Biding Time (Sirens)
(Sonata Dusk)
—Alone—
I sat on a park bench as the sun set behind the school in the distance. It would be cold soon. For the first time in like, ever, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Adagio always took care of things. Even though we fought all the time, I could always count on Aria when I needed her. They both left me. Now, I had no one.
—Helpless—
Without my voice, my magic, to fall back on, I had no protection. Dinner ended up being a half-eaten bagel out of a garbage can. A cat scratched my arm as I fished it out. I tried real hard not to cry. A couple drops of blood mixed with the tears soaking into my skirt. Life was so much easier when I could get people to do whatever I wanted. With my voice, I had control. Maybe that was why no one wanted to help me now. I wasn’t special anymore.
The deli told me I had to pay for my sandwich. People at the big house where I always stayed slammed the door in my face. After the battle of the bands, I wasn’t sure if I could set foot in the school again—not until the reset at least. Everyone hated me. I used to feed on that hate. I never realized how much I needed it, needed my magic, just to survive. Pathetic and stupid—that was me in a nutshell.
—Scared—
I curled up on the bench, shivering, watching overhead as the stars came out. I remembered when I used to do it for fun. A long time ago, in a far away place, I actually enjoyed going out to the meadow, laying on the cool grass and watching the small lights twinkle into existence. The stars in the sky here weren’t the stars I remembered growing up. Symmetry and order ruled over this place. My stars were wild. My stars told stories. These stars just watched me, silently judging me. I missed my old stars.
How I wished that I could go back to the time before all the magic. Once, I had a family, and friends; all of that changed with the magic. I still remember that day when I accepted the necklace. I thought it would help. Instead, I heard the siren’s call, and that’s when she took over my life. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I only wanted love. What I got was the exact opposite of that. Life would have been better without the magic, without the siren’s voice in my head.
They were right to push me away. I wasn’t their daughter anymore. I wasn’t their sister, or friend. I wasn’t anyone’s special somepony. I deserved what I got.
The broken clutch where the cursed gem once sat still hung from my neck. My life as a siren was over. The noose felt heavier than ever before. With the pact that I made centuries ago finally broken, I reached back and undid the clasp. The worthless necklace fell to the ground. A giant anchor of guilt, hate, and loneliness fell away with it.
I sat up.
Things didn’t look so hopeless all of a sudden. An idea came to mind, and for once, it wasn’t a stupid idea. Could it be that after all these years, I had finally learned my lesson? Could I finally be free?
I jumped to my feet, my heart pounding in my chest. My eyes opened wide on the view of my hands stretched out in front of me. The tips of my fingers tingled in anticipation. The thought of returning to my former self overshadowed my hunger and pain. I raised my gaze to the glow of the moon overhead.
“It’s time to go home!” I shouted for everyone to hear, even with no one around.
“Nice one, Sonata. Did you think of that all on your own?”
Perhaps I wasn’t as alone as I thought. I turned around. “Hey, Adagio.” The spark of energy I felt just moments ago died as soon as she spoke. I don’t know why, but she always made me feel so stupid. Maybe I was. I mean, how in the world was I going to get home anyway? It was a dumb idea. I didn’t even know the first step to take.
“So, while you’ve been out here wasting your time, I’ve been busy figuring out our next move.” Adagio flicked back her hair and struck a pose in the moonlight.
“But, didn’t you say that you never wanted to see me again?” I asked, a little confused given our recent breakup.
“Forget what I said. It doesn’t matter now. I have a new plan to get what I… uh… we want, and it’s going to take all of us to pull it off.” She turned to the right and then to the left, scanning the rest of the park. “Where’s Aria?”
I threw up my hands and hunched my shoulders. “I don’t know. Isn’t she with you?”
“Does it look like she’s with me?” Adagio said, rolling her eyes and marching off in a huff. “Seriously, could you be any dumber?”
She asked some pretty weird questions. “I-I don’t know… maybe? Is that part of your plan?” She looked mad, and I didn’t want to piss her off any more than she already was.
Her growl didn’t seem too friendly. “Ugh, nevermind. Follow me, and let’s go find her.”
“Umm,” I said, not trying to dig myself any deeper of a hole, “it’s kind of late. Couldn’t we find some place to sleep for the night and go look for her tomorrow?”
The glare in her eyes gave me even more reason to be afraid. “Just shut up and follow me!” She turned back to the path. I didn’t dare go against her. Like the ‘stupid’ friend I was, I did as she ordered.
(Aria Blaze)
Sunset lifted her pen from the page.
“Is that it?” I asked. “When do we get to go home?”
Sunset tipped her head to look at me, that cheesy smile of hers plastered across her face. “I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait to hear back from Princess Twilight.”
“Ugh, back to the waiting.” I flopped down on her bed. “Why does this have to be so hard?”
“It could take a little while, so—”
Sunset was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. The chatter of the Warden and her assistant filtered down the hall to the room where we were. I didn’t think they would be back so soon. “Horsefeathers!” I scanned over my options—closet, under bed, or out the window. There wasn’t a whole lot of choice.
“What’s wrong?” Sunset asked.
“Uhh, the Warden is back,” I said, jumping off the bed and hurrying over to the window. “We’ve got to get out of here.” I had it open in a flash.
“Why?” Sunset said, not even moving an inch from her spot on the bed. “It’s not like we’re in trouble or anything.”
I stuck my foot out the window. “Maybe for you, but you’re not the one who brainwashed the main construct into reprogramming the scenario.” The ground looked really far away. I hesitated, knowing that I was going to have to jump.
“You’re not making any sense again.” Sunset got up and casually walked over to me. She reached out a hand and placed it on my shoulder. “Aria, you don’t have to worry about Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna. They aren’t as bad as you think. Come back inside, and let’s go say hi.”
I had to stop and dwell on that for a moment. Between the thought of jumping out a window into the prickly bushes below, or presenting myself to the warden of the jail, I had about an even chance of which one would be less painful. Against my better judgment, I opted to put a little trust in the pony. I swung my leg inside just as the ‘Principal’ and ‘Vice Principal’ both walked in the door.
“Hello there,” the Warden said. “I see you have a guest tonight, Sunset. Are you both studying hard for finals?” She put her hands on her hips and smiled down at me.
“Oh, yeah. Aria came over to help me with my math homework. We were just taking a little break to get some air.” Sunset closed the window behind me. I had no choice but to stand, even though I tried not to look the Warden in the eye standing right next to her.
Her assistant stepped over by the bed, glancing down at the book Sunset had been writing in. “Well then, it is getting a bit late. Shouldn’t you two be thinking about calling it a night?”
“Actually, Luna,” Sunset said, “I wondered if it would be okay if my friend stayed the night. We’ve got a lot we still need to go over, and finals are coming up really soon. Plus, it’s not even a school night.”
“I don’t see why not, as long as you’re focusing on your studies,” the Warden said. “But we should probably break out some sleeping bags seeing as we don’t have any extra beds in the house. I’ll be right back.”
She left the room.
“Don’t stay up too late chatting,” the Warden’s assistant gave me another cautious glance before following her superior out the door.
I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when, out of nowhere, Sunset’s book started glowing and buzzing. Sunset dove across the bed, silencing the noise as soon as she opened it up.
The Warden’s assistant poked her head back in the room. “What was that noise?” she asked.
Sunset pressed the book behind her, swiftly grabbing her cell phone off the nightstand instead. “Nothing. Just texting my other friends to let them know what we’re doing tonight.”
“Okay, but no more friends coming over. We wouldn’t want this little study sleepover turning into a party.” She turned to leave again. “And lights out in thirty minutes. I don’t want you two staying up all night either.”
“Okay,” both Sunset and I said together.
Just as soon as she left, the Warden returned. “Here are those sleeping bags I promised.” She tossed one white and gold bag along with a black and blue one on the floor. A nice fluffy pillow landed on top. “Sleep tight, girls.”
We both kept still until the sound of two sets of footsteps had retreated down the hall with two separate bedroom doors closing tight after them. I finally let out a small sigh of relief. Crossing the room, I shut the door en route to the bed. “What did she say?” I asked Sunset.
Sunset looked a bit confused. I nodded over at the book she had partially stuffed behind her. Things clicked. “Oh, right.” She fumbled with the book, but managed to bring it out and set it on the bed so we could both read.
Dear Sunset Shimmer,
I would be happy to open the portal as soon as I fly home. I’ll be staying the night here in Canterlot, but I hope to be able to travel back to Ponyville tomorrow morning. I’ll see you at the portal shortly before lunch.
I’m not so sure about bringing your friends, as there are certain interdimensional inconsistencies that may prove to be problematic, but we can talk about that when we meet up.
I can’t wait to see you again, and I’m so glad to hear you’ve decided to come home.
See you soon!
Your friend,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Sunset flopped back on the pillow. “I guess that’s it then. We go to bed, wake up and have one last human breakfast, and then we go home.”
“You’ve forgotten one important detail, Shimmer.” I couldn’t help but give her a little grin. “Your Princess friend said she’s opening the portal a little before lunch, her time. That means she’s opening the portal in the middle of the night, by our time. We’ve only got five or six hours.”
“That’s right,” Sunset said, bolting upright. “I totally forgot about the time conversion. No wonder when I went back through the mirror it was the middle of the night in Equestria, but it was already early morning here.” Sunset took the book and scribbled a hasty ‘See you then!’ before setting it over on her nightstand. “Let’s go get ready for bed. I’ve got a bunch of questions I still need to ask, and not a lot of time to get answers.”
“Fine by me,” I said. “But I don’t really have anything else to wear to bed.” I glanced down at my prison uniform, quite a bit on the worse for wear end of things.
“I can fix that.” Sunset’s smile felt less than reassuring.
In a little more time than it took for her to overrule my objections, I was wearing a silly looking pair of pinkish-purple pajamas with a not-so-cute sun design plastered across my chest. Adagio would never let me live this down if she saw me in this get up. To make it worse, Sunset had on a matching pair. We looked like a couple of awkward twins.
“I call the white bag!” Sunset said as she grabbed up the pair of sleeping bags from off the floor. She tossed me the dark one and began laying hers out. I just shook my head and rolled out my bag alongside. Once settled, she shut off the light, and we both made ourselves comfortable. It would be a short night, so I stowed my complaints about the sleeping arrangements.
I laid there quietly for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling and trying to clear my head, hoping to avoid any more discussion that wasn’t necessary to the point of getting us home. Unfortunately, Sunset wasn’t going to let me fall asleep that easily.
“So, what was it like being a siren?” Sunset asked much too soon after my head hit the pillow. “I mean, if you don’t mind my asking.”
I drew in a deep breath. Hopefully I could answer her questions quickly and get a little rest before we had to leave. “It was amazing and terrifying at the same time.” I sat up a bit and propped myself up on one arm. “Amazing because I could use magic, and terrifying because of what I did with it.”
“I kind of know the feeling.”
“I doubt it.” It wasn’t like she knew how it felt to destroy everything and everyone she ever loved. “I’m just glad to be rid of it now.”
Sunset propped herself up as well. “Honest, I know how that is. I used to feel small and helpless, and magic felt like the only way to show that I wasn’t. The whole reason I came here was to prove to my mother how powerful I could become when I wasn’t stuck living in her shadow. I ended up stealing what I thought should have been mine, and it turned me into something that I discovered I didn’t want to be. Lucky for me, I had some friends to help me out. They showed me what the magic of friendship is all about. I’ve been trying to repay the damage I caused ever since.”
“Yeah, well, good for you.” I rolled over, not wanting to talk about her friends anymore. “Good to know life worked out so well for at least one of us.”
The silence felt too good to be true, and only lasted a moment.
“So, what happened with Adagio and Sonata?” Sunset asked, the mention of those names twisting the daggers in my back.
“I don’t want to talk about it. We broke up; end of story.”
“Do you have a way to get a hold of them?”
“No, and I really don’t care.” As long as I made it home, I didn’t care what happened to them. They deserved this place. “Can we just not talk about them?”
“We need to find them before we leave.”
“Knock yourself out,” I said. “Just open the portal, let me go though, and you and your Princess can take all the time you want hunting them down. I don’t want anything to do with either of them.”
“I know you’re upset, Aria, but they’re your friends. We can’t just leave them here.”
“They aren’t my friends anymore. Friends don’t ruin your life. Friends don’t lie to you. Friends don’t help their friends turn into sirens. That magic forced us together, but now that it’s gone, there’s no reason for me to stay with them. I’m done with the Dazzlings, forever.” It felt really good to say that. It also felt terrible at the same time.
“But… everything you’ve been through… together?”
“It doesn’t mean anything. I wish none of it had ever happened. Magic’s been trouble since the moment I got saddled with it. My whole life was ruined by one stupid mistake. Those two remind me of all that; I need a break, a fresh start. Hopefully the Guardian sees that and let’s me out of here, but I guess we’ll find out when we get to the portal.”
“What do you mean? Who’s this Guardian? Are you talking about Principal Celestia?
“No, not the Warden. The Guardian—the prison security system. You’ve seen it before. We triggered it at the Battle of the Bands. It’s what destroyed our magic pendants.”
“Oh… you mean our magic of friendship? That’s how we ended up defeating you and destroying your siren pendants, right?”
I had to stifle a laugh. “You honestly think you had magic powerful enough to defeat us? That’s funny.” I flopped back down on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. “No. We took a blast from the Guardian, the automatic defense system that guards the prison. It can sense magic, and it tries to suppress it whenever it can, especially if the magic registers high enough. Going full blown siren mode must have triggered the failsafe. It monitors the portal too. If not for that, we would have escaped a long time ago. Unfortunately for us, its magic is even more powerful than anything we could ever muster to bust ourselves out of here—believe me, we’ve tried.”
“But, then how do you plan on leaving tomorrow?”
“No more magic, no more Guardian in my way.” I turned back toward her. “You just keep your end of the deal and make sure that portal gets opened. I’ll worry about the Guardian.”
A much more subdued Sunset Shimmer voice whispered back, “Okay, Aria. Let’s get some sleep. I’ll set the alarm for four am.”
“Night, Shimmer.”
“Good night, Aria.”
I rolled over and looked out the window at the moon hanging in the sky up above. It was hard to believe that in just a few hours, I would be setting hoof back in my homeland. The only thing that stood in my way now was the Guardian. Hopefully the instructions were right. I couldn’t bear another lie.
(Adagio Dazzle)
Breaking into the school was easier than I thought it would be. After spending two long hours searching for Aria, I needed a place to eat and sleep. Good thing the school was empty and would be for the rest of the weekend. An open window in the teacher’s lounge gave me an open invitation to come inside and make myself at home. Too bad I had to have Sonata tagging along. I still took full credit for our lucky break.
“Are you sure we should be in here?” Sonata asked after stumbling through the window and landing on the floor.
I walked over to the teacher’s fridge to see what kind of food we had on the dinner menu. “Of course, Sonata. Why do you think they left the window open?”
“Maybe they just forgot to close it.”
I gave her a glare. “Don’t be stupid. An open window is just as good as an open door.” Turning back to the food, I made sure to grab the good looking containers and helped myself to a late evening meal.
Sonata made her way over. The only things that were left were whatever was leaking out of a brown paper sack and an apple that looked more like a prune turned date. “I think I’ll just have a drink from the fountain,” she said.
“Whatever.” Unfortunately, I needed her for my plan to work, otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered to bring her along. Sonata wasn’t the brains of the group, but she could come in handy when I needed some muscle, or at least some background vocals. Piecing my magic back together wasn’t going to be easy, but I had a plan for getting it done. I sat down and ate without giving her another thought.
After the last bite of leftover potato salad, green beans, and some sort of loaf of meat, I finally felt full, at least as far as my stomach was concerned. I held the small sack dangling from my neck and felt the lingering energy writhe within. What little remained in the shards of the gemstones’ magic needed to last until the plan could be set in motion. I couldn’t afford to feed on that until I recharged my powers. Before that could happen, I needed to find those ponies. Even before that, I had to find Aria.
“That’s my bed,” I said, giving Sonata a growling glare.
Sonata tried to look all innocent as she sat there on the only couch in the room. “But, where am I going to sleep?” She managed to get up before I came over to move her myself.
“I don’t care. Think of something, otherwise, I’m sure you won’t mind the floor.” I brushed her aside and sat down. My shoes came off and my feet went up. I laid down across the couch and tried to figure out a way to avoid the rise in the middle. The little pillow on the end wasn’t very soft, but it was better than nothing. I motioned over to Sonata who was just standing there looking like a lost dog. “Just find someplace else and go to sleep. We’ve got a lot to do, and we need to be ready for tomorrow.”
She nodded her head, and I rolled over and closed my eyes. The pouch felt nice and warm against my skin.
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Once agin, I am intrigued by this universe you are creating and exploring. So, the Principal and Vice-Principal are wardens and the Friendship Cannon Alicorn was actually a defense system activated by the battle between the sirens and the Humane 6... Okay. I can roll with that, but Starswirl must've been pretty clueless about friendship sh to have made something like this as a solution... and make it so complicated. The man. Had.PROBLEMS!
And I agree with your points about the sirens. They are, pretty much, misunderstood.
Keep up the good work.
Wow, Adagio is quite a bitch. I'll trust you when you say she's complicated though, before I completely write her off. I do feel bad for Sonata though. Written off and abandoned by Aria, then saddled with the aforementioned bitch Adagio to be used. Great chapter!
From last chapter:
Twilight is up real late with Celestia looking at Sunset's room. And I don't think it was that late in Equestria. Twilight and Celestia went to Sunset's room 30 minutes or so after Celestia had the sunset, they got the message, Twilight responded in like 10 minutes. That leaves like 16 hours till lunch in Equestria.
Poor Sonata, why couldn't there have been tacos in the fridge?
Sonata...
Well, that's one way to get Sonata off her high horse of thinking she and her friends were the ones invoking the magic unicorn of evil doom.
Adagio... you are going to impede with the plan to get back home, aren't you? Even if unwittingly.
Can't wait for more, I really like what you're doing here
Well, I don't think that friends threated her like that if she at least understood metaphors.
6309285
That's not really the biggest flaw in this little prison either. How exactly are prisoners supposed to reform if they get reset every few years or so? And fridge horror...how many other former Equestrians might also be trapped in there that Sunset and the Sirens don't know about?
6310491 Then there's that. Starswirl really was a confused old man who loved to complicate things... Unnecessarily.
Hmm, you know, I'm having trouble seeing the grand scope of the story. I mean, it seems so straight forward right now, with no real conflicts having arisen besides with Adagio and her trying to still win no matter what. Of course, I'm sure you have it planned out, but I just don't see what's next. And that's a good thing! Kind of.
Onward to the next chapter!