xjuggerscrapsx

by xjuggernaughtx

Resolution - Epilogue (Adventure, Dark)

Adagio sat on one of the cave’s clammy rocks with her head cradled in her hands. It had all gone wrong somehow, and now her head was throbbing as she tried to force some ideas out. For once, Assai didn’t seem to have any clever things to whisper to her.

“Well?” Aria’s face was pulled into a hard scowl. Arms tightly crossed, she glared at Adagio. “What now? What happened to your great plan?”

Adagio lifted her head enough to return Aria’s glare. “You’re right. Looking back, I can’t believe we did go with yours. What was it again?” She tapped her chin with one finger and sucked for a moment on her teeth. “Oh, that’s right. You didn’t have one!”

Aria rolled her eyes and turned away. “Right, because I’m the one that said we should go off mission to attack some unknown village full of talking horses. I said—Sonata, would you shut up?”

In the back of the cave, Sonata continued to sing out a warbling tune to a group of bats hanging from the ceiling above her. As the music washed over them, they hissed and clawed at each other. Sonata grinned and helped them along by poking here and there with a long stick. With each passing moment, the bats grew more irritated, and Sonata drank in the meager energy they released.

“I said” —Aria stomped over and snatched the stick out of Sonata’s hand— “shut up!” Growling, she tossed the stick into the mass of bats, who took to the air in a chittering cloud and boiled from the cave’s opening.

“Brilliant,” Adagio said, clapping slowly. “Another amazing Aria idea. I’m sure there’s no way those horse-things are going to spot a huge cloud of bats flying out of a cave in the middle of the day.”

Aria turned away and kicked the stick. Rebounding off the wall, it clattered briefly along the uneven stone floor, then rolled into one of the many black fissures that ran the length of the cave. “Well, I’m hungry! We haven’t eaten in days.”

“Um…” Sonata raised her hand. “I was eating, but then you, like, scared off all the bats before anyone else could get any.”

Whirling, Aria balled her fists at her sides. “I don’t want bat! I want to go home and eat real food, and your stupid song is just making us fight more!”

Sonata tilted her head slightly to the side. “Maybe you’re a bat. Or, like, half-bat.”

“Ugh! Why am I stuck here with you two?” Aria replied, slapping a hand over her face.

Adagio stood and tries to whip the cave grime from her tattered uniform. The muck was remarkable sticky and smelled vaguely of guano. “What do you mean ‘why?’ You begged me to come.”

“I didn’t beg! I just asked, and I wouldn’t have asked if I’d know how bad you were going to screw it all up!” Aria’s eyes shimmered briefly, but when she wiped at them, her face was stony. “You’re always so perfect!” Adagio opened her mouth, but Aria throw her hand out, cutting across her. “Everything’s always going your way, but out here, where we need you, you keep messing up. Now, we’re probably going to get captured, or—”

“Hey! Lizards!” Sonata hopped from foot to foot after turning over a rock. Snatching one up, she wiggled it in front of Aria’s nose. “Look, Aria! Tasty lizard—oh!” Sonata’s eyes widened as the lizard dropped to the cave floor, its tail still wriggling in her hand. Shrugging, she handed it to Aria and began to sing again.

“Sonata, how did you even make it through training? You’re truly the worst! I can’t believe…”

Muttering under her breath, Adagio stomped to the mouth of the cave and stared out of it. A cloud of dust was rising in the distance, and whatever was making it was rapidly approaching. “Well?” she whispered.

I am thinking.

“We don’t have any more time to think!” she hissed, glancing over her shoulder. Sonata and Aria were still deeply involved in their argument. Or, Aria was, at least. Sonata grinned back at her, her hands occasionally rising to stifle a giggle. Adagio could see the veins in Aria’s forehead throbbing.

Your words are true ones. All doors are closed to us now, save one.

“And what’s that?”

The one the sorcerer wanted to put us through when we fought in the canyon. The door to another world.

“No.”

Adagio—

“No!” The word roared out of Adagio before she realized it. Rocks fell as the echo rolled through the surrounding mountains. Wincing, she looked back over her shoulder. Sonata and Aria blinked back at her. Adagio turned away and stepped out of the cave. Despite the desperate situation, the warm sunlight felt good on her skin. “We can’t!”

Hear my words, Adagio. All of our goals hinge upon them. When we decided to attack that village—

“When you decided.”

When we decided. Leadership is not a mantle to be thrown off when it becomes inconvenient. Yes, the idea was mine, but by agreeing to it and convincing the others, you bear its responsibility equally. Within Adagio’s mind, she could feel Assai writhing in agitated circles. We have been fortunate until now, but even the most shepherded plans sometimes go astray.

Tears suddenly in her eyes, Adagio stomped her foot. “You said it’d be easy!”

And so it should have been. I have chanced upon these ponyfolk in the past. They are easy sustenance.

Adagio pointed out to the specks galloping toward them. “Yeah, real easy. The three of us can barely walk anymore. We’ll never be able to fight them off! They’re going to execute us!”

It is not their way.

Adagio trembled, her anger rising. “How would you know?”

As I have told you countless times in the past, you must learn to listen, and to observe. Though my knowledge is admittedly incomplete, I can tell you with certainty that they have never executed one of my kind. We have ways to bar each other from our thoughts, but at the moment of death, those seals are removed. When the passing comes, each of us lives it. In my time, I have witnessed the passing of thousands, yet none the work of these ponies.

Adagio gritted her teeth and stared out at the specks. They’d grown considerably larger.

Consider, also, the last battle. The bearded one tried to force us through his portal. They are looking to be rid of us, but without blood on their hooves. They do not have the stomach for executions.

“Well, who cares?” Adagio said, shaking her head. “Banishment’s just as bad!”

No, it is not. Not by a wide margin.

Adagio threw her hands up. “Tell me how this is good!”

She could feel the hippocampus sigh. I never said it was good. Banishment is a long way from being ‘as bad.’ Any door that has opened once may open again, and who knows what we might find on the other side? Learn the lesson of your elders. Each situation has an advantage. We must turn this one until it suit us.

Slumping against the cave’s entrance, Adagio hung her head again. It was aching fiercely, and she had no patience for Assai’s condescending tone. “Just tell me what to do.”

This must be executed carefully. Our primary goal is the protection of our lands. These ponies cannot be allowed to trace this back to our people.

Adagio threw her hands out wide beside her. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

Adagio’s knees buckled as a wave of pure anger slashed through her skull. What is it exactly that you think we are doing? What good are our carefully laid game pieces if these ponies come and scatter them to the wind? I have spent centuries learning the ways of our two races. These ponies, and the creatures that certainly must lay beyond them, represent variables, and with each new piece added to the board, our chances of winning recede! Our societies have been reactionary balance for millennia. They will hold while we find a way back, but only if we convince these ponies that we three exist in isolation.

“Six,” Adagio said automatically.

Three. In her mind, Adagio felt the faint trace of Assai’s crooked smile. It is why I have advised you to keep out of sight and let me and my brethren take the lead. Always hide your strengths and cover your tracks. It was a gamble, but good fortune is all that is left to us now. Assai’s voice faded for a few moments. The bearded one had great power.

Adagio rubbed her aching forehead. Her head felt like it would split open any second now. “Would you get to the point? They’re getting close. We should have just run!”

We lack the strength. None of us would make it down this mountain. You know this.

“So what? Give up?”

Plans within plans, Adagio. Each action must hide another. We will fight, and we will lose. That is inevitable. What matters is the time after. Interrogation is a certainty, and after that, we will be sent to wherever it is that they send their prisoners. Assai’s consciousness pulsed, and his voice quickened. That will be our moment. We must be convincing, or the ponies will find their way to our lands. His power is great. We must surmise that he has spells to force the truth from us. If we are to succeed, he must not use them. We will give him our tale, albeit grudgingly.

Adagio tried to rub her temple, but stopped to stare at her hand. It was trembling badly. A lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed hard to get rid of it. In the distance, the ponies galloped on. They were nearly at the base of the mountain. “So that’s your big plan? Lie to the ponies?”

It is curious how like Aria you are sometimes.

Adagio winced.

Good. Now that your petulance is done with, let us get on with salvaging this as best we can. One thing that you can always place your trust in is ego.

Adagio fought back an eye-roll.

Think back to our initial attack. We struck swiftly, leaving that wretched town drained of its magical energy. Yet, retaliation came swiftly. We must assume that at least one of those ponies retained enough consciousness to makes some kind of report. Your powers of influence are strong, Adagio. If a confused mind were to remember anything, what would it be?

Her brow furrowing, Adagio thought for a moment. “A powerful image. Something that scared them.”

And what do you think frightened them enough to regain partial consciousness? Three somewhat strange and tiny girls or three fanged monsters from their nightmares?

Almost against her will, Adagio felt a smile slide up the left side of her face. “You’ve been hiding us so that they—” she pointed to the approaching ponies “—won’t know what they’re dealing with.”

Precisely. Never show your true strengths or weaknesses, Adagio. They seek giant monsters, not small girls.

Adagio punched her fist into the air. “Then we’ll just hide! If they find us, it won’t matter! You three can go back into your jewels, and—”

No.

Adagio’s fist slowly sank. “What? Why? If they haven’t—”

Think! How is it that they are on our doorstep?

“They...they’re tracking us somehow,” Adagio said, and with those words, the hope blooming in her chest withered.

Yes, and that is why they must find us. They will battle their nightmares again, but the three of you will remain hidden. You are the only hope we have. We will fight, and we will lose, but once the interrogation starts, you three must sing a song that their ears will not hear. Use all of your power, for everything rides on this! You must lay a spell on them of unsurpassing subtlety. Think on all that I have taught you. This will be your test! You must sing, and they must not catch you. They will banish us, and because we are tied, you will be dragged along with us. Then the ponies will go home, and when they do, they must believe that the nightmare is over. Do you see the truth of it, Adagio?

Looking out over the mountains, Adagio oriented on where home ought to be. Somewhere over that horizon, their people stood against each other in perfectly balanced conflict. The ponies pursuit had been relentless. They might not be satisfied with just the six of them. They probably wanted revenge, or even conquest. She looked over she shoulder to where Sonata and Aria sat in stony silence, their backs turned on one another. There were thousands more like them in the cities. So caught up in their own fights that an invading army would sweep over them like a tsunami.

Do you see it? Assai asked again, more urgently this time.

“Yes,” Adagio replied, nodding before she jerked a thumb over to where her teammates sat, “but they’re not going to like it.”

Liking it isn’t a luxury we have. We have erred. Now, we pay the price, but not without bargaining first. Remember Adagio, we have thousands of years. There will be a way to open the door again. We just need to find it.

Nodding again, Adagio stepped back into the cave and motioned for her friends to join her. They were going to be together for a very, very long time.

Author's Note:

I wrote this epilogue chapter to firmly tie the story in with the canon of Rainbow Rocks. The issue comes from the book that Twilight reads before she goes through the portal. She starts describing the sirens as three creatures that devastated Equestria back in the days of Starswirl the Bearded. The tough part for me is that they show the sirens as hippocampi, and that completely destroys the whole idea of Resolution. In a fit of panic, I wrote up this chapter.

But the thing was... I really didn't care for it. It felt artificially tacked on to me. I really felt like I'd need way more material between the final chapter and this epilogue to make it feel natural. In addition, I decided that Rainbow Rocks is problematic. The book Twilight reads says one thing, but the final battle between the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings seems to show another. As has been pointed out to me many times now, there are lots of interpretations of what could be happening. My story is just one of those. I'm didn't write it to be the end all, be all of siren stories. It's just an something that could be an explanation.

In the end, I decided what was on screen as just way more important than what we see in Twilight's ancient book. This chapter would have messed up the flow of the story, and it just wasn't worth risking that to put a Band-Aid on something that I didn't think was a huge problem anyway.

Comments

[Artemis Fowl II]

I need to tell you that though you may not care for it, this is masterfully written. I love everything about the main story and this epilogue...the conversations, thought process. It's all really, masterfully written. I personally would like this, to tie in with canon, but you are the author...and what you feel about it is probably for the best.

But thank you for the amazing read.

[Ice Star]

This makes it a bit more confusing.