra, her ancestors, to battle it out across a dying world of magic.

Her mood shifted when she forced herself to look away from Anguirus and instead looked to Junior, but it wasn’t for the better. Junior studied his friend, having begun to approach when Anguirus stuck an arm out before him. He shot Anguirus a confused look, clearly seeing the distress on his best friend’s face and wanting to come to her side.

Anguirus just kept his eyes trained upon Lea, seeing her muscles tensing up and body swell with an invisible magic he could smell.

“Something’s wrong,” he whispered to his comrade,“look at her eyes.”

Junior did and when he did, he flinched as she was. If she was leering at Anguirus before, she was positively glaring at him. Lea’s lips started to curl back and her body shook. Visions of gnashing, blood covered teeth and a face coated in gore coming before her. Her “father’s” death at the fangs of Godzilla Senior. Hatred and vengeance of the father tempted to pass to the son. Junior hated how his body reacted on instinct, tightening up as instincts screamed at him regarding oncoming danger from his closest friend. With her tense body like a tiger set to pounce, orange-with-purple-flickers eyes, and darkening color scheme; she didn’t look like his best friend anymore.

Both Anguirus and Godzilla braced for an assault and loathed having to do so, feeling that they were betraying the trust of a friend by doing so. Lea flinched, forcing her eyes shut with clearly a lot of effort and shaking her head. The memories started to push themselves aside, the throbbing migraine in her mind beginning to allay. She sucked in her breath and upon its exhale, her body began to relax. Her head drooped and finally, they heard her voice.

“You’re late!....” 

Its quietness betrayed the pain and stress. Her old colors began to brighten back up to prominence. All the toil, strain, and agony she’d been feeling over the past five days started to show; having spent far too long angry to keep it up with how tired she was. A droplet of a tear fell from her eye and hit the ground. Almost as soon as it did, two forms rushed her and Lea soon found herself surrounded by strength and warmth. Lea’s head slowly rose to take in the sight. Two of her closest comrades were holding her in an embrace, one on either side, surrounding her protectively as if to stave off whatever was distressing her; physically or mentally. Lea sniffled, still feeling the flickers of the headache and power surges coming over her but managed to force it all away as she wrapped her arms around two of her boys’ shoulders and necks.

“Forgive me,” she croaked quietly, risking a break down.

Thankfully, she had her friends to hold her up.



Link!


Unbeknownst to the Defenders however, they did have an observer beyond a random passerby. Moving in a cold wind on the fringes of a building across the street and keeping his magical aura low due to possessing a stray cat, Notus observed the events transpiring with gleeful thrill. He could smell it and he relished it. The enormous potential for wrath and anger within this ‘Lea’ was enough to drive one to genocide! Oh what he had merely attempted with his compatriots with the ponies driven to a collision course could come to fruition with this one! That outing had just been them increasing the hostilities already present from bad to worse and reveling in the result. This was already off the charts!

And with his previous host being shown to be feeble by someone he could tell was holding back, this was looking better and better. The fact he could tell some of her wrath by its scent was aimed at the half metallic creature with red glasses made it all the better, all the better… Oh, this was like an ideal situation practically gift wrapped to him!

Two sides of magic users and monsters, set to antagonize each other. One side ignorant of them and the other knowing of them but not what they were. So many strings to pull, so much conflict to enhance, so much strife to embody and enact. For that was the exact reason the almighty Grogar had forged the Windigo Three.

And Notus hadn’t seen this much potential for fun ever since Mako!