Chapter 4
Sixteen musical acts were chosen to proceed to the first round of the battle of the bands; The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, Flash Drive, Trixie and the Illusions, the Canterlot Music Club, the cellist Octavia Melody, the violinist Bulk Biceps, the pianist couple Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings, the experimental music band formed by Derpy Muffins, among other groups.
With the auditions over, all participants were free to go home; the first round would take place the following day after classes were over, and non-students would be allowed entrance for a small fee.
On their way out, the Dazzlings crossed path with the Rainbooms; the Rainbooms glared at the Dazzlings, who just looked at them with smug smiles on their faces. The only exceptions were Sunset, who looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow, and Twilight herself who had a pleading look in her eyes.
In the parking lot, all the girls climbed into the van so they could discuss what songs would be played and in what order so Sunset could be properly walked through them all.
“Before that, can we talk?” Sunset asked.
“Sure, about what?” Adagio asked back.
“Well… I just wanted to know… does the word ‘Equestria’ mean anything to you?”
The sirens went quiet for a moment, exchanging glances with each other.
“Why do you ask?” Aria questioned.
“I… I was told that you girls are actually sirens. I don’t actually believe it, but if asking you will get them to leave us alone, then so—”
“It’s true.” Adagio answered, causing Aria and Sonata to look at her in surprise. Sunset herself was rendered speechless, just staring at them with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
“Why are you telling her?!” Sonata asked, dumbfounded.
“Because if she already knows it, there’s no point in lying; all that would accomplish is the loss of her trust.”
“B-B-But… If that’s true, then…” Sunset didn’t know what to say, all she knew was that she wanted to say something.
“Then why we cause chaos, conflict, commotion and unrest wherever we go?” Still unsure what to say, Sunset just nodded. “Before we get to that, I want to ask you something: have you ever killed someone?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Would you kill someone if you had the opportunity?”
“No!”
“What if you saw someone about to be killed? Would you interfere in any way? Not necessarily stop the killer yourself, but maybe just shout a warning to the victim. Would you do that?”
“Yes.”
“You just assumed I was talking about humans, right? But what if the killer was actually a lion and the victim a gazelle? Would you make some noise to startle the gazelle and save its life?”
“I, uh… I guess?”
“But what about the lion? You just robbed it of a meal. Without the meat of the gazelle, the lion has no sustenance. Is it right to let the lion starve just to save the gazelle?”
“When you put it like that…”
“But the gazelle won’t starve anytime soon because it has plenty of grass to eat. If the lion changed its diet and started eating grass as well it wouldn’t suffer from starvation, but the lion insists on eating meat. Why is that?”
“Because plants don’t provide all the nutrients a lion needs to survive.”
“So, with that knowledge in mind, if you saw a lion about to pounce on an unsuspecting gazelle, would you try and save the gazelle?”
“I-I suppose not.”
“And that takes us back to my second question; you wouldn’t kill someone if you had the opportunity, but you were thinking about killing someone directly, doing the deed yourself with your own hands. But that lion whose hunt you ruined who died of starvation, it was technically killed by nature itself, but wouldn’t you say that you played a big part in the causation of its death?”
“It looks like it, yes.”
“Now let’s change a few labels: think of the gazelle as the humans, the lion as us sirens and the killing as causing strife. If the sirens don’t make the humans fight, they won’t have strong emotions like anger or hate that produce the energy sirens feed on. Without sustenance, the sirens will…?”
“…die.”
Adagio nodded. “Killing is a horrible thing, but if a lion doesn’t kill, it dies. If we don’t cause conflict we, too, will soon perish.”
“B-But you just said the energy comes from strong emotions like anger or hate! Can’t you feed on any other emotion? A positive one?”
“Yes, we can.”
“Then why don’t you—”
“Because it doesn’t work!” Aria shouted, answering the question before she was finished asking it. “You think we haven’t tried that? We can’t feed on happiness because it’s such a fickle and fleeting thing! Imagine a person is about to die from starvation and the only thing they have is a living rabbit and a handful of apple seeds. Would the person plant the seeds, wait for the tree to grow then eat the apples from the tree just to spare the rabbit? No, because they would have died halfway through the process!
“We tried to feed off love as well, but not only was it was just as difficult, it was even worse because Queen Pheromosa of the Changeling Hive declared war on us. Why do you think there are only three sirens left? Sirens don’t reproduce as fast as changelings do, for every changeling that fell in battle, ten to twelve more hatched!
“Fear was another flop: our targets always seek comfort and, even if they don’t recover completely, the output of energy slow down to a crawl. Anger, on the other hand, lingers and festers; they just can’t help it, people always chase after things that make them angry, and that produces enough energy to sustain us in this world. If we try and feed off emotions that give off positive energy, we’ll starve before the year is out.”
“But I’ve seen you girls eating food.” Sunset pointed out. “Can’t you gain sustenance from that?”
“That’s mostly because it tastes good.” It was Sonata’s turn to explain their motives. “Sirens trying to live off regular food is like a human trying to live off one grape a day – and I’m not talking a whole cluster of grapes, I mean one single grape.”
“If there was any other way to survive, we would have done it.” Adagio continued. “Causing disharmony is too dangerous – last time we got caught we were sentenced to death for witchcraft, but luckily Sonata escaped and managed to enchant our jailor. We wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“This wasn’t a problem back in Equestria.” Aria crossed her arms. “Raw emotional energy can only sustain us for days at best, but emotional energy soaked in magic could keep us going from weeks to months. We could just lay low for a while, come out to feed then go back into hiding.” She clenched her fist. “But those meddling Pillars just had to intervene! It would have been more merciful to kill us then and there instead of dooming us to living off scraps like this.”
“It’s the reason we came to Canterlot High in the first place.” Adagio explained. “We felt Equestrian magic coming from here and just had to investigate. As it turns out, the source was you.” She smiled. “You’re just as alien to this world as we are, aren’t you, Sunset Shimmer?”
“How did you know?”
“There were signs – signs that no creature other than a siren would pick up on. No human, no dragon, no griffon, no pony.”
“Which one are you, by the way?” Sonata inquired. “Earth pony, unicorn, pegasus…?”
“Just a regular unicorn born and raised in Canterlot.”
“Woo, we’re species sisters!” She cheered.
“Species sisters? What do you mean? I thought you were sirens.”
“We are.” Adagio said. “But we haven’t always been.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Maybe another day. We still need to discuss what songs we’ll be playing on the days to come and teach you how they go so you can play them on your guitar. That is, if you still want to play with us after everything we just told you.”
Sunset Shimmer’s gaze travelled from Adagio to Sonata and finally to Aria before returning to Adagio. She then sighed.
“After everything you three did for me, it would be quite inconsiderate of me to just turn my back on you girls. We started this battle of the bands together, so let’s end it together as well!”
“Woo-hoo!” Sonata raised her fist in celebration. Adagio and Aria smiled, even though the latter tried to hide hers.
The girls spent the night in the same hotel as the day prior, the receptionist still under their spell – Aria, refusing to share a bed with anyone, spent the night in the van. Sonata was more than willing to share hers with her “species sister”, a term that had yet to be explained to Sunset.
Time passed quickly the next morning and, before they knew it, it was already time for the first official round of the battle of the bands. Looking over the crowd, they spotted unfamiliar faces on the bleachers – just as the principal said, anyone willing to pay the entry fee was allowed to spectate.
Some of the battles were easier to judge than others, after all not every single one of the sixteen musical acts were as talented as the others, but they were the “least worst” of all candidates that performed the day prior.
Trixie and the Illusions won the first battle. Winners of the second battle were the pianists Lyra and Bon Bon. Victor of the third battle was Bulk Biceps with his violin. The fourth battle was the first to be between two talented competitors, but in the end Octavia the cellist fell and the Rainbooms came out on top. Victory of the sixth battle belonged to the Dazzlings. Flash Drive came out victorious on the seventh battle. Eighth and final battle went to the Canterlot Music Club – Derpy’s experimental music band tried to use even more unusual “instruments”, but the results were catastrophic.
The audience looked pleased with the performances; hopefully they would tell their friends and family about how exciting the first round was and bring more people to the second round of the battle of the bands – Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna would definitely appreciate the funds raised.
“Flash Drive is using the music room for now.” Sunset announced as she sat on the couch in the back of the bus with her legs crossed. “We have some time before they clear out, so I think now would be the perfect time to pick up from where we left off yesterday.”
“If you really want to know…” Adagio sat to her right with her hands on her knees. “I believe we stopped at ‘species sister’, correct?” Sunset nodded.
“I used to be a unicorn just like you!” Sonata, who was sitting on the steps of the minibus, explained.
“But, how?”
“Let me tell you a secret about sirens: we weren’t birthed by Mother Nature like ponies, buffalos, yaks or zebras; the very first siren was the creation of a very ambitious wizard whose name was lost to time, as well as his motive.” Adagio said. “Did he want to be immortal? To have control over all living things? To be a good singer? Have a girlfriend? Whatever it was, he took it to the grave with him. He did experiments on all sorts of living creatures, but the only ones to succeed were female ponies.”
“But not just any female pony.” Aria continued. “She has to be strong-willed, determined, ambitious, but most of all, she has to be willing.”
“Whatever magic he used to craft the first gemstone, it was definitely ancient magic.” Adagio took off her necklace to hold it in front of her face. “It has a will of its own, and it decides who would be a suitable candidate to be a siren. If the chosen mare accepts to bear this curse, she becomes one of us. Sirens don’t have a functoning reproductive system, we aren’t born, we are handpicked.”
“That’s why Queen Pheromosa won the war, she threw bodies at us and dealt the finishing blow when we were too tired from digging our way out.” Aria added.
“How did you three… y’know…”
“Two, actually.” Aria corrected. “That was before Sonata’s time.”
“Our sire, Elegy Gloom, tricked us.” Adagio answered Sunset’s question. “She knew the changeling army was on the move, but she sent us on a ‘scouting mission’ in the opposite direction of where they were coming from. By the time we returned, they… She…” Adagio gripped her knees tightly, almost tearing holes in her light purple leggings with her nails. She relaxed when both Aria and Sunset placed a hand on each of her shoulders. With a faint smile, she wiped away the tears that were threatening to flow. “Thank you.” She cleared her throat. “After our race was… we fled and hid in a cave by the ocean near a pony village.”
“I lived in that village!” Sonata said. “I saw them fly into the cave and ran after them out of curiosity. They were cautious at first, but we became friends eventually. It’s not like I had any in the village anyways…”
“That was before the Founders of Equestria united the three races.” Aria explained. “Sonata was a unicorn living in an earth pony village, she wasn’t exactly the most popular mare. Our gems saw the potential in her, so when we offered to make her one of us she accepted in a heartbeat.”
Sonata jumped on the couch, in the spot between the two sirens, and wrapped her arms around both. “We’ve been the best of friends since then!” She turned to Aria and gave her a sly look. “Even if we don’t exactly get along all the time.”
“You are the worst.” Aria replied, looking away to hide her smile.
The notification sound rang from Sunset’s phone, announcing that she had received a text message from Flash Sentry – she rolled her eyes after opening it and seeing it was just a middle finger emoji.
“Good news, Flash’s band is done with the music room.” She announced to the others.
“Alright, enough of this.” Adagio stood up, adjusting her jacket with a smile. “We have a song to practice and a battle of the bands to win.”
She exited the bus, soon followed by Aria, Sunset and Sonata.
Thursday morning went by in a flash. More new faces than the day prior were present in the gymnasium that afternoon, eager to watch round 2 of the competition.
Trixie and the Illusions blew Lyra and Bon Bon away in the first battle. In the second battle, the Rainbooms eliminated Bulk Biceps. The Dazzlings defeated the winners of the previous day’s fifth battle and Flash Drive outdid the Canterlot Music Club. The audience’s cheer was louder than the previous day – a good sign for Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, since it meant they would most likely spread the word; the finals on Saturday night would definitely be the talk of the town.
With Trixie and the Illusions practicing in the music room, the Dazzlings once again had to wait for them to be done so they could practice. All four girls climbed on top of the minibus to lie down and look at the clouds together.
“So how does the siring of a siren work?” Sunset asked.
“It’s not complicated; when our gems find a suitable candidate and she consents, we sing a special song and a new gem is created just for her.” Adagio replied.
“How many sirens are required to do this… ritual?”
“It’s not like breeding, where you need a male and a female to create a new being. If a single siren has enough magic to spare, she can do it all by herself. Why do you ask?”
“No reason, just curiosity. I was a bit of a bookworm back in Equestria, I loved learning new things before I… Well, is there some kind of bond between the sirer and the sired?”
“More or less. All sirens are ‘connected’ in a manner of speaking, the sirens themselves choose whether to make the sirer/sired relationship mean something or not. For example, the three of us are just partners in crime, we don’t make a big deal out of the fact that we sired Sonata. Elegy, on the other hand, was like a mother to Aria and I because we chose to view her as a motherly figure.”
“In the end, that relationship is what saved our lives; Elegy was like a mother to us, and in turn she treated us like her daughters.” Aria commented. “I guess she couldn’t bear the thought of us falling in battle, so she sent us away so we would be spared.”
“Sonata used to be a unicorn, but what about you two? What’s your story?”
“I used to be an earth pony.” Adagio explained. “Sole survivor of a boat crash caused by some other siren. Elegy found me in the wreckage and I guess she took pity on me, so she carried me back to shore. I was raised by an elderly couple who never had foals of their own, but Elegy would come back once or twice a year to check on me; one of those years she asked if I wanted to leave with her, I said yes and she sired me.”
“I was a pegasus.” Aria said. “A very proud, very stubborn pegasus who loved to race others just to prove I could beat them, boast and show off. I guess they eventually got sick of my braggart self, so they rigged a trap for me: another pony snuck a thunder cloud over the track while we were racing and shocked me.
“I don’t know if it was just a prank gone wrong or if they actually meant to get rid of me permanently that day, but I lost consciousness and fell into the ocean, breaking my left wing in the process. Probably would have drowned if Adagio and mom– I mean Elegy weren’t in the area and saw me falling. I don’t know how much Equestrian medicine has advanced since those days, but back then one broken wing meant you were grounded forever.
“Elegy nursed me back to health for some reason, she never told me why she didn’t just leave me for dead. Point is, her gem chose me and I became a siren. You know the rest.”
“Sounds like this Elegy was a great siren!” Sunset said with a sad smile. “It’s a shame that she’s gone.”
“It really is.” Adagio agreed, looking up at the clouds. “All sirens are nasty by nature, but she was definitely the best of us.”
“You’re not nasty, you’re just… misunderstood.”
Aria chuckled. “If only.”
Friday afternoon, semifinals of the battle of the bands. The gymnasium was packed with people excited to see who would get to play in the town auditorium in the grand finale Saturday night.
Rainbow Dash got a little too into it when playing for the public, to the point where her bandmates had to forcefully stop her from ponying up in front of an audience, bringing the performance to a premature halt. Unfortunately for them that interruption cost them the competition, so Trixie and the Illusions won.
The Dazzlings easily defeated Flash Drive in the semifinals and Flash Sentry walked away angrily after the winner was announced, leaving the sirens and their guitar player to celebrate with a group high five. Peeking backstage, they spotted five of the Rainbooms loudly arguing amongst themselves while Princess Twilight furiously scribbled something on a notepad, completely ignoring what was happening just a few feet away from her.
“It’s almost done.” Adagio muttered. “They will crack very soon, making them vulnerable to our spell. When that happens, their Equestrian magic will be ours and we won’t have to worry about feeding off scraps for a while.”
“Especially the purple one.” Aria pointed at Princess Twilight. “She has more magic than the other five combined. She’s definitely from Equestria as well, but she’s more than a regular pony.”
“Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn princess.” Sunset explained.
“Wait, what?!” Sonata nearly screamed; Aria and Adagio covered her mouth with both hands and fled the scene before the Rainbooms discovered them. “I thought there were only two alicorn princesses, where did Twinkle Sprinkle come from?”
“There are four, actually. There’s Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who was crowned not long before I came here, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, who was crowned long after I left.”
“Wow, a lot happened in so little time!”
“It doesn’t matter if there are two, four or one hundred princesses.” Adagio interrupted. “This is our chance to have not only a proper meal, but a feast!”
“You’re not gonna hurt them, are you?” Sunset asked; she didn’t care much about the Rainbooms, but she didn’t want her friends to go to jail.
“Why would we ever do that, Sunset, dear?” Adagio patted the pony girl on the head. “If you want to eat a fruit you pick it from the tree, you don’t cut the whole thing down. We’ll take their magic but leave enough in them so that they can recharge over time, and when the time is right we’ll feed off them once more, leaving some magic behind again, then repeat the cycle as many times as possible; hurting them would go against our interests – if anything, we should protect them from harm!” Adagio looked down at her gem, which had ceased to pulsate and was just emanating a faint but constant glow. She smirked. “It’s time!”
“Time for what?”
Adagio led the other three back to the parking lot, where they formed a semicircle around Sunset Shimmer behind their minibus.
“I’ll be honest with you, Sunset: we were using you.” Adagio revealed.
“Wh-What do you—” Adagio lifted a finger, signaling that she wasn’t done talking, so Sunset stopped talking.
“When we first befriended you, the plan was to pretend to be your friend so we could steal your magic then have you help us steal the magic of the Rainbooms. But as we got to know you better, we realized that those feelings we just pretended to have turned out to be the real deal. We really do like you, Sunset Shimmer, you are the only person we have met in the last few centuries whose company we actually enjoy. But there’s more to it than that. Take a look at this.”
Adagio lifted her necklace to show it Sunset. Aria and Sonata followed suit.
“Your necklaces, they’re… glowing.”
“You know what that means?”
“You were chosen!” Sonata squealed, pulling Sunset into a tight hug.
“Chosen? You… You mean, I… I can be… just like you?”
“Yes, Sunset, you can. BUT I have to remind you that this isn’t a gift or a blessing, it’s a curse. Back in Equestria the downside was at least somewhat bearable because there was magic everywhere, but over here in the human world we have to scrape by. Canterlot High aside, this world lack any source of magic – believe me when I say this: we tried.”
“Greece, England, Scotland, Norway, China, Hawaii, the Bermuda Triangle…” Aria listed. “All places with ancient legends of gods, magical beasts and enchanted places, and they were all dead ends.”
“And Pripyat!” Sonata added.
“What were you doing in Pripyat?” Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Adagio wanted to check if magic and nuclear radiation were compatible.” She shot their leader a dirty look. “We were vomiting for a while after that.”
“I admit I may have made a few bad calls here and there” Adagio interrupted “but that just goes to show how desperate we were; we were willing to expose ourselves to deadly amounts of radiation just to see if it could be used as an alternate source of energy for us to feed on.”
“We were willing? Speak for yourself, Adagio.”
“What I’m saying is, being a siren is rough. Sure we have immortality, mind control powers and beautiful singing voices, but it all comes at a steep price. A price not just anybody is willing to pay. Our magic compels us to make you the offer, but whether you accept it or not is entirely up to you.”
Sunset Shimmer’s eyes traveled from Sonata’s gem to Aria’s and finally to Adagio’s. She was being asked to make the biggest decision of her entire life. On one hand, she was about to leave her true self behind and would never be the same ever again. But on the other hand, she would be with the only people who were willing to call her a friend for the rest of her immortal life.
“Can… Can I think about it?”
“Of course you can.” Adagio assured her as she put her necklace back on. Aria and Sonata did the same. “As long as you have an answer before the finals – I have a plan to steal the magic from the Rainbooms, but if you choose to become one of us after the fact you’ll miss the opportunity and feel the hunger pains while we’ll be able to sustain ourselves with the stolen magic, and that would break my heart.”
“Sure. I understand. It won’t take long, I promise.”
“Until then, I need to speak to you about my plan. The role you’ll play will be vital, so I need your help now more than ever.”
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Kudos to you, Sunset, you are faster than I thought
Susnet will try to go to Twilight, right? She will try to talk to her so they would find a better solution without a rainbow, right?.......right?
Oof. The Dazzlings made it hard to say no to the offer. Since the Rainbooms (understandably) didn’t give her a chance like they promised Princess Twilight they would, Sunset has nothing to lose if she chooses to become a siren.
I say Sunset should take the deal.
Please say yes, Sunset, please say yes.
A fairly reasonable argument by Adagio, one I’ve also expressed in regards to the changelings prior to their to unfortunate accident in a skittles factory. Still, we all have the meta knowledge that being 🌈 blasted will relieve them of their need to feed in that manner, while also stripping them of what makes them unique.
Still I gotta admit, I prefer the idea that shattering their gems doesn’t automatically make the sirens into a (humanified) pony equivalent anymore than hacking off a pegasus wings or a unicorns horn would produce an earth pony. It just cripples them. Anyway, still a nice chapter!
Which road will you take Sunset? Which road will you take?
DONt Do IT SuNNY
10212767
She does risk going down the same rotten path she was on.
Just going by the cover image, I'd imagine Sunset's gonna accept, but the way she'll convince herself or possibly be convinced by others reinforcing her grouping up with the Sirens will be interesting to see.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
10213455
And what does Sunset have to gain in choosing to stay with the Rainbooms? It’s clear that don’t want her and won’t be open to the idea of welcoming her into their group anytime soon. As for the Dazzlings, they let her join their band, truly treated her like a friend, and were upfront with her about everything as soon as she mentioned Equestria and even warned her about the choice she’d be making if she chose to become a siren.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be evil and wanted than good and alone.
10213599
Uh....
I'd rather not be with evil people, because their relationship with me is built around self-interest. The second I stop being useful, they'll give me the boot.
This is so goooooood! Keep it up!! Can’t wait for more!
10213455
Can you blame her for taking it though?
10213723
Maybe.
I mean yes, the Mane 6 should give her a chance. But...
One of pet peeves with EG is that they don't properly show the process of Sunset making friends with the rest of the HuMane 6. I don't think it is realistic for them to just hold the door open for Sunset after everything she did to them.
One of the my fanfics is my attempt to fill in for those parts. To show Sunset actually regaining the trust of the HuMane 6, rather than them blithely forgetting everything she did.
In this story, she has done little to actually try and make amends. If she did do that, and they still hated her, I would understand completely.
love stories like these purely because they seem to be so rare, or maybe im not looking in the right places. Point is this is pretty nice makes for some really good light reading and, honestly considering future things after battle of the bands kind of glad sunnys fining some real friends.
I felt obligated to read this solely cuz your avatar is Wally and she's pure and perfect and precious and I love her.
As a bonus, this is a really good story. Clearly this means people with Wally avatars write the best stories qB^)
10213670
And whether I’m being used or not, I’m still wanted. That’s what I’m getting at. If the only people in the world acknowledging you were those who wanted to use you, would you rather accept their false love and feel as if you were truly needed by someone for a short time or reject their lies and go back to being alone and unloved?
That’s basically what Sunset’s choice is boiling down to. If she chooses the Rainbooms, she goes back to being alone in the world because she knows they don’t want her. But if she chooses the Dazzlings, she gets people who actually do want her. Even if they’re using her, they want her.
10213968
Yep. Not a good choice.
But if I were in that situation, I choose to be alone.
10213670
The same could technically be said about any social group you are part of. No one wants to drag around 'excess baggage' everywhere they go. If your not gonna contribute or be helpful in some way, then why should anyone put up with you?
Gosh i hope she finds a alternate path that still lets her be a siren and solves their food problems with a kinder source
10214253
I know, right?
So she saved them? Hmm. Maybe you could make a back story on that.
I wish this were cannon
10509018
Parts at least
Oh man things just got really really complicated and being as she's so desperate for people to accept her honestly I don't know if it would be a good thing or bad thing being at the end result will probably wind up screwing her over in the process either ways