//------------------------------//
// The Battle of One Third of the Band 
// Story: A Magic Turn of Events 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

A little scrapbook lay on the table. Photos of Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk filled the fragile pages, some sticking out of the papers’ boundaries. Too many photos blotted out too much space, surrounded by huge jotted comments with too many exclamation points and too much capitalization.
Here, near the top left corner, was a picture of the trio posing at the backstage right before the finals for the Battle of the Bands. Both Adagio and Aria had donned sinister smirks; Sonata gave a thumbs up.
Considering how that battle ended, another picture there was that of Adagio and Aria trying to push the camera away. It was blurry, though Adagio had a face that could only be described as a Sonata, stop taking pictures of me or else! kind of face.
The next several months produced a vivid journey for the sirens.
With their magic amulets broken and their vocal talents snatched away, they’d had no choice but to go somewhere else to re-learn singing. It’d been utter humiliation for them to take lessons on the one thing that’d defined them.
On a positive note, one photo from that time was Adagio finally smiling a not-evil smile, dragging a not-happy Aria into frame.
They had siren blood in them, though, so it took them less than a week to regain their groove. 	The final image from the experience was all three of them holding up a golden trophy on the podium, Sonata merrily laughing at winning the local sing-out while hugging the other two who were more focused on their keepsake than her.
What followed  was a small tour spanning some states. From these sprung photographs of their “concerts” which were actually busking sessions, with the three of them taking up different instruments to complement their vocals. Adagio had her  acoustic guitar, Aria had her drums, and Sonata bought a keyboard from a garage sale.
No one attacked or argued with each other  during these concerts thanks to the lack of evil amulets, but the band did well on their own merit. Cheers and applause had been a common sight and sound—the small-scale hordes of fleeting admirers in the plentiful concert photos was proof enough.
And there was a picture of Sonata surfing the elated crowd, much to the irritation of the other two left behind with a song cut short.
As the world-changing catastrophe neared, the journal’s photos recorded a settling down, namely back in Canterlot.
Front and center close to the book’s end rested a portrait of a somewhat skeptical Sunset with hands on her hips. However, the next page showed Sunset and the rest of the Rainbooms shaking hands with the Sirens. It hadn’t been all fun and games—Adagio and Aria had plastered phony smiles on their faces, with Sonata the only one who truly showed her joy by showering everyone with bags of tacos, nachos, and burritos.
Everyone was confused but Pinkie who was no stranger to devouring free food.
The next set of photos marked an odd twist of events: the Rainbooms and the Sirens playing together. It was in the relatively small gym in Canterlot High, but the bleachers were packed. A lot of students and other civilians attended not for the music but for the weirdness of it all. Wasn’t their last meeting not so amiable? Certainly, being dished out a public put down by having one’s trademark talents taken away wouldn’t foster the best of relationships.
Yet, from the looks of it, everyone had seemed to follow Sunset’s example of forgiveness—or, at least, they’d been trying to. There was a little distance between the Sirens and the audience, perhaps ten meters or so in length from the stage. The smiles and the overall upbeat atmosphere, though, sealed the deal for the Sirens.
Their life after that had been, on the whole, mundane. Sometimes, the trio would be invited to an out-of-town gig, but, for the most part, they’d stayed inside a modest apartment in the downtown area. They mostly lived off being musical artists, though Sonata had finally secured her not-quite-lifelong dream of selling tacos as a part-time job. Adagio and Aria hadn’t been pleased by this unhealthy obsession, so they would prank her once in a while by disguising themselves as taco haters in front of the shop. Despite this effort, she had smiled through her dream come true.
Which crashed when everyone else suddenly became vegetarians.
Fewer pictures appeared. A stall decked with taco shells and ingredients—empty, void of customers. A nighttime performance where a noticeable number puked because of an uninformed shop owner. A dozen citywide newspapers on the table, the strange cold garnering headline space. 
Sonata having gained pony ears right before bed.
The final words on the scrapbook, scrawled in almost illegible handwriting. They read:
Sonata turned back into a siren. Don’t know what to do.
A cold gust of wind closed the book.
Right outside the window floated Sonata, back in her siren form. Her face took up much of the window.
“Hey!” shouted Aria from outside. “Get back here!”
Whimpering at the temporary loss of her journal, she scampered away in flight.



Sonata the Siren proved the outlandish spectacle. Floating above the city streets with nothing but her fins—or just siren magic—she scared off more than a few ponies despite the taco she had on her finned hoof. The good-natured gesture didn’t sit well when the taco-holder loomed over normal-sized ponies.
Lacking legs, she only had two hooves, and, for the most part, she looked like a scaly horse-fish of some sort towering over the general populace, at least as tall as the houses there if not taller. Alongside the huge fin extruding from her back, her face emitted a nasty impression even with her goofy smile.
To top it all off, there was the red gem on her chest.
Sonata flew round the corner and was met with a hooves-crossed Aria, now a siren just like her. “What’re you doing out here?!”
“I wanna get my diary!” Sonata whined with a booming voice. This only made more ponies gallop away, some seeking cover behind trees and storefronts.
Aria shook her head then jerked a hoof behind her. “Follow me.”
And then, Sonata followed Aria as they both drifted in the air, their fins acting like immovable wings under the wind.



Sonata and Aria reached the hill’s summit.
On the apex, they took in the sweeping view of Canterlot, from the stately gathering of steel-and-glass architecture marvels known as skyscrapers all the way to the charming little houses at the city’s outskirts. Not much had changed from this distance, though they could see pegasi practicing flight in the sky.
Adagio was floating over the grass, looking upon Canterlot.
Aria and Sonata stopped, quieting themselves.
Nothing. Only the faraway sounds of words on the streets, only the fresh hill air that felt like natural mint.
Adagio extended a hoof, not turning to look at her partners in crime. “Girls?”
Sonata sniffled, already feeling tears in her eyes. “Y-Yes?”
Adagio stomped a hoof to the ground, mini-crater left on it. She whirled her head, showing her long siren snout and her sleek siren eyes. “Let’s cut this one short,” and pointed at their amulets. “We’re back on the siren diet.”
Sonata lowered her brow. “But we ate regular food back then!”
Aria smacked herself on the forehead. “You know what she meant.”
The unaware Sonata scratched her chin with her hoof, then understanding that it’s hard to scratch an itch without fingers. “Um, uh...wait....”
Appalled at her clueless companion, Adagio growled and struck the ground, dirt flying into the air.
Landing on Aria’s face. “Seriously?”
Adagio paid no mind to the question. “Don’t you get it? We’re back to feeding on others’ negative energy!”
It took a few seconds for reality to hit Sonata.
But when it did, it hit her hard. The siren covered her snout with her hooves, creating large tears in her eyes. “But I l-love ordinary people! They really adore us!” She went to the edge of the summit and pointed at the city, pointing at the people-turned-ponies down at street level. Half-pleading, “Can’t we, uh, try something else?”
“Well, too bad.” She raised her head, appearing snooty with it. “If only we hadn’t bought these duplicates,” indicating the gem on her chest, “we wouldn’t have this problem!”
Aria grunted, feeling left out. Wanting to speak her mind, she asked, “Are we going to split ponies up again?”
Adagio pursed her lips. “For food, yes.”
A heart broke.
Sonata clenched her jaw, wincing away from the city she had come to love. Songs remembered, verses and choruses rung once more, but what burned in her mind the most was the simple joy in being in others’ company. Laughter shared with Sandalwood over an old but precious guitar, enjoying baking with Pinkie Pie even if it’d meant failing at getting the secret recipe for cakepie, watching indie films with Juniper Montage way past midnight, and just hanging out with the other sirens—all darkened under a hunger for negative emotions.
To think she had to break friendships apart to feed herself….
“Hey!” Aria yelled again, punching the air before her. “Snap out of it!”
Sonata gasped in shock, bent backwards, then was falling.
Caught by Aria before she would hit the ground with a resounding thud! echoing across the sky.
Adagio clucked her tongue, giving her distracted friend a pitying look. “I told you Sonata. You weren’t supposed to form lasting friendships with these folks.”
“But they’re nice and friendly!” Sonata complained, raising both forehooves as if waving them around made the argument more sensible.
“Being friends with them only makes our meal bitter!” Adagio shouted.
As that statement reverberated to the horizon.
Adagio’s anger vanished, her furious expression gone.
Aria smirked. “Nice going. Now everyone knows we really don’t like them.”
“I like them!” Sonata countered, placing a hoof on her chest. Then, raising her head to the sky, she hollered, “I like them!”
That likable declaration shook the ground, causing apples to fall off the nearby tree.
She could hear distant screaming from the city.
That pushed Sonata to the breaking point, for she wept. Her sobs hurtled through the sky, her howls amplified to be heard by all. Yes, her crying became a song, but there were no words, nothing coherent—only pristine grief.
Adagio sighed, wagging her head at the ruined Sonata. “You’ve forgotten what being a siren’s like. We’re supposed to stick to our own kind. Everyone else is food!”
“No!”
“What?!”
And Sonata flew away from them in tears.
“Where do you think you’re going?!” Aria yelled as she flew after her.
Adagio was about to jump up to the chase as well.
She kept quiet.
Listened to the fading sorrows of her assistant, of her partner, of her companion.
Her friend?
Adagio stayed at the hill’s summit, watching Aria disappear below.



“...so that’s how you surround yourself with a magic shield,” finished Sunset to an eager Crystal Prep unicorn.
They were at Canterlot High’s school grounds which were occupied by some ponies new to the pony way of life. Sci-Twi was there to help Sunset with the unicorns and Equestrian Rainbow Dash stayed behind to take care of the pegasi. Equestrian Pinkie Pie came bouncing back, a scroll in her tail containing photos of ponies she’s served across the city within the past hour.
It was loud, chaotic. Fresh ponies stumbled and tripped on their hooves, dropped lots of objects with those same hooves. Earth ponies with a supposed knack for farming tried cultivating crops, only for them to wilt immediately or to grow too fast and wilt seconds later. Pegasi crashed onto the ground and not into windows thanks to the timeliness of Rainbow’s flights, although their wings still got bruised and injured, necessitating the presence of Soarin and Fleetfoot from Equestria’s Wonderbolts. Finally, unicorns felt their minds going on fire because of too much magic concentration; their horns glowed too bright, blinding Twilight for a moment and causing her to yelp in pain.
“Uh, y-yes,” said Upper Crust in a highfalutin accent, anxious to defend herself with her magic powers.
Then, she glowed her horn green.
A transparent sphere flickered around her.
Sunset smiled at the success. “You did it! You—”
Piercing screams, followed by hoofsteps as ponies scattered and dispersed, most leaving the school in a jiffy.
Upper Crust looked behind her.
Saw a huge blue siren floating above the streets, hooves on her head and reduced to mewling.
Shadow looming over her, Sunset looked up and saw Sonata crying.
Revealing her wet face—well, she’s a siren, after all—Sonata bent down to Sunset and pleaded, “Can we talk?!”
Not wanting to be confronted by someone so big, Upper Crust galloped away, adding her scream to the collection of screams found everywhere.
Sunset lowered a brow, folding her ears back to muff them. “What’s the matter?”
“In private!” Sonata shouted, rumbling the ground and causing a few windows to break.
Pinkie Pie sighed and took up a hammer. “And I thought sticky notes would do it!” Then, she bounced to the broken windows to fix them with only a hammer.
Somehow.
Back to the siren and the pony: Sunset pondered on Sonata’s request. “Let’s go to the amphitheater. Can you carry me there?”
Sonata nodded and then picked up Sunset who could rest her torso on a siren hoof. After that, Sonata flew away, turning her head down to hide her tears.
Leaving Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie speechless on school grounds.
“I was asleep yesterday,” Rainbow commented. Turning to Twilight, “Did you make up with the sirens?”
Twilight smirked then adjusted her glasses with her magic. “A-heh. It’s a long story....”



The amphitheater was a little out-of-the-way in town, but it made up for it with its grandeur. The staircase-like seats formed a huge semi-circle in front of the stage which looked like a massive saddle. 	Being a spectator in a concert set here would’ve been a, well, magical experience.
Not much was prepared on the stage itself. The speakers remained idle, the spotlights hung in leisure.
Which meant that the drama was occurring backstage, behind the curtain.
There, in the green room which was neither green nor a room, Sunset stood on the carpeted floor, raising her head to see Sonata who had to curve downward in order to fit inside.
“I was wondering where you ran off to,” Sunset said, voice tainted with apprehension. “What’s going on?”
Sonata sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes and from her snout. “I-I don’t want to starve, but…” pointing at her gem, “we h-have to do evil stuff again to stay alive!” Shaking her head, fearful at having to return to her wicked ways, “I don’t want to hurt anyone! But, it’s here, we’re there, ponies and other creatures are somewhere, a-and—”
“Sonata,” Sunset cut in, “are you sure you have to eat negative emotions again?”
“That’s who we are!” Sonata said, restraining herself from shouting and causing an earthquake. “What’s a siren without mind-control songs and eating others’ hatred?”
Sunset gulped, irises shrinking as a solution escaped from reach. “Oh, no.”
“For realsies!” Tearing up again and putting her hooves closer to her face, “We were doing just fine. I didn’t care until Beardo and pals banished us here. With almost no magic, we had to eat up petty squabbles—but then, y-you know the r-rest.”
She sulked a bit, the disastrous Battle of the Bands upsetting her.
“After we ran away, I r-really warmed up to the people here. Th-They didn’t know about m-magic, but it was f-fun to be with them and play songs for them when we could. Just singing to sing, just musicing to music, to see them smile and e-enjoy what we made without worrying about our next m-meal or conquering the world....”
Sonata lowered her head, trailing off.
“I-I didn’t make a lot of friends here, but I have some friends. Adagio and Aria—they’re r-really cool and they’ve been with me for so long, b-but there’s e-everyone else, too. It’s n-nice to talk to people who didn’t get thrown a thousand years ahead.”
Then, the siren ended her monologue.
Sunset levitated a photo on one of the tables there, occupying her mind with the picture of some other band playing on stage. “You were able to live without others’ hatred despite having none of your pendants, right?”
Sonata nodded, the elusive solution coming within reach. “Yes!”
Sunset smiled. “What about you remove the gem?”
“What?!”
“Hear me out,” Sunset said, twirling her hoof in anxiety. “You lived normal lives without those gems. You only got hungry when you didn’t eat stuff like tacos.”
Sonata let out a little giggle at the mention of tacos. “Yeah, that’s true...but what about our singing?”
Sunset shook her head. “No one’s throwing tomatoes at you when you sing these days, right?”
Sonata looked down at the green carpet, thought about it. “N-No?”
“Then, there’s your answer,” Sunset replied, taking a step forward to warm up the conversation. “Take it away. Break it if you have to.”
The siren kept staring at the carpet pensively, wondering. “I-I don’t know, Sunset. We’ve always had them.”
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t outgrow them.”
Sonata finally raised her head a little, seeing Sunset Shimmer confident in her answer. “Huh.”
Silence in the green room.
The siren bent her neck, cracking it as she hovered a little higher. “I-I’ll see what I can do. It’s gonna be hard to convince Adagio to do that.”
Sunset waved at her, reassuring her with, “I know she’ll say yes.”
When the farewells were done, Sonata left the amphitheater.



By the time sunset arrived, Sunset also arrived.
At her home, that was.
She was about to close the door to relax. Helping out a city’s worth of new ponies would be stressful to some degree.
However, she heard the stroke and snap of tape.
Wanting to investigate further, she stepped outside.
Under the orange sky, ponies were trotting or galloping along, most of them trying to get comfortable with their four hooves. A businesspony, lacking a horn for levitation or a wing for holding, resorted to putting his briefcase on his back. It was a delicate balancing act for him, so he couldn’t go any faster lest his briefcase would wobble about.
He then saw a pony holding her own briefcase with her mouth.
Without knowing the resolution to the businesspony’s problem, Sunset turned her head to see Lemon Zest putting up a poster on her house’s wall.
“Uh, what’re you doing?” Sunset asked.
Lemon put the roll of tape down and smiled. “You didn’t get the memo?” With a hoof, she tapped on the half-done poster. “The sirens are gonna perform tonight!”
“The who are gonna what?!” yelped Sunset with eyes wide as soup bowls… “tonight?!”
Lemon nodded. “The Sonata one’s kept telling us not to be scared because they got rid of some gems.” She took out her headphones. “I won’t be scared! We’re gonna rock on!”
And turned on and up her music. She banged her head as she taped the poster on the wall.
Sunset took a look at the poster.
Three sirens depicted there. Adagio and Aria smudged the sign with their glowers while Sonata sweetened it with a happy grin. On it were the words, The Sirens! Only at the amphitheater 8 PM tonight! With Trixie and the Illusions as opening act!
Sunset smiled, ready to embrace a better Battle of the Bands. “Things are going full circle, huh?”