Dazzle Robs a Bank

by Eyeswirl the Weirded

Chapter 4: See You At the Safehouse

Sunset awoke amid sounds of electrical humming and the heavy Bweeooooo of a machine powering down. Everything was dark, save for a green, spherical, translucent surface in front of her. She heard a loud hiss that made her think of an air-lock in a science fiction movie as the door to her pod slid open. Stepping out and stretching a little, she found herself in the lab she'd entered earlier today.

It looked as much like a Hollywood mad scientist's kind of place as when she went in. There were big, thick wires that someone was probably going to trip over running all around the floor, big, chrome spheres crackling with electricity at the top of shiny rods, flickering lights Sunset wasn't sure were there for more than decoration, the works. She liked it. Stepping out of metallic pods similar to hers were the Dazzlings, who looked similarly groggy, most of all Aria. She probably wasn't a morning person. The four of them heard a synthetic, female voice over the intercom.

"Thank you for taking part in the development of the Dis-Corp state-of-the-art Reality Reconfiguration Receptacles. Your time and effort are a vital part of the research process. As promised, you may collect your payment on the way out, and we hope to hear from you all again soon."

Slowly swinging her arms in a circle to shake the stiffness off, Aria chuckled. "More V.R.? I could do that."

Sonata gave her an amused grin. "You have fun shooting those coppers, Star?"

Aria ignored the nickname and took up a proud, hands-on-hips pose. "Forty-three kills, even got a Hunter on the way out." She grinned cockily to the others. "How many'd you guys get?"

Adagio shrugged. "I only cared about the objective, casualties weren't even an afterthought. More-so when all of our hostages perished." Seeing Sunset flinch and turn away in shame made her wish she'd worded that a little differently.

"Tch, figures." She turned to Sonata. "How about you?" There was only a shrug, which made Aria look almost pleadingly at Sunset. "Uhh...?" Smiling apologetically, Sunset shook her head. With an exasperated groan, Aria pulled at her own pigtails. "None of you even kept count?! How am I supposed to brag if I've got nothing to compare it to?!"

Adagio gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Let's just say you probably killed the most imaginary people and go get paid, alright?"

As they headed out to the lobby, Sonata gave Aria a smug look. "Toldja I'd be fine without a melee weapon!"

Aria just rolled her eyes, looking at Sunset. "Speakin' of, great job with the hammer in there." Crossing her arms, she gave what might have been a semi-admiring smirk. "May not have stopped the big guy, but damned if you didn't look like a raging badass trying."

Scratching her head, Sunset actually blushed. "Eh, thanks?"

"Yea," giggled Sonata, "you know you're a little scary with that thing?"

Sunset could only stare back at her, lost for words.

Waiting for them on a table in the lobby were four handbags, looking exactly like miniature, purse-sized versions of the duffel bags they took the loot in during the simulation. Adagio didn't even have to snap her fingers for Sonata to jog over, open a bag, and look inside.

She smiled at the others, holding up a wad of bills. "We're in the money!"

Smirking with satisfaction, Adagio stood with a hand on her hip. "One of those bags is yours, Sunset Shimmer, as per our deal."

Sunset smiled for two reasons. "Speaking of which..."

"Ugh," complained Aria with crossed arms as she looked at Adagio, "do we have to?"

Adagio nodded. "A deal's a deal." She looked at Sunset. "You helped us when we came to you with the job offer for the four of us to test the equipment here, so we'll attend school for the full day for a week." Glancing at Aria again, her smile vanished. She spoke loudly enough that she was sure Aria and Sonata could hear. "However, as we agreed, if we go there and find nothing but grief, we're gone. No revenge on our harassers, but no excuses to stick around, either."

Sunset smiled, her tone reassuring. "There won't be a problem, I promise."

Adagio didn't look sold. She nodded to Aria and Sonata, who picked up the bags, threw one to Sunset, and headed for the door. "I intend to find out for myself, but what makes you so certain?"

"I talked to just about everyone on your enemy list that goes to CHS, and-"

"W-wait, when did you see the enemy list?"

"Rarity's birthday, while we were looking for you. My friends were the first place they checked and I joined in from there."

"Oh."

Sunset giggled. "It's actually not as wide as you guys might think, the list of people that really don't like you? I've gone around and talked to people over the past few weeks, almost everybody's moved on, and even those that haven't aren't going to start trouble."

Adagio nodded a little, glancing around to find just herself and Sunset in the lobby of the Dis-Corp-owned building. Just the same, she kept her voice down. "Nobody particularly likes being cornered by a hostile crowd, Aria in particular. If everyone we saw were to give us hostile looks, there'd be nothing I could do to keep her from bailing."

"It won't be a problem." A thought occurred. "And, why is she afraid? I thought she beat up a bunch of kids by herself a while back."

"Yes, while wearing the star uniform." Blink. "Or, so the story goes..."

"Right. So shouldn't it be easier for her to fight back without it weighing her down, if she needed to?"

"Maybe, if she had hypothetically been using the suit as padding to protect herself instead of a full-body weapon."

"...How."

Adagio averted her eyes. "I'm sure I can't say, I wasn't there. Besides, it was only a rumor, right?"

Not wanting to think too hard about Siren logic, Sunset shook her head. "Right, well, anyway, I don't think anyone'll bug you guys too much, and if they do, just tell me. Okay?"

Crossing her arms, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, are you really any less subject to ill will than the three of us?"

Sunset smiled somewhat ruefully. "Well... no." Then the rueful part vanished. "But that's all the more reason people'll be more willing to forgive you guys, comparatively speaking! I mean, you three only did what you did for a few days and then vanished for a while, and it's a lot harder to hold a grudge for something like that than a three-year reign."

She still looks worried about something. Should I say it helps that they're all really pretty girls, or would that make it sound like they'd get harassed for different reasons? Would they like that kind of atten-

Sighing quietly, Adagio nodded. "I guess that'll do." She glanced at the bag in Sunset's hand. "Any plans for the money, or is that just a bonus to you?"

"Umm..." Sunset opened the bag, finding more than she'd expected. "Oh, wow!!" She heard Adagio giggling at her.

"It's proportional to the amount we got away with, and as we escaped with about thirty-three percent more than was necessary, we got a little more each. The man in charge of this place mentioned something about it helping immersion in his first message to us, how it's arguably the whole point of virtual reality."

"Maybe, but I can't believe we're getting paid half this much to play a game!"

"Well," Adagio poked her in the stomach, "did it feel like just a game to you?" The pained grimace as Sunset remembered her virtual injury said the shotgun blast had felt pretty real. "That's what they're really paying for, the reason we had to sign those papers on the way in." She stepped back, folding her arms behind her back and giving Sunset a somewhat guilty expression. "Well, that, and the possibility of going temporarily insane, like testers before us..." Adagio offered a sheepish smile. "So, on that note, how are you feeling?"

Sunset smirked a little, lightly knocking on her own head. "Still got all my marbles, don't worry." It mildly worried Sunset herself that Adagio looked legitimately relieved. How real was the danger in there? The two of them walked out of the lobby together, continuing on the same path down the street. "So, I noticed you seem to bicker with those two a little less, how's it been going?"

Adagio turned to look at her as though not sure how to answer, thinking for a moment. "W-well..." She shrugged, a tiny smile making Sunset hopeful. "I took your advice, kind of."

"Kind of?"

"To make them less afraid of me. I didn't want to just wait for them to work out on their own that I'm not trying to intimidate them anymore and saying it outright would only make things worse, so I shared a secret..."

---

The sirens stood in the living room of their small house, Adagio having asked that Aria and Sonata meet her there to discuss something important. For the first minute, nobody said a word, the air increasingly tense as her former underlings (it felt disingenuous to say they worked for her anymore) traded worried glances.

"Aria Blaze," began Adagio in a level tone, "Sonata Dusk. I need to talk to you two." She knew full well that those words were fantastic for making people more afraid, in addition to use of full names, but the sharp contrast to what was coming would only help her.

Trying to pretend Sonata's knees weren't shaking, Aria kept her voice as steady as possible. "Y-yea, what?"

"There's something both of you should know. In all the time we've known each other, I've been letting you believe a lie, something that made controlling you easier for me. I've had more than enough time to think it over, and I wanted to come clean." She took a deep breath, her face solemn. "Aria? Sonata? I don't actually just know when you're lying to me."

"WHAT?!"
"FOR REALZIES?!"

Adagio just looked back at them, heart thudding in her chest as she waited for further exclamations of shock, scornful judgement, enraged shouting, whatever they'd throw at her for this.

Aria was the first to speak coherently, shaking her head. "No, bullcrap, is this some kinda loyalty test? I know you've got some sneaky trick for getting into our heads, there's no way you've always just-"

"There's no trick."

"Then how-"

"Logical deduction, obvious tells from Sonata, and the occasional lucky guess."

Sonata flinched, both at the accusation, and Aria's sudden glare that felt like 'You little snitch!' "B-but, but, h-how, that time at the zoo, you just totally-"

Adagio shook her head, her face still calm and passive. "The peanut boy told me just before you two came around the corner."

Aria clenched her fists. "That little snitch!!"

Huh, thought Sonata, called it.

"So, anyway," Adagio continued, "I shouldn't have manipulated the two of you that way for so long, that was wrong of me," she folded her hands in front of her, looking down to the point they couldn't see her face, "and I'm sorry."

There was a short silence. "Yea, well," mumbled Aria, "I, totally knew it all along."

Adagio looked up. The statement had been delivered without much conviction, but Aria was still looking at her as though hoping for a sign she was in her head that very instant. Adagio offered only a sheepish little smile and a shrug back. "That one sounds like a lie. Is it?"

Blinking twice, Aria crossed her arms and turned away, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. "Maybe. Not tellin'."

Before Adagio could comment on that rather weighted tell, Sonata got right up in her face, which made her draw back with a start.

The blue girl's stare was wide-eyed, but passive, showing no trace of any emotion. "Hey, Dagi. I forgot to put on underwear this morning."

Glancing at Aria, Adagio couldn't even get a hint as to how she was expected to respond, so she made a guess. "Erm... T-true...?"

Sonata beamed. "Nope!!" Then she went back to her very forced, but nigh-impenetrable poker face. "Sometimes I watch you in your sleep."

Please be false. "True?"

Beaming again, Sonata snorted. "Nope! I knew you'd think I'd say something you thought had to be true the second time!"

She giggled madly, leaving Adagio a few seconds to look to Aria, who was just facepalming with a little smile. Adagio hesitantly grinned herself, actually feeling pretty good about this so far.

"Hey, Dagi! Sometimes I like to make funny faces in mirrors."

"Sonata, I know that one is true because I've caught you doing it a few times."

"Oh, yea..." Sonata scratched her head before smiling. "My record for jump-rope is six hundred and forty-three skips!"

Shrugging a little, Adagio regained her wavering, uncertain smile. "Ehm, false?"

Blue brows furrowed. "Hey, I thought you said-"

"Deduction that time, one specific number against a few thousand possibilities, so I opted to err on the side of caution."

Aria started snickering, but Sonata paid her no mind. Grinning, she put her hands on her hips. "Alright, Miss Smarty-Pants, how about this one..."

---

"I-I spent the next few days scared, after that," Adagio muttered, "I was sure they'd get back at me somehow, use the knowledge that I could be fooled against me. I didn't know how, and for a while, that was the worst part. I figured their smiles were just a ruse to lull me into a false sense of security before I'd get a tin of hot sauce to the face, or electrified thumbtacks in my chair, or even just a sign that says 'Rape Me' stuck to my back, but they never really went past poking fun at me." She gave Sunset a curious look. "Is that odd?" Judging by the way Sunset's jaw hung open, maybe she should have expected something.

The former bully struggled to form words. Even at her worst, she'd never tried any of those things. There'd never been a reason to do something so extreme and even schadenfreude only went so far. I'm not a monster anymore. "They... do those things?"

Adagio shrugged a little. "Well, those are some of the more extreme examples of the pranks I've seen them pull on each other when tensions were high, but they haven't really done anything like that in a while. Being afraid of me was one of the reasons I attributed to never having been involved with their game at all, so I was expecting... Are you listening?"

Sunset was still staring in shock. "Couldn't they get, you know, seriously hurt doing stuff like that?"

Nodding casually, Adagio glanced down at her own waist only to remember that she wasn't carrying the first-aid kit in this world. Oh. Immersion successful? She silently hoped Sunset hadn't noticed her doing that. "Yes, hence my predilection toward playing the medic." She chuckled. "Those idiots have gotten hurt in more ways than I care to name since we got to this realm, who do you think patched them up over the years? Sonata is especially accident-prone, as you may recall."

Sunset smiled. Dr. Dazzle to the rescue, huh? That's so sweet! Oh, that reminds me! "Hey, uh..." She glanced away, feeling just a little contrite for what might have been a friendship failure on her part, in that she had assumed the worst in Adagio's intentions. "Speaking of Sonata getting hurt, a-and me too, I guess, everyone but you was downed while we were in the simulation."

Adagio sighed. "Yes, yes, 'I was being careful' does sound like 'I'm a massive coward,' feel free to rub it in. I'm sorry I hid behind the counter and let you three take care of it, alright?"

"W-what? No, no, that isn't what I mean." Adagio was looking at her in genuine surprise. Was she as sensitive about her weaker moments as she was about her hair? On some level, Sunset could relate, drawing a little smile. "Don't worry about what happened with the Tank. Heck, you still tried to help out, remember?"

"Yes," she answered with slightly slumped shoulders, "right before ducking back and praying one of you had a plan." She tinted red, looking away as she muttered. "In hindsight, I should have said to get out of his sight and run to the van. SWAT teams around the bank would have been easier to deal with and he probably couldn't have chased us far."

Giggling, Sunset patted her on the shoulder. "Then that's what we'll do in the next one. If we see a Tank, I mean." She got a little smile back, but there was still her initial question to deal with. "So, uh, yea... When Sonata and I got taken down, you just got us up as quick as you could, but when Aria fell..."

Tilting her head, Adagio looked earnestly confused. "What?"

Sunset shrugged, getting the feeling she shouldn't have asked, but in too deep to back out. "I mean, I figured you might have got Sonata the first time she was kicked by a Smoker, but you didn't taunt or tease me at all, not even a little snarking under your breath about my weight when you were dragging my ass out of there."

Adagio blinked slowly. "I... No, I didn't. Why would-Oh!" She smiled somewhat apologetically. "Because the three of you laughed at my ridiculous code-name?" Sunset nodded a little, still looking lost. Adagio smiled and lightly shook her head. "I wasn't trying to get even this time. You told me to 'ease up,' remember?"

"Then why did you force Aria to say sorry?"

"Eh, w-well, uh..." Her smile turned sheepish, as though she was expecting to be chastised. "Sonata said it right after, so I didn't need to get her at all, things were a little too frantic when I might have been able to get one out of you, but Aria's case gave me plenty of time and I wasn't likely to hear it from her otherwise." Looking just a little rueful, her lips formed the tiniest pout. "I know it was petty, but I still wanted an apology. Is that wrong?"

Oh.

It wasn't revenge, not like it would have been before, Adagio was just looking for a band-aid for her bruised ego (not that band-aids were much good for bruises), and possibly some hurt feelings. Pinkie Pie had explained the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them, and the response to 'Fluffy' was firmly in the latter category. That in mind, Sunset stepped closer to wrap Adagio in a hug, the two of them stopping where they stood on the sidewalk.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I should have said it when Sonata did. You're doing fine, don't worry about a thing."

They remained that way for the better part of a minute, Adagio not moving a muscle or saying a word. Then she huffed. "D-don't hug me in public," she said while trying to wriggle free, "people will think I'm in your group now or something!"

Giggling, Sunset stepped back, smirking when she noticed how red Adagio had gotten. "Aww, is someone getting friendship cooties?"

Scowling, Adagio stood with her arms folded. "There's no such thing."

"Ohh, yes there is," said Sunset through barely-contained laughter, "how do you think they converted me?" The look on Adagio's face as she went pale was priceless. "It starts with warm, fuzzy feelings..."

"Stop it."

"Then they get you to hold hands..."

Adagio closed her eyes, holding her hands over where Sunset assumed her ears were. "Stop."

"Before you know it, you're singing with people you used to hate!"

"Quit it!"

She tip-toed closer. "And then, once the infection takes hold..."

"Sunset Shim-"

"They hug you!" Giggling madly, she enforced the notion directly, blushing a little herself as she threw her arms around a squirmy, fidgety Adagio. After about fifteen seconds of sputtering and complaints from her captive, Sunset managed to hold her still. "I really am sorry. Okay?"

There was a short silence before Adagio again huffed quietly, but it sounded like she was smiling. "Yes, well..." Lightly pushing Sunset away, she smirked. "Considering how long it took, I might just get you anyway, in time..." She put one hand on her hip while pointing a finger of the opposite hand at Sunset. "So stay on guard, Sunset Shimmer!"

It was then that Sunset noticed Adagio was pointing slightly to her side, her head tilted as though looking at something just behind Sunset. Whipping around and expecting to see Aria, Sonata, or both with water balloons or something, she instead saw something that made her feel like an even bigger sucker; nothing at all. Quickly turning back, Adagio was gone.

"How did-" Sunset felt a sudden gust of air blown straight into her ear. "-gah!"

She turned to see Adagio, snickering and covering her mouth with one hand. "Gotcha!"

Lightly brushing the weird feeling from her ear, Sunset smirked a little. "Verrry funny. That wasn't 'it,' was it?"

Immediately turning away from Sunset, it looked like Adagio was folding her arms behind her back. Hard to tell through the hair. "No, that was it, apology accepted." As it sounded like she was smiling, Sunset didn't believe it for a minute. "I should head home now, but I'll see you in school, Sunset Shimmer."

The possibility of Adagio's revenge aside, Sunset couldn't help a tiny smile as she watched her walk away. Yea, see you in school...

And with that, she ran home to write a message to Twilight!

---

Elsewhere in the city, in a circular office with no particular decoration scheme, and all of them at once, a madman sat behind his gold-and-peppermint desk. It was a different combination of precious metal and tasty snack every week, but he'd only mixed them up once so far. So what if he chipped a tooth? Now it looked like he was half-vampire! He chortled to himself over the results of his latest enterprise. And also the digital cops n' robbers thing, that was pretty groovy. Sure, there was no official reason to have all of the testers be (according to his sources) formerly magical world-dominating monster girls, but why not?

After all, he thought, looking to his favorite motivational poster of a clown with his shoes on backwards water-skiing on quicksand with a squirrel firing a light machine gun and screaming into a pine cone while riding on the clown's head, what fun is there in making sense?

---

Late that night, Fluttershy awoke to the sound of her phone ringing. Worried she'd kept someone waiting on the other end, she quickly snatched it up and answered.

"H-hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Sunset? Is something wrong?"

"...K-kind of... I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

Fluttershy smiled warmly, hoping it was detectable through the phone. "Please, don't worry about it. Why are you calling in the middle of the night?"

"I, uh, w-well..." The pause only made Fluttershy worry more. "I-I, uh, kind of have a little f-favor to ask..."

Author's Note:

I did say I'd get this story done by some time this summer, but it turned out to be very, very late summer. Sorry about that. Worse yet, I have no idea when the next part should be out. Haven't even started on it yet. Still, more of this series to come, more simulations, more Sunset and the Dazzlings, more slice of life shenanigans!

That last one is up next, see you then!

Comments

[VampDash]

Oh? What favor is she calling in this time?

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

6277735
I don't understand the question.

Do you mean for the next story? Because I'm afraid that would be spoilers.

[diablo4000]

LOL. Love this story!

[bznwow]

That final scene between Sunset and Adagion gave me a minor heart attack. Great power is great responsibility, you can murder someone with this amount of heartwarmingness, be careful.

Speaking of murder, do you think sirens will actually make an appearance as viable characters in the 3rd movie, or ever at all? In what kind of role? How will you feel if there will be no more sirens?

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

6277924

That final scene between Sunset and Adagion

I just pictured Sunset going phoenix mode to combat the towering, scaly, lovecraftian monstrosity, Adagion in her final form. It ends with them going out for ice cream and trying on silly hats together.

Speaking of murder, do you think sirens will actually make an appearance as viable characters in the 3rd movie, or ever at all? In what kind of role? How will you feel if there will be no more sirens?

I'm glad you asked! I've been hearing around various pony-related comment sections that the sirens will not be in EQ3 at all, that the wiki has them marked as 'Former student,' so we probably won't see them. This annoys me considerably, because they were given no closure at all after being dealt the equivalent of chopping off Twilight's horn, or denying Fluttershy the ability to interact with animals. I like to think that the damage to their voices was temporary and that even if we never see them in canon again, their story ends happily, because the implications otherwise are messed up enough to make the ending of RR my personal dethroning moment for the series.

If they do show up, I'm hoping it's either as cheerleaders for Canterlot High following a deal to restore their ability to sing in exchange for boosting morale (I'm willing to write this myself if I find the time), or in one of the 2-3 minute shorts before the actual movie is released, maybe Sunset experimenting on them like she did her friends, accidentally restoring what they'd lost, and getting crush-hugged by all three of them even if she doesn't learn a thing about how magic in that world works.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if they just showed up as Crystal Prep's backup, were shamed again in some way, and generally treated like Team Rocket despite once having been (arguably) the greatest villains in MLP to date. I'm sincerely hoping that's not the case, however.

If they plain don't show up at all in EQ3, I guess we can wait for 4, if they make one, or the rumored spin-off series, but I really hope they get some kind of closure before then. However, if we don't see any news on the sirens in Friendship Games, I'll probably do one of those re-write things with that cheerleader idea, sticking to the canon events of the movie as much as possible, but with the caveat that the sirens get their own Happily Ever After.

...That got a little long-winded. Sorry if I sound like one of those people that went all crazy rage following The Mysterious Mare Do-Well, but I think I get how they feel now.

[bznwow]

6277986
Siren's situation becomes especially disheartening if you take into equation the comic book about their backstory. While the story and the way the sirens were portrayed there were not very good to say the least, it established that they got the boot out of their world, without any kind of attempt at diplomacy on Starswirl's part. Which ends RR with them being denied going home along with the loss of their identities, what is just sad and unpleasant.

In can be argued that the Dazzlings not being given Sunset's kind of treatment from M6 is actually a neglect on M6's part, making M6 flawed which adds to the depth of their character in a sort of realistically negative kind of way, I guess?.. But if it will not be mentioned in a said context within movies/show/shorts (similar to s5e12 Amending Fences sort of way), it sadly moves it straight into Hasbros' "the dolls haven't sold enough to validate wasting time on their characters" dismissal teritory, which seems like a huge waste of character potential and a loss of potential dazzlings songs (which are 70% of enjoyment of RR for me).

However, if we don't see any news on the sirens in Friendship Games, I'll probably do one of those re-write things with that cheerleader idea, sticking to the canon events of the movie as much as possible, but with the caveat that the sirens get their own Happily Ever After.

It makes my wait for the 3rd movie a lot more positive

I just pictured Sunset going phoenix mode to combat the towering, scaly, lovecraftian monstrosity, Adagion in her final form. It ends with them going out for ice cream and trying on silly hats together.

And that is just adorable

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

6278328

Siren's situation becomes especially disheartening if you take into equation the comic book about their backstory.

True. The way it was depicted, if I didn't know better, I'd have said Starswirl booted them through the mirror just because he didn't like how popular they were getting, that his fears regarding the 'dangerous magic' that didn't actually seem to be hurting anything was the equivalent of an irritable old man saying rock and roll would be the death of civilization. I don't even remember the fighting Twilight's book said they caused depicted in the comic.

Anyway, will just have to see what the future holds and hope for the best.

[bznwow]

6278350

I don't even remember the fighting Twilight's book said they caused depicted in the comic.

I think it's the history is written by the victors kind of thing. "He got paranoid and banished them just to be safe" would have probably hurt the heroic image his historical figure was given.

[seventeen]

I don't know what part of that I called, but it was some part. This is awesome. I know Sunset's supposed to be badass and all, but I don't believe she'd be able to run with a sledgehammer and swing it easily through the adventure - that she picked one up was kind of my first hint. I like that though, Dis-Corp it's cute

"How am I supposed to brag if I've got nothing to compare it to?!" I'm surprised there isn't a score sheet or something
poor pony-masked Sunset, all out of place even in this situation

HAHHAHA good deal. this makes her last lines in Fluff and Kidnapping so much funnier.
"W-wait, when did you see the enemy list?" nice with the continuity
omg. mind blown - that's why she was called Star. holy shit batman the connections
I feel like Sunset would be on the receiving end of more hate than the Dazzlings, they were only there for like a week while Sunset ruined lives for years. ...and you just said this too. ? LOL at Sunset's ongoing thoughts

holy crap, best secret ever. that the other two believed it is gold. Sonata testing it is SO GOOD: Please be false. "True?"

stuttering, vulnerable Adagio is absolutely precious ...omg so they do do those things - I'd be scared too! O.o

"D-don't hug me in public," she said while trying to wriggle free, "people will think I'm in your group now or something!"

god, she is just the sweetest thing "The look on Adagio's face as she went pale was priceless." blushing bright red and then immediately going white as a sheet delights me in ways I don't understand. her being so dismayed at friendship spreading is great, her revenge is just as funny and sickly sweet
"hands over where Sunset assumed her ears were" whew you'd be among them making fun of her hair huh?
that ending. this made my day.

[howard035]

I really like the ending here. Your stories about the Sirens seem much less focused on reforming them than most stories, but you still manage to do a better job of it than most stories, while keeping their interesting group dynamic going.

6278328
6278350
Even thought that was one of the worst MLP comics I've ever read, I actually appreciated it for one reason: It made the Sirens losing their magic less horrible. Before that comic, everyone was convinced the Sirens were immortals who had been wandering earth since the dark ages. If that was true, then destroying their magic would mean the Rainbooms performed a slow execution on the Dazzlings, one that may take 50~60 years to complete. If they were always mortal and just hurled forward in time, then at least the sirens didn't shorten their lifespans when their gems were smashed.

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

6280827
Actually? It's still possible they were immortal prior to the BotB. Aria comments at one point that they've been singing the same stuff since "forever" before Adagio invents pop overnight. For all we know, that could mean that they'd been singing as they had for hundreds or thousands of years, perhaps longer, but that it was never outright stated one way or the other may have been deliberate on the part of the writer.

Personally, I like the not-really-immortal explanation too. Not for the death sentence bit (surely life itself is a death sentence?), but because the idea that a trio of mind-warpers could roam the earth for so long and never make any progress in dominating it is preposterous, and because they never really act that age.

That second one is a problem with most immortal characters, actually, supposedly having centuries of experience, but still acting like 20-somethings, like their long lives give them some immunity to accruing wisdom. Possibly on account of not being written by people with access to that kind of wisdom? That Aria and Sonata still bicker like kids falls more in line with the explanation that they've only been in the human world for a few months or years, so I like going with the idea that they popped into it at right about the same time as Sunset.

[howard035]

6281503 Yeah, one reason I didn't think they weren't immortal prior to that comic was due to how immature the Dazzlings act. Anyone as reckless and megalomaniacal as the sirens who had been around for a thousand years on earth would have taken over, or more likely wind up dead.

And yes, life itself is a death sentence... unless you're immortal. But if you're suddenly turned mortal, then you've just been handed a death sentence.

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

6281920
True. I'm picturing Adagio negotiating the terms of a nation's surrender when Aria and Sonata get wrapped up in bickering behind her, start slapping each other, and one of them leans on the 'Launch All Nukes' button.

And, sorry to get dragged into semantics here, but doesn't the possibility of losing one's immortality render them effectively mortal anyway? If it's possible for the gems to get broken and end their 'eternal' life, and they live forever, then sheer probability, a small chance taken an infinite number of times, ensures that they were eventually going to lose the gems, grow old, and die. In that sense, they were never immortal to begin with, their clocks would just be ticking much slower than everyone else's.

Immortality stinks anyway. What do you do when you outlive the planet you're on? If you live until the day the sun explodes and survive even that, you're presumably stuck on a scorched, lifeless rock. I'd feel sorry for characters like Discord, but I figure most of them can warp to dimensions with greener grass when the time comes.

EDIT: Wait a tic, I think I see what you're saying. Whether it's possible to lose it or not, the Dazzlings would think they were immortal in this case, free of the fear of dying at least of old age. If they did lose that much, it would probably still be a psychological shock, more trauma on top of losing their voices, if it was permanent. What happens to them is kind of messed up either way, in that case.

[howard035]

6282016 You're certainly right from a semantic point, and also that immortality does suck in the sense of living forever. My specific problem here is that if you believe the Dazzlings were ageless, let's call it, but the Rainbooms 7 Elements of Harmony or whatever stripped them of their magic, including their agelessness, that's roughly the same thing as if it had given them a form of cancer that would take a few years to metastasize. Sure, they're not going to drop dead right this minute, but they will eventually, and they blood would be on the hands of the Rainbooms. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be the right thing to do, you have to stop evil mind controllers, but it makes the magic of harmony pretty darn dark then. From the point of view of an immortal who would live for many millennium, there's not that significant a difference between shattering their gems/robbing them of immortality and just shooting the Dazzlings in the head.

Hence, you can see why I prefer the theory "the sirens were always mortal, they just lost their magic powers when their gems were smashed."

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

6282147
Quite so!

The Elements' Rainbow Magic is a little dark sometimes, to the point that I wonder if Celestia and Luna unwittingly committed some kind of crime against nature in weaponizing them. Maybe that was why Luna got sent to the moon the first time?

[howard035]

6282185 Some of the things they do are pretty darn creepy. Discord suffered over a thousand years of And I Must Scream, I think death might have been preferable. There's different points of view on what her banishment was like, but the majority view seems to be that she was trapped in an incorporeal state within the entire moon, which would probably be a pretty similar experience to Discord. So yeah, kind of poetic like that. I would say the Mane 6 have been kinder with their use, but they re-froze Discord, and even with Rainbow Power they just locked Tirek back up in Tartarus, presumably for all time. Again, just killing Tirek may have been the kinder option.

And don't get me started on the Tree of Harmony itself, I find that thing to be creepy in the extreme.

[bznwow]

6282232
what's creepy about that tree?

[howard035]

6304074 What's creepy is it's some silent tree controlling the Mane 6. The Tree decides Tirek goes to Tartarus, the tree gives Twilight a giant castle, the Tree magically affects the cutie marks of the Mane 6 to send them wherever it wants them to go, and Princess Twilight takes orders from a pile of crystal. It also seems to me that the few times we've seen the tree send ponies out to deal with "friendship problems," they're a certain type of friendship problem: namely, alternative ideologies to the Harmony this tree represents. Our Town ran on equalism instead of harmony, and Griffonstone ran on pure greed, and used to run on this sort of shared pride in an idol belief system. The tree sent out the Mane 6 to convert members of those communities to the ways of harmony. Don't get me wrong, by any objective standard the tree's "harmony" is a better way of living than the other two, but the fact that the tree seems to focus exclusively on friendship problems that come from rival ideologies certainly creeps me out.

[ColdGoldLazarus]

And everything suddenly makes sense. This was adorable.

[EchoWing]

I feel so bad for not noticing this story sooner. But I'm glad I did notice it! Fun!

[JaysLimelight]

I can picture those sirens develop a new and closer bond like sisters. They wont admit it but it could happen.

[Boulder]

Yay, guessed it. (refer to my guess at end of chapter 1) I'm a happy little reader now.

[livinthelife]

I would pay an arbitrarily large sum of money for that poster.

[BenTLA]

The Heist makes me think of Grand Theft Auto Online’s Heists and this one sounded like a cross between The Fleeca Job and The Pacific Standard finale

[Tethered-Angel]

Daw, that ending is so cute. I'm having a lot of fun re reading this series.

[Boltstrike58]

Elsewhere in the city, in a circular office with no particular decoration scheme, and all of them at once, a madman sat behind his gold-and-peppermint desk. It was a different combination of precious metal and tasty snack every week, but he'd only mixed them up once so far. So what if he chipped a tooth? Now it looked like he was half-vampire! He chortled to himself over the results of his latest enterprise. And also the digital cops n' robbers thing, that was pretty groovy. Sure, there was no official reason to have all of the testers be (according to his sources) formerly magical world-dominating monster girls, but why not?

After all, he thought, looking to his favorite motivational poster of a clown with his shoes on backwards water-skiing on quicksand with a squirrel firing a light machine gun and screaming into a pine cone while riding on the clown's head, what fun is there in making sense?

Discord. Of course. How did I not see that coming?

[Gundamdragon]

8875670
Dis-Corp discord it was kind of a giveaway their actually.

[Titanicgaming360]

9681853
Giggles are good.

[PaulAsaran]

You can has review!