//------------------------------// // Starswirl, The Doombringer Of Two Worlds // Story: The Siren Song: Razzle Dazzle // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// "What?!" Twilight looked completely shocked at the fact that it was Starswirl who had killed The Dazzlings. Sure, she'd read up that they had been banished by him, but this was a completely different matter. She was completely mortified that Starswirl would go so far as to brutally murder someone who was practically begging for mercy. "It's true. Not only that, but there's more to his story than you could possibly know..." Aria spoke, hanging her head solemnly as she addressed Twilight, Sunset and the Humane 5. "Starswirl the Bearded was recruited by Courageour, Silenzel, Obedium, Judgialze, Hierarxe, and Honous to slaughter Blissens..." "Doing so, the six deities of Euphoria created the most heinous conspiracy theory in the history of all of existence..." Adagio made sure to explain before continuing on. "They lied in saying that the Balance of Lyrica was perfectly equal, making Blissen Sirens stray from their duties to the balance, causing the Furens to overwork and disrupt the balance..." "They must have cast a powerful spell on him, seeing as his eyes glowed bright blue when we saw the truth..." Sonata said, her emotions quickly replaced with pure seriousness. "Lyrican forces usually don't request outside help, but the six deities of Euphoria noticed something special about Starswirl..." "Well yes, he's had many accomplishments during his time in Equestria..." Twilight said, beginning to fangirl over how much Starswirl was deemed as a demigod among Unicorns. "He recently vanished from Equestria during the pre-classical era, and nopony has seen him since..." "Well, we know that he appeared when we were resurrected, so that's proof positive that he DID survive the Lyrican War..." Adagio said, putting all of the pieces together like a mental jigsaw puzzle. "But we only saw him for at least three minutes before he recognized us as Lyrican Sirens..." "And after that..." Sonata started, but was soon stopped by the other girls. "We know the rest." Rainbow Dash stated. "No... You don't..." Aria spoke, making sure that all of the girls were listening well. "During the Battle Of The Bands, The Blasters showed us for what we really were," Adagio started, ensuring that she explained as easily as possible for all of them to comprehend. "Our brothers explained that we were possessed by Dark Magic, making our powers corrupted and sustainable through a Furen crystal only..." "When the pendants cracked, we were cleansed of our Dark Magic, but the tenets of a Siren's power immediately kicked in," Aria continued with the explanation. "When a Siren's pendant is misplaced or destroyed, all the energy built up inside it immediately discharges, making the user crippled for a brief period of time..." "We had no time to recover from that last blast without forfeiting the Battle Of The Bands, so we decided to wing it for the time being," Sonata went on and on with the explanation on how they worked in the past. "Since we'd just had our pendants destroyed, our voices were truly revealed, only for them to sound as awful as rotten tacos, since we'd just had an energy discharge..." "So, could you shed some more light as to tell us exactly what happened in Equestria?" Sunset asked, curious to know The Dazzlings' full story, now that they remembered their past. "I mean, when you were corrupted with Dark Magic..." "Well, we've only just recovered our most important memories. But I think that's something that I'll try and call back for you, Mommy..." Adagio began to concentrate as hard as she could, trying to dig deep into her Equestrian past. "Don't strain yourselves, Dazzlings." Rainbow Dash said, trying to ensure the safety of Adagio, Aria and Sonata. Even though they now remembered what The Rainbooms had done to them, Rainbow Dash wanted to ensure that their "Counterattack" would still be able to fight back against The Blasters. Ever so surely, The Dazzlings finally dug deep enough and uncovered a memory of their past. Just like before, the vision beamed out of their eyes for all their friends and family to view. Now that they were starting to remember their true selves, The Dazzlings no longer felt pain with all these moving memories. As the memory began, all ten of the girls watched closely, to see the truth about what had happened back in Equestria... Equestria, The Dazzlings' Reign... Another group of ponies broke out into fits of rage and hatred. They were all arguing over the most tiniest details, such as who stole from who, and how many bits various merchandise should cost. All their hatred quickly spilled out in green mist, which hovered into the sky for three Hippocampi to absorb. High above the town, out of the sight of everypony, The Dazzlings were singing their insidious chorus down on the town, sparking up arguments and hatred for them to feast off of. Their singing was rewarded with green mist, which flew into their pendants and vanished relatively quickly. "Ahh... Such tender arguments, fresh from the oven..." Aria sighed in content as she took in the last of the negative energy. Since she was not her regular self, her speaking voice was double-toned, so that it seemed like two Arias were talking at once, with one in a slightly lower tone than the other. "Soon, sisters. Soon, we shall have the power to completely carve this world into thousands of little pieces..." Adagio spoke in her double-toned Hippocampi voice, addressing her colleagues with a devious grin growing. "And once they've cracked like ice, we'll be able to usurp the throne of this pitiful little world with no resistance at all..." "Oh! Dagi! Do you mind if we make a quick stop in town?" Sonata asked, her voice double-toned as well. "They're having a special deal on Zap Apple Crumble down there!" "No, idiot! We need to keep our identities secret! Don't you remember what happened the last time Sirens were exposed to the other worlds?!" Adagio scolded Sonata with her rather serious voice. She knew what had happened in the war, even after she'd returned from the afterlife. "But I'm still hungry, Dagi..." Sonata looked at Adagio with puppy-dog eyes, hoping that Adagio was eventually crack under the harmlessness of her Siren companion. "I said NO, Sonata!" Adagio still remained firm, wanting to make absolutely sure that Sonata didn't get any stupid ideas that would get them exposed to Equestria. Then, Adagio sighed and thought of something to say to get Sonata's mind off of real food. "If it makes you feel any better, Sonata, we'll be heading to the next town straight away." "Yeah... Come on, Sonata. Let's get you something much more delicious than that tripe those fools eat..." Aria said, leading Sonata to the next town on their little journey to complete their complete and utter Equestrian conquest. Soon, The Dazzlings fled from the town, taking the green mist with them, so that they had a little snack for the journey ahead of them... "Uggh... How long is it before we get there?!" Aria complained, about to give out from all that flying. Even though they were making good time, she still whined and complained about how long their journey was going to last from this point on. "Patience, Aria. We'll make it to Manehatten in about five more minutes," Adagio explained as they continued to soar through the sky like majestic dragons. "The good thing about this journey, is that it'll be much more rewarding than all the other places we've seen so far..." "Yeah! I've heard that this Manehatten place has the largest chunk of the entire pony population," Sonata said, excited that they were going to have such a delicious meal of negativity upon their arrival. "Soon, we'll be eating like pigs with how much there'll be to take..." "You know, Sonata, even though you sound as if you're stupid at times, I've actually come to respect your humour..." Aria said, smiling at her Hippocampi companion as they neared the city of Manehatten. "It's actually relevant to the plot at hand, instead of completely off the wall..." "Aww, thanks, Ari!" Sonata shot a smile back at her companion as they made their way closer and closer to the town. Suddenly, a bolt of magic impacted with The Dazzlings, knocking them back through the air. They quickly recovered, only to see a pony with a wizard's outfit and a staff charge towards them. They could see that he wasn't an Alicorn, so the thought of him flying confused the three of them. With the three Sirens confused, the new pony found an opening to deal a powerful string of magical attacks on The Dazzlings. With a few waves of his staff, he launched wave after wave of fireballs at the three Hippocampi. Once he saw them recoiling, he raised his staff, striking the three Hippocampi with lightning. After taking the lightning, The Dazzlings were knocked towards the ground with such speed that they groaned in pain once they flew back out of the crater. When they finally readjusted their vision to the world around them, they saw the unicorn with the staff safely land in front of the three of them. Now they could see him for what he truly was. "Who dares to stand in our way?!" Adagio demanded as she locked gazes with the new pony, a rather angry look growing on her bruised face. "Like a swift shooting star, streaking across the sky, I dash... With the force of a thousand supernovas locked away in my horn, I bring judgement to all those who dare to stand against harmony..." the pony spoke, revealing his face to The Dazzlings. "My name is Starswirl the Bearded, and I shall be your undoing, Sirens." "Just some pony playing dress-up, move along..." Aria spoke, deciding to get the smart idea to fly on towards Manehatten and completely ignore Starswirl. Her actions were quickly met with another bolt of Starswirl's lightning magic, getting her to crash back into the ground. "You have caused countless arguments in multitudes of different cities, Sirens. I am tasked with eliminating those who dare to abolish peace and harmony," he spoke, raising his staff for another strike. "However, I shall not directly destroy you, for doing so would make me no better than the other warlords that plague this world..." "So instead, I shall see the three of you exiled to another world, where you will be unable to drive the ponies of this world farther and farther apart from each other..." he said, making a swirling motion with his staff. As he opened a portal to the Human World, he looked at The Dazzlings for one last time before they were caught up in the portal's pull. "As of now, you are banished from this world, never again to return and cause more and more carnage and discord. And I know for a fact that this new world you shall be thrown into has absolutely NO magic at all, so there will be no chance for you to cause trouble..." "Dagi, what's going on?!" Sonata begged her Siren sister as they struggled against the portal's violent suction. "You might never see us again, Starswirl the Bearded, but we will still remain in this world..." Adagio spoke as she and the rest of The Dazzlings started to glow white. "As long as hatred still exists in this world, then we still exist in this world!" "Even if we're thrown out..." Aria smirked. "Even if we never return..." Sonata added. "We shall still live on..." Adagio ended as they let out three ghostly versions of their Hippocampi forms. "IN THE FORM OF WINDIGOES!" The Dazzlings spoke as the Windigoes flew past Starswirl, swiftly transforming the once clear skies into a rather hectic blizzard. They all made rather insidious double-toned laughs as they vanished through the portal, never to surface again... Right before the portal closed up, they heard echoes of arguments drifting on the wind as the Windigoes began their reign of terror in Equestria. The noises of arguments made them feel rather soothed as they quickly transformed back into humans, to fit the rules of the new world. As their bodies transformed from Hippocampi into humans, they put their hands on their pendants, smiling as the glow warmed them up as they hurtled towards the Human World... Once the memory had finished, The Dazzlings finally saw the girls once more, who were rather shocked and surprised at what they'd just seen. When they finally shrugged off a minor headache, The Dazzlings looked at Twilight and Sunset, since they weren't that surprised at what had happened. "Interesting..." Twilight spoke once the memory had finished. She kneeled down to The Dazzlings so that she was around their height. "So Windigoes are created from the ghosts of Hippocampi?" "Yeah..." Adagio began to explain once again, ensuring that even the Humane 5 were able to understand what she was beginning to say. "In truth, Hippocampi and Windigoes are exactly the same. But unlike the Hippocampi, a Windigo's mere presence alone is enough to start arguments and hatred." "And unlike Hippocampi, who have to sing to gain power, it only takes an argument to amplify a Windigo's freezing powers..." Aria added on, remembering everything behind Windigoes. "With enough anger and hatred, Windigoes have the power to encase a world in absolute zero. Which I've heard is the coldest temperature in all of history..." "Yeah... That's around minus two-hundred and seventy-three degrees Celsius..." Sunset marvelled at those numbers. She had been told about Windigoes when she was a little filly back in Equestria, but hearing the full extent of their power now had her in awe. "Where no more heat exists at all, leaving nothing more than a barren wasteland of complete ice..." "And snow, don't forget snow." Sonata raised her finger, making sure that Sunset didn't forget the other parts of cold weather. "So, now we know how the Hearth's Warming Eve story actually began, but we still don't know what happened to Starswirl himself..." Twilight said, putting a finger to her chin in curiosity. She was so determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, but then she immediately looked at the sun's position in the sky and checked the time. "Oh, Celestia! It's almost 5:00 PM!" "We need to get to Coltimore ASAP!" Rainbow Dash remembered that The Dazzlings still had to attend the Drama Showcase that Sonata was performing in. "We can save the studying for later, let's go!" Sunset and the girls all ran back into the car and got themselves strapped in. Without waiting, she drove down the road towards Coltimore, passing by a number of cars as she navigated the cliff road. However, she still had all those thought buzzing in her head. What happened to Starswirl? How did The Dazzlings become that evil? And what do The Blasters have planned for both Equestria and the Human World? Meanwhile, Starswirl was locked up in tight bloodstained chains. His horn was being suppressed with a violent stream of Furen Magic from a large red crystal above his chains. He tried pulling the chains off of the walls, but all this was in vain as he felt the chains tightening harder and harder with each pull. "Struggle all you want, Starswirl. It only makes them tighter..." said Fortissimo as he suddenly appeared in front of Starswirl, all alone for once. He looked at the pony with a rather content look as he locked gazes with his golden eyes. "You've already captured me, what more do you want?!" Starswirl asked him behind groans of pain. If the chains got any tighter, then it would completely dislocate all four of his hooves. "I want you to tell me the sound barrier for all of Equestria," Fortissimo spoke, pacing in front of Starswirl. "You see, me and the rest of The Blasters are having a big celebratory Battle of the Bands to celebrate the return of our little sisters. We're going to be performing in the title match, so we need to know how loud our song needs to be to hit the ears of all the ponies in Equestria..." "I would rather die than have my kin subjected to your-" Starswirl immediately took a large torrent of Lyrican Magic before he could finish his sentence. He let out screams of pain as Fortissimo continued torturing him. "Please, Starswirl. This is going to be much bigger than that pitiful battle at Canterlot High School..." Fortissimo spoke further and further, making sure that the captive pony was listening well. "This time, we've got exactly one-hundred and twenty-eight positions to fill. Meaning that one-hundred and twenty-eight bands around the entire Human World will be signing up for a chance to defeat the competition and duel us..." "You see, our little sisters where only drawn towards one little high-school filled with adolescent vermin. We Blasters prefer to go all-out or go home, if you catch my drift..." Fortissimo fired another shot of magic, slapping Starswirl's face back and forth before Fortissimo grasped onto it with his hand. "So I'll ask you again... How loud does our song need to be to hit ALL of Equestria?" "And I shall repeat myself, Fortissimo. I would rather die than-" once more, he was cut off by another of Fortissimo's magic deluges. Disappointed in Starswirl's resistance, Fortissimo threw his sword straight at the Unicorn's face. It went straight through his brain, making him cry out in complete agony as the sword impaled him but then immediately vanished. It was an illusion, but Starswirl's brain felt like it actually had been impaled by a sword. "I'm told that hurts..." Fortissimo said as calmly as possible as he watched Starswirl crying in complete pain and torment. "Alright, alright! I'll talk!" Starswirl spoke up, not baring to take another one of Fortissimo's devastating methods of torture. "Your song needs to be at least ten billion decibels loud to pierce all of Equestria! Just please don't hurt me anymore..." "Thank you for your co-operation, Starswirl..." Fortissimo said as he clicked his fingers, removing the chains that bound Starswirl up. "You're free to go." "Go where?" he asked, still tearing up from all the pain he'd received earlier. "Go home!" Fortissimo kicked Starswirl and quickly opened up a portal back to Equestria where Starswirl was about to land. He watched as the pony fell through the portal and landed back in Equestria, his magic still surpressed by the red crystal even through the distance that Starswirl was from the portal. "And by the way, your horn is still suppressed by our magic! Consider this your parole, in a way!" "Now then, with that out of the way, It's time to put on a show for those miserable Human World insects..." Fortissimo opened up another portal and walked through it, with a rather smug smile on his face as he returned to his Siren companions. "I'm sure it'll be a blast..."