The Dazzlings stood in a circle as they surrounded the boy, eager smiles on their faces. They laid him down on the ground in the middle of the abandoned factory for their ritual.
"Ready girls?" Adagio asked, her voice brimming with anticipation. Her sisters nodded.
"This seems almost...too easy," Aria mused. Sonata immediately pulled out her cell phone.
"Sonata," Adagio asked, "who are you calling?"
"The Rainbooms," Sonata chirped. Aria immediately confiscated her phone.
"WHY?!" Aria bellowed.
"You said it was too easy," Sonata gushed. "Instead of just...brainwashing him...we could make it fun. Maybe we could invite the Rainbooms over for a battle of the bands over the-"
"No," Aria said.
Sonata was sad. "But-,"
"Listen to me, girl," Adagio said in her big sister voice that made Sonata wilt. "We're not gonna act like fools or get arrogant. We're gonna brainwash the boy, and that's it. No contests, no countdown clocks, no shouting our plans in the sky like a bunch of idiots."
"SEE HONEY!"
The Dazzlings were confused. They followed the voice to the window and saw a couple that looked suspiciously like the Turner parents standing behind the factory..
"NO ONE WOULD EVER THINK WE, THE SOUNVENIR BANDITS," the Mr. Turner look alike said very loudly, "WOULD HIDE OUT IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!"
Immediately, police car sirens blared in the distance.
"I told you not to do that," the Mrs. Turner look alike said before the two ran away with police chasing them.
"See Sonata," Aria pointed out to her younger sister. "That's what happens when you act like an idiot."
Sonata pouted and crossed her arms. "You're no fun!"
"Enough," Adagio ordered. "Time to get what we're owed."
They let out a loud wail, and sang the song they used to brainwash him for the first time. Once the song was over, Adagio bent down and put a hand over the boy's face.
"Arise my faithful servant," Adagio commanded in a dramatic tone ,"help us crush our enemies and their hopes!"
After a few moments....
Nothing happened. The three sisters frowned in dissapointment as the boy continued to lay on the ground unconscious.
"I said," Adagio repeated, albeit with more annoyance in her otherwise theatrical tone, "arise my faithful servant!"
Still, the boy continued to lay on the ground.
Losing her patience, Aria bent down in picked up the unconscious boy by his grey hoodie and pulled him to her face.
"Get up already, lazybones!" Aria ordered while shaking him. "We want wishes!"
Timmy let out a cute yawn and tapped his lips.
"No mommy, I don't want to go to..."Timmy was silenced with another tap on the head by the pigtailed siren, sending him
back to sleep. With a snarl, Aria roughly let him fall to the ground.
Sonata was confused, while Adagio was increasingly annoyed.
A few minutes later, Aria was furiously using a punching bag to vent her anger, Sonata whined like crazy, and Adagio was scouring her tomes, wondering what was wrong.
"Do you figure it out yet?" Sonata whimpered to Adagio while looking over her shoulder.
Adagio rolled her eyes. "No, Sonata."
"How about know?"
"No."
Sonata whined again. "But I'm hungry."
"Sonata there is a fridge full of food you can have!" Aria yelled, tired of Sonata's noise.
"But magic makes the food more delicious," Sonata complained. Aria pinched her nose. While looking away from her lamebrain younger sister, Aria noticed Da Rules book. She let her chin fall into her hand, and wandered over to the book, curiously.
After several pages of reading, she came across something that sounded interesting:
The Anatomy of The Wand.
" 'The Handle of the Wand is the mechanism by which a fairy maintains control'," Aria read. " 'When a wand is created for a fairy, the handle is specifically calibrated to work for that specific fairy'." Aria glanced at a section that read 'warning. "' If the Handle is seperated from the Golden Crystal by damage' ," Aria continued, "' then the fairy will lose all control of the magic, which will spiral out of control until another magic force can subsume it'."
Aria hmmed, and looked at the wands that were on the table. A sly smile formed on her face.
Maybe if they broke the wands....then they could gain control of the magic. Aria considered taking a boot and slamming it onto the wands until the wandhead seperated from the handle.
But then she remembered her older sister being painfully electrocuted, and decided that she would not try such a gamble.
With a sigh, Aria wondered over to Adagio. "What do you think's happening Adagio?"
Adagio put down her tome with a tired expression. "I'm not really sure. There are only a few ways by which one can resist our spell."
"Being a siren," Adagio listed off with her fingers, "which he isn't. Ear plugs, which we took out, the charms of Jacques Costeau," Adagio said with a bright smile, "or having greater magical potential than us," Adagio said, before frowining.
She remembered that while back home they were stronger than the average pony, their power paled before an alicorn. Their plan to takeover Equestria before being banished had been to steal the magic of enough ponies, and then brainwash Celestia into being their minion once they were strong enough.
"You mean like the Rainbrats," Aria grumbled.
"Ooh, ooh," Sonata chimed in, "maybe, deep down he is destined to have some secret magical power, and its protecting him."
Aria's eyes widened. "That actually...might work-,"
"No, no, no," Adagio said with frustration. "I've tested the boy out. He doesn't have magical potential to speak off."
"Are you sure?" Aria asked with a raised eyebrow. "He handed our butts to us. He's gotta have some kind of magic to-,"
"That's not magic," Adagio said with some annoyance. "The kid's just...brilliant."
A sly smile formed as Aria could detect the admiration in her elder sister's voice. "It sounds like you want to go all...smoochy...smoochy on Timbucktooth," Aria teased.
"Adagio and Timmy sitting in a tree," Sonata sang, "K-I-", Sonata paused, not knowing how to spell "kissing". " Darn it, I keep forgetting the rest."
Adagio didn't take the bait and justed rolled her eyes. "I'm not interested in a human as a significant other, let alone one who is ten years old." A brief paused followed. "Maybe if we're ten years older, and if he were a siren, he'd make a good warrior," Adagio conceded.
Aria was again mocking her. "Your knight in shining-,"
"He didn't need magic to beat us," Adagio pressed, wanting to end the dumb teasing. "I respect his ability. If I were to build the empire I seek, I would want such a sharp mind on my side."
"You'd actually want one of these monkeys to work for us," Aria said with deep scorn and narrowed eyes. Sonata herself frowned at the prospect.
She could understand Sonata and Aria's annoyed reactions. They had little love for humanity. Adagio herself had called human beings "scum" and "losers."
But deep down, Adagio didn't hate humans. What she and her sisters hated about this world was there was no Equestrian magic to enjoy, and no way for them to realistically prosper in it.
In truth, she had deep respect for humanity for being able to prosper without magic to help them.
Human beings had admittedly done some incredible things without spells to help them.
Going into space, the Industrial Revolution.
Processed seaweed.
The guy who invented that would be the richest being in all of Sirenia. That alone would've been a miracle for Sirenians who had to harvest kelp themselves. Let alone submarines, scuba diving, and Jacques Cousteau.
Had their been enough magic in this world and she and her sisters could've ruled it, Adagio would've happily encouraged science and technological progress. Imagining what human beings could do when given the proper guidance and magic to help them made Adagio shake with joy.
But all they could get from other humans was the magical equivalent of a drop of soda.
Not only that, her sisters couldn't even benefit from the things humanity had.
Several times, Adagio and her sisters had amassed fortunes using their powers and tried to put down roots, with landed estates and peasants.
If she couldn't rule this world, Adagio was content to live like a queen in it.
But unlike ponies, humanity was a vicious, deeply distrustful species.
In their first years in this world, they had tried to live openly as sea witches. And every time, a random group of humans tried to burn them at the stake or drown them for witchcraft. They'd been called demons, or devilspawns, or corrupt monsters wherever they went.
"If thou burns alive, ye be human," Arlen Bitteroot said to Adagio with a nasty smile, who was tied to a stake. "But if thou does survive, ye be a witch!"
"That doesn't make any sense!" Adagio bellowed.
But just as the pyre was lit, Adagio's eyes glowed red.
To be fair, she and her sisters had committed crimes like theft.
But these humans had hated them just for having magic, not for anything they did.
Sadly, no king or emperor ever appreciated their...services. They feared them as demonic monsters or threats to their power. Even the ones who had shamelessly used their powers ended up backstabbing them later on.
Living like a monarch, or even as a wealthy person, was not an option either.
Several times they'd try to settle down, amass a fortune, and build lives. But they never sat still before suspicious authorities inquired about their unearned loot, or some jealous noble would want to take it for themselves.
Even when they tried to live quiet lives, others would inquire about these young women who never seem to age. Again, the most obvious explanation these humans had was witchcraft. Even the simple accusation of it meant being chased by an angry mob with torches and pitchforkes.
Humanity also had a shockingly cruel atttitude toward its females, treating them as lesser than males. Most human males had been creeps who had no respect for her intelligence, and only cared about her appearance. Some females in this world had gained positions of power, but they were few and far between, and very few of them ever helped out their fellow woman.
Simply put, this world had nothing to offer them and vice versa, and so they never bothered to put down roots.
So, for almost a millenia, Adagio and her sisters had been condemned to wander this world, not able to build a life, settle down, or even die. In their collective rage, they spent centuries thinking of nothing but regaining magic or finding a way back home. At times they tried to rid themselves of their magic, since it was more trouble than it was worth.
Was that Starswirl's intention? To curse them to forever wander in a magicless world with just enough power to draw negative attention but not enough to achieve greatness?
If it was, Starswirl was both an evil monster and an evil genius.
Canterlot High had been no different then all the places they'd travel. They had zero interest in building relationships or getting an education. They only thought in terms of gaining power.
And there was magic. And for the first time in centuries, they not only felt magically full, but confident enough to bring this world under their proper guidance.
And then it was all undone by that lucky princess, that stupid unicorn, and her human lackeys. They not only failed, but lost every bit of magic they had.
After that, Adagio, so desperate to taste magic once more, tried to find another magic source.
And she did.
Only it was in the form of some short human child and his magical companions.
Like all the other humans she encountered, Turner was a nonentity to her. She had zero interest in his development or being a caretaker. All she wanted was the magic he could command.
But Turner had been ...different from humans.
She pictured the boy as another hormone-addled creep, like all the boys in Canterlot High who stared at her. But he actually had a surprisingly mature attitude toward romance.
But more importantly, brown-haired boy had been...comfortable around them despite them having magic. His overtures of friendliness had been...genuine. He honestly did want them to be his mentors. He had even praised their singing abilities and greeted them with warm smiles.
That trust had been misplaced, but unlike other humans, the boy hadn't resented them just for being magical beings.
The reason was obvious. He had two magical midgets who gave him whatever he wanted. Turner had seen the best things that magic had to offer. There could be no better introduction to magic than that.
Also humanity had evolved in many ways. Gradually, the superstition and fear that ruled the world whittled away. Humanity started exploring the world rather than listen to outdated dogma. Woman had gained more rights. Reason and knowledge became more important.
Humanity itself began to see magic as something wondrous, as it deserved to be, rather than something to be feared and despised.
However, humanity could still be a cruel and irrational species.
Dimmsdale had a habit of sending an angry mob after its weathermen when they made a bad prediction.
Crocker and Doombringer were representative of the worst humans she'd ever encountered. Crocker had been one of those crooked opportunists, while Doombringer had been one of those savages who saw magical beings as lesser mutants to be hunted or dissected like lab rats.
In truth, Adagio despised Doombringer for that, and she would rather stick the crazy woman back in prison. The only reason why she hadn't done that was because she felt obliged to give the white-haired nutcase what she wanted.
Cheating a minion was both disgusting and idiotic.
Adagio and her sisters had been so jaded by their past experiences with humanity, and so blinded by their hunger for magic and power, they failed to see Turner was different in so many ways.
And now she learned the boy had an ability that was as great, or even greater, than magic: intelligence.
Magic potential was only good if the being who wielded it had a functioning brain.
Discord was proof of that. The twisted creature could do anything with a snap of his fingers, but he was so stupidly arrogant, he was easily beaten by the Pony Sisters.
Adagio and her sisters had learned that lesson the hard way. They were so confident after absorbing all that magic, they allowed themselves to be conned by a wizard and his goons. They had more than enough magic to destroy Starswirl, but because they'd gotten lazy, they were bamboozled.
And apparently, they had nearly made the same mistake twice: letting their guard down. Because their enemy hadn't been a magical wizard, but a kid too small to be allowed to ride on rides.
And that's what made Timmy so...incredible.
On top of his tenacity, his drive, his cour-
Adagio's eyes narrowed. She turned a page in her tome and read an important passage.
"That's it."
Sonata and Aria turned to look at Adagio. "What's it?" Sonata asked.
"'If a being is full of resolve'," Adagio read, " 'he/she will not being to provide negative energy'." Her two younger sisters looked confused. "In order to enthrall a being, we need to be able to use their specific negative energy. Remember, we couldn't get those fairies under our spell without first driving them crazy.
Aria frowned angrily. "In other words, he is winning just by being a goody two-shoes." Aria snorted at that.
"Aria, don't belittle him like that," Adagio barked with some annoyance.
Aria held up her hands mockingly. "Sorry, didn't mean to insult your boyfriend." Aria and Sonata snickered at that. Aria thought something over for a few minutes. "What if we got another medallion and placed it over his neck?"
"That won't work either," Adagio said forcefully. "The Medallion is a psychic weapon, not an emotional one." While Adagio didn't want to admit it, she didn't want to ruin such a brilliant mind with it. "Unless we can get him to feel irrational anger, we can't use our spell on him. And since, when he wakes up, his anger will be rational and directed at us, we won't be able to enthrall him."
"Maybe if we ask him pretty please with sugar on top," Sonata gushed, "we can get him to grant wishes for us again."
Aria thought it over, before a sadistic smile came over her face. "Or maybe we can use a little...persuasion and reason." She held up one fist. "Here's persuasion," she held up another fist, "and here's reason."
Adagio glared down at the boy, and seriously considered using physical force. But then Adagio's eyes wandered over Da Rules and another idea came to her brain. She read one page and smiled devilishly.
"I think I found our...leverage." Adagio threw the open page down on the table. Aria and Sonata looked at it and smiled.
Slowly, but surely Timmy came too.
When he woke up, he was shocked by what he saw.
A whole array of pastries on the table in front of him. Cakes, pies, ice cream, and a whole basket of apples. He felt his hat was also back on his head. Timmy nearly focused on all these treats, until he glanced up at the ceiling.
He saw Cosmo and Wanda in some kind of glass ball suspended above the table. Their blank stares showed they were still under the Dazzlings' spell.
"Cosmo! Wanda!" He yelled. "I wish-,"
"That glass is soundproof." Timmy's heckles rose even more when he saw who came into the room.
"Yell all you want," Aria said with a smug smile, "they won't hear." Timmy realized he was still at the abandoned factory, surrounded by the evil witches who stole Cosmo and Wanda.
"Let Cosmo and Wanda out right now!" Timmy yelled, standing up with clenched fists.
"Timmy," Adagio asked with a smug smile, "why are you so angry? Look at all that good food we got you!"
"What is it, poison?" Timmy accused with a narrow frown.
Sonata looked wounded. "Poison? This food is yummy-licious." Sonata took the basket of apples and put it in front of Timmy. "Try one-," Timmy furiously swatted the apple basket out of Sonata's hand, much to her shock.
"LET COSMO AND WANDA OUT NOW!"
"Timmy why are you so mean to Sonata," Adagio said in a mocking tone, "we just want to talk."
"Let them out now!" Timmy ordered. "Or I'll...I'll."
"You'll what?" Adagio asked in a sterner tone. Timmy paused. He slowly remembered he was a ten year kid with no powers, weapons, or strength.
And he was surrounded by three sirens who were bigger than him.
"You know Aria's really mad at you for what you did." Timmy glanced at the pigtailed siren who was looking at him with the same mean smile Francis did. "Either I can talk to you...or she can talk to you."
Timmy's blood turned cold. These sirens were going good cop, bad cop on him.
And Adagio, of all people, was the good cop.
"OK," Timmy said in a tired voice.
"Now take a seat," Adagio ordered. With another sigh, Timmy took one.
"Now, I don't say this very often but...we're sorry for what we did." The words shocked Timmy. She never imagined the sea monsters of being capable of any apology.
His shock turned to suspicion. "Oh really," Timmy muttered with narrowed eyes.
"We realize that deep down you're a smart, intelligent, and really cool kid," Adagio said.
"Yeah," Sonata said cutely, "and, you're a real cutie patootie." The ponytailed siren proceeded to pinch Timmy's cheeks, much to his annoyance.
"You're a tough cookie," Aria said, albeit without much gusto.
"Maybe we...should start over and pretend none of this ever happened," Adagio offered in what sounded like a sincere tone.
"Pretty please with sugar on top?" Sonata pleaded.
"Yeah, our bad," Aria muttered without any pretense of sincerity.
Timmy thought it over and smiled.
"Yeah, OK, that sounds great." The Dazzlings eyes widened in surprise.
"For realzies?" Sonata asked with a smile.
"Yeah," Timmy said.
"Yeah!" Sonata repeated.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
"YEAH!"
"YEAH!"
"ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LET COSMO AND WANDA OUT!"
"See guys," Sonata said to her fellow sirens flying up to the glass ball, "all we have to do is ask him really nicely and-,"
Aria slapped Sonata on the head, silently telling her off for being dumb. Sonata meekly returned to the ground, much to Timmy's annoyance.
An amused smile formed on Adagio's face."See what I mean," Adagio said to the brown-haired boy, "you've got a really sharp mind. And I'd love to let the...midgets out, but we have some...trust issues to work out first."
"WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU!" Timmy yelled incredulously. "You lied to me, tricked me, made everyone hate me, turned me evil!"
"Turner, we didn't make everyone hate you."Aria's grin got nasty. "Everyone already does!"
Timmy's face turned red. "LIAR! You used your magic to make everyone say those mean things."
"Made them," Adagio asked rhetorically. "or helped them!"
Timmy's eyes narrowed. "What are you-,"
"Timmy my magic doesn't do that," Adagio said, her eyes darting back and forth. "All it does it bring out what people deep down feel. My magic couldn't make everyone hate you unless they already did."
"That's not true!" Timmy yelled. "You're just saying that to make me feel-,"
Adagio suddenly snapped her fingers. Green mist appeared in front of him. It showed an image of his parents that was like a floating TV.
"That was real nice of you," Adagio said, "to take Timmy out for this special day. It helps if you love the Crimson Chin too." The parents' face became even more strained. "Is there something bothering you?" Adagio asked.
"Nothing," Mrs. Turner said.
"Are you sure?" Aria pressed.
"Aside from the fact that we don't want to take Timmy out to see Crimson Chin," Timmy's Dad said.
The mist when away. Timmy's angry defiance was replaced with a sad frown.
"See," Aria said with no small amount of joy," they didn't want to be around you."
"That...that's not," Timmy whimpered. "They just...don't like..."
"Timmy, as a siren, I can read emotions," Adagio said. "I can it in their very souls that deep down they hate you. It isnt' my fault they wish you didn't exist."
"Why do you think they hired us to watch you," Aria asked. "They really must want to get rid of you."
"That's not true," Timmy argued in a soft voice, "they're just...busy..."
"Busy not wanting to be around you!" Aria yelled. Timmy's protests died.
"And you're so-called friends don't like you either." Adagio said. She snapped her fingers again.
The image of the safety seminar appeared. Gary and Betty torturing and humiliating him while supposedly teaching him about safety.
It was one of the worst moments in Timmy's life.
And the worst part was how everyone laughed at him and didn't try and help him, except...
"If those kids liked you, why would they laugh at your suffering?" Adagio asked with a cruel smile.
Timmy's blood went colder. "But...but..." Timmy stammered, but he had no response.
"And as for making you do things," Adagio said, "Again, I can't make you do what you don't want to. Deep down, you wanted to all those...'evil' things."
Timmy regained some of his nerve. "No I didn't-,"
"Just like you didn't want revenge on those two clowns who humiliated you?" Aria asked.
With one more snap of the fingers, another image appeared.
It showed Timmy smiling as he saw the destruction of the Learn-A-Torium's truck and how he made those idiots cry.
For some reason, Timmy felt...guilty. Not for Gary and Betty. It was the way he was smiling in that image. It reminded him of all the times Vicky or Francis would smile at him.
But another thing made Timmy feel sick to his stomach.
It was the way three certain girls were looking at him. Pinkie, Sunset, and Gilda looked horrifed. They looked scared...at him. They looked at him like he was....a monster.
"STOP IT!" Timmy wailed, looking away from the Dazzlings, his eyes close to tears.
"Stop what? The truth?" Adagio came over to Timmy and forced the boy to look at her pitiless eyes. "You called me a liar, but you are the one who can't accept the truth."
"And the truth is this," Aria said. "Those brats and your so-called parents deep down hate you. And you wanted to get revenge on all those idiots in your life. All we did was give them, and you, the nerve."
"You can't hide, what's inside!" Sonata sang.
Timmy looked away from the Dazzlings, too upset to speak, his resistance utterly broken.
"Now we can play the blame game," Adagio said. "But we have...business to discuss. I want to go back to the way things were. Where you granted us wishes."
Timmy looked up at Adagio with angry, but sad, eyes. "And why should I grant you anything," Timmy said in a sad, scared voice.
"Three words," Aria began.
"Bean-cheese burrito," Sonata said, before taking a bite.
"No," Aria said with some annoyance, before regaining her composure. "Go...away...forever."
Timmy felt his blood go cold and his jaw drop.
"According to Da Rules," Adagio said in a seemingly disinterested tone, "if a non-magic person found out about your fairies, you would....lose them forever."
Timmy felt his leg shake, knowing where this was going. Adagio presented her phone. It showed a picture of his fairies smiling.
"I wonder what would happen if...someone...accidentally...sent this picture to Crockpot," Adagio mused rhetorically, holding her finger over the send button. "I guess we'll find....out..."
"NO!" Timmy gasped.
"No?" Adagio asked in a seemingly shocked tone. "I thought you didn't want to grant us any more wishes."
"I do," Timmy muttered in a defeated tone, with tears pouring down his eyes. "I'll do whatever you want! Please don't take them away from me."
"So you'll grant us whatever we want?" Aria asked us.
"Yeah," Timmy muttered.
"Glad we have a deal," Adagio said, giving Timmy a seemingly kind smile. "I guess you're not a complete moron after all."
"Here's how things are going to work," Aria said. She held up some kind of tape recorder. "You say what we want you to say into this tape recorder, you walk of the room, and we play it into the glass ball for the midgets to hear. Do you understand," a sly smile formed on the purple-haired siren's mouth," or am I going to fast for you?"
"What do you want?" Timmy asked in a tired tone.
A weird smile formed on their faces.
"Just...one thing," Adagio said to Timmy, handing him a folded slip of paper. Timmy felt time slow as he opened the paper.
His eyes widened when he saw what was written.
"I wish the Dazzlings and Timmy Turner could rule Dimmsdale."