//------------------------------// // Stress // Story: The Siren Song: Razzle Dazzle // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// One Week Later... "What are we gonna do, Dagi?" Sonata showed concern as the three of them made their way into school once more, to begin another day of learning. Sonata was worried that they were just now discovering their true selves, and thought that all that would clash with her education if they all got attacked by beings of Euphoria. "What do you mean by that, Sonny?" Adagio asked, wondering what could have possibly been stirring in Sonata's mind at this moment in time. "I'm just saying, now that we have these swords and magic, how are we gonna keep them secret from the other kids?" she explained, hoping that Adagio and Aria would realize how severe this secret was to them, and how it might make them seem infamous if it got leaked to the public. "Actually... I hadn't really thought of that..." Adagio's eyes widened. It truly was the deepest secret that The Dazzlings had ever kept in their lives. If everyone knew that they carried swords, then there was a good chance that everyone would turn against them and condemn them for their secrets and their past. "What are we gonna do, Ari?" Sonata turned to face Aria, seeing as Adagio was now deep in thought with the quote that Sonata had passed to her. "Why does it even matter, Sonata? We'll be able to explain everything if it does get out." Aria said, seeing no fear in having the secret exposed eventually. She was starting to show no fears once more, as her old self usually showed no sign of weakness. "How are we gonna explain to all these kids that we're Sirens from Lyrica?!" Sonata yelled out in frustration. She knew that no matter what she and the rest of The Dazzlings said, the humans would never be able to comprehend any of it. "They'd think we're completely insane and would try to ship us off to a mental hospital!" "Whoa! Calm down, Sonata." Adagio exclaimed, seeing Sonata's frustrations start to rise. She'd never in her life seen Sonata this worked up, neither before or after the events at Canterlot High ten years ago. "Look, we don't have to tell anyone that we're Sirens. We'll just keep it a secret between the three of us," Adagio opened up the doors afterwards, seeing that there were still some kids organizing their lockers. "Just play it cool, follow my lead, and everything is going to be ok..." Aria and Sonata walked with Adagio, looking at each of the kids with rather concerned looks. Even though Adagio was a calm and collected leader, that still didn't change the fact that they now had to hide their secret from everyone who hadn't seen them for what they truly were yet. "Hey, Kingdom!" Adagio waved to a boy who was shuffling the books in his locker. "Hi, Dagi!" Kingdom said back with a smile on his face. He also waved to Adagio as she and the other Dazzlings walked with her. "Did you lose weight, Sweat Break?" Sonata complimented someone who was wearing special fitness bands around his ankles, wrists and forehead. "You're looking much better now." "Thanks, Sonata. It truly is a wonder how the world's changing over the years..." he said, rubbing his shoulder muscles rather tenderly whilst he shot a smile at Sonata. "Hey, Middle. How's the family doing?" Aria asked a boy who was in the middle of two other kids. They were all sorting out the stuff in their lockers as well, but he seemed like he was squashed between the other two. "The family's good, Aria. There's still something going down between mom and dad, but hopefully, they'll sort it out eventually." he said, giving Aria the answer she sought. "Give me a shout once everything's all patched up. We could have a sleepover together!" she said back, letting out a rather friendly smile for once in her life. "Sounds good to me!" he said back to Aria, seeing her smile and responding with a smile of his own. "See you then, Aria!" "K! See ya later!" Aria then went off with the rest of The Dazzlings to their own lockers, to collect their stuff for the day ahead of them. Each of The Dazzlings put their hands on the automated locks, seeing a green bar scanning their fingerprints. Once the scanning was all done, the panel lit up bright green and a lock clicked open, allowing Adagio, Aria and Sonata to take what they needed from their lockers. "Gotta love fingerprint-coded locks..." Adagio smiled as she took the books she needed and closed the door, hearing the lock click shut again. She smiled at how far technology in the Human World had come over the past years. Not even her past selves would have appreciated any of this if they'd seen it with their own eyes. "Yeah, they truly do make this world seem even more wonderful..." Sonata smiled, seeing the glowing panel once she'd taken her hand off of the green icon to open the door and grab her books. "So, where are you headed?" Aria asked, seeing as the other girls had all grabbed their timetables for the day ahead of them. "Well, I've got art class to start with," Adagio started, looking at the well-organized timetable which had the same amount of time for each scheduled lesson she'd be tackling today. "They're gonna be teaching me how to mold clay into a pot for Mommy and Auntie Twilight." "What luck, Dagi! we've both got the same first lesson!" Sonata said, showing the exact same lesson to Adagio on her timetable as well. She showed happiness again as she draped one of her arms around Adagio's shoulders with a smile on her face. "You two have the same lesson?" Aria asked, a sign of curiosity starting to show as she'd witnessed such incredible good luck for the first time in ten years. "How lucky." "What have you got, Ari?" Sonata asked, peaking over her shoulders suddenly, so she could get a better look at Aria's timetable for the day ahead of her. "Well, I've got something called Religious Education on here..." Aria said, seeing the letters "R.E." were close together and had "Religious Education" in brackets next to it. She peered at those words for about fifteen seconds before looking back at Adagio and Sonata. "I've got no idea what in the world that's supposed to be about, though..." "I think that's to do with the beliefs that this world has besides that of Mommy's home and Lyrica..." Adagio pondered, seeing as she'd never heard those words before in any phase of her life. Not even when she was in Lyrica, or tainted with darkness, had she heard of those two words. "Either that or this world has some weird classes..." Suddenly, the three girls heard the bell, and they knew that class was about to begin. They immediately looked at each other and nodded before bolting off to their first classes for the day. Their footsteps echoed through the halls as they dashed through the other frenzied children in an attempt to make it to their classes. "God, that took forever..." Aria said as The Dazzlings made it outside for recess. She'd obviously had some frustration with her Religious Education class, as the sweat trickled down from her brow as they finally made it out to the rather cool playground. She let out a little sigh of relief as the cool winds cooled down her hot forehead. "But anyways, now's the time, girls..." Adagio said, leading the girls to the hidden spot under the climbing frame where the Kids of Shadows had their meets every time they were out there. She put her head against the frame and used her hand to make welcoming motions to allow Aria and Sonata to go in first. Once they were both underneath the frame, Adagio joined them both by rolling under the frame instead of getting down on her knees. Once they were underneath the frame, Topaz concealed their location by rolling down special blinds made out of black silk. Once this was done, most of the kids rolled marbles, which suddenly became bright lights which made candle-like light. Once the glow filled the room, all of the Kids of Shadows, including The Dazzlings, took some black powder from the bowl in front of them all and painted each of their unique face marks. "Right then, I call this meeting of the Kids of Shadows to order," Topaz said, getting all the group to listen once all of their face marks were finished. "Let's all say the pledge, if you will..." "Our names are secret, our purposes unknown. By the time you figure it out, we'll already be full-grown!" they all said once more, smiling once it was all over. Their motto was a sign of unity and friendship, and it made everyone there know that they were all in this together. Even The Dazzlings smiled once this little pledge was over. Even after all these years, The Dazzlings liked having friends by their side whenever things got hairy for the three of them. "Now then, the first order of business I'd like to go through today, involves our rivals; the Stardust Smilers." Topaz said, bringing up a special tablet which showed a bunch of kids dressed completely in white, with stars on the special headbands they wore. Each of the kids bore smiles, and had their hairs styled in very bizarre ways. All of the kids booed and gave thumbs down to the kids in the photos. The two had been at a small war with each other, ever since something that had happened a few years back. "I know, I know," Topaz said, calming the angry kids down with his hands. "The Stardust Smilers have been a pain in our necks ever since the great punch bowl pandemonium of 21'. But I have a way which we can get rid of them, if you're up for it..." "Of course we're up for it, Chancellor," one of the girls with an aquamarine strip in her otherwise magenta hair said. Her face mark was a long strip running across her eyebrows, and another bunch of strips running down her cheeks. "Those Stardust Smilers keep thinking that everything they do is right. Nothing but goody-two-shoes are what they are!" All the other kids murmured in complete agreement with this girls' words. They were all on her side, seeing as these Stardust Smilers had made them feel nothing but fury. "Good to hear that, Daybreak," Topaz said, changing the picture to a rather bizarre battle plan, drawn up quite neatly with Topaz, but with little stick figures that represented him and the kids. "Because this plan is ingenious..." "The Stardust Smilers' next meet is tomorrow at the Fizz Farm tavern over on Stardust Street," he said, pointing out the house where the Stardust Smilers would be hanging out next. "Now, they'll be discussing ways on how to 'improve' the behaviour of other kids. But, we'll be in the shadows, ready to give them the biggest surprise of their lives..." "Ooh... What is it, Chancellor Topaz?" another of the kids, this time being one of The Dazzlings' old friends from when they were even younger than they are now. It was Ancient Myth, who had a star as her black face marking. "Are we gonna be cutting the power? They'll surely be unable to talk in the darkness, without their mommies and daddies there to help them!" "Well, while that would break their morale, I'd have to say we'll be sticking to the main battle plan at hand, Ancient..." Topaz slid his finger across the tablet, changing the picture once more. This time, it revealed a vat of juice, which the kids presumed was what the Stardust Smilers usually drank when they had their meets. "This is what the Stardust Smilers usually drink. They believe that lemonade gives them 'a clear head'," Topaz explained before showing another picture of what looked like water with bubbles in it. "And this is sparkling water, which tastes worse than it sounds, believe it or not." "After we break up from school on the next day, we'll switch up the lemonade with the sparkling water, duping the Stardust Smilers and breaking their morales," Topaz went on to show hand-drawn pictures of the Kids of Shadows leading an assault on the Stardust Smilers, who seemed like they were suffering a bad migraine. "When they're weak, we'll capture them and completely ruin their reputations forever!" The other kids all cheered and threw up their fists in victory when Topaz finished talking. They knew that if this was to succeed, then they'd no longer be oppressed by the well-behaved children that always stole their spotlight. Even The Dazzlings raised up their arms as a sign of battle. "Now then, it's a rather complicated plan, so I'll have to divide you all up into three teams and designate leaders," Topaz said, watching as the kids all rapidly filed into square groups. Once they did, Topaz cracked a smile as he saw The Dazzlings were still where they sat recently. "Oh, I see there are three kids who haven't chosen their teams yet. What's wrong, girls?" "Well, it's just that this seems like a really big job, Chancellor Topaz," Adagio said, showing a little bit of concern at this point. It seemed like this was one of the biggest things The Dazzlings had done in their lives as regular girls, instead of their lives as Euphorian-slaying Furen Sirens. "I'm not sure that us being in separate teams would work well. Me, Ari and Sonny like doing things together, but being in separate teams, and for this big a plan, might just end up making us feel nervous and unable to act." "Ahh... I see," Topaz said, smiling at that little quote. "So, instead of splitting you up, I think you three sound like you'd be perfect in co-ordinating the attack, am I right?" "Well, yeah. We have done everything together," Aria said, still not even listening to what Topaz had even said before. "We even live in the same- wait, what?!" "Excellent! Now we've got our leaders for the strike!" Topaz said, announcing it to all the kids, who seemed rather happy at this point in time. They all cheered when they looked back at The Dazzlings, who started to show looks of worry now. "Just think, tomorrow afternoon, the Stardust Smilers are gonna be on their knees, begging for their mommies and daddies to come and pick them up early..." Topaz said, smiling as all of the kids listened in on his schemes. "Then we can officially declare the great punch bowl pandemonium of 21' a big accident." "Yeah! Those stupid Stardust Smilers don't know the first thing on being kids like us!" a boy said, feeling rather spiteful towards the Stardust Smilers. "We'll drive them out of this city for good, then we'll finally show all the kids here fun, instead of obedience!" another kid said, throwing up his fist in battle. "Down with behaviour! Up with fun!" a kid began to chant over and over again, getting other kids to say it with him. "Down with behaviour! Up with fun!" Eventually, the entire group was calling out the chant, whilst The Dazzlings only looked shocked with all the behaviour that arose from the Kids of Shadows. On top of all that, they could see that mysterious red mist flew out of their bodies, and off to the outside world. As the mist left the group, The Dazzlings took a peak outside, where they saw a rather horrifying sight. The red mist became a red cluster of storm clouds, which turned the sky above the kids as red as blood. Lightning flew off of the cluster of clouds, until the clouds began to take a more humanoid form. A loud snarl was heard, getting all of the kids out in the playground to stop what they were doing and look outside. Then and only then did the most horrific thing of all happen... A loud crash of thunder could be heard, causing all of the Kids of Shadows to stop their chant and huddle up together in safety. The sudden thunder had caused them to show a sign of fear, and now they were all begging for Topaz to keep them safe. "Don't worry kids, it's just a little thunder. It can't get to us in here..." he said, looking at Adagio, Aria and Sonata, who weren't with the rest of the Kids of Shadows. "Great... Now you've done it..." Aria said back to the Kids of Shadows as she looked out of the black silk and saw the most terrifying monster these kids would ever meet... The monster that arrived on the playground had red and purple flesh, with demonic scales running across its' arms and legs. It was a humanoid creature with bloodshot eyes and a bull's face with a nose ring. It had a nose ring and a helmet with horns on it. On top of that, it was at least nine feet tall and carried two large battle axes in its' hands. And if that wasn't enough, it had a large red Furen crystal hanging around its' neck. The creature roared loudly, getting all of the kids to start running and hiding from it. Once it had scared the kids, it slammed the two large axes down on the ground, adding red clouds with red lightning streaking down from them. Satisfied with the change in weather, the creature picked the axes back up again and got into a position of battle for whoever dared to face it. Hunter of Comeuppance BATTLE "A Dystopian?!" Adagio showed massive fear at this point. A denizen from Dystopia was standing right there, threatening the kids on the playground with two massive battle axes. She looked with fear at not only its' axes, but at the massive pendant as well. "What do we do, Dagi?" Sonata huddled up in fear with Adagio and Aria. They were at a massive impasse now. If they battled, then everyone would know their secret. But if they didn't battle, then the Battle would harm every kid on the playground before eventually finding The Dazzlings. "I... I don't know..." Adagio stuttered. She'd never in her life seen a Dystopian intervene in her affairs. Not even when she had her life in Lyrica, did Furens ever have problems with Dystopians. She looked at the creature snorting, letting out red mist which made all of the hiding kids now angry at each other. Adagio looked at all the battle-eager kids, who were now feeding the Battle with all their negative energy. The Dazzlings were all horrified at such a sight. If they did battle and win, then they'd be questioned and possibly condemned for their actions. But if they didn't win against the beast, then they'd be taken away from all of their friends and family and be brought to the hands of their brothers, who would do such despicable things to both the Human World and Equestria. On the other hand, if The Dazzlings didn't fight, then the Battle would go out on a rampage, harming everyone that dared to cross its' path. They then worried what would happen to Twilight, Sunset and the Humane 5 if that thing broke out. Both outcomes seemed negative for The Dazzlings, and it finally seemed like they were fighting a battle that they couldn't win...