Old Mare Luna

by Leondude

Chapter 17 - Welcome to the Show

Outside of Canterlot High School, the Dazzlings were observing Sunset and her friends from afar, trying to figure out how to get back into Equestria so they can get their magic back. In order to avoid being spotted, they were wearing their hoodies and hiding behind a statue of a rearing horse. Unfortunately, their cover was nearly blown because Sonata noticed a cute little squirrel scurrying towards her.

"Aw, it's so cute!" Sonata said, distracted by the adorableness of the squirrel.

The squirrel then quickly ran out of Sonata's sight, but not quick enough for Sonata to lose it when she decided to chase after it. The squirrel ran up the statue and Sonata, in her haste, tried to climb the rearing horse. She rather clumsily fell down. Or rather, she fell right through where the statue was placed. The other two Dazzlings, who bore witness to the event, quickly chased after Sonata for her safety. And when they did so, they were sucked through a portal into what appeared to be another world. The travel rendered the both of them unconscious. When they woke up in what appeared to be an empty castle, they were face-to-face with Sonata, who appeared to have transformed into an earth pony.

"Hey, guys!" Sonata said excitedly, "I got my hooves back!"

"Yeah, but you also turned into a pony," Aria said in a snide tone.

"So have you!" Sonata retorted.

Aria and Adagio looked at the mirror that they apparently came out of and noticed their new equine forms.

"It must be a side-effect of the travel here," Adagio said, "But no matter. While earth ponies have the least magic in comparison to the other pony tribes-"

"And zebras!" Sonata interrupted.

"Ugh, and zebras, they still have a powerful magic dwelling within them."

"So does that mean we can sing again?" Aria asked.

"Let's find out."

The Dazzlings tried singing a basic melody together, but it came out completely tone-deaf. Their voices were still missing the beauty their original singing voices had, but it was a start.

"No, but we will gain our magic back eventually. Maybe even our true forms as well," Adagio said.

As Adagio tried sinisterly walking away with her two sinister sisters, she and they had difficulty controlling their new equine bodies. They frequently bumped into one another and various suits of armour that appeared out of nowhere in the corridors. Unfortunately for them, their commotion gained them some attention, as they heard hoofsteps heading their way. They noticed a shadow that looked like a goat with big curly horns. Soon, they were face-to-face with a terrifying blue beast of legend.

"Is that who I think it is?" Aria asked nervously.

"Impossible!" Adagio said in shock, "You're a fairy tale designed to scare little fillies!"

"Wait, who is this guy?" Sonata asked, oblivious to the fact that her sisters are terrified of the ram standing before them.

"That is Grogar!" Adagio said, while Sonata kept looking confused, "The father of monsters?! The first emperor of Equestria who was said to have been the most powerful being in Equestria?!"

The blue ram standing before them observed the two frightened mares and one absent-minded mare, wondering if he had seen them before.

"I know you three. Aren't you the sirens that were banished by the pillars?" Grogar asked.

"How did you know?" Adagio asked in response.

"I have been doing my research, as well as hiding in the shadows, watching the events that have transpired after my first reign of terror ended."

Grogar walked closer to the intimidated Adagio.

"I trust you still have the ability to serenade ponies with your songs."

"We've tried that. It didn't work," Adagio said.

"Prove it."

The Dazzlings tried singing again, but they were still as tone-deaf as before. Grogar growled before letting out a low, sinister chuckle. He couldn't tell what was more amusing, the sirens losing their ability to sing or the fact that they were now trapped in less powerful forms. Seeing that they were of no use to him, Grogar charged up his magic to disintegrate them on the spot, the jingles on his collar glowing as he did so. But after seeing the mares get more and more scared, he decided it would not make a difference if he spared them and killing them would just be a waste of his magic. So he teleported them out of his castle instead. As he did so, he quickly glanced back at the Crystal Mirror. He trotted towards it and touched it, the mirror itself making a rippling motion as if it was made of water. He made the assumption that the mirror was how the sirens got back to Equestria in the first place. He pondered at the thought of using the mirror to conquer whatever world was on the other side before dismissing the idea entirely. The best scenario would be a rival warlord he'd have to either negotiate with or kill, while the worst scenario would be he'd have more heroes to deal with. Not taking any chances except seven years of bad luck, he grabbed the mirror and smashed it into the wall with as much force as he could muster.

"Two worlds divided once more."

---

The Dazzlings looked around at their new surroundings, checking to see if they were all in one piece. Their new location was a small village with buildings overrun by vines and dark crystals. The ponies that walked the streets were all wearing slightly pink helmets with blue glowing eyes. Adagio couldn't tell if she should have been amused or frightened. On the one hoof, the Pillars were nowhere to be found. But on the other, there were strong implications that Grogar was behind this. Deciding to lay low and try to be inconspicuous, they made their way towards a boutique to purchase some clothes to conceal their identities. Then suddenly, an image of a young pink pegasus filly with a light blue curly mane was projected from a giant crystal in the centre of the village.

"Hi there, friends!" the filly said in a sickly sweet tone of voice, "Just thought I'd give everypony another morning reminder that the bestest friends a pony can have are the ones that do whatever they ask, without question."

Any fears Adagio might have had were dissipated by the possibility that the filly presented was in charge of the village they are in. As they were selecting dark hooded cloaks for purchase, Adagio walked up to the dark pink pony who owned the boutique and asked her an important question.

"Hi there. We are new here, and I was wondering where we could find the filly that made the announcement this morning?"

"Our greatest friend ever, Cozy Glow?" the owner said.

"Yes, her. We would be honoured to see her in person."

"Sure thing. She's in a castle near the School of Friendship. Since the castle looks like a tree made out of crystals, you should have no problem finding it. Well, that's what I heard from other ponies. And since honesty is the best policy around here, I think I can trust the words of the other townsfolk here."

"Thank you."

The Dazzlings equipped the clothing they just bought and headed for the castle the owner talked about. She was right when she said they would have no problem finding it. As they made their way to the entrance, there were a pair of guards wearing the same helmets as the ones they saw before. Surprisingly, the guards let them in immediately, almost as if this Cozy Glow was expecting them. The guards then led them to Cozy's throne room. But when they opened the doors, the Dazzlings saw something they were not expecting. Sitting at the table was a corpse-like mare in a wheelchair with vines connected to crystals digging into her back. The mare looked like the Cozy Glow they saw back at the village, but with some truly horrific differences. Her skin was a thin veil of flesh barely covering her bones, her nose was shrivelled up and her limbs were nothing more than hooves attached to bloodied bones. Instead of the bright blue curly mane and tail she had back at the town square, Cozy had a mane and tail composed only of mere dark blue strands that were held together by a torn headband and a knot respectively. Her eyes appeared to have rotted away as well, having been replaced with dark empty sockets. The sickly mare then turned her head towards the Dazzlings, her flesh tearing and her bones cracking as she did so, and smiled at them with whatever facial muscles she still had.

"Wanna be friends?" Cozy Glow asked in a raspy voice, a dark mimicry of the sickly sweet tone she once had.

Author's Note:

If you were wondering how Cozy Glow survived all those years, now you know.

Sweet dreams.

Comments

[Rdog03]

It’s literally Mr. House.

[Leondude]

9946279
Since I am not that familiar with Fallout, that was an unintentional reference on my part.

[Rdog03]

9946313
Yeah, I played most of the other Fallout games, recently got New Vegas and got hooked, so the timing of this is still cool.