The Siren’s home was a lot… prettier than I was expecting.
Sure, it had jagged looking rocks, but they were surrounded by ink black water, and shrouded in a pearly blue mist. An odd melody was in the air. Faint, but present. It had the others on edge.
“Are you sure about this?” Celaeno asked me. She and her pals had disregarded the Storm King’s wear for a more traditional pirate garb. Celaeno herself was decked out with a big hat that covered her like an umbrella. Probably useful when rain rolled around.
I nodded. “It’s the only lead I got,” I told her. “If there’s a chance that that Sirens tried something to get their friends back… I gotta know.”
“Still,” Celaeno insisted. “You did us a huge solid, freeing us from the Storm King. I’d rather you didn’t throw your life away trying to talk to monsters.”
“You got any other leads?” I asked.
“Southern Equestria,” Celaeno said. “Last I heard, some explorers and adventurers were poking around Somnambula in Southern Equestria, hoping to strike gold.” She shrugged. “Not sure if the gold there is what you’re looking for, but… a pegasus called Daring Do was in that area. She dealt with a couple of magic artifacts in the past.” She stood. “Not sure if she’ll help you, but… it’s better than Sirens.”
#
Rainbow Dash’s eyes bugged out of her skull.
“Oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-GOSH!” Rainbow Dash stammered, “You met DARING DO?!”
Logan tilted his head at her. “Is it important that I met her?” I asked.
Rainbow Dash nearly suffered a conniption right there. “IS IT IMPORTANT?!” she screamed.
“Daring Do’s the most famous adventurer of Equestria,” Twilight stammered in glee. “We have almost all of her books in Ponyville: Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone…”
“Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue; Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet, Daring Do and the…” Rainbow Dash recited, before she had to stop at the look of utter bafflement Logan was shooting. “I mean… if she’s real, she’s a pretty big deal.”
Logan was still silent for a moment. He then grinned.
“She was kind of a prick.”
“WHAT?!”
#
A few minutes passed before Rainbow Dash could be kept from trying to strangle Logan. The fact that Logan had burst into a fit of wild cackling hadn’t helped. As Applejack, Celestia and two Royal Guards managed to drag a twitching, sputtering Rainbow Dash out, Fluttershy calmed Logan down.
“I’m sure it was very amusing,” Fluttershy said in a deadpan tone. “But did you take their lead?”
Logan’s grin faded. “I did…” he admitted. “But not then.”
Twilight’s ear flicked. “Wait, so… you had another lead, and you still went into the Sirens’ home?”
#
“I don’t trust ponies,” was my reason.
Celaeno deflated at my word, but at that point, it was more than clear I was set on my path.
“Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you,” she noted, before turning back the wheel.
The airship curved to port (yeah, I figured out ship terms for right and left; deal with it), and they opened a plank for me.
As I walked onto the plank, the captain handed me some odd feeling tubes.
“Sirens songs can seduce even the toughest sailor,” she warned me. “The effect isn't as bad out here, but it’s gonna get worse the closer you go. Use that wax to seal your ears so you don’t end up another one of their slaves.”
I nodded and stuffed my ears. tying my mom’s scarf around my head just as an extra precaution.
It was eerie. I relied on my hearing just as much as my nose. Heck, I relied on both of them more than my eyes. Now, all I could hear was the rush of blood in my head. I could still smell the salt of the sea, along with the parrot’s odd salt-tipped musk, and I could - of course - see the rocks and mist, but there was no sound. The captain gave me a feather thumb up, but even that cause me to jump, just because I couldn’t hear the strain of her clothing. Her eyes glanced back at the pearly mist with doubt, and she glanced at me with a silent ‘are you sure you want to do this?’
I nodded, and turned to the edge of the plank. With a small breath, I jumped off the side and plummeted paws first into the waves.
There wasn’t even a hum of water, the wax was that good. I briefly looked back at the parrots – who had lined up with piteous looks, like they were sending me off in a coffin – and I started paddling for the island.
#
“And you… didn’t have any trouble swimming there?” Twilight asked.
Logan glared at her.
“Sorry,” she rectified. “We just never saw you swim before.”
“Plus, leather isn’t exactly the best swimming gear to go with,” Rainbow Dash noted.
“I know how to do doggy paddle,” Logan replied. “And there was no way I was leaving my jacket on the boat.” He held himself higher. “Believe me,” he assured them. “That island held a tough fight for me, but fighting the current wasn’t one of them.”
#
Though, the silence was really eerie. I could feel the waves patting at me. I could smell the stink of the sea. I could see the rocks forming out of the waves. I could even feel their sharp edges when my paws got too close. But I got absolutely no information from my ears. Just a blank drone of absolute silence.
Eventually, the water faded to rocks and gravel, and I pulled myself, sopping wet, onto land. With a brief shake to dispel some of the water, I continued onward.
The mist got thicker; it gained a greenish hue. There was also something… vibrating. Again, I couldn’t hear anything, but something pulsated against my fur, making it feel like I was being buffeted by some sort of wind. Something was singing; and whatever it was, it was loud.
I forged my way forward. The green glow shifted to a more golden glow. At first, I was worried I was going into Ocetorm’s lair again.
But this time, the treasure wasn’t as prominent. What was prominent were the people.
There were several types of creatures laying around me. Some of them were parrots, like the pirates I had left behind. Some were griffons, their feline halves on full display.
And there were others: equine faces, but fish back halves. Flippers beat in time with the vibrations around me.
#
“A hippocampus,” Celestia breathed, looking away. “Queen Novo…?”
“Wait, who now?” several of the mares and even Logan asked.
“A-Apologies,” Celestia said. She motioned to me. “Please, Logan. I’m sorry for interrupting. Please continue.”
The mares looked between the two, almost expecting Logan to defy her; to say ‘no, who is this Queen Novo?’ But instead…
#
Well, I didn’t really get to ask who they were. They lay around, their eyes glazed and a dumb happy expression scrawled across their faces. And above them all, crooning softly, was what looked like more hippocampi.
At least, I thought they were hippocampi at first; horse front half, fish back half. But as I drew closer, I realized that their ‘fish’ back half was actually more of a serpent back half. Indeed, they were less half horse, half fish, and more half horse – half dragon…
#
Celestia stood. “Three of them… they weren’t golden, blue or purple, were they?”
Logan pondered it, but shook his head. “They had a lot of colors. But none of them were… revered or held higher than the others.”
Rainbow Dash glanced between them. “Whoa-whoa, hang on. What?”
“The three Sirens Starswirl banished…” Twilight explained nervously. “Were they back?”
Logan was silent for a moment. Twilight started to sweat.
“No,” he finally said, glaring at Twilight and Celestia as they breathed in relief. “They didn’t come back.”
The two looked relieved at that, at least until his next words.
“But that didn’t mean they were any less dangerous.”
#
The first sign of their danger was the looks they shot me. Some were suspicious. A few were angry, glaring at my ear blocks like some wax and a scarf had done them a personal wrong. And one just looked irritated, like I was the latest annoyance in their lives. I felt a slight lurch as the pitch of their song increased, and the hippocampi stirred, all looking at me with big eyes and wide smiles, like I was the guest of honor.
A shiver went up my spine.
But, nothing happened at first. They just kept… staring at me. I glared up at the sirens. “You guys lost three of your people to unicorns,” I said, really hating how I couldn’t even hear my own voice. “What happened to them?”
The Sirens expressions changed: some to shock. Others to greater anger. Probably shouldn’t have mentioned their dead. One of them motioned to my ears, and mimed taking my plugs out.
I chuckled. “Not gonna happen,” I growled. Again, it was so weird not being able to hear.
The Siren simply shrugged. I felt another lurch in their pitch, and their slaves’ faces changed, again in that creepy sync. Their eyes narrowed, and their grins became much less like a happy pony, and more like a wolf bearing his teeth.
I glared at them, but my glare did nothing. Part of me didn’t want to hurt them; I could hear the thrum of the Siren’s song pushing at my auditory blocks, begging to be let in to turn my brain to mush. These guys had lost that fight. If I lost, I’d be just like them; some happy slave of the Sirens.
The slaves were approaching. The Sirens leaned back like they were going to watch a show.
But I had one trick they didn’t.
You guys remember when Diamond Tiara tried to get a posse after me?
Well, I tilted my head back, focusing on those same feelings that I had felt when the mob had cornered me. I let a howl slip loose, and even if I couldn’t hear it… I knew they could.
The hippocampi, the griffons, even the pirates… they all backed up, grasping for their ears, their eyes clearing.
The Sirens… panicked! They yelped and tried to fight my pitch. But their servants only stopped struggling when I ran out of breath. I huffed out my last note and grinned at the Sirens menacingly.
The biggest Siren growled. I felt his baritone through the plugs.
“What. Do you want?” his voice vibrated, with me recognizing the tone of the words and the shape of his lips.
“How did you try to get them back,” I demanded. “Haven’t you tried to get them back?”
The Sirens grimaced and looked away.
“What could we do?” the leader demanded. “The ponies are the only ones capable of such magic. Once they were gone… there was no hope…”
If I hadn’t been freaked out of my mind, I might have felt pity for them. As it was, I only felt frustrated and angry. These guys had come the closest to what I had gone through, and they hadn’t done a single thing to try and get their people back.
Well, I thought angrily. If these guys can’t even care about their own, then they don’t deserve servants.
I tilted my head back, and howled again. Louder. Stronger. I felt electricity course off of me as I bayed to the misty stars above.
The Sirens wailed back, but I wasn’t going to let them win. I forced the air into my lungs and howled again. Electric shockwaves pulsed out from me. Several of the hippocampi clutched at their heads, screaming along with me.
But that’s when the Sirens struck. One of them whipped her serpent half, pinning my arms to my side.
I kept howling. I could see the dazed expressions fading from the others, and I couldn’t take these things on alone.
Two more sirens struck. Their tails got around my snout, trying to shut it closed. But the problem with that is that I didn’t need my jaws apart to howl. My howl did become more of a whistle, but that only made whatever was happening work faster.
At least I hoped it was. My lungs were emptying rapidly, and I couldn’t draw breath back in due to the pressure on my chest. My entire body was going numb.
A smarter siren tried to stuff her tail into my mouth, but I bit her and kept going. My head started to feel light. My vision blurred.
I couldn’t hear anything, and the rest of my senses were going. I briefly made out a blur of color. Blue and purple clashing against white and pink.
But as the last vestiges of my breath faded from my body, and the tails around me crushed with the force of an anaconda, I felt my grip on the real-world fade.
#
Logan sat back with a grin on his face. His grin faded as he saw the unimpressed looks of the mares.
“What?” he asked.
“So, what happened next?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You don’t expect to fool us with the idea that those Sirens got you, did you?”
Logan shrugged. “What can I say?” he replied. “I like watching you guys squirm.”
Applejack chuckled. “Ain’t happening, sugar,” she said. “So… what happened next?”
#
When I woke up, the Sirens were gone. And I had a hippocampus above me.
“He’s coming around,” she called, as I blinked and managed to breathe, surprised that my lungs were drawing breath. I tried to sit up, but the hippocampus stopped me. “Easy, now,” she told me. “You went through a lot to get us free.”
“Free?” I asked. For a second, I panicked. I could hear! Someone had removed my plugs! But when I looked around, the Sirens were nowhere to be seen. Instead, groups of griffons and pirates were moving their treasure back to the shoreline. A lot of them looked miffed, or at the very least humiliated.
“Should…” I muttered. “I assume whatever I did worked.”
The hippocampus smiled at me. “It did,” she confirmed. “That awful howling sound woke us up. And the pirates managed to last long enough to get their own ears plugged. The Sirens didn’t last much longer after that.”
It was a little insulting that she considered my howl 'awful,' along with humiliating that I had to rely on others to get out of this battle, but the grin she was giving me kind of made it alright.
“Hey,” she said. “You helped us. If it wasn’t for you, we would’ve been slaves to the Sirens forever.”
“Crystal’s right,” an older hippocampus said. He slithered over, kind of like a snake, but his face was kindly. “We owe you our lives, canine stranger.” He glanced over at the griffons and pirates, who were doing their best to avoid my gaze. “Even if some don’t see it that way.”
I pulled myself up to my paws, and shook myself off.
“Anytime,” I replied brusquely. “Didn’t feel right leaving you guys there.”
“Nevertheless, we still owe you,” the male – I’m guessing he was like their leader or something – said. “And we intend to repay the debt.” He motioned to a coral green and ocean blue pair of sea ponies, who looked ready to drive a chariot or something. “Our two best swimmers will take you anywhere on the mainland you wanna go.”
The two straightened, already eager to swim.
“Where to?” the green one asked.
I thought back to Celaeno; I thought about her lead.
Daring Do.
“Somnambula,” I said. “There’s someone there I gotta find.”
The sea pony nodded and extended her neck. I grabbed onto the blue one, and held tight as they sped me across the waves.