The Sirens Remorse: Resurgence of the Dazzlings

by TheronSniper

CH. 2 Adagio's Gambit

Author's Note:

Bit of a warning, volume level should be low for the embedded youtube vid as it is kind of loud but it will give you a sense of the noise I tried to describe.

The sound of something scraping against rough surfaces accompanied with the tapping on thick glass filled the crystal hallways of the castle like an angry hive of bees. Grunting and sliding followed every slightly unified volley even as it was uncoordinated, there were no words to describe the sounds beyond that until one gazed upon the source. Hooves of some kind clopped like an organized chorus with a slight deviation there and everywhere from the lack of an attempt to seem cordial, one set seemed to struggle slightly. Carpet pieces and rugs slid and scrunched to abuse, left in a state of dismay by the passerby as they moved along the silent and empty halls. To any other set of ears one would think they heard a group of teenage girls being chased by teachers who were trying to evade punishment for skipping class.

In actuality it was the group of sirens following the two unicorn mages of contrasting body types, the fluffy one puffing and wheezing as his old apparel flowed gracefully in the air after him. Emerath seemed to ignore the physical exertion if only due in part to his routine physical workout he used to keep himself sane in the human world, how he smirked at the rewards in action. His lither frame with well defined yet subdued musculature moved and pulled in a coordinated effort to keep his life in the balance with what was to come.

Schrodinger however had been one to enjoy the simplicity of the prison food, focusing instead on learning new magic even if he couldn't work on it then in practice. He utilized theories instead and formulated new spells to pass the years to which he was forced to live through in the human realm, letting his body become a little jiggly like a bag of pudding. Not once did regret slide into his thoughts, the pony Master Mage was too busy riding the high of making such a dangerous experimental spell work on the first go with no casualties. No other unicorn could ever live up to his latest accomplishment unless they discovered the Philosopher's Stone. His happy mood shone like a sickly yellow aura that Cold Forecast who revealed herself to be Oratoria detected and loathed, much so because she knew her only pack sister couldn't feed as well if she sang, not without her gemstone making her as useful as a hatchling. Then again, she thought to herself how detrimental it would be to stop for a snack if there was some enormous terror coming through the portal soon.

Huffing as she balanced the human turned siren on her back, "You... hanging on!?" Adagio asked in a rather commanding way as she managed to power herself through a combination of slithering from side to side with her tail and pulling with her legs.

Twitching her dark night purple wings in fear, "I'm doing my best!" Twilight fearfully stuttered as she tried with all her might to find purchase with her new taloned forelimbs upon the golden siren's body, cloven hooves at best even if they were taken to the extreme.

"Good!"

Aria quipped to the pseudo siren, "Hey! Can you... do magic?" she asked as she awkwardly mimicked Adagio's movements as did the others except for Oratoria, "Cause we could really use some juice or a teleport like unicorns can do right about now!!"

"Aria!" Sonata snapped, "She like just turned into us not even yesterday, give her a minute or two and I'm sure she can do just that." Dusk grinned absentmindedly unfamiliar with form change the human had been dealing with.

"All I'm saying... all I'm say'n." Blaze sighed seeing an easy way out of their predicament beyond reach, knowing the other mages were probably spent from the portal use.

Oratoria mumbled, "At least I can hover... and carry one of you..." thanking Poseidon her words were out of ear shot.

She herself, the light turquoise siren, floated a foot off the rough surface meant for hooves and not the serpentine bodies of the pod. Just like the others had before they were vanquished to the cursed realm, her mobility was unhindered and the others either ignored the fact or hated her for it. Knowing she'd earn a nice tail slap by the vile Aria, Ora kept herself in the back of the pod even though her knowledge of the hierarchy meant she should very well be in the front with Adagio.

Aria spoke up again, "So... since we all... don't have our... gems again... think... the ponies will... know us?" she puffed through the rigorous shuffling exodus, excluding Oratoria's personal gem out of spite.

Adagio knew it was a valid point, for all they fathomed, this was another fail safe prison just in case the portal was in every way controlled by them. This could very well be a labyrinth which trapped anypony in its endless twists and turns until given freedom by the Arcana. While she wanted to stop and debate their breakout, she seemed to have faith in fellow prisoners as well who had enough justification to hate Equestria in the same degree as she even if it wasn't as great. What sliver of trust she did give them was barely the length of a strand of hair on a human infants head, she was ready to bring raw justice if they so much as thought about abandoning them or betraying.

"Like for realzies? Ponies are just as stupid as humans, they'd probably forgotten all about us!" Dusk responded with glee.

Adagio empowered her movements with an extra push of strength, "We will deal with the problems as they come! For now... Keep MOVING!!"

Her command was heeded and the other three mobile sirens zipped their snouts shut, knowing their matriarch could dish out punishment easily. Aria grumbled a little in her silence she knew not to rebel, Sonata and Ora simply yelped under their breathe at the aggressive tone taken with them. Watching the assertive leader soon turn to a soft side and checked over her new ward as of she were a pup.

Sparkle had finally found a way to hold on using Dazzle's thick barrel and collar region to hold steadfast, no longer squirming as much with the new angle. Her long neck however was still something she needed getting use to as her tail simply hung limp due to her inability to even know how to operate all the new body parts. Using her head as another prong she pressed gently into Adagio's neck and kept her gaze to the flowing ground they passed over. It was indeed then that she noticed that she was a size smaller than the alpha, it soon made sense why she could be hefted as she was with energy to spare by her aid.

Feeling a motherly sense over her unit, the very siren softened her voice while ruffing it onward, "How're you holding up?"

Twilight's head refused to rise and bobbed with each motion so she could keep her hold, rather not risk causing issues for the one speaking, "I'm... I'm fine." she could feel the abrasion on her lower tail starting to burn as the crystal floor and wool rugs sand down into her new body.

Breathing in deeply and letting it out even as she moved, "Good. That's good." a strange sensation over feeling the same caring attitude with her other Dazzlings imprint upon Sparkle washed through the older hippocampus.

Having passed by numerous vases on white fluted stands, the few sporadic paintings, and the numerous gem encrusted tapestries started to become monotonous after the fifth long corridor they passed through. Of course for Adagio it wasn't something she would let go once it perturbed her. The mages in front of them were exchanging quiet words near whispers and doing so had her even more on edge concerning where they were going.

Finally at wits end, "HEY!!" she roared.

Both turned behind them without slowing down as they neared what appeared to be finally some kind of outer wall with stained glass windows pouring in colored light.

She sneered a fanged mouth, "A way out... would be very... nice at this point!" she nearly hissed.

Her galloping front limbs stomped with a little extra force which cracked the crystal floor where they made contact primarily from her own natural strength. The mages gave her a wide eyed panicked look before they nodded. Emerath knew they where in some kind of structure with unguarded hallways, rooms leading into possible storage or even barracks which their escape had yet to alarm the guards. They were far too consumed in finding a stairwell to use an echo location spell and try to map out the direction to go, they already used it prior but with weak magic as it were. Having ran about, he was primed and ready to use the cartographer matrix once again seeing as Paradox was far too drained to even attempt.

Once he spotted the illuminated glass a bulb popped up in his thoughts, "Apologies my lady!? Seems we've found our backstage exit! Keep behind us then." he grinned looking in front of him with his full attention on the upcoming wall.

"You better get us out..." Adagio leered before she witnessed the mage's horn glow and release an orb of concentrated mana at the tip. It followed down the remainder of the hallway and slammed into the left side of the window, erupting in a concussive blast which was surprisingly quiet.

Bright blinding white light filtered in through the haze of debris as the outside wind sucked it away like an open door to a house which slammed all other doors with the air current. It slowed the group down to a minor trot, just enough for Twilight's ears to faintly pick up on someone calling for her. The other sirens seemed to notice as well by the twitching and swiveling of their own almond shaped lobes, keying in on the source which echoed in the maze-like halls.

"Twilight?!!" a vaguely familiar voice reverberated to the other purple siren.

As the group came to a rapid stop before sliding out through the six foot round breach the mages created. Aria looked behind them as did Oratoria in utter confusion mixed with curiosity, "Am I hearing things? Or... did someone... just call out for the nerd?" she meant in jest as her eyes dilated then contracted to adjust to the shadowy hallway behind them.

"Probably nothing. We should go though! This place... it creeps me out." Ora had her eyes bugging everywhere as she knew she heard the same thing, however, it sounded far more ghostly than the others detected.

"We have a problem frauleins. Our only vay out is... a long jump?" Paradox peered over the edge of the precipice, the scenic view starting to come into perspective though countered by the distance below.

Emerath grimaced knowing what was needing to be done in no short than five minutes was drawing fast, "We can teleport, but you five may have to jump, I don't have the training nor magic to bring all of us to the ground. Not my specialty." his hoof gently scrapped the tattered tapestry underneath his hoof brought down by the offensive spell, he prepared for an ear battering.

Needless to say he heard nothing from Adagio or the others, it was horrific to have no response as he kept his head in over watch to their old home now years and years into the future. Exactly like the portal had originally showed, they were no longer of the age they'd departed. What came as a surprise was Aria speaking towards the matter, but what became of it was the shocking part.

"So you're saying we got several stories worth of a fall right?" she blankly asked.

Emerath still keeping his eyes glued to the outer world of freedom, "Yes lov."

"Don't call me 'lov'." she called him on it, "How far of a drop?"

The unicorn mage edged ever carefully and calculated the distance and the depth of he castle's crystal trunk, "Five or more stories, give or take. Maybe ten."

A momentary silence gusted through as no one, not even Adagio and Twilight, said a single word even as the clocked ticked by. How could anyone say a thing to the newly laid out facts? The world that was theirs to live in, saturated with magic that kept them alive, and ponies to later be enthralled. With the affirmation evident that they were on safe land, Blaze said the most simplest of words to get the ball rolling.

"Sonata?!!" she gasped as her purple teal dorsal fin erected slightly to add to the astoundment, "Is that..." she hesitated.

"What?!! What did you see!!" Dusk immediately began to become anxious and dashed her long head in every direction like a child told of some candy lying about.

Oratoria sighed, "Is... that... a taco truck out there!!!?!" Aria did her best to suppress the laughter that threatened to ruin the act.

"TACO!!" the cerulean siren shouted as her eyes locked onto the ravaged opening made by the unicorns, "MINE!!!!"

Before any siren nor pony could even stop her, her tail was already vanishing out the breach and past the visibility of the others. Twilight gazed on stunned and slacked jawed as she held onto the matriarch, Aria burst into an uncontrollable cackling that put Adagio's even to shame. Every other being simply was furthest from the capability to respond until the faint thud of Sonata hitting the soft soil below gave any hint of how far the drop was. Then came Sonata's voice which pushed their sanity to the brink like the waiting sign of popcorn reaching its maximum pop duration.

Nearly as powerful as a whisper from the distance that she was, "Where's the truck?! Aria? I don't see any taco truck?"

Blaze rolling on the crystal floor in pain as her laughing wouldn't stop, "I do see an apple cart? But apples aren't tacos... Aria?! Did you just trick me?"

"Cor, she can really take a fall?!" Emerath whistled.

Meanwhile, Paradox still trying to catch his breath, "A regular... Valkyrie... that fraulein is?"

"Twilight?" Adagio turned her head just enough to glance at the younger siren still balanced over her back.

The glint off the other body from the light reflecting from the near hatchling fresh pristine scales signaled movement, it was a strange sight to really behold who Twilight Sparkle had become. The matriarch's inquisitive eyes drank in the soul she carried over her very back, for a moment she admired who the human had truly embodied without her over excitement or the mages to get in the way.

Indeed, Sparkle had the body of a newly emerged pup, she even felt soft to the touch once she noticed the pliable nature of the other flesh she straddled. Her membrane between every fin barb and spine shone like fresh latex sap of the Y'goba trees of her old home with healthy blood vessels pumping blood through the tissue; if she remembered anything from her talks with her mother. The two pronged talons or cloven hooves of hers were devoid of cracks or chips, as shiny as a pearls fresh from the giant clams of the seas. The variations in her colors were also one she favored herself, a step deeper to Aria's own and equally eye popping.

Twilight would find a mate quickly with her level of beauty and flawlessness, of course after herself of course as being the Matriarch she had first dibs on any males they came across. They'd also come seeking her for her power and status, Blaze would likely end up the last one if she chose her partner the way she would probably do. Sonata might end up lucky enough to stumble onto a decent keeper if Poseidon permitted so. Oratoria however was a different case altogether, having no real time to study nor interact with her she was a wildcard. Even though she was technically family, Adagio had no true reason to fully embrace her beyond the rank of tertiary which was the lowest outer circle of any pod. She remembered what her mother had left her with on the last few days of her life, bits and pieces of how her family unit operated. They came back to her slowly unlike before, it seemed being back in Equis was methodical in replenishing their magical state to some extent even if it was at a snails pace.

Sparkle lifted her snout till the two of them could see eye to eye, "Yes?" she meekly replied.

"We're going to do something crazy and I need you to hang on. Do you trust me?" she whispered.

As if far too invested in learning her own body and all the little things that could move she simply tightened her hold onto the golden siren, "I... I trust you."

Dazzle grinned as her subordinate believed her every word, jumping upon the chance she swayed her head to the other side and beheld the flabbergasted Oratoria and a barely recovering Aria. The mages were just in view as well and she decided to address them all in one.

"You two! One of you needs to help the other escape this... whatever crystal prison maze thing we're in. Use whatever magic you wish, girls? Jump out and I will be right behind." Dazzle's toothy smile hinted at how little she cared for their protests if any.

Seeing no reason to argue with something that had sharp teeth and muscles, as well as valuing their own lives, "Understood. Come on now Paradox... we have a... party to not catch! Meet us at the apple orchard past the town center from here ,you won't miss the fields."

The tired germane mage simply shrugged in submission before the two vanished in a flash of magic, leaving the two startled sirens behind Adagio to look back and forth between that and their leader. Aria would not hear the end of Sonata's teasing if she too jumped out, but she'd likely be forced off and likely land harder than if she done so herself. Sure they had bodies which could withstand the battering of the sea, impacts against rocky coasts, and the lesser predators of the ocean but it would still hurt pretty bitterly. Rather than go the path that would run her through muddy clay sand, Aria bit her bottom lip lightly and sighed in resignation.

"Can I at least have your word Sonata doesn't get to mock me for doing this?" she asked hopefully.

Looking to what would amount to a mother and her growing pup reaching of age, magenta yes shot into her own with a sternness like that of a hunting bull shark, "No... now... Go!"

"Fine!" Aria stomped her way to the breach in the wall and gave a quick look down the several story drop, finding the proper location to land as a few birds flew past her vision.

Aria's dorsal sail popped up as she said her last words, it shimmered from the ambient sunlight through the violet membrane, "I regret nothing.", and then she leapt as gracefully as a dolphin into the air.

With satisfaction, Oratoria grinned seeing the last of the most irritable of the pod vanish and her ears train onto the direction of which to best pick up the low thud that would soon accompany. She waited for fifteen seconds, a little more time passed as she soon heard the magical sound which brought her great happiness. A subtle hard flop and the cry of the blue stupid one, it seemed as if Blaze was intent on ensuring that none would ever bring up the incident ever again seeing as the one who would had become the landing pad.

As the squabbling ensued beyond sight and range of intervening, Adagio turned her glare to the only other survivor of the old family. Just as with Aria she spared no expense and had no remorse for the supposed sister of hers, giving just as much as she did to her little usurper to the point that Ora even flinched before the mighty aura of the powerful matriarch. The oddest thing about sirens were their alpha females, even if their rubies were ruptured or damaged to the point they couldn't sing properly or at all. If they possessed enough willpower and strength alone, few still could fight them for the position as it then banked on their genetics which backed up their songs. Even though a matriarch was no where near the power of a siron who was by the strength of Poseidon a brawler, she still had to hold her own in order to keep her post from the more conniving elements of her pod.

"I gave you an order Ora? Or..." she tilted her head a little to drive the point home with an evil eye, "... Are you really, truly with us?"

If a siren could sweat she'd have done so then, the turquoise siren faltered and floated slowly in a strafe around Adagio till she bumped into the still intact wall feet away from the ruined hole. A small wooden stand holding a squat plant vase Rarity had put there herself waivered slightly by her massive girth, it noisily tipped back and forth much like Ora's own spirit as it wanted to voice resistance at being treated so unfairly against the natural order of siren culture.

Swallowing what spittle that had gathered in her throat, Ora received one more warning, "Move."

"EEP!!" the shocked female scrambled out of Adagio's sight and dove for refuge outside.

Adagio watched what last of her body fade away with so little of a cry falling so high up, but she didn't take the time to enjoy it. As no sooner had the troublesome pack mate did had the call for Twilight come once again, bouncing down the halls towards them and out the exit the unicorn had created. If Twilight had not primed herself for the same fate of experiencing another sheer drop into the unknown, she'd have picked up on the voices that began to repeat. Adagio sensed a lock of anxiety upon the former human, it would make it all too easy to handle what was coming and likely from the human world.

The vocal patterns did not match any rainboom she was familiar with, as pleasing as it was she stilled hated that they called for her secret weapon against the almighty alicorns. She'd make her stand and do what any proper leader did, make the decisions of the pack even if it focused on one in particular. She turned in place to look behind them with her great and mighty tail swooshing along he crystal floor. Seeing three ponies come up from a ways away only to close the distance with every awkward gallop which threatened to trip them in their gait.

"Twilight!" the pink pegasus screamed as if she knew the colors of the young siren by heart.

"That's her?!?" a vanilla coated mare with a blue hued made questioned as she tripped on her hooves and smashed her chin into the crystal floor where they had messed up the rug displays along their path.

"Whoa!?" a pink pony with a lime mane gasped as she slid on her frozen legs in astonishment.

Cadence had used her wings instinctively to stop her rapid speed until she finally ceased momentum just one hundred feet away from Adagio and Sparkle. She earned a snort of hatred from the huge hippocampus who displayed her reception in an act of defiance and threat, her golden scaled maw flashing jugular piercing fangs as much of her form was hidden by the backlight of the outside.

Trying to catch her breath, "Excuse me?! Please I'm... looking for... I'm looking for a young girl... she's probably like me but..." her eyes locked onto the desperately clinging siren as if she tried to see any disbelief in it.

Dazzle just growled in response and edged closer to the way out, "You ponies are not taking away another of MINE!!" she leered with fury drawn up by sheer will and memory.

"What?" Dean Cadence looked taken aback and shook her head, "I'm looking for a Twilight Sparkle, she's a student of the school I'm the Dean of... have you seen a... well..." she stopped as she realized her own body and that of the other two who would be hard to say a human teenager should be around.

With a shuffle here and a stomp there, Dazzle prepared to slide out at a moments notice only to prolong the suffering of the ones who showed up for whatever business they had with her own. Her predatory eyes not leaving the trio as they finally amassed together as if to block any other way out. The sneer from the indigo maned one and the concerned expression of the other small pony with a headset only drove the golden siren to put a cloven hoof off the edge.

Cadence did not want to believe it but she couldn't let any chance escape, "Is... is that... being on your back by chance Twilight Sparkle?" Cadence asked carefully as her ears pinned to the base of her skull in fear of the truth.

"That's not her, it can't be?!" Zap protested.

Lemon simply studied the winged creature whose face was out of their view, "If that is... so metal..."

Something rocked the structure they all were inside, a low rumble as if a metal wrecking ball had collided into the building with full force.

Dazzle let loose a loud cackle of laughter so sinister even she prouded herself on the sheer honesty in it and scaring the interlopers back by a couple hoof steps, "Even if she is, you have no right to her. She is mine and mine alone, say hello to Yellow Tail and Inferno for me... as the Germane say..."

Cadence widened her eyes as she realized the monster before them essentially gave away the truth without admitting it, "Auf Wiedersehen", feeling high on her own control over her future again, Dazzle's magical weapon would be hers, beyond any others interference.

Twilight only then let her mind realize she heard Cadence's voice past the shawl of her alien monstrous body, that soft motherly tone that spoke her name. The air roaring past her ears as gravity lurched her stomach in the plummet, what was there haunting her normally clear and stout thoughts went with the winds as if she were washed clean of the tar of transformation.

Hugging Adagio tightly, "CADEENNNNCCEEE!?!" she screamed as their fins and tails flopped and fluttered.

Before any of the interlopers could act, the two scaly serpents with arms had fallen out of the breach and out of sight. Only after Adagio and Twilight had escaped did Cadence snap from her dumbfoundedness and rush over to the crumbling crystal ledge, scanning the vertigo enducing view and holding back a spike of acrophobia. Her wings spread out to further balance the offset that played with her own sensations of the world around. It was a struggle to do battle with the leeching dread, images of an injured Twilight on the ground below did not liven her into action so much as they forced her ears close to her skull.

She swore she'd bring the heavens down upon the golden monster if Twilight suffered so much as a scratch, empowering her with anger to confirm it herself. No matter what form the young girl took, Cadence loved her and desperately wanted to escape the crazy dimension they'd gone through.

Cadence let loose a breath she hadn't known she was holding, her lungs had begun to burn and panic. For the several story drop, at the bottom was a short grassy landscape with a few trees dotting the immediate lawn of whatever structure they'd ended up in. Though the minute amount of curiosity itched to see all beyond, her will denied it once something moved and jostled at the foot of the structure. Five wiggling bodies of varying soft colors reminicent of a little girls toy or dress, but they were far from something so harmless and nice. There were more of the sun hued serpentine abominations, three new ones who thankfully acted as a cushion for Sparkle. She could see Twilight was unharmed as she still clung to the one she rode by force or choice she had no idea. They were yelling at each other and the turquoise one seemed to be doing something to Twilight who rolled off the pile. She wanted to get down there and rescue the transformed student, swoop down and end the fiasco that has become of them all.

Her wings acted out of instinct and on no part of her own, they flapped in their still opened state but Cadence knew she would just flap effortlessly like a little bird fresh out of the nest. She was human and no amount of luck would help her fly, at least not in her current state. Anxious to do anything, she watched as they spent little time organizing themselves before heading off into the foliage before her, a moderately expansive yet small domain of some kind populated by hatch roof cottages and wooden structures of a bygone era. Like the older steads beyond the orchards and ranch houses, little ghost houses which once were beautiful like these in their hay day. It was then that Cadence beheld the world she and her wards were currently in, some kind of garden of Eden as it seemed with a wide fertile landscape and tall snow capped mountains looming in two thirds of her view of the distance. All the way she could see past the old rustic buildings were forests, trees, pastures, grassy hills, wildlife springing through the tree canopies, and clear skies as far as the eye could see before a cloud bank hovered as froth in a wide mouthed cup of latte. There were strange things flying in the distance, but she couldn't let herself be distracted for much longer.

While she was stunned by the expanse, Indigo and Lemon cautiously joined beside her and largely focused on the evacuating serpent-like monsters. Where Zap would have done something to have jarred Cadence into action, instead another rumble shook the great Castle of Friendship to its core and rattled the trio into focus.

"Yo, we like... gotta find a way down soon, I think this place is gonna fall apart?" Zest mentioned though not spurned by fear but by haste for Twilight.

"No way we're going to make it to the exit much less the first floor in time! Doubt we'll survive that kind of a fall either?" Indigo snorted in the manner of an Equestrian though she didn't realize it.

While the two bickered over what to do to escape, Dean Cadence forced her attention to who she thought was Twilight and what evil thing claimed ownership over her. It lit the kindle in her heart, warm and growing steadily hotter though it would not burn or scorch. She subconsciously felt her care and love for the young girl come forth even more powerful than she'd felt when she was about to cross over through the portal. Memories of taking care of the little toddler who seemed so mature for her age, always going on about learning something new and testing the very world as if everything were a potential experiment. No longer did she see herself as the Dean at Crystal Prep, Cadence saw only the babysitter who was hired by Nightlight and his wife when they were gone for work on extended weeks on end. How she strove to make the child's life problem free and filled with educational experiences that made her the young woman she came to be as she knew. Holding the giggling little thing as she recited quotes from esteemed and well spoken of novels that well read individuals knew by heart as a staple for the mind. Even if that same little girl had turned into such a strange animal of an unknown species, if she was truly Twilight Sparkle. She still felt love for her with no physical changes to halt from pursuing the sacred mission on bringing her back home.

"We could just drop down and hope we don't end up with broken legs!" Zap retorted angrily.

Lemon huffed in disdain, "Ya or we could end up under a bunch of rubble if this place goes down which by the sound of that quake this place isn't going to last much longer."

Neither of the two noticed a faint glow coming from the Dean, a dull pink haze of magic which surrounded her very pony form. The light was too faint for them to have easily detected, but it was clear something was happening before them and none took heed. The pink pegasus spread her wings far outwards like a hawk preparing to dive off a cliff and into the thermal drafts of its home. She breathed in as her thoughts focused on Sparkle in her human form of various ages she was fortunate enough to have known. Another rumble followed by a loud roar so deep and beastly that it shut the two mares behind her into utter complacency as their herbivorous fear reactions rooted them into stillness. It was a vocalization that struck the right cord in their souls, the tone manifested madness by the intensity of the call. The rumbling gave it a godly power behind it, whatever it was must be massive and beyond their comprehension to fathom. At least for the girls they were frozen on their hooves, paralyzed by the ever growing tremors and cracking crystals as the castle itself pained from the rebirth occurring within. Their heads fastened to the way behind them were nothing existed by the falling fragments of tortured crystals. Something was coming, something bad and they needed to escape or least they witness that which horror unknown took them.

Front Yard of the Castle...

Down below, the Dazzlings were in a mess of tangled limbs and tail all attempting to get out from the pile as the very earth shook and the sound of cracking glass split the air like the shrill of a dying animal. Twilight had lost her grip and tumbled to the side only partially onto Oratoria, eliciting a curse from the unfriendly siren who pushed her off unceremoniously. Sonata had been trying to catch her breath while Aria recovered from Adagio's body slam that happened to land a dense bony elbow to the top of her head.

"Off me you mistake of nature!" the former Crystal Prep student hissed when one of the wing's tipped digits nearly poked her in the eye, she moved the bulk off her body.

The fall had taken a hit to Twilight's already fragile sanity given the short respite upon Cadence's reveal. If the ever devolving situation wasn't enough, the slowly igniting motor functions dawning on her were and it conflicted with her own prior muscle memory. The Phantom Limb experienced by amputees held onto her with the grasp of a vice clamp she often used in the lab to hold something into place. Every time her brain instructed her to stand up, her tail acted differently and the loss of her legs was just as troubling. She kept thinking she'd stand or move them even when she was being carried by Adagio, but all that came to her was the movement of her spine. The twitch of her toes moved the last portion of her tail and the wide paddle-like appendage that terminated at the end. Sensations were freaking her out as her mind adapted to the hippocampus form, and with the kind of brain she possessed it was only a matter of time before she'd have to come to terms with it whether or not she liked it.

"Ugh... did anyone... catch that truck?" Aria groaned at the sore spot on her cranium woozily raising up.

"Everyone! Up! Get up and start moving!" Adagio ordered as she came down from the rush of the fall, happy to see that their bodies were as sturdy as she remembered and none of her subordinates suffered any injuries.

Sonata and Oratoria were busily organizing themselves, Dusk awed by the fresh crispy air much unlike Earth. Ora inspected her scales and fins for tears or damage, not ignoring Adagio's commands as she moved while doing so. Feeling rather good about putting the human in her place with that insult, she did not even bother to assist or even check to see if she was hurt at all. Rather than waste even a second to look at the worm, Ora even went so far as to blank out the strange siren entirely. They were back home and she was the only one with a gemstone making her the most valuable packmate to Adagio than the chimera ever could. Such a shortage of usefulness as every other member lacked a stone for whatever reason boosted her pride which Aria had damaged.

Adagio slammed her tail onto the ground with a heavy thud to get everyone up, "Move it! Into the forest! I'll figure out a way to get our stones, Yellow Tail has to be coming through the portal anytime soon. We need to rejoin the mages for now." Dazzle leered at the unbelievable low of having to drag herself around for the time being, remembering the levitation magic they took for granted for so long.

The girls were slowly making progress and were grateful to be on grass than the something harsh like gravel or dirt. The castle hanging over them that they escaped started to come under strain as a roar erupted although muffled a little, nonetheless blasting windows outwards by the frequency alone. They were barely even much of a walk away when the castle itself started to emit a chorus of dings and dongs as fractures started to amass, followed closely behind with an unholy screeching. Adagio quickly discerned the origin likely from the dragons trying to come through, as small as the room was and the warnings the mages gave. It was a sure bet the beasts would bring ruin in their attempt to break out, she caste aside any consideration for how it might feel to be attaining freedom under such circumstances surrounded by crystal structures as hard as coastal volcanic rock. She hoped Yellow would make it out unharmed, after all he did have their replacement stones.

Sure enough the unseen king of the reptiles were using their girths and raw power to emerge as fissures snaked about the castle quicker than the eye could perceive. Like the breaking of branches and sticks in irregular intervals, the glossy material sang its death song with multiple peaks when a major crack sent an eerie bellow further spurning the sirens to move faster. It was like the whole thing itself was reaching out for help, the strain reaching ever more octaves and reverberation accompanying the sound of a furnace in the distance. The odd musical whips of the shattering crystalline home put even Aria into panic mood at the music of chaos, almost bounding and leaping due to the inconsistent howls of the Princess's grand abode. The others were hopping madly ahead to the safety of the trees, almost appearing as if they were swimming in the air with a burst here and there. When an distant ding grew from quietness, it slapped the air with powerful ping which every ear was sent folding back while the sound fell away like a tsunami. Oratoria however had gained the most ground with her magic still intact, the death throws of the immaculate and majestic super structure felt as if it would reach out and grasp her if she did not book it.

Amidst the cacophony, Dazzle chanced a glance behind herself to ensure all of the pack was on its way to safety. It was then that she realized Twilight hadn't moved from her spot from whence they fell. Her body aching to move only floundered haplessly, she could see the constant glances to the castle as jagged chunk ranging from small pebbles to boulders which could kill her easily began to rain down.

"No..." Dazzle gasped and made a reverse, chastising herself for forgetting that she still needed to carry the human girl.

Luck would have it that as she barely made the attempt to rescue the wayward siren, the whole fortress itself had blossomed into pandemonium. One of the sides of the complex gained a faint glow which grew to intensity within scant seconds, as if a star was given birth to form within the labyrinth that nearly ended them. It was soon given a final send off by the crystal palace with a thunderous wail whipping the air as lightning would during a horrific storm that blacked out the skies. It caused Adagio to flinch as did Twilight who curled into herself due to her proximity to the source, stricken by terror. The very air over the castle became a veritable Tartarus with the hellish fire blinding those who looked up. Adagio wouldn't have cared for it at all herself, but she knew she was far from safe as her ears picked up the subtle whistling of debris thrown into the air and rocketing down. She was in the direct pathway of one portion of eruption, if anything Twilight was in the far safer area.

Glaring up to the new hole in the castle which housed the portal, there was the cause of the devastation. While both moving out of the way of the jagged mineral meteors and seeing the enormous devil himself, Adagio came to recall the features of the human Havoc and how he now looked. House sized fragments embedded themselves into the land from their tonnage, directing sunlight in all which ways like a disco ball. Quakes shook the soil like a herd of giants running amok but it could not deter the matriarch.

With a mighty long neck, the exile pushed himself out of the egg of renewal and stretched himself in all his glory. Crimson scales blanking out the sunlight over vast swathes of the area glinted in the light show of the ravaged palace. Belly scales from the jaw to the breast a deep vibrant cobalt shimmered with iridescent violet tones with each muscle tensing and relaxing like a turbulent sea. A mighty cry to announce himself to all of Equis rattled all life around him be it the highest cruising bird or even the smallest worm in the ground. His wings were enormous and beyond that of a normal dragon, nonetheless they were impressive to gander at. Even the thick digits of his upper limbs demanded respect by the vicious claws they ended in, those of which clamped down onto the nearest part of the castle digging in as the stupendous call reached its climax. Adagio nearly messed up her gait in trying to avoid a swift and painful end by the intensity of the dragon's fury. The vibration alone played with her motor function in some manner, she threw more daggers from her eyes at the idiocy from the buffoon until he came down from it.

With Ponyville to the left and the castle to the right, Adagio soon found herself against an impossible barrier which threw her back begrudgingly. It was Inferno himself who moved with an unworldly swiftness as he jumped from the ruins and directly between Twilight and Adagio. His weight alone sent the poor sirens into the air a good two feet from the impact of his talons and wings before his hind legs and tail joined in. The giant dragon surged forward like a cat who left a tree perch, he made his intentions obvious as Ponyville stood in his way. Dazzle marveled at how distance could lie about the actual size of anything, she thought he couldn't be any bigger when the actual size of him was made real. A quick speculation made the malevolent one to be truly the manifestation of his own boisterous words of himself back in the human realm.

The height of his hip from belly to spine had to be almost four stories tall, mighty clawed feet as big as a tanker truck humans used to transport fuel and things. Even with wings folded closely to his barrel, they possessed long fingers that which were practically two thirds of his overall length if she assumed right. It was hard to do so with the speed at which he moved out of the way. It was amazing enough to acknowledge the air displacement which forced her back that he caused meant he had mass to him to a huge degree. Before she could fire curses at the parting beast bellowing his flames in his stampede of destruction, something else filled the empty tattered space between Sparkle and herself once more. It was another and one of blackness so dark it caught the words she was going to yell, captivated unwillingly by the silver eyes which saw her as nothing but a morsel to devour like a tiny sardine was to a siren. In her peripherals Adagio knew its main body was still clinging to the castle, only its head snaked down and managed to see her first.

With a swallow she acted out of instinct, "Yyyyooou don't scare me! I... I am not afraid!" she rose back up to proper stance, every fin on her body stretched out to prove the point.

Yet even then, deep down within the golden siren came flooding memories of every hungry maw and savage claws which she endured and escaped trying to find a home when her old one died. She could see bits and pieces of her old foes in the face of the dragon. Through the black void which swallowed light in a jarring way, she could see every facet and feature from the armor of scales which guarded it from heat and most harm, to the ridges of spines running along the nose to the crown pointed backwards along the flow of its neck. Horns jetting out of its head, jaws, and cheeks appeared to be all to easy to impale anything which might be caught by a mere sweep of its large head. Huge nostrils took in two curious breathes as if scenting the siren, then sending a gust of foul smelling air at her to which her own fins dragged her back a bit like a sail. There was something about the dragons eyes which worried Adagio further, they lacked a sentience of a sort, the kind which spoke of reasoning or the lack of any hope of surviving an encounter with it.

She tumbled and could not achieve her stability before the dragon did what she figured it was planning to do since it caught her scent. It had to be Yellow Tail, but he wasn't as she expected him to be and nor did the coloration of the winged reptile even come close to his human form. There was something about him that gave the reason for this form, one she couldn't drum up in the whirlwind of the ghastly moment.

Coming to a stop and looking straight back towards the enigmatic monster, Adagio had no time to escape or get to Twilight. All that came to her was the wide open jaws lined with jewel crushing fangs and a long meaty tongue that undulated in anticipation of the snack.

"WAIT!!" she shouted one last utterance before disappearing into the maw in mere seconds.

In short succession, the black dragon spotted the other sirens in the distance and gunned for them as a komodo dragon would a buffalo calf ripe for the picking. Every stomp, every move of its thick dense legs and long arms sent tremors adding to the ones caused by Havoc already making contact with the tiny village. Twilight managed to break her fear induced shock to see the gargantuan pick up Sonata and Aria before it lifted off the ground with a mighty beat of its leathery wings. The sun silhouetted its giant frame as it reached cloud altitude, vanishing off into the distance disturbing all manners of avian species in the trees of its path. Sparkle awoke to what had happened and her heart sunk faster than the speed of a splitting atom.

The castle still sang a few more times, hurt and torn in ways which defaced it in one violating act. Several pieces of rubble still fell, as it would for a day or so without a good portion of the interior to keep it together. In the distance, ponies ran in terror and tried to save themselves from yet another behemoth of evil that visited their peaceful town. The air suddenly came to life as Havoc lifted his titanic body off the ground, gale force winds pushed Sparkle to the ground though she gave no resistance as defeat covered her in a blanket she couldn't shed. In the echoing words which swarmed her every thoughts like a swarm of bees.

'What have I done?'

2 hours later...

Adagio shifted around feeling the slimy saliva coating every inch of her body, soft tissue of the mouth was the surface she and the other two kept sliding on with little to hold onto. It was dark and almost hot enough that they worried about overheating, long had it been since their confusion and fright ended in submission. When they figured out that they were not on the dragons list of food items it meant that Yellow Tail if it was him that they hoped to be was on a flight course to his lair. Hope of course was in short supply since the Sub Warden darkened their trip home. The sense of disgust however lingered as did the rank smell of a dragons breath.

"Well... I got nothing." Blaze shrugged as the dragon's lips parted to cycle fresh air into the oral cavity, bringing sweet short lived relief every time it did it.

Sonata sulked still since the thought came by, "I hope Twilight's okay?"

"We'll have enough time to worry about her once this... THING releases us! Though I guess in hindsight this should have been anticipated. We're alive at least." Dazzle took note of what landscape she could see and the time of day by the sun's position.

"If big ugly hadn't told all of Equis we're here we'd probably have an easier time! Now all the ponies will be ready for us or them. This blows..." the purple siren tried to bat away at a tooth that dwarfed her own head thrice times.

Adagio knew she was right, they would have a tough road ahead of them like a body's immune system with a hint given at an intruding germ. Of course for a matriarch like her she'd be able to work with it, she was Adagio Dazzle after all and who better to bring Equestria to its knees even when on the alert. Nopony would resist their songs, it would be a testament to their talent to overtake a kingdom and with swords drawn. She'd endure the disgusting transportation method, she'd endure more with their new gems at the end of the road. Those beautiful rubies, the key to their global victory and revenge upon the likes of ponies.

The two simpletons that made up her original pod bickered with each other for another few minutes before Dazzle couldn't take it anymore. Between Sonata's anger at the taco truck lie and her possessiveness over Twilight, to Aria's defeatism and complaining there was only one way to burst the negativity.

"Patience you idiots! Sonata, you need to buck up, Twilight can handle herself with Oratoria still there. And she knows how important Twilight is to me, she'll respect the order of My pack. Aria, focus, we'll show these ponies who they're messing with. We will collapse their shanty home no matter what they throw at us, they all will adore us and we will become powerful!" the matriarch spoke and thus she was heard.

As the scaly lips of the deadly mouth parted again, "I won't stop and cannot be stopped. Mark my words girls. Mark... my... words."

The sun was setting, burning orange and yellow the sky like food coloring Sonata often messed with when she attempted to play with her food. There was a drastic decline in their height, the dragon had chosen to descend in the expansive forest below them framed by two mountain ridges. There were a few farms dotting some of the area in clear spots among the vegetation, but overall it was a desolate wilderness with chances of running into ponies slim at best.

When the lips closed before the landing, the girls felt the tongue swing back as if to block the throat's other pathway. At that point Dazzle smile to herself which no one saw in the shadow of the night within the dragon's mouth, they were safe and going somewhere useful. The grin continued on even after the hefty mass of the dragon finally landed a moment later.

Comments

[enderchangling]

Yay. Now I wait.

[TheronSniper]

8276971
The next chapter is in the works, glad you're enjoying the story its a fun thing for me to craft.