The Banishment
Chapter 5:
The Banishment
“They’re getting close” Adagio whispered with a worried tone in her cold voice: “too close”.
For a while the siren stood up high in the air, staring at the meadow before her eyes, knowing it would soon flood with the rage of battle. Her sister Aria neared her slowly, perhaps because even she was intimidated by the motionless gaze Adagio was laying on the ground.
“Yes?” the golden scaled siren questioned, hearing her coming:
“How did you know I was here?” asked her sister, shocked by the fact that Adagio had been able to sense her presence without turning her head around:
“I felt you, breathing on my neck” the other one answered briefly:
“Since when do you have these kind of super natural abilities?”
“I do not posses such things; truth to be told even a filly could have heard you from miles”
“How so?” Aria questioned, slightly bothered, as if her sister were trying to tease her with her words:
“Your breath…it’s heavy”
“It is?”
“Yes: you’re worried, aren’t you?”.
Having been surprised a second time by Adagio’s incredible perceptive skills, Aria needed a few moments to answer that question: “Well…no, of course not” she said, gulping, while sweat began to wet her forehead: “Why should I be worried?”
“We both know why and we both know you’re liying...”, hearing these things, the younger siren did not reply, yet she slowly landed on the ground and sat on a rock instead.
“Tell me what’s bothering you” Adagio insisted, sitting next to her: “look I know I am still not the best at expressing my feelings, but I am your sister: if we’re not honest with each other, then who else you’ll be telling these things to?”
“Ah, fine you got me” Aria sighed in the end: “I may not be feeling a hundred per cent fine”
“What is it that worries you, then?”
“This all situation...we’re going through...it feels so crazy...so wrong”
“I sympathize” her sister replied: “but there is no other solution”
“That’s exactly what you said the last time”
“And I was right”
“How can you be so sure of that that?! You told us coming here was a brilliant idea, that it would give us what we needed, but look at us: now more than ever I know how wrong you were and I wish I hadn’t followed you back then.”
At that moment Aria’s words pierced Adagio’s heart deep, they hurt like a blade penetrating the weakest part of her body.
“Now we’re here, we had to get used to this cursed world, when both Sonata and I wished to remain hidden underwater, plus we have to fight against who knows what mad ponies in order to stay”.
While her sister was speaking, Adagio did not interrupt to reply to her provocation, like she was used to, not even once:
“What happened, did something eat your tongue or did you suddenly loose your voice, uh?!” even that time no answer came from Adagio which made the siren rage even more: “Y’ know what? Forget it! I’m going to prepare for the battle: join us as soon as you retrieve your precious voice” then Aria left without turning back.
The other siren stayed quite, while staring at the setting sun, not even a word escaped from her mouth, as if for some reason she had truly lost the ability to speak.
As the sun reached the horizon and dusk began to fall over the hills, surrounding the compound, she felt a something similar to a cold breeze, passing through her veins, freezing her blood:
“This aura...” the siren started whispering to herself: “it...extremely powerful: It must be them...they’re...six...no, seven...
...The last one feels week, it must be the pony who recruited the others...
...Yes, it’s him...he’s got the same energy as the first day we met him”.
Adagio turned around and strolled, headed to where the other sirens were waiting, reflecting:
“What was I thinking that day? Why did I even let him go without considering the consequences of having a witness, walking free across Equestria, would cause. I was unforgivably careless and now we will all suffer from what I asked for”.
For a moment she stopped flying and turned her head around to see if the enemy had showed up already, yet luckily for her, thy had not.
“Perhaps Aria was right, when she told me this world was not meant for us, that something unexpected would come for us, something against which we would not be able to win. Only now I understand how foolish I’ve been back then, I was overconfident and too eager to get here and even more foolish to let that stupid pony go away. I should have stopped him, but I’ve misjudged him: thought one little pony would not be problem, that nopony else would believe him and he would eventually fall into our hooves like everypony else. Instead what does he do? He runs off the village, assemble an army and come back to fight us. Curse the day I first laid my eyes on him.”
“Hello there, little friend” Adagio gritted, grinning:
“Ah, ah...” her interlocutor, a rather young pony, gray furred and blue maned with a simple black cloth on his back, murmured:
“What’s that, friend?” the siren went on saying, while her sisters were giggling at fact that the little pony was so shocked by their sight that had remained with his mouth wide open:
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no...” the other one suddenly answered: “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all. Who are you, anyway?”
“My name’s Adagio Dazzle and these are my sisters, we’re sirens, pleased to meet you”.
“I am Stygian...wait a minute, did you perchance say sirens?”
“You heard right, young friend”
“Wow!” the colt shouted amazed: “I can’t believe I’m actually talking to a siren, I thought you didn’t exist, at least that’s what I learned from Strarswirl’s glossary on magical sea creatures”
“Well, then that book of yours is clearly wrong, for, as you can see, we’re real”.
“I see it, but I just can’t believe it...I’ve been looking for proof of your existence my whole life!”
“Oh, you’re such a flutterer” Adagio teased:
“I am not joking: y’see, I’ve been passionate about marine life since I was little”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really: look” Stygian exclaimed, showing the siren a basket full of sea shelves.
“Did you collect all of them by yourself?” Adagio looked surprised at the enormous number of mollusks the pony kept in his basket:
“That’s right!”
“I’m impressed, really, I’ve never thought we’d meet some day somepony like you”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you guessed it, yet? You’re clearly special!” the siren replied with a malicious tone in her voice.
“Yeah, right” Stygian sighed doubtful: “I am just a scholar: nothing special about me”
“Oh, but you’re wrong” Adagio insisted: “You do have a unique intellect: I can sense that, Stygian”
“I am not exactly sure...”
“Listen, have you ever met somepony as smart as you, somepony who’s read as many books as you, somepony who’s done as many advanced researches as you, in other words somepony who’s more acculturate than you?”
“Not actually...”
“Ever wondered why?”
“I guess so...I mean my mother used to blame me for everything: she said I wasted too much time with my muzzle on a bunch of dusty books instead of hanging out like other colts do, but I never listened.”
“That’s terrible” the siren added, signaling to her sisters to get closer so they would seem interested in what the pony was saying:
“Would you feel better, if we stayed here and listened to your story?”.
The cold sighed: “Once, when I was about sixteen, she got tired of repeating the same thing to me, so she came to me, while I was studying in my room…
...She took one look at me and shouted that I was the biggest delusion in her whole life, that she had done everything wrong with me and if I hadn’t changed soon, I would have no success in my life. She blamed me for having no friends, for not having practical skills, for not being what a big and strong stallion is supposed to…
...So I began to cry, which made things even worse: she said I was not allowed to cry, that I was no longer a baby, but again I failed to live up to her expectations and went on crying like a fountain, till she left.”
“And what happened next?” Adagio asked, keeping pressing Stygian, having maybe sensed something dark about him which attracted her greatly.
“I still remember it as if it were yesterday: it was the beginning of summer and the sun was burning hot…
... When I heard that mare who used to be my mother say those things to me, I felt something evil growing in me: I wished to take my revenge for all the pain she had caused me, I wished to hit her in the face, I wished to hurt her...but I knew I was being wrong, so I did no such things…
...Celestia knows I much I struggled to hold back and in the meantime she kept provoking me, causing me pain, as If she wished to turn me into a monster…
...But I somehow managed to control myself”.
“How did it end?”
“We never talked to each other again: sure I wished to run away from home, but deep down I knew I needed her to survive, I was only a teenager after all, I still had school to go to and I knew nothing about how to get a job, so I just kept quite and endured…
... She never asked for my forgiveness, never; I don’t know if the cause of that was her enormous pride or the idea that she was right, doing what she had done to me…
... On the other hoof, I swore I’d never forgive her and I did not, even know I’m still mad at her and I had no desire to cry for her or to go to her funeral, when she died a few years back.”
Having heard that confession, the sirens had remained speechless, all but Adagio who, having recognized in Stygian a week pony she could manipulate, greened with pleasure.
“I am sorry about your past, friend: I did not wish to bring up such unpleasant memories” she exclaimed, staring at the young pony with her big humid eyes, as if she were about to cry from commotion:
“Do not be sorry, after all it was me who began to talk about this in the first place, but I’ve moved on”.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what we thought, judging by what you were saying just a few moments ago” whispered Aria in Sonata’s ear.
“What did you say?” Stygian asked curious, having heard the two sirens whispering
“What they meant to say...” Adagio interrupted, giving her sisters a terrible angry stare:
“That we know just the thing to cheer you up a bit: a song!”
“A song, you mean you three are singers?”
“Excellent ones I’d dare say and, since we’re looking for an audience, we’d be glad if you...”
“It’d be an honor, I’d love to hear you three singing” Stygian interrupted excited.
“You didn’t let me finish: since we’re here, we though it would be fun to hold a concert, but we’d need a few more ponies as an audience for that”
“So you want me to go gather up some ponies from the village?”
“Exactly!”
Perhaps because that: “Exactly” had been said with too much excitement of perhaps just because he was suspicious, at that moment Stygian understood what the sirens were really after:
“I am not sure, I mean...”
“Oh, c’mon...” Adagio insisted, trying to convince the colt to cooperate: “...everypony loves music: don’t you wanna hear us sing?”
“Sorry, girls: this has been nice, but I suddenly remembered I have something to care of”
“Hey, you, were are you going?!” Adagio shouted, seeing her interlocutor leave in a hurry.
“Well this is what you call a complete waste of time!” Aria exclaimed nervous: “What do we do know?”
“We get somepony else to help us”
“And what if we directly attacked the village instead?” Sonata suggested, intervening: “It’s nothing but a few paces far from here, right?”
“What do you think, Adagio?” the other one asked.
“I think Sonata’s right: no point in wasting anymore time, let’s get this thing done!”
“Yuppy!” the youngest of the sirens shouted euphoric: “I’ve been dying to try out my latest tune!”
“Well, I am sure it won’t be as good as mine!”
“Why do you have to be always so awful to me!”
“Will you two quit arguing: we’ve got a job to do; ready your voices and follow my lead”
“Or my lead...” Aria suggested:
“My lead!” her older sister repeated, giving her a gaze so terrible it convinced her not to start an argument over that matter, too.
It did not take anything but a few seconds for the sirens to reach the nearby village: the houses looked so small from high up in the air one could swear dwarves lives in them instead of ponies.
Each of them was surrounded by a little yard full of chamomile flowers, violets and roses which filled the atmosphere with a delicate fragrance, furthermore they all had a little smoky chimney on their red colored rooftops.
The main road was full of ponies arguing, chatting or even just strolling: they all looked peaceful and unprepared for what was coming for them.
“Such a nice village...” Adagio giggled, staring at her victims with her malicious eyes: “...I almost feel bad for what we’ll have to do, don’t you, girls?”
“I don’t know” Aria intervened, saying: “It’s practically in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like somepony will ever notice we did our job”
“Exactly!” her sister replied with a sudden tone of satisfaction in her voice:
“I don’t get your point, Adagio. Our plan wasn’t exactly feeding off of random unknown villages”
“Yeah” Sonata interrupted: “You said we were going to...”
“I know very well what I said, yet right now I need you both to be a little patience, girls. We start off here, then we slowly increase our powers and, once everything is settled, we take over Canterlot, all clear?”; her sister nodded with their heads in response.
“Good, now let’s get started, the sooner we do this, the better”.
Having explained everything, Adagio proceeded, headed for the main square, followed by her sisters, then, as soon as she reached the place where she had planed to sing, the siren drew her audience’s attention:
“Greetings, everypony! I beg you all to sit an enjoy the show that is about to begin, for we, the sirens, for one time only will give you ponies the exclusive chance to witness the experience of a lifetime: I guarantee you’ll be absolutely speechless”.
At that point, Adagio signaled to the other two to come closer and, seeing the curious ponies gathering before her eyes, she started to sing.
As they were listening to that enchanted music, the ponies from the village soon saw the air turn red as warm blood, their ears began to bleed, as if they were being pierced by a spear and an acute sound, penetrating their head, till where the sirens’ cursed voice began to be heard.
It did not take long for all the villagers to be dominated by the sea creatures’ spell and, judging by the: “slurps” that Sonata made, their mad rage provided the sirens a satisfying meal.
“Well, Aria?” Adagio asked her sister, after the job had been done: “what do you think of what we just accomplished, it wasn’t a complete waste of time, was it?”
“Well...” the young siren replied, blushing: “...I guess no”
“Good...there is something I’m still wondering about, though”
“What’s that?” Sonata questioned curious.
“I bet it’s what we will do with all these ponies under our control” Aria suggested, interving:
“Believe me, I’ve already got plans for them”
“Would you care to tell us?”
“We’ll need and army for when we invade Canterlot, won’t we?”
“I see your point: what is it that’s bothering you, then?”
“I can’t seem to stop thinking about that colt from earlier, I don’t see him anywhere”
“And that is a problem because...”
“What if he managed to escape...”
“You think he could tell others about our plan and cause us trouble? Please, what could one single little pony do against us?”
“As I recall, you were the one scared to come here in the first place, for you dreaded a threat we could not handle on our own”
“I konw very well what I said, but c’mon: can’t you see what we managed to do here? I bet he fell under our combined spell, too.”
“Then why I can’t see him among those other ponies?”
“You probably can’t do that, because you aren’t able to distinguish him from the others right now: they’re too many, plus we are levitating pretty high”
“I am not sure you’re right”
“How many chances are there that he managed to resist our charm and flee?”
“Few, very few, even if it does not take much not to fall under our spell: he could have just covered his ears”
“I do not think he would be that smart”
“Even if he said he knew of our existence?”
“He said he knew very little. What would you say, Sonata?”
“Well...” the siren replied: “I do agree with Aria
“See, nothing to worry about”.
Adagio took some time to reflect, then sighed: “Y’know what, I believe you two might be right about this one. Now let’s prepare for our next big shot, shall we?”
“Curse me and my over confidence” the siren kept blaming herself on the way: “I should have listened to my good sense like I always do, but now...well, now it’s time to go back to the others: let’s just hope we can get out of this mess in one piece”.
In a few more minutes, the siren reached the compound, where her sisters were waiting; seeing her arrive, Aria refused to look at her in the eyes which made the golden scaled siren feel even more guilty about that whole situation.
“So...” Adagio questioned briefly: “How far are they?”
“Not much...” Sonata replied tense:
“Which means we must remain focused: is everypoy ready?”
Yes, our queen!” the army replied all at once.
“Very well then, we shall see if these pillars of Equestria, our spies told us about, are really as powerful as folk claim”
“Ad...” Sonata intervened shyly:
“Yes?”
“I’m scared, Adagio, I truly am. I fear if we don’t win, it might be the end for us”
“We will win”
“But what if...”
“We’ll win” her sister repeated, rubbing her muzzle against Sonata’s in an attempt to calm her.
On the other hand, Aria did not turn her head towards her sister even for a moment, she just stood still, staring coldly at the horizon, waiting for the enemy to show up:
“It would be nice if you, too, said something reassuring” Adagio thought in the meantime, seeing her behaviour.
After a few minutes of unbearable silence the pillars showed up at the top of a hill right before the compound: they were seven like Adagio had sensed, but the sirens could not see their faces, for they were hidden in a sinister shadow.
Seeing the sisters, the famous heroes of Equestria rushed down the hill to fight, all but one who remained motionless to witness at the frighting spectacle that was about to begin.
Soon cries started being heard, then the sound of broken bones invaded the air, as the ponies, serving the sirens fell one after the other.
At that sight Adagio dived from the air, trying to grab a she-pegasus with her teeth, but she failed, for the enemy was faster than expected.
At the same time Sonata was being hit by another pegasus; this one looked very much like a soldier, judging by the armor he was wearing. Noticing that, Adagio headed to her sister fast as lightening and hit a the annoying pony with her tail:
“Is everything all right?” the older one asked:
“I think so” Sonata replied:
“Though he did give me a few kicks: my back feels pretty bad”
“C’mon Sonata, we can do this: we're clearly stronger than them!”.
In the meantime the she-pegasus was being chased by Aria whose eyes burned in a dark raging fire; yet suddenly the mare, who was first flying straight, changed direction and turned right.
At that moment a bearded unicorn on the ground cast a beam from his horn which produced a terrible noise similar to that of a thunder, as it came to hit a cloud on its way.
“Aria!”Adagio shouted desperate, understanding what the pillars had in mind: “Stop following her: it’s a trap!”.
Who knows why Aria did not listen to her sister at that moment? Perhaps she was still mad at her and too proud to give her advice attention, perhaps she had remained too caught up in the rage of fight or perhaps she simply hadn’t heard her.
Anyway she went on following the mare who, having suddenly boosted, flew high up in the sky; while a black hole opened right in front of the purple siren.
“Aria!” Adagio screamed, while running toward her; the hole in the meantime was sucking her sister like a magnet does with iron and no matter how much the siren would struggle, the portal was always stronger than her.
Adagio arrived in time to grab her by a hoof and tried to pull her out with all of her strength, while her poor sister, probably forgetting her pride in the face of danger, whispered:
“Help me!”.
As the dark hole captured both of the struggling sirens, who immediately disappeared into its darkness, Sonata, having remained behind, was feeling paralyzed: her loved ones had gone and now she was alone to fight an enemy who, even if not stronger, had proved to be smarter than the sirens.
Caught by the greatest fear she had ever felt in her whole life, Sonata did the only thing she could think of without hesitating: she followed her sisters into the portal.
“Uh my head…” Aria murmured, trying to distinguish something in the dark mist that blackened her eyes”
“Aria, Aria, is that you?!” a familiar voice exclaimed:
“Adagio, where are you?!”
“I’m here, let me help you stand up!”.
Despite not being able to see anything, the siren could clearly feel something, lifting her from the ground: it smelled like Adagio, but its touch was different, softer than her sister’s scaly front legs.
As soon as her eyes started to see again, Aria shouted terrorized: the one holding her was not Adagio:
“Who or what are you?!”
“I told you I am your sister: don’t you recognize my voice?”
“Yes but...you...if it’s really you Adagio, something must have happened: you look different, very different”
“So do you”
“What?! Are you kidding me?!”
“Indeed not”
“Adagio where are we, what happened to us?!”
“I don’t know”
“Girls” a feminine voice interrupted their conversation:
“Is that you?”
“Sonata!” both of the other sirens shouted at once: “You’re here safe and sound!”
“Yeah, though I must say you don’t quite look like yourselves”
“We know”.
At that point Aria suggested that she should look at her own hooves:
“My hooves!” the young siren shouted shocked: “Where are my hooves?!”
“Curse those fools….” Adagio exclaimed : “they trapped us in another world!”
“I can’t feel any magic...” Aria added worried: “…this world has no magic!”
“Not entirely true...” went one saying her older sister, holding a red gem in her hand:
“There’s still a whisper of magic in our pendents...enough for us to keep singing...enough to gather the energy of chaos...and maybe one day...to go back home.”
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And now Sunset learn the Sirens’ past. What will she do? Let them suffer for how their race was treated or undo Equestria’s heroes actions and her actions?
Well...that’s just the point of the whole story. What would you do if you found out that the Dazzlings’ heroic defeat was anything but heroic?
8936955
Undo it. Because the ponies only learn the bad parts about them, not the reason why they do it. My view is the Sirens were trying to survival since let’s face it, The pony race is weak; only powerful alicorns and small groups save them. They have no survival instincts against any threats without them.
8936309
Well... that’s the point of the whole story: what would you do if you found out that the Dazzlings’ heroic defeat was not so heroic after all?
8937121
I help them return home. No ifs, ands or buts.
8937155
Interesting answer. But what if they began to cause trouble again, whereas in on the other side of the mirror, as there is no magic, they do no represent ant threat. But on the other hand, as you pointed out, it would not be fair to leave them on their own, especially considering that your actions ( destroying their gems) lead them to even worse misery.
I guess you should choose by which side you’re gonna stand.
8937161
They're doing it to stay alive. I mean would you let the herbivores eat all the vegetation on the planet and the carnivores can't stop them because their being leash? Why should a large race should fear a small race? Are Ponies that pathetic?
8937175
No, but I guess, when you're the pray, it's pretty hard to see things from the predator's point of view.