A Few Days Later...
The Dazzlings were back in school, focusing on trying to stabilize their relationship with the kids of the Human World. Their recent exposure had left them wide open to suspicion, name calling, and even abuse. Adagio, Aria and Sonata watched as some of the kids shot them rather filthy looks, whilst others were left with their mouths dropped in awe.
Whilst some of the kids still weren't on board with this whole idea, there were some kids who were actually very accepting, and stood by The Dazzlings no matter what. Granted, it was mostly the Kids of Shadows without their facial marks who stood by The Dazzlings, but it was all the support they needed at this time in their lives.
"Why do some of these kids keep looking at us like that?" Adagio asked herself, concerned with the thought that all the kids might be rallying against the three of them. "What did we do?"
"Well, we DID kind of give away that we're not exactly human like them..." Sonata said, stating the obvious as usual. She seemed quite perky, even though she was going to be one of the targets of rather apprehensive kids who weren't liking The Dazzlings' true selves.
"Besides that, Sonata." Adagio reminded her that the three of them actually saved the school from an armageddon. It was the one good thing that they'd done for the school.
"What did we do that got them their disdain for us?" Aria pondered that question as the three of them walked down the hallways to return to their lockers. She'd been taking quite a lot of obscenities from all the kids who were no longer willing to side with them, so she wanted to find out the cause behind that sudden change in their emotions. "All we did was save them from a Dystopian..."
"That's just it, Aria. Dystopians can spread hatred among people, just for their mere presence alone..." Adagio said, but then immediately got her to ponder ever further. "But that raises a number of questions... Why would Dystopians want to attack us? They're on our side, after all..."
"I don't really know about that, Adagio..." Aria said, showing a more serious side at this moment in time. She knew that something was fishy, so she was determined to get to the bottom of it. "But there's definitely some chaos going down in this world. Courageour and Silenzel could have been the tip of the iceberg, for all we know..."
"So... If they're only getting stronger and stronger, then why are they going after humans as well?" Sonata asked, remembering that the Battle from last week, as well as Silenzel, were going after humans, in an attempt to slaughter them all with no mercy or remorse. "After all, that's kinda disrupting the Balance of Lyrica, wouldn't you agree?"
"Something must have happened during the war that caused these once controlled beasts from going berserk and causing widespread carnage..." Adagio put her hand to her chin and stopped in the middle of the hallway to think. "Not only that, but they seem hell-bent on capturing the three of us and returning us to our brothers, who only want nothing more than the destruction of the other species..."
"But that isn't their decision to make..." Aria pondered as well, stopping in the middle of the hall herself. She too was now slipping into a deeper and deeper train of thought. "Not even our brothers would stoop to such a criminal offense against Equestria and the Human World..."
"Yeah... Orchy and his friends have always respected the other worlds, and their many cultures..." Sonata finally slipped into her own train of thought. Whilst she was an excitable Furen, she was also a rather competent one at that. "I don't know what could have happened during the time we blacked out in the war, to the time we arrived at Mommy's house, but I bet on at least a hundred tacos that it wasn't good..."
Suddenly, Adagio got down into a kneeling position and let out little gasps of pain. She was starting to remember another one of her cryptic memories. One that truly would have helped her unravel this mystery.
"My head feels like it's being cracked open by a hammer!" she said through her pain, faintly seeing that the rest of The Dazzlings were suffering from the same symptoms as well. If she was remembering, then they were remembering as well.
"Well, at least we can control this better..." Aria said, not letting out screams of pain as the moving memory began to resurface. After a few years of seeing these things, The Dazzlings were starting to learn how to control them.
Ten Years Ago...
The Dazzlings walked out of the cafeteria at CHS, their faces filled with content from what had just happened. Only a few minutes ago were all the students at harmony with one another, now it seemed like all the students wanted to get at each other's throats in the newly created Battle Of The Bands.
"Hahahahahahaha! Oh man, that was awesome, Adagio!" Aria laughed, showing a lot of happiness at that moment in time. "I've never had such a scrumptious feast of power like that before!"
"I know, right? I mean at first they were all lovey-dovey and wanting to be friendly, now they're all willing to tear each other apart in there!" Sonata said, her dark humour evident as the memory continued. "Forget the tacos, that was delicious on its' own!"
"And this is only the beginning, girls..." Adagio peeked back into the cafeteria, seeing all the student body's fits of anger. Who would have guessed that one song would have spread that much discord. "Just wait until the competition starts, then they'll be arguing and bickering like toddlers..."
"And while they're all dying to get at each other, we'll just sit back and enjoy the show..." Aria said, feeling her red pendant. During her time when she was tainted, she'd never had such a large banquet of negative energy like that in her life.
"When we finally unlock our true powers once again, these worlds will suffer for their actions..." Adagio said, a rather sadistic smile starting to show as she watched the chain reactions of insults, physical abuse, and other spiteful things started to flare up inside the cafeteria, getting all of the student body completely worked up. "I assure you, girls. Nothing, and I repeat, NOTHING will stand in our way..."
As The Dazzlings walked down the hallway to continue laying the foundations for their master plan, they were blissfully unaware that their eyes flashed a dark shade of green, implying that dark magic had taken hold...
Present Day
Once the memory had finished, it left Adagio with a massive look of surprise. She started to question whether or not she was on the side of good or evil for her actions. Now that she remembered that little memory, she was remembering the other pieces of the puzzle that came before it. The time she and the others met Sunset, their time in Equestria, and even a few days in between the former.
It wasn't just her that suffered from those little memories. It was Aria and Sonata as well. Being reacquainted with their dark past had actually hurt them this time, as little red embers started to fly upwards from their eyes, indicating that they saw something that shouldn't have been seen.
"I remember... I remember those days..." Adagio said through gasps for breath. She'd seen a piece of the truth, and now she was starting to suffer from it. She was starting to remember her dark actions at Canterlot High School, the very actions that had taken herself and the other Dazzlings down this road that had been carved for them. "But... I don't remember why I came to CHS with Aria and Sonata. After all, the balance was perfectly stable at that time..."
"It must have been either after we died in the war, or a part of our most distant past..." Aria thought, trying to come up with a plausible explanation for why they had came to CHS in the first place, beside the Equestrian Magic that had spouted up there. "If it was our most distant past, then there must have been too much harmony at that place. But if it's after the war, then how were we reincarnated? And why would we want to spread hatred throughout a high-school?"
"But you do understand what happened there, right?" Sonata asked, hoping that it wasn't just her that remembered. "From what I'm now seeing, we sang a song, converting a music festival into all-out warfare. Something that most other species aren't able to do..."
"I guess that must be the Battle Of The Bands timeline that those five figures mentioned last week..." Adagio remembered that little piece of information that the Siren 5 had passed down to her. "But why did we exhibit Dark Magic? And how did it even get there in the first place?"
"This is rather scary, Dagi..." Sonata got close to Adagio for support. Now that the truth was starting to reveal itself, Sonata was starting to show massive signs of fear on her face. "Why did they say it was our last act?"
"A mystery to be unravelled later, maybe..." Aria said, looking at the time on the walls. It was three minutes to their classes. "We need to get moving before we're late again."
"Alright then. I'll see ya later, Ari. You too, Dagi." Sonata took her stuff and scrambled to get to her next class.
"Let's get moving, Dagi. We need to hurry up and get to Gym Class..." Aria started moving, seeing that Adagio was doing the same. "Who know what could happen if we're late?"
"Look on the bright side, Aria. It's not the end of the world now, is it?" Adagio said, looking on the bright side of things. Despite all these memories that were resurfacing, Adagio tried her best to remain optimistic in times like these.
Meanwhile, down in the depths of Dystopia, the Siren 5 walked down an infernal hall towards three thrones made out of thorny vines. They could see three figures sitting on the thrones, each with slender designs and otherworldly red Furen crystals poking out of the figures' limbs.
Upon making it to the three figures, the Siren 5 performed a Lyrican salute and waited patiently until the three infernal beings stood up, so that they could address the five of them.
"Alsek, mikre arkenal pirengrez. Dumphala redriengre dilastall. kirat delse riden grack dack delum stel prons scri?" the first figure said, standing up from the throne. She had the same body and hairstyle as Adagio, but with more sleek and otherworldly skin, topped with hair made out of pure golden fire.
"The Dazzlings are starting to remember their past," Siren Rainbow Dash said, in the most serious tone of voice she could muster. She was no longer the pony she once was, but more so a twisted version of her true self. "We need to begin testing them further."
"Kii... Nilza... Ungrei fowsdelek mingret telegam rei ningelek?" the second figure asked, with a look similar to that of Aria, but with otherworldly sharp scales running down her slender body. Her hair was a magenta fire with little white outlines here and there.
"With your permission, we would like to send the creatures of Dystopia to assault The Dazzlings. They must be wounded and lifeless, so that we can bring them to Lyrica and revive all the other Furens." Siren Pinkie said, showing no sign of joy in her tone of voice.
"Uum za, Pinkie Pie. Mildrek delegrenek talagongra firengelez marazel irs artze orbrek..." the third figure said, smiling with her two cohorts. The three of them then watched as their thrones transformed into a giant cauldron in the center of the room, which now harboured a pool of Furen Magic.
"Minzre, kiligek dumprana el sra kor?" the first figure asked, watching the five armoured ponies-turned-Furen walk towards the cauldron with sinister smiles on their faces.
"Everything you've got..." the Siren 5 all said together, their eyes shining as red as their pendants would allow them. All their innocence that used to be there when they were ponies, was now long gone. All that remained of them at this moment in time, were their Furen powers, and their undying hatred for Equestria and the Human World...
"Have you ever felt a certain serenity that was quickly swindled away from you in an instant? That happened to me..." Sonata said, reciting something for her Drama Class. She was standing in the centre of a ring of chairs, all but one of them occupied by other students. "Over the past few days, my innocence was quickly lost to me, leaving behind nothing but days upon days of torment..."
"With all the recent despair that happens in this world, war, dirty secrets, lies... Sometimes joy seems like a distant memory wrapped in amnesia and topped with nothing more than forgetfulness..." she continued, making dramatic movements as she continued to express herself. "When you eventually get the taste of sadness, you feel like there's nothing in the world that can possibly make it taste better."
"Sometimes it's as if happiness is just a candle, and it can be blown out in the blink of an eye... Sonata was about to finish with her little speech to the rest of her class. "And when the candle is blown out, I always shed a tear..."
At this point, most of the kids were seen crying for Sonata. They'd all been captivated with her wonderful drama, and now felt sympathy for the Furen that had recently been exposed to them. Now with that inspiring amount of dialogue, the kids now saw Sonata in a different light. As if she was some poor soul left to wander the earth, feeling nothing but sadness with the events that had happened.
"Sonata, that was amazing..." the drama teacher said, hiding his own tears through the sleeves of his shirt. "I had no idea that such a sweet little girl such as yourself was capable of such dramatic speech!"
"Thank you, Mr Toity." Sonata said, taking her seat once more.
"In fact, I believe that we might have just found the girl who will be representing us in the Amareican Drama Showcase!" he said, shaking Sonata's hand with such a generous vigour that Sonata found herself surprised. "Congratulations, Sonata Dusk. You're going be a star!"
"A star?" Sonata looked really happy now. It seemed that her recent heartbreak was long gone with the mere mention of popularity about to flare up for her.
"Just keep up the acting and you'll easily wow the crowd, kid," Mr Toity said, generously smiling as she handed her the ticked to the Amareican Drama Showcase, which said that it was going to be held in Coltimore in half a year. "You've got a bright future in acting, Sonata, I can just see it..."
Suddenly, a bell rang, getting all of the kids to stand up from their seats and head outdoors for their break. Sonata was the last to get up, feeling a rather serene sense of comfort from praise. It was as if praise was good for her, like if she'd cut herself and praise was there to help plaster the wound and make her happy again.
As she dwelled on the thought of being loved, Sonata grew a little smile. It was a rather neutral and calm smile, showing that praise made her feel happy and comforted. She walked out slowly, still with her smile on her face. If praise was that good, then she wanted more of it.
She walked down the halls and made it to the cafeteria. Since it was Tuesday, kids were seen trying out tacos. Sonata took a nearby tray and stood in line with some of the other kids. Whilst she knew that they still felt rather uncomfortable around her, she was surprised to see that they weren't even acting hostile anymore.
Eventually, the line moved up and Sonata was handed a taco on a plate. She looked carefully at all the ingredients that embellished said taco. With a hard, crisp shell holding together some special meat, lettuce, and cheese. All of this was topped with some white sour cream, piquing Sonata's curiosity.
"What is this?" Sonata asked the lunch lady working there, curious to know what a taco was.
"That's a taco, Sonata." the lady said, introducing her to the new treat that laid on her tray. "It was just introduced to the cafeteria menus recently."
"Oh, okay. Thanks!" she smiled before moving over to reunite with Adagio and Aria, who were sitting together by themselves. She eagerly walked over to them and put her tray down next to Adagio, who watched as Sonata sat down next to her.
"So, how was class, Sonny?" Aria decided to ask, seeing that Sonata was a little happier than usual.
"Well, Mr Toity says that I've got a bright future in acting ahead of me..." Sonata said, neither in an excited tone nor a sad tone, but in a rather calm tone. "He said that my speech in Drama Class was wonderful. Even the kids started crying for me at the end of it."
"Sounds like a real heartbreaking speech, Sonata..." Adagio said as she took another bite of the taco that she'd been given, letting all the flavours swirl around her taste buds as she continued to chew on it. "I just wish that I could have been there to hear it..."
"Oh, lighten up, Dagi. You and I both got tickets to perform in a Gymnastics competition," Aria said, playfully punching at Adagio's arm, getting her to crack a little smile at that remark.
"You girls got tickets too?" Sonata asked, picking up on the conversation between her two Furen sisters. She was quite joyful to know that Adagio and Aria were good at something as well. "Looks like we're all going somewhere then..."
"You mean you got a ticket for somewhere as well, Sonny?" Aria looked quite surprised, hearing that Sonata had earned herself a ticket for something was a big deal for the three of them. If none of them were left out, then they'd all be eager to know where each of them would be going.
"Yeah, Mr Toity gave me a ticket for something called the Amareican Drama Showcase in Coltimore. Look!" Sonata held out her ticket, which had golden boarders and a date and time written in the fanciest way possible.
"That's great, Sonny!" Adagio smiled, shaking the hand of Sonata with such a congratulatory state of mind starting to show. She cared a great deal for the accomplishments of all of The Dazzlings, as well as her own personal safety. So seeing that Sonata had been accepted for something, truly was a wonder for them all.
"So, how did you feel when he gave it to you?" Aria asked, eager to get all of the story out, provided that there was more story to dig up apart from just Sonata getting the ticked.
"I felt... calm," Sonata said, returning to how she felt when she'd earned that ticked. "It wasn't overjoy, nor was it pressure. I just felt really, REALLY calm about it..."
"Actually, now that you say that I felt rather calm upon getting our tickets to the contest as well..." Adagio said, returning to her train of thought whilst also eating her taco.
"Me too..." Aria said, also thinking about how calm she felt upon getting her ticket to perform in front of a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands. "I wonder if the feeling of being calm is contagious..."
"If it were contagious, then there would probably be a monster from Euphoria coming in at this very moment, feasting off of our calmness..." Sonata said, letting out a little smile before noticing what was going on around the school.
"Maybe not our calmness, Sonny... Look!" Adagio pointed to the other parts of the cafeteria, where all of the students were now in a calm and relaxed state of mind. They showed no signs of hostility, overjoy, or worry. They were completely calm. That worried Adagio on a major scale.
Suddenly, all the kids expelled a blue mist, which flew upwards towards the ceiling of the cafeteria. Hanging above all of them was a humanoid figure with a bunch of worrying things on each of his appenadges. it had a living snake crawling around him, its' legs were on fire, its' was wearing shiny clothing which reflected light, and it was also carrying a long polearm weapon. Yet, despite this, it was quite calm.
The new Euphorian floated downwards to an open area of the room, where it graciously landed on top of its' polearm and gazed upon The Dazzlings. It took in the last of the blue mist before glowing brightly and leaping off of its polearm to safely land and prepare itself for battle ahead of it.
Second Joyzeren
CALMNESS
Pleasures
"Well... Here we go again..." Adagio sighed, taking one last bite of her taco before getting up from the table. She raised her sword and prepared for battle with the Calmness that stood in the middle of the cafeteria.
Upon her standing ovation, Aria and Sonata swiftly followed, calling their swords for the fight ahead of them. The three of them looked at the Calmness, swiftly avoiding a torrent of wasps that it roared before nimbly leaping over a fire that it spouted by banging its' polearm into the ground.
"Well, we did say there would be a monster that was going to fight us, so..." Sonata watched as the other Dazzlings let out confident smiles as they eyed up the Calmness and readied their blades to slash it. "Let's do this!"