Spiders and Magic IV: The Fall of Spider-Mane

by Maximus_Reborn

A Siren's Lament

Chapter Twenty-Seven "A Siren's Lament"

As the fires continued to consume what was left of the Treebrary, Tirek faced the village of Ponyville with a stern glare before raising his hand. On command, the thestral horde broke into each of the homes and captured those inside, dragging them towards the centaur. Some ponies fought free, taking to the skies or the forest, but they were immediately pursued, most recaptured right off. Each thestral pinned their respective captives to the ground upon being meters away from Tirek.

Particles of energy spiraled into an orb between the centaur's horns before everypony was held captive emitted a similar glow. One after the other, they collapsed as the collective magical energies conjoined with Tirek's power. His physique steadily grew, adding more girth to the centaur's body. The energies slowly dissipated entirely, ending the growth process. While the entire village lay under his hoof, devoid of consciousness, Tirek sighed contentedly before clenching his fists with enough force to split the earth in two under his weight.

"This village was just the first. We will move to each landmark untilallof Equestria is ours," Tirek grinned, sharing a nod with his cohorts. "Once we drain the remaining resistance of their magic, there will be absolutely nopony left to stop us. As promised, you will all be given a landmark of your choosing to rule so long as Canterlot is mine. Let us rendezvous there tomorrow to discuss more business."

Stretching his wings out, Goblin took flight and cackled wildly. "I've never felt such satisfaction. I'll return to Manehattan and give rise to the Goblin Empire."

"I'll turn out the lights in Fillydelphia," Electro coldly stated, his voice distorting further as he flew in the opposite direction of Osborn.

Carnage raised a hoof, trailing his snake-like tongue against his claws. He glanced at his surroundings, huffing lowly. "This place is a little too boring for my taste. I need sport." Walking past Tirek, Carnage chuckled under his breath. "I'll introduce myself to the rest of the world and give them a taste of anarchy." Erupting into laughter before slamming his axe-shaped tail onto the back of a prone pony's neck, Carnage trotted for parts unknown with a wet crimson trail following closely behind. "Just follow the bloodstained road!"

Adagio frowned, alternating her gaze between Tirek and those held captive in the plunder vines' vice-like grips. Because of their drained magical and physical states, most could not speak. However, after that, those that remained coherent and conscious yielded to their sorrow, sobbing uncontrollably. Tears streamed down Fluttershy, Cadance, and Rarity's cheeks before each mare drifted into a deep trance.

As the others began to lose consciousness as well, Adagio raised a hoof. "Wait," the siren called out, turning to Celestia with a glare. "It's not her bedtime. Not just yet."

Discord shrugged before casually motioning a talon downward, prompting the remaining vines to sink beneath the earth with their captives in tow. Celestia's vine lowered, bringing the alicorn to pause before the siren. The mare weakly raised her gaze to meet Adagio's, managing to glare weakly.

The siren couldn't help but smirk at the sight before her. "So, YourHighness, how does it feel?" Adagio questioned, closing the distance between herself and alicorn princess. "I want you to savor this feeling, knowing that your precious ponies now face torture, death, and slavery. This is all onyourshoulders." Despite her provocation, Celestia's expression remained firm. The lack of response caused Adagio to chuckle before she waved a hoof. "Fine. I'll just let that sit for a while. We'll speak again soon."

The vine holding the alicorn slithered down into the chasm until Celestia's bright form faded into the darkness, dissipating from sight completely. Soon afterward, the earth closed shut, as if erasing all traces of the vines' uprising.

Adagio turned to Tirek, pointing a hoof to the ground below. "I'll head towards where they're being held. The lot of them are practicallyoozingnegative emotions after seeing their friends perish," Adagio declared, inhaling sharply as dark energy rushed into her body. A sultry smile formed on her features. "It's too good of a meal to pass up. It'll be enough to keep us fed for quite some time." Sobering momentarily, Adagio's gaze narrowed into a glare as she held it towards the ground. "Besides, I want to see her suffer. She killed my race, and she'll keep what's left of us alive."

Tirek folded his arms with a nod. "Very well. You know where to find them. However, do not kill them. They will be held on display for all of Equestria to see after we purge any and all resistance. It will serve as a warning to those foolish enough to oppose us," Tirek boldly claimed, turning before stomping out of Ponyville. The armada of thestrals followed the centaur, some on the ground while others took to the air. Chuckling, Tirek could only smile victoriously. "The world is nowours."

Before long, the invading forces had completely left Ponyville with the exception of three individuals. Those drained by Tirek were left in a heap. Some managed to pull themselves to a standing position, attempting to do the same for those around them. Others, if able, weakly stammered about what had transpired and contemplated their future without the world's saviors.

In contrast to the other victors, Aria sat with the same lifeless expression, unable to lift her sorrowful gaze from the ground. Like the vast waters of a flowing river, the siren's tears would not cease streaming down her cheeks. A painfully nostalgic sense plagued her heart as distant memories awakened. It felt as if a part of herself that she had long ago locked away suddenly died, leaving a lingering sense of anguish to burrow into her chest. Sonata was gone, slain by a cohort for having a shred of compassion and holding a firm moral compass.

Aria did nothing to help her best friend, except watch her fall into certain doom. Time seemed to remain stagnant for her, the reality of the situation having yet to fully reach the siren. Aria begged for it to remain as such, a sense of disbelief like one experiences from a bad dream. She wanted to wake from this living nightmare. Sadly, the images would never leave her mind, burning as hot as the fires crackling through the remains of Twilight Sparkle's home.

Adagio reached out, nudging the siren. "Aria! Did you hear me?" Her tear-stained face held an almost lifeless expression, as if lost in a never-ending trance. However, Adagio knew better, evident by the growing sorrow held in her own eyes. They sat in a long, desolate silence before the orange-maned siren cleared her throat and averted her gaze to the side. "We should head to the vines' hideout. That'll be a good place to feed for now. Come on. Let's go."

Aria's lip quivered as she weakly shook her head. "I'm not coming."

Adagio stopped in her tracks, sharply turning to face the mare. "What do you mean you're not coming?" She waited for a response, releasing a frustrated growl upon receiving none. "This is what we've wanted! What we'veearned!" Adagio raised a hoof, circling it about around her. "There's enough negative emotion in the air to feed us for years to come! After Tirek's done with Canterlot, we'll never have to worry about going hungry again!"

"Sonata's dead…" Aria whispered, unable to lift her gaze.

Adagio pulled at her mane before kicking a rock in frustration. "We've avenged our race and made Celestia pay for what she did! Don't you get it?!" Breathing rapidly, she forced a smile through gritted teeth and nodded feverishly while her eyes swelled with tears. "We won! Weactuallywon!"

"Sonata'sdead, Adagio!" Aria cried out once more, her stoic demeanor faltering as a surge of emotion rushed forward. Shielding her face with her hooves, the siren burst into a sob. "And we didnothingabout it! We just watched our only frienddie!"

The force of her voice raced out, causing a firm gust of wind to knock Adagio back lightly. The orange-maned siren held her place after regaining her footing. "Because wecouldn'tdo anything! Sonata was dead the moment she stood against Tirek! We had nochoice, Aria!" Aria bleakly stared at Adagio, shaking her head sadly before turning to depart. Adagio watched her friend with a widened gaze and mouth agape while her mind raced. "Aria! Stop! You know how powerful Tirek is. None of us can stop him as he is now! Sonata knew that, too! It was her own fault for being so stupid!" Adagio shifted her gaze wildly before slamming her hoof into the ground. "I'm doing what I know is right for us! Don't walk away from me!"

Aria closed her eyes with a somber sigh. "Sonata did whatshethought was right." She paused, frowning. "No. Iknewshe was right." Without another word, the siren made for the edge of the village.

Adagio's eye twitched as she watched her last companion begin to slowly walk away. Anger quickly overtook her. "Just where do you think you are going?!"

Pausing briefly, Aria glanced back to her cohort with her usual stoic expression. "To do something I should've done a long, long time ago." Departing the village, she never looked back. "Goodbye, Adagio."

Collapsing onto her forelegs, Adagio could only watch as Aria's image faded in the distance, disappearing from her life, just as Sonata did. All of her sacrifices led to this moment of both triumph and tragedy. She was now truly alone, forsaken by her friend and the very last of her kind. A familiar pain twinged in her chest, reopening wounds from a fateful day eons ago.

Her heart could only sink at the feelings she harbored. Adagio gritted her teeth in agonising restraint, before erupting into a pained wail that generated vibrational waves through the earth. Her best friends had betrayed and left her. All because of a stallion, their target, and Adagio loathed Peter Parker for that, cursing his very name as she cried.

-u-

The crowds of Ponyville had retreated into their homes, while others left the village entirely hours after Tirek's forces had departed, considering their safety was no longer guaranteed. Discord materialized before the charred remains of the Treebrary. Years of planning had culminated to the moment, and he knew the end goal was finally within reach. With all of the trials completed, Discord was ready to step towards the next stage of the plan. It was almost perfect, like any well-formulated scheme.

However, there was something amiss. Or rather,someponyhad intervened before he could enact the next part of his master plan. Discord eyed the burned abode with an arched brow, raising his paw. Chunks of debris and charred wood levitated from the ground, and the process repeated until every stone was turned. Much to his befuddlement and elation, evident by a relieved sigh, the draconequus was unable to locate any signs of bodies, thus confirming his suspicions.

Discord narrowed his gaze on the Treebrary's remnants, holding his glowing paw out. "How did this happen? Twilight and Luna lack the power to override my spells on their best day, let alone in their weakened conditions, and I highly doubt any of the others did this." The draconequus mumbled under his breath as he continued to wave his glowing paw about. "Whatever was responsible for this phenomenon, I don't think there's anypony that could replicate the feat of overriding my spell and erasing their trail. Except…" Discord paused, his eyes widening as a realization came to mind. The surrounding debris fell from its levitating state as the draconequus's expression quickly contorted into anger, a growl escaping him as he threw out his arms. "Ooo~!I can'tbelieveher!"

Discord approached the remains with a stern expression, attempting to understand the exact actions and motives of his female counterpart. Another low growl escaped from his slightly gritted teeth at the frustration of his failure to do so. Eris continued to baffle Discord to this day with her motives, particularly her disagreement regarding everything centered around Peter.

She had allowed her emotions to cloud her mindset then, and it seemed to happen again now, much to Discord's chagrin. The idea that somepony of her position could lose sight of their job so thoroughly vexed him, but it was worsened by the fact that it was essentially himself that lost his way, somewhat technically speaking. To put it simply, Eris jumped the gun because she couldn't control her emotions. As both draconequi knew, Peter was too valuable of a resource to waste, and they would never let him die. Unfortunately, they heavily disagreed on the workload put onto the stallion. For now, Discord could only assume that was why Eris intervened.

Discord arched a brow and frowned, narrowing his gaze skyward. "The only course of action that seems plausible now is to ask Eris what she has planned." He stared into the darkened sky for what seemed like minutes before frowning. "Unbelievable. I can't even pinpoint her. It seems she's gone out of her way to ensure that I can't find her exact location. I'll have to give that search my full attention soon enough."

Discord trailed off, alternating his gaze between the two separate directions Adagio and Aria went. He managed a smile while pulling at the fur on his chin. "That can wait for a while, I think. In the meantime, I believe it's appropriate to compensate for our loss of numbers. Sonata is off to wherever Eris has taken her, and Aria no longer has the motivation to stay."

The draconequus grinned, raising his talon as a small orb hovered over it. Images of two ponies alternated within, shifting between a snow-white stallion and violet mare. "As always, I'm prepared with the perfect contingency plan," he chuckled while his form faded from existence before vanishing completely in a burst of light. "It's time for Blueblood and Starlight Glimmer to join our cause once more. They owe me, after all."

---

The skies had yet to brighten and held a grey tone as the sun and moon lost their way. A small breeze brushed through Aria's mane as she stood before a slab of marble protruding from the ground. Its form had cracked and decayed badly with age, causing moss to grow over most of the stone. Aria knelt down and hummed a soft melody, using the vibrational energies to clear the marble of the intruding marsh. Brushing a hoof over the coarse stone, the siren sighed at its worn, barren surface.

"Of course it wouldn't still be there," she mused, her eyes softening as she glanced off to the side. "It's been exposed to the elements for so long…"

While the lovingly-inscribed lettering once etched into the stone had failed the test of time, they lived on forever in the siren's memory. Aria could only smile while reflecting on how long it had taken her to decide on its final wording. Sobering, the siren steeled herself before kneeling in close to the ancient tombstone.

"Hey. It's… been a while, huh?" Aria paused as tears immediately began to well in her eyes, causing her to brush a hoof across her face."I would've come sooner, but I… I was afraid." The mare forced back a sob, taking a few moments to recover her nerve before taking a deep breath. "Afraid that you might hate what I'd become. Afraid that you might not still be here. Afraid… ofsomany things…"

Aria clutched at the aching in her chest. "I'm no longer afraid. I don't have therightto be afraid." The siren inhaled deeply before sighing as a strong wind whipped her pigtails about, causing her to brush them aside. "So, I came to say that I'm sorry. You saw it… didn't you? You said that you'd always watch over me, so I'm sure you did." The mare's ears fell back as she looked to the side with shame. "What happened to Sonata wasn't right. I just stood there and watched it happen. No matter how much Adagio spins it, we'll have to live with that for the rest of our lives." Biting her lip, Aria returned her now tearful gaze to the grave. "I-I… I don't think Ican, Alto."

The sound of the wind rustling the leaves of the nearby trees was the only response Aria could hope for. She shook her head and patted the crimson gem around her neck with a hoof. "It was hard enough for me to lose you, but now that she's gone, too, I don't have anything else to live for. I know that you wanted me to move on and be happy, and the truth is… I did. I met Sonata a few eons after you passed away. She found me sulking at the bottom of the lake and refused to leave me alone."

Aria chuckled. "To be honest, she grated on my nerves so much that I forgot that I was sad. Really, I just wanted her to shut up. It took time, but Sonata and Adagio pulled me out of my slump." She glanced skyward and frowned. "I've lost so many of those important to me. You. Sonata. Peter." Sobering, she broke into a soft chuckle uncharacteristically. "Nowthere'ssomepony you would've liked. Much like Sonata, that idiot stallion drove mecrazy. Yet… I just couldn't push him away, either. I guess I'm just drawn to stupid things, huh?"

The siren shook her head, sobering. "Anyway… I'd like to introduce you to them if you haven't met already. Heck, I can imagine that Mom and Dad will be right there, ready to scold me, too. That'd be annoying." Aria shivered before sighing, wincing at the sharp pull in her chest. "I'm happy that I met them. Sonata and Peter are annoying, but their positive attitude is really contagious. It makes me wish that we could feed on positive emotions. If that was the case, Sonata could have fed the whole siren race on her own."

Aria chuckled once more, returning her gaze to the grave. "And don't get me wrong about Adagio. I really hated her bossy attitude most of the time, but after what she went through, I can't help but cut her some slack. If it happened to me, I'd probably be just as bitter as her. I guess I wouldn't change anything in the end. Sonata or Adagio. I'll miss them both." The siren shivered involuntarily as a breeze brushed through her fur. She nodded, rubbing her hoof over the grave before standing back on all fours. "Thanks for listening to me, Alto. Which brings me to why I'm here. To let you know that I still love you, and… that I'll be with you again soon."

Turning before departing the abandoned gravesite, Aria traveled towards her desired locale, lamenting on the past with a stoic expression. She looked back to that day Starswirl exiled their entire group from Equestria. The corner of the siren's mouth curled into a smile. Considering how large their siren forms were, it was understandable how difficult it was to adjust to that of a human's. Adagio hated how dry the environment was, and Sonata developed a strange infatuation with tacos. It was truly strange times, much to Aria's annoyance.

The entire fiasco with the Battle of the Bands and that other Twilight's group was one Aria wanted to forget, considering how epic their failure was. They lost the ability to feed because of it, meaning their long lives were going to be cut short in due time. Fortunately, it was then that Discord appeared and offered the chance for redemption, as well as the ability to feed again. Aria frowned. As bad as things were, there really wasn't a choice. Adagio was practically beside herself when she learned that they would soon fight another version of Twilight Sparkle. Aria chuckled, remembering that Sonata was just eager to see her family again.

A somber sigh escaped from the siren's mouth. Sadly, that was the domino that triggered everything and led to the present. Eventually, Aria reached the lake and stared sadly at her own reflection on the water's clear surface. The pain inside her chest refused to subside, victims to shades of the past and present. There was only one common trait in her life, and it was that everypony she held close died. It took ages for Aria to move on from the passing of her first and only love. Sonata helped ease the pain, becoming the embodiment of positive energy in the siren's life. However, she was now gone, and Aria no longer had anything to lean on.

Reaching the edge of the lake, Peter's words echoed throughout her mind as she dipped a hoof into its waters. Aria knew that the passive magic of her tears enchanted the lake long ago, but to hear how it had helped others overcome their struggles meant a great deal to the siren. While she couldn't save Sonata or Peter, there was still one last thing she could do for those who needed to let their frustrations go.

Reaching deep within herself, Aria sang out to the lake. Taking a step forward, the water came alive with a vibrant glow that rippled as it met with her hoof. Each following step was met with a similar glow, the water supporting her weight as she slowly treaded the lake's surface to its center. Reaching up to the the crimson gem around her neck, Aria began channeling the dormant energies resting within her. Through her song, the remainder of the lake emitted a bright glow, matching that of the water around her. Before long, the glowing light dimmed and tiny sparkles gleamed all across the water's surface.

The bags under Aria's eyes darkened considerably, showing clear signs of the siren's exhaustion. With the last of her energy emptied into the gem and lake, she could finally take her final resting place. The magical energy supporting her slowly faded, allowing the siren to submerse under the lake's surface and sink to the very bottom. Aria blankly stared at the surface as she continued to descend, lamenting on the life she'd led. She closed her eyes and drifted into a deep slumber. The siren would soon be one with the lake and reunited with those that were lost.

This would be her last song. The final lament of Aria Blaze.

To be continued...

Comments

[Alvaxerox]

[Fire Blitz]

Suicide?