//------------------------------// // S4 CH 12: Not Helping // Story: The Story of Twilight Glow // by Jeweled Pen //------------------------------// Sunset thought she knew what magic was. She’d teleported, made plants grow a hundred feet in the air and even managed to hop backwards in time once for a few seconds. That was before going to the human world, of course. She’d thought she understood magic. She’d thought she was powerful. But none of that could compare. No, not even raising the sun and the moon. They were but mere parlor tricks compared to the magic she was now experiencing. Fluttershy’s fingers massaged her just above the horn and she was pretty sure she would have given the girl every ounce of magic she had in order to have it continue for just a few more moments. Even the fact that Discord kept giving them annoyed looks didn’t make her reconsider. This? This was heaven. The three sirens had already fallen before the might of the girl’s scritchies and she was certain that later she would regret this. But for now? In this moment? She was too blissed out to care. “I think I like Sunset a lot more as a pony,” Fluttershy said softly. “She’s much nicer. Err, not that you’re not nicer now.” “I will be whatever you want me to be, just please never stop,” Sunset said dreamily. Rainbow just shook her head as she kept recording it with her phone. “At the very least we can be certain she’ll never go all angry rah rah evil again.” “Why?” Applejack asked. “Because if she does I’m so posting this online,” Rainbow said with a snicker. “Rainbow, darling,” Rarity said. “That’s so scandalous I’m a little jealous I didn’t think of it first.” “I… feel I should worry about that… but can’t… think right now…” Sunset mumbled. “So… you’ll help, right?” Moondancer asked. “To an extent,” Discord said with a sigh. “What extent?” Moondancer asked. “I’m really not liking this ‘Let’s go to Discord to fix all our problems’ line you ponies and jewelry seem to be taking,” Discord said before sipping from his lightly humming beaked beaker. “You make it sound like I have nothing better to do than help you ponies out of every minor problem.” “Do you?” Moondancer asked before she could help herself. “Don’t get smart with me, Moondancer. It doesn’t suit you,” Discord said. Moondancer gave a soft sigh. She really, really wished she knew what his angle was. Or how they got here. Or why the others were humans. Shouldn’t they be ponies? “You’re in the Realm of Chaos,” Discord said. “NOT Equestria.” Moondancer blinked. “But the Realm of Chaos is in Equestria, isn’t it?” Discord just cocked an eye at her. Moondancer felt her eyes twitch. Oh, that just shattered at least seven different laws of dimensional relativity. She was going to write SUCH a report. Maybe even-- wait. “Wait a second, did you just read my mind?!” “No, I read the page,” Discord said. “Trust me, even I wouldn’t try to read your mind. I may be a being of incredible power and chaos, but your mind is likely the equivalent of a magic point presentation. I do have my limits.” “Hey!” Moondancer said. “W-what’s wrong with, ummm, magic-point presentations?” Sparkle asked, her focus primarily on the animal crackers served with the chirping tea. The monkeys were trying to ride a rhino, but failing miserably. “They sound like fun.” “Lots of… fun…” Sunset mumbled dreamily. Discord rolled his eyes. “There is too much ‘student’ here. Not enough… oh dear. Where’s Pinkie? Eh. I’m sure it’ll be fine. As I was saying, I’m not going to fix this for you. That’s up to you lot. What I will do is offer you transportation.” “Transportation?” Moondancer asked, unable to keep the suspicion out of her voice. “Indeed,” Discord said. “Equestria or Pedestria.” “Wait, that place is called Pedestria? Like pedestrian?” Moondancer asked. “I mean, you’re from Equestria, as in equine,” Sparkle said. “But that’s… well… okay, fair,” Moondancer said. “So you’ll send me ho… oh. Oh no. If I go back to Equestria, then what about them?” she asked. “They need our help! We can’t just send them to face the sirens alone!” “H-hey!” Adagio said, struggling to sit up… only to collapse when Fluttershy reached over and started scritching behind her ears. “What… was I saying? Wait. Right. Not… going there. Going back to Equestria. Going home. Want… my magic back. MY magic.” “Uhhhhh,” Moondancer said. “Are you sure about that?” “Yes,” Adagio said. “We… are sirens. We want our forms… our powers back.” Moondancer opened her mouth, but then stopped herself. Maybe warning them about Nightmare Moon wasn’t something she had to do. Not to mention it seemed the sirens hadn’t considered the fact that they seemed to draw power from those under their spell. Without that power, they’d surely be helpless. She turned red when she realized Discord was smirking at her. He didn’t know everything she was thinking, did he? “S-shush, you. Okay, fine. I guess thank you for your, um, assistance. And utterly shattering at least four different laws of dimensional travel.” “C-can I borrow some books from Equestria’s library?” Sparkle asked sheepishly. “Maybe about these four laws?” Discord rolled his eyes and then lifted a hand. “Well then. If everyone is done, I believe it’s time for all of you to go. Because, frankly, there’s really only two of you I actually like and I really do need to stop Pinkie before she ends up splintering my realm and creates her own miniature chaos realm.” “Err, come again?” Applejack asked, looking up from her lasso’ed dust bunnies. “Don’t worry about it,” Discord said. “Wait, what about Sunset?” Sparkle asked. “Where’s she going?” Discord just sighed before snapping his fingers. ------ Moondancer appeared in the air and crashed to the ground. A moment later Bon Bon appeared overhead, dropping onto her. Then the Elements of Harmony appeared, bouncing off her head. Then a horned helmet. Then a talisman. Then an amulet. Finally, three sirens appeared and landed on them. Moondancer whimpered, waiting to see what else would appear to land on her. Fortunately, it seemed to be done. “I think… he might… hate me too…” Moondancer managed to wheeze out. Finally she looked up and squeaked. She was in the throne room. Nightmare Moon just stared at her, her mouth open. It was truly hard to say who was more surprised, her or her teacher. “Nope, he definitely does,” Moondancer said. “Do… we even… wish to know?” Nightmare Moon asked. “We… are not sure this qualifies as… enjoying one’s self.” “Discord,” Moondancer said. “Discord sucks,” Bon Bon said. “Verily,” Adagio said. “I don’t know, I think he was kind of cute,” Sonata said. “Sonata, you’re the worst,” Aria said. “Are… those… seaponies?” Nightmare Moon asked. “Huh?” Adagio said before giving a squeak. “An ALICORN?” “Can somepony please, please get off me?” Moondancer asked. “Any of you?” “S-sorry,” Bon Bon said. “Up we go!” The three sirens let out a shriek when suddenly they were tossed aside. “Not that this… whatever this is… isn’t amusing to watch,” Nightmare Moon said. “But what, exactly, is the point? Student?” “J-just need a moment,” Moondancer said before giving a light groan. Discord was evil. She didn’t care what Fluttershy said. Pure. Evil. Adagio glanced at the exhausted mare for a moment before, slowly, a grin formed on her lips. “We are singers, your majesty. Please, allow us to perform for you?” “Huh?” Moondancer asked. “Very well,” Nightmare Moon said before nodding. “W-wai—” Bon Bon tried to stop them, but before she could the three flew up into the air. They entered a harmonic chorus, their voices echoing through the throne room. Bon Bon reached up and quickly covered her ears, mentally cursing when she saw the guard’s eyes start to turn green. Moondancer went entirely still, her eyes turning green when the magic washed over her. The three sirens gave the two ponies smug looks, before suddenly they were enveloped in green magic and dragged in front of the ruler, their mouths sealed shut. Nightmare Moon stared down at the three of them, a look of mild annoyance on her face. She gave a light yawn before speaking. “I take it you are… friends… of our student. So we will forgive, just once, this affront. But should you ever attempt any mind control magic like that again, we shall de-bone you.” Her wings spread out, causing her to tower over them. “F-friends is a strong word,” Moondancer said with a groan before managing to stand up. She shook her head before quickly casting a sound filtering spell over her remaining ear. Oh, she didn’t like that. Their singing was much stronger here. Fortunately, so was she… if she wasn’t caught by surprise. Or had everypony dropped on her back. “Ah, we see,” Nightmare Moon said before grinning, her fangs revealed. “Then it seems this night, long as it has been, will have some amusement after all.” “M-more like acquaintances!” Moondancer said quickly. “Ah,” Nightmare Moon said before glancing to Moondancer and Bon Bon. “Our bard is not here and usually she is the one who rises up in some annoying lecture about restraint and mercy. Are these creatures thre…” She then paused and looked at the three of them. “Do they believe themselves threats to our rule or not?” “Uhhhh… n-not,” Moondancer said. “Just very stupid, your majesty.” “We see,” Nightmare Moon said before dismissively tossing the three aside. They landed with a light crash. She then rose to her hooves and stretched out. “We are tired. Thank you for this…” She glanced at the pile or sirens and assorted objects. “Performance. Perhaps practice more before attempting it again. Ensure you pick up your trinkets before you retire.” She started to walk for a moment before glancing back at the sirens once more. “One final thing. You three.” They stared up at her. “Err, your majesty?” Adagio said softly. “Our threat was not idle,” Nightmare Moon warned. “We will not tolerate such magic in our realm. Our will is absolute. It shall not be forcefully altered by any creature.” The lights flickered in the throne room for a moment, revealing dozens of dark shades looming over the sirens. The lights then came back on once more. “Acquaintances of our student or not. We hope our warning is clear, as you will not receive another.” The alicorn then walked from her throne room, leaving the five behind. “W-what… what were those?” Adagio asked. “Y-you know, maybe being human wasn’t so bad,” Sonata said softly. “T-they had tacos.” “That… that wasn’t really… she couldn’t REALLY de-bone us, would she? She… wouldn’t, right?” Aria asked. “I can’t say for certain if she wouldn’t,” Moondancer said, struggling to keep her voice steady. “She almost did it to me. Or, well, de-winged me. But you asked for this, after all. Welcome to Equestria.” The three sirens just stared at her. “I got this, Moondancer,” Bon Bon said. “Back in Pedestria, you were big fish in a little pond. Now? Well, you just met the big shark. Congratulations. You survived.” “She can’t… truly… can she?” Adagio asked. “I mean…” “She can,” Moondancer said. “She probably would,” Bon Bon said. “You’re not ponies, after all.” Moondancer sighed before starting to pick up the artifacts in her magic. “I hope these are all of the ones that Sunset took. I wonder where--” “Hey!” Adagio said before rising up. Her eyes narrowed on the partial alicorn. “That magic is ours, we--” Moondancer took a slow, deep breath. “They’re going back where they belong.” “They are ours,” Adagio said. “We worked hard for--” Moondancer couldn’t take it anymore. It all just hit and she managed to loop all the way around from exhausted to furious. She teleported in front of the siren a moment later. “You will do nothing.” “W-what? We--” “In the last twelve hours, you have chased me around, threatened me, used my mentor against me, hurt my friends, started to enslave an entire city and caused more damage than I have the energy to measure,” Moondancer said, her voice quivering with rage. “More than that? You possibly tried to kill me. You DEFINITELY hurt the alternative world version of some of my dearest friends. You wanted to be around magic? Power? Congratulations. You’re swimming in it now. None of it yours. So you will do nothing. You will behave. Because the moment you try enslaving the will of others and grabbing power again?” Her horn shimmered for a moment and the lights of the room flickered out again. The surrounding shades moved away from her while the darkness began to swirl around her form. “You won’t need to worry about Nightmare Moon anymore, because I’ll deal with you myself. I didn’t have magic there. But here? I have a lot more than you three are prepared to deal with. After all the people who’ve hurt my friends I had to let slide, it might actually be relaxing to finally be able to take some vengeance. Are. We. Clear?” Adagio stared at her for a moment, before opening her mouth to speak again. Before she could, Sonata and Aria jumped on her, covering her mouth with their hooves. “Crystal clear!” Sonata said quickly. “It, err, has been a really long night anyway, maybe we should all get some sleep. Right?” “Right,” Moondancer said before letting the lights flicker back on. “I wouldn’t try singing for the time being. Shades don’t really hear like a pony does, but they know plenty of ways to stop it. I’ll have some guards take you to a guest room or something.” She then turned and walked away, Bon Bon following behind her. “Are you okay?” Bon Bon asked. “That uhhhh…” Moondancer shook her head once the door closed behind her. “I-I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m completely fine. I’m fine.” “Moondancer,” Bon Bon said before reaching out and putting a hoof on her withers. Moondancer stared at her friend before she finally just gave in. She didn’t have it in her to run to her room and silence the sounds. Not this time. She was too tired and angry and hurt to even cry. She just leaned into her and all but collapsed. “It’s okay, Moondancer,” Bon Bon said softly. “I-I… I’m not a d-disappointment, a-am I?” Moondancer asked. “Did I do the right thing? H-how should I… I-I tried so hard. I just… I just wanted to…” The relics fell to the ground around her. “W-what would T-Twilight have done? W-would she have done it b-better? Should I have j-just let Nightmare Moon have them? I-I wanted to. I really, really did. But I just… I wanted to do right. I-I wanted to be… did… did I do the right thing?” “You did wonderfully,” Bon Bon whispered, slowly patting her on the back of the head. “Nopony thinks you’re a disappointment. Nopony. You’re doing better than anypony would ever have asked you.” “I-I just keep messing u-up,” Moondancer said softly. “I-I gave them… I gave them t-the magic. I--” “You kept the Elements safe though, right? We dealt with it,” Bon Bon said. “You did great. Honest. Nopony could have done it better. Celestia would be very proud of you.” “Are… are you sure?” Moondancer asked. “I’m sure,” Bon Bon said. “Thank you,” Moondancer said gently. “Sorry you… g-got dragged into all this.” “Are you kidding?” Bon Bon asked. “This was one of the funnest adventures I’ve had in ages. Lyra is going to be soooooo jealous when I tell her. I’m totally going to be sleeping on the couch for a week.” Moondancer couldn’t help it, she couldn’t stop herself from giggling. Friends really were the best thing in the world. She just hoped Sunset and the others would be okay, now that everything was fixed. “Okay. Ummm, so about Sweetie Drops?” “Don’t worry about that,” Bon Bon said. “It’s just my old name. Bon Bon is a much better one, isn’t it?” “I think so,” Moondancer said with a smile before sighing and eyeing the Elements of Harmony over her friend’s shoulder. The blue gem had been lightly glowing before when she found it, but ever since Discord had picked it up, only two of the elements glowed. The orange and the pink one. She had a very, very bad feeling about that. Maybe it was time she went back to the library and started doing some secret research, without her mentor knowing. ------ “Errrr, so…” Sunset asked sheepishly. “Are… you ummm… going to send me back?” “Have you decided where you want to go?” Discord asked, though he wasn’t looking at her. He snapped his fingers and the small house began to ‘fix’ itself. The gathered dust bunnies running off, the broken bits of furniture repairing themselves, though some then broke in a completely different way, which Sunset didn’t understand. “Pedestria,” Sunset said. “Are you okay? You seem…” Discord sighed and snapped his fingers again. Once more she was a human. “Don’t worry about the mood of ‘lawn ornaments’. That’s two favors, Sunset. Don’t forget when the time comes to collect.” “Wait, collect? I-I didn’t--” Sunset asked, but disappeared before she could get an answer. Instead only receiving a low, ominous chuckle that seemed to echo through her head. Worse, the way he had said that sounded very annoyed. Oh, she had such a bad feeling about that.