A Short Visit
As expected, Adagio took the lead in telling the story of what happened following the Battle of the Bands. They’d discovered right there on the stage that they couldn’t sing anymore, and been driven off in disgrace, but the true horror of their situation didn’t hit them until later. Even when the sirens weren’t manipulating events, Adagio explained, there was always some level of negativity floating about anyplace people gathered. It was only natural, since not everybody was perfectly happy and harmonious at all times.
Aria had been the first to notice that she couldn’t detect that haze of negative energy anymore. At first they’d thought that it was simply because they were still at Canterlot High, where an immense amount of harmonic magic had just brought everyone together, but they soon came to realize that it was the same everywhere. No matter where they went, no matter how miserable or angry the people around them were, they couldn’t find anything to feed on.
At first they’d tried to find a way to repair their pendants safely, without squandering their own precious energy. After a few fruitless days of that, however, Adagio had decided that they would need to fix their hearts immediately. If they wasted too much time, she'd informed the others, they might soon become too weak to do so. Sonata had been the first to attempt it, painstakingly reassembling her shattered jewel and using a gluestick to try to keep it together. When the pieces refused to bond, she had added magic to the process, feeding the heart from her own dwindling supply of power.
“Wait a minute,” Applejack interrupted, “ah thought you said you couldn’t use your magic at all anymore.”
“We can’t, not really,” Aria said. “All we had left was raw energy. We can’t shape it without our songs.”
“So you thought that putting pure magic into the heart would get it to activate?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I hoped so, anyway,” Sonata muttered. “It didn’t work.”
Over the next couple of weeks they had tried various ideas to repair the shattered jewels, but with no success. Adagio had quickly stopped using her own magic in the attempts, once she realized how quickly it was draining her. Aria, however, who had been too stubborn and angry to admit that she didn’t know what to do, had finally tried using all the magic she had left to force her heart to bend to her will. A couple of the tiniest pieces had gone back together, but it didn’t help in any significant way. She hadn’t stopped until she’d become too weak to stop Sonata from physically ripping it away from her. After that, she'd been so drained that she sometimes found it hard to even stand.
“And that’s about it,” Adagio concluded. “Obviously, nothing worked. When we finally accepted that we really were going to die, we came here. The Rainbooms were our last resort.”
“I see,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “So magic can repair them to some extent, if Aria’s example proves anything, but the problem was that it took way more magic than you three had available.”
“But Twilight,” Sunset cut in, “we tried using our magic on Sonata’s heart before you got here, and it didn’t do a thing.”
“Hmm. Maybe because they’re different kinds of magic?” Twilight mused. “The sirens are obviously creatures of dark magic, so maybe our magic of friendship is interfering with them.”
The blood drained from Sunset’s face. She glanced uneasily at Sonata, who was similarly pale. “Do you mean to say that we might have made things worse?”
“They’re in pieces,” Adagio mimicked Sonata’s voice, looking sideways at the other siren. “How much worse can they get?”
Sonata grimaced and hid her face in her hands.
“That’s totally uncalled for!” Fluttershy scolded Adagio, setting a comforting hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “She was the only one of you who was brave enough to give it a try.”
“Or stupid enough,” Aria muttered. Sonata whimpered softly.
“So let’s say you’re right about that,” Sunset continued, pointedly ignoring the argument, “what can we do? I don’t know about you, but I never learned any dark magic from Princess Celestia.”
Twilight remembered the only two times she had used dark magic: once to undo King Sombra’s fear spell, and once to activate Zecora’s potion so that she could see into the past. Both times, her horn had felt unclean for weeks afterward. “I actually can use dark magic a little,” she admitted, “but I’m not very good with it, and I really prefer not to. If these three couldn’t fix their hearts that way, I doubt that I’d do any better.” She groaned in frustration. “I just don’t have enough information! If I knew more about these artifacts, I might have a better idea of how to fix them.”
“Well gee,” Aria droned, “if only you were in a room with three people who’ve been using them for millennia.”
“Oh.” Twilight blushed. “Good point. So, what do you know about your hearts?”
“They used to be a part of us,” Sonata said, laying a hand over her chest where the pendant had sat. “I don’t know why, but for some reason coming to this world turned them into those necklaces.”
“Part of you?” Twilight recalled the pictures she’d seen of the sirens in their real forms. “So they’re not actually artifacts at all?”
“Part of you?!” Pinkie shrieked, and began frantically brushing off her tongue. “Eww, I licked it!”
“We’ve had them for as long as we can remember,” Adagio said. “As far as we know, they were created when we were.”
“Hold on, ‘created?’” Rainbow cut in. “Don’t you mean ‘born?’”
Adagio shrugged. “How likely does it seem that three creatures like us would just be born?” she mused. “Plus, we’re the only three we know of. No one’s ever heard of any other sirens, so it’s not like we’re a species like ponies. Our best guess is that someone made us intentionally.”
“And that doesn’t bother you at all?” Fluttershy asked softly, shocked at how easily Adagio was talking about this.
“Should it?” Adagio asked carelessly. “Born, made, what difference does it make? This isn’t helping fix our hearts.”
"Wait, this could be really important,” Twilight leaned forward. “If you really were created... er, artificially, then who was your creator? What kind of magic did they use? Why did they need to give you the hearts as a separate power source?”
“We don’t know,” Aria cut her off. “How much do you remember about being born? We have no idea where we came from, and we stopped caring centuries ago.”
Sensing that this line of questioning wouldn’t get her any farther, Twilight mentally filed away the ‘artificial siren’ theory for later review. “Alright. So,” she tried to get them back on track, “all you know for sure is that the hearts used to be a part of your bodies, and when you came to this world they separated and became those pendants?”
“Right,” Aria said.
“So maybe it’s not a matter of repairing them so much as healing them,” Twilight said. “If those are anything like a unicorn’s horn, no amount of glue or raw magic is going to get them to fix themselves. What do you know about how they work?” Setting aside the issue of exactly who she was talking to, this was quickly becoming a fascinating study.
“We focus our magic through them,” Adagio replied. “We don’t write our songs beforehand, we just put magic into our hearts and keep in mind what we want people to do. The songs just happen, and anyone who hears them obeys us. Almost anyone,” she corrected herself, with a sour look at the Rainbooms.
“So it is a bit like how unicorns use magic,” Twilight said. In the simplest possible terms, all spells were just magic guided by willpower. Apparently it was the same for the sirens, and their hearts were at least roughly analogous to a unicorn’s horn.
“That’s it!” Twilight shouted, flush with success. “All we have to do is heal the hearts, just like we’d do for a unicorn’s horn, and… oh…” she bit her lip uncertainly.
“What?” Adagio demanded.
“Well, it’s just… fixing a broken horn takes medical training, magic, and time,” Twilight said uncomfortably. “You can’t just stick the pieces back together. It takes weeks of healing and therapy at least before the pony is ready to cast a spell again.”
“We don’t have weeks!” Aria snapped.
“I know, I know!” Twilight fretted. “Alright, let me think. I need a way to rapidly heal broken bone—”
“Stone,” Sunset cut in.
“Stone, right. I need a way to rapidly fix broken… living stone, I guess, while maintaining its other properties, most specifically its ability to channel magic. With you girls here I’ve got all the magic I could ever need—”
“If your magic actually works on our hearts,” Aria interrupted her, “and doesn’t just make things even worse.”
“That too,” Twilight grimaced. She went silent for a long minute, lost in thought. “There’s no way I’ll be able to figure out all of this here,” she finally concluded. “I need to go back to Equestria.”
“But ya only just got here!” Applejack protested.
“It won’t be for long,” Twilight reassured her, “a day at the most. I just need to look through my library, and maybe ask Princess Celestia if she has any ideas.”
“Princess Celestia?” Rarity questioned.
Twilight nodded. “In Equestria, Celestia and Luna are both princesses like me. Well, quite a bit more impressive than me, actually. It’s a long story. The point is, Equestria might have the answers I need."
Twilight had turned to talk to her friends, or she might have seen the almost shameless looks of longing the sirens cast at each other at the mention of Equestria.
“Don’t you think you should take us with you?” Adagio asked, seizing the opportunity. “We know a lot more about the hearts than you do.”
“Take you sirens back to Equestria?” Spike said in disbelief. “Not a chance!”
“Actually,” Twilight cut in uncertainly, “maybe we should.”
“What?!” Spike and the Dazzlings shouted in chorus.
“Adagio has a point,” Twilight said. She was becoming more certain the more she thought about it. “We need information, and they have some. Equestria’s got the type of magic we need, and," she directed the final statement pointedly at the sirens, "it’s also much better equipped to defend itself against magical threats.”
“Hold on,” Sunset Shimmer stared her down. “Do you remember how powerful these three became just off of what they could absorb from CHS? What they got from us was a tiny amount of magic compared to what they could take from Equestria.”
“What if you just took one of us?” Sonata said. “We’re a lot weaker when we’re apart.”
“Oh, just one?” Aria sneered. “Who did you have in mind, Sonata?”
“You, of course,” Sonata answered, either not noticing or ignoring Aria’s suspicion.
Aria rocked back. For maybe the first time ever, she didn’t have a snappy retort for Sonata. “M… me?”
Sonata nodded. "Sure. We need to get you better before we do anything else.”
Twilight thought it over. “Actually, that's a very good idea,” she said.
“Really?” Sonata gasped. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me before!”
“If we just take one siren we’ll have someone who’s familiar with the hearts, but who won’t be able to cause too much trouble even if she wants to. Not Aria, though.” Twilight looked them over. “Sonata, would you want to come with me?”
“What?” Adagio snapped. “You want her?!”
Aria's eyes burned with hatred. “You planned this, didn’t you?!” she shouted at Sonata. Sonata squeaked and shrank back into her chair. “Well, congratulations. Looks like you get to go to Equestria while Adagio and I sit here and starve!”
“I…" Sonata whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes, "I didn’t plan anything. You’re the one who should go, Aria. You guys heard me, right?” She appealed to the Rainbooms. “I said that Princess Twilight should take Aria.”
“You might be the only one I can trust not to turn on me,” Twilight said to Sonata. If I can even trust you. “Weak or not, I don’t want to risk bringing Aria or Adagio to Equestria with me if I can avoid it.”
“Damn you, Sonata!” Aria raged. She rose to her feet, apparently planning to attack Sonata physically, but she never made it. No sooner had she stood up than her legs wobbled and gave out under her, and she fell hard to the floor. Sonata squeaked and darted to her side, only to be driven back by a furious shout. “Get away from me!”
Frightened and confused, Sonata slowly backed off, doing what she could to hold back the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She babbled incoherent pleas for the Rainbooms to help her friend.
“Hey, Sonie.” A welcome diversion appeared in front of her in the form of Pinkie Pie. “I think Twilight’s right. If you want to help, go with her.”
“But… but Aria…” Sonata’s mouth trembled.
“Oh, don't mind her, she’s just being a grouchy-pants,” Pinkie said dismissively. “I get the same way when I’m hungry.”
In spite of herself, Sonata cracked a small smile.
“Go on,” Pinkie gave her a gentle push in Twilight’s direction. “You can come back with your shiny necklace all fixed up and show it off to everyone!”
“What do you say?” Twilight asked as kindly as she could, ignoring the positively acidic looks that the other two sirens were giving her and Sonata. “You want to come help out?”
Sonata stood still for a moment, caught in the grip of her own indecision. Finally, she gave a shaky nod. “Yeah,” she said. She turned to the other two. “I know you two don’t believe me, but I’m going to make all of this okay. You’ll see.”
Adagio snorted angrily. “Sure you are, Sonata.”
“Who knows, maybe you’ll actually try to,” Aria said. She looked at Adagio. “I'm not sure which would be worse.”
Twilight held back a wince at how badly they treated her. Rather than engaging the other two, she simply held out her hand for Sonata. “Come on.”
Slowly, hesitantly, Sonata stretched out a hand. She hovered over Twilight’s palm for a long moment, as if waiting for it all to be revealed as some kind of prank. Finally, she took the offered hand and stepped over to Twilight’s side.
“Great!” Twilight gave her a smile. “Just one thing before we go: Sunset Shimmer, could I talk to you for a minute? Privately?”
“Me?” Sunset asked in surprise.
“Mhm. I’ve got something I need to ask you.” Twilight smiled at the look on her face. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.”
“Um. Alright, sure.” Sunset allowed Twilight to lead her away from the others and into the storage room where the school’s musical equipment was kept. It was pretty cramped among all the music stands and instruments, but at least it was private. She switched on the light and shut the door behind them. “What’s up?”
Twilight faced her and asked, in all seriousness, “would you like to come back to Equestria with me?”
The world seemed to stop. An odd rushing filled Sunset's ears. Her heart skipped a beat, then started hammering twice as fast as if to make up for it. “What did you say?” she asked, though she’d heard perfectly well. Equestria. It was all she’d thought about for years, though granted her feelings towards it hadn’t been kindly ones until quite recently.
“I asked if you wanted to come back to Equestria with me," Twilight responded. "You’re the only one who won’t have a clone of yourself in Ponyville to make things weird, and you trained with Princess Celestia too, so you’ve got some background in magical studies. I could really use your help.”
Sunset shook her head, trying to knock her jangling thoughts into some semblance of order. “Twilight, I’m a criminal in Equestria.”
“And I’m a princess,” Twilight answered gently. “You’ve reformed yourself, and you helped to save me, my friends, and your entire world from the sirens. You’ve more than earned a royal pardon.”
Sunset bit her lip and folded her arms. “I don’t know, Twilight. Equestria and I have a bit of a history, and I’m not sure a piece of paper would make it all go away.”
“Of course I won’t force you,” Twilight said, “but I think it might be good for you. You’ve really turned yourself around. The Sunset Shimmer who has that history with Equestria isn’t the same person you are now. Plus,” she brushed a hand through her hair uncomfortably, “I stopped myself from asking for your help once before, when I was working on the counterspell, and it could have cost us everything. There’s no way I’ll let myself make that mistake again.”
Sunset unconsciously hugged her arms a little tighter to herself. Just a short visit couldn’t hurt, surely? When she’d gone through the portal before, she’d been in the returned Crystal Empire way to the north of Canterlot, so there was no chance she’d run into… she shook the image from her head. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” Twilight answered, “but it doesn’t sound like you are.”
“I’m not,” Sunset admitted. “Not at all.” She cast her eyes to the side and, since the topic had been broached already, she dredged up something that she’d been wondering about. “Could I ask… why didn’t you ask for my help with the spell? Were you afraid that I’d mess it up, or try to sabotage you or something?”
“No, of course not!” Twilight exclaimed, shaking her head emphatically. “You’ve got it totally backwards. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. It was that, well, I’m a princess. I thought that I was always supposed to know what to do, and I was afraid to admit that I didn’t. I thought I’d be letting everyone down. I see now that I only caused more problems by not asking for help when I needed it. I’m sorry if it came off as me not believing in you, because I absolutely do.”
So, no hard feelings with Twilight, apparently, Sunset mused. No problem there, and… she flinched away from even thinking the name of her former mentor. Well, anyway, I guess there’s really no reason not to. Sunset swallowed hard. “Sure," she said at last. "I mean, yes. I’ll go with you.”
Twilight sighed with relief and smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll be glad to have you along. I can see that this is hard for you, but I promise it’ll be okay.”
“Twilight,” Sunset said quickly, “there’s one thing.” Logic said it would be alright, but she simply couldn’t risk it. She had to make sure.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Could you…” The words stuck in her throat, and she had to change her approach. “Princess Celestia won’t be there, will she?”
Twilight didn't answer the question immediately. Instead, she looked up and waited for Sunset to meet her eyes. She had to choose her next words very carefully. “Celestia misses you, you know,” she said gently, encouragingly. "I can hear it when she talks about you."
And I miss her. So, so much. Sunset’s stomach twisted and she shook her head. “I’m sorry," she said. "Maybe someday, but I’m just not ready for that yet.”
Twilight held in a sad sigh. “I understand,” she said after a long moment. “I won’t tell her that you’re with me.”
“Thank you,” Sunset replied. “In that case, I’d be happy to come and help you with your research.”
“Great!” Twilight tried to smile, but there was something less enthusiastic about it this time. She had really hoped that Sunset and Princess Celestia could make amends. “Well, we don’t have any time to lose. Let’s get going.”
Sunset opened the door again, and it nearly swung shut again as it bounced off of something just outside. A soft thud and a squeak of surprise gave her a pretty good idea of what it was. Sunset stepped out and saw Sonata sitting awkwardly on the floor, rubbing her head.
“Were you eavesdropping on us?” Sunset demanded.
“Huh?” Sonata looked around herself. “No, I don’t think I dropped any eaves.” She hopped up to her feet. “Is it true, Sunny? You’re coming with us?”
Sunny? Sunset tried to glare, both because of the nickname and the spying, but it quickly dissolved into amused giggling. There was simply no staying mad at her, and it was good to see that she had apparently bounced back from the mistreatment that Adagio and Aria had been dishing out. Her quick recovery might have had something to do with the Rainbooms forming what amounted to a human wall between her and the other sirens.
“Yes, it’s true.”
“Awesome!” Sonata reached out and caught both Twilight and Sunset in a not-quite-consensual group hug. “Slumber party at Twilight’s!”
“Haha, yeah. Slumber party,” Twilight mumbled. “What fun.” She managed to disentangle herself from the suddenly affectionate siren and turned her attention to the others. “Can you girls keep these two out of trouble while we’re gone?” she asked, indicating Aria and Adagio. “It might be until tomorrow.”
“Can do, Princess Twilight,” Applejack assured her.
“You can count on us!” Rainbow added.
The two sirens in question were notably silent, apparently preoccupied with silently seething at Sonata. Sunset wondered if Sonata had suddenly become so chummy with her and Twilight as a defense mechanism against them.
“We won’t be gone long,” Twilight assured the others. “I’ll see you all again soon, okay?”
“I certainly hope so,” Rarity said. “You simply must stay for a proper visit one of these days, without any…” she cleared her throat delicately, “distractions.”
“Later, Twilight! Later, Sunset!” Rainbow called, waving goodbye.
“See ya soon, girls,” Applejack said with a quick hug for each of them.
“Um. I’m sure everything will work out just fine,” Fluttershy said in an awkward attempt at encouragement. “You’ll be back in no time.”
“You promise that it’s only a day in pony years?” Pinkie asked, her eyes impossibly large and watery.
Twilight made a strange noise somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. It was sometimes the only possible noise that one could make when dealing with Pinkie Pie. “I promise, Pinkie. I’ll see you tomorrow at the latest, okay?”
Spike and Sunset said their goodbyes as well. The former happily ran around to receive quick scratches behind the ears from each of the girls. Sunset tried to keep a calm and confident expression while fighting against an ever-growing cloud of butterflies in her stomach.
With the basic logistics arranged and plans beginning to form, Twilight led the way out of the practice room with Sunset and Sonata in tow. They were going back to the Wondercolt statue and the mirror portal.
Back to Equestria.
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Watch them run RIGHT INTO Celestia as soon as they're back in Twilight's castle...
5296270 Spoiler alert much!
5296291 Not exactly a spoiler but someone's opinion on what might happen. Sunset wants to avoid Celestia for now so why not mess with her in the story by having the princess randomly waiting for them? Sounds more like jinxing something.
5296536 I guess you got a point there.
Another excellent chapter.^^ I do think that Aria and Adagio secretly care for Sonata as well, but they're the type that would never admit it.
This should be interesting and perhaps a little awkward considering Sonata was a by appearance a hippocampus in Equestria.
Wonder how the townsfolk might react to a sea monster being let lose in the Ponyville lake?
> short visit
> longest chapter by word count
=p
This is really well done. Enjoying it.
5295855 "too." Not "to."
5297244 I'm guessing it's a "short visit" to Equestria?
5297439 I know. ;) Was just making a joke.
5297444 I know, I was making a "witty?" remark?
Poor Sunset. She's just not ready to face all of her past, is she?
Ah well. Yay for her and Sonata returning to Equestria, however briefly.
Is there a time dilation effect between Equestria and the human world? It would explain some inconsistencies with Sunset being Twilight's age. I liked the touch about Celestia missing Sunset.
Is it wrong that after Cafeteria Control, I can't help thinking "poor Aria, if she can't stand, how will she ever kick the things she hates?" (According to said story a partial list of the things she hates consists of:
)
5297244 In my defense, it's still a little shorter than either EQG movie
5296279
MY FIRST MUSTACHE!
You're making Sonata way too innocent. Remember she enjoyed the evil deeds they committed in the movie. So far, the only part of malice shown in her character is a smirk at some point. I hope you're just making her act like this because she doesn't have any power... not that she's just a victim to the complete monster Adagio, and the angry yet redeemable Aria.
I understand why you would portray them as such, but you're kinda just taking their most notable trait, and making it their personality 100%. (Aria: angry, Adagio: evil, Sonata: clumsy)
5304217 The characters in the actual movie weren't really that expanded upon either. There was never really any in depth character development with any of them. To me, Sonata just felt like Pinkie Pie but she was "bad". That was about the extent of her character development. So, if the author wants to take their personalities in a bit of a different direction that's fine, but you also have to realize the he is attempting to expand upon the only traits that were given to the sirens in the movie itself.
As fast as you're moving this along, it's still pretty interesting. Nicely done.
So, the Prodigal Daughter returns!
It tells you a lot about the Sirens' essential nature that Aria and Adagio automatically assume Sonata will betray them. This is especially noteworthy when, if you ask me, Sonata simply hasn't got the necessary malice to betray them. It may not be possible to fix something so totally broken.
Sunset never learned dark magic even though Twilight did?
That's... a bit ironic when you think about it.
squeeeee
I can't help but think this is unbridled (
) optimism on her part.
"I ain't been dropping no eaves, miss. Please, Miss Twilight, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything... unnatural!"
At the start, I used to hope that all three of them were being honest; now all I'm hoping for is that Sonata is innocent rather than being mistreated by the others to make her look more trustworthy.
I thought that was supposed to be alicorn magic.
5347470
it is >:3
5296270
I know I'm late to the party, but eh. I can imagine sunset going into the portal, seeing Celestia, and either walking backwards back into the portal like homer into the hedge, or walking through, turning around and walking back, like Grandpa Abe when he saw Bart in the restaurant.
hah but Sunset did get kicked out of magic school for at least rummaging through some dark arts texts
“if only you were in a room with three people who’ve been using them for millennia.” hahahaha idk why that's so funny to me, probably the snarky deadpan while totally and undeniably dying in the face of their possible savior
ouch "Not Aria, though" but she's clearly the weakest! as far as how badly the other sirens treated Sonata, can she really blame them? they've been gone from home for so long and now the chance has emerged and they split up (possibly for the first time since coming to the human world) - why wouldn't they be balefully jealous?
the invitation is very well handled and rather cute. this is all very sad/endearing/adorables
Poor Sonata.
I think I can categories all three of the three of them into three main groups. Adagio Dazzle; would definitely be taking the category of a arrogant narcissistic sociopath. Aria Blaze; take away her powers, her heritage, and the fact that she's been around for millennia and she would be nothing but a common Street Thug. Sonata Dusk; she's just a big kid at heart who fell into the wrong crowd, if she never met Aria or Adagio she would be . . . well come to think of it like pinkie pie