//------------------------------// // Arc II Episode I: Power Malfunctions // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// Later that evening, at the Dazzling’s home… Everything was winding down for the evening. Adagio was busy showering, Aria was busy drying her hair, and Sonata was making toast down in the kitchen. Things seemed to be going well--a usual night at their place, right? Well… As the eldest Siren put shampoo in her hair, she started to think over what happened on that day. “I can’t afford to lose this job. Not after I’ve done so much to make sure I could have a steady income source for my sisters. They deserve to live normal lives...even if we have to fight the odd magical monster every now and again. But just what are these new abilities we’ve obtained…?” It had taken a bit of a toll on her body and mind. At this point, all she wanted to do was relax and prepare for her weekend away from both school and work. In Aria’s room… Having recently finished showering herself and put on her pajamas, the middle sister of the sirens was using a blow dryer on her hair while looking in the mirror to make sure not a single lock was missed. But as she did so, she started to wonder…. “So Twilight was testing us, huh. Classic nerd. But I wonder what this means now that we’ve unlocked new magic? Are our singing voices gonna return? I don’t wanna go through that crap again...I’ve just gotten used to human food.” In the kitchen… Sonata was humming a tune to herself while grabbing some bread from the counter’s bread box, and skipping over to the toaster. “We totes killed it out there today! I knew becoming friends with the mortals would be better than trying to suck their essence out. Now we just gotta make sure we stay friends with them and continue to keep ‘em safe. This’ll be super fun!” The girls were casually going about their business...when suddenly… SPLASH! FWOOSH! BLAM! Out of nowhere, the shower suddenly filled to the brim with water, trapping Adagio and nearly drowning her. “MMMMMM!!” She banged her fist on the shower door with her eyes darting in every direction in a panicky state. When Aria increased the intensity of the blow dryer, it caused a gale force so hard that she was nearly blown out of the nearest window! “A-A-A-AHHH….H-HEEELLP!” With her left hand holding desperately onto the wall to keep herself held down, she could barely hold onto the dryer with her right, but she had to move her fingers to turn it off. And with Sonata, the toaster endured an electrical charge so powerful that the toaster blew up in her face, covering her with soot and grains of overly charred bread. She opened her eyes--the rest of her face was covered in brown bread dust and static charges. “....Owie.” Soon enough, the excess water would disappear and Adagio would stumble out of the shower. The steam within the room kept parts of her body concealed as she reached for a towel. “What the hell was that?!” Aria looked behind herself and realized that she would go flying out of the window, into the yard, and onto the street if she wasn’t careful. “DA-A-A-AMM-I-I-IT!” Fed up with the force of the air being blown onto her body, she forcefully threw the blow dryer onto the floor, shattering it into multiple smaller pieces. “Ugh…” Once the wind was gone, she was able to recover, slowly slipping down and off of the windowsill into her room. Sonata started to sweep up the dust that the toaster had combusted itself into. But even that dust was electrically charged, much to the confusion of the blue girl. “...Oh god, better put this in something before I throw it away so the garbage man won’t hurt himself…” She looked through the cupboard, and found a rubber container. “This should work. The cartoons I watched always said that rubber never conducts electricity…” Once the trio recovered from their respective magical mishaps, Adagio stepped out to the living room with a towel wrapped around her body and her hair still went and completely straight--flowing halfway down her back. “Is everyone--ach!--alright?” she said in between a cough. Aria walked out moments later with her hair in a straight, stiff mess and wiping oodles and oodles of dust particles from her eyes. “Ach...can’t see shit! What about the rest of you? Sonata? I heard an explosion!” “Y-yeah, ab-b-bout that-t-t…” Sonata’s eyelids, neck, and fingers twitched uncontrollably from the electrical charges that flowed through her body. It was so bad, that she couldn’t even speak straight. “Take a seat on the couch you two. I’ll be right back.” She returned within seconds with eye drops for Aria and held her sister’s head back to help her apply them. And right after, she massaged Sonata’s shoulder and neck muscles to ease the tension that her muscles had gained from the unexpected surge of energy. “...You two feeling better?” “Yeah,” Aria replied with a sigh, “Thanks Dagi.” “I don’t feel tingly anymore,” Sonata answered with a nod, “So I’d say I’m good.” “Whew…good,” Adagio gave a relieved sigh, and sat back against the couch. “So what just happened?” “The toaster got supercharged with electricity and blew up,” Sonata replied. “My hair dryer started blowing with the force of a jet engine or some crap,” Aria added then asked, “What about you, sis?” Adagio looked down at herself, realizing she was still in a towel. “...Oh yeah. I...nearly drowned, actually. I know it’s an odd thing for me to say, given our background, but the entire shower just filled up with water out of nowhere.” “Hm…” Aria looked down at her hands, “Think this could have anything to do with these new powers of ours? Something happened with me and air, you with water, and Sonata with lightning.” “Oh yeah!” Sonata said as she recalled the day’s events, “That makes total sense. So does this mean we’re dealing with magic that we can’t control?” “Probably,” Adagio replied with a sigh as she leaned back against the couch. “Ugh...we need help.” Aria snapped her fingers. “Twilight said she’d be free to help us out with this new magic tomorrow. If anyone is able to figure out what our problem is, it’s her.” “Well that’s good,” said Sonata, “The last thing I wanna do is shock the entire house.” “Or wreck it with a tornado.” “Or flood it,” Adagio got up from the couch, “Alright, girls. Let’s try and get some sleep. If Twilight said she’ll help us, then we’ll have to put our trust in her.” With no debate, everyone did their best to get to sleep that night. Thankfully the next day was a Saturday so they could sleep in for as much time as they needed. The next day, in the afternoon… The Sirens had arrived at Twilight’s house. The violet nerd would be there waiting for them and wearing an unmistakable white lab coat. She took them up to one of her experimentation rooms, and once the sisters explained just what happened to them and their powers, Twilight started to write down everything on a blackboard behind her. Numbers, symbols, equations--all of which were undecipherable to the average joe. “I see...I see, I see…” she mumbled while finishing out the equation on the board. She then put the chalk down, and wrote something down in her notebook with a pen. “...So…? Adagio looked up at the scientist with a worried expression, “What does any of it mean?” “I’m a scientist, not a magic specialist. However…” She tapped upon a small touch-screen device that was built into her desk. “It seems as if these new abilities have manifested from within you directly without the need for magical artifacts. Though, given that you three are originally from Equestria, it should be rather plain to see why.” “Guess that makes sense,” Aria commented while looking at her arms, “But I wonder why we have these powers specifically. Wind, lightning, and water--what’s that about?” “To explain that, I’ve brought in an expert on magic,” Twilight said as footsteps traveled through the door. “Ah, speak of the devil.” “Wow,” Sunset rolled her eyes upon entering the room, “Not cool. You know I became a demon--not some mere ‘devil’.” “I--wha?” Sunset giggled at her friend’s expense, and took a seat in a chair next to the lab’s table. “It’s a joke, don’t worry. And I got your text. Sounds like these three have some strange new magic at their disposal, huh?” The Sirens nodded and murmured in agreement about the situation. “Mm-hmm.” “That’s the gist of it.” “Yep-yep!” “Alright, now as I was saying.” Twilight extended a metal pointer and tapped on a certain area of the board. Their eyes were directed to a crudely drawn image of the sisters in chalk. “These powers come from directly within you. Because of that, I’ve dubbed them: Aether Skills!” “Ae...ther?” Adagio repeated the word tentatively. Twilight nodded with an excitable, toothy grin on her face. “Yeah! Aether! It’s basically the life force that everyone carries within them. Your aether has come with you from Equestria and has given you the ability to fight.” “Other cultures may call it ki or chakra,” Sunset added, “I call it my own personal magic.” “That’s right!” Sonata squealed, “You’re from Equestria too, aren’t you? Do you have something similar?” “Eh, well I couldn’t call it that crazy,” with a smug expression, Sunset snapped her fingers and generated a small flame in her hands. “It’s fire. Back in Equestria, I used to study a lot of flame-based magic, so that could explain why my powers are linked to it.” Twilight snickered and looked at the Sirens. “Remember when we fought that giant crab? Sunset used fire magic despite not having any method of casting it.” “Oh yeah, I remember now,” Adagio replied as she recalled those events, “Wonder what happened to that detective and his efforts to save Cozy Glow…” “Last I heard from Princess Twilight, she was doing just fine,” Sunset confirmed, “But let’s get back on topic. You three were wondering why you got those specific abilities, right?” The sisters all nodded in unison. “Well, I think I have an answer.” Sunset started an explanation, “Think about what sirens do. They’re masters of the sea and cause all kinds of storms that wreck ships. If I were to wager a guess….” She looked at Adagio. “You’ve been given Water Aether because it’s the central component of the oceans--without it, there is no sea--and no place for sirens to live.” Next, she looked at Aria. “You represent the ocean’s aggression with its powerful wind storms that blow the waves and cause extra damage to its enemies with Wind Aether.” Lastly, Sonata. “And you have Lightning Aether--a spontaneous and bubbly one that toys with its victims before shocking them.” “...Huh,” the yellow girl replied with wide eyes, “That...makes a lot of sense actually.” “Wooooooah…” Sonata mouthed wondrously while kicking her legs, “So cool!” “I think I get it now,” Aria replied, “But...we need to get used to using these new powers. We don’t want another accident like last night.” “That’s where our friends come in,” Twilight aimed her pointer in Sunset’s direction, “Let ‘em know we’re ready, ‘kay?” “On it,” Sunset nodded, and started texting on her phone. Adagio looked on with a nervous tilt of her head. “Erm...who are you calling exactly?” “Some help,” said Sunset, “We’re gonna whip you girls into shape.”