Logan was expecting something bad by the time he and his group reached the school. What he had not expected was the sight of the two boys that Luco had used, eyes brightening in hope as they spotted their group.
“Snips? Snails?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “What are you two doing here?”
“Huh?” they both asked, pointing at – Logan’s heart soared in joy – the ear plugs stuffed into their ears.
Logan compensated by pointing at the ground before shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh!” the shorter of the two yelled, despite the fact that Logan had the group similarly stuff their ears, and only understood due to Logan reading their lips. “The Dazzlings are doing something; it’s making all the bands super aggressive.”
“They tried to remove our ear plugs,” the taller boy noted, though he was partially leaned back like this happened every day. “I wouldn’t mind, but Snips insisted.”
Applejack gasped. “My sister?” she demanded, grabbing the short one – Snips? – by the shoulders. “Is she…?”
Snips motioned for them to follow. With a shared look, the group prepped their instruments, and followed the group inside. Logan briefly paused as Pinkie lugged a massive drum at the back of the group, but she waved him off with a grin and made it through. The group raced inside, finding the corridors oddly empty. As they led them further in, Logan became aware of a familiar thrum pulsating against his ear plugs; the song of the Sirens. Now that he had first-hand knowledge of what they sounded like, he could almost hear the lyrics.
Our time is now…
Your time is running out…
Merely thinking the words filled him with rage again, but Logan forced the rage back down. He had to stay frosty for what came next.
Snips and Snails stopped at the entrance to the gym. Through the windows, Logan saw that the inside was packed with every student and even a few townie-looking adults. They were all gathered around a stage, angry expressions on their faces. Some of them were gathered around the main stage, where the Sirens stood. Sonata looked completely out of place, her dancing off key and her mouths not moving in sync with her cohorts. But Adagio and Aria had their eyes closed and their mouths moving in sync, green mist swirling around them and making them glow with power. Logan even spotted a few sparks of electricity jumping from Adagio; his fists clenched as he realized that was likely the magic she had leeched off of him.
However, Rainbow Dash nudged him, pointing with despair up at the bleachers. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were trapped by a cluster of angry looking students, reaching up for them like a massive wolf pack chasing a trio of cats up a tree. Further away, Logan sighed in irritation as he noticed Celestia and Luna had already fallen. Celestia was sitting in front of the Dazzlings, her head still and her ear plugs gone. Logan caught sight of Luna being restrained by a bulky looking student, but all too soon, her struggles ceased, and she gazed serenely up at the sirens. Even Luco sat at the front as well, his eyes flashing green. Interestingly, though, Blazy was nowhere to be seen.
Twilight and Logan exchanged another glance, and Logan saw fear in Twilight’s eyes. She had no idea if she could do this. To be fair, Logan knew that feeling too well. But he put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, and smiled confidently.
“Remember,” he told her. “Don’t focus on word or fancy spells; focus on the emotion.” He indicated the group. “You want to free these guys, right?”
Twilight nodded.
“Then focus on that,” Logan said. “Yearn with all your heart to have them free. The magic will do the rest.” He hefted his trumpet and turned to the others. “Ready?”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack hefted their guitars like rifles. Rarity tapped a few keys on her keytar with a nod. Pinkie shook her drum with a smile, and Fluttershy rattled her tambourine. Carol and Sunset didn’t hold any instruments, but they looked at Spike, who grinned up at them, and grinned back at Logan.
Logan turned to the gym. “Let’s kick some tail,” he declared.
And with a kick, he bashed the door open. The CRASH jarred a few of the students. In their distraction, Sunset, Carol and Spike disappeared into the crowd, while Pinkie up-ended her drum, revealing a cannon inside that promptly shot confetti.
At the same time, Rarity hit the highest key on her keytar. Applejack and Rainbow Dash strummed, and Logan let out a shrill honk of his trumpet.
The music was odd. It was uneven. And it was shrill. But more importantly, it was loud and distracting. The Siren’s music slowly wavered off, as everyone turned, wondering who these oddballs were and what madness had possessed them.
Logan grinned as Adagio smirked down at them. She had no idea what they were doing, but at the moment, whatever they were playing was far from music. Under her notice.
But as they continued, a beat began to rise from their random noise. Sunset, Carol and Spike knocked bleachers over, strummed random instruments, and more importantly, they started to gather others in on the beat.
“Ba-be-do, bar-bag-da-dim-dum-dum,” Twilight sang, before Logan played over her with his trumpet. He tossed the horn to her.
“Bow-ba-dum-ba-ba-dum-dum-diddly-da-diddly-de-de,” he sang before Twilight blasted her own version of the horn, and tossed it.
“Shoe-be-do-ba-da-be-dum-bam-bang-bum,” Logan and Twilight sang together before Pinkie caught the trumpet, blasting out her own beat before spitting it towards Carol.
“Shoe… Bap, she-do!” all ten girls sang before Carol blasted another round from the trumpet. “Woo!”
At their howl, a burst of electricity shot between all of them, before striking several of the students reaching for the Crusaders. The glow faded from their eyes, and they shook their heads, free of the spell. As they slowly processed what they had been doing, Carol jumped to them, shoving instruments or random objects into their hands before beckoning them into the band.
Logan saw Luco rounding on Sunset, his eyes green and his fists bared. But seconds before he could hit her, Spike jumped in with a drum, Luco’s fist ringing against the drum. His eyes snapped open, the green glow fading before Carol shoved an instrument into his hand.
The Siren’s confusion turned to awe and a bit of terror as, bit by bit, the noise drew the students in. The green glow faded from their eyes, and they joined in on the wild beat that was emanating from the Rain Boom’s most ridiculous performance.
Adagio’s eyes darted between them before narrowing in anger.
“You want to turn this into a real battle of the bands?” she demanded. “Then let’s battle!”
She tilted her head back, and a burst of energy shot from her. The music briefly faltered as an actual siren formed in front of them. Logan recognized the half-horse, half-dragon appearance of what had to be her original form. A second, purple Siren formed up next to Adagio’s, and the two zoomed towards the students.
But Logan was ready. Spinning and grabbing the trumpet as Rainbow Dash tossed it to him, he blasted a note that turned into a spiral of white energy. It shot up in front of the sirens and spun into the form of a white wolf, who promptly lunged at the sirens. They dodged, but the wolf managed to snag Adagio’s tail, spinning and smashing her into her comrade.
From there, the gym erupted with sound. The Sirens desperately vocalized over the wild beating and random gibberish of the Rain Booms scat singing. But their anger inducing spell was useless; any anger that it drew up, the students and teachers got rid of in their wild playing. And while the astral Sirens above tried to blast vocal waves at the Rain Booms, Logan’s astral wolf constantly chased them away, hitting them with howls of lightning.
Logan grinned as he saw fear trace across Adagio’s face. And as Carol lunged up onto the stage, holding Spike and throwing him for Adagio's pendent. Logan began to think that the Sirens could be beat after all.
Then Adagio saw Spike coming... and dodged him. Logan’s heart sunk as Spike was blasted away with a sonic wave, the pendant remained whole and undamaged.
Adagio’s human form rounded on Carol, pure white orbs replacing her eyes. Carol fell back with a scream, and Logan faltered in his playing. His astral wolf faltered as well, and the Sirens took advantage, Adagio’s smacking the astral wolf with her tail before Aria’s astral projection lunged onto the astral wolf and hurled it into the crowd. The students scattered in fear, and Applejack went flying as the astral projections exploded into sparkles.
Adagio’s astral form, however, was still whole, and coursing towards Carol as she scrambled back. Aria spun as Sunset tried to climb onto the stage, blasting the girl backward with a sonic shriek.
Logan abandoned his trumpet and raced for Carol, even though he knew it would be too late. As Adagio’s astral form and human formed prepared a dual sonic shriek, Carol shut her eyes and covered her ears.
But they forgot about Blazy, and Adagio’s look of triumph faded to confusion as she noticed smoke wafting under her neck.
Logan and Carol gasped as they saw Blazy jump from the back of the stage, her paws wrapped around the amulet again, and turning back into flaming dragon claws. Adagio screamed, and her astral form spun, teeth bared at the golden dog. Blazy, however, glared defiantly up at the astral form, and the fire raced up to her head. Logan caught sight of Blazy’s original dragon face, shrouded in flames, before she spat a glob of molten lava at the astral form. Adagio’s Siren form went up in flames and sparkles, before her pendant exploded just like Sonata’s. Adagio fell, while Blazy cried out in sadness as she reverted back to her dog form.
Aria, however, was quicker on the draw, using another sonic shriek to hurl Blazy into Carol and off the stage. Logan raced at her, only for her to see him coming, and hit him with a sonic shriek. But Logan managed to grab the edge of the stage, and even as the shriek tore through his ear plugs and made his brain shiver and rattle in his skull, he held onto the stage and glared right into Aria’s face with a howl of determination.
With him distracting the last Siren, Twilight was able to run back in with Spike. And before Aria could adapt, Twilight hurled Spike into her. This time, Spike's lunge was true, and his jaws fastened around the gem. His original dragon face briefly appeared, stuck on his dog body, before he coughed up a stream of green fire. The gem vaporized in a flash of ash, and the sonic shriek petered out.
Logan pulled himself onto the stage, grinning down at a now very nervous looking Aria. Her eyes darted to Adagio, who was laying on her back, clutching her throat as if it had been torn, and at Sonata, who was slowly backing away from the stage, hands raised in surrender. Behind them, the beat petered out, but everyone looked back up at them, eyes clear and the spell lifted.
“Um…” Aria whimpered. “We give up?”
Logan smirked, though when he glanced at Twilight, his smirk turned into a more genuine smile.
“Do you have any idea what she said?” Logan asked. He rubbed at his ears and glanced back at Aria. “Seriously; I think you ruptured my ear drums with that last attack.”
#
It was amazing how quickly things could be coordinated with more people at your side. With the principals and students freed of the Sirens spells, it didn’t take long for them to bind up the Dazzlings and Luco, and have them standing in formation before the portal back to Equestria.
“Okay, Carol,” Logan said, keeping a firm hand on Luco’s shoulder. “If the guards are ready…”
“When they’re ready,” Twilight refuted, before giving the original tub of ear wax to Carol. “Throw this through, and we’ll send them forward.”
Carol nodded, and with a deep breath, plunged through the statue. A collective gasp shot up from the Sirens as Carol disappeared into the mirror-like substance along the wall.
“Om,” Sonata mumbled through her gag. “M MAM mere me mortal maw.”
Twilight gazed at the odd Siren with a confounded expression.
“Don’t even think of removing the gag,” Logan warned her. “She just said, “So that’s where the portal was.”
Adagio had her head down in shame, while Aria was glaring at the portal like it had slapped her. Luco, on the other hand, looked about as cheerful as one could be while tied up and waiting to be brought back to another world for trial. Blazy Blue was still standing faithfully by his side, though Fluttershy couldn’t help petting the dragon-turned-dog’s head.
“I’m not sure what to think of that dog,” Rainbow Dash admitted to Logan. “I mean, she’s Luco’s…”
“And yet, we probably owe her our lives,” Applejack noted. “If she hadn’t jumped in with Adagio… we might-a lost.”
“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Twilight promised them. She glanced at Fluttershy with a smile. “I think I may even know someone that will be able to talk to her.” She glanced at Logan. “I-If that’s alright,” she added quickly.
Logan gave the dog a pained look. “You saw how she reacted to Luco being disappointed, right?” he asked. “Dragons from my world aren’t clever like humans, but they are loyal, and they are crazy strong. You let Blazy wander around scot-free, she’ll likely return to Luco and break him out.”
Twilight pondered the portal and sighed. “The smart thing to do would be to put all five of them in Tartarus," she admitted. "The magic there normally prevents not only magic, but the need for food and drink. And considering Tirek only broke out because Luco got in…”
“We should see about finding a better way to guard that place then,” Logan pointed out. He grimaced, but added, “I might be able help in that regard.”
Twilight looked at him, hope in her eyes. “You do know that might require a sign of authority,” she noted. “Does this mean…?”
Logan raised a hand. “I don’t do big ceremonies,” he warned. “And I don’t do uniforms.” His hand lowered. “But those guards of yours need someone to whip them into shape. And…” he shrugged. “I can't deny I really like helping you."
Twilight smiled at him. As they gazed at each other, Pinkie drew closer.
"Kiss..." she prompted. "Kiiiiisssssss..."
Logan heard her, and immediately drew away from Twilight with a grin.
"Not happening, Pie," he said gruffly, though his grin prompted a laugh from Twilight and the others.
Sunset hummed sadly. “I sure wish you could stay longer,” she admitted.
“Me too,” Twilight admitted. “But I – or should I say ‘we,’” she glanced cheekily at Logan. “Have responsibilities in Equestria that we need to get back to.”
Logan chuckled. “You call them responsibilities,” he noted. “I call them ‘fun.’”
Twilight rolled her eyes at him, before giving the portal another look. Pinkie was stepping away from it, her expression one of surprise.
“But,” Twilight noted. “We can go through the portal whenever we need to now. So, this isn’t really goodbye.”
“It’s more of a ‘see you later,” Logan finished, glancing at Spike and Blazy. “Preferably in a form closer to home.”
Just as he spoke, the tub of wax flew through the portal. Logan re-doubled his grip on Luco and Aria, while Twilight held onto Adagio and Sonata.
“Ready?” Twilight asked.
“Ready,” Logan replied.
And together, with Blazy and Spike following loyally behind them, they stepped through the portal.
#
Luco tapped his chains against the wall, trying to make a beat out of them. Things had gotten so boring ever since he got back to Equestria: not just guards, but the princesses themselves had been waiting for him and his new minions. They had redoubled the gags on the Sirens (probably not without reason; they were in horse-dragon form), ensured that Luco’s clothes had followed him through, convinced Logan to let Luco go so his arm could breathe, and then teleported him to this dusty old cell.
Clink-clang-clink… clink-clink-clink-clang-clink…
“I close my eyes, and the flashback starts, I’m standing there…” Luco sang softly to himself.
He hoped Blazy was alright. Part of him was sure she’d be fine: these ponies did seem big on second chances, if Logan’s being with them had anything to say. And Blazy had helped them defeat Adagio. But, at the same time, Luco couldn’t help but worry about his beloved pet dragon.
Hoof steps broke him out of his thoughts. He turned as two royal guards stopped outside his cell door, glaring at him.
Luco wiped away his doubt, spinning and sitting cross-legged on the ground while flashing them his best winning grin. His grin only widened as the two guards shifted, and Princess Celestia herself walked into the cell. Interestingly enough, her look wasn’t that of anger or hatred; she just looked disappointed or slightly irritated. Like Luco had felt when he discovered Blazy’s fire powers didn’t transfer across dimensions without cute little gemstones.
“Well-well,” Luco said. “A parlay between a King and a Queen?” He glanced around the cell. “Room could use a little bit more pizazz in my opinion.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes at him.
“I am not like Queen Chrysalis, your ‘grace,’” she said, enunciating ‘grace’ like she didn’t believe he was royalty. “I am Princess Celestia: Sol Invictus. Diarch and Ruler of Equestria…”
Luco yawned loudly. “A princess?” he asked. “I’m not here to parlay with children.” He shooed at her. “Go away, little one; send your mother or father here so the grown-ups can really talk.”
Luco was never capable of keeping a straight face with people. Needless to say, he only needed a second of seeing Celestia’s bewildered wide eyes and dropped jaw of offense and shock before he burst into a fit of crazed laughter. He fell to the side, clutching his ribs while tears streamed from his eyes and his throat rattled with his cackles.
“Oh! Oh, mercy!” he gasped out. “Your face!” He pointed at her as she raised a hoof in surprise. “I swear… that…” he petered out into more laughter.
Not even her horn flaring up, or her magic yanking him into the air could quell his laughter. She glared at him with a much angrier air, her face level with his. When he still continued to cackle, she leveled her horn, the point aiming right between his eyes. Luco tilted his head, his laughter finally quieting as he looked on her with intrigue.
“Contain yourself, Pirate King,” she demanded. “We are going to get some answers from you. If you value your life and your freedom, you will answer all of them. Immediately, and truthfully. If you do not, you will regret it immensely.”
Luco giggled again. “Oh, Mama, please be gentle…” he crooned, rattling his chains for emphasis.
Celestia pursed her lips, silently fuming, but contained herself.
“First off,” she declared. “Who are you?”
Luco frowned. “Logan said nothing about me?” he asked. He put a manacled hand to his chest. “I’m hurt. We used to be so close…”
“Who,” Celestia growled, the point of her horn sparking. “Are you?”
Luco sighed, his frown deepening. “Luco,” he replied. “The Dread Pirate King of the South.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes at him. “Dread Pirate King of the South?” she questioned.
Luco curtsied, at least as best as he could while manacled and being held in the magic grip of an alicorn.
“I see,” she finally said. “How did you get here? And why have you been persecuting my little ponies?”
Luco tsked and waved his finger at her.
“Say please,” he said.
“Excuse me?” Celestia snorted.
“Can’t say nothing, if you don’t say ‘please,’” Luco taunted in a singsong voice.
Celestia shut her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Please…” the word ground out of her mouth. “Tell me why…”
“NOTHING!” Luco shouted, before twirling into her magic aura with another laugh. His twirl tangled the chains up around him, yet he continued to laugh. “I said, ‘I can’t say nothing if you don’t say please.’ You said please, I said nothing.’” He nodded his head. “Agreement of trade, Princess; I’m sure Logan has described his delightful little culture to you. After all, you’ve had him long enough.”
Celestia took another deep breath, before another thought made her smile.
“Yes,” she admitted. “He’s made wonderful friends here in Equestria. I wonder if ‘Blazy Blue’ would be able to do the same.”
Luco’s grin melted off his face. His eyes glared into Celestia’s, no longer sparkling with crazed glee, but with all the steel of a papa wolf.
“Where is she?” Luco asked, his tone no longer coy or mocking.
“I believe it’s ‘can’t say nothing if you don’t say please?’” Celestia copied, grinning coyly down at the human.
The human glowered at her, before a smile tugged its way from the scar on his mouth. He giggled, slowly letting loose with an actually amused laugh. His laughter was contagious, and Celestia found herself chuckling softly with him.
Luco recovered faster this time, untangling himself from the chains and smoothly sliding back down to the floor.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun together,” Luco promised. “I just know it.”
“I’m sure you do,” Celestia replied. She settled herself on the cleanest part of the dungeon. “I have questions about your kind; and about you, in particular. I also have your dragon, your sirens… perhaps even some changelings devoted to you; somewhere in these dungeons.”
Luco glanced at the guards, smirking as one of them held himself a bit higher.
“Answer my questions,” Celestia offered. “And they might… appreciate it.”
Luco tilted his head, his grin lopsided. He settled himself against the wall, and crossed his legs.
“Alright then,” he said. “Shoot.”