Chapter 5: Wanted
One could feel the tension between the two bands as the Dazzlings and Rainbooms looked at each other as though they were opposite nations ready to proclaim war. Aria and Sonata went to either side of Adagio while Sunset Shimmer seemed to shrink behind them.
“Well, look girls it’s the school hero’s,” Adagio proclaimed dramatically. “How terrifying!” she proclaimed as she gripped both Sonata and Aria pretending to huddle together in fear. “Oh no!” the three said in unison pretending to shake in terror. “Well, girls,” Adagio continued in a fake tone of sadness, “we tried, and we came very close, but now’s the time to meet our fate!”
“Shut up!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily.
Aria decided some mocking was in order, “ oh, someone’s grumpy!”
“Maybe she needs a nap!” Sonata proclaimed thinking she had just said some very clever insult.
Adagio rolled her eyes before speaking again, “oh leave her alone Aria she’s just mad because Canterlot High School’s big strong hero’s needed our help to get to the finals!”
“Why don’t you just go to…” Rainbow began.
“Rainbow, calm down.” Twilight said as Applejack held Rainbow back from charging the Dazzlings. “Sunset?” Twilight questioned as Sunset Shimmer gave a nervous gulp before stepping out of hiding.
Sunset spoke extremely nervously, “hi.”
“Traitor!” Rainbow Dash repeated as Applejack covered her rainbow haired friend’s mouth.
Sunset almost ran behind the stage but Adagio grabbed her, “no,” she whispered. “This will be good for you Sunset. You’ll have to face them sooner or later and better now than during the concert tonight.”
“I don’t know,” Sunset stammered.
“Sunset do you regret your choice?” Adagio questioned.
Even with the Rainbooms only a small distance away Sunset Shimmer only had to pause for a moment, “no,” she answered.
“And that’s why you need to do this, you need to bury your past.” Adagio proclaimed. “Not only that but it looks like you’re afraid of these girls, afraid of what they might think of you and if you’re not willing to come to grips with that you might as well put that guitar down because there’s no way you’ll be able to get on stage tonight.”
Sunset sighed “you’re right, it’s just seeing them brought it all back. The Fall Formal, the crown, my transformation, and being so close only to lose it all. I mean what’s stopping that from happening again?”
“This time you have us.” Adagio said simply. “Sunset do you know why I’m letting you play guitar tonight?”
“Because you are my friend,” Sunset answered.
“That’s right,” Adagio proclaimed and before she could stop her Sunset forced her into a hug.
Adagio gave an awkward cough before Sunset let go, “okay, I’m ready to talk to them.”
“Excellent,” Adagio replied as the two returned to the end of the stage where Aria and Sonata had been watching the exchange.
“You’re going soft Adagio,” Aria whispered.
“Shut up!” Adagio replied.
Sunset stood at the edge of the stage and coughed nervously, “hi.”
“Sunset darling” Rarity spoke up, “please say this is some joke.”
Pinkie decided to speak up, “if it is it’s not funny.”
“I have to agree with Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Traitor!” Rainbow Dash remarked for the third time.
“Will you shut up!” Applejack shouted.
“Look at her neck!” Rainbow countered.
Sunset could feel all eyes on her pendant. “That’s right she’s one of us now!” Aria declared, but Adagio put her hand on her fellow siren’s arm.
“We do not speak unless she needs us, this is something Sunset needs to do on her own as much as she can,” Adagio lamented.
“Sunset,” Twilight spoke. “I know you were upset after the semi-finals but…”
“Upset, upset? Tart yeah I was upset Twilight. You were the one who said it would be dangerous if the sirens saw your magic and yet when I try and stop certain big-headed athletes….”
“Excuse me!” Rainbow Dash demanded, “what did you just call me?”
“I believe I just called you 'a big headed athlete' Rainbow Dash and you don’t know how long I’ve waited to say that! And while we’re on the subject there are a few other things I’d like to get off my chest!” Sunset grabbed her guitar and started shredding for a minute before continuing “you’re not the only one who can play guitar!”
“Well I’m the only one with any…” once again Applejack had to restrain Rainbow Dash.
“Sunset” Twilight went on “let's talk about this.”
“Fine, let's talk Twilight but first one more thing.” Sunset turned to Rainbow “would it kill you to take a shower after gym class?” behind Sunset the sirens giggled. “Now let’s talk Twilight.”
Twilight took a deep breath “Sunset you’re making….”
“Stop right there Twilight,” Sunset warned, “I know what you were going to say believe me, you were going to say 'Sunset you’re making a mistake, you don’t understand what you’re doing' am I wrong?”
Twilight spoke, “how did you know?...”
Sunset sighed “because I heard it before Twilight, a long time ago…”
“Celestia,” Twilight said.
“Exactly. How did you get it?” Sunset asked.
“Get what?” Twilight responded.
“The book, her book!”
“Sunset I was making a new library and Celestia…”
“Just gave it to you? Just like that? The one thing she had of our time together and she just throws it away!” Sunset yelled.
“Sunset, Celestia knew that you would need me that’s why she let me have it. Sunset I know you’re mad, I’ve been mad at my friends too but…”
“Stop right there Twilight!” Sunset barked. “First off those girls are not my friends they’re your friends, my friends are over there!” Sunset pointed and the sirens waved.
“Sunset I don’t know what lies those girls are telling you but…”
“They are not lies Twilight!” Sunset pointed to the mane five, "ask them for yourself!" Sunset demanded. “What have they done for me? Let me sit at their little table and let me hang out with them at their band practice, and that’s another thing!” Sunset played several notes on her guitar, “in all that time they spent on their band did they ever ask me if I wanted to sing or play an instrument?” Twilight looked to the others as if waiting for one of them to step up and correct Sunset, no one spoke. “Ever since the Fall Formal I have been doing everything to show people I’ve changed; ask Rainbow Dash who does the athletes laundry after every game, ask Applejack who helped her grandmother cook for the school, and ask Fluttershy who took the fall when vice-principal Luna found pets on school grounds? I was the one who contacted you Twilight, when we thought the portal was closed I found a way and I didn’t even get a thank you!” Sunset looked at the girls “one question, one personal question, in all the time we’ve spent together not one of you ever asked me one personal question!”
“Sunset after the Fall Formal everyone else turned against you but these girls accepted you,” Twilight pointed out.
“Because of you!” Sunset responded, “they 'accepted me' because of you not because they thought I’d changed and ask them if when they were 'helping' me the former queen bee of the school they never looked at me and thought; how the mighty have fallen.” All five of the girls said nothing but each looked a little guilty.
“Sunset you obviously feel like you’re all alone in the world but I know how that…” Once again she was cut off this time by Sunset laughing a humorless laugh.
“You don’t know anything about being alone Twilight, I heard about you when I was Celestia’s student. Everyday Cadenza would drone on and on about her favorite filly in the world Twilight Sparkle the magical prodigy with the big strong brother. I saw the way Celestia was listening to Cadenza Twilight I saw that look in her eye and I knew long before I found out about the mirror that she was looking to replace me! You’ve always been wanted and loved Twilight, you got to learn magic in your nice warm house. My parents didn’t want me Twilight I had to learn magic as a way to survive. And then Celestia took me in and I was never happier so I worked endlessly trying to make her proud but you know how that turned out! Then after our little battle at the Fall Formal, I worked myself to death trying to make you proud!”
“Me?” Twilight questioned.
“Me?” Sunset repeated “yes you, the girl who showed me I didn’t have to be alone, the girl who showed me that the ability to trust others was a strength not a weakness. Every day since the fall formal I wanted to quit to run away maybe to Equestria maybe not but every day I thought 'I have to make Twilight proud' every single day. Then I tried to help you and the others. I tried to keep the sirens from seeing your magic and when everyone else scolded me for it what did you do? Nothing,” Sunset shouted the last word and took a few deep breaths.
“Sunset I was proud of you from the moment I helped you out of that crater, I was proud you were giving friendship a chance, proud of who I thought you were becoming, and most of all I was proud you were able to face the world. Sunset this is my fault, I never told you how proud I was of you and when you were hurt… Sunset not so long ago I had to pick between allowing a terrible monster to become infinitely more powerful and the safety of my friends. I chose my friends and even though it all worked out eventually I always wondered what if it hadn’t. You were hurting Sunset and I did nothing to help you, I’m sorry.”
Sunset seemed to calm down for a moment, she looked upon Twilight and the others and her eye shed a single tear before she cast the tear aside and regained a more forceful stance. “I don’t want your apology Twilight. All I ever wanted from any of you was for you to accept me so I changed myself to get that acceptance because I thought 'maybe finally I have a place where I belong' but I never got it.”
“I’m sorry Sunset, but if you could just…” Twilight began.
“No Twilight, this isn’t one of those times where we talk and then I throw off my pendant and cry in your arms,” Sunset announced. “I told you I didn’t need your apology Twilight because I should be thanking you!”
“Thanking me?” Twilight questioned.
“Twilight all my life I was alone then you showed me the power of friendship and I wanted to experience it for myself I thought I was experiencing it but then you abandoned me.” Sunset spoke.
“Sunset,” Fluttershy spoke up, “we’re sorry.”
“No,” Sunset announced. “I’m glad you abandoned me because at that moment I was able to realize we’ve never been friends and we never will be! I realized I never even really had a friend,” at that moment Sunset’s siren pendant began to glow, “until now,” she finished. Sunset Shimmer looked upon the sirens “they came to me because they wanted me as I am not as I might be. Twilight you taught me that friendship is magical but now I realize you no longer have anything to teach me.” Sunset ran to her backpack and pulled out her magic journal she heisted only for a moment before throwing the journal at Twilight’s feet. “Take this,” she said. “I don’t need you or Celestia anymore,” Sunset walked toward the sirens who gathered around her as all four pendants began to shimmer, “all I need is my friends. I’m done Twilight; with you, Celestia, and all of Canterlot High School. Tonight at the battle of the band's finals your friends will battle mine, we both believe the light of friendship is on our side but tonight we’ll see who's right. All I can say is good luck Twilight, you’ll need it.”
After Sunset and the other sirens went backstage Applejack finally let go of Rainbow Dash. “Ya do realize this is your fault right Rainbow?”
“Me?” Rainbow questioned, “Sunset’s the one who betrayed us.”
“And it’s your fault they got to her!” Applejack countered.
“Well if Twilight could just finish the stupid counter spell we wouldn’t be in this mess and besides if it weren’t for my band we wouldn’t even have a way to fight them” Rainbow added smugly.
“Our band!” the other girls loudly corrected.
Soon everyone was arguing with each other.
“I had the most gorgeous outfits for us to wear!”
“Again with the costumes, no one cares what we’re wearing!”
“I’m the one who writes all the songs!”
“I write songs you just never let us play any of them!”
“I care Applejack, so sorry if I enjoy making a contribution to the band!”
“Hey, anyone here remember fun? I’ll give you a hint, it’s the exact opposite of being in the Rainbooms!”
“I wish I never asked any of you to join my band!”
“I wish I never agreed to it!”
“Me neither!”
The girls continued to fight unaware of the cloud of green smoke forming around them and traveling backstage.
“It feels good doesn’t?” Adagio questioned of Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset felt like she was slowly getting stronger as she drew in the energy around her, “it does,” she responded.
“Tonight we get back the power we were robbed of long ago,” Adagio announced. “When I first sensed the equestrian magic in this world I never dreamed going after it would make us stronger than we’ve ever been or that we the sirens were incomplete.” Sunset smiled, “tonight we achieve our destiny!”
“Stop!” Twilight shouted “you have to stop, it doesn’t matter who did what. All this time I’ve been letting you put your faith in me but I forgot I’m nothing without my friends! All this time all this tension was right under my nose and I didn’t realize it until now. I let Sunset’s tension get past me and now she’s…” Twilight stopped. “I thought that little things didn’t matter that friendship could survive it, now I realize that if you’re afraid to talk about your true feelings with your friends those little things can grow and the magic of friendship can turn into something else. When you all helped me to become Princess of the Fall Formal you didn’t know how important it was but you helped me as friends. This whole time we’ve been letting this band competition weigh on us because we know what’s at stake. We’ve been trying to be hero’s but we didn’t stop Sunset Shimmer as hero’s we did it as friends. Long ago Sunset Shimmer used little things to pull you apart but once you found out the truth you reunited that had nothing to do with any magic. I’m the reason magic came into this world and I’m the reason you’re all in danger and for that I am truly sorry. But now I have to ask you to believe in each other and the bond that we share, a bond created by Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and Generosity!”
“Twilight’s right” Rainbow Dash declared “let's get our band back together and show those sirens what friendship can do!” Rainbow Dash paused and put her hand out in front of her “and I know just the song we can use, Fluttershy’s written a really good one!”
Fluttershy squealed and put her hand on Rainbow’s, “yay”
“Let’s bring the fun back to Canterlot High!” Pinkie added putting her hand on Fluttershy’s.
“If we’re gonna save the world I say we do it in style, do you have any ideas Rarity?” Applejack questioned before adding her hand.
“I thought you’d never ask!” Rarity cheered putting her hand in the circle. Everyone looked to Twilight who smiled before adding her hand and completing the circle and as she did a wave of power came over the girls and though there were no transformations they knew they now had the power to face anything if they did it together.
“Well this is an unexpected event,” Aria told Adagio as she, Sonata, and Sunset looked upon their adversaries.
“We got what we needed from the Rainbooms, let them fight it’ll make it that much more crushing when we defeat them,” Adagio grinned.
“Tonight Twilight Sparkle I will show you and everyone else how powerful my new friends and I are!” Sunset stated to herself with a smile.
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this is pure terrible nonsense
7750893 beg pardon?
Man how will things end? Sunset beleives the Dazzlings are her friends but what about the others, what will happen and how will things end, oen things for sure.
The Rainbooms drove Susnet away, into the enemies hands.
7750897 a decent person would not have allowed themselves to be driven away.
7750919
A Decent group would given the benefit of a doubt and chance.
7750928 that's the end of the first movie. Her joining with the Dazzlings shows she didn't even deserve that
And frnkly most of the readers seem to be treating the Dazzlings like they're just bad girls rather than some of the worst monsters in MLP
You know, I always wondered what would happened if Twilight and her friends encountered a group of enemies who could also tap into the magic of friendship? Like what if Equestria went to war with another country and the other side truly believed they were justified in invading? Would make for an interesting story.
By the way, great chapter but you might want to get an editor to look at this.
7750943 You seem to be under the impression that good and evil are like black and white but there are shades of gray.
7750975 not when it comes to Equestrian villains. A Dazzling victory would make Earth into a place as bad as some of the worst alternate timelines created when Starlight changed history
or do you think Starswirl the bearded needed to banish a minor threat
7750972 can you suggest anyone?
7750988 Funny you mention Starlight she was dangerous wasn't she? Starlight believed she was doing the right thing taking away cutie marks. If a cutie mark took MY best friend away I know I would never want to see one again and I would want to make sure they never hurt anyone else again.
7750990 You're already doing a good job setting up another group that might be able to use the magic of friendship as it is.
You know what would be an interesting thing is for Sunset to ask Adagio; why they do what they do. Yes we know that they use negative energy to fuel their voices and gain adoration. But we don't really know why that is important. Were they simply born like this? Did they find the gems and this is what is required for them to work? Is it part of their culture? Were they abandoned and /or despised by their own kind? We don't know what happened to make them make the choices they made. Even Satan was good before he fell.
At any rate, I enjoy stories that explore the way the other side thinks, because you're right, the world isn't as black and white as we would like to believe.
Kind of reminds me of Jason Todd....
arousinggrammardotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/robinredhood3.jpg
7750928
7750919
Define decent. Then ask yourselves what that has to do with interpersonal relationships. There almost never is someone in the 'right' or someone in the 'wrong'. There are just different perspectives. I don't see how Sunset being fed up with Rainbow Dash and visa versa means that either of them are less 'decent' then they usually are (and just for the record, your protagonist doesn't have to be a decent human being. They just have to be interesting)
That said, the scene with the predictable dialogue between Sunset and the Rainboom's was incredibly hard to slog through. Not only due to beforementioned predictability but also due to how unrealistically one sided it was, with the author clearly trying much to hard to morally justify Sunset's choice to the readers. You don't have to do that, author; you've already detailed what caused Sunset's choice in previous chapters. If they didn't sympathise with her then, they won't now. This scene, in my humble opinion, only serves to pointlessly and artificially (i.e. the conversations were so forcedit hurt) vilify Rainbow Dash (also I seriously did not get why she felt like she needed to quote the force awakens so many times).
In fact this retread seems like you are trying to enforce your particular point of view on others. You don't have to do this; Sunset's decision doesn't have to be 'right' or 'good' or anything like that. People don' t make decisions based on some arbitary moral scale that you put in place. Sunset's decision to join the sirens would have a lot more impact if it wasn't just RD's fault (or anyone's in particular) but rather just a collaboration of multiple different factors; it didn't have to be someone's fault.
7751032 I think it is clear they need to feed off negative energy like the changelings fed on love. Though it most likely started as a need for food they got POWER hungry they believe they deserve to rule. As for what other sirens think of them there was a siren in one of the comics and though it did hypnotize everyone in Ponyville it turend out he just needed to get back to the ocean. The dazzlings are most likely different from other sirens in that they're not content to just feed they want to feast!
7751049 no this chapter was about little things adding up also Rainbow dash is not a villain she's just very opinionated and egotistical every hero needs a weakness. Rainbow simply made a mistake in fact so did everyone else. Also obviously I needed the rainbooms out of their bad mode and at full power for the finals. As for the one sidedness Sunset feels ignored so now she finally gets to voice her opinion. Also in my defense Rainbow Rocks itself kind of vilianizes Rainbow Dash a bit she was kind of my way or the high way.
7751063 Well that is one idea at any rate. Also which issue are you talking about?
Edit:
Never mind, found it.
7751049
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/001/058/805/2ba.jpg
If I had any skill whatsoever with editing I would've put Rainbow's head on there but this will have to do.
This chapter really needs an editor to run through it and knock out the many errors. For instance, when you have quotes inside quotes--
Turn the inside quotation marks into single-quotation marks, like so:
It makes it much easier to read.
There are many other errors, but I'm not gonna list them all out. The ending seemed very rushed, too. Like, they're all arguing, Twilight gives a single-paragraph-long speech, and suddenly, everyone's all friends again. Yes, it happened in the movie, too, after Sunset's speech, but that had more buildup and gravity. This just seemed so sudden.
7751093 Literally the ONLY reason I'm still tracking this story is because it appears to have a unique plot. I've never run across "Sunset joins the Sirens" before.
That said, as several others have mentioned, too much, too fast. Show don't tell. Get inside everyone's heads more. Dash is a good go-to antagonist but she needs backing up. Twilight's reaction to Sunset's argument really needs fleshing out.
7751015 no, not Starlight, StarSWIRL the Bearded
7751049
Sunset being pissed at Dash doesn't make her less decent. Her deciding her anger allows her to harm other does
7751093 it's not one sided because she talked so much, it's one sided because you were obviously favoring one side's argument over the other
Dude this is a really good read that I haven't come across awhile, good job!
awesome to see an update for this. please please PLEASE bring out the next chapter soon. Im just dieing to see how this turns out.
7750988 Hard to say what their victory would have looked like. All we really hear is that they don't like being trapped on Earth, and want to use Equestrian magic to make the world adore them. So, worst-case scenario would have Planet Dazzling looking like North Korea. But realistically, people are more likely to adore their rulers if they are happy, and motivated by love rather than fear. If you look at the most popular rulers across history, they led their countries in positive directions or to victory in war (here is the list of the most popular US presidents, for example - top of the list is the one who fought to free the slaves, and second is the one who beat the Nazis), so if the sirens really want to be adored, they'll use the Equestrian magic to bring peace and prosperity to the planet.
And that's if they want to rule, when all they actually mention is being adored. It's quite possible they just want to be the next Beatles, which would hardly make them architects of dystopia.
7750943 I like to think them fearsome villains, but what miseries did they actually cause in Rainbow Rocks? A few days of minor arguments in school? Six students stuck under a stage for half an hour? Fruit punch with (unconfirmed) too much grape juice? How does that compare to Sunset's three-year reign of terror?
And their rampage across Equestria a thousand years previously, portrayed as so horrible, didn't really have the slavery edge of King Sombra, or the killing off all plant life of Nightmare Moon, and I think the chaos and disharmony they sowed would pale next to that of Discord's reign.
So I'm glad you don't like them, as that means they were effective villains for Rainbow Rocks. But were they empirically as bad as you're suggesting?
7752002 Another scenario I can imagine is the Dazzlings becoming as popular as Dethklok from Metalocalypse.
7752049 Do pain waivers still count if entered into while under hypnosis?
7752061 I.......... don't know.
Excellent chapter. Wonder how Celestia will react when she find's out what's happen.
Will we see more of Twilights thoughts on Sunset joining the Sirens?
7752002 they mind control people. The victims actual situation has nothing to do with how they feel about the Dazzlings
7752559 And they'd mind-control the entire planet, to the extent that nobody would be in the faintest bit unhappy about living in a miserable reality, and instead only praise their leaders?
That seems inefficient, to say the least. And probably far beyond their (or indeed anyone's) magical abilities. Surely beyond the scope of the limited supply of Equestrian magic they'd get from six girls.
And again, that's assuming they'd want to rule, which they never mention once. Being the next Beyonce is just as likely, and leaves them far more free time to do whatever they want.
Finally its updated! As expected Sunset told off her so-called friends and as expected Applejack blamed Rainbow Dash, and they began to argue amongst themselves. But they got over it too quickly, It would make sense to end the chapter with the Rainbooms arguing and Dazzlings the power they needed, then have the next chapter be about the Rainbooms sulking alone, thinking about Sunset's words and each of them realizing how right she is and vowing to themselves to make it up to Sunset (even though its too late.) But that's just me, the Rainbooms have pulled it together but in Rainbow rocks the Dazzlings still defeated them, and this time the Dazzlings have Sunset on their side, so the rainboom's defeat is inevitable. But Sunset wants to show Twilight what true friendship is, so the rainboom's might not loose to the power of Darkness but the magic of friendship, and it's power will somehow change the dazzlings for the better. anyway great chapter I hope you update soon.
P.S even if the outcome is predictable I'll still enjoy reading it.
More pls.
This story is in need of some grammar touching up, but I love the topic and where its going. Extrapolating on Sunset's new views was a great choice.
Oh hey, you finally picked out a cover art. Cool.
7752752
I plan on giving everyone quite an ending to reflect upon.
7804110 I'll be looking forward to it so update soon.