//------------------------------// // Old 'Friends' // Story: The Siren Song: Razzle Dazzle // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// One and a half Years Later... Back in Lyrica, Fortissimo was seen with Twilight's Equestria friends. He had trained them in the arts of a magic that far surpassed their former Rainbow Power that had plagued them in the past. Now he was rather pleased with how the process had turned out. He watched as the five of them just stood there, not even letting out a single gasp of breath. He could see that their eyes were pure red now, as if they were controlling a Furen Summon. However, whilst their eyes were red, they still walked when he commanded them and attacked when he commanded them. In short, the five of them were his silent puppets. "At long last, the time has come to finally see if our little sisters know their way around a sword..."Fortissimo said as he brought up the giant crystal orb once more and motioned his small audience to come and look at it. "To think, The Dazzlings, sword wielders at the age of ten..." "Fortissimo, remember that we need them alive," Allegro pointed out as he viewed Aria on the giant orb. He could see that his little sister was starting to get older and stronger as well, but he also worried for her safety as well. "If you really are going to test The Dazzlings, you need to let them find their way back up the ladder, not just drop them off at some random step." "Which is why we'll be sending them weaker soldiers of Euphoria first, Allegro," Fortissimo said, hitting the orb with a blast from his blue pendant. "You don't mind if we make a quick stop, do you?" The orb that the eight Sirens consumed them all in a bright glow of light. It didn't take long before the throne room was completely barren once again. Eventually, The Blasters and Twilight's Equestria friends found themselves in a rather heavenly plane of existence. The skies were bright and had golden clouds, the rivers were pure and shone in the sunlight, and there wasn't a single flaw with this new world. As the eight of them walked through the rather luscious grass, flowers bloomed behind them all. "Where are we, Fortissimo?" Siren Rainbow Dash asked, wondering where she was now. She'd seen a lot of things in her fake life, but she'd never seen such a wonderful place such as this. "This, Rainbow Dash, is Euphoria. It is a world where Blissen Sirens like me and the other Blasters can relax, train, and contact the denizens which we will have assault The Dazzlings," Fortissimo said, explaining to the Siren 5 as if they were on a field trip together. "And don't be worried if it's the fact that the five of you are Furens and you won't be welcome here. I just need to verify that we have guests that we will keep under control and then you five will be golden, K?" "Yes, Master Fortissimo." the five of them all said, saluting him by putting their knuckles on their chest area. The eight of them walked across floating steps overlooking a bottomless fall. Whilst their balance wasn't on the good side, it wasn't a problem with their wings. As they walked across the steps which hung above the sky itself, The Blasters stroked three dragons that flew up besides them whilst the Siren 5 just watched. Once the dragons flew off to another part of Eupohria, The Blasters arrived at a sanctum and made it to the top of a rather large summoning dais. The three of them cast a spell on the Siren 5 which allowed them to stay in the sanctum whilst they called upon the first monsters to 'test' The Dazzlings. Once a pool of blue magic appeared in front of the dais, each of The Blasters picked up a handful of blue sand and scattered it across the pool of magic, causing it to ripple and enable beings of Euphoria to arise and heed The Blasters call. They watched as the blue field rippled some more, enabling many different monsters to fly out of it. When they were all present and correct, The Blasters addressed all the beings. Each and every one of the beings had a slender, humanoid body with blue dragon wings. Their bodies were garbed in rather tough plate armour with blue Blissen crystals adorning the rather bright white plate armour. They had no weapons, but their claws were rather long, much like that of three queens that The Blasters knew down in Dystopia. "The time has come, entities of Euphoria!" Fortissimo said, addressing all of the group with has rather sinister voice reaching the ears of all of the new monsters he had called on. "The Dazzlings are finally capable of wielding a sword in combat! So the time has come for you all to bring them to us!" "Just to clarify, we want The Dazzlings ALIVE," Allegro said, adding on another rule to the monsters' code of conduct if they were to serve under The Blasters' name. "You can do what you like with them, as long as you don't completely kill them. You can knock them unconscious, but nothing too fatal or life-threatening." "After all, we need them in order for us to bring the Sirens back to prosperity," Orchestral addressed the many monsters with his sinister voice. He needed to make sure that the many monsters they'd be sending The Dazzlings' way would be willing to undergo all of their orders without fail. "When we finally bring the species back, we'll be able to wage on a full out war on these other worlds that go against peace! But we can only accomplish that dream of utter conquest as long as The Dazzlings are ALIVE." "Since The Dazzlings are only just starting to uncover their true power, I think it's time we let them climb the ladder once more. Smiles! Come forth!" Fortissimo flexed his fingers, getting a group of slender humanoids with smiles made of Blissen crystals to walk towards the dais. "You shall be our first strike against The Dazzlings. You are to test their power and see whether or not they are worthy of their Right Souls of Fury." "Do not fail us, or you shall return to the void of the afterlife where you once came..." Fortissimo said as the Smiles he had called forward vanished slowly in the dais' blinding light. Once the light had disappeared, the Smiles were gone. "Are ya sure that those Dazzlings of yours'll be able ta handle the Smiles ya called?" Siren Applejack asked, wondering if her new master had the answer to that question. "Smiles are at the bottom of the food chain here in Euphoria, Applejack..." he responded, teleporting in front of her within the blink of her eyes. "Once The Dazzlings have their first taste of Blissen blood, we shall send more and more creatures their way. And believe me, my Siren puppets, these creatures will get stronger and stronger the more powerful The Dazzlings become..." The three Blasters shared in a rather evil laugh, prompting the Siren 5 to do the same. Their eight voices could be heard throughout all of Euphoria, reaching out to all the ears of the creatures that were still alive, and the ones that had been resurrected with the dais' power. "Now, Adagio..." Fortissimo said to himself once the group had finished their insidious laughter. "The time has finally come for you and the rest of The Dazzlings to unlock your TRUE power..." Adagio, Aria and Sonata were sat on the edges of their beds, trying to process all that had truly happened to them over the years. They'd only just started getting these headaches and memories recently. Whether or not it was a coincidence or fate, they still had no idea. They could see that Twilight and Sunset were there with them, trying to comfort the three of them in these dark times. Their usual joy had long since disappeared, and was now replaced with looks of confusion and concern. Even Sonata, the excitable one of The Dazzlings, was in a rather deep train of thought. The three of them were wondering whether or not their time with Twilight and Sunset had been nothing but lies to them. "Are we... Are we really Sirens?" Adagio asked that question to herself over and over again, hoping that the answer would be incorrect. However, those memories were rather deep, and clearly showed her in a more mature state. "Are we really just witches, controlling people through song?" "I'm still concerned... Which set of memories are real?" Aria asked, pondering that question herself. Ever since the memories and migraines had happened, Aria was starting to confuse her life on Lyrica with her life as Twilight and Sunset's child. "Are the Siren memories real? Or are the memories with Mommy real? I just don't know which one is true!" "Why are we even here?" Sonata asked, her own question burned into her mind. She too was starting to crack under the pressure of being a Lyrican Siren instead of a human girl. As she threw herself back on the bed, she still saw back to those memories of her as a Lyrican Siren. "Why do we still exist, even after being struck down?" "Struck down?" Twilight asked, picking up on Sonata's most recent quote. She knew that if The Dazzlings had been struck down, then there must have been some logical explanation as to how they could still have existed. "Sonata, what do you mean by struck down?" "I remember being with my brother, Orchestral," Sonata said, pulling up one of her old memories with less pain than usual. Her mere vision called up the moving memory for Twilight and Sunset to view. "We were both struggling to survive after that little ambush the war had caused..." "Sonata, don't hurt yourself if the memory's too traumatizing," Sunset said, giving some important knowledge for Sonata to take with her. She could see all the worry on her face, so she wanted to make sure that Sonata had something to do if it was too stressful. "If you feel like the memory hurts you too much, try not to think about it." "We were in the ruins on some big building, our brothers were taking care of us. They were giving us bandages once we'd all recovered from crashing into this room," Sonata said, the memory moving onward even further. "But once we got back up to our feet... We just blacked out..." The moving memory continued to show The Blasters with just their blue Blissen Pendants. They showed rather sympathetic looks for The Dazzlings whilst they covered up the cuts with bandages. Once Sonata had mentioned the fact that they blacked out, the picture flashed brightly before vanishing. Twilight and Sunset were completely surprised by all the details they had witnessed. They'd never known that The Blasters actually cared for their little sisters during the great Lyrican War. While that did make them think The Blasters were fighting for no other reason than to find The Dazzlings and sing one song with then, the two of them suspected that that might not have been all to The Blasters' true desires. Who could have struck The Dazzlings down? Sunset spoke to herself as she pondered that question in her mind. She knew that if The Dazzlings were defeated in the great Lyrican War, then there must have been some way that The Dazzlings had been resurrected after the war's end. If we're able to figure that out, then maybe there's a chance that we can help The Blasters vent out their frustration to them instead... "Why is our existence split into two lives?" Adagio asked, coming to the assumption that both her memories in Lyrica and the ones she'd claimed from the Second Life Song were both completely true. She now came to the assumption that she was a Lyrican Siren, but reincarnated as a human after she'd blacked out during the war. "I remember the last memory we had was with our brothers, but after we blacked out, we awoke with Mommy..." "Can you remember anything else, Adagio?" Twilight kneeled down and asked her, wondering if Adagio remembered any of her actions that had happened when she'd issued the Battle Of The Bands ten years ago. If some of those memories remained, then Twilight worried what Adagio would think about her and the rest of her Human World friends. "Anything at all? Even before you arrived at Sunset's house?" "Umm... Nope, I can't think of anything after that, Auntie Twilight," Adagio said, showing a rather unusual sense of sorrow that she didn't remember anything after she blacked out during the war. "Sorry..." "That's alright," Twilight said, remaining optimistic on the situation at hand. She knew that even though The Dazzlings couldn't remember their memories on how they came back into being, she remembered that they were starting to remember little fragments of their old lives, one at a time. "But make sure to let me and Sunset know if there's anything else you, Aria and Sonata remember, ok?" "Okay, Auntie Twilight." she said, in a rather emotionless tone of voice. She hastily returned to her ponderings, still trying to figure out whether or not her memories of herself on Lyrica were correct or not. Suddenly, a loud noise could be heard, coming from outside. The five girls immediately picked up on the noise and quickly ran outside to see what had happened. They dashed out of Musician's Delight, down the staircase and out the front door, where something rather unusual was happening outside. Upon making it outside, the girls could see that the light seemed brighter for some reason, as a rather bizarre choir could be heard piercing the silence of the streets. From the light, a group of slender humanoid figures were descending on the streets, their angelic wings unfurled and their swords ready for combat. The other noticeable feature was that each of the figures had sinister smiles made purely out of blue crystals. The girls saw the figures landing on the streets, as gracefully as expected. Once they had landed, the figures held their swords with the blades close to their cheeks and the handle close to their hips. Twilight, Sunset and The Dazzlings could see now that each of the monsters had armour, adorned with Blissen crystals. The five of them could also see a large amount of people, standing at the ends of each side of the street. They saw that they didn't scream, panic, or even show a single sign of fear when these creatures had arrived. Instead, the five girls saw these humans were smiling and sighing in bliss. With all that happiness, streams of blue mist sprung up from the humans' bodies and travelled towards the new creatures. Each one of the creatures unfurled their arms for a few moments and absorbed the blue mist, feeling a new amount of power surging within them. Their swords glowed bright blue for a few seconds before returning to a regular silver colour. "I remember you..." Adagio said, calling up one of her old memories. She showed the other girls another moving memory, depicting The Dazzlings fending off large groups of these monsters during a small civil war between Dystopia and Euphoria. Once the memory finished, Adagio regained consciousness and looked at these creatures once more. "You're Smiles... from Euphoria..." Third Joyrezen SMILE Pleasures "Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk," one of the Smiles began speaking, their blue crystals banging against each other as their lips moved. "Your brothers, The Blasters have instructed us to capture the three of you. Your presence is required to reawaken the Sirens of Lyrica from their eternal slumber." "Resistance is futile. Should you strike us down, The Blasters will only send more and more powerful escorts your way," the second Smile said, the grip tightening on its' sword. "However, even though more and more stronger entities of Euphoria will come after you, that does not mean we can kill you." "The Blasters ordered that we bring the three of you to them alive, not dead," the third Smile spoke, glowing bright blue as he did so. "They want your stories to have happy endings, rather than tragic ones." Without warning, the three creatures dashed towards The Dazzlings at insane speeds, their swords ready to subdue The Dazzlings once and for all. The Dazzlings were barely given any time to react, but they had just enough time to recall another memory before the beasts hit them. Their new memories showed them holding swords, with the special insignias on their beds emblazoned in the middle of the red crystal hilts. They put their hands in front of their faces once the memory had stopped, once they did, a bright light enveloped everyone. Once the light had stopped, The Dazzlings were surprised to see that the Smiles had been knocked onto their backs. They could clearly see that that flash of light had done something to them, but they were unsure on what. When it had finally come to pass, each of The Dazzlings was holding something that they remembered all too well... All three of them were holding swords with crystal red hilts and rubber grips. The grips felt rather nice to hold and called back some of their pleasant memories. As the memories had shown them, the hilts had the markings on their beds emblazoned in the middle. There was an amber gem in the middle of a treble clef for Adagio, a purple star with a revolved 'S' with ballpoint ends for Aria, and a sour note on top of a heart for Sonata. The blades seemed like they were split in half, but not completely broken. There were thin gaps where the fullers of the sword would be. "W-What? What are these things?" Adagio asked, feeling the metal part of her sword with a little curiosity. She could feel like this sword was hers, even though she'd only just seen this thing in her memories and couldn't verify whether or not it was truly hers. "I don't really know, Dagi..." Aria said, taking a few slow practice swings of her sword to see how light it was to her. She then saw that one of the Smiles charged back at her, so she used her sword to cut it straight in half. No blood emanated from it, but both halves of the Smile's corpse were consumed in a blue aura before fading away in the blink of an eye. "But I think they're meant to be used to fight against these monsters..." The five girls saw the other two Smiles charge in on Adagio and Sonata, so they both did what Aria did and sliced the things in half with a wide horizontal swing. They made sure not to swing the blade so that it hit Aria, Twilight or Sunset, but they had cleanly hit their marks. The other two Smiles fell to the floor in four different halves. Once more, no blood came, but they did vanish in a blue light. "Such powerful swords, girls..." Twilight said, examining the weapons once the Smiles were gone from the area. She felt the crystal hilt, feeling pure Furen energy emanate off of it. Then, she felt the blade itself. It was sharp, sharper than any weapon used by the Equestrian Royal Guard back in Equestria. "Why would those things attack us?" Sunset asked, wondering why creatures with Blissen crystals would be out for blood at this time. She thought that it was completely uncouth for beings from Euphoria to attack others. "I don't know, but I think they're bringing in reinforcements... Look!" Aria pointed towards the bright light again, getting all of the girls to turn their attention towards it. The sky now showed a giant blue ring, with smaller rings inside it. In each of the rings, there were circles. In each of the circles, there were different markings written in Lyrican. The rings let out at least ten more Smiles and one large creature as well. The Smiles landed with their wings unfurled, just like their brethren, but this new creature was something else entirely. The large creature was only a foot larger than the other Smiles, but its' appearance was completely different. It had much more durable armour with chains linking it all together. Each part of the armour was draped in Blissen crystals, and its' flesh was a rather calming blue. Its' face was lacking a mouth and had rather serious eyes. It picked up its' weapon of choice, a club with more Blissen crystals forged into it. It swung the club and slammed it into the ground, prepping itself for the battle ahead. To top it all off, it pulled up a slab of the road and transformed it into a white shield with a majestic gilded edge around it. Third Joyzeren CONTROL Orders "Dazzlings, if you do not uphold the Balance of Lyrica, you three will be seen as infidels against all of Lyrica," the giant beast with a club and shield spoke. "However, we shall prove that you are not blasphemers. To do so, we shall fight you. Should you succeed, you shall still be known as Furen Sirens. Fail, and I see no need to explain the consequences..." "Oh... I don't think that sounds very nice..." Sonata said, now shuddering in fear. She had been able to take down a Smile a few seconds ago, but was now timid when she locked gazes with the giant beast that stood in her way. "What should I do, Ari..." "It's alright, Sonata," Aria said, stroking Sonata's cheeks to calm her down. She could see that Sonata was worried by all those things, but Aria had just the right words to help her regain confidence. "Just pretend that you're Prince Charming from Mommy's bedtime stories and you'll be just fine." "Okay then..." Sonata said, still a little worried, but perked up by Aria's comment. The more she dwelled on it, however, the braver Sonata got. She could actually see herself as a courageous heroine, wielding a sword to strike down evil. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's do this!" "And you're a Control..." Adagio said, remembering the Control from more and more of her returning memories. She could remember fighting against a couple of these things, with Fortissimo helping her out when she was on her knees. "You always were the ones I had the most fun with..." "Enough stalling, Dazzlings!" the Control said, getting rather impatient. Even though her was a deity from Euphoria, he was still on a rather tight timeline with his duties. "Are you infidels? Or are you loyal to the Balance of Lyrica?" Before he could even see a reaction, he could see that Adagio was right next to him, with three of the Smiles erased from his ranks. "Does that answer your question?" Adagio said, a rather long lost emotion returning to her. It had been ten years, but Adagio was starting to remember her true personality. She looked at the Control with a rather seductive look as he simply looked shocked. She dodged the Control's club and saw Aria and Sonata running towards the other Smiles. After that, she avoided being bashed by the Control's shield and slashed at his legs, getting him to recoil in pain. With that opening, Adagio jumped onto the Control's back and grabbed onto his cheeks. Once she did so, the Control flailed around wildly, trying to get her off. It proved to be unsuccessful as Adagio merely jumped off and swung at the Control's back, causing it to land face-first into the road. "Come on, boys... You want a piece of me?" Aria taunted, fending off multiple Smiles at once. She reflected each one of their sword swings with rapid reactions and fast counters. Every time she saw an opening, she slid underneath a Smile's legs and slashed its' bottom whilst she slid. She got up, seeing the creature trying to grasp its' butt, letting out little shrieks of pain. Seeing another opportunity here, Aria thrust her blade up the creature's butt, getting it to cry even more before vanishing in the bright blue aura like its' brethren before it. Meanwhile, Sonata was envisioning herself as a rather noble prince from Sunset's many stories. She swung her sword rather widely and held it in certain poses like she'd seen in the books. It was a combination of this, added with her newfound dexterity, that she was able to take down even more Smiles. She saw each one of the smiles fade away in bright blue light, just like the ones she'd fought before. Finally, once all the smiles were gone, The Dazzlings went three on one against the large Control. It was heavily armoured and had a weapon that could bat their swords away, but that didn't bother them in the slightest. They simply dashed in three different directions once the Control took even one step forward. "You call us infidels, Control, but you seem to be forgetting that you're Blissens," Adagio said, trying to fake out the Control as she circled around it, trying to look for an opening in all its' armour. "Why would Blissens, both Siren and creature, try to attack innocent bystanders like Mommy and Auntie Twilight?!" The Control couldn't even answer that in time. It felt a painful surge coming from its' legs once Aria and Sonata dealt another blow to it. When it kneeled down, it saw Adagio run onto its' club and leap off once it tried to pick it up again. It tried raising its' club up fast enough, but it had been outplayed by Adagio once she thrust her sword into its' forehead. Each of The Dazzlings saw that the Control had suffered a fatal blow with Adagio's finishing move. They quickly moved away as the beast fell down onto its' chest, dropping the club and shield it carried. Once The Dazzlings watched it smash into the ground, they saw it vanish just like the others; in an aura of blue light. "Hmm... The Dazzlings finally remember how to work with swords, it seems..." Fortissimo said, watching the end of the battle on an orb he'd summoned in the sanctum where the rest of the denizens of Euphoria had been waiting. He watched as the orb vanished, turning his attention back to the denizens of Euphoria and the Siren 5. "So, now you should go get them, right?" Siren Pinkie said, thinking that all of the pieces had fallen into place once the orb had vanished from the sanctum they were all in. "Patience, Pinkie Pie. We still need them to unleash all of their lost powers..." Allegro said, bringing up one of his own memories. "I seem to recall that Sirens have special finishing moves for when they deal with powerful entities from the other side..." "Oh yeah, Courageour!" Orchestral said, remembering the giant that he, Fortissimo and Allegro had contacted four years ago. "I wonder when he'll show up?" "Courageour's arrival into The Dazzlings' present will happen in precisely one hour, Orchestral," Fortissimo said, pulling up a spectral rectangle with a time ticking down inside. It clearly read '00:01:00:00' on the rectangle before it began counting downwards. "Once he arrives, we shall finally see what those humans call a DAZZLING performance..."