//------------------------------// // Blazing Desire (Aria Blaze) // Story: Siren's Call // by Thornwing //------------------------------// Riding on a train was a new experience. So was joining up with two former rivals to track down a former friend. I wasn’t sure what made me decide this was the right thing to do, but I knew I couldn’t go back to what I was doing before. Teaming up with Sunset got me this far, and I needed to see it through to the end, or be labeled a traitor all over again. Recalling the story of my youth, and how I’d been tricked into becoming a siren, got me thinking. I could never go back to being just a pony. I would always have a part of me that knew what it meant to be a siren. That thought alone shook me harder than seeing Discord again after all those years locked away in prison. Had it really been my destiny to become a siren? Were my musical talents always meant to feed on anger and hate while propping up a façade of love and adoration? Could I ever silence my past? Would I ever be able to sing from my heart again? What would my heart-song sound like now? I didn’t have the answers. While I struggled with the questions about my past, another question posed a more pressing issue. Should Adagio succeed with her plans, would I get caught up in them again? The alternative seemed to be death, or another stint in Starswirl’s eternal jail. My options seemed clear enough, either I helped in stopping Adagio, or died trying. Perhaps both. With as much as the magic of the siren’s call took over my life, I would fight to my last breath before I allowed that to happen again. I could never go back to feeding on empty promises and hollow attractions. I needed love, the true kind, not something forged on revenge or beaten into submission by the flashing rage of a stilted mare. My dreams recalling a young filly in love swept away like the countryside passing in momentary flits of imagination and grieving memory. At least Sunset got to see her mother again. I didn’t have that luxury. I would never be able to look my mother in the eyes and tell her how sorry I was for what I had done. I felt the weight of that burden linger, placing a damper on whatever joy I might have felt being back on my hooves. The train chugged up the hills toward a strange little town perched on the side of a mountain. I was told the city had a number of fancy rainbows connecting the various plateaus, but the evening light was fading fast, and along with it, the city’s namesake falls. We pulled into the station a little after sunset. Twilight took charge the moment we came to a stop. “Alright, everypony, let’s grab our gear and get settled in town. We’ll spend the night here and climb the mountain when we’re fresh and ready in the morning.” We all nodded in agreement. The ride wasn’t all that taxing, but I was quite tired following the events of the past day. Sonata and Sunset shared my same sentiment, as I had caught Sunset drifting off for the past hour of our journey. I lifted my pack onto my back and helped Sonata secure hers. It felt nice to have her here with me, but I still wished it wasn’t under these awful conditions. Sunset Shimmer already had her packs loaded, and suddenly pointed out the window toward the center of town with the light of a dozen torches flickering in the square, drawing our attention to the gathered crowd down the street. “I wonder what’s going on? By the look of those torches, it doesn’t look good.” I opened the window, staring out through the dark and trying to piece together the scene. “I hope it’s not what I think it is.” I was afraid I knew the answer to the next question even before anypony could ask it. “Let’s go see what kind of damage she caused. Hopefully she didn’t kill anypony, including herself. If she escaped, maybe the locals know where she went.” “Keep up your guard,” Twilight said, cinching down the packs around her middle. “We don’t know where Adagio might be, and I don’t want anypony else getting hurt. Stay with me, and we’ll take it slow. I’ll take point. Sunset, you cover our rear.” “Uhh, sure, Twilight,” Sunset said, waving Sonata and I forward. We got off the train, taking a cautious walk into town. By the look of the glass strewn streets and the flame licked buildings, I had to say Adagio must have been holding back. Either that, or her magic wasn’t all there yet. If she had wanted, and her magic levels allowed, she probably could have flattened the city. The fact that she hadn’t done that left me with a small sliver of hope for our survival, and hers. The crowd cheered as we approached, torches lighting up the square in the growing dark of night. At first, I thought they were welcoming the Princess, come to save the town. On the contrary, they barely noticed our arrival, too caught up in some other pony to allow Twilight room to move forward. “I can feel it, can you?” Sonata said, whispering in my ear. “She’s here, or she was. I can hear the magic calling out, the echo of her voice.” I kept my comments to myself, giving only a small nod. The fact was, I could feel it too. I knew she was close. The signature of her voice left echos of her passing strong enough for even my pony ears to hear. It frightened me to think of what that meant. “Excuse me,” Twilight said, tapping the rear of a stallion in the back of the assembled townsponies. “What happened here, and is everypony alright?” The stallion brushed her off without even turning around to acknowledge her presence. “Quiet, I’m trying to hear the Councilmare.” Not one to be denied, Twilight opened her wings and flapped into the air above the crowd. Torchlight filled the glow on her face. That look, once she saw past the outer ring of ponies, only served to unsettle my nerves. “Trixie?” she said, yelling above the noise and general chatter all around. “Princess Twilight?” came the auspicious reply. The crowd parted. Ponies finally took notice of the Princess and quickly opened their ranks to allow us passage to the head of the gathering. Twilight crept forward, keeping a cautious eye to any blind spots. “Princess, we’re so glad that you’re here,” said an official looking mare standing at the center of the gathering. “You’re just in time to congratulate our heroine of the moment!” She motioned next to her at another mare wearing a purple pointed hat and cloak over her blue coat and light blue mane, sporting an awkward grin. Twilight approached the official and gave a nod. “What happened here, and how was Trixie involved?” Twilight scanned the bashful mare up and down, a stern eye looking for answers. In a quiet and timid voice, the blue mare spoke. “The Great and Powerful Trixie may have, umm, saved the town, umm, from an actual monster.” “You what?” Twilight looked very much surprised at her statement. Trixie lowered her head, hiding her face behind a hoof, bracing against the reproach. “Yes, it’s true! This amazing, young sorceress has saved us all. As head Councilpony, it is my great honor to pronounce today, Trixie Lulamoon day in Rainbow Falls!” The crowd let out a raucous cheer. Trixie blushed so hard the red in her cheeks mixed with the blue in her fur to create pockets of deep purple on her face. “I… I don’t really… deserve…” “Have a free meal at my tavern!” shouted a stallion in the crowd. “Stay the night at my inn, no cost!” yelled another. “Don’t worry about replacing my coin sack!” cried a third. The cheers and hoofclapping as the crowd reverted to celebration mode nearly drowned out the pitiful squeak from Trixie. “Princess, help me…” I saw the fear in her eyes. It looked eerily similar to the expression I’d seen in dozens of victims in my time as a siren. Adagio had to be close. I reached out and tapped Twilight on the shoulder. “We need to get her someplace safe, away from the crowd. She’s been under the thrall of siren magic, and we need to find out what she can remember.” Twilight nodded her understanding. She reared up, flapping her wings and motioning for calm from the crowd. Once things had settled to a dull roar, she addressed the town. “Pardon the interruption, everypony, but I must ask that you postpone this celebration. There are urgent matters of national security that we must attend to right away. If everypony could help clean up the mess, we can hopefully continue this tomorrow. For now, I need to speak with Miss Lulamoon in private. A few sighs mixed with the shuffling of hooves over shards of broken glass bringing the level of excitement in the air down a few notches. Twilight gathered Trixie and moved to find the innkeeper in the dispersing crowd. She quickly secured rooms for the night and added a request of the tavern master for a meal. Before I could take another moment to examine the damage in the square any further, I found myself moving with the others down the street toward the inn at the edge of town. The fire burning in the corner fireplace cast shadows on the walls of the local inn. Twilight thanked the town leaders and ensured the support of the crown in the cleanup efforts, but quickly returned to her seat after asking for privacy. True to her station as princess, she got what she asked for. We had the room to ourselves with a nice dinner spread out on the table, just the four of us and the poor unicorn. “Trixie, could you tell us what happened, as much as you can remember?” I asked. She turned to her right. The plea in her eyes focused in on Twilight. The Princess moved a little closer and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Trixie. These ponies are friends. No pony can hurt you now.” Trixie’s lip quivered. I could see the painful memories, full of fear, hanging on the tip of her tongue. “Trixie… umm… I-I don’t really remember.” “It’s okay, Trixie.” Twilight continued to pat her shoulder. “Just tell us what you do remember.” “Trixie… I’ll try.” Trixie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A few more comforting pats from Twilight followed by a few more relaxing breaths, and she started to open up. “I remember leaving Canterlot this morning.” “So you remember traveling to Rainbow Falls?” Sunset asked. “No…” Trixie said, shaking her head, fumbling with her memories. “I planned on traveling to Los Pegasus. I had a show…” “And that’s when you encountered Adagio?” I said, filling in the blank following her pause. Trixie swallowed hard. “Yes. I-I think so.” “She sang to you, didn’t she?” Sonata said, focused in on a dream with her eyes closed, listening to the wind outside the window and searching for any sign of Adagio on the breeze. I knew the look. While most might think Sonata wasn’t all that focused, it was quite the opposite. She had a knack for finding the balance and reading the signs that the universe had to give. She was deep in her element here. Trixie nodded. “It sounded so nice. I-I couldn’t help myself. From the moment I saw her on the road up until she attacked the town, I don’t really remember what happened. It’s like I woke up in Rainbow Falls with a monster from my worst nightmares flapping and screeching down at me. I panicked!” “Well, it’s a good thing you did,” Twilight said, comforting the poor mare once again. “The Councilmare tells me that you saved the town by frightening her off with your magic.” “I highly doubt that,” I said, interjecting a bit of base truth into the story. “There is no way she fought off Adagio. If she had even a small slice of her siren magic available—” “Aria, be nice,” Sunset said, turning around and giving me a sideways glare. Trixie shook her head. “No. She’s right. I didn’t really do much of anything. I panicked and froze. It’s a fairly normal response for me. It must have looked like I did something, but, in the panic, I don’t think anypony could say for sure what happened.” “That’s all well and good, but the real question is where she went from there.” Sunset got up to pace around the table. An apple floated alongside her while she took the occasional bite. “I think she flew up into the mountains,” Trixie said, gaining a little bit of confidence in her voice. “But she could return at any time.” “She’s following the call,” Sonata said, nodding sympathetically. “It’s faint, but it’s there. The closer we get, the stronger the draw. We know where she’s headed, the map showed us that much. It’s up there, somewhere, calling to us.” Silence fell over our table with the only sound coming from the occasional bite or swallow. We all picked at our food, hungry, but not overly so. There wasn’t much else to say. We all knew what had to happen. I looked around the table. Sober faces, knowing all too well the task in front of us, ate what we could to help assure us that things were as normal as they could possibly be. Midway through my salad greens, a commotion arose outside. A scream, followed by a roar, and the thundering stomp of an entire herd of ponies rumbling toward the inn lead to the door swinging open. The Councilmare from earlier stood in the doorway, a half dozen other ponies at her flanks. “Sorry to interrupt, Princess, but we have an urgent need for your assistance.” She smiled a rough smile and peered back over her shoulder into the darkness dotted with scrambling torchlight. “It seems Rainbow Falls is attracting all sorts of odd beasts this evening.” The roar from before rang out once again with a touch of painful howl punctuating the end. “Let’s go!” Twilight sprang to her hooves and darted out into the street. Sunset Shimmer followed closely behind. I glanced over at Sonata. I wasn’t sure I was ready to face Adagio. She nodded, and together we ran after both of the others. We galloped down the path toward the square. Passing many ponies headed in the opposite direction, we arrived without incident at the cause of the latest disruption. A yeti, sitting in the middle of town, his forepaw gingerly held in his lap, bellowed out a lament that could be heard at least three towns over. Twilight approached. “Uhh, George? Is that you?” The yeti wiped a bloodstained forearm across his face and lifted his sights on the Princess. “Mean pony hurt George; make George leave home. Princess pony help George?” Sunset Shimmer cocked her head to the side. “I take it you know this yeti?” Twilight stood her ground. “Of course I do. George is a good friend of mine.” She turned back to the Councilmare who had quietly approached from the shadows. “Could you bring me some bandages? He’s pretty beat up, and we’ll need to tend to his wounds right away.” “Of course, Princess.” She signaled over to a pair of stallions who quickly left in search of the requested supplies. Twilight scanned around the half dark square until she found myself and Sonata. “And could you fetch your pack, Sonata? Pinkie packed some things that could really help in this situation.” Sonata nodded her head, happy to oblige in following the Princess’ command. We both turned around, and I escorted her back to the inn. By the time we returned to the square with the requested bag, Twilight had managed an impressive binding of the beast’s forearm and paw. George hugged her tight with his unbandaged arm. Sonata brought her load forward, helping Twilight present it to the yeti. His eyes lit up the moment he caught sight of the pieces of candy within the bag. In no time at all, he’d chomped through a half dozen chunks. I was pretty sure before, but had it confirmed by his devouring of the snacks, that they did indeed contain actual rocks. “Mmmm, George love pony treats. Where pink pony at?” He picked at his teeth with a free paw. They seemed far too sharp for his seeming love of munching on real rock candy. Twilight pulled back on one final knot, adjusting the bandage around his arm. “Sorry, George. Pinkie didn’t make the trip with us. I’m sure she was thinking of you when she helped pack the rock candy, though.” I moved forward, anxious to discover what had led this mountain dweller to come seeking help. His mention of a ‘mean pony’ fit the description of Adagio, but didn’t quite match up in terms of motive. What reason did she have for attacking him? “George, I wonder if you could tell us what happened up there on the mountain?” “Flying pony yell at George, tell George to leave cave. George no want to leave, but pony hurt George. George need help, want to go back home.” His frown hid the multiple rows of teeth in his mouth. Sonata hefted up another piece of rock candy which George eagerly gulped down. “It would seem that this poor yeti’s home is also our destination.” George’s smile opened up on taking in another bite. “That means Adagio beat us to the magic source,” Sunset said, stomping a hoof. “She could be restoring her powers as we speak!” “Well, it’s too late to climb the mountain tonight,” Twilight said. “As much as I hate to give Adagio all the time she needs, we can’t risk the climb in the dark. We should probably get some rest and be ready to go first thing in the morning.” “Now or later,” I said, shaking my head, “we may already be too late.” Following a significant withdrawal from the rock candy stores, we all agreed to meet up in the morning and tackle the climb together. George would lead the way, and we would be left to face Adagio in whatever form and power she possessed. I wasn’t looking forward to morning. Our rooms at the inn got a little more crowded with the addition of George. Twilight shared a bed with Sunset, and Sonata and I managed a pair of smaller beds in a room of our own. The town heroine, Trixie, got a room all to herself. So did George, although he might have been more comfortable curled up at the foot of Twilight’s bed. The arrangements weren’t terrible, and considering the circumstances, a lot more than I had hoped for. Sonata and I finished what was left of our evening meal and soon found ourselves getting washed up for bed. We’d said our goodnights and taken our leave of the others even before Twilight finished catching up with her yeti friend. Sunset had taken quite an interest in George, and Twilight felt like it was a good time to recall the story of their first meeting. Before she got through setting the scene, I was already long gone, thinking about a nice warm bed, and my last chance for a good night sleep before facing whatever fate had in store for me tomorrow. With a yawn, Sonata looked up at me as I tucked her in bed. “Aria, do you think there’s anything left of our homes?” “I wouldn’t bet on it,” I said, running my hoof through her mane. She let out a contented sigh. I turned to return to my own bed, eying the pillow with a strong desire for sleep. “Apart from being back in our old pony skin and fur, everything else in this world kept on changing without us while we were locked away in that other world. It gives us a chance to start over again, but we have to let go of our past.” Sonata leaned over to stare out the window. “What if I don’t want to let go of them?” “You have to, Sonata. Everypony we knew in the old days is long gone, family included. We’re all that’s left. All we can do now is take care of Adagio and make the best of what we have left for ourselves.” “Aria?” “Yes, Sonata?” “Would you make me a promise?” “What kind of promise is that?” “Would you promise that you won’t hurt Adagio no matter what she tries to do?” “I don’t know if I can promise that, but I’ll try. How’s that?” The soft rush of air through Sonata’s muzzle filled the quiet in the room. I climbed up into bed and set my head on the pillow. “Good enough, I hope.” I closed my eyes and settled down to sleep. The chill of the night air rolling off the mountain left me thankful for the warm sheets that wrapped tight around me, soft and comfortable like a fluffy cloud. … The song played in my head, a sweeping melody that called out to a time long ago. A building crescendo rocked me to sleep leading my dreams toward my one heartfelt desire. I danced across the meadow, forelegs locked around the shoulders of the colt I would deign to call my own. I wanted nothing more than for the song to go on forever, safe and secure in his embrace, our muzzles pressed together in the most beautiful expression of true love imaginable. We danced apart. I reached out to him. He reached back to me. I gazed into his eyes as I sang out the melody of my heart to his attentive ears. The light faltered; the music changed. A discordant counterpoint wedged its way into the undertones. He drew back in fear, like he’d seen a ghost. I looked down to see the scales falling neatly into place along my chest. The song in my heart changed key. He winced, grabbing at his chest with both forelegs and flattening his ears to his head. My song continued, becoming dark and staccato, tossing jabs with every note. I screamed on the inside while the melody played on. My part in the clash of musical disharmony faded into the background, an overriding voice taking command of the tune. As the image of the colt faded into the darkness, his coat growing sickly and pale under the assault of my song, the twisted images of my friends rose up to greet me. My song merged with theirs as the nightmare took over. No longer my pony friends with their shiny fur coats and shimmering manes, the glare of scaled hide and leathery wings welcomed me to the fold. I felt my resistance slipping away as the warm glow of power filled my chest. I opened my mouth and belted out the note announcing my arrival to the world. Aria Blaze, now a siren, would never give her heart to another. She would always take what was hers. … I threw back the sheets, screaming in terror as I woke from the dream. “No!” Looking down at my body, the nightmare was realized. My tail swished back and forth with my caudal fin ripping through the covers. I flexed the wings on my back, panting in horror as I glanced across the room at Sonata. My friend, the pony, then siren, then human, then pony, curled into a ball and wept, her tears rolling down her scales and disappearing into the soft mattress below.