• Published 11th May 2018
  • 3,610 Views, 341 Comments

The Issue of Multiple Sunsets - Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

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Siren's song

In the farthest, darkest corner of Cherry Popper's Bar and Grill sat Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk: known collectively as The Dazzlings. The three of them had once been sirens, monstrous horse-fish like creatures in Equestria that could cause chaos and fighting among creatures, allowing them to feed off the negative energy created. The trio was then banished from that realm, tricked by The Pillars of Equestria and sent to the human world. There, they were given human forms as well, and struggled to find enough magic to feed. Over a millennium later, the three of them had found a place where Equestrian magic had come through, allowing them to go grow so powerful, they were able to brainwash an entire school into worshiping them and unlock energy constructs of their siren forms. Unfortunately, it was short-lived as the same power was used by a group to destroy their avatars and gemstones, taking away their powers and making them human.

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

Well, not completely human, as it turned out. They were still faster, stronger, more durable, and healed quicker than normal humans were capable of. Although now, they could get hurt, or sick.

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

Or drunk.

That was one of the reasons they chose Cherry Popper's, because it was one of the few places that was willing to serve them alcohol despite the fact they looked like they should still be in high school.

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

Not like anyone would believe that they were actually thousand year old magic sea monsters from another dimension who had been magically displaced and transformed into teenage girls. One of the few times they had tried, Aria had wound up in an insane asylum. And while she had enjoyed feeding off the negative energy and mentally torturing the staff (and it turned out enjoying electro-shock therapy way more than she should), it had been a pain to get her out and for them to find a new place to live with new identities.

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

So the three of them sat there, drinking their drinks: Adagio with her glass of red wine, Aria with her beer, and Sonata with her Shirley Temple (just because they could get drunk did not mean she wanted to put up with the gross taste of alcohol).

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

"Ugh," Aria groaned out, slamming her bottle on the table. "This is boring. Can't we go to, like, an arcade or something?"

Adagio's lips pressed tight as annoyance and frustration coursed through her. Setting the glass down, she clasped her hands together and took a deep breath.

"There's only one arcade left in town," she pointed out, "and we were banned from there because somebody --" she gave a pointed look at Aria "-- was smashing the machines, while somebody else --" she turned her glare to Sonata "-- shook down kids for their prize tickets."

An act that had wound up being pointless since they ended up punching out several staff members, tossing a bunch of cheap prizes to a crowd of cheering kids, then stole the good stuff and ran.

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

"That was just an example!" Aria snapped. "I'm just saying, this sucks and its boring."

"Yeah," Sonata huffed, rolling her eyes. "It's not like Aria can act pissy and anti-social anywhere or anything."

The air around the table grew colder and darker. Aria sloooowwlyy turned her head toward Sonata, neck muscles audibly creaking with each movement. Her lips pressed thin as her purple eyes narrowed, giving the other girl a glare that could freeze blood in veins.

"Is there something you want to say?" Aria growled out.

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

Setting her glass down, Sonata turned to face Aria, trying to match the glare with one of her own.

"Yeah," Sonata retorted. "I've been listening to you piss and moan for centuries. Always complaining about the plans and how they won't work, and how much this world sucks! You know what I never hear, though?" She pointed a finger at Aria. "You actually trying to come up with a plan!"

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

With a growl, Aria smacked Sonata's hand away.

"You mean like when you came up with a plan?" Aria snarled out. "When we had to leave France before they tried to cut our heads off?"

Adagio groaned and rubbed her eyes, feeling her own frustration rapidly growing. Why did she even still hang out with the idiots? Not like she needed them anymore since...

Wait a second.

"Fine!" Sonata shouted, throwing up her hands. "So things went too far, and we ended up starting a revolution that nearly got us killed. But we managed to get a lot of negative energy out of it, and it shows Adagio listens if you come up with a good plan."

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

"Girls," said Adagio.

"All you do is complain about how much things suck and how you should be the leader," Sonata yelled. "But you know what?"

"What?" Aria asked, rolling her eyes. "Come on, brain dead, I can't wait to hear this."

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

"Girls!" Adagio snapped.

"I don't think you actually want to lead!" Sonata declared. "Because to be a leader means you would actually have to do something. You would actually rather complain about Adagio's plan and do nothing instead of actually coming up with a plan yourself!"

Aria's hands slammed into the table as she stood up.

"You shut your mouth or--"

"Or what?" Sonata cut in, standing up. "You'll make a snarky comment and threaten to hit me?"

"Ah-ah. Ah-ah."

"GIRLS!" Adagio yelled.

"That's all you're good at!" Sonata continued. "Either punching things, or acting like someone pissed in you cereal."

"I know you did that!" Aria roared out. "I can't prove it, but I know!"

"I wouldn't touch your stupid boring cereal even to piss in it! And if I did, it would only make them taste better!"

With a roar of frustration, Adagio Dazzle stood up, grabbed Sonata and Aria by the back of their heads, then slammed the two of them together. Their foreheads met with a loud, bony echo as they hit.

"Larry! Curly!" Adagio shouted. "Both of you shut up and listen!"

"You're totally Larry," Sonata grumbled, rubbing her forehead.

"That's fine," Aria huffed, rubbing her head as well. "Curly was the one that got replaced."

"Would you two quit and pay attention for five seconds?" Adagio snapped.

Aria turned to scowl at her.

"What's the big deal? Not like people haven't seen us fighting before."

"Except they aren't watching us fight." Adagio made a waving motion with her hand. "They aren't watching us at all."

That got Aria and Sonata's attention. Even without their powers, they were still three attractive young women, with a bit of danger about them. As such, people were often staring at them and checking them out. Not that they got upset over it. The three of them enjoyed attention, and it made it easier to get people to do what they wanted. Also, humans do tend to get very interested in watching others fight. Especially in public. Sure, some would pretend not to notice, but they were listening.

So, although they wanted to be left alone and made it very clear, the idea of no one paying attention to them -- especially with all the yelling -- was absurd.

No longer caught up in their fighting with each other, Aria and Sonata noticed that everyone else in the bar was actually arguing among themselves as well.

"What's going on?" Sonata asked, eyes wide as she tried to take in what she saw.

"Look down near the floor," stated Adagio.

The pair did as they were told, and could not believe their eyes. A familiar looking sickly green fog covered the ground, writhing and roiling as it moved among the crowd, feeding off their anger and annoyance as they argued with each other.

"It looks like when we used to feed," Sonata said. "But... that's impossible." She turned to the others. "Right?"

"I would say so," Aria conceded, "but there's the evidence of it right in front of us." She motioned at the crowd.

"Which means someone has to be singing," Adagio added. "And now that you two are done hate-flirting, you can help me try to find them."

The three of them then started to look around, their ears straining. The person or people responsible would be singing, or doing something to use their magic which should be noticeable. At the same time, they would try to keep themselves from being too obvious, not wanting the crowd to suspect anything as it was going on.

"There," Sonata hissed out, pointing. "I bet Aria's entire video game collection that's them."

"If you touch my Dreamcast, I will turn you into taco meat," Aria growled as she looked to where Sonata was pointing.

At another table sat a single figure. They were dressed in a dark red hooded sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up to cover their head. The wicked green fog writhed toward them, disappearing under the table and from the trio's view. They could guess what it was doing though.

Now that the sirens were paying attention, they could hear the faint sound of singing under all the arguments.

"That must be them alright," Adagio decided.

"So, what do we do?" asked Sonata.

"She's still feeding, so she's pretty distracted."

Adagio turned to Aria.

"Aria, sneak up on her, and when she stops, cover her mouth and hold her in place." She held up a finger. "Do not hurt her. We want to talk to her first."

"Ugh," Aria groaned out as she got up. "Have to take the fun out of everything."

Straightening up, she walked her way over toward the mysterious figure. With the noise from people arguing and the target distracted, it was easy for Aria to move without being heard. Disappointingly easy, in fact. Even with the thick, heavy biker boots she tended to wear, Aria could move as silently as a cat, unnoticed until it was too late.

Aria slipped into the booth behind her target, knees on the plastic seat as she raised herself over the backrest.

The moment her target stopped singing, Aria struck. As quick as a rattlesnake, her hand shot out grabbing the target's chin and clamping over their mouth. Her grip tightened, pressing up on the underside of the chin to hold the jaws shut.

"Don't try anything," she growled out. "We're not going to hurt you if--"

A stun gun was brought up and pressed against Aria's arm and turned on. The air filled with the crackle of electricity and smell of burning hair. The muscles tensed and twitched as they were shocked. There was also a tingle of pleasure that shot down along her spine.

A smirk spread across Aria's face as the electrocution came to an end.

"Such fun," she purred out. "Not really in the mood for the rough stuff right now, though." Striking out with her free-hand, Aria grabbed the stun gun and yanked it free. "I'll just keep this for later."

She then stuffed it into her pocket.

"Good job!" Sonata called out as she and Adagio reached the table. "Now to find out who are secretive siren really is." Grabbing the figure's hood, she gave it a yank.

The sweatshirt's hood fell away to reveal long yellow and red hair. A golden skinned girl looked up at them, her green eyes narrowing as she scowled at the trio.

"Sunset Shimmer?!" the trio cried out in shock.

"But that's impossible!" shouted Sonata. "Sunset's a pony, not a siren."

"But we saw her using siren powers," Adagio pointed out. She then pointed at Sunset's throat. "And there's the gem to prove it."

At the base of Siren Sunset's neck was a black choker with a ruby against her throat. It still glowed with energy, the last bits of green mist swirling around the edges as it was pulled in and disappeared from sight.

"This is weird," declared Sonata. "I totally have to tell Pinkie about this." Pulling her phone out, she quickly started typing.

"You have her number?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She wanted all of us to have it after The Battle of The Bands. So there were no hard feelings and if we wanted to hang out with her or anything, we could call. Adagio wasn't interested, and you tore it up while frothing and swearing." Sonata smirked. "She was even the one who helped me make your last birthday cake." The smirk quickly disappeared into a scowl. "Although I still don't know how she knew your favorite flavor..."

Aria turned to Adagio and tried to raise her eyebrow higher.

"And you knew about this?"

Adagio gave a shrug.

"Not like they're going to defeat us and destroy our jewels a second time." Her eyes then narrowed. "Now, you better gag her so she can't try to sing or anything."

The other two recognized the face she was making.

"What are you planning?" Aria asked.

Adagio Dazzle leaned forward, her smirk taking on the wicked sexy look she often used when scheming.

"Either this isn't their friend, and they'll want to see her just to find out who she is," she explained, "or it is her friend, and something happened to turn her into this. Either way, they'll want to see her." Reaching out, she placed a hand on the siren Sunset's cheek. "Which means that we now have a very nice little bargaining chip." She gave the cheek a gentle pat.

"You might just be our ticket home."