//------------------------------// // History of The Fourth Amulet // Story: Twilight Becomes a Dazzling // by Twilight Lightning //------------------------------// History of The Fourth Amulet It was bright outside of the small town. The sun was shining brightly, the grass was lush and green, birds flew out of trees and out of sight while other woodland creatures hid from the arguing of everypony. Sounds of singing could be heard throughout the town as three sirens flew overhead. After they had their fill they flew towards the cave that lay at the end of a rock formation deep in the mountains, which was where the sirens currently called home. Once inside, Aria floated down for a nap, she was tired after filling herself with the negative energy of the large town. “Now that was a satisfying meal.” Aria said while getting comfortable. “I know, and tomorrow will be even better. Rest while you can Aria, you know we can’t stay here for too long if we want to get to Trottingham before wind gets to the princesses.” The purple siren just grunted in response, she knew the drill by now. Go in, stir up trouble, feed off of the energy, find a cave to rest in for a short time, go to another town, come back, and leave. Adagio had practically hammered that into their heads before they had started their attacks. Sonata just flew all over the place, full of excess energy and excitement while Adagio slowly hovered in the air thinking about how it would go down. It wouldn’t be easy to pull this off, but if they could divide Equestria apart then they could conquer anything. “So when are we going to go, I’m buzzing with excitement.” “You don’t need any more extra energy than you already have Sonata.” “Quiet girls, I trying to think of a plan. We have to study on this one, the general population has to be present in a single area. Trottingham isn’t like the smaller towns, it takes up a larger plot of land. We can’t simply waltz right in and sing like we usually do, we need to take caution.” “You worry too much Adagio. We can totally just waltz right in there and sing, it’s what we do. “You’re missing the point Sonata. These ponies may be naïve but they aren’t stupid, they’ll realize the danger they’re in faster than you two think. We can’t underestimate our opponents, we’re going up against Celestia and Luna; furthermore, if you think defeating them with the amount of power we have right now will be a cake walk then you’re wrong.” “Get off our backs Adagio, it won’t be that hard to crumble their little empire of peace.” Adagio put her head in her hoof and sighed, she didn’t understand why they didn’t realize the threat that the princesses posed to them. They were the ones who defeated Sombra and stopped Discord; they were not to be trifled with so carelessly. The princesses had earned their respect for ending Discord’s reign of chaos; they couldn’t feed off of negativity that they didn’t create. But their time was up, and it was time for them to rule. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia and her top commanders were sitting at a circular table littered with plans to stop the sirens. She heard a familiar chiming of bells when the door opened and Starswirl walked in. He sat right next to Celestia as she began to speak. “What have we learned about the sirens?” A Pegasus put his hoof on a small town to the west and moved it towards the mountains. “They appear to hide somewhere in this district your highness. A small portion of our stealth group was sent to investigate only minutes ago. I put Captain Stormfeather in charge of the mission.” Celestia nodded her head in approval. She knew that if anypony could lead a stealth mission, it was Stormfeather. A unicorn put his hoof on Trottingham and began to circle it with a quill dipped in red ink. “We believe that their next assault will be here your majesty, I have sent some new recruits along with the veteran Wymond. With his battle expertise guiding the recruits I have the utmost confidence that they will succeed.” Celestia nodded again and turned to Starswirl. “What about you old friend, what insight could you gain on the sirens?” “I have terrible news. The sirens have existed for as long as history can tell. Not only that, but they were once every day ponies. The change is caused by wearing a special amulet, one that changes you inside and out. Luckily many of those amulets were destroyed by the ponies before us, and no new sirens have been found.” A gray stallion earth pony slammed his hoof down, sending some of the papers flying. “So what you’re saying is that if we can destroy the amulets then we not only stop the sirens but we also save innocent ponies from themselves. “Calm yourself Commander Ironhoof, let me finish. As I was saying, once the amulets are put on they change the pony in both body and spirit. They become a siren through and through. What’s more is that the amulet also melds to the bearer’s body and acts as somewhat of a core. If we were to break their cores, they would survive but not for long. The amulet acts as a stomach to feed the negative energy into their bodies, without them the sirens would starve.” “So what you’re telling me is that we can’t save the innocent ponies trapped inside those monsters.” “The process is irreversible. No amount of magic will change them back, or at least none known to us at the moment.” Ironhoof put his head down. His primary objective as Commander was to save and protect everypony in Equestria that he could. He looked to Hawk Eye for some sort of idea. “I’m sorry Ironhoof, but it looks like we can’t really do much for them. I know how you feel but our efforts have their limits.” “There is more. I think I have been able to find the location of one last amulet here in Equestria. We should get to it before they find out about it.” “You found another one, why didn’t you bring it back with you?” “I said I may have found the location of a fourth amulet, not the real thing.” Celestia spread her wings before the argument could escalate any higher. Her face was stern and her form demanded them to stop without having to say anything. “One more thing, this is perhaps the most unnerving part of it. The Elements of Harmony will most likely have little to no effect in stopping them now.” Everypony in the room gasped as Starswirl said that last bit if news to them. “Starswirl please tell me you aren’t serious, just this one time.” Said Ironhoof But one look from Starswirl had him silent. “Princess, may I take a small group of veterans to accompany me in searching for this amulet?” “Indeed you may. Take as many as you need Starswirl, I just hope that you come back with good news.” Starswirl bowed before saying, “Of course your majesty, I will be departing shortly. Hawk Eye, could you get Spear Thrust and meet me outside of the castle? Aura Blade, if you would follow me.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “This isn’t good.” Said Adagio as she flew back and forth trying to plan ahead of the guards that had arrived before them. Aria rolled her eyes, “Come on Adagio, we could take them on easily. It’ll only take a few seconds and bam, that problem is taken care of.” Adagio grunted in annoyance. “Do you realize how many guards could be here? Before we do anything we need to figure things out.” “Hey guys.” “Ugh what is it Sonata, can’t you see that we’re busy right now?” Aria said before turning back to Adagio. “I don’t see why you have to over complicate things, with the amount of magic we have now they’ll be no problem.” “Guys.” “You’re still missing the point Aria; if we take them lightly we’ll have lost the upper hoof. If we played this carefully we could feed off of them in two more days, they’ll have a special event in town square and everypony will be there. Just be patient.” “Guys.” “Ugh fine, but this better be worth the extra wait.” Aria flew back to the cave as well as Adagio, Sonata just followed behind still trying to get the other’s attention until a bolt of fire magic blew past them. They looked down to see a middle aged stallion unicorn in purple gold trimmed armor with his horn sizzling from the intensity of the blast. His silver mane flowed from his helmet covering his right eye. “Why you little…” “Your kind is not welcome here. Leave now.” Aria was about to rush the unicorn but was stopped by Adagio who was giving her that special look. It commanded that she back down and there would be consequences if she didn’t. Aria reluctantly backed away and the stallion guard stood from his battle posture nodding his head. When they were out of earshot Aria exploded on Adagio. “What were you thinking Adagio, why did we let him go? We had the chance to take one of them out and you passed it up!” “If you were thinking you would have noticed his weakness. He’s just like any other pony in Equestria, a soft hearted fool that we can manipulate. Just give it two days Aria, then we’ll be feasting like royalty.” Over the course of their flight Sonata had forgotten all about the amulet that she found. After the two days were up the sirens flew back to Trottingham. It naturally had more guards than usual, but that was to be expected. Adagio lead the trio above the heart of town square and began to sing. The whole ordeal had taken longer than expected but they managed none the less. The three sirens had left without anypony bothering them, and their next target was Manehattan. Unbeknownst to them a certain bearded unicorn had seen them and followed them to their lair. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “You what!” shouted Iron hoof. He couldn’t believe his ears, the sirens hide out had been found. Even though he had come back without the amulet before, he had still managed to do the most important part. “Yes, they reside in a cave near the water’s edge. But I warn you do not celebrate too quickly, for we’ve yet to subdue them.” “I knew you would turn up with something old friend. Thank you for all you have done.” “You need not thank me princess, it was my pleasure to assist you. I have more unsettling news though. They are growing too powerful for us to handle. We must make the final blow soon.” “Do you have an idea?” Starswirl nodded, “That I do princess.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Adagio woke up she felt on top of the world, nothing could ruin their plans now. They all went to Manehattan for surveillance; none of them knew it very well. They were about to head back when they heard a pony calling out to them. The three sirens turned to see a bearded pony in robes and a hat with bells. “Well what do we have here? Looks like somepony wanted to see us off.” “Wow look at that beard.” Said Sonata “Never mind what he looks like, if he wants to stop us then let him try.” Before they knew it they were being sucked into a hole that the pony was creating. They flew through the hole while their bodies changed and they felt their power leaving them. When Adagio came to she was in some sort of new world and their cores had gone back to being amulets. They were wearing cloth and had legs, their front hooves had turned into sticks with five smaller sticks coming out the end. Adagio looked around to see Aria and Sonata in the same state as her.