A songless siren is a miserable thing. Not only was singing their weapon and their means of control, it was the sirens' preferred means of expression, recreation, and a part of their identities. As such, to say they've all been a little depressed since the Battle of the Bands would be a considerable understatement. Imagine their surprise when that which was taken from them is offered back on one very simple condition!
One very simple, somewhat embarrassing condition that involves cheering for their former enemies and waving pom-poms around. At least the outfits are cute, right?
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AU of Friendship Games, centered around the events of the movie.
Chapters (14)
Will they wear sexy outfits?
Interesting.
Judging by the cover art, Adagio is very short (or at least the shortest one of the trio). I don't know if this will have any impact on the story, but I find this incredibly adorable.
I do have an ability to make comedy AND "feels" in one story. I'm interested.
Oh crap, Adagio, Dagi, Dagi, take a deep breath, let's not get hasty here!
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Dude. Look at the coverart. Then look at the premise. They're CHEERLEADERS. Kinda goes with the territory.
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hover over image
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I think it's more that she's standing a little behind Sonata, with Aria taking up more of the foreground. Note the differences in the sizes of their heads.
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I was more or less thinking they'd be wearing what they are in the cover art. It's a little dark for CHS's color scheme, but I think I've got a decent enough explanation when the time comes. Either way, you won't be able to actually see them dancing in said outfits, I'm afraid.
"Sabotage?
Well, I like the way you write the Sirens though Sunset's motives for offering them their voices back seem specious (perhaps she's really making the offer because she "knows what it's like to have something she's good at ripped away" rather than any real need for Cheerleaders).
6466419 Actually it's not the perspective that created such confusion, but rather artist's take on character's proportions – he/she moved away from traditional EG 75% of height are legs approach, what is very clear with Adagio, but obscured with Sonata's legs being cut off by the frame and dynamic posing, same with Aria crouching. In combination with these new proportions, Adagio's giant poof (main purpose of which is to appear larger, compensate for petiteness and chase away predators) makes her appear a lot smaller and more adorable.
How huge are you planning to make this story?
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Only as long as it needs to be to cover the events of the movie and wrap up accordingly. I don't see it going past 20,000 words at conceivable most.
...Now that I'm thinking about it, the idea of a comparatively tiny Adagio using her fluff to scare away bears and such is weirdly adorable.
Makes me sad that My Little Adagio was canceled. :(
Nice callback to one of Bulk's early 'joke' fandom names,
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Have they ever not?
great start to this fun story. greatidea for a story. this is going to be a great ride!
Looking forward to more, great story.
This looks neat. So is Sunset just offering to magically return their singing talent? Or is she offering to restore them entirely?
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Just the singing is the goal, fully-rejuvenated magical sirens that are probably still sore about having lost their voices wouldn't be a great idea right now.
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Well, shoot!
That picture is extremely adorable for whatever reason...
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Sonata's happy cheering, Aria's little pouty face, and Adagio looking all "I have pom-poms... Now what?" That's part of the reason I went with this image instead of another, the depicted moods here better reflect their depictions in the story, I think.
The sirens' respective expressions, I think.
"Oh, and Adagio?
"Yes Sunset?"
"You understand that, the very moment that you betray us, I will kill you?"
"Heh. When do we start?"
I like the start of this. It's kind of dark, but the Sirens are making the logical assumption that if they have lived longer than normal, and the Rainbooms have taken their magic, then the Dazzlings are basically waiting for the execution to take effect.
The cover image is great, but they look more like Crystal Prep cheerleaders than CHS. I wonder if they could use that when they attempt sabatoge? (you know they will, sooner or later).
6466699 Whenever Adagio feels threatened, her hair stands up like another foot or two, just like a cat arching its back.
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There's a reason for the uniforms, but it doesn't come up for another chapter or two.
Further cuteness accepted!!
6470972 Adorablegio.
Thank you for writing this. Already favorite and put on tracking. I enjoyed The friendship games alot, but for me it made me sad that Adagio, Sonata and Aria were droped out just like that. While still being mentioned we dont know wha happend to them.
Those 3 are my favorite characters in the entire series and i really enjoyed how they interacted with each other and personally they are ones that trully deserve redeption and to not be cast aside, heck i can see them singing and chearing fro the wonder colts, also maybe being the backup singers for rainbow in the rally song.
Another thing maybe some Principal Cinch cheats and 3 of the humane six get injured and Adagio, Sonata and Aria take their place. Like Sonata replaces Rarity or Pinkie, Adagio Replaces Applejack or Fluttershy and Aria Rainbow dash(yeah Sunset will stay)
Sweet, super sweet,
Agreed.
Err, right.
And, you know this, how?
Right...
Fair enough.
Interesting, but, Sunset, is it wise to play mad scientist with a sadist, an emo and whatever Sonata is?
Might work.
That might work.
All right!
OK, this made me laugh.
Why would I worry about flesh-grafting? It's a powerful tool in any edition of D&D where it shows up.
I'm going to assume it was mostly the fall that injured Sunset, otherwise the Sirens have ridiculously strong hugging arms.
Ya done good, Sunset. Great chapter!
Didn't understand much of the technobabble, but I assume the Elements don't prevent the Sirens to use their song magic in harmonic ways... like cheering.
To much technobabble and i was shocked on how Sonata explained it(im so proud), still this chapter feels like filler, i really hope to see the three in action, also maybe without the pendants they can actually help and give a possitive fealing instead of what they used to.
Also i still wonder why is Sunset doing this aswell how will they be receved by the other students
I liked the technobabble. And I find it amusing that your decided place of origin for the Sirens is the same as mine.
...drat I hate not being able to get my writing done.
"Aww crap."
They... uh... clearly sort of forgot about the 'cheerleader' bit.
great chapter again it shows why sunset is the best. she will never give up on anyone! twilight would be so proud of her! great story and a fun read ! well done!!
At least Adagio didn't make an counteroffer involving Sunset.
Look at it this way for the Dazzlings: They can use their 'charisma and sexiness' for distractions.
So the sirens healed themselves by basically tapping into their own life force and using a bit of it as magical energy. Interesting. From the Friendship Games, it appears that the "pony up" effect of the Rainbooms is based off some sort of reservoir of magical energy they gained that draws from the Equestrian portal. I wonder if the Dazzlings are doing the same, or just drawing directly from their own life force.
I'm wondering about several things: First, are their voices permanently fixed, or do they have to "siren up" each time they want to sing about anything? Second, Sunset didn't just restore their voices, she taught them how to channel magic without their gems. Surely they are weaker now, but could they use this magic to entrance others again, even if they can no longer gain energy from discord without their gems to drink it in?
Finally, does the energy they are using come from Equestria, like the Rainbooms, or is it just basically burning a piece of the siren's souls for fuel? Because if it is the latter, and they keep using magic, that could have really terrible consequences for the sirens themselves.
Also, I can't wait to see them try and form a pyramid with Adagio on the bottom. You could never balance on that hair!
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Mild Friendship Games spoilers: Sunset said at the end that the magic manifested in the form of pony traits and, by the way Rainbow tackled that plant thing into the dirt, some measure of super powers, based on when they were acting like their true selves. Rarity ponied up making outfits, Pinkie did it throwing a party, etc. I'm actually trying to stick to the canon rules for this.
Of course, the 'our magic must be changing' line tells me that there were never any real rules and that they're making it all up as they go, 'changing magic' being something between a handwave and a convenient retcon.
I had meant to show that their voices were fixed by having them sing the first few lines of several of the Rainbooms' song, yes.
I figure standard kelpie magic would be something like a supernatural affinity for really emphatic music, like a special talent. Singing happy songs might be like a tiny injection of levity in those that hear it, but nothing too far above the standard reaction to the same song sung by someone else. They might be able to influence people a bit if they sing something that makes them pony up, so to speak, but you could just as well chalk it up to the three of them being able to charm people as they are.
The much more potent, more direct mind-altering effects, in this instance, were entirely the work of the gems.
Does that make sense?
I'm thinking that (mild spoiler that I can't guarantee is actually plot-relevant) when the sirens absorbed energy from the Rainbooms' argument, the way they grew pony ears and the longer hair after (not sure what to make of the wings) makes me think they absorbed a little more than raw power that night. It's possible some measure of the all-important harmony magic they were siphoning imprinted onto them, whether they knew it or not. That in mind, the standard, muted magic they'd have had here anyway may be backed up by what they unwittingly took in and kept dormant up until Sunset had them wake it up.
That in mind, their power supply here is their own magic, same as any Equestrian, but filtered through whatever it is that makes the Rainbooms' magic work, even if they didn't fully pony up in this chapter.
...Huh. It kinda looks like I should have included more technobabble, but I'd rather this not get boring for anyone. It's something Sunset and at least one Twilight can geek out about later, if nothing else.
6496304 Thanks for the detailed reply! I wasn't sure if you would bother answering, since this story at first glance seems mainly to be a character piece about the Dazzlings learning cheerleading, but I appreciate your thoughts.
I think Pinkie and Rarity were doing stuff like this in the first movie, before they got any magic. It's hard to separate what is in-universe "magic" from what is just the effects of them being in a cartoon, like when pony Twilight gets hit by a piano and doesn't die, or when Spike crushes on Rarity and his eyes become hearts. Personally I figure no long ears, no tails=no magic, just cartoony, like when Lyra and Bon Bon went at each other in those bird suits.
I noticed first Twilight sucked the power out out of the portal, and then she sucked the magic out of each Rainboom. I interpret that as each Rainboom ponies up from an inner reservoir of magic, and then afterwards unconsciously recharges their magic from whatever is constantly leaking across the portal. Notice the girls weren't able to pony up again until a big rift to Equestria tore open, restoring their connection like a dropped wifi router.
I like the sound of natural kelpie magic, it fits with mythology, and it means their gems were really just power converters/amplifiers then.
So you're saying that unlike the Rainbooms, the Sirens aren't drawing in the magic of Equestria from the ambient magic flowing from the portal, they're just generating a certain amount from their own bodies, hopefully a renewable source in small amounts.
At first I was questioning the idea that the Sirens have a bit of harmony magic they can tap into, but Sunset Shimmer did go from having the Element of Magic transform her in #1, to suddenly being able to manifest an alicorn spirit in #2, to discovering the alicorn was insider her all along in #3, and that fits the pattern you're describing.
I don't know if anyone besides us likes the detailed magic technobabble, but thanks for indulging me!
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I make up something different almost every time I write these three, but bound to get a few good ideas out of it all.
A bit of column A, a bit of column B, maybe. They can sing as a normal human ability because even if it's just their magic that lets them sing, I see no reason their vocal cords would switch back to those of crushed rodents when the magic stopped.
There will always be others who enjoy a bit of hearty techonobabble!
For the rest, however, the simple, light-hearted comedy should be the better part of the focus for the rest of the story, along with a few song parodies!
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I was laughing as soon as the song started, I blame the video. Plus, it's just funny imagining them acting that way. Sweet addition of Celestia and Luna by the way.
I love Dazzling sing-a-longs,
Also:
I knew I liked her for a reason!
Finally an update. This was a really interesting piece of work. Mostly by the song. Im still somewhat mad because we didnt saw them again after rainbow rocks. But im glad authors on both fimfiction and fanfiction still do work with them.
Still i wonder how will they perfom in the actual games
They are going to turn heads with those outfits
Yeah, that colored text is a bit annoying. I suppose it's a good thing I can download the chapter as a text file and read that.
"Medium light" nullified any potential discomfort from colored text (though I didn't have any in the first place).
Bananarific chapter. Though I'm a bit scared of the potential amount of songs - that stuff seems to take a ton of effort(=time) to write .
Was Sunset flirting with Adagio?
How articulate.