"Hi Pinkie," Sunset Shimmer said quietly into her phone. Twilight had wandered a few steps away to sit down, and Spike was trying helplessly to comfort her. "Yeah, we're back. Listen, could you get the girls together? ...Not exactly, no." A heavy sigh. "Yeah, you could say that. Your house? Great, we'll be there soon. Thanks." She hung up. "Hey, Twilight?"
"Yeah?" Twilight answered distantly.
Sunset crouched and took hold of one of her hands. "Everyone's getting together at Pinkie Pie's house again," she said quietly.
"Okay," Twilight replied with the same lack of tone.
Sunset bit her lip, starting to get truly worried. She'd never seen Twilight like this before, and had no idea how to help her. She only hoped that the others could. "Come on," she said quietly, gently tugging on Twilight's hand. "We should go."
"Right. Sorry." Twilight accepted Sunset's help in standing, and together the two of them started the short walk to Pinkie Pie's.
“I told you to go away,” Adagio said coldly. She stood very near where Sonata had left her, in a stand of trees beside the Royal Gardens.
“I will, very soon,” Star Swirl answered. “Before I go, I just wanted you to know that I’m very proud of the ponies you have become. All three of you.”
Adagio grunted. “Why should I care what you think of me?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Star Swirl admitted. “Maybe I needed to say it more than you needed to hear it. Then again, I suppose I won’t remember any of this anyway, once Discord sends me back." He shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps it doesn’t matter at all.”
“Probably not,” Adagio agreed. She paused, then decided to ask something that had been bothering her. “Why did you make us in the first place? Were we really just a science project for you?”
Star Swirl bowed his head. “At first, yes,” he said. “When I created you, the three of you were just one piece of a much larger puzzle. I guess that’s why I just left you once I was finished. That phase was a success, and it was time to move on. It wasn’t until I heard about the havoc you were wreaking on the world that I truly realized what I had done, and by then it was much too late. It’s the story of my life, really.” He looked back up at her. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not worth much,” Adagio grumbled.
“I know.” There was a long moment of silence between them. "Are you angry with me?"
Adagio sighed. "No," she said truthfully. "Maybe I should be, but after a thousand years I really just don't care anymore. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be here to ask about it. Maybe that counts for something."
It was as good of an answer as he was going to get, and a better one than he deserved. Star Swirl turned away from her. "Thank you, Adagio. I won’t trouble you any more.” He began to walk away.
“What puzzle?” Adagio called after him. “What puzzle were we a piece of?”
Star Swirl stopped. After a moment, he turned back to his daughter. “My life’s work,” he replied. “I’m credited with creating over two hundred spells, but the truth is that I only discovered one. I devoted my life to it. Do you know what I’m most famously known for?”
“The amniomorphic spell," Adagio answered immediately. "Everyone who’s ever studied magic knows that.”
“Indeed.” Star Swirl stroked his beard. “Yet nopony seems to know exactly what it is. The lamb-shaped spell, or the spell of lamb-shaping, depending upon your interpretation. It's meaningless either way. I’m responsible for that as well.”
“What are you talking about?” Adagio asked. “Get to the point.”
Star Swirl chuckled. “Ah, forgive an old stallion his rambling. As a pony enters his eleventh decade, he finds that he’d like at least someone to remember him as he was." The ancient unicorn cleared his throat and continued.
“As I said, I discovered and developed only a single spell: the omniomorphic spell—the spell of shaping all things. I believe that it was the very magic used to bring forth this world and its inhabitants. I dedicated my life to learning the very magic of creation, and I succeeded.”
Adagio cocked her head. “Uh-huh,” she said dryly, unimpressed. “So, what happened?”
“I only used the spell twice,” Star Swirl answered. “The first time, I created a world all my own. A whole new dimension, complete with its own physics and laws of nature, its own inhabitants, everything. That was when I knew for sure that I had succeeded.”
Adagio had a strange feeling swelling in her chest. She thought it might be pride. “Right. And the second time?”
Star Swirl sighed. “When I realized the true scope and import of what I had done," he said, "I knew that this was magic that no pony should ever have, least of all myself. I could not even be trusted as a father. There was no way that I was ready to be a god. I considered unmaking the world I'd created, but it was far too late for that. I could not undo what I had done without committing utter genocide.
“Instead, I turned the spell of all things upon itself, fragmenting it into the various spells and schools of magic that I am credited for today. I even warped the knowledge of it, ensuring that it would be known forever as the amniomorphic spell, a fake type of magic with no purpose of its own.
"The pieces of the omniomorphic spell are still usable, but I've ensured that no pony will ever again wield its absolute power.” Star Swirl paused to consider his next words. “Over the course of my life, I’ve gone from being a starry-eyed young fool to a doddering old one. Still, if I’ve ever made a single good decision, that was it.”
"You spent your whole life chasing this one thing," Adagio said slowly, "and as soon as you finally had it, you gave it up. That was your one 'good decision?'"
"That's right," Star Swirl replied. "I don't regret trying, and the things that I learned have been put to excellent use by ponies who are wiser and worthier than I. Still, at the end of it all, I realized that what I had thought I wanted... wasn't really what I wanted at all."
Adagio swallowed against a sudden dryness in her throat. “And what about the world that you created?”
"Oh, it's still out there," Star Swirl said wistfully. "I do hope its people are doing well. I have reason to believe that they are; I like to pop in from time to time, just to check on things." He shook his head. "I am sorry. This conversation wasn't supposed to be about me."
A minute passed as Adagio processed these new revelations, and the unfamiliar feelings they stirred within her: pride for another, respect for one who had accomplished amazing feats, and just a touch of longing for what might have been. Underneath it all was the certainty that Star Swirl hadn't told her his life's story, and his life's regrets, by accident. He wanted her to learn from his mistakes.
Finally, Adagio shook her head and snorted derisively. “You’re senile, old man.”
Star Swirl laughed softly. “Perhaps I am, at that." He turned away again. "Have a good life, Adagio. I know that you’ll do great things.”
With that, Star Swirl began walking away.
Adagio waved after him unconcernedly. "Alright. Bye."
Star Swirl’s horn shimmered with the warping, reality-bending magic of the spell of all things, and he faded.
“...Dad.”
Though the walk to Pinkie's was not a long one, Twilight and Sunset were the last to arrive. Partly that was because everyone else had driven there, and partly because Twilight was moving slowly and getting distracted easily. Sunset offered what support she could, but was relieved when they finally got there. Sunset rang the doorbell.
"Don't trouble yourself," Rarity's distinctive accent rang out from inside, "I'll get it." She opened the door to let them in.
"Hi, Rarity," Sunset said, giving her a hug that lasted perhaps a moment longer than it needed to. It was just long enough to let the always-perceptive girl know that something was off.
"Sunset, is everything okay?" Rarity whispered as they held each other.
"I'm alright," Sunset murmured back. I think. "Go see Twilight."
"Twilight, darling," Rarity said with a forced smile. Even from here, she could see that something was very amiss indeed. The inner light, the spark that usually animated her, was all but gone. "It's good to see you again." She stepped forward and embraced the other girl.
"You too," Twilight mumbled. Her arms folded weakly around Rarity, but her half-hearted hug soon turned into a desperate clutch. She buried her head in Rarity's shoulder and sobbed with sorrow and guilt.
"My goodness, what's wrong?" Rarity gently stroked Twilight's hair in an effort to calm her.
Twilight tried to answer, but all that came out was a gasp as she clung to her friend.
"Maybe we'd better take this inside," Sunset suggested. Rarity agreed, and between them they guided Twilight past the curious stares of Pinkie's family—plus Maud's blank one—and up the stairs. In short order, Twilight was sitting on the bed surrounded by her friends, warming her shaking hands on a cup of hot cocoa courtesy of Pinkie Pie.
"Come on, Twilight, tell us what's up," Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight shook her head slightly. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about it."
"That's alright," Fluttershy said with an understanding smile. "Take your time."
"Sunset Shimmer?" Rarity turned to her with a questioning look.
Sunset took a deep breath. "Twilight... had to make a very difficult decision, and things didn't work out the way we hoped. It's really not my place to say any more than that."
Twilight nodded to her. "Thank you," she mumbled.
"What do you mean?" Pinkie asked, her voice trembling. She had a white-knuckled grip on her own mug of cocoa. "What do you mean things didn't work out?"
Applejack held out a hand. "Pinkie—"
"Tell me!" Pinkie demanded. "What happened to the Dazzlings?"
"Pinkie Pie," Rarity said warningly, "I think she needs some space right now."
Pinkie sat back and held her tongue, but her gaze still burned with the same intensity. She wasn't about to let go of this.
"Aria's gone," Twilight finally murmured. A hush settled over the room.
"What do you mean, gone?" Rainbow asked.
"We... I... sentenced her to a thousand-year imprisonment."
"Twilight, it wasn't like that," Sunset said.
Twilight shook her head. "It was exactly like that. Celestia left it in my hooves, and that's what I decided."
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Rarity suggested. She'd gotten a brush from somewhere and now set to work on Twilight's hair, gently smoothing it and teasing out the tangles. Twilight found it oddly soothing, rather like having her wings preened at the spa in Ponyville. After a few minutes, she calmed down enough to talk.
"Aria used a loophole in Equestrian law," Twilight explained. "She said that she had been controlling her sisters the entire time using her magic, which makes her responsible for the actions of all of them. Not much is known about the sirens' magic, but we do know that it influences people—and ponies—to do things they normally wouldn't, so it was plausible."
"Ya don't sound like ya believe it, though," Applejack noted.
"I don't," Twilight admitted, "but Adagio and Star Swirl both went along with her story, and they would know better than anypony. Sonata might have tried to fight it, but Aria implied that Sonata was still suffering from the aftereffects of mind control. She made sure that any testimony Sonata gave in her favor would be suspect at best. Add to that the fact that Aria's shown no remorse or desire to change her ways, and attacked us all as soon as she had the chance..." Twilight grimaced. "In short, we had a whole lot of circumstantial evidence laying the blame on Aria, and her own confession besides, and nothing but a gut feeling against it. Like I said to Sunset Shimmer, I couldn't make a decision based on what I wanted to be true. The final decision was that Adagio and Sonata are free as long as they don't cause any more trouble, but Aria's locked away for a really, really long time."
"Goodness," Rarity murmured. "Well, I can certainly see why that would be upsetting, but it sounds like you made the right choice. I shudder to think what she might have done next."
Twilight nodded and bit back a cry. It emerged as a whimper, prompting Fluttershy to take one of her hands. Pinkie was still staring, her piercing blue eyes wide and unblinking, so pained that Twilight couldn't bear to look.
"I wanted to give Aria another chance," Twilight finally forced herself to say. "I was just going to banish her from Equestria, let her stay here in the human world with her sisters and live her life. Celestia... didn't think that was the right choice. She and Luna agreed that Aria was too dangerous to risk it, since she could just go through the portal and be right back in Equestria. She and Luna talked me around to their side, and I finally settled on a thousand years in Tartarus. It's basically an entire dimension that's used as a prison," she explained.
"Look," Rainbow Dash said slowly, "the way I see it, we gave the sirens every chance we could. It's not your fault that Aria was... well, she was evil!"
"I guess what's really getting to me is the fact that I don't know for sure," Twilight admitted. "My gut tells me it's wrong, but Aria really could have been controlling them. Celestia and Luna obviously saw no reason to doubt her."
"Why would she lie about somethin' like that?" Applejack asked. "That'd just make things worse for her, right?"
"Yes, but it would save her sisters," Sunset said. "Really, the only thing that would have changed if she hadn't said anything is that all three of them would have been sentenced." She leaned back against the wall and chewed a thumbnail distractedly.
"What about you, Sunset?" Applejack turned her attention to the other girl. "How're you holdin' up?"
Sunset sighed. "I'm alright, I suppose."
"You 'suppose?'"
Sunset stopped biting her nails and hugged her legs close to herself. "I think I'm just having trouble reconciling how Princess Celestia was acting with the Princess Celestia I know. I mean, she was so happy to see me again, and I'd done terrible things too. There wasn't even any talk of punishment. She just accepted me back like nothing had ever happened. Now she and Luna turn around and do this?"
"Sunset, dear," Rarity said reasonably, "I hardly think that being a high school bully is on the same level as what the sirens did."
"I stole an artifact that Twilight needed to protect Equestria. I tried to kill you!" Sunset shouted back. Alright, she'd been lying. She was far from alright. "I tried to do exactly what Aria and her sisters did, and I got off totally clean!"
"You were wearing an unstable Element of Harmony," Twilight said distantly. "It went berserk. You weren't in control."
"How do you know?" Sunset demanded. "I was a horrible person back then. Would killing you really have been so far out of character for me?"
"Oh, please," Rainbow Dash butted in. "Stealing stuff and spreading rumors is one thing. Turning into a rampaging monster, wrecking the school, and trying to fry us with a fireball is on a whole other level. That wasn't you."
"Indeed, I think now we all understand what you went through," Rarity said quietly. "I'm just thankful that Aria breaking the array didn't give us the kind of power that you had back then."
"Oh, maybe you're right," Sunset said reluctantly. "I don't know. I'm going to need to have a long talk with Princess Celestia sometime."
"Me too," Twilight agreed.
A long silence fell over the girls. At some point, Twilight realized that her cocoa was cooling and took a sip, but she wasn't even able to enjoy the rich, chocolaty drink. She set the mug down on Pinkie's nightstand and hid her face in her hands instead.
Sunset took a breath and stood up. Whatever her own misgivings, Twilight was suffering much more than she was right now, and Sunset knew more than she wanted to about regretting past decisions. She placed a hand gently on Twilight's shoulder.
"Look," Sunset said firmly, "maybe you made the right call today, and maybe you didn't. If you didn't, then you'll just have to go back and fix it." She sat down beside Twilight and gently pulled the other girl's head against her chest.
"Twilight," Sunset continued, "if I've learned anything since you first came to this world, it's that it's never too late to try to make things right. We'll go back to Equestria tomorrow, talk this over with the princesses, and see what we come up with. Sound good?"
Twilight took a breath and relaxed slightly. She didn't speak for a while, simply enjoying the warmth of her friends' presence and the gentle rhythm of Sunset Shimmer's heartbeat. At last, she nodded.
"Yeah. Sounds good."
"Discord," Star Swirl said calmly, "thank you for coming."
"Well," the draconequus answered, his physical form nowhere to be seen and his voice coming seemingly from everywhere, "when you put out a call like that, how can I resist?"
Star Swirl chuckled and let the magic of the fragmented omniomorphic spell fade from his horn. "Thank you for not putting one of those suppressor rings on me this time."
"Ah, yes, that," Discord replied. "You'll have to forgive me. When I felt you channeling magic that shouldn't even exist, I may have gotten a teensy bit nervous."
There was a short silence between them.
"I take it you're ready to go back?" Discord said.
"May I ask you one favor, first?" Star Swirl asked.
Discord's smirk was almost audible. "You may ask me for anything," he replied. "I make no guarantees that I'll do it."
"Of course." Star Swirl paused. "Discord, would you... would you keep an eye on the sirens for me? I'm afraid that I haven't been much of a father to them. I know I won't remember this anyway, but it might ease my conscience a little if I can at least leave them with a friend."
A chuckle echoed all around him. "Is that all?" Discord asked. "Why, I was going to do that anyway. I'll make sure that they're alright; all three of them."
Star Swirl bowed his head. "Thank you. In that case, now I truly am ready."
The sound of snapping talons echoed throughout the royal gardens. A hole appeared in midair, like a window looking out onto nothingness. Star Swirl stepped into it and was gone.
Sonata, back in the human world, lay on her bed clutching a pillow to her chin and doing her best not to think about anything. The lights were off and the curtains were mostly closed, allowing only a sliver of of the late afternoon light into the room. The pillows were still damp with tears, but she'd long since cried herself out. Now she just felt empty. She supposed this was what humans and ponies referred to as heartbreak; as someone who'd had her heart literally broken, at the moment she was certain that this was worse.
Sonata raised her head slightly as someone knocked on her door. "Who's there?" she called out.
A moment passed in silence, long enough that Sonata started to wonder if she'd just been imagining it. Finally, the person on the other side responded.
"It's Adagio."
Sonata gasped and clutched the pillow harder against herself, realizing that there was still one emotion left inside of her: fear. What did Adagio want? Had she come to take revenge for Aria?
"I'm coming in," Adagio said.
The door swung open, spilling the light from the hallway into Sonata's room. Sonata scrambled to her feet and pressed herself against the far wall in a futile effort to escape Adagio's searching eyes. Although she was far more powerful than Adagio at the moment, Sonata's knees felt weak and her stomach was writhing. She didn't have the heart to fight back.
Adagio spotted her immediately and snorted. "Relax," she said, "I'm not here to hurt you." Adagio closed the door behind her and stepped farther into the dimly lit room. Sonata had to moisten her throat before she could speak.
"Adagio," Sonata whimpered. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." She held a shaking hand to her mouth, feeling as if she might be sick.
"Yeah, that's what I thought at first, too." Adagio stalked across the room toward her sister, who pressed herself harder into the wall. "If you hadn't interfered, the Rainbooms would be dead, and we'd rule this world." She stopped halfway to Sonata and stood there, hands on her hips, looking at her sister with a steady gaze.
Sonata trembled where she stood. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry!"
"Well," Adagio continued over her, "I've been thinking about it, and I realized... that isn't what I want."
It took a moment for Sonata to realize what her sister had said. "It isn't?" she asked hesitantly.
"No." Though expressing new and strange ideas, Adagio spoke with the same confidence as ever. "Sunset Shimmer was right, and I guess you were, too. What we were doing was never going to make us happy. It would never have been enough."
Adagio's eyes flicked around aimlessly as she tried to put her thoughts into words. "Plus," she continued, "I think I really would have felt bad if we'd killed those girls. They might have been the first ones ever to do something for us because they wanted to, instead of us making them do it. We could have kept on going the way we were, but when you really think about it, what's the point of it all?"
"What are you saying?" Sonata asked, her voice shaking. "You mean... we're not going to try again?" She hardly dared to hope that Adagio had truly given up her old ways so soon. Then again, Sonata herself had come around as soon as the Rainbooms showed her their friendship. Why not Adagio, too?
Adagio sighed and sat heavily on the bed. "No, I don't want to try again," she murmured. "I'm done. Every time I try something big, we end up worse off than we were before. I got us banished to this awful place. I got our hearts broken. I got Aria..." she cut off with a gasp and buried her face in her hands.
"It's not too late," Sonata murmured softly. She yearned to comfort Adagio, but didn't dare get any closer. "We could go back and tell them the truth."
"No," Adagio answered. "That would just end with all three of us in Tartarus."
"At least we'd all be together," Sonata argued.
"Aria did what she did for a reason, just like you," Adagio replied with a bite in her voice. "The difference is that you were ready for us to change. She wasn't."
"She didn't want to," Sonata said, thinking back to her last conversation with Aria. "She thought the ponies were trying to turn her into something she's not."
"Maybe she was right," Adagio answered. "In any case, she did what she thought was best for all of us."
"Sonata hugged her arms to herself as she thought it over. "Was it?" she asked. "Was it best for all of us?"
"For you, yes," Adagio answered. "Maybe even for her."
"How do you figure?" Sonata demanded. "How could this be what's best for her?"
"In Tartarus, she won't be expected to be anyone except who she is," Adagio explained. "I'll bet there's plenty of negative energy and magic for her to feed on, too. With the kinds of monsters they've got locked up in Tartarus, she could become as powerful as she's ever dreamed." Adagio chuckled. "Who knows? She just might take over the whole dimension."
"Maybe," Sonata said doubtfully.
"Maybe," Adagio agreed, then sighed. "Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better about it."
"No," Sonata said with sudden certainty, "I'm sure you're right. I'll bet, a thousand years from now, she'll come back and introduce herself as Queen Aria of Tartarus!" She threw a hand into the air dramatically.
A silent moment passed, and Sonata slowly returned to her previous subdued mood. What Adagio hadn't said hadn't escaped her.
"What about you, Adagio?" Sonata finally worked up the nerve to take a step closer to her disheartened sister. "Is this what's best for you?"
Adagio didn't speak for a few seconds that seemed to stretch on for eternity. When she finally did answer, it was in a dull monotone. "I have no idea," she admitted. "For the first time in a thousand years, I don't know what to do. I don't even know what I want." She scoffed at herself. "If I'm talking to you about it, I must really be desperate."
"Well..." Sonata said uncertainly, "if you're being really honest with yourself, what would make you happy? What do you want right now, this minute?" Sonata understood that, in her own way, Adagio was asking—no, begging—for help. Sonata was determined to give it.
"I just told you, I don't know!" Adagio snapped, sending Sonata back the step she'd managed to take.
Sonata tried a different tack. "Well, you know what I want?" she asked.
"What?" Adagio grumbled, not especially interested.
"I want someone to be here with me," Sonata whispered. "Someone who can hold me and tell me that everything will be okay. That's what I want right now. So, what do you want?"
"I want..." No sobs or cries escaped her, but a tear trickled silently down Adagio's cheek. "I want my sister back."
"Me too," Sonata murmured. Screwing up her courage, Sonata crossed the short distance to the bed and sat down beside Adagio. The other girl didn't protest. "What do we do now?" Sonata asked quietly. "What's the plan?"
No matter how low Adagio got, that question always snapped her out of it. Adagio was a planner and a strategist, and right now she needed something to focus on.
"Hmm. The plan?" Adagio reached out and yanked Sonata toward her. Sonata let out a short shriek of fright before realizing that she was being pulled into a hug. After Sonata's initial shock faded, she gladly returned it.
Adagio rested her chin on Sonata's shoulder and sighed heavily. She'd lost one sister already; she was only now coming to appreciate the other. "Alright," Adagio said, "here's the plan: you sit right there, and don't let go of me until we're both feeling better."
Sonata gave a small giggle. That was the kind of plan she could get behind. "And then what?"
"And then..." Adagio shook her head in disbelief at what she was about to say. "And then I guess we'll try things your way." She paused, thinking over the implications of what she was saying. "I don't know if I can ever forgive Twilight," she continued, "but the others... well, it wasn't their fault, and they did help us before. I'll give this friendship thing a shot." She tightened her embrace. "It'll be okay, Sonata."
Sonata exhaled in relief and leaned into the hug. Both sirens felt their shoulders dampening with tears, but neither mentioned it. The two sisters held each other in a silent promise of support and love.
Time passed, though neither girl could have said how much. At long last, they let go of each other when Sonata's phone vibrated on her nightstand.
Half-curious, half-scared, Sonata picked up the phone to see who it was. She was expecting it to be Pinkie Pie, and honestly had no idea how she would respond. Adagio said she wanted to try being friends, and Sonata would like nothing more, but she simply wasn't ready to face them yet.
Sonata's face scrunched in surprise at the text. It wasn't from Pinkie Pie. In fact, several things about the message were totally impossible—although, given the one who'd sent it, that didn't mean much.
"What does it say?" Adagio asked, curious about her reaction. Sonata turned the phone around so Adagio could see it.
There was no return phone number, only a smiley face and a line of scrambled code where the sender's information should have been. Underneath that was a short message, only a single sentence.
Go back through the portal at sundown, the text said simply, I have a surprise for you. It was signed, Dissy.