The Sirens Remorse: Resurgence of the Dazzlings

by TheronSniper

Ch. 12 Inert for now

Author's Note:

Next chapter will be one heck of a write, enjoy this installment for now.

On a rustic road near rows of apple trees that stood beyond a white picket fence, butterflies and pollinating bees flew from all around to enjoy the new flowers beckoning their attention. Such a vast sea of waiting blossoms needing fertilization to continue the bumper crop and continuing the cycle for which the winged gardeners would return again in scant few months. Broods of fruit bats trailed behind the latest wave of insects, drawn to the floral scent that wafted for miles in the air, there were sweet red delicious in the making and some too early for mass harvest. They dived for the sacrificial fruits at the top of the orchard which would become the precursor for the bountiful bushels dotting the branches like berries.

All seemed peaceful at first as even the avian denizens of the land were alive and energetic, a lone acorn fell from an overhanging branch which tapped three times on the rustic route. Immediately a gray squirrel with tuffs of hair at the tips of its ears scurried down from the tree of which the nut fell, its fluffy tail twitching in anxiousness. Skillfully it made its way off the chapped bark and kicked up a little dust until finally the morsel was within its tiny paws once more.

A happy little smile spread upon the furry little rodent, but it soon vanished as life came to a halt not a moment later by an unseen sensation that rattled the animals. As if a jolt of electricity shocked the squirrel it leaped off the road in a spasm before darting away, everything else followed suit when a spark fizzled into being where the little acorn came to a rolling stop.

A spot on the sandy dry clay pathway blew up with red pieces of hot metal spouting up in a miniature geyser. It oozed with thick oily smoke which rose tumultuously in some reverse cyclonic fashion as the very air around it quivered. A chaotic cone of choking smog swarmed by red fireflies grew larger until it began to bloat like a raging balefire. With its size came an immense amount of heat from within, the rising temperature quivered the air with warping properties. So hot was the black pylon that it quickly cooked and hardened the road beneath it till the newly fused rock cracked and shattered. Breaking into stone from such a fastidious process the likes of which bore an eerie resemblance to a mirror struck by a hoof.

Then it all ceased, the haze dissipated as the embers faded off and what was left over the final piece of fired clay shards was a unicorn. Standing on all hooves was a mare, one who was left unscathed and even began to take her first steps a wisps of dark translucent tendrils faded off her frame. One of sun tan gold and flame kissed hair of the mane and tail reacted to an unseen aroma which its putrid flavor could offend even the unclean.

"Ahhh!! What is that smell!!?" a feminine voice gasped nearly choking on a need to dry heave.

With a few blinks to clear the watering eyes she took a few steps out of the smoldering zone as the smell of sulfur forced her sensitive nose to scrunch up and her eyes to slightly sting. A wave of a hoof allowed some modicum of salvation from the offending odor as she surveyed her surroundings before the local air current thankfully came to her aid.

Sunset coughed, "Ugh!! I think it's in my mouth..." she spat onto the ground in revulsion.

After trying and failing to remove the taint upon her taste buds, she gave a pass over the unknown location she ended up in. Tears were blinked away from the smoke while she turned about only to find she as by herself, off on some trail devoid of ponies. A quick sigh of relief escaped her as she cleared the first hurdle that needed to be avoided with utmost importance. No big red barn, no farming equipment, and certainly no farmhouse which came to mind when she stood at the breach in the crystal wall, it confounded her as to the error that occurred.

She smacked her lips to the bitter aftertaste of brimstone lingering still, "Okay? Guess that's for the best, less chance of meeting somepony this far out. Going to be my life's story for awhile until I can get myself out of the hole I've ended up in." she frowned before a distant snap ripped through the air, "No point staying here then... Royal Guards will be swarming this place soon enough."

She noticed a lone apple like a red ruby orb that fell off one of the trees before she began to leave, it rolled towards her as if it had fallen solely for the new visitor. Though hesitant to waste time, the acrid stain on her tongue forced her to give it a second eye before stretching her head down to bite it. In a kick of dirt and spray of black ash deposited by the displacement spell, she sped off the route by the farm into the wide expanse of oaks and maple trees. The apple in her mouth whose tasty fluids gradually washed away the offending ash with its amazingly succulent flavor gave her respite, she careened off into the wilderness with the rustling leaves of shrubs signaling her exodus.

In bounding leaps over thick heads of dense vegetation, dodging exposed roots of mighty conifers, ducking below low hanging branches with the occasional wasp nest hanging dangerously, and avoiding the random small forest animal the feel of racking branches were but tickles to her. The occasional slap to the muzzle failed to even jar her as a distant rumble flew overhead, it was the cracking and breaking wails of crystal walls and pillars. In a perfectly executed maneuver she worked the fruit between her front teeth and ate most of its candy sweet meat with ease, what was left she spat out into a flowering bush and carried on.

"Got... that done! Can't... afford to choke... on food now!" she thought loudly as some of the sugar fluids began to dry around the fur of her muzzle, her speed picked up as more and more crashing sounds of glass resounded in ferocity.

The castle already a league away emitted a dire echo of the mineral construct in its final death throes, high pitch pings of new fractures giving way grew towards becoming deafening that perhaps other lands might even hear it. Sharp as an assassin's dagger each new fissure pierced the mare's ears more horridly than an air horn pressed against them. It was as if some mighty deity were trying to escape their demise in a glass prison and their own forms were failing as was their containment. The uproar of disaster swayed leaves and dropped loose branches everywhere as if they were rain from a storm while Shimmer galloped into their showers. So potent was the fracas that it snaked through the dense forest canopy and around barrel wide trunks of mighty aged plants that towered over the unicorn. Sunset's ears mashed as flat as their muscles could to keep her hearing, yet for all her work trying to task coordination from running and blocking everything else out; she still grimaced in agony.

She herself could feel the torment of the Castle of Friendship like some majestic creature were dying too soon in its long life, her heart impulsively gave an apology which was only right, "I'll make this right I swear Twilight!"

Sunset powered herself over an exposed boulder as smooth as a river stone and striped with bands of brown, nearly landing in a small creek had she not put an extra push in the exertion. A soft squelch sounded as her front legs met grass and exposed mud yet luck would have it that it did not suck her down. She easily forced herself onward without missing much of a step, her back legs powerful enough to make short work of the slight grip from the squelching mud. What left of the clumps of sticky sediment speckled her underbelly, holding on long enough to make a mess upon the honey fur.

"This is my second chance... I'll stop... I'll stop them and... and whatever... else came through!!" her voice resolute and empowered held firm while she pushed herself even harder.

A short moment of utter stillness befell the lands after the last rupture blared out, the sole vibrations that made it to Sunset's hearing were of her own breath and the crunching plants under her hooves. How insufferable the lifeless forest seemed to soon feel, it haunted each turn and swerve she made. It was so wrong to detect nothing but herself as if she were the only pony or creature in the world. The type of fallaciousness that could only mean one thing, the quiet before the storm.

"No... no... please no..." she chanted as if it would stop what she innately feared was soon to happen, "I know!! It's gotta be the portal overloading or something! Definately... not some eldrich evil... nope... just a... magical surge destroying... Twilight's castle!"

She continued to gallop and chewed her bottom lip, anticipating some apocalyptic explosion or sorts or a storm of malice and skulls like something from Rainbow Dash's horror movie stock. Her mind ablaze with the graphic imagery humans seemed to enjoy tormenting themselves with nightmares for fright thrill, even the rare good second grade films had some merit to their madness. It was the hex all over again, waiting for the dragon of black magic to peer around a corner and stalk her. The anticipation was murderous on her mental stamina to the point that she nearly took it upon herself to stop and look back, to witness the travesty upon her home. Tempting as it were it was only just barely that she avoided losing her momentum.

It came in the form that justified her fears not long after the quiet gripped everywhere about, a ground rumbling roar of deep and guttural nature she'd never heard of in all her life. A primal origin of which every creature could understand and cower in fear of. What birds the mare had barely caught sight of in the trees huddled deep within the crowns of the looming limbs and bark, squirrels and mice darted for new knots and nests as fear seemed to reset them from comfort, even small snakes slithered with utmost hast in Sunset's route-less direction. She could feel the vocal sound wave like a volcano had detonated right under the young alicorn's home, shockingly enough even as Sunset jumped into the air to evade an obstacle it still rattled every bone and joint in her.

"By... Celestia!!" she gasped as a hoof fall nearly caught her awkwardly, just barely twisting a joint and dooming her gait to a tumble.

The final portion of the titanic bellow did more than frighten her, as it faded off into the distance a cord was struck within her and one she didn't know was even there. There lingered a weirdness of the likes that empowered the unicorn in a spiritual sense not like the crumbling crystal structure, a sort of kindred spirit at the epicenter of the scene of annihilation she had at first fought to realize. Though a pony she was and temporarily human, the roar made a meager connection with a part of her she tried to hide. The need for power, the want to come to a conclusion she desired, the fight for the good fight.

Steeling herself from what was assumed to be Andras' doing she retaliated against the feeling, "Get out of my HEAD!!" she scowled and slid under a fallen birch whose rotted corpse looked burnt down its length.

When nothing answered back her speed slowed as in remarkable disbelief that her cry actually did something. Yet it was only a temporary cease, for it came back twice fold with whispers from the dark corners of consciousness that spoke the truth of the familiarity. The hailing had been of longing and achievement of freedom born from immense power at ones beck and demand. A sensation she despised beyond disgust of the abhorrent desire of a past craving she thought had been buried forever, but it was the crown of magic that blinked in front of her. The flecks of such still hanging on in the inner recess of her mind, like glitter that never leaves no matter how accomplished the cleaning had been. For the mighty announcement to the world had stilled nature even in its perpetual motions, everything had been paralyzed in fearful reverence just as she once felt would be done for her so long ago as the old pony caste away.

"Why is this place getting thicker!" she panted trying to get her head out of the disturbing notions playing at her will power, "I can barely see... the ground!"

It was becoming increasingly harder to understand where to place a hoof and if she could maintain her speed she had set, but it was all forced in order to overcome the demonic infection. What happened next sent a second volley of tremors that tickled her fur as goosebumps did when she was human, but it was not of any chilly cold air. It took all of her strength to ignore it as bright yellow light behind her glowed so powerful it even darkened the sky above, it vanished as quickly as it began. Something that eclipsed the sun was not at all a welcoming thought to the mare, knowing full well that even if she tried to fight that abomination and won. It was an opportunity for the vile entity to infest Ponyville or do whatever it could to gain foundation, it was how all evil worked from what she remembered in her research from what little remained.

Her legs burned as they carried her deeper into the ever congested foliage daring her to go further into its bosom, uncaring if she might land herself off some canyon or river in some mighty drop off. The mysterious glare made her think of the little village in flames, of ponies screaming, destruction on a grand scale the likes Equestria knew nothing of even after the centaur's attack. There could be no distraction to alleviate her from the awful idea, it made her wonder if her birth home would be visited by the same travesty that altered the human world? Would they survive the sirens and more to live in peace once again?

Again she wondered what good it would do to give Andras the chance to sow terror itself if she somehow defeated the unknown threat. She wasn't a pony to chance to risk for the sake of gaining control, a great evil was within her and quite possibly worse than what might have shook the world with the sound of its voice. But in that stress of fighting the want to go back and do anything if something, Flash Sentry came to her as well as the true human Sunset Shimmer. Both were looking at her smiling while behind them the girls waving happily, following the seven were feelings which swelled her with a renewed sense of hope. A hope she would have to accept as it was the only logical choice to make, a choice in which she continued to run still.

Passing between two depressing willow trees, Sunset's unguided course soon became overshadowed by something up above. Her head jerked up to find the cause of the darkness but it flew by too quickly to even catch beyond a whistle of a massive, long, and possessing a tail which swooped with a foreboding whistle. For that glance she could actually hear nothing but her own thoughts, allowing a simple question to be considered without duress.

"What... was that?!" she said, creaking and snapping timber behind her came rapidly at her heels giving her no time to register what was about to happen when the world became a whirlwind of blurry images.

Agility and finesse couldn't save her from succumbing to a wall of wind like a tsunami after a powerful earthquake when all of the sudden she felt no ground beneath her. Hooves aimlessly kicking in a feeble attempt to find purchase, her coat felt the rushing air caress all around like hands of the school kids petting the class pet. Sunset's sense of gravity had become unrecoverable after the sixth rotation with only momentum giving her the only any inclining of where to put her hooves if she could. Yelping and screaming she twisted about with each opportunity to see the way the eddies of disturbed gale forces had manipulated her. Horrified as if the hex were there trying to snap with hungry jaws of silvery fangs, she could nearly count the seconds between each revolution in order to somehow time a buffered landing on the zooming white barked tree. The fifth time she counted one second, the sixth time a half second, then the seventh a second and a half when a bolt of air seemed to slow the nausea inducing movement. By the eight time she finally met the only surface which would stop her and by some miraculous save by fate itself a slower moving hollow brown log intervened.

"AAAHHHHHH!!!!" she cried out losing half her speed and gaining a sore barrel from the impact.

The decayed lumber left off to some other parts unknown while Sunset was throttled into a wide tree shortly after, that precious bruiser positioned the mare to collide back first. She blacked out from the brunt of the shock as everything went black, though that was all that ailed her when the rushing gusts still howled the ear drums. She could still feel the sharp pain race along every muscle along the spine followed by the dull bruising throb pounding like a distress beacon on the back of her head.

Sight came back as if a light switch were flipped, loose debris struck her like rain but she kept those aqua eyes open defiantly. In an attempt to gain her bearings she realized dangling what she thought was under her was the tip of her curly tail rather than her mane. Dizziness planted the flag of ownership upon the hapless mare, nothing made much sense anymore as a breath was let out she didn't even know she had been holding in. Just as the cloudless storm blast felt as if it were going to abate, a thud shook the base of the tree that caught Sunset as a baseball in a catchers mitt.

"What... the Tartarus was that!" she groaned before a broken limb raced towards her, hitting two other tree trunks that sent it spinning with even more destructive force.

Shimmer reacted as only a unicorn could in such a position, her horn sparked with the ember hot mana cinders to the survival thoughts that flooded her mind. The thick deadly lumber hit the ground and sprayed dark soil with a frayed splintery end, lending it into one lethal arc which would surely crush her in one go. Sunset braced herself for the hit and waited, she waited still as the air around her calmed with a return to normalcy.

"Not yet... just not... yet..." she whispered shaking in place against the birch tree that held her, only when it seemed as if the end should have long since passed did she allow herself to open her squeezed eye lids.

Remarkable was not the word she could pin on what exactly happened, she found herself witnessing the gift of a miracle. Splashes of dirt and uprooted clover clusters snailed down an invisible barrier which suspended the wooden reaper in place, slowly she righted herself until she sat on her back legs mouth agape.

"Whoooaa..." the little unicorn marveled.

A little mouse popped out of a crack in the timber and began to squeak at her even though it seemed quite unbalanced from the ride. The both of them equally startled by the chaotic mess that disturbed them when a few distant oaks fell over some four acres away. She however had not been expecting the little wood rat to appear much less tell her off as if she had been the one to essentially relocate its home. Jarred out of her focus of the situation the log fell as the magic gave way and released the barrier, Sunset noticed how deep the branch embedded itself into the ground with a hard muffled thud.

The mouse gently bounced on the bark exterior before it shook its head and rattled a paw at her. Unused to sentient creatures that weren't human or pony for that matter she merely watched the ball of fur scurry off angrily, followed by ten more who evacuated the heavy branch. Left all alone, the forest began to stir once more as if the rodents were the green light to live again without fear of doom from above. Sunset heard the feathery beats of bird wings fleet through the trees, slithering things brush grass, and all other manner of disturbances greet her hearing.

"SORRY!!" she called out after the last naked tail disappeared through brambles far to the left, reactionary to the plight of the rodent's former home.

Shimmer found herself sitting in the very gape of the birch tree falling into it in utter relief, having just survived a freak incident there was no willing the hooves any farther. Her heart still raced and unlike the wild godly miniature hurricane which abused her as a ragdoll, it would be some time before the shaking at the ends of her legs would stop. The sensation was new to her though of course being in pony form was in itself an experience to relearn all over again. She used that train of thought to overwhelm the jitters and shock, as after all that transpired there was no explaining any of it nor did she want to.

"Ha... now that I think about it... how was I able to even trot much less walk on all four again?" she asked herself carefully avoiding the back of her head against the hard bark as a welt began to form, "Shouldn't I have tried to walk on my hindlegs? Ya that's right! I made it this far as if I never left Equestria..."

Tremors persisted still but she kept on focusing on small things, all alone she had only herself to be of aid. Though she was hurt there was no evidence of nerve damage being able to articulate every joint and feel every nerve, a lucky save she sighed for in subdued mirth.

"What a way... no..." she felt her eyes weight down as if they gained several pounds of exhaustion, "... what a welcome home huh Pinkie?"

The amber unicorn seemed to doze off as the welcoming embrace felt as fantastic and rejuvenating as if she were in the middle of a group hug with the girls. Their faces before her sending the poor mare down the river of slumber, yet it was not a mournful way to go off on. A little anole lizard dashed across the grass before stopping a foot in front of the young pony, it gazed at her to see a tiny delight across her lips. Chest rising and falling, the reptile made off when Sunset's weight brought her sliding down onto a root for a long rest. The noon sun peaked through the leafy branches above, spots of luminous solar rays giving her warmth was her consciousness fully dived into rest.

Canterlot Castle

In the middle of late morning Court of the Sun, two nobles a mare and a stallion in fancy clothing stood before the two thrones talking their mouths away. Before them sat the regal alabaster alicorn herself Princess Celestia with an expressionless poker face as she listened to the petitioners for a new tax on textiles from Griffonstone and radio devices from Manehatten's industrial sector. Just another day as leader of the kingdom during the hours of the sun, her sister would handle the lot who were too busy to spare a visit at such hours. They had been the twentieth set to appear before her who were using the claim of spending the allocated bits to fund the kingdom wide epidemic that affected their foal or foals in other cases.

Yet no matter what noble tried to seem in any less of the term, noble, Celestia was well briefed on the health crisis and the tax policy already in effect. They were no philanthropist at heart and what funds that went to research were lacking from the moment their coffers were filled. There would always be sharks even among her little ponies, no matter what chaos or disaster came before Equestria's front gates their hearts were as green as a dragon's eyes for treasure.

When the moment came for her to give them the same response she'd give others which was a strict denial of action, the throne room doors opened up to a golden armored guard. One who ran at her with utmost haste, plating clanked loudly as he rushed towards her as if the very fires of Tartarus were about to consume him. The nobles shut their mouths in indignation at the interruption of the meeting yet were ignored as the soldier came skidding before the great Princess, bowing with heavy breathes from his rapid approach.

Celestia rose an eyebrow curiously and waited as the Royal Guard rose up without her word to rise at ease, the worry in his eyes spoke every volume she needed to know.

"Your majesty!! Something's happening in Ponyville!" he spoke while his lungs tried to take in as much air as they could between words, "Arcana... and Unicorn Guards detected... a huge magical disturbance... from... Princess Twilight's... Castle!!"

With the final words leaving his muzzle the very foundation of Canterlot itself experienced a quake of sorts that was short and light. Yet to Celestia the marble structure had to have felt something powerful to register such motion and that was what sent the Princess off her seat. Her troubled look kept the Nobles quiet further more, blinking in and out from the first step of the throne towards the doors of the balcony docks. Other guards were on high alert themselves, looking at one another as they awaited a call to action being aware as the alicorn to the severity of the queer vibrations which traveled through their metal gauntlets.

A glow of her long pristine horn sent a manipulation spell towards the deck doors where the outside was presented to her. Everypony in the room as well as her gawked at the odd light which shrouded the holy sun, a tangerine flare shone far brighter than the white star which brought happiness and day to all. The precipitous event of a darker sky left before anypony could make a comment, but given a moment a commotion much like a snowy flood from one of the white capped mountains echoed into the space. It was a sound of devastation rather than an act of nature, and from the noble's perspective as well as the guards they took in Celestia's huge wingspan as both her appendages expanded outwards. There was a powerful aura emanating from the diarch which resulted in skin tingling, hair on ends, and blood chilling which none were prepared for. The Royal Guard who informed her of the dire situation had brought himself to her side eager like a foal to get into action rather than stay in place fiddling with their hooves.

"Your highness? What are your orders?" he asked calmly.

Celestia's magnificent horn powered up as another spell took form, "Go to my sister and inform her I will be engaging the threat that is heading north east, and have her join me ready for battle. I fear with Twilight still overseas... her friends will not have the power to aid Equestria as of now." she announced dead focused on the thing which flew away massive in size and dangerous from afar.

The guard bowed with haste and left with the rest of the soldiers in the room joining him. The two nobles were left confused and frightened by the developing circumstances, but what froze them into place was what Celestia had to say next.

"To dwell in a mountain over a town is one thing... to terrorize to such magnitudes is unacceptible! What wrath have you wrought onto yourself..." her soft voice carried with a distasteful tone as her whole body shimmered in golden light, magic encompassing the alicorn till she was but a star brought down from the cosmos itself.

Her form teleported away to where the noble couple had not the faintest idea, if they could after fainting alone on the hard marble floor.

Comments

[fanreader999999]

No chapter 1.

[TheronSniper]

9184561
Sorry about that, I had planned to edit this story too. Never got around to it. Ch 1 is back up for viewing unedited.