Pony POV Series Origins: Dazzlings

by Alex Warlorn


Not Singing Just For Popularity

Pony POV Series Origins:
The Dazzlings
Part 2 of 2
WARNING: SPOILERS TO EQUESTRIA GIRLS RAINBOW ROCKS!

"The old poets described this place as having flowers all year round." The pegasus pony said to his companion, a female unicorn.

"Well, those poets were either exaggerating, or Discord did a real number on this place."

"This place twas not part of Equestria proper though, Discord never came out this far."

"So why are we here again?"

"A lot can change in a thousand years."

With Equestria free of Discord, Princess Celestia had sent out messengers in all directions to let the rest of Ponykind know they were free, safe, and were able, if they wished it, to visit or return to their homeland. Said messengers had quite the job ahead of them, given they had to convince the world that they weren't part of one of Discord's games.

There was also now the long and hard task of MAPPING Equestria now that Discord wasn't changing the landscape every three seconds. Ancient maps were of some use, but not much given how many landmarks no longer existed or were in other places.

Compass Rose, and Northern Light were one of the cartography teams, carrying measuring equipment and spells with them. Compass Rose admitted, his real passion was archeology, hoping to find something, anything, from before Discord's reign and recover the history of their people. The Princesses' memory had done some of that, but even they admitted there was a great deal they hadn't had the chance to see during their lives.

Northern Light hoped he didn't mistake a pile of rocks for an ancient tomb again. At least they realized it before too much humiliation could occur.

What the pair saw when they reached the top of the site didn't leave any room for argument.

It was an old castle. Or maybe a fortress. Or a tomb. At first Northern Light thought it was made of black stone, but realized it was all ice. The weather wasn't hot, but how was it not melting? She sensed magic from it, intense magic, all of it within the ice, it was so strong that even sensing it this far away was easy. And it wasn't Discord's chaos magic or unicorn magic. It was something entirely different.

This was what Compass Rose had been hoping to find, what he wanted to find, an ancient site right out of history! And he was the first to discovery!

Northern Light looked at the beautiful castle, the magic within. Now that Discord wasn't around changing the rules every five minutes, she wanted to know it, to learn it, to master it, to understand it.

The entire castle gave off a faint hum as they got closer and closer, the beauty of the place captivating them. The place looked ancient. Stairs and walls worn by time just as Compass Rose would expect to find.

The magic flowed all around Northern Light, giving off a wavelength, like a song almost. This was what she had been deeply hoping to find, new magic, old magic, whatever, magic buried by Discord and now she could give it back to ponies.

The two entered the castle. Compass Rose noted any furniture or goods must have been plundered ages ago. But the castle itself was still here, it still held mysteries to unlock. The existence of this structure itself was a grand discovery, but he still couldn't help wanting more.

The two never once broke stride. Never once thinking to scan or search for booby traps or magical defenses left behind by the owners for any would be robbers.

Compass Rose and Northern Light heard the humming grow loader. More intense. There was a wavering to it.

"The castle...it tis singing to us," Northern Light said.

"Yes. It tis . . ." Compass Rose agreed.

The two continued to trot down the straight path, the song of the castle becoming more beautiful and intense as they went. They wanted to go deeper. To hear it more clearly. This was a discovery for a life time! And they wouldnt' be kept from it! Not for a moment longer!

Thoughts filled Compass Rose's mind. What could be causing it? A magic harp or other ancient artifact of magic? A long forgotten machine? The possibilities made his heart race! Northern Light's heart did the same at the thought of magical artifacts capable of operating after eons.

The two broke into a wild gallop, Compass Rose spread his wings and flew, and Northern Light began teleporting in short bursts. They were going to be the first to see it. The first to lay eyes on a sight unseen for at least a thousand years, maybe more!

Neither noticed how the hallway was one great straight line. A stairway opened up beneath them, and Compass just flew down while Northern Light teleported, tripped, and nearly broke her muzzle on the way down. The jolt of pain and adrenaline shocked her and she shook her head. "Something tis not right about this."

Compass Rose ignored her, if she didn't want to be the one to discover what lay within, that was her problem.

There were no doors or locks to stay in his way, everything was open for him. The song was all he could hear now. It was calling to him. The castle WANTED him to discover what was at the center!

Northern Light ran after her companion, the song enticing her mind too, there was so much magic around her, what could produce this much? What could hold this much? So many questions, she had to find out!

She caught up with Compass Rose with a teleport and both stumbled into the heart of the castle.

The ponies looked up to see three ponies beautiful pony mares with translucent wings suspended in dark ice, a small piece of ice in the center of the camber in view of each of the strange choice of sarcofagi. Were they alive? Could they be alive? Had they done this to themselves to wait out Discord's evil? Compass Rose remembered stories of a race of fairy ponies, were these members of that herd?

He took out a pick axe in his mouth and began to strike at the ice at once, making cracks appear in the ice.

"What art thou doing?!" Northern Light gasped.

"Setting them free!"

"What?! Seeing who free?!"

"The princesses!"

"Where?"

"Here!"

"What makes thou think-"

"This tis their castle! They froze thyselves waiting for rescue! Now we can!"

"Thou art not basing that on anything!"

"Yes I am!"

"This could be just a tomb for all we know!"

"No we don't! They WANT to be rescued it tis so clear!"

"Even if they are suspected to be alive, we need to get in experts, if they art alive thou could kill them!"

"We can't wait! They can't wait! They've waited long enough!"

"Hath thou gone nuts? We need to learn about this magic!"

Neither noticed the green smoke form beneath them, snacking its way into the cracks Compass Rose had already made with his pick, or the cracks spreading and growing larger as the two argued, in increasing intensity. The song's tone began to change from a simple humming to a faster, intense beat.

Then it simply, stopped.

The two ponies stopped too, as three beautiful voices wordlessly echoed through the chamber, and the two saw the dark ice around the three mares growing cracks that grew into bigger cracks that connected with other cracks, until in one great shattering force, all three exploded outwards at the same time, the pair shielding each other from the debris.

The three mares stretched their fin-like wings and legs, breathing in the air for the first time in too long. Their wings kept their balance as their eyes snapped opened, a pulse of green magic rippling out from their pupils. The trio looked at the two ponies. The yellow mare, almost seductively put a hoof to Compass Rose's chin, bringing him into eye contact with her. They sang.

"Welcome to the show
We're gonna let you know,
We're back in town.
Our sentence is finally out."

The cracks spread from their prison to every inch of the 'castle'.

"Feel the wave of sound
As it crashes down
You can't turn away
Cause now we're here to stay!"
Northern Light and Compass Rose couldn't take their eyes or ears from the three unearthly beauties as they continued singing without vocals and the cracks continued spreading.

"Time to be adored
You'll tell us you want us!
Thank you so much for
Opening up the door!"

No longer parasitically feeding off of their magic, and having served its purpose, the black ice castle melted, cracked and crumbled, falling apart in huge chunks, collapsing outwards, leaving nothing behind.

"Soon you'll need us
You will heed us
Now that we're back in town!

What we have in store
All we want and more.
Now that we've broke through
It's time to claim our due!

Welcome to the show
We're gonna let you know,
We're back in town.
Your time is running out."

The two ponies sat obediently, listening to the coven's song, not able, and not WANTING to turn away.

+++

"So...this is really the Alicorn Amulet? Where Discord's mom got her magic? Ultimate power? Thought it was bigger," Aria Blaze commented, looking at it. "We had to jump through a lot of hoops to find this."

The Compass Rose and Northern Light merely stood like faithful servants.

Sonata looked at it with greed in her eyes. "But can't you smell it? All that negativity?" she asked, giving an almost predatory grin, letting her true form's razor edged teeth manifest. Like a shark that hadn't tasted blood in years finally being bathed in it. "It's like an entire ocean."

Adagio Dazzle said, as she reached for the ungodly powerful piece of jewelry, giving a crooked smirk that her compatriots knew her well for. "Well, it took a lot to find, but at last it's finally-"

"MINE!" Sonata Dusk sneered as she snatched the artifact from her senior partner.

"Sonata we don't have time for games you geek!" Aria Blaze snapped.

Sonata Dusk sneered at them both. She looked at the Amulet in her hooves like it was the most precious object in the world. "Oh I'd say there's plenty of time for anything if I say so! I'm tired of being the back up vocals! I say we see what it's like we me as the lead for once!"

"You little-" Adagio Dazzle cursed her, snorting hot air out of her nose.

"That's Empress Sonata to you Adagio." She placed the Alicorn Amulet around her neck. "And I say-"

Mewling not of my blood. You dare think yourself worthy of me? You think too much.

Sonata Dusk barely had time to register what the voice in her head had said before her brain felt like it had been set on fire, she screamed as the Alicorn Amulet went wild around her neck. The other two sirens had to nimbly evade bolts of magic flying in all direction. Their two pawns emerged unscathed due to dumb luck. Sonata finally frantically took it off and was thrown back by one last blast of its magic and hit the wall of stone behind her.

The Alicorn Amulet, inert, fell to the floor lifeless.

The two other sirens looked at the sight in shock and fear for a few seconds before Adagio Dazzle composed herself. She looked at the Amulet, then at Sonata and back at the Amulet. The blue mare dimly look at them both with a trail of drool going down one side of her mouth.

"Well, that could have been nasty. Thank you, Sonata for being so helpful as to take one for the team like that," the lead siren said with biting sarcasm.

"Uhhhh, oooh-kay?"

Lightning of the non-magical and metaphorical sort struck Adagio Dazzle's mind as she rushed to her junior partner's side.

"Sonata, can you still sing?" Adagio asked her blue paired partner, worry suddenly etched on her features.

The dull eyed mare sang a ghostly perfect tone. "Uh-huh."

Adagio became calm and turned away, not looking back at Sonata, and said with a chuckle, "Nothing important lost then."

Adagio shook her head to clear it of flashbacks to an ocean thousands of years ago and two dying sea ponies.

"Come along Sonata. We have work to do," Aria Blaze said pulling her up.

"Okay. We still get to be queens right?"

"Of course," Aria Blaze said taking a cloth and picking up the Amulet being careful not touch it. "So what's plan B?"

Adagio said, "Simple. Anything that can be made can be made again. I think the world, and us, are proof of that. If this Alicorn Amulet has an attitude problem, we'll just make some that don't."

With false promises of love and joy, several unicorn mages and craftsmen under their song tirelessly worked to create replicas of the powerful artifact (the original the sirens discarded and hid since destroying it would likely cause whatever was inside to be freed, if they could actually destroy it themselves).

Not wanting these to develop sentience of their own, the sirens equally divided them up among themselves (and to make sure the other two would not be able to repeat Sonata's foolishness).

There was a price to be paid however. While their power was increased beyond whatever it had been before (and beyond the reaches of a great many a mortal), their pawns couldn't replicate what was inside the gem. The only option to make them WORK, the only way they could FUNCTION for them, and only them, and grant them the power they sought...was to place a place part of their own souls into it. The sirens actually saw ghostly doubles of themselves, part of themselves, but fused with the red gems.

Adagio had felt it was a fair trade.

Deceit. Treachery.

Anger. Greed.

Cruelty. Magic.

What had Discord called the one he had given his mother? 'Element Of Chaos?'

The sirens had their 'friends' place as many protective charms on the jewels as possible, and and choosing only the hardiest of material, with a promise that even a solar flare spell from a sun goddess couldn't be able to destroy them. The price was, that if the jewels broke, so would those parts of their souls, and their magic with it.

In return, these 'happy few' got to be the first to adore the sirens in their full splendor.

++++

They rampaged across Equestria. 'Reclaiming' the ocean sides of the kingdom first. It had belonged to the seaponies after all, and that meant inherently that it belonged to them. Not that they were about to stop with just that part of Equestria. The fledgeling country would tear itself apart by the time the sirens were through if they had it their way.

Loving families and closest friends broke into vicious brawls over the most meaningless of trivialities. The most passing desire became a passion driving them like ponies possessed.

They swept the land like a plague. Ponies fell in love with their new goddesses even as they fell in hate with each other. Most ponies didn't even connect the arrival of three beautiful perfect ponies with deciding not to take anymore horseapples from everypony around them.

Rumors spread that they were some sort of sea spirits. Others mistook the fin-like wings for those of the long extinct Flutterponies. Queen Rosedust's heart was divided on which she wanted to be true.

The towns, settlements, and herds of Equestria, divided among themselves, and conquered piece by piece by the three witches. And it was all so easy! Thousands of years of gorging on negativity had given the sirens more power than they ever had before, and enhanced by their amulets . . .

"I feel like I could take on Discord, and those princesses, all together with the power we have now!" Aria boasted.

"Uhhh, get ready to find out?" Sonata pointed to the sky.

Adagio Dazzle smirked. "This is going to fun!" Arrogance dripped from her every word.

The sirens sang for the twin Alicorns. Who carried with them the six pieces of jewelry.

"Quite beautiful, why waste such talents bringing strife to thy fellow ponies?" Princess Celestia said calmly.

"Our rightful subject ponies now, why not just give that burden of ruling to somepony else," Aria said commandingly. "Isn't that right?"

"Nay. Not at all," Princess Luna said flatly. Princess Celestia seemed mildly surprised. Not by the statement, but by the manner in which the siren spoke. An accent not heard in thousands of years.

Sonata and Aria gasped in surprise, feeling disoriented, no living thing except their old King Leo had ever be able to ignore their magic. Adagio groaned. "Should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Of course. Why not? Since when is anything easy?"

"...Your accent," Princess Celestia said, her manner of speaking switching to one she hadn't used in a long time, "It's been thousands of years since anypony has spoken like that."

Adagio chuckled. "We've been asleep for a long time. If you're as old as you say you are, maybe you've heard of us. Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk."

Celestia's eyes widened slightly. She'd watched that day from the spirit world. "You're from before the disaster…"

"Adagio! You didn't need to tell them that!" Aria said.

"Oh come on, like it does them any good," Adagio replied, giving a sideways smirk. "You can't say it doesn't feel good to be remembered after so long, can you? So, Princess, if you remember us, you know what we are, right?"

"You are the last of your people. I beg you. Surrender. We have no desire to finish what Discord began." Asked, nay, pleaded Celestia of her enemies. Adagio on the other hand smirked.

"You think you're the one whose deciding how this is going to end?" Aria sneered. "Back off unless you want to get hurt."

"Tis OUR kingdom, OUR ponies, OUR home, our herd, undo thy witchcraft and lay down thy magic and thou will be treated with mercy! Only our sister holds us back from smiting thou!"

"Luna no!"

"Sister don't do this! Can't thou see this is falling into their trap? They want us divided as they want our ponies divided!"

"Last of the sea ponies, last of the flutterponies, last of the second age," Adagio replied, feigning grief. Or maybe not, it was hard to tell. "That day we lost everything. Our family went from five down to three. Our beauty was gone. Our kind betrayed us. We became pariahs, and all we did was sing."

Luna narrowed her eyes. "Thou look fairly beautiful to us."

"This is unfortunately a mask," Adagio replied, giving a snarl that didn't seemed directed at the princesses. "Behold what we've become…" In a flash, the disguises faded, and the three Sirens stood in their true forms, razor edged teeth showing clearly in their maws.

Celestia gasped, putting a hoof to her mouth in horror at the sight of the three mutated sea ponies. "Luna…"

"...Those art their true forms now, sister…" Luna replied with a disturbed expression, the Element of Honesty she carried flashing for a moment. "Tis no lie."

"I didn't think any of the sea ponies that lived had been this badly mutated…" the day princess whispered. As one of the beings that had helped craft life, she knew all too well how unnatural the forms before her were.

"We were lucky, you don't want to know what was left of Oratorio. That blast turned us into this, and somehow we're in the wrong? The world took everything from us, we're just taking it back."

Sonata smirked. "Good on-" the mare received an elbow to the stomach as the sirens reverted back to their disguise.

Celestia sighed. "You have been hurt. By forces you had no control over. And for that I am truly sorry. But this is not the way to heal your hurt. You will not feel any better after this, it will not give you the release you are hoping it will. And all the power and adoration in the world will not make what you have lost come back either."

"And everything thou have lost MADE THOU have to enslave and BRAINWASH our ponies?!" Luna hissed.

"We FEED on negativity now! We need it to live! If we gotta live by making ponies butt head, sucks to be you!" Aria snarled.

Adagio nodded. "We didn't ask for the end of the world to make us this way. One day we were singing a concert with our sisters, the next they're dead and we're this."

"Adagio. What if we cure you? What if we could free you and your sisters of the hunger inside you that drives you to do this? You can be truly loved for your music instead of forcing ponies to love you. Equestria NEEDS the brilliant and the talented like you. I will do everything in my power to grant you leniency. You can have the love and adoration you want without having to STEAL it. And you won't need to live by bringing misery to others."

"Cured?" Adagio asked, sounding unsure and scared, fluttering closer to the goddess, "I...I never...I didn't even think it was possible."

"It may not have been possible when it happened, but with the combined magic of myself, my sister's, and our friends we CAN free you this curse. All you and your sisters have to do is take the next step."

Sonata tilted her head at what the princess was saying, look unsure herself. Aria took a trot back from the goddesses.

"I...I never thought of that." Adagio lowered her head looking at the ground.

"It's alright my little pony, when we're hurt, it can take another to help us realize that there's a better way." Celestia reached out her wings to hug the little flutterpony.

And got hit in the face by a red ringed sonic blast at point blank range.

Luna was blind-sided by the other two using the same attack, laughing.

"Cured?! HA! There's nothing about us that needs to be 'cured'! We have power! Want, take, have! We learned a long time ago one thing: when you're powerless, the world can take what you have away," Adagio said, eyes lightning up crimson. "So we're going to make this world ours so that will never happen again. We won't go back to being no ponies! Never again! Never!"

"You are nothing more than a lost foal!" Princess Celestia snapped.

"Whatever! I LIKE having power over others! I LIKE the taste of misery!" Aria declared kicking the goddess in the head with as much force as an Earth Pony.

"Besides, we're just like you really." Sonata said in a moment of clarity landing on Princess Luna's back, electrifying her, "You give ponies' little lives meaning, and give them something to look up to, encourage them to be the best, just like us!"

"Unhoof me you mare-filly!" Luna spun the siren off her. "We do not encourage them to be the greatest at the expense of others! We do not tell them to love us and hate all others! Our light does not BLIND ponies, it illuminates, and we inspire ponies to be BETTER than themselves and work towards something greater that they are a part of! You wish it ONLY to be about YOU! And, YOU CARE NOTHING for those you enslave!"

"Yak-yak-yak." Aria snarked. "And I thought Adagio didn't know to shut it." A wind empowered by her magic struck back at the moon princess.

"Please, Queen Rosedust is still alive!" Celestia pleaded desperately. "Do you really want THIS to be the last of her kind she sees?!"

Adagio gave a laugh and forced Celestia to dodge a sonic wave. "We know. We know everything. If we'd wanted Rosedust's approval, don't you think we'd have asked her before we started claiming Equestria?"

"And what of when all this becomes boring and dull?! What will you do then?!" the Day begged desperately.

Adagio morphed her lower body into that of her true form and wrapped her long tail around the sun Princess like a python and electrifying herself. "We're not that flank-hole Discord, we don't get tired of the praise. And there's plenty to do. Maybe I'll get a student of my own, like mages. I saw one of my blood sisters' descendants married into Melody's bloodline? They'll be perfect!"

Adagio howled in pain as Princess Celestia erupted in flames, forcing her off and allowing the Alicorn to regroup with her sister.

"Liar." The Night and Element of Honesty said, "Egotists like thou would never pass on thy knowledge and talent willingly. Ye'd never GIVE AWAY ANYTHING!" The Royal Canterlot voice thundered in the witches' ears.

Adagio countered with a sonic attack of her own, the two being of equal force. "Maybe I just want to see the look on your face when I 'corrupt' one of your little ponies. Oh, right, you'll be dead! So you don't have to worry."

"Sonata!" Princess Celestia called the attention of the siren with the child-like expression. Princess Celestia had noticed the blue siren didn't seem fully aware of herself. "Please listen, what you're sisters are doing is cruel! Ponies are not just food and toys for you! They are living beings with hearts and-" This time Celestia brought up a shield in time for the blade of sound that tried to cut her in half.

"Blah, blah, blah, knew that already, pzzzt!" Sonata gave Princess Celestia the razz-berry. And got her mouth chopped closed by a kick to the face from a flash teleported Princess Luna.

Celestia gave a sad sigh. "...Adagio. Sonata. Aria. I'm sorry, but if you don't end this madness, we'll have to.. Luna! Formation!"

The twin goddesses flew next to each other, and the six jewels they divided between them glowed the colors of the rainbows.

"About time you started actually trying! Sonata! Aria! Here!" Adagio snapped and her sisters flanked her. Their amulets glowed. And a red glowing beam connected between them.

Celestia and Luna's eyes widened. Three giant beasts emerged from the three sirens' pendants.

"What, what is..." Luna whispered.

The magic beasts rushed at the princesses, who unleashed the power of the Elements, the two opposing magic struck each other, and were at a stand still. But slowly, the overwhelming negatively the sirens had absorbed began to make their beasts grow larger and push back at the rainbow beam.

Luna and Celestia's eyes shot open, and suddenly the beam BROKE APART into it's six individual ribbons, going AROUND the shocked beasts, recombining into one, striking the surprised sirens dead centers, trapping them in a whirlwind of rainbow light.

The whirlwind touched the ground from the ariel spell duel, and let up . .. revealing three statues of very shocked fin winged mares.

Celestia's face fell. "It...it didn't cure them…They're supposed to heal those hurt by dark magic like they did with Shady… Not turned to stone like Discord."

"Really? All this time we thought that happened because thou were still holding onto hope 'Dissy' still existed in Discord and thou didn't want to see him obliterated."

"The Elements imbued with our Mother's power, Luna...if the person can be healed, they heal because Mother wants none to suffer unneeded. If the Elements turned them to stone…"

"It means they cannot be cured as of now, and must wait for when they chose to be cured of their own will. Yes?"

"...What if it means they're not corrupted?"

The petrified hearts of the sirens began to beat red, glowing through the stone. Cracks spread across the stone bodies.

"Impossible!" Luna gasped.

A gold symbol flashed on the sirens' stone foreheads.

The symbol appeared only for an instant, and was only visible to Celestia and Luna, but Luna and Celestia now knew what Alicorn has blessed them as his chosen.

And the raw negativity sealed within the sirens' stone prisons, exploded towards. The Princesses brought up shields to protect each other, as the shock wave left a crater behind.

And at the center, were three horrid beasts, a red jewel embedded in their chests.

The negativity they had consumed was so immense, that it now radiated off them.

The beasts floated off the ground, by the power of their own magic.

There was a slight flicker of magic, but nothing. The beasts looked at each other. And roared in frustration and denial. "NO!" The yellow beast snarled, looking in a pool of water nearby at the monster staring back. "NO! NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN! I CAN'T HAVE MY FACE STOLEN AGAIN!" She glared murder at the princesses. "YOU! YOU DID THIS TO US! WE'RE TRAPPED LIKE THIS!"

"Thou did this to thyselves," Princess Luna said matter of fact. "The Elements are not needlessly cruel, if they robbed thou of thy beauty, tis because abused it. Now the outside matches the inside."

"Surrender. To protect my ponies, I will do what I must," Princess Celestia said.

Adagio snarled in pure fury. "Maybe we'll smash up your pretty fa-"

Adagio was shot in the face mid sentence by a powerful laser spell of Princess Luna's.

The yellow beast's body fell backwards with a thud, the other two floated back in alarm and fear.

But then the yellow beast rose again. Luna's eyes widened as the wound closed.

"A Goddess shot me and I didn't die," said Adagio, giving a shark-like grin. "I guess that means I really am I goddess now." The light of insanity danced in her eyes. "Rip them to shreds!"

"End their misery!" Celestia commanded. 'Why? Why couldn't we save one of-' She was struck by a blast of water as hard as a freight train, sending her THROUGH a boulder.

"Sorry were you monologuing? Nya nya!" Sonata made faces at the sun goddess.

"SISTER!" A sword of ice impaled Sonata from behind, she turned to look at Princess Luna.

"That wasn't nice." And hit the Alicorn with a massive sound wave, Luna changed into black mist and separated herself three ways to hold off the sirens as her sister recovered.

A solar flare struck Adagio...leaving ashes, and a red jewel that survived without a scratch, and Adagio rose from the ashes.

The Alicorns teleported away, and teleported back a minute later above the sirens, and dropped a small mountain on them. The side of the mountain began to vibrate, and blasted open, the Sirens flying out, fangs bared and hungry for blood.

It went on for hours. The Princesses were out-numbered, and while they could blow the sirens away, but they'd rise again each time, and Luna and Celestia were the ones tiring out, while the siren's reserves dwarfed their own. In fact, with the amount of strife and chaos the witches had created, they seemed to be growing stronger by the second.

"Luna, if their power keeps increasing at this rate, soon their combined power might be as strong as Discord if they aren't already," Celestia forced herself to admit.

"That is an absurdity! Thou exaggerate sister!"

"We are not winning this fight Luna, we-" Aria rammed into Princess Celestia like a comet.

"Now who called timeout?" Aria mocked as Princess Luna then trapped the siren in a block of ice that fell and hit the ground as Sonata and Adagio flanked the night princess.

"We embody a lost age!
We'll rip you off the page!
Our time is now!
Your time is running out!
This world will be ours!
Marching in endless wars!
Our time never to end!
Our age will now begin!"

The ice vibrated and shattered and Aria emerged, fangs clenched. "Not! Again!"

Celestia flew next to her sister, and the against Luna's wishes, the two teleport away as the combined sound-wave attack might of all three sirens shattered the ground beneath where they'd flew seconds ago.

+++

"Were they Flutterponies?"

"...No, Rosedust. They weren't. They were merely three beings who resembled them. Nothing more…" Princess Celestia said.

Luna would tell Celestia later on. ""We should have told her the truth, she has a right to know."

"She has a right to spend her remaining years in some level of peace, Lulu. What good would telling her the last three of her kind are three of the worst monsters to threaten Equestria since Discord himself? The Sirens have no desire to listen to a word she says...telling her would only break a heart that's been broken far too many times."

"We concede sister, just don't expect us to ever condone it. If we fail, she is the only pony older than those beasts and with a right to rule, and we'd have kept something vital of her enemies from her. You know this, why else would you insist she remain at the castle?"

"Which is why we are not going to let that happen."

+++

The sirens didn't see hide nor hoof of the Alicorns sisters for days after, figuring they were hold up in their castle waiting for the final battle. They didn't run into any of the princesses' little new army, but they'd have been just been brought under the sirens' sway and fought themselves anyway.

It was actually disappointing the princesses didn't send guards to be crushed by them.

"Crushing grunts is ALWAYS FUN, didn't they ever watch a good action movie?" Aria lamented.

The Sirens were aggravated to find towns evacuating, but they couldn't all run fast enough.

Then came when they were at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The Royal Forest of the Sisters where they resided in their Castle of the Two Sisters with their most loyal servants and guards. All the land behind the sirens either broken apart or reunited under their song. They'd deal with the other side of Equestria after breaking the old goddesses.

"I guess we'll have to rename that place the Castle Of Three Sisters," Adagio joked and her sisters cackled.

"Oh, we're gonna live here?! Awesome, this place is cool!" Sonata said, looking around at the forest absently. "Oh! Look! Those trees when you look at them right are shaped like two Alicorns! How cool is that?" Sonata asked.

"We're not here for the foliage, Sonata," Aria replied, rolling her eyes.

"Okay…"

That was when the sisters appeared before them to lose a second time. Dressed in cloaks like they were ready to attend their own funeral. Heh.

Celestia sang.

"I didn't become a princess for power or fame.
But because I promised to protect Friendship's flame."

The sirens' eyes widened incredulously, they were really-!

"Like the moon shines in darkness, our bond shines now
I swear in its name Equestria you won't cowl."

Princess Luna said from the opposite side of the sirens, the two sisters flanking the sirens on the border of the forest.

"Forgive me if I boast,
You three are just ghosts,
Of a nightmare,
Already less than dust in the air!"

Adagio laughed. "Don't tell me you think you counter-song our music!!"

"It's so adorable they think they're more awesome than us!" Sonata giggled.

"Tempo and Oratorio live through us and we're unbeatable!"

"In a disaster we were born
On the day that the world was torn.
Today we are your disaster
Here to make ourselves your master
Oh you can come try as you might
But there's no way you win this fight!" the trio sung, sending a series of red shockwaves at the sisters in tune with the beat. Knocking them back further into the woods.

"You thought dividing our focus would work?
Forgive me while I smirk!"

The Princesses took to the air shooting out of the canopy, and staying on opposite sides of the sirens.

Celly sang.
"This isn't a fight to win with spells or brawn,
With our hearts we will ring the bells for dawn!
I never go anywhere looking for a fight.
All I ever wanted was to help bring in the light."

Luna replied.
"You are all ponies' and gods' old mistakes and sins,
you're out of your minds if you think we'll let you win!
You are all stuck living in the dark past,
But for us the future is great and vast!"

The three Elements of Harmony each on both sisters began to glow.

"You're going to blast us AGAIN?! Hoo-hum." Adagio rolled her eyes. The beasts eyes glowed red, and their spiritual copies from their combined imitation Amulets Of Chaos chased after the princesses, two after Celly, one after Luna. Not giving them time to focus their Elements.

"We aren't just living in the past
We're gonna make our future last
If ghosts of the past is what we are
We're like nebulas becoming stars.

You princesses are gonna bow to your new queens!
For what we have is no disease, we need no vaccine!
From now on our three stars will shine bright without a doubt
But as for you two? Now it's time for you to burn out!"

"Not if a miracle happens."

"Miracles don't exist!"

"Thou don't know what a miracle is, but we're about to show thou!"

The sky above the sirens began to ripple, which became a swirl of stars and that pulled in the 'sky' around it, and opened wide to show a swirling tunnel of light beyond.

"What the Pony Hell?!" Aria hissed, looking up at the portal. That was when the sirens finally noticed a bearded unicorn mage with bells on his hat standing at the edge of the forest, his horn glowing the same color as the vortex.

Adagio instantly had her avatar break off pursuit of Princess Celestia and fly at the elderly unicorn with every intention of killing him. The Mage didn't budge.

"Hey! You were trying to use singing as a distraction! That's no fair!" Sonata said at the sacrilege.

The sisters dove right underneath the sirens, and looking straight up at them, their eyes glowed as they powers the Elements, the magical beast avatars suddenly stuck between trying to stop them before they could fire or shielding their true selves.

"Ha! Morons! You're the ones who are stuck! Either you go help your friend so he keeps the portal open, or you blast us with a weapon that didn't hold the first time! You can't do both! We win!" Adagio jeered.

Aria and Sonata's magic soul doubles continued their dive at the princesses, while Adagio's continued its own at the unicorn magician. There was no way these princesses could blast them with the Elements (whatever good that would do, they'd just break out again), and protect their croonie, AND dodge the attacks from Sonata and Aira's soul doubles. They'd already won.

A trap was sprung and a stone wall rose up between the mage and the avatar, the avatars smashed through it, a wall with runes came up next, but the avatar just overpowered them.
Adagio smirked that their 'clever plan' didn't work because they underestimated her strength.

The avatar tore into the wizard, ripping him to shreds...the pieces of cloth and stuffing fell apart under the attack, and the bottle of fireflies shaped like a unicorn horn fell to the ground and shattered. The wig beard fell to the ground.

"A DECOY?!"

The REAL magician (wearing earplugs) the sirens finally noticed was BEHIND THEM the way they came!

Celestia chuckled. "Starswirl has always been a bit of a mad genius. How do you like that?"

"How about I vibrate the flesh off your bones?!" Wait a minute! The alicorns! Of course! "These 'princesses' are fakes too! Aim for the alicorn 'trees'!" The sirens used a unified sonic blast that obliterated the 'trees' that Sonata had spotted earlier.

Adagio roared in triumph.
"You thought you cause your fate to bend,
Too bad for you this is the end!"

...Which turned out to be just a pair of oddly shaped trees. And people said Starswirl was just being weird when he invented that tree shaping spell.

"Spike!" Princess Celestia shouted taking off her cloak, it was wasn't needed, he was wearing ear plugs just like Starswirl, her unbuckling her cloak was the signal.

Underneath Princess Celestia's cloak was a barely teenage dragon, the same one who had witnessed Twilight the singer duel in chess with Discord, shrank down to carry size with Starswirl's age spell.

"You think hatred can win the day?
You think that you can win that way?
But you three have stayed an island
Without anyone do you stand!
Together we will always fight
Till you give way to friendship's light!"

The drake leapt off Celestia's back, and breathed green flames at the pair as they were still powering up the Elements, with power and skill born of centuries of life, the dragon's magic breath teleported the princesses a few yards above from where they had been, the drake himself merely spread his wings to catch the air for a soft landing (not that he'd be badly hurt, but freefall really stung on landing).

Sonata and Aira's avatars still going full speed, slammed into each other, knocking both back and damaging themselves.

The Princesses cried out as they activated the Elements right under the witches and fired!

"You think you are a threat?!
This isn't over yet!
Right now its time to prove
That you we can remove!"

All three avatars shimmered and dissipated, and reappeared right underneath the sirens, blocking the combined harmony beam. The sirens this time ready for when the princesses broke the beam apart to side-step them. Why didn't the princess looked scared? The Princesses sang.

"Now we see you for what you are
A shadow cast by a bright star:
Every sin that back then was born
On the day the world was torn.
The shadow of the disaster
For so long allowed to fester."

The two powers again pushed against each other, again the sirens poured more of the negativity into their attack, this time they wouldn't be tricked!

"But past sins can be forgiven
We just have to keep on living.
If one ounce of hope remains
And our friendships remain the same
Against darkness we can still fight
Till it gives way to friendship's light!"

To the siren's surprise, the singers weren't just the Princesses. Starswirl and Spike had joined in.

"You can always count on your friends
To be with you until the end
When you are just not strong enough
Friends guild you through when life gets rough
Their light will help you see the way
Through brightest night and darkest day!"


Adagio roared at the audacity. "Did you think that was going to be enough? Did you REALLY THINK, THAT WAS GOING TO BE ENOUGH?!" The soul projection beasts grew to truly horrible size.

"Actually, yes we did," Celestia said, smiling.

"But just in case we were wrong," Luna took off her own cloak, the second singal. Spike dragon-mailed the note.

The noted appeared in the hooves of a light purple mare with a blond mane. She was pregnant. And had a cutie mark showing several sunglasses. She was also not wearing ear plugs. She was standing on a nearby cliff side and came out of hiding. She sang, her voice risen to hearable volume by the Royal Canterlot Voice spell upon her.

"When you're lost deep in sin's dark sway
And think that too far you have strayed
Forgiveness of those you love true
Will wash sin's black spot off of you
And reach a heart locked up tight
Despair burned up by friendship's light!

A glowing orange mark appeared over her eyes, resembling the shades on her cutie mark.

Hope.

An orange light shined within her, and it shot like a divine firefly towards the conflicting forces. The sirens were prepared to intercept it from helping the Princesses...except...it flew towards the massive amount of power the sirens were using like a moth to a flame and connected with theirs Amulets.

The sirens and their avatars screamed as orange electricity crackled between them, their amulets, and their avatars, the last of which began to flicker and shrink down.

"What did you do to us?!"

"Starswirl had a question he really wanted answered: what happens when a purified Element of Chaos, is introduced into the missing spot of the spell circle of six facsimile corrupted ones?"

Adagio gasped out as pain wracked her body, "But-! It's impossible for you to know that!"

Princess Luna smirked like a wily old mare. "Forgive us for not sharing how we know with the enemy."

"You infected us!"

Luna spoke, "From thy's point of view, or short-circuited, thy Elements may be copies, but they have to be true to their nature, they HAVE TO try and align with Shady's Element of Chaos! Except they can't because thy own were all born corrupted while hers isn't! So thy power is taking a nose dive!"

"And you're about to gain a lot of frequent flier miles!" Celestia quipped.

The smaller and weaker beasts were pushed back by the sisters' Elements of Harmony.

"You couldn't have planned all this!"

"No we didn't. It was Starswirl's plan, from beginning to end!" Celestia smiled. Adagio choked on her own words.

Luna narrowed her eyes. "As Princesses of Equestria, we shall declare thy punishment:"

"Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk! You are FOREVER BANISHED! Never again will you step hoof on Equestria's soil, or that of any other nation in this world!" proclaimed the Princesses in unison.

"I want mommy Peisinoe!" Sonata lost her concentration and hugged Aria.

"WE'LL BE BACK!!!"

"Unlikely. According to Starswirl The Bearded, your new home lacks the kind of magic you witches can feed on gluttonously. Thou shall not starve to death. But thou shall never be more powerful than newborn foals!"

Adagio's horrid face became a look of terror. "NO! YOU CAN'T!"

"We can and we are. Begone!"

The ponies and dragon all sang together.

"Though into darkness we may fall
We can be saved by a friend's call
When those we love see us fall down
In darkness they won't let us drown
They will forgive us, and save us
So long as in them we can trust

No dark shadow of sin and strife
You can't snuff out our fire's life
Friendship and love will now prevail
And rip straight through hatred's dark veil
Dark shadows try with all your might
You'll be pulled into friendship's light!

Sins and hatred as dark as night
Burn away now in friendship's light!"

The magically generated avatars SHATTERED and the beam of harmony struck the sirens and sent them screaming into the portal, which closed up behind them. At the same time, the Elements of Harmony let off a shockwave that passed over all of Equestria, curing the ponies who had been corrupted by the siren's magic. It would be time to forgive and forget, and discover what actual love for another felt like again.

+++

"Adagio? What...what are we?" Sonata asked. For the second time in their lives, the sirens had woken up in bodies and forms not their own. Again. At least the clothes were nice. These bodies didn't have any fur at all.

Adagio flexed her fingers. Aria had stopped screaming her head off. While Sonata had stopped running in circles like a chicken with its head cut off.

All three felt an odd sensation. Like they were....restricted. It wasn't mana drain, they weren't tired (though they were quite sore after being literally blasted into another dimension), it was like they were literally unable to do what they were used to be able to. It reminded them of how unicorns described having a seal on their horn. It was almost like they were prisoners in their own bodies.

Adagio...her left hand wouldn't stop shaking...the fury building inside her like a volcano.

"Well Melody, looks like your beliefs weren't so laughable after all. Humans do exist. And they apparently did come from another world and gave ponies civilization. Congratulations. I owe you a milkshake next time I see you."

It took a few moments for them to get to their feet and able to walk around. Thankfully the training they'd received to master their Flutterpony forms came in handy.

Aria looked ready to start screaming again but a look from Adagio silenced her. The younger siren instead began viciously beating a defenseless tree, making her new hands and feet sore in the process, which just made her angrier.

Adagio looked at herself in a pool of water. "Hmph...at least I'm not bad looking by human standards if the legends are to be believed…"

"We look like monkeys. Do we eat bananas?" Sonata asked.

"I'd say our diet is the only thing that hasn't changed." Adagio fingered her amulet still around her neck. And the same pendants around the necks of her sisters as well. She actually kind of liked the necklaces that came with them.

"We had everything! Now we have nothing! Adagio how could you let...this...happen . . .?" Aria whimpered and shrank back under Adagio's deadly gaze.

"Never say that again."

"Yes ma'am."

Adagio felt a headache, the impotent rage inside her at being cheated out of their home, their world, their kingdom, their power, threatening to drive her mad if she dwelled on it for too long.

Sonata let out a ghostly beautiful octave. "Hey! We can still sing! That's something right?!" Sonata's smile twitched on the edges.

Adagio narrowed her eyes. Looking at a nearby rural town, a lot less advanced than what she expected from the ones who taught ponies civilization, maybe they had their own apocalypse or three?

"Don't worry girls, we'll get home sooner or later. I won't make a liar out of Tempo or Oratorio. These humans will love and adore us...sooner or later...come on, let's head into town for a bite to eat. Stick close to me. Keep your eyes peeled. The legends say humans treat their females the way ponies used to treat stallions. So watch your mouths. I'll do the talking. We are not done."

"But won't they like that we're ya know, 'witches' even less?" Sonata asked.

"We're celebrities remember? Pinning the blame on someone else is what we do. Now come along. We might be here a little while."

+++

Celestia sighed, looked at where the portal had been. "Luna...do you think we just weren't meant to save any of them?"

"No...our sister fate is not so cruel, sister...we offered them a cure, but they rejected it, that was their choice. To be adored monsters instead of saved sea ponies...I'm sure there is a path of fate where things could have ended differently. But only they could have chosen it."

"...I know…"

"Come now!" called Starswirl, trotting over and removing his ear plugs. "Tis not the time for negativity, the world's had far too much of that for a lifetime. Thy subjects need their leaders to be positive if they art to be, correct?"

Celestia couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "...You're right. The past is the past...they were what happens when you can't let go of it."

"Thou are the last pony we'd believe to say the past tis dead sister," Princess Luna said.

"It's not. Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But those that cannot move from the past are destined to never find a brighter future. Learn from the past, live in the present, plan for the future."

"Shall I write that one down in thy biography for thou?" Spike snarked as Starswirl restored the dragon to his true age and size.

"Hehe...we'll at least write it in our diary...come Lulu, we need to celebrate with our little ponies…"

"Right behind you Little Celly."

"Auntie Shady." Celestia nuzzled the little pony. "Thank you."

Shady hugged her. "Welcome Little Celly...This will still be quite the story to tell my foal."

"I'm sure they'll be proud of you."

"...Only one part of it I don't like thinking about...I hate to think what those three's families are thinking, looking down on them."

"...If they're like you, they remember the good their family did and had before. And are inspired from the good instead of the bad."

"Thank you Little Celly, and you too Starswirl, you've made me somepony my baby can be proud of."

Princess Celestia said, "No auntie, you make yourself somepony others can proud of. Nopony can do that for you. And you've already done so wonderfully."

"Okay, that one I'm definitely writing," said, the incredibly smart, handsome, and clever Kenbroth Gilspotten Heathspike, AKA, Spike The Dragon.

--

Twilight Sparkle closed the dairy. Sobered by what she had read, but still getting a chuckle from the parting line of Spike's father (grandfather?). When Princess Celestia had given her the book to read, in light of the damage caused by Queen Chrysalis, feeling Twilight should be ready in case she faced another breed of brainwashing witches. She wondered how Luna knew about the nature of the Amulets, but Twilight figured it was with that crystal ball Twilight knew Celestia had stashed away somewhere that let her see anything the sun's light hit, and simply spied on the sirens and they let it slip like bragging to each other (since unlike modern types, they had no idea it existed).

She wondered what measure would be best against them, maybe a song of freedom against their music? HA! Now she was sounding like Pinkie Pie thinking a song could fix everything. She wasn't Cadence. Too bad Twilight Sparkle didn't have any talent for writing music beyond what ponies normally had when the song in their hearts took hold. Well, everything suggested they wouldn't be finding a way back to Equestria any time soon, if ever. So at least she'd have time to prepare...but it wouldn't change the fact she was clinically tone deaf when it came to WRITING music.

Still, she was confident she'd think of something, as Spike would say, she always did. Besides, if she tried to prepare some perfect counter strategy for every evil that had threatened Ponykind...she'd die of old age if the stress heart attack didn't get her first.

Still, she'd have her friends with her, and if she had learned anything, there was nothing the lot of them couldn't handle together. She smiled. And even then, Shady had reminded her, one good pony, sometimes had the power needed to help everypony. Twilight Sparkle looked out the window at the beautiful shimmering sunset.