August 15, 6:00 PM: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Something was going on, Adagio thought to herself as she raced through the burning resort, P-90 at the ready. At any other time, it looked like a place that she could enjoy a few days off at – it vaguely reminded her of a resort she’d stayed in on a trip to Indonesia while she had a few down days after an assassination the government had ordered her and Intermezzo to do. Well, she’d been spotter that day, Intermezzo had pulled the trigger, and…for a few days afterwards, it was soaking in the Despansar sun to allay any potential suspicion.
She had been thirteen at the time and was just starting to appreciate the looks she was getting from the Australian tourists, too. Back then, she’d still been coltish and ungainly and more than a bit shy at times about the attention, but Intermezzo had laughed and said that she’d get used to it.
In all the years, Adagio never really had. She couldn’t even imagine herself as some sort of sex symbol now. Especially not now, with her still-too-short hair, the military gear she wore and the submachine gun she held in her hands. If anything, she looked like some sort of monster, something to be feared and reviled once people truly understood what she was. Well, that was something that she never wanted.
She wanted to be normal.
This wasn’t normal, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Rushing forward, she brought the gun to bear and fired, the rounds hurtling through the air and tearing through someone that had just weeks before, been a professional and reliable SIREN, as loyal to the cause as Adagio herself had been. But things had changed in the past few weeks: the SIREN in question had been compromised into an evil, twisted form of herself, while Adagio had become, if anything, more human. She was no longer the switch-on assassin that she’d been trained for her whole life. Now she was something more.
And that something more meant something else: she had no more desire to follow orders blindly for Queen and Country. Everything had to have a reason now, everything had to have a justification. Not too long ago, she would pull the trigger because Canada told her to. Then she would pull the trigger for revenge against her homeland. And now?
Now, she wanted to put the gun away and never pick one up again. And as the SIREN Adagio once knew fell to the ground dead, she knew that was nothing more than a pipedream, one that she was cursed to never see in her lifetime.
Adagio bracketed another she knew, then pulled the trigger again, tearing that other SIREN to shreds, but not in time to save the attacker’s victim. As she looked down, her eyes came upon that of a bloody face with dead eyes that stared blankly at her, as if accusing the teen for not acting quickly enough. Adagio recoiled from the implied blame and felt a burning shame from the corpse’s curse.
“We did this,” she whispered to herself. Of course she knew that technically, she had not really been at fault for the death of the innocent. But that was immaterial – she should’ve seen the rotting within, should’ve done something about it. But she, her sisters and their sœurs hadn’t seen any of it until it was way too late, and that was in any case of absolutely no comfort to the dead woman at her feet.
“I’m sorry,” Adagio said softly, meaning every word of it. “We’re supposed to protect the innocent. We failed.” She would’ve said more in her soliloquy, had it not been the rattle of gunfire. Racing towards the sounds, she heard as the gunfire stopped and the wail of a baby broke out. That pushed her to move even faster, and as she rounded the corner, she saw another one of the SIRENs aiming her gun at a man holding a baby. Next to him another woman had taken her last breath.
Adagio moved completely on instinct, her anger taking a hold of her. Before she even realized what she was doing, she’d closed the gap and withdrew her knife. And before she could even scream a cry of rage, she sank it deep into her former ally’s neck, her eyes boring glares of hatred into the other, dying SIREN.
She then turned to the man and his child. “Get out of here!” she ordered and he obeyed without hesitation. As they left, Adagio stripped the dead SIREN of her primary weapon; she was running low on her own ammo and in the current situation, she wasn’t going to last long unarmed.
“TRAITOR!” Adagio turned to see another SIREN there, gun at the ready and a livid look on her face. The teen recognized the older woman and from the rage etched on the other’s visage, that went the same.
“I’m no traitor, Warrant,” Adagio snarled. “You’re the one who’s turning coat!”
“You’ll die if you don’t join us, Dazzle,” the other woman snarled.
“Not if I take you down first,” the teen warned, a bluff if she ever knew one, but she’d been repulsed by the atrocity committed here. She had a disadvantage: she was good, but the warrant officer was one of the best fighters in the Sisterhood.
“Then you’re a fool,” the warrant said, drawing a bead on the younger girl.
“No – I’m a SIREN,” Adagio said, charging her former superior officer. “And I do not run!” As she moved forward, Adagio knew she had to stop the situation at all costs…
…even if it meant sacrificing herself in the process.
Aria bobbed and weaved, barely dodging Sunset’s latest strike; Sonata was not as lucky and took the blow straight to the chest, knocking the air out of her and temporarily dropping her. Aria was torn between helping her younger sister and just dropping her jaw in awe at Sunset’s martial arts skills. When she’d last seen her friend, Sunset was awkwardly learning TKD from Applejack, who wasn’t bad for a civvie.
But now, now…Aria could see at least four different styles as Sunset had suddenly gone from “I play Street Fighter on occasion” to “better than Jun-Fan in Enter the Dragon”. No openings, fast and powerful; able to surpass Sonata, who was the fastest of them and certainly able to keep up with Aria, who had always focused on technique and was now at a considerable disadvantage. In another time, Aria would’ve insisted Adagio, the best of them, spar against Sunset just to see the difference in the girl’s style. For now, her plan was just to avoid the onslaught.
Two more well-timed punches and Aria managed to barely dodge another blow, this one nearly aimed towards her head. She warded it off, but only barely. “Sunny, stop!” she cried. “We’re here to help!”
“Then why are you dressed like the rest of them?!” Sunset roared, angrier than Aria had ever seen her. This wasn’t the snarky-but-overall-friendly girl she knew, but instead some sort of demon filled with hate and spite.
“We’re not with them!” Aria gasped. “Please, just give yourself up and we’ll explain everythi—” Aria said no more as Sunset practically maneuvered out of nowhere and slammed her across the face with a brutal kick. Before she could even crumple to the ground, she felt herself picked up by one hand by Sunset.
“Why are you doing this?” Sunset said in a surprisingly soft voice. “You were my friend – what the hell’s going on?”
“Look, Sunny…we don’t have a choice! Believe me, if we did, we wouldn’t be in this situation!” Aria begged.
“I don’t believe you,” Sunset told her.
Aria looked at her friend, then decided to tell her the truth. “Sunny…I’m a teenage assassin who used to – maybe still does – work for the Canadian govern—”
“Look, Ari, I can help, but not if you’re going to lie to me,” Sunset insisted. “Canada? Seriously, of all the bullshit lies?”
“I’m serious!”
“I just need to—” Sunset began, but Aria cut her off, knowing what her friend was going to say.
“Sunny, believe me…we were damned a long time ago. I never grew up with toys or fun. I didn’t know what a normal life was until I met all of you.” Violet eyes pled with cyan. “Please, Sunny. We’re doing this to save you!”
“I wish I could believe you, Ari,” Sunset said, her voice falling cold again.
There was the click behind her and Adagio’s voice said, “She’s telling the truth, Sunny. Please, let my sister go.” Sunset turned to see Adagio standing there, pointing a pistol at her. Her arm hung limply at her side and pain engraved its features on Adagio’s face. “We’re trying to stop someone from murdering you, honest.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you? Am I supposed to believe anything you say?” Sunset snarled.
“Look, I know this seems bad, Sunny, but we wouldn’t lie to you—”
“You mean again,” Sunset accused.
“Yeah, you’re right, and I’m sorry about that,” the other girl admitted. “And we didn’t really care for that. But we didn’t have a choice up until now, Sunny.” Taking a chance, Adagio lowered the gun, wincing as she did so. “And if you’ll listen, I’ll tell you everything. But we need to get—”
Gunfire ripped through the space, and Adagio pushed Sunset out of the way, feeling the shots ripping through her body. Everyone turned to see a SIREN standing there, a cruel smile on her lips as a tendril of smoke wafted out from the barrel. But that wasn’t where it ended. No, that turned out to be the monster that stood before Sunset, a scaly abomination wielding a weapon that would look comically anachronistic were it not for the horror that also lay before them.
And that horror was Adagio, fallen to the ground and bleeding out.
“DAGI!” Aria screamed, instinctively reaching for her sidearm, hoping to get a shot off in time.
Meanwhile, the seemingly once-human creature narrowed its feral eyes, gazing upon its newest targets. “DIE!” the beast shouted, drawing a bead, finger starting to depress the trigger.
It was the last thing she ever did.
Moving with a speed that bordered on impossible, Sunset closed the distance and hit the monster with a blow to the chest hard enough that you could nearly see the cavity cave in. But that wasn’t enough for Sunset, who immediately spun and delivered a jumping crescent kick that connected with a blast of aqua energy. The force of the blow sent the creature flying, screaming in utter pain as she soared through the window of a flaming building that immediately collapsed.
Sunset didn’t bother to follow up on her fight however, giving her foe no further thought as she quickly rushed back to Adagio, who was dying in Aria’s arms.
“You’re gonna be okay, sis,” Aria sobbed, her eyes filled with tears and thankful that their baby sister was still unconscious. This was something that Aria didn’t want to see for herself, much less the most sensitive of the trio. So she was surprised to see Sunset look at her with sorrowful anger.
“Are you happy?” Aria snarled. “She’s going to die to save you, and that’s the thanks we get? That we’re supposedly your friends?”
“Ari…don’t,” Adagio coughed in a weak whisper. “We have to protect her. You know the drill.”
“No, not if it’s going to mean losing you!” Aria mourned. “I can’t lose you, sis. I’ve lost too much already.”
“No one’s dying here,” Sunset said with a firmness that surprised her. The flame-haired girl bent down next to the two. “Let me take care of her, Ari. You and Soni need to find us a way out of here.” She looked briefly down at her dying friend, then to said friend’s panicked sister. “I’ve got this.”
“No! I don’t want to lose her!” Tears unabashedly streamed down Aria’s face, and for the one supposedly being the toughest of the three, it was both surprising and yet not to Sunset.
“You won’t,” Sunset vowed. “You won’t, I swear. I can save her, but you need to trust me.” Aria looked at Sunset, then at her dying sister, then briefly at her unconscious one. The look on her face was one of utter anguish and she chewed her lip in worry.
“Please,” Sunset pled.
After torturous seconds, Aria handed her most precious treasure to Sunset. “Don’t make me regret this,” Aria warned her.
“Get Sonata and find a car. We need to get out of here.” As if on cue, police sirens started to wail in the distance. Aria needed no further prodding. She went over and picked up Sonata, then carried her as she went in search of a car they could steal.
As they left, Adagio used the last of her flagging strength to look at Sunset. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry for everything. All I wanted was to be normal.”
“You’ll be normal,” Sunset explained, looking Adagio over clinically and trying not to wretch as she tore off parts of the other girl’s shirt. She could see the scars and musculature of a life far different than she’d ever known; this looked more along the lines of a guardspony’s muscles that of a normal girl.
Or that of a soldier, Sunset had to admit, recalling Aria’s earlier words.
“Sunny…if I don’t make it, make sure Ari and Soni are safe,” Adagio spat before coughing up blood. “Promise me….”
“I don’t need to,” Sunset said, closing her eyes as she began to focus her magic internally. Granted, with her power levels now it wasn’t going to be much of an issue, but then again, there was a difference between what she’d done for Minuette and the battlefield surgery she was performing now. One false move and all the power in the world wasn’t going to save her. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Sunny, I’m dying.” Another coughing fit, this one worse than the last. Adagio could feel herself weaken, feeling so tired despite the pain ripping through her. “I’d need a miracle right now.”
In response to that, Sunset held up her hand and it began to spark with unnatural energies, her palm holding a fireball of warm turquoise energy.
“What…what is that?” Adagio asked, wondering if she was seeing the mythologized light that people saw at the end of their lives.
“One miracle,” Sunset said with a gentle, beatific smile, “coming up.”
And then she placed the energy sphere on Adagio.
The world went white.
Celestia, her arms and legs bound and face covered by black sackcloth, was thrown rudely to the ground, then kicked in the stomach, gasping for air as cruel laughter briefly sounded behind her. Something loud and metallic – a huge metal door, maybe? – slammed behind them as she lay on the ground, desperately suffering through the agony as she tried to regain her breath through the light-proof bag.
Finally, after a few torturous seconds, Celestia spoke. “Lu?” No answer. “Luna?” Celestia tamped down the fear that was starting to set in; she had no idea what was going on, only that they’d been grabbed at gunpoint by mercenaries and that—
—out of the corner of her eye she could see Sable being shot as her vision began to swim—
“NO!” the woman screamed, as realization suddenly sank in like a ten-ton anvil. “SABLE! NO!” She began to strain against her bonds, screaming in rage and fear, hoping someone would help her…and fearful that no help would come.
Finally, she felt rough hands on her and she continued to jerk, desperate to get away from the person accosting her, until a gentle voice said, “Please don’t worry, I’m here to help.” The voice sounded oddly familiar despite the accent; in any case, Celestia was completely at the mercy of the owner of the voice, and for good or bad, whatever would happen next would happen regardless.
So it was a pleasant surprise that Celestia felt her arms and legs being unbound, and a second later, she felt the mask being pulled off as the other woman told her, “You’re safe now, or as safe as I can aid you.”
Celestia nodded in appreciation. “Thank you,” she said in gratitude…
…as she suddenly found herself looking into a carbon copy of herself. Well, not exactly a perfect copy of herself: the other woman had a short hairstyle that Celestia was never really sure would work on her. Furthermore, the other her was dressed a bit more elegantly in clothing that Celestia herself was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to afford this side of ever. Even from this situation and what little was visible in the dark room, everything that the educator could see in her doppelganger spoke of a life that she couldn’t have, save for in her dreams.
It was finally the other “Celestia” that spoke: “C’est inattendu,” the other woman spoke in French, something that Celestia, given her Italian heritage, felt was more than a little unusual.
“You’re telling me,” Celestia said, wondering if her worry and grief was making her imagine everything.
The other giggled. “And I suppose you’re wondering if you’re seeing things as well, trying not to presume that you’re going mad by imagining another version of yourself, ai-je raison?”
“The thought had crossed my mind, yes,” Celestia admitted.
“Well, perhaps we should put this to rest.” The woman offered a hand. “Solaire.”
“Celestia.”
Solaire smiled. “Interesting. My second name – well, the one I use publicly – is D’Celestia.”
“Small world – when I was a teenager, I had a fake ID that said my name was Solaire,” Celestia admitted with a giggle. But the moment of mirth vanished as she asked, “Do you know why we’re here?”
She shook her head. “I…I don’t know. I was with my daughter and my….” Solaire blushed in a way that Celestia had known all too well as of late, the look of an older woman in youthful love. “Anyway, we were attacked, and separated.” Solaire clenched her hands into fists and closed her eyes as she said, “I don’t even know what’s happened to my daughter!”
Celestia went into her so-called “maternal mode”, embracing her lookalike; her emotions roiled within her, but right now someone needed her more than she needed to vent. “I’m sure she’s fine, Solaire. These people seem like they’re not the kind to take prisoners unless they want something. The question is,” she sighed, “is what.”
“I don’t know,” Solaire sobbed. “I thought this was an attempt on our family – we’ve had a lot of those lately – but I didn’t think anyone would be this desperate! And now they have you caught up in this!”
“Don’t be too sure that it’s you,” Celestia admitted. “My boyfriend is a former military hotshot and apparently, some people he pissed off are in town. You may be the one who got dragged into a situation you’re not at fault for.”
Before either woman could say anything further, the door tore open, a rough voice shouted, “GET IN THERE, BITCH!”
From the moment the form hit the ground, Celestia knew who that was. “LUNA!” she screamed, moving to her sister’s side immediately. Solaire, getting the hint, moved as well.
Luna looked as if she’d been run through the wringer: she had multiple bruises and a black eye. “Heya, sis,” Luna said weakly before wincing. “Guess they weren’t expecting me to fight back, huh?”
“Sei stupido?” Celestia retorted, half out of worry, half out of anger. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed, Lu!”
“Who says I haven’t?” Luna groaned. “Since I’m obviously staring at two of you right now….”
Celestia gently maneuvered her sister to her lap. “No, you’re not, but it’s a long story, Lu.”
“We probably have time, sis.” Luna gave a wan smile. “By the way, don’t tell Moni about this or we’re dead.”
“This is not the time to joke about things, Lu.”
“Yes it is. You’re usually the one with a sense of humor, okay? Let me have it for the moment?” The dark-haired woman then looked at her older sister with tears in her eyes and said, “I don’t know if Shadow or Sable made it out. Do you?”
“I don’t know,” Celestia said, giving Luna a bleak look. “I honestly don’t know.”
Solaire moved next to Celestia, giving the newcomer a concerned look. “Do you know her?” Solaire asked.
Luna looked at her sister, then at her not-sister, then blinked. “I think I have a concussion….” she moaned.
“You’re fine, Lu. You’re not seeing me in double, and I was rather surprised as well.” Gesturing to the other woman, she said, “This is Solaire D’Celestia, and she’s mixed up in this as well. Now, if I only knew what this actually is, I could give you a better answer.” To Solaire, she said, “This is my younger sister, Luna.”
“Are you okay?” Solaire asked.
“Wow, she even sounds like you sis. You sure you didn’t clone yourself?”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re okay,” she mock-sighed.
The door quickly opened and a trio of heavily-armed women in military gear came in. All three were wearing masks, had Amazonian physiques and were pointing nasty-looking weapons at the trio. “Get up,” the lead one said, pointing at the trio.
“She’s injured!” Solaire said, pointing to Luna. “You can’t possibly—”
“Look, I don’t know which one of you two pastel-haired cunts the boss wants,” the woman snarled, “but the bitch with the starry hair is expendable.” She nodded her head and the one nearest to her pointed her gun at Luna. “So either you get off your fat asses and follow me, or I splatter the slit’s brains all over the ground, got it?”
Celestia looked at them with a mixture of wild-eyed fear and deep rage. Fear that they would hurt her baby sister. Rage that they would even dare to try. She could feel herself, rising with a terrible purpose. She would likely die, but better that than for them to ever touch a hair on Luna’s head ever again. She’d started to stand…
…only to feel Solaire’s hand on her shoulder. “Taking care of her is paramount,” she whispered. “My older brother was recently killed, and I suspect I now know who did it.” She then turned to the others. “We’ll come,” Solaire insisted. “But I insist you let my…assistant…and her sister come with me.”
“You’re in no position to demand anything, Princess,” the lead thuggette responded.
“Oh, I disagree. I don’t know who your boss is, but if he went to this trouble to capture me, then he wants me alive. And since you can’t be certain that I’m your true target, then it behooves you to listen to what I say.” The look in Solaire’s eyes was one of someone who was used to wielding authority, even when at a disadvantage, and seeing this, Celestia wondered just who her counterpart was. Was the snide “princess” comment not sarcasm, but instead address?
“Fine,” the soldier acquiesced. “But anything out of the ordinary, and we dust her, understood?”
“We understand,” Celestia replied, looking at the woman with hate.
In a stolen car just east of the burning Club Tropicana complex, Aria Blaze sat and watched everything go to ruin. By a small run of luck, the person who owned this stunning burnt-pumpkin colored Panamera was the same size as Aria. And though the teen detested wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with RICH, DRUNK AND FUCKABLE as well as too-short shorts, she put them on and quickly dressed Sonata in similar clothing, though she gave the unconscious girl the DADDY’S BAD EXAMPLE t-shirt. After that, she slipped on the shades and put on her best look of horror as numerous cops sped past…and it wasn’t exactly hard to get into character, admittedly. Fortunately, the cruisers sped by, ignoring the stupid rich young bimbo with the ridiculously expensive import – they had more important things to do, after all.
After a few minutes, Sonata stirred. “Sis?” she spoke.
“Stay low,” Aria warned, not taking her eyes off the general direction she gazed in. “We don’t know what they’re looking for, and I’m hoping this is enough of a disguise. But if they see you, that could put us at risk.”
“Roger that,” Sonata said, briefly looking at her clothing and mentally shrugging off the implied insult that was on her acquired top. Still recovering from a massive headache, it took the youngest sister a second more to realize something was horribly amiss. “Ari? Are you okay?”
Aria wiped her eyes and continued to try to keep an even tone, even though she knew she couldn’t. “I’m fine, Soni. Just, please, not now, okay?”
“What do you mean, not now? You’re crying – I can tell! And we’re dressed like this and I’m sitting in a stolen sports ca—” Reputedly the smartest of the trio, her mind immediately locked onto the situation. “Sis, where’s Dagi?”
“Sonata, not now!” Aria finally turned to face her sister, and behind the ridiculously hot-pink sunglasses, tears could be seen streaking down her face. “Just…don’t ask, sis. Please.”
“No….” Sonata whispered, having figured it out anyway and unable to believe it. “You’re lying!”
“I don’t know, little sister, I really don’t,” Aria said, hugging herself and feeling a sudden chill that wasn’t in the air. “All I know is that if worst comes to, I need to keep you safe, no matter the cost.”
“What happened? And where’s Sunny? What’s going on?”
Aria looked at her sister, worry in her eyes. “I don’t know, Soni! I don’t know!”
“Jeez, Ari – you’re starting to sound like Rarity.”
Aria whipped around to see both Adagio and Sunset walking towards them. That was surprising enough. The bigger surprise was that Adagio looked completely healed.
“DAGI!” Aria leapt out of the car and tackleglomped her older sister, blubbering incoherently. For her part, Adagio held her sister close, wiping away her tears, assuring her that she was okay.
“But I saw…I saw….” Aria sobbed, unable to finish her sentence.
Adagio reached over and gently kissed her sister on her forehead. “Silly, you know I’m not that easy to take down. Plus, who’s going to watch over you two?”
Sonata, watching the whole exchange with complete confusion, looked at Sunny. “What’s going on?”
Despite the situation, Sunset rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Doing your ‘stupid’ act again, Soni?”
“No, for once, I’m actually clueless. Help a sister out here?”
“Dagi nearly got killed trying to protect me. I kinda owed her one, so I fixed her up.”
Sonata furrowed an eyebrow. “What?”
To display, Sunset immediately proceeded to levitate Sonata out of the car, her body enveloped in an aura of aqua energy. Her clothing began to shift around her and when she was placed on the ground, her clothing was now something a little more akin to what she normally wore.
Aria, having watched all this, looked at her sister, then at Sunset, then lifted up Adagio’s shirt, seeing the scarless body. “Sis, where’s that knife scar?” the middle triplet asked, searching for a wound she knew should’ve been there but wasn’t.
“The one I got when I was twelve?” Adagio asked. Aria nodded, and the former laughed. “Sunny, looks like you did too good of a job.”
It was Sonata that asked the obvious question. “Sunny…what are you?”
Sunset gave a bemused smirk. “Let’s just say that you’re not the only ones with a secret. And as to what I am, I believe I’m still your friend, hopefully.” She was about to say something else when a wave of dizziness slapped her hard. She nearly collapsed to the ground, if it wasn’t for Adagio’s timely catch.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I just used a lot more magic than I expected, healing you,” Sunset admitted. “You were literally at death’s door, Dagi.”
“Yeah, having several rounds punch through vital organs generally tends to do that,” Adagio said with gallows humor. “Look, I’m more worried about you right now. We managed to get you safe, but where are the others?”
Sunset’s only answer was to look at her feet, her previous composure giving way to a look of heartbreak as her fists trembled with fury.
Adagio, putting everything together immediately, looked at her friend in shock, her hand going to her mouth involuntarily. “Oh God, they’re not…?”
“No, they’re alive – they have to be,” Sunset answered quickly, shutting down any dark paths of thought. “They were gone before I arrived, but there’s only one reasonable explanation!”
Unable to contain herself any longer, Aria blurted, “Look, can we just get to the panicking part that Sunset is a fucking wizard?”
“Unicorn,” the flame-haired girl replied.
“What?”
“Unicorn. I’m not even really human. I’ve kinda adjusted, buuuuuuuut it’s been a bumpy road at times,” she told the three, waiting for the inevitable response. The responses she got was somewhat surprising. Adagio seemed to be taking it all in rather well, but given that she was literally dragged from death’s door, that was a given. Sonata was as well, given that Sunset had transfigured her clothing.
But as for Aria….
“Look, I really feel like I just want to lose my shit right now, okay? First I see my sister nearly fucking die right in front of my eyes, then to watch her get turned back to normal and seeing Soni’s clothing get magicked or something like that and you’re not really human and Oh my God is none of this making any fucking sense whatsoever!”
“Look, we can talk about this later, but right now we need to get out of here,” Sunset told them. “Then afterwards you can tell me everything, including why that girl I took down earlier turned into what looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
“You’re taking that better than we did,” Sonata commented.
“Not really being human might have something to do with it,” Sunset responded as Adagio ushered her to the stolen car. “There are dozens of sapient species back on my homeworld and while I’m not going to go into detail on that right now, I could see the miasma of a badly-done black magic spell. I mean that creature was practically farting miasma.”
“This could be a really interesting study,” Sonata commented.
“Could we get back onto something more normal?” Aria interjected as clambered into the back seat. The rest of the girls followed suit, with Sonata falling into the seat next to Aria, Sunset taking the passenger’s seat and Adagio slipping behind the wheel. “Like how we’re going to kill these things? I can deal with that. That’s perfectly normal.”
Sunset, despite the situation, couldn’t help but smile. “Normal would be nice right about now.”
“We’ll work on that,” Adagio told her as she started the car. “Look, I don’t know what else to say right now, Sunny, but we’ll get the others back, I promise.”
From her location in the backseat, Sonata leaned forward and hugged Sunset around the chair. “We missed you, you know that?”
“I missed you girls, too,” Sunset said with sincerity. “Now I need you to explain everything, as much as you can. If that mutation and the girls’ kidnappings are related, we need to know why, especially if you said they were after me specifically. That has to mean someone knows about me, and if that’s the case, neither I nor my family is safe. We have to put a stop to this.”
“It’s probably worse than you think, Sunny,” Adagio said somberly as she steered away from the charnel house that was once a resort. “Fortunately – or rather, unfortunately – we’ll have plenty of time to talk about it on the drive back.”
Three women were roughly shoved into a new cell, this one much larger than the others. And from what little light could be seen, Celestia gasped. There, in the room, was horror: Velvet was ministrating to a severely beaten-and-tied-up Night Light, looking like she was only barely keeping it together. Celestia had known him long enough to know that he was more the lover than the fighter type, and to see him mashed to a pulp like that hurt her in a way that she knew tore at Velvet’s heart.
But at least he’s alive, something in her mind told her. You can’t say the same for— Celestia immediately banished the thought and continued to let her eyes scan the room while she looked for any others, and tragically, her vision was rewarded. She saw her own niece, near tears, holding an unconscious Shining, who was in worse shape than his father; sadly, not a surprise given his profession.
But the biggest shock was Spike, whose presence here caught the educator for a huge surprise. He looked around the cell with a look somewhere between a child caught in an adventure and a child who was realizing what was going on was most certainly not an adventure. It was he who turned to the door first and saw those incoming. “Ms. Celestia!” he called out. “And Ms. Luna! And…Ms. Celestia?”
Velvet looked up at her old friend, her eyes radiating a deep fear and worry. “Tia?”
Hearing that, Cadance looked up and the tears began. She said nothing at all, just letting her anguish flow.
Celestia looked at Solaire and asked, “Will you look after Luna?”
Solaire nodded. “You have my word.”
Luna looked at her through a swollen eye. “I’ll be fine, sis,” she murmured. “You look after our family.”
Our family. Celestia took those words to heart. She’d known Velvet all her life, and even still nursed somewhat of a crush on Night despite everything. Both their older siblings had briefly dated. Next year, Celestia’s niece would wed Velvet’s oldest son and they would have a tie that had been there for practically all their lives.
Celestia, Luna, Velvet, all sisters in heart if not in blood.
The pastel-haired woman moved to Velvet’s side immediately. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know,” Velvet said. As Celestia got a closer look, she could finally see the bruise where Velvet had been punched. Realizing that, the other woman turned away. “I don’t think any of us are, Tia.”
Before Celestia could respond, the door opened once more, and another woman dressed in fatigues pointed a nasty-looking rifle at the group. “You,” she said to Solaire. “Get your ass up and follow us.”
“And if I don’t?” she challenged.
“You’ll be the only living person in this room not holding a gun,” the woman threatened.
Celestia moved to Solaire’s side. “Go,” the longer-haired one replied. “We’ll be fine here.”
“Are you sure? I think I have an idea of what’s going on now.”
“All the more reason for you to go. We’ll be okay here for now, I’m sure of it.” Solaire silently nodded and got up, joining the woman with the rifle.
“If you harm them….” Solaire snarled – and got slapped across the face for it.
“You don’t have the stones or the authority,” the woman replied coolly. “But since you were a good little girl you just bought your friends here a little more time. Now come with me, and behave yourself or I just might change my mind.”
As they shoved Solaire through the door and shut it, Velvet looked at her friend. “Now I might be the worse for wear, but I know I wasn’t imagining that, was I?”
“Trust me,” Celestia told her with a wan smile. “I wish I knew what was going on myself, other than what I was able to piece together, Solaire is some sort of European royalty, and several members of her family have been assassinated recently. It’s a coincidence that we look alike – maybe we have a common distant ancestor – but I think that whoever is behind these thugs confused us with one another and decided to split the difference and capture us both.”
“And the rest of us?”
“Innocent bystanders caught up in the dragnet,” Cadance replied, getting a better grip on herself now that they were more in her bailiwick. “Happens all the time with police sweeps and it doesn’t surprise me that criminals aren’t as careful – or that they give a damn.” She then looked at her aunt. “Aunt Tia, is there anything else you can tell me?”
“There’s not much to tell,” Celestia told her, then started crying. That was more than enough for Velvet to figure out why Sable was missing and what had happened to him. She moved over and hugged Celestia close, with Cadance embracing both.
“We’ll survive this and we’ll make sure he’s not forgotten,” Velvet promised, crying alongside her destroyed friend. “He won’t be forgotten, not now, not ever.”
Never thought I’d be doing this in my own country, Sable thought glumly as he put on the remainder of his ACUs. As bad as the joke is, there’s a ring of truth to it, fighting wars is what other countries’ territory is for. He looked at the weapons he’d confiscated from the woman he’d killed at Luna’s place. With the kind of firepower she’d had on hand, it was clear that going to the cops was going to be a fool’s errand. Not that he didn’t think they were capable, but there was a difference between law enforcement and military forces for a reason – and a situation like this was going to get someone not used to punching above their weight in real trouble real quick.
But he had to save Celestia. She gave his life meaning, made him feel more alive than he had ever felt before. His life had been intertwined with hers since the day they met, and had he been the sort of person who believed in that sort of thing, he would’ve been convinced he and she were forever encircling one another – maybe here, maybe in other dimensions, maybe for all eternity. Maybe there was no Sable Loam without a Celestia.
He reached down and looked at the picture they’d taken down at the pier in Horseshoe Bay last month. They were as happy as could be, two people in love and there was no one who could disagree. The future was theirs to see, que sera sera, etc. etc., and they were meant to be. He loved her, she loved him.
And now she was gone, taken by bastards who wanted to get back at him for not being a part of their murderous spree. He knew it wasn’t directly tied to Blackthorn and his ALICORN bullshit; they’d been found dead, taken out by the CIA or some other organization. But a backup team had clearly meant to clean up the loose ends, and they’d done so, thinking to take him out and the others as well…and taking Celestia and her sister. Was Blackthorn somehow still alive? If so, did that mean he still had plans for Celestia – and now Luna, too?
His blood boiled at the thought. His hand unconsciously went to his sidearm, feeling the grip’s texture, feeling a weapon he was already well familiar with. It would see action tonight. For one last night, he would be the Wolf of Kabul, to save his love and her sister. For one final night he would be the creature of legends that Taliban soldiers spoke of with both hate and fear. Tonight, for one last time he would pick up the gun once more and wield it in conflict, becoming a god of war few had ever seen before and would hate to see ever again.
He picked up the picture once more, kissing Celestia’s image. “I’ll get you back.” He then gently set the picture down and walked toward the door, pausing only to pick up his new assault rifle.
It was time for the Wolf to show lessers what happened when they dared enter his territory.
Zephyr pulled over to a particularly empty part of the Everfree Forest. He needed a particular place to talk to his guest, and it had to be this way. Calling for backup was going to be a joke – these guys were mercs and they hit hard. Maybe – maybe – CPD SWAT or whatever ECSD’s equivalent was might be up to snuff, but the attack was so well-executed (and him nearly executed along with it) that it was obvious this was a pro operation, and anything other than ready troops was going to be nothing more than throwing bodies at the situation.
So he was going to have to improvise. Generally, people didn’t like it when he improvised. He’d gotten in trouble a couple of times when he’d improvised, like in Oslo; the charge d’affairs there still wanted his head.
Yeah, well, that’s what I get for being so Goddamn aloof. Even though he’d spent time in SOF, he knew he wasn’t the Rambo Apple “kill ‘em all and let someone sort ‘em out” type. He was more of the trouble magnet type, either attracting it or causing it. Someone had once called him “Discord”, as in the Roman god of strife; Zephyr, in turn, pointed out that the “god” was a goddess (Discordia) and that unless he was being compared to the rock star, then it made no sense.
Just like now. He’d cauterized the wound, earlier, thinking it was the easiest way to roll through the pain until he could see medical attention. So far, the third bandage he’d put around it was bleeding, his leg felt like shit and he was bulldozing his way through the pain. Probably meant he was going to take it out on the SIREN he’d captured, but oh fucking well.
Those bitches had taken both Solaire and Shimmer. He’d grown close to them, far closer than was professional, but he really didn’t give a damn at this point. His partner had been murdered, he was one step short of committing adultery and even if he hadn’t, his marriage was going to shit anyway. He wasn’t in the mood for subtlety or symbolism.
Walking over and popping open the trunk, he noticed the SIREN somewhere between pain and discomfort for being locked in a trunk. Deciding he could live with that, he pulled the girl out and threw her to the ground, making sure that she’d land face first. He then drew his pistol, cocking the hammer back and looking at her with a glance somewhere between indifference and insult. “Let’s make this clear: you’re not under arrest. We’re well past that.”
The girl made to scream obscenities into her gag. Gingerly, he bent down and pulled it off. “Sorry, wasn’t aware you were going to speak.”
“You’re a dead man, you know that?”
He rolled his eyes. “Do I look dead to you? I might hurt like a motherfucker right now—” As if to make his point, he winced, “—but still very much alive. Your condition, however, is debatable and dependent entirely upon your cooperation.”
She spat at him. “Get fucked! I’m a SIREN! I don—AAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGGHH!!” Her scream was due to the sudden but very explicable bullet hole she had in her leg.
Zephyr raised the gun once more. “Now we can be twins!” he said with a cruel smile, “and twins always share, right?” He pointed the gun at her head. “So spill. I’m done with good cop/bad cop. We’re now into bad cop/murderous cop.”
“Fine!” she snarled. “You want to commit suicide that easily? HQ is in the construction area downtown. But we’re armed to the teeth and we’ve got other things besides. Show up – you won’t set a single foot on the perimeter before one of my Sisters puts a bullet through your fucking head!”
He sighed dramatically. “Well, I’ve never been too good listening to directions, so I guess I’ll just have to live through it all. But thanks for the info.” He then looked at the late afternoon sky and wondered, “So what do I do with you?”
“Just get over and done with, asshole. I’m not afraid to die – and the Sisterhood will avenge me.” Despite her bravado, she turned away from him. “Just…get it over and done with.”
“No.” He holstered his gun. “That would be taking the easy way out. You don’t deserve that and like I said, I’m not a murderer. So you’re going to live with your crimes, all of it: betraying your fellow SIRENs by telling me where you’re located and that you guys are armed for bear. Means that I have to do things a little differently.” He picked her up.
“NO!” she screamed. “I SAID KILL ME!”
He ignored her, throwing her in the trunk and slamming it shut. “Kid, I said I wasn’t a murderer,” he told her through the closed metal. “I didn’t say anything about being merciful.”
Limping back to the car, he got back in the driver’s seat and headed back towards Canterlot. He was going to have to wait until night, and then when that was done he was going to hit that building like a Goddamn ton of bricks.
Stay safe until then, girls, he pled silently. I’m coming.
Cantata escorted the prissy bitch into the room, shoving her down onto the metal chair. She knew who she was; the SIREN knew she shouldn’t’ve really given a damn, but the fact was, this whore was competition for Divine’s attention and that was a distraction she could not afford. Nevermind that he said he didn’t want her any longer, the very fact that she was still alive very much indicated that he still might. And even something as remote as that was still too much for Cantata’s liking.
“Now are you going to tell me what I’m here for?” she asked.
“That’s not my job,” Cantata lied. What she would have rather done is put a bullet in her head and dump her somewhere for carrion, but again, that wasn’t her choice.
But Divine better not have plans for her that I don’t agree with, the SIREN captain thought, or else she’s going to meet with a little “accident”.
“I demand to see my daughter,” she ordered, glaring at Cantata with a haughty look in her eyes. Cantata knew said look so well: it was the look of authority and command, said by the sort of person that thought they were in absolute charge. And even a princess of a house in pretense had some sort of influence; plus she was a diplomat for the government that had deposed her ancestor, so she had pull there. And as Divine had said (with some admiration, which had annoyed Cantata even further), she was a formidable woman in her own right.
But looking at her now, bruised and shaken, but still defiant, Cantata could only see an enemy to put down at all costs.
“You are in no position to dictate anything, Princess,” Cantata barked. “You will only answer as you are questioned, are we clear?”
Solaire didn’t rise above the bait. “I said, where is my daughter?”
Cantata gave a glance to one of her troops.
A fist came down hard across Solaire’s face, drawing blood and nearly knocking her out of her seat.
“Next time I won’t be so kind,” Cantata warned.
“Oh, Canta dear, that will not do!” a voice rang out, and as Solaire turned, blinking away the pain, she saw a face from her horrors, one she thought she would never see again.
“Divine?” she spoke, her words numbed with shock.
He walked up to her, assured and confident, carrying a glass of wine in his hand and an easy grin on his face. “I see you remember me, dear cousin. And I see you’ve already met my betrothed.” He looked at Cantata. “I trust you two have bonded, my dear?”
She gave him a fed-up look. “Can we just get to the point?” she asked him.
“All in good time, my dear, all in good time,” he said affably. “Would you have one of your troops be so kind as to get both some water for my cousin as well as her daughter? We must show faith to our family, correct?” Cantata nodded silently and gestured to one of her troops.
Meanwhile, Solaire continued to look at Divine with absolute shock. “What? How…. How are you still alive? I heard you were killed in a boating accident!”
He took a sip of his wine and chuckled. “Yes, and I hear the deaths of our other family members were accidents, too. But I know better, of course – after all, accidents are much cleaner than murders.”
“What?” Solaire gasped, her eyes filled with shock at the presence of her cousin who she thought was dead, and now his confession that he had something to do with Bataille and Quenouille’s deaths earlier in the year. “No,” she whispered. “This has to be a lie.”
Just then, one of the SIRENs returned with a bottle of water. “Pass that to me, please.” Taking it, he then walked over and handed it to her, his citrine eyes looking into her lilac ones. “Oh, this is very real, cousin,” he told her. “And now you’re going to pay the price not only for spurning my offers, but debasing yourself with a commoner and defiling yourself by having his spawn.”
“What?” she repeated, still not believing what she was hearing.
He sighed theatrically, then looked at Cantata. “I did try, you know. Let the record show that I did try.”
Cantata, already bored with this, rolled her eyes. “So noted for the logs.”
“Thank you, dear.” He then went over to the nearby table and set the glass on it, then returned to Solaire. “Let me make things a little clearer, cousin.” With that, he raised his hand, and a violet glow filled his hands while his eyes started to emanate a sickly green energy. And then he lifted her out of the chair violently, by her neck, before throwing her against the wall.
“This is getting pretty interesting,” a SIREN behind Cantata commented. Cantata gave her subordinate a brief look before nodding in agreement.
Solaire stared dumbfounded at her cousin, ignoring the pain. He had done something impossible. Was it even him? She never really liked him, but if he had been killed and replaced by a demon wearing his skin…she wouldn’t want that on anyone.
“Oh, I assure you it’s me, cousin,” he told her as if hearing her thoughts, which Solaire could almost believe at this point. “I have merely claimed the birthright of our father of fathers, what my ancestor of ancestors has graced us with. While you were laying with that commoner trash you were stupid enough to call your husband, I regained the power that is due to us, made it mine and made the world my oyster. I will make everyone and everything in it my playthings and I will be as a god!”
“You’re crazy!” she told him. “Vous êtes un imbécile dangereux et trompé!”
“And you’re worthless,” he spat at her. He snapped his fingers, and from around a corner, two guards came, dragging a very frightened teenager. Though Shimmer looked unharmed, the word was a relative thing. She was dressed in a white outfit reminiscent of an ancient Greek peplos, with a belt made from a golden material. The fact that she was dressed that way – as if she were some temple virgin – seriously worried Solaire.
“If you’ve harmed her, I swear, Divine, I will hurt you,” Solaire growled.
“Oh, please, you couldn’t hurt a fly,” Cantata said. “But fortunately for you, we’ll be nice.” She turned to her subordinates. “Let the girl go.”
Shimmer didn’t need any further prodding; the moment the SIRENs let go of her, she dived into her mother’s arms, sobbing. “Mama, qu’est-ce qui se passe? Qu’est-ce qu’ils vont nous faire?” she cried. “Je veux aller a maison!”
Solaire held her daughter tightly as she also cried. “Sssh, mon petite tournesol. Everything will be okay, I promise, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Divine taunted, “and I assure you this is one you won’t keep. Because you two are family, I’ll give you a minute alone. Please, let’s leave them to their devices.”
Solaire glared at them all as they left the room, while she continued to hold her daughter protectively. Once they were gone, she brought Shimmer’s face to hers. “Did they hurt you? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” Shimmer said, forcing down her fear. “They…they didn’t hurt me. What’s going on? Why is cousin Divine with these monsters! And I thought he was dead!”
“I don’t know, Sunset. I suspect that things are not what we thought they were – but I know this much. Divine said he killed Bataille and Quenouille, your aunt and uncle. If that’s true, then he is orchestrating the downfall of our family for some reason or another, and I don’t know how to stop him.”
“What happened to Agent Breeze? Is he okay?”
Solaire brushed Shimmer’s hair with her fingers to call her down – or to calm herself down, she wasn’t really sure. “I don’t know. I hope so.”
“So do I, Mom. He’s a good guy. I hope you get to see him again.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s focus on how we’re going to get out of this together, my dearest. Then we can worry about going to the police—”
“And I think we’ve had enough of that seditious talk,” Divine said as he reentered the room, with the SIRENs in tow. “Take our younger guest to the staging room. As for our older guest, well, she can join the others.” Nodding to the two guards, Divine gave Solaire a cruel smile. “Enjoy your last seconds with your daughter, Soli.”
The eyes of the two captives went wide with panic as the two SIRENs began to pry them apart. Solaire and Shimmer tried to hold on to each other but then Cantata stepped in, bashing Solaire against the side of her head with her rifle. As Shimmer screamed and Solaire crumpled to the ground, Divine appeared indifferent to it all on the surface, but in his eyes was a gleeful cruelty. He was enjoying this.
“Mom!” Shimmer desperately reached out to her mother, her face a mask of panic and her eyes pinpricks of fear. “Help!” But all Solaire could do was rub her head and try to push herself off the ground, her face one of both shock and heartbreak as her daughter was forcibly dragged from the room. And by the time Solaire had managed to regain some semblance of clarity, her daughter was gone.
“SUNSET!” Solaire screamed with all the horror in the world. “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” She then forced herself to ignore the pain and the blood dribbling down the side of her head. With all the hatred she could muster, she glared at him. “ENFOIRÉ! CONNARD! VOUS M’ENTENDEZ? LAISSEZ-LA PARTIR!”
“Sticks and stones, my dear cousin, sticks and stones,” Divine replied. “And in case you’ve forgotten, I’m the guy who has the girls with the guns.” He bent down before her, looked her in the eyes. “I could have you killed in a second, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Solaire looked at her cousin, hatred in her soul. While she’d never really liked him, she did put up with him for the family’s sake. And now he’d murdered said family and there was no more real reason to tolerate him, save that he had her daughter. “Please, Divine, if there’s any humanity within you, you’ll let my daughter go. She’s innocent.”
“She’s not innocent,” Divine laughed. “No girl is nowadays.” A thought crossed his mind. “Those friends of hers that you used as a decoy? I’ll bet she’s having relations with at least one of them.”
“Other friends? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, Solaire – you’ve done that for enough years. Do you think me an idiot? Send your daughter’s friends down south to keep my forces off their trail? Well, it almost worked. Unfortunately for you, Captain Blast here has a world-class intelligence apparatus, and we were able to weed out your fakes. I even hear your body double downstairs is a near-duplicate.” He grinned. “Congratulate her plastic surgeon – he apparently seems to be a master at the art.”
“Again, what are you talking about?”
“Defiant to the last, I see. Well, let’s see how defiant you are when I am the master of this world and you are my plaything—”
Cantata faux-coughed and gave him an even look.
“At least, that was my original plan. Instead, I intend to turn you over to my fiancée, for further…ahem…disposal.” So as to not upset his intended, he said, “Well, I think we must prepare for the ritual. Canta, dear, please take her to meet up with her friends. We have a few hours left before we inherit the world and the last thing we need running around here is a group of people that remotely even think they stand a chance of stopping us. Fortunately, within a couple of hours I will have all that in hand, but until then we don’t need the authorities snooping around, don’t you agree?”
“Yes, without a doubt. Plus, I want to make sure that once we raise our new tool that we keep this bitch alive.” The look on Cantata’s face was nigh monstrous as she turned back to Solaire. “By this time tomorrow the world will have new rulers and the most you can hope for in the new world order is that I kill you quickly. Because I certainly have no intention of that.”
Sunset came back to consciousness, feeling someone tapping her. As she opened her eyes, she saw Adagio hold an In-N-Out bag in front of her face. “You need to eat,” she said. “Chances are, it’s been a while.”
“Thanks,” Sunset replied, taking the bag gratefully.
“And thanks for changing our clothing back to something more normal,” Adagio added, looking at her plain black t-shirt, cargo pants, and combat boots. Not quite regulation, but it would do for now. There was something uneasy in the teen’s voice, Sunset noted, something she didn’t quite associate with the confident girl she knew.
“Is everything okay?” Sunset asked.
“I could’ve died. I should’ve died,” Adagio intoned, staring blankly at the windshield. “I could feel my vision tunneling, the pain vanishing into a cold, numbing sensation. If it wasn’t for my sisters, I would’ve just accepted it.” She looked at Sunset, and for the first time in her life, Adagio Dazzle felt completely adrift. “Why didn’t you let me die? I deserved it.”
“What do you mean you deserved it?” Sunset asked. “Dagi, I—”
“You don’t understand what kind of person I am – my sisters and I are. We have been trained since childhood to kill. I have killed already, and I’m not just talking today. I…I have blood on my hands, Sunny. And you saved me. Why?”
There was a companionable silence from the pair while they ate. Sunset finally asked, “Where’s Ari and Soni?”
Adagio pointed outside the car to where the two sisters were seated on the bench, both eating dinner and checking the weapons they had on hand. They looked completely focused on their job, and Sunset had to wonder if it was either due to a need to prep weapons or because the eldest of the triplets had asked them to.
Nodding slightly, Sunset took a drink of her soda before continuing. “You know about my past, right?”
“Yeah. You used to be a bully, but then the girls conspired with an exchange student to show you up, and as a result you saw the light, right?” Adagio popped a fry in her mouth, then smiled. “I wish it would’ve been as easy for the three of us.”
“I don’t think you understand, Dagi. There’s a lot more to the story than we told you three.” With that, Sunset then went into everything. As she did, the look of confusion on Adagio’s face just grew and grew, apexing as Sunset got to the part where she’d been possessed by a demon and that Princess Twilight and the others had saved her, and this was before she’d met the people that had become her family. She then explained everything she’d done, including her return to Equestria, and up until the point where they met.
All this time, Adagio sat there, eating her dinner and looking at Sunset with both a shocked expression and a studious eagerness. “Do you know why I pulled us over? Why I thought it was important to sit down and eat while here instead of on the road? Because I don’t know if I’m ready – I don’t know if we’re ready.”
“What?”
“Sunny….” The look in Adagio’s eyes was one of worry. “I think I just died, Sunny. I…did you bring me back from the dead?”
“What? No! I don’t have that power, Dagi! I don’t think anyone has that kind of power, not my mother, not—”
“Wait – are you trying to tell me your family has magic as well?” Adagio asked.
“I…. No, I mean my family back in Equestria. The mare who was my mother – she’s at a power level that makes me look quaint. Think of the difference between a match and a flashlight, then of a flashlight and the sun. I’m probably the flashlight, compared to other unicorns. But….” She could see the concern rise on her friend’s face once more, and Sunset stopped. “Nevermind, that’s not important right now. What is important is that I need to go back to Canterlot – I need to save them, Dagi…and I need your help.”
“I don’t know if I can help, Sunny. We have other SIRENs in Canterlot who can, but…I nearly bit the big one. I don’t know if I have the courage to do this again. Everything else has been just training, just rote movements and muscle memory. But psyching yourself up for a battle after you’ve had a few holes put in your heart?” She turned away, not wanting to look at the flame-haired girl’s eyes.
Sunset reached out and took Adagio’s hands in hers. “I need you, all three of you. I need people who can stand beside me when I go save them. You know who these people are and what they can do, and if what you told me is true, it’s more than just my friends and family that are at stake here.” Before Adagio could respond further, Sunset called out to the others, “Hey, Ari, Soni, mind coming here a second?”
“Yeah, sure,” Aria said, picking up the weapons and putting them in the bag.
“You two kissed and made up yet?” Sonata teased.
“No, Pinkie would probably get jealous,” Sunset said off-handedly.
Aria chuckled, then looked at Sonata. “You owe me five bucks.”
Sonata cocked an eyebrow. “For what?”
“I told you Pinkie had the hots for Sunny, but you didn’t believe me. As I recall, you thought it was Rares.” Sonata grumbled, then fished in her pocket for a billfold, opening it and passing several ones to Aria.
“Okay,” Sunset cut in, “now that that’s done, I need to know something from you three, and I want the honest truth: do you trust me?” Sunset asked.
“Absolutely, Sunny!” Sonata chirped.
“Yeah, sure, you know it,” Aria added.
Adagio, was silent for the longest time, enough so until Sonata asked, “Sis?”
“Yes,” Adagio said finally and nearly sotto voce. “But I wonder if you still trust us, after all this? Especially after I’m admitting that I don’t know if I can do this anymore!”
“What?” Aria asked.
“You’re giving up?” Sonata gasped.
Adagio’s response was to grab her sisters in a hug and start to cry. It was infectious and soon, all three siblings were in a group hug, crying for all they’d lost and would never have, for the life they never chose and what it had cut out of their lives.
Sunset stood there, watching the trio and their inner turmoil and feeling guilty about it all. She knew what had to be done: saving her friends, her sister and her cousin was the only option; moreso, if this Divine Right character had magic and was messing with things well above his paygrade, it could be disastrous for the world, even more than her own issue had been.
She brought up her magic, the spellfire encircling her…
…and a second later, to the surprise of the trio, a unicorn stood before them. “This…is the real me,” Sunset began. “Not a seventeen-year-old girl. A thirty-year-old unicorn. A quadruped the size of a German shepherd. The next door neighbor’s dog is probably larger than me, truth be told. And as you can see, in this way, I don’t look fearless or intimidating. And if anything, I’m at extra risk, because ponies have an inborn flight-or-fight nature that leans towards the left end of that phrase. I’m certainly nothing that would indicate anything brave or mighty.
“And when I look at you three, I see my dear friends – three sisters who came into my life and enriched it, by being there and growing with us. Yes, things haven’t been normal for you. They really haven’t been for me, either: I still struggle with being human on a regular basis, and I’m sure you struggle with acting like average girls. But I want you to know something: we’re all together in this. You don’t have to be alone, like I was, destroying everything out of childish stupidity. You have a circle of friends – of family – who will be there for you, because that’s what friendship is.
“And right now, our circle is sundered. The girls are in danger. My friends, my cousin, my sister. And who knows what else. You three are normal girls, but you’re also soldiers—”
“Uh, technically we’re sailors,” Sonata said, though Adagio shot her a silencing glance.
“Whatever. The point is, I need you – the girls need you. You three have abilities that we need to save not just our friends, but possibly the world as well. And I am oathbound to do this anyway, as the Archmagus of Equestria. But even if I wasn’t, I’d still fight, because my loved ones are in danger, and I cannot stand them being so. Not for one minute, one second, one instance more. And if you three were among them and I’d have to fight alone? I still would.
“Dagi, you told me that for the first time in your life, you’re afraid. I’m afraid every day, both that my family will find out what I am, and that the world will find out. But I can’t let that fear rule me. Because as someone once said, ‘Is it my destiny? This is no accident.’”
Adagio chuckled, then started laughing, wiping the tears from her eyes. “You would know that, wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t get it,” Sonata commented.
“The words are from Adagio Dazzle – that Adagio Dazzle,” Aria explained, referring to the pop star their sister was named after. “It’s from the title track to her album Testament. Only reason I know it, is because it’s the only Adagio Dazzle album I have on my iPod.”
Sunset looked at the three sisters and asked, “We’re all afraid of what could happen to us if we fight. But that’s nothing compared to what will happen if we lose.” She stuck her hoof out. “Will you join me?”
“Not the strangest thing I’ve done in my life,” Aria said, eagerly placing her hand on Sunset’s hoof. “Count me in.”
“Yeah. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do anything to save my friends,” Sonata added. “Just gonna have to tough it up.”
The three of them looked at Adagio. “Dagi?”
Adagio looked at Sunset. “You do know your eyes are freakishly large, right? They’re like squid eyes or something.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Blame evolution for that one – genetics are a relatively new field in Equestria and so nopony has any clue about how it works.”
“Nopony?”
“Dagi, you’re getting on my nerves. You in or what?”
Adagio giggled and placed her hand on top. “Someone has to keep you three out of trouble. Sure, count me in.”
Sunset backed up and changed back to her human form, and as she did, Adagio’s phone went off. Adagio looked at it and answered. “This is SIREN Rescue Actual. Go ahead…Yeah, we got her. She’s safe. But our friends were captured…Yes, lieutenant. I understan—Look, we did what we had to based on the information that we had. It’s on Sonata’s main laptop, you can check it out yourself!...We’ll be back as soon as we can. Stole a car fast enough to get us there on time; we just need to find a way to distract the cops.” Adagio hung up the phone. “Well, that was our sœurs. They’re waiting for us in Canterlot.”
“Then to Canterlot we go,” Sunset said. “I think we have a lesson to teach someone, one long overdue.”
“And that is?”
“That guy you said who thinks he’s the most powerful magic slinger on this planet? He’s about to learn what happens when you go up against a real master.” Sunset punched a fist into her palm, and sparks of turquoise shot from them. “And school is definitely about to be in session.”
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Good chapter!
There seems to be a duplicate paragraph a little above the end though.
Sunset backed up and changed back to her human form, and as she did, Adagio’s phone went off. Adagio looked at it and answered. “This is SIREN Rescue Actual. Go ahead…Yeah, we got her. She’s safe. But our friends were captured…Yes, lieutenant. I understan—Look, we did what we had to based on the information that we had. It’s on Sonata’s main laptop, you can check it out yourself!...We’ll be back as soon as we can. Stole a car fast enough to get us there on time; we just need to find a way to distract the cops.”
Sunset backed up and changed back to her human form, and as she did, Adagio’s phone went off. Adagio looked at it and answered. “This is SIREN Rescue Actual. Go ahead…Yeah, we got her. She’s safe. But our friends were captured…Yes, lieutenant. I understan—Look, we did what we had to based on the information that we had. It’s on Sonata’s main laptop, you can check it out yourself!...We’ll be back as soon as we can. Stole a car fast enough to get us there on time; we just need to find a way to distract the cops.” Adagio hung up the phone. “Well, that was our sœurs. They’re waiting for us in Canterlot.”
Let's guess when all the rescuers come together.
Great chapter as usual, Shin! Loved it!
And methinks we're about at the ultimate end of all this, for better or worse, for good, or bad.
Let the Ultimate Battle between Good and Evil in Canterlot begin.
(Anyone besides me think that poor, stupid Divine is about to meet his Waterloo (pun very much intended) at the hands (hooves?) of one VERY pissed off Equestrian Archmagus?)
Oh, and on another note, Shin?
Methinks you repeated on of the paragraphs near the end of this.
You should probably ditch THIS one:
And use THIS one, instead:
Just thought you might like to know.
As to THIS:
Something just tells me that His Royal Rotteness is about to get schooled.
Hard.
Go get 'im, Sunny.
roundstable.com/forums/images/smilies/applejargh.gif
8154620 8154629 Looks like I wasn't the ONLY one who caught that.
The end is coming.
Also It is going to be SO cathartic to see a curb stomp battle.
All,
Fixed. Sorry, error on the master copy.
Might want to fix that.
8154762 he already did fix it
8154762
note the post before yours. ^_^
...Did I miss the part where Adagio cut her hair? Because her hair is not short.
8154789
Yes, you missed that part.
8154789
Back when the triplets were called into duty, they had to go back to military regs in terms of appearance. Sonata's hair being cut short is mentioned when they go get Twilight's presents from their house and the youngest triplet appears briefly to say goodbye.
8154734 Indeed.
And oh, hell, yeah, it will be!
ESPECIALLY when dear old Divine is going to be the curb, and it's Sunny doing the stomping.
Poor fool doesn't have a snowball's chance in the hottest pit of hell of winning this.
He lost the second he had her loved ones abducted.
I don't really give two bits for Cantata's chances against the triplets, either.
8154748 Cool.
And that happens to everyone who posts anything here on occasion. I'm just glad we could be of service and help.
I smell the need for epic fight music soon.
8154775
Curses, foiled again by the whimsies of fate.
8155181
8155045
For some reason I've always had this in my head as final boss fight music.
[youtube=f6dmf3QBlV0]
I feel like it'll be too easy for Divine to get beat before he summons his demon friend (who I fully expect to murder him first), but I really don't want to see human Sunset die as the final sacrifice!
Must... not... freak out! Just imagine the possibilities with sunset shimmer is fighting at what very well may be full magical power. ^-^
I've been patiently waiting for quite some time for you to resume your "All American Girl" saga, but instead have been getting notices about this "Seven Days in Sunny June" being constantly updated. I read the first two chapters some time back and decided I wasn't interested.
And then...
I started it again. I have been reading this for almost two solid weeks without let-up. I suddenly understood why this is the one that's got everybody's attention. This thing has fastened its hooks into my soul and won't let go. And I almost missed it. Stupid, stupid me.
Wow. This saga is so huge, so full of tragedy...reading it is emotionally exhausting for that reason alone. But at no point in the past two weeks or so have I been able to stop. There have been times in the past when I've geeked out and fangasmed about stories, but this one...this one takes the cake (I'm following now, of course).
I must confess that I haven't read the prequels or interquels. If I had don that I wouldn't have been caught up with the main story. Those are for another day. But for right now, this story is EVERYTHING!!! Plus, all the other stories I'm watching that used to be updated regularly seem to all be on hiatus now for some reason.
This is the only critical thing I have to say about the story so far: Sunset's role in in what happened to Pinkie seems to be far too indirect to have been the object of such intense hatred and blame for so long. Sunset had Snips and Snails steal every satchel in the school and among those just happened to be Pinkie's which happened to contain her bipolar medication. Yes, this was certainly a factor, but it was the boy and his sister who were actually responsible for everything and bought Pinkie the placebos (and that's still better than what they could have gotten her). I'm not seeking to minimize Pinkie's horrible experience whatsoever, but Sunset's role was way back in the chain of events and of a somewhat Rube Goldberg nature. Still Pinkie was already unstable, was horribly victimized, and needed someone to blame and Sunset had after all been unknowingly involved. So as someone who (thank G-d) hasn't gone through anything like that, I suppose that's easy for me to say.
Anyway, I'm elated to now be caught up and ready to follow the updates live with everyone else.
What a great series that inspires such masterpieces. What a great writer it takes to create one.
8297669
You are very welcome.
I hope to see this updated soon.
I'm hoping next chapter will be the meet up between Sunset's group and the two boyfriends, plus Twilight and her family seeing human Sunset. One way of it going I have stuck in my head is right before the dramatic execution, Sunset teleports in surrounded by her allies right in the middle of the scene and they mow down the mooks while everyone is shocked. That would probably tire Sunset out too much to be practical, and way too risky as they'd have nothing more than a potential shield to protect them, but it would be badass. I have a feeling the 3 gems Trixie's mom had will come into play with the triplets, maybe acting like the pearl as dark magic absorbers. Also, I'm guessing Sunset is going to "die" (or have the thing Divine is trying to summon summoned into her), only to come back stronger, as someone is needed to fight Tirek. Still, what I'm most excited for is the family stuff and human Sunset reveal, and the results of that. I can't wait for the next chapter.