Dazzling Homecoming

by FourShadow

Chapter 5: Bitter Reunion

Author's Note:

Scholarly was the one who had the hand in writing this chapter, so I think all credit goes to him. So a big shout-out to him and a thank you for that

And uh, lookin' back on the content we have done, we felt a drama tag was necessary. Why? Well... you're about to see.

"Don't you think maybe we should have told Trixie what we're doing?" Sonata asked, feeling the wind brushing past her ears.

"Maybe, but I've got anger building up, and I gotta let it out! That so called wizard, is going down!" Adagio growled through her teeth.

Ever since Trixie had given them directions, they rocketed out of Princess Luna's throne room and were now flying in the skies, heading straight for a location, any location. There was one location that they were given, and they were hoping to find his home, or anyone associated with Starswirl. They didn't even leave without so much as a goodbye.

"This is the woods, now we just have to find him," Adagio directed.

"Wait a minute... who's that?" Aria pointed.

Down below, they could see somepony trotting down a path in the middle of the woods. A sand-pink pegasus with Egyptian wear was galloping down the road,

"Wait a minute... it's one of those, what did the princess call... oh yes. She said she was one of those Pillar ponies," Adagio growled, grinding her teeth together. "I think we're going to need to have a little chat..."

Adagio's dorsal fins on her back began to light up with energy, and the inside of her mouth was glowing with heat. A burst of energy shot out of her mouth, burning a small line in front of the pegasus, stopping her. She nearly fell back, and was met with the shock of a blue siren slamming down onto the ground with a mad face. And another one in purple, and the other in orange/yellow.

"Hello, pegasus," Adagio greeted. "Or should I say... Pillar?"

"Who are you three, I... wait a minute. I remember you three," the pegasus said, looking closely at them. "Yes, it's all coming back to me now. We helped Starswirl banish you three from that village a thousand years ago," The pegasus gasped.

"Guess what, we're back honey," Aria snarked.

"I only want to know one thing, Pillar...," Adagio stomped her hoof into the ground. "Where is Starswirl the Bearded? I know he's here in the present, and I know he's still around. So where is he?"

The pony's expression turned from fearful into mad. "Him? I do not wish to speak about him."

The sirens blinked.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sonata asked.

"I said, I do not wish to speak about Starswirl. Some great wizard he was..." she said with some bitterness.

Aria was speechless. "Well, dang. I thought I was salty."

"To tell you the truth... I am glad to see you three are still alive," the pegasus said with a genuine smile.

"I'm sorry, what's your name again?" Sonata asked.

"Somnambula. Pleasant to meet you...?"

"Adagio," Adagio began. "And these are my sisters, Aria and Sonata."

"Nice to meet you three."

"So, about Starswirl..." Adagio continued.

"If you want to find him, he's just down the path. Follow the smoke reaching the skies, I gave him an extra assortment of firewood. Should be a home somewhere there for you to find him," Somnambula explained.

"Oh. Well, thank you, that's very kind of you. Um... I guess, see you later then?" Sonata said.

"Have a good day, you three," she said, trotting away. "Though, I must warn you. I can believe if you three are planning on seeking some form of revenge... I'm afraid it will not feel as good as you would hope it would be."

And with that, the pegasus was off on her way, leaving the three sirens behind, a little dumbfounded.

"... Okay, I don't care what she says, I'm getting some payback," Aria snarled.

"We all are getting payback. And now that we know where to go... let's settle our unfinished business."

The Dazzlings went back up into the air, and just as Somnambula noted, they could see smoke in the air. All they had to do was follow it.

Right there before them was a small cabin with a little tower on the side, which had some windows could peer out into the wide open world, beyond the forest. Though it looked old and rustic, like it had been sitting there for quite a long time.

"There it is ladies. It's time."

Adagio raced down to the front doors, angry as ever. Steam was blowing out of her ears, and she was ready to burst down the door with fury. But when she went straight to the door--

--she knocked politely, waiting for someone to provide an answer. No reply. She knocked a little louder. Still no reply. She knocked on the door using her head, bashing at it like a ram. Now someone was answering it. The door was glowing in an aura as it pulled itself open for her.

And with a roll inside, she stood up in a hunting pose, snarling and growling. And there he was, the wizard himself, the one who banished her and her family from Equestria.

"Starswirl the Bearded... remember me?" Adagio growled.

The wizard took a step back, until he heard the loud smashing from the other door, with Aria Blaze crawling inside like a lizard. "Or how about me?" Aria snapped, growling like a rabid dog.

"Or me?" Sonata finished, coming right behind Adagio.

"You... wait. You three... how are you three back?"

"Turns out there's another way back that we somehow failed to see, also apparently we're immortal and can't die which keeps us the same age forever and ever which I really hate, but I think I said too much," Sonata admitted, getting a glare from Aria.

"You know something Starswirl? I was hoping that in the years that had passed that you would no longer exist. That one day you would just cease to be... but then I find out that you're still alive and here in the present. I thought Trixie was pulling my chain; but not now, uh-uh. Only one problem..." Adagio said. "My sisters and I did nothing to you, or any of those Pillar ponies. We were perfectly happy in that village, and we had made wonderful friends, a life there. And then you just had to come along and... banish us. All because we were something you didn't understand. And you know something?" Adagio flashed her teeth. "It HURT. You threw us into another world like we were garbage that needed to be tossed away, and had to fight for our own survival! We were children, we had no home, and you just took it all away from us!"

The oldest was so mad that her tail slashed and thrust right through the floorboards, creating a hole.

"Now... I want to see you give me a reason for why I shouldn't blast you into the next dimension right now for everything you've done! Go on, try it. Give me a reason... I dare you."

Starswirl was at a loss for words. It had been so long since he had banished those sirens, and to where, he didn't even know. But now they were here; they were back. They had survived over a thousand years of banishment, and were ready to drop on him and get revenge after so long.

"To tell you the truth... I have no reason. What I did so long ago is an action I wish I could take back, but it has been done. And always will be. You three have every right and reason to be mad."

Aria's eye twitched. "... What."

"... Where did this come from!?" Sonata was confused.

Starswirl looked at the three of them, and for the first time since their entry into the tower, they noticed something about the wizard. He did not look like the stern, cold and harsh sorcerer who had brushed aside all protests or talk and thrown them through a portal like so much trash. No, instead, Starswirl the Bearded looked tired. Though he seemed no older or younger than the last time Adagio had seen him so many years ago, the old stallion’s posture was bent, like he had been carrying a great weight for a long time. His hat and cloak were not in good condition, missing a few bells, they could smell that the clothes hadn’t been washed in a while.

And the rest of the room… it looked very uncared for. Bookshelves and furniture, coated with dust; the bed unmade, half-eaten dishes resting on the table. It looked less like the tower of a might and legendary wizard, and more like the room of someone who had nearly given up on life.

“Where did this come from?” Starswirl repeated Sonata’s question. He closed his eyes for a moment, and let out a tired, gloomy sigh. “Sit down and I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Please,” he added, as Aria bristled. “This is not a trick. I swear… however much that is worth…” And with that, the wizard slowly sat down, grunting slightly. He did not take his eyes off Adagio however, and she was taken aback by the look in his eyes. There was no cold glare or haughty pride in his gaze. No self-righteous anger towards the “monsters” that he had so willingly banished from Equestria for the crime of not being ponies. All she could see in those eyes, was exhaustion… and what looked uncomfortably like sorrow.

Adagio, Aria and Sonata all exchanged looks.

“Can you believe this?” Aria hissed. “If he thinks a speech is gonna fix what he did to us…”

“I… I don’t know,” Sonata whispered. She swallowed, her eyes anxious. “He – he looks pretty serious to me.”

Aria growled in frustration. “Sonata, you’re my sister and I love you, but you can’t be getting cold feet right now! This is the creep who tore us from our home, forced us into a thousand years of living on the run. A thousand. Years!” she stamped a hoof for emphasis, cracking the wood beneath it.

“I know,” Sonata whimpered. “But… this just isn’t what I thought would happen…”

“Adagio, just say the word, and we’ll stomp him,” Aria said, venom dripping from her tone as she glared at Starswirl with utmost contempt, “I wanna make him eat that stupid hat…”

“Adagio?” Sonata asked. “Dagi?”

For her part, Adagio Dazzle had said nothing. She continued to match gazes with the old wizard seated before the three of them. He had not moved, not said a word during their discussion. And for her part, the eldest Siren’s expression was hard to read, almost blank. Finally, she spoke.

“What do you have to say?” she asked, in a low voice.

“Dagi!” Aria protested.

”I want to hear what he has to say.”

The steel in Adagio’s tone startled both of her siblings. Aria fell silent, and Sonata gaped; she could not remember the last time her sister had spoken to them like that!

“…All right.” Aria found her voice again. “Fine. Let’s hear what he's got.”

“Okay…” Sonata added, moving closer to Aria’s side as the three Sirens turned to face Starswirl, to hear what the old wizard had to say to them.

Seeing that the three of them were now ready, Starswirl the Bearded lowered his gaze for a moment, and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.

“All right,” he said. “I will tell you, everything. I suppose I must start at the very beginning. Yes, of course… it was so long ago, very much so… Before the founding of Equestria, there was the three pony tribes. Earth pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn. And I, of course, was a unicorn. A devoted student of magic.”

Starswirl lowered his eyes, his brow furrowing as he thought back to those long-ago days. “When I was still young… still beardless”, he said with a faint snort of wistful amusement, “I set out to travel the wider world, beyond the towers of my home. I wanted to learn more than what there already was, I wanted to discover things. I thought I knew so much, that it would be a grand adventure indeed…”

He sighed. Adagio, Aria and Sonata said nothing, wondering where he was going with this.

“Well, so I set off. And I traveled out into the world, as far as my hooves could carry me. I found so many places, met so many creatures – griffins, minotaurs, buffalo tribes, breezies… I faced bugbears, diamond dogs, cyclopes, and more…”

“And let me guess, that made you decide that you had to fight the monsters and banish them all?” Aria sneered.

Starswirl looked at her with a glare. “I’m not finished,” he said, pure ice in his tone. “Do you want to hear my account, or shall I just let you stomp me and quit wasting your time?”

Aria growled in suppressed rage, but she fell silent. Sonata gave her sister a tentative, reassuring nuzzle, before looking back to Starswirl. “But I don’t understand,” Sonata ventured, in a careful tone. “If you went out and had all these adventures, what happened to make you… hate creatures like us?”

Starswirl smiled at her, without humor, without warmth. “I was just getting to that,” he sighed. And then he continued:

“I finally came across an arid land, far to the west. It was a miserable, desolate place, scarred by war, full of desperate creatures just trying to survive…”

“And it was there, that I met him.”

He said it was such coldness, such disgust, that even Aria was taken aback.

“Who?” Adagio finally asked.

“Scorpan,” Starswirl said, the anger suddenly rushing out of him all at once, leaving him again looking drained and miserable.

Adagio thought, trying to remember everything she could of that hall of windows in Canterlot, showing the threats to Equestria. “I… don’t recall any Scorpan,” she finally said. “Who, was he?”

Starswirl said nothing at first. Then, he lit up his horn. The Sirens tensed instinctively, all of them recalling the last time they’d seen him cast a spell. But the unicorn did not unleash a mighty blast or open a portal… no, instead, his horn shone with a gentle light, that eventually created an image before them, almost like pages from a storybook blown up to gigantic size. The Dazzlings looked upon the sight of a stallion in familiar blue robes and wizard’s hat, meeting with a gargoyle-like creature. The stallion, who was undoubtedly a young Starswirl, was listening attentively as the creature spoke to him; though they could not hear what was being said.

It was a memory that they were seeing.

“Scorpan sought me out one day, having heard that I was a wizard,” Starswirl said, looking wistfully at the moving image of his younger self. “He was curious about my magic, and asked if I would be able to help him.”

“He told me that his father, a centaur named Vorak, was the king, a cruel and wicked tyrant who had ravaged the country…”

The image changed, showing a red-skinned centaur with antlers and a golden crown and armor. A moment, and he faded away, replaced by another centaur, this one powerfully muscled, with horns like a bull.

“And that Vorak’s son Tirek – Scorpan’s elder brother – had taken the throne from his father, and was planning to use dark and evil magic to conquer further lands.”

“Scorpan asked me, begged me, for help…” Starswirl let the image fade, and although his voice was bitter, his expression just looked sad and worn, “And how could I refuse a creature in need?”

He cast the memory spell again, and a parade of images flowed forth, like flipping through the pages of a book. Scorpan and Starswirl, traveling the desert landscape. Pony and gargoyle seated around a campfire, the young wizard casting spells for his companion. The two of them sharing a laugh.

“Scorpan led me across the blighted landscape of his father’s kingdom, as we discussed a plan to defeat Tirek. And as we travelled, he asked me questions about my magic, about Equestria. He was curious, quite intelligent, and always interested to learn more. And it felt good to have someone to talk to, someone who was willing – eager, even – to learn from me. And in turn, he would tell me about his home, of other lands and places he had heard of… Of course, when he wasn’t telling me of the atrocities that Vorak and Tirek had committed.”

Starswirl closed his eyes for a moment, before conjuring up another memory. This scene was of a battlefield: the younger wizard, his hat missing, his robes tattered and burnt, engaged in mortal combat with Tirek. The brutal centaur absolutely towered over the smaller pony, his hands lit with fiery power as he blasted magic from his horns.

“Well… we finally met Tirek. Scorpan had told me that his brother could steal magic, and had hoarded it for himself, to make himself invincible. But I had come up with a plan, a way to turn Tirek’s own strength against him.”

The memory changed. Tirek began to charge up his power, readying himself for one final attack with which to obliterate the battered young Starswirl – and then, before the centaur could react, Starswirl began to shoot magic into him, more and more power than Tirek could handle! The massive centaur let out a soundless roar of pain, as he grew and grew, and then disappeared in a colossal fireball!

“Hmph…” the old Starswirl sniffed, as he dispelled the memory. “So that was how I won. I destroyed the evil usurper and would-be conqueror. I was nearly dead of course, but my friend Scorpan surely would help me…”

There was silence for a moment, before Aria finally spoke, grimly.

“I can guess what happened next.”

Starswirl smiled again – that empty, bitter, miserable excuse for a smile. His horn lit up one last time, showing the young Starswirl limping, nearly dead from exhaustion and injury, across the desert. All alone.

“Yes. Scorpan had used me. Taken advantage of my conscience, my trust… my friendship… to kill his own brother, and ensure that the throne would be his for the taking. And I was in no shape to do anything to try and right my mistake. All I could do… was limp back home with my tail between my legs.” The wizard’s face darkened, his expression becoming ugly as he practically spat, “Stewing in my shame, my wounded pride, my bitterness at having been so used. Every step of the way I swore that I would never be tricked again, never be hurt again. I would become the greatest, most powerful, smartest sorcerer in all of the world… and never again would Starswirl let himself be swayed by such fickle things as sentiment, or friendship. And he would never let any sob story sway his judgment, or any pitiful creature worm its way into his good graces, ever again.”

He sniffed, looking disgusted. “So, I imagine you can fill in the rest for yourselves. I returned home. I became the greatest wizard in Equestria. I led the other great ponies of the era, the Pillars, to defend our kin against threats both far and near. My judgment was absolute, and none of my fellows ever doubted me… or at least, never to my face. For I was Starswirl the Bearded… how could I be wrong?”

In the wake of that bitter statement, there was once again silence. None of the Dazzlings said anything. Aria was still looking at Starswirl with an expression of contempt, her eyes hard and her jaw clenched tight. Sonata was staring at Starswirl, unable to take her eyes off of the old wizard; her face troubled, her eyes wide and frightened.

And Adagio…

She could not even look at him, her face was turned towards the floor, her eyes closed, expression unreadable as the eldest sister tried to process all of what she had just heard. Finally, after what felt like an eternity in that miserable, dusty old cabin, Adagio found her voice again.

“So…” the words were hard to get out, it was hard to talk, with all of these emotions swirling around inside of her, it felt like her guts were twisted into knots and hardened into bricks, “So what made you realize you were wrong?”

Starswirl smiled, and this time it was only with sadness, not bitterness. “Princess Trixie… she and her friends freed me and the other Pillars from Limbo… along with Stygian – or what he had become.” He scowled, as he admitted, “I was not grateful at the time. In fact, I was… terribly rude.”

“There’s a surprise,” Aria scoffed. Starswirl pretended not to hear her.

“But, she and her friends did what I and the other Pillars could not. They defeated… no. They saved Stygian, from what he had become… from what I had done to him.” Starswirl bowed his head, his hat drooping, as he muttered, “Another mistake, realized far too late…”

No one, pony or Siren, said anything.

It was Sonata who first spoke. Sonata, in a small, soft voice. “What are you even doing out here?”

Starswirl took off his hat, and listlessly threw it aside.

“I am not popular with most of my old acquaintances. When they realized that they had spent thousands of years in Limbo because of what my judgment of Stygian had led to… well. Rockhoof still won’t talk to me. Mistmane will sometimes visit, and Somnambula brings me supplies, but that’s about all. None of the others want anything to do with me. And out here, at least, is better than Canterlot. Better to be alone here, than have to walk the streets there, listening to those snobs, those hoof-kissers, trying to cozy up to me – Starswirl the great. Starswirl the wise…. Starswirl the fool!” He nearly roared that last word, and finally looked up at them… and Aria was startled to see that his eyes had tears in them.

“So…” Starswirl croaked, in a wretched voice. “There you have it. The whole story. Do what you will with me now…” He sighed once more, and closed his eyes. “I more than deserve it.”

But Aria did not charge at him. She did not stomp him like she had sworn to do. She did not bite him or kick him or slam him with her tail. She just looked at him, with an odd expression, that was not quite like disgust, but not quite pity either.

Sonata shook her head sadly, unable to look at the wizard any longer. She turned around and made her way for the door. “Come on, Dagi,” she said, “I want to go now…”

“Go?”

Adagio’s voice was brittle, trembling with an anger that made Aria step back in surprise. “Go!?”

The eldest Siren lunged forward before either of her sisters could react, and she tackled Starswirl with a roar. The two of them tumbled across the floor, crashing into a table and upsetting it, sending books and papers and plates and old food flying. Sonata shrieked, and Aria shouted in disbelief, as Adagio pinned the old wizard to the ground, a hoof pressed down against his throat. Starswirl could only wheeze for air, as Adagio shouted, at him, at her sisters, at anyone who would listen:

“This piece of filth ruins our lives, throws us away like garbage, gives us this, this sob story about how he’s sorry, and you want us to GO!?” She snorted, blowing steam from her nostrils, grinding her hoof down on Starswirl’s neck, making him choke and wheeze.

“Dagi, stop it!” Sonata cried, staring at her sister in horror.

“No! He needs to pay for what he’s done!” Adagio was shaking with rage, she looked errifying as she snarled down at the wizard feebly struggling against her chokehold. “You heard him, he even said he deserves it!”

“Adagio, please, you’re scaring me!” Sonata begged. “Don’t do it, please!” She turned to Aria, pleading, “Aria, help me!”

Aria, for her part, had frozen up, staring wide-eyed at the sheer rage that her big sister was showing. But then, she forced herself to speak, to act.

“Adagio, listen to me. You need to stop.”

“Why?” Adagio snapped. “Why should I, because he’s so sorry?”

“No,” Aria answered immediately, her next words taking everyone by surprise. “Because he’s not worth it.”

Adagio froze, unintentionally lightening the pressure on Starswirl, letting him gasp for breath. “What?” she finally asked.

“He’s not worth it,” Aria repeated in a grim voice. “Look, I get it. You want to hurt him for what he did. I know that feeling. I know it. I wanted to pay him back a thousand times over for everything that he did to us, that his banishment put us through…” she shook her head. “But there’s no satisfaction in beating up a washed-up sad sack like this.”

“Dagi?” Sonata ventured, in a trembling voice. “Just leave him alone. He’s not going to hurt anyone, ever again.”

“Come on,” Aria added, in a softer voice. “Just leave him. He’s already in a worse state than anything we could ever do.”

“Let’s just go. Please, Dagi? I wanna go back to Trixie and the others,” Sonata pleaded. “Please, don’t do this…”

For an awful, breathless minute, that seemed an eternity, the two younger Sirens watched Adagio to see what she would do. If she would take her hoof off of Starswirl, or if she would crush his throat with one good stomp. None of them, not even Adagio herself, knew what would happen.

But finally, Adagio finally found herself stepping back, away from the still-wheezing, sputtering old unicorn. She could only look at him, at the miserable old stallion with his untrimmed scraggly beard and his grubby robes, as different as could be from the cold and ruthless sorcerer who had visited so much misery on her and her sisters. He was not the high and mighty Starswirl the Bearded now.

He was just a broken old mess of a pony.

Starswirl looked up at her, and she could see that his eyes were red-rimmed, and filling with tears. “I’m sorry,” he rasped, in an awful, desperate voice, “Please…”

She turned away, feeling disgusted and angry and upset all at once. “Let’s just go,” she said miserably.

They left the cabin in silence, Sonata looking like she wanted to say something, to comfort or nuzzle her big sister, but was still scared to. Aria didn’t say anything, but kept her head down, focusing on looking ahead, back towards the way they had come. All of them tried not to hear the small, pathetic sobbing from the old wizard, as they left Starswirl alone to his fate, to his shame and misery.

But they could not, would not, forget that sound. Especially not Adagio.

"Come on. Let's just go back to Ponyville," Aria suggested, leading the group away this time. Adagio said nothing. But realziing she had no other choice, she slowly followed her siblings. Sonata couldn't look back at Adagio, mostly because of how afraid she was of her. She never saw her so mad like this before. Sure she got mad whenever she did something bad/wrong before, but it was never to this degree.

But right now, Sonata didn't even want to talk to her. She was too scared to think so. And the thought of her yelling only made her want to cry.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Anger, or perhaps hatred would be a better word, is a very dangerous thing. If it gets a hold of you, at least in my opinion, it can be a very poisonous thing. Eating away at you, hurting you, leaving you exhausted and full of regret when it's later, sometimes too late to make things better. Starswirl is a damned good example of that in my opinion. He's just... kind of half dead already. Definitely not *living* to say the least. Thank goodness that Adagio had her sisters with her!

Also, that ending... excellent work on that conclusion, Four. It's heartbreaking in all the right ways.

[sonicfan05]

Dang... that was a heavy chapter!

[GamePlayer64]

Well that’s dark. Scorpan used Star Swirl to kill Tirek and ruled his kingdom with an iron claw and worst of all; Star Swirl blamed himself and hurt innocent creatures and Stygian who became the Pony of Corrupted Light. (That’s my idea for the AU Pony of Shadows)