Third Labor: The Sirens (Showdown)
It’s been two days at sea and I already hate it.
Besides feeling sick from the constant movement, the food I have is already a few days old, so, while still edible, it isn’t in the best condition, nor is it of the most healthy variety to begin with.
On top of that, there’s also the massive amount of nothing I have to do other than keep the ship from capsizing. I wish at least Sombra could be here, just to have someone to talk to, but I don’t really know how to invoke him. He just shows up to train me while I travel.
I sigh and sit down next to the mast, deciding to do the only thing I can; meditate.
Of course, without Tree Hugger and her magical spot, it's massively ineffective, but I already counted every floorboard on the deck, so I'm running out of options.
Closing my eyes, I concentrate on my breathing, following the sensation as it goes in and out, doing my best to relax my body despite the rocking of the boat. To my suprise, I manage to see her, the slightly blurry image of Wallflower, sitting in front of me. Smiling.
I smile back at her, happy to have some company, and my attention goes once again to that woolen tunic she has on her, and the threads that come out of it. What is it? Why does she have it here and not on her normal body? Where do the threads go?
I’m tempted to reach out to them, but I remember that it pulled me out of the trance the last time I tried. I’ll need to reach them some other way. But how?
Then a thought occurs to me.
What if this is her connection with the world? Tree Hugger said she saw roots, but that may not be universal. I may need to find my own way of connecting.
I put all my effort into focusing, trying to create something from me that can connect with the rest of the world. But what shape should it have? Roots like Mother Nature? A thread like Wall-
I got it!
I can see it, a single, pure-white thread in front of me, coming out of my chest. Now, I need to connect it with...
Wallflower’s gone.
Ok… a bit worrying, but no matter, I just need to find something else. I send the thread into the infinite expanse of… whatever this plane of existence is, searching for a connection. I’m in the middle of the sea, so maybe a fish? I don’t know if they’re smart enough to think. I hope I don’t connect with the Sirens, I doubt they would just let me take over the way Tree Hugger does with the horses. Maybe a seagull or-
There! I connected with some-
“Sun-Sun?”
I shiver as I open my eyes, and I see Wallflower sitting on the deck in front of me. “Did you just call me-?”
“I didn’t,” she quickly replies. “And I would advise you to not do that again. Though I feel like that will only encourage you to keep trying.”
“I mean, if I just did what I think I did, Tree Hugger will be very curious about it too.”
Wallflower lets out a small, frustrated sigh, scratching her arm under the cape. “I guess it should be fine as long as you only do it with one person at a time.”
“Wait, I can do it with more than one person?”
Wallflower groans at her slip. “I’m not talking about it.”
“Is this something you do? Is it possession, or something else? How many people can you do it with?” Wallflower just frowns at me, making her stance on the matter clear. “Alright, questions for later.”
Wally’s angry face just gets cuter. “Questions for never.”
I raise my hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. I’ll just figure it out on my own.” I can't help but chuckle at Wally’s exasperation, which only makes her glare harder at me.
“You can be a real melter sometimes,” the goddess grumbles as I laugh.
“Look, you know I like you by this point, but you can't expect me to not try and figure out how this works. It’s like my–” I stop when I notice Wally’s anger had disappeared from her face, and now she’s looking at me with… is she blushing? “Are you okay?”
Wallflower seems to snap out of a trance before answering. “Yes! Perfectly fine. Just be careful with that.” She looks away from me, completely unable to hide her transparent attempts at finding another subject.
As amusing as her panicking is, I help her out. “Do you have any advice for when I confront the Sirens?”
“Oh! Yes, that’s why I’m here. You’re about to encounter them, just a few minutes from now.”
I could hug her, this is a massive advantage. “Thank you lots.”
“Have you prepared something to not get caught in their song?”
“I bought a bit of wax to cover my ears. Sombra and I agreed that I shouldn’t deafen myself for the fight, but I don’t have any defense otherwise.”
Wallflower frowns as she thinks for a moment. “Okay, I have something that would block the song and keep your hearing.”
“That's great!”
Wally looks away from me, wincing a bit before talking. “You’re… not going to like it.”
“Well, if it lowers my chances of getting eaten alive, I’ll deal.”
“Okay,” she says, tapping her legs. “Close your eyes.”
I do so a bit reluctantly, bracing myself for whatever she’s about to–
I suddenly feel her hands slap both of my ears at the same time.
“AHHHhhh, you fucking walloper!” I scream as my ears ring.
“I told you.”
“You could’ve told me a bit more! Bawbag.” As the pain starts to subside, I notice that the ringing remains, if just a bit lesser.
“This will distort the song entering your ears, nullifying any trance they try to put you into.”
“Okay, that’s pretty worth it. Thank you for doing it right before I meet them, too.” I stand up and go for my weapons, taking the flower in one hand and the shield in the other.
I feel two arms wrap around my torso in a firm hug. “Good luck.” I quickly try looking back, but I only catch a glimpse of flower petals floating away in the breeze.
Smiling, I check that the rope tying me to the mast is well secured. The last thing I want is to fall in the water during this encounter. I look at the flower, noticing that it’s still in its dormant state, meaning the Sirens haven’t found me yet.
I lower the sail and rest myself against the mast, keeping an eye on my surroundings. They’ll probably open with their song, though maybe they’ll skip that and go directly to a physical attack since it’s just me. If they capsize the boat, I’m dead, even if I win. Speaking of which, I’m still not sure how I can win to begin with. I’m guessing fish scales wouldn’t stop a sword from slicing them open, but I don’t want to kill them. There has to be a way to break the curse, though I doubt Star Swirl would just leave an obvious weak spot on them. Then again, it would make sense for him to do just that in case they got out of his control, given Sombra said he was still human at that time.
Suddenly, the flower starts glowing, and as it transforms into a sword, I hear them.
“Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh.”
Those… beautiful voices… like a sweet whisper.
The ringing in my ears suddenly rises in volume, snapping me out of the trance.
I look around again, trying to find some movement in the water.
“You didn't know that you fell.”
I see a purple fin break surface, moving closer to my ship, and a golden one joins it soon after.
“Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh.” I start singing along, walking stiffly towards the edge of the boat, hoping that they think their spell is working. As I reach the edge, I see a blue fin appear in the water, moving towards me, before the rest of a large horse-like head covered in fish scales rises from the ocean. Raspberry eyes look hungrily at me, and a predatory smile lets me see two rows of long, sharp, pointy teeth.
“Now that you're under our spell.”
The creature sets its two horse-like arms on the deck, pushing herself further out of the water as she tilts the ship. Her jaws open, ready to snarf me down in a single bite.
I grip my sword tightly, looking down her long neck for any vulnerable point to strike, and I’m surprised by what I find at the base of it. A shiny red gem the size of an apple, seemingly fused horribly into the flesh of her chest. The blue siren pulls her head back to attack, so I move quickly, delivering a powerful strike with all my strength.
I’m rewarded with the sound of the gem shattering into pieces.
The mesmerizing song is suddenly replaced with the horrible shrieks of the blue siren as she starts writhing in pain before falling onto the deck, splintering the wood with her weight.
She goes still for a moment, making me think that I killed her, but then her body starts convulsing again. I can hear horrible squelches and cracking of bones as her form shrinks down, making me want to puke, but once they finally end, the Siren has fully transformed into a blue woman with two-toned hair.
It worked! I can break their curse!
I’m suddenly reminded of the rest of the trio when the purple sea monster jumps out of the water in my direction, her jaws open and ready to tear me to pieces.
I manage to raise my shield in time for it to take the brunt of the attack, but the Siren's mandibles are too strong, and they start bending the metal, so I quickly slash the leather straps with my sword, freeing my arm right before the Siren finishes chomping down. I’ve lacerated my forearm, but better that than losing it completely.
The purple Siren spits out my now useless shield into the sea before lunging at me again, but this time I'm ready. I dive below her jaws, giving me a clear sight of my target. I swing again with everything I have, and the red gem shatters.
The purple Siren starts thrashing around the deck, damaging the boat before her body finally begins to reduce in size. The most worrying damage is a quite nasty tail bash to the mast, but I'll have to worry about it later; I still have one more to go.
I stand up and look around me in search of the yellow Siren, but she seems to have disappeared from the water. It isn't till I hear her growl angrily that I spot her… above me.
She's floating in the air.
Star Swirl, just what the fuck have you created, you crazy bawbag!
I grab my sword with two hands, ready to break the last gem as soon as I get the chance, but due to the monster being able to fucking fly, I'll need her to attack first. However, by the way she's looking at me, I think that she realized the same thing. She's calculating her next move, which is extremely worrying.
After a five second standoff, the Siren decides to go for a full frontal assault, so I prepare to dodge and counter with a slash to the gem. But when she's almost at arm's length, she suddenly stops and pulls back, making me think she's retreating.
I’ve been so focused on her jaws that I don’t see her tail coming till it hits me square in the chest.
I'm thrown from the boat in a long arc, and the sound of the rope snapping chills my bones even more than the cold water as I sink under the ocean. I quickly swim to the surface, taking in a lungful of air right before hearing the Siren dive into the water behind me.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck!
I start swimming as fast as I can towards the boat, feeling the Siren chasing behind me like the predator she is. As soon as I reach the ship, I raise my arms and lift myself up, but right before I finish climbing on, the Siren crashes into me, knocking the air out of my lungs. My sword flies from my hand as I momentarily black out, my head having smashed the deck after the impact.
As my vision slowly comes back into focus, I feel something warm and wet get a hold of my legs.
"Shit shit shit shit!" I scream, trying to pull myself out, but the Siren swallows my legs, ensuring that I can't escape. With a good hold on me, the sea monster lifts up from the water, pulling me away from the deck and my abandoned sword before tilting her head back and swallowing again, pulling me fully inside her mouth.
"No no no, not like this!" I scream as I grab the Siren's teeth with all my strength, their sharpness cutting into my hands as I try desperately to halt my descent to this creature's stomach, but another swallow breaks my hold on them. "No no no, please!" I shout, clawing at her tongue for any kind of hold I can get, but it's useless.
This is it. This is how I end…
No! There has to be something to do. I'll make her vomit, break the gem from the inside, take over her mind if necessary. I won’t die like this!
Suddenly, two arms enter the Siren's mouth and grab my wrists, pulling with enough strength to stop my descent down the throat. The next thing I hear is the sound of crystal breaking, before I’m promptly deafened by the Siren’s scream.
As the sea monster starts convulsing, I'm forcefully pulled out of its mouth by whoever grabbed my arms, and we fall onto the deck of the ship.
"Are you okay?" my savior asks me, and I'm about to kiss her when I realize she isn't Wallflower. It's the blue Siren girl.
"Something's wrong!" another voice shouts, and we turn to see the purple former Siren holding my sword in her hands, standing over the writhing body of the third Siren, who seems to be stuck mid-transformation, coughing and hacking before barfing out one of my boots.
"Ewwww." The three of us exclaim while the last Siren finishes transforming, now that she doesn’t have an obstruction in her throat.
The now-human woman looks around at us, noticing her two sisters' new form, and smiles before speaking with a hoarse voice. "It's finally over…" The other Sirens go over to her and they all share a big hug, overjoyed by their broken curse.
I smile at the sight, but as the adrenaline wears off, my wounds start painfully begging for attention. Both of my hands have shallow cuts along the palm and fingers, my right arm has a laceration that's bleeding more profusely, and, after touching the part of my face that got smashed against the deck, I can feel it swelling painfully.
I wish I had some of Chrysalis' jelly, but I guess some bandages will need to suffice for now. I also need a bath. I reek of fish and some other things I don't want to imagine. I slowly make my way to my supplies, rummaging through them till I find the bandages and a big wineskin.
"Let me help!" The blue Siren exclaims, suddenly appearing at my side and taking the bandages.
A purple hand grabs my arm, moving it slowly to look at my wound. "You're gonna need some stitches here," the purple Siren says before rummaging through my things in search of some thread and whatever she could use as a needle.
I smile at their help and look back to see the third Siren standing a few feet away from me, arms crossed, rolling her eyes but with a small smile on her face.
Now that I get a good look at her, I notice that the transformation back to human wasn't really intended. The… 'slot' where the gem was fused to their bodies is still there, luckily not bleeding, but it's a small hole of scar tissue right under her neck. Besides that, her skin still has scales in certain parts, like the shoulders and the sides of her torso.
She also has some pretty big ti-
It's then that my brain finally catches up to the fact that all three Sirens are completely naked, since the transformation wasn’t kind enough to give them clothes.
They… don't seem to mind, so no harm done, right?
"This will hurt."
"What?" I manage to ask before I feel a needle pierce my skin. "Ahhhhh!"
"Oh, suck it up, it's just a needle," the purple Siren chastises me and continues with her stitching.
"It took me by surprise, that's all," I say as I do my best to not show how much it hurts. That scream was embarrassing enough.
"What's your name?" The blue Siren asks as she finishes bandaging my hands.
"Sunset Shimmer, pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, the pleasure is definitely ours," the yellow Siren says right behind me. When did she get closer? And why does she sound so-
"My name's Sonata," the blue Siren says, interrupting my thoughts. "And these are Aria and Adagio," she adds, pointing at the purple and yellow Sirens respectively.
I just nod, since my mouth is too busy clenching my teeth each time the needle goes into my arm.
"So, why has our hero come all the way here and risked her life to save us?” Adagio asks very close to my ear, sending a shiver down my spine despite the pain.
"I… was sent on a mission. By the Goddess of Empathy.”
“Goddess of Empathy?” Sonata asks, more surprised than confused.
“Oh, don’t tell me that painted excerebrose actually became a god,” Adagio says, with all that sweetness in her voice replaced with venom.
“I thought her thing was giving hope and quisquilian things like that,” Aria adds before finishing with my arm, finally letting me unclench my teeth.
“If you’re speaking about Sonambula, yeah, she became the Goddess of Hope after defeating the Sphinx.”
Sonata grabs my non-wounded arm with a surprisingly intense grip; it seems like some of their old body’s strength remains. “Did she kill her?!” She asks with eyes about to cry another ocean into existence.
“No no no, she just sent it away by solving her riddle,” I say quickly to calm her.
“I told her the riddles were way too easy,” Aria grumbles behind me. "But the morosoph thought herself smarter than everyone else."
Right, these three are probably older than Celestia and Luna. No wonder they know ancient creatures personally.
"Well, as long as your goddess isn't part of those six excerebroses, we should be good." Adagio says before resting her head right above my shoulder. "Now, dear hero," she adds while running her finger under my chin, "tell us about yourself."
"Buh," is everything I manage to say as I stare at those brilliant raspberry eyes. Though my sight quickly goes down to- Focus, dammit! "That's not really important now, I need to take us back to the mainland." I quickly stand up and move over to the mast, unfurling the sail so we can start moving. "See if you can find something to cover yourselves while I'm at it!"
"We don't mind staying uncovered, if you enjoy the view," Adagio offers with a sultry smile, and I'm very tempted to accept.
“I thought you enjoyed taking them off first.”
“Don’t ruin the moment, Aria.”
“Sorry, I didn't want to ruin your ‘meal’.”
“Would you shut up?!”
I sigh with relief as the sirens start loudly arguing between each other, letting me focus on steering the ship back towards the coast. I look at the cut in my arm and realize it’ll probably leave a nasty scar. A small price for victory.
At least the hardest part of my labor is finished.
Night came fast for us, and, with it, some problems I didn’t consider when I set out to sea.
Even if I had hoped to save the Sirens, I didn’t make preparations to host three more guests, so I didn’t have spare beds, food, or even any clothes, which is the reason why they're currently wearing togas made from pieces of a spare sail. We’ll need to ration the food till we reach the shore, unless we get lucky and find another ship that can trade us some food.
So for now, it’s old jerky and hard tack for us. Not the best food in existence, but it doesn't seem to bother Sonata, who's just snarfing it down like the starving castaway that she technically is. Aria, for her part, doesn't seem to like the food even a single bit, but she's reluctantly eating little bites at a time. Adagio hasn't touched her food, looking at it with the disgust one would feel towards a rotten cadaver. She's become less… forward with me since her fight with her sisters, but she still glances at me from time to time in suggestive ways, making sure I notice.
Like right now, she's looking at me like I'm a– did she just lick her lips?!
"So…" Sonata says, interrupting my thoughts about that tongue’s movements. "What are you going to do now? What did the Goddess of Empathy want from us?"
Aria's and Adagio's attention suddenly focuses on me. Apparently this was something they’d been wondering for a while. "Well, my orders were to stop you from, you know, eating people."
"Like if that bearded morosoph gave us a choice." Aria growls, showing that they still had those razor-sharp teeth from their Siren forms.
"I'm pretty sure he was the one that wanted you all dead. Neither I nor Wally wanted to kill you. She even asked me to save you if I could."
"And we're mighty thankful for that. Though I think we haven't shown that enough." Adagio gives me that look again that never fails to put a bit of red on my cheeks.
"Wait… did you say Wally? As in Wallflower Blush?" Sonata asks, moving closer to me.
"Yeah, in fact, I think she said to save you specifically if I could." Wait, she knows her by name? How?
"Wally became a goddess?!" Sonata exclaims, and I can't help but feel an uncomfortable stir inside me at hearing someone else call her that. "Talk about a missed opportunity," she says sulking. "I shouldn't have sold her off."
My eyes immediately center on her. "What?"
Aria and Adagio look at each other, but Sonata keeps talking. "Like, Tirek offered a lot of money, and extra for her since she was my favorite, but a goddess-"
"The fuck are you talking about?!" I ask, clenching my fists, food crumbling in my hands.
Sonata looks at me with confusion. "Uh, my property?"
Sombra’s words come rushing to the front of my mind. “...they mostly handled the slave trade...”
"You enslaved Wallflower?!"
Sonata immediately backs down, raising her arms. "Hey, calm down!
“You enslaved a human being!”
“What? She isn’t human."
"What do you mean not human?!" I scream, going for her neck, but I'm suddenly tackled to the deck. "Get your scaly hands off of me!"
"We will when you calm down." Aria says as she and Adagio pin me to the floor. I swear, if they had normal strength, I would be kicking their asses off the ship right now.
"You better explain to me what she meant by that! You three owe me!"
The two Sirens look at each other before looking back at Sonata, giving her some sort of signal. The third Siren slowly gets in my range of vision, confused and a bit scared. "Okay… so… what do you know about the world right after Discord was defeated?"
"That kind of knowledge is up to speculation nowadays." I answer as calmly as possible.
"Really? You suck at keeping records or something?" Aria questions, making me glare at her.
Adagio suddenly seems to have an epiphany. "Wait, are those speculations based on what the Pillars say about those events?"
"Y-yes… most of them at least."
She gives me a wide grin and says something that might change the entire perspective of history if it was true. My jaw drops as I blurt out a response.
"What do you mean, Grogar won?!"
"Well, we weren't there to see it, but we can tell he succeeded in his mission."
"How? What was his mission? He isn't a god as far as I know."
Adagio laughed. "Oh, he didn't want to be a mere god. What Grogar wanted was to become Death itself."
"...what?" Are these three hallucinating or something?
Sonata raised her hand. "Well, back to what I was saying. After Discord was defeated by Harmony, the world was… kind of a mess. I mean, it was even more of a mess before, but now there was no one in charge of that chaotic mess. There weren't many rules, so a lot of stuff had to be made in his absence. Things like gravity, time, and… well, death."
"I’m sorry, I swear I'm one of the smartest people you'll find in this current era, but I don't follow."
"She means that death wasn't a thing.” Aria explains. “People and creatures didn't die of natural or unnatural causes. And if you knew magic that could heal your body, which a few knew how to like Star Swirl and Grogar, you were basically invincible. That's why our war lasted a thousand years. Warriors on both sides would just get healed and go back to fight endlessly."
“That’s why, when Grogar heard about our spell to make people fight for us, he added us to his army and gifted us an entire city for ourselves.” Adagio adds with a proud grin, which right now I want to punch off her face.
“This history lesson still doesn’t explain why you said Wallflower isn’t human. Or do you just consider all of your slaves below humans?”
“I will tell you if you stop interrupting me!” Sonata complains, her cheeks puffed.
I roll my eyes. “Fine, just tell the story then. And after it, you two will let me go!”
Sonata claps her hands together. “Okay, so. Wally actually predates humanity.” I’m about to ask what she means by that, but a stern glare from her stops me. “She and her entire ‘race’ are from the times when Discord was in his prime. When things were far more chaotic and magical. She and her race became more human-like when we, actual humans, started appearing.”
I shake my head. “Wait, she looks and acts just like me or you. Just, you know, godly. What makes her not a human?”
“Well, what is a human being like you and I made out of? Physically.”
“Uh… bones, flesh, organs... a lot of blood?”
“Correct! However, beings like Wallflower aren’t made of these things. She’s made of raw magic.”
I take a second to process that. “Raw magic… like a construct?”
“Yes! Just a kind of advanced version of it. Fully autonomous and ageless, always working at its full capacity.”
“Well, then we must be talking about different Wallflowers somehow. The Wally I know is always tired.”
Sonata frowns. “Really?... That's weird. Maybe she was a different Wallflower. I never discovered what Tirek wanted her and her race for. He just bought everyone from us and left right before Star Swirl invaded our city.”
“Do you by chance know what happened to that mountain of muscles?” Aria asks me.
“He’s the God of the Underworld.”
There’s a long pause as the three Sirens stare at me while processing my words.
“What the fuck?!”
“He betrayed us!”
“I’m gonna break his horns and shove them up his-”
“Ahem!” I shout over their words. “I shouldn’t be defending the guy, but he isn’t on good terms with the Pillars if that’s what you’re assuming. His relationship with them is more of a… dubious peace treaty.”
“I don’t believe for a second that Star Swirl didn’t try to turn him to stone or banish him to the Shadow Realm!” Aria shouts.
“The what?”
“Some weird pocket dimension he created to banish stuff into,” Adagio explains to me, and I can't help but wonder if that’s related to the Lord of Shadows.
“Well, according to recorded history, which may or may not be bullshit going by you three, Tirek became the God of the Underworld roughly around the time Grogar was defeated. So, the Pillars couldn’t just remove him from existence, and he’s since been living in Tartarus, where they can't reach him.”
“Wait, he actually built that thing?” Sonata questions.
“That’s why he needed so many slaves,” Aria concludes.
“It still leaves the question of why he didn’t take the human slaves too.”
“Maybe he didn’t want us to notice?” Sonata proposes.
“We definitely need to have a talk with him later.”
“Good luck with it, but before that, could you please get off of me?!” I shout, getting the Sirens’ attention.
“You promise not to attack Sonata, even if she deserves it?” Aria asks me.
I take a very deep breath. “Since Wally asked me to save her for some reason, I’ll leave it up to her to determine if I should strangle Sonata or not.”
The sirens holding me look at each other. “I think that’s the best we’re gonna get.” They slowly let me go, and I sit back on the deck before going for what’s left of my abandoned food.
“All good?” Sonata asks me, and I just glare at her.
“Fair...” With that, everyone goes back to their dinner, though I mostly just stare at mine like Adagio is doing.
This was quite a lot to go through.
Wallflower may be a construct, the Pillars have been lying for years ─old me would be quite happy with that─ Grogar is the very concept of death, and I’m the savior of three slavers, cannibals and…
He fed them the most dangerous of his enemies till the fight against Grogar ended.
“Wait, if death wasn’t a thing till Grogar won, what happened with the people Star Swirl… fed to you while-”
Adagio cuts through my question with sharp wording. “We decided to never talk about it.” She stares at me with fierce, protective eyes, and just like Wally, I see a small plea behind them. Glancing to the others, I see one of Sonata’s hands trembling, the other is firmly held by Aria.
“Sorry, I assumed you weren’t fully aware of things during that time.”
“We were aware enough,” Adagio says, looking at her food with the same disgust before forcing herself to eat it.
None of us say a word till it’s time to sleep.
There isn't enough space under the deck for all four of us, so I take my things to the top and set myself against the mast. It was like when I left Celestia's city, same uncomfortable position, same sheets; the food was better back then, though.
Looking up at the stars, at the supposed multitude of worlds barely different from ours, I can't help but wonder if things could be better.
I know that they could be worse if I succeeded in stealing the crown. But if I had asked Twilight for help? That's an option I never considered. I never considered getting actual help from somebody, I just wanted blind obedience so I could work on making things my way.
So I could make things right.
Yeah, that would've ended poorly.
Letting out a tired sigh, I get as comfortable as I can and drift off to sleep.
I slowly open my eyes, expecting to be awakened by a ray of sun in my face, but I notice someone placed a piece of cut sail above my head to block the sunlight.
"Great, they're naked again."
I rise from the deck and stretch, letting my bones pop back into place. It's a bit nostalgic, I must admit. The sound of laughter catches my attention, and, when I look to the sea on my right, I see Aria and Sonata in the water, swimming around with impressive speed and grace. Looks fun.
"Good morning, captain." I hear a voice say from the edge of the ship, and when I move over to look for the source, a yellow arm comes out of the water and pulls me down till I'm face-to-face with Adagio. "Why don't you join us? The water is great right now."
Oh, she's on forward mode again. Perfect.
"Someone should stay in the boat to make sure it doesn't drift away from you," I say as plainly as possible.
“Fair enough, then I’ll keep you company while the others play,” Adagio says with a smirk, beginning to pull herself out of the water, but I stop her by pressing my palm into her forehead.
“Before you try anything, I want to talk about Grogar.”
"Why would you want to talk about that old goat?" Adagio asks, her mood soured.
"I need to know if he's responsible for something."
Adagio lets out a sigh and goes back in the water. "When Grogar told us about his plan, he never mentioned an intention to cause death specifically. He always said death was a necessity of the world. Not something people wanted or deserved, but that needed to exist. So, if what you're asking is if Grogar is responsible for the death of someone you cared for, I can't really say for sure, but I don't think the old goat would do it out of malice."
I slowly nod. But then a different question pops into my mind. "What about people surviving death?"
Adagio has to think about this one for a few seconds. "Well, part of our deal was that me, my sisters and the others of his high ranks would get to keep our immortality after he became Death. The fact that we didn't starve to death while we were chained for years tells me he kept that promise, so I imagine he isn't against making exceptions for people."
The question would be; what kind of people? Was I one of those? And if that's the case; why?
"Hey… is this some sort of… did someone die while you lived?" Adagio asks me carefully, a tone of worry behind her voice.
Don't keep it to yourself. "My parents…"
Adagio looks back at her sisters, almost reflexively. "Very sorry for your loss."
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "Thank you for the answers."
"Hey, why don't you come inside the water? I'll keep guard on the boat. You need a bath anyway."
I frown and sniff myself. Yeah, I reek of dead fish and whatever passed through the Siren's mouth. "Fair, shout if the boat drifts too far from us or you see something in the water."
Adagio nods and begins pulling herself out of the water, so I quickly start changing so I avoid looking at her naked body. I set my armor and tunic on the edge of the boat so I can reach and give them a scrub, and approach the water in my underwear.
"Oh, stop being boring," Adagio exclaims before pulling my underwear off.
"Hey!" I shout trying to recover my dignity, but the Siren kicks me off the boat. "I'm gonna drown you!" I'm suddenly grabbed by the other two and pulled away, while they all laugh.
I ended up having a lot of fun in the water. Turns out I really needed some relaxation after everything that happened yesterday. Plus, I'm finally clean. AndAdagio washed my clothes and let them dry while I swam with her sisters.
I was so sure she would 'accidentally' drop them in the water so she could see me naked all the time, but she didn't, so I guess she isn't as rude as I thought. Actually, none of them seem like I would imagine them being. Being slavers, cannibals, and until yesterday, literal monsters, I was expecting them to be… I don’t know, trying to kill me? I know they don’t want to thanks to my sword, but that’s probably because I saved them from the curse. How will they act with normal people? What will they do once we’re back on land? At first, I thought Wally would take them in like me and others, but now that I know the past they have, I doubt either of them would want that.
“Hey, hero.” A voice snaps me out of my ramblings, and when I turn, I see the naturally scowling face of Aria. “Can I talk to you in private?”
I look to the other sisters, who’re at the other side of the boat, eating some raw fish that they hunted in the ocean. It’s a bit frightening seeing how easily they can bite chunks off of them, but at least it means we won’t run out of food. “Uh, sure.”
Aria sits down in front of me, her pose as firm and dominant as her expression. I would know. “What is the plan when we arrive at the shore?”
Am I being pranked by some god? “I’m not sure. It depends mostly on what Wallflower decides.”
I notice Aria clenching her teeth, not liking the answer. “Fine. But I’ll need a favor.”
“What kind?”
“When we are allowed to leave, we would prefer that our… past be forgotten. So we can start anew.”
“Wait a second,” I say, copying her pose. “Who said you would be just allowed to leave?”
Aria frowns. “Did you rescue us just to throw us in a cell?”
“My original mission was to just kill you. I saved you despite that, but that doesn’t mean you’re just free to do whatever.”
“Why not?!”
“You're criminals!” I shout before realizing the hypocrisy. “You’re slavers and murderers as far as I know! You can't just be free like nothing happened.”
Aria looks at her sisters, who seem to not have heard my voice. “Yes, we were. We’re not saying what we did in the past was right. Even then we knew that it was wrong.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because it was what we were good at! We had a skill and we used it as best we could to guarantee us a good life,” she growls at me, clenching her fists.
“And how can I be sure that you won’t do it again?” Aria seems taken aback by my words. “You’re still immortal. You’re stronger and more dangerous than the average person. And you have nothing if Wallflower or you yourselves decide to stay on your own.” I pause for a moment, but, before Aria can respond, I add something more. “I just want to be sure that what I’m doing won’t make things worse in the long run.”
Aria takes a deep breath to calm herself. “It’s true, I can't really promise you we won’t do something bad down the line if things get hard. Survival of the fittest is an ideology we have followed before. But…” she points at me with a trembling finger. “My sisters and I paid the price for our past crimes. Thousands of years chained and being forced to eat the people we once called friends, only finding some relief when we knew they were truly dead. If you’re gonna judge us, do it by what we do from now on, not the past. Because we. Have. Paid our due.” She then points at the wound in her chest, and the mutations on her body. “We’ll never be the same after all of that.”
I take a second to process that, imagining just how it must’ve felt, dragging my hand over my forehead and hair. “You're right. I’m… sorry.”
Aria lets out a long exhale, calming herself back to the regular scowl. “You had your reasons. But still, can I trust that we can at least get a clean slate from now on?”
I gave her a slow nod. “I can't give you guarantees, but at least for my part, I’ll give you three a chance.”
“Good enough for now.” She offers me her hand.
I smile and give it a firm shake. “By the way,” I look back at Adagio and Sonata to check that they’re still away. “Is Adagio… into me? Or is she always like that?”
“She thinks you’re delicious.”
“Delicious meaning…” I say for Aria to elaborate.
“Literally delicious. She can't get your taste out of her mouth.”
It takes a second for things to click in my head. “She wants to eat me?! Again?!”
“Not literally, she’s too small for that now, so I guess she’ll settle for eating your–”
“Nope! No, thank you. I’ll pretend those words didn’t exit your mouth. Goodnight!” I quickly move away from the group to go find my sword, just in case.
I’m suddenly woken up by the sound of panicked shouts. I swiftly rise up from my sleeping spot and take my sword, which is already ready for a fight. “What’s happening?!” I ask, seeing the three sisters scramble to get the sail down.
“We need to move faster or it’ll catch us!” Aria shouts as she climbs the mast.
“What will catch us?”
Sonata points behind us. “The bigger fish.”
I turn around and go over to the back of the ship, scanning the sea in front of me. The waters aren’t still, there are some waves around us, so it takes a few seconds for me to see it moving close to the surface.
Emerald scales, large red fins, sharp long teeth poking out of its mouth.
A Sea Serpent.
I immediately run and help the sisters get the sail ready so we can move at max speed, but the wind isn’t in our favor, and I can hear the damaged mast begin to break with the wind pressure. “We’ll lose the mast if we keep going like this.”
“We’ll be worse if it catches up to us!” Aria shouts back.
“Don’t you three know it? Have you ever faced it before? Does it have a weakness of some sort?”
“Every time it would come for us we would just fly away to a new location. And I doubt your sword will do anything to it.”
I look back at the Sea Serpent and notice that it's been getting closer to us despite our boost in speed. It’ll catch up to us soon, even sooner if the mast breaks down.
We can’t escape.
Fighting it would be suicide.
There’s only one option left.
I sit down on my knees, and join my hands in prayer. “Lady of the sun, whose morning you gift us every day, please cast your sunshine on me, and grant us protection of things unseen.”
I wait for a moment, hoping for some signal or some change in the weather, but the sun is hiding behind the clouds.
“Lady of the sun, whose morning you gift us every day, please cast your sunshine on me, and grant us protection of things unseen!” I shout this time. I know she’s listening, she has to be.
I see the Sea Serpent getting closer, it’ll soon be upon us, and the damn boot keeps acting dumb.
Suddenly, Sonata kneels beside me. “Lady of the sun, whose morning you gift us every day, please cast your sunshine on me, and grant us protection of things unseen.” I see tears running down her cheeks as she says the words for the first time, her voice trembling with fear.
Adagio takes a knee beside her and hugs her sister, whispering the prayer as she looks at the Serpent approaching.
Aria also joins in the whisper, standing in front of them, with a long piece of splintered wood whose tip is just pointy enough to be considered a spear.
I look back at the sky, but the sun is still hiding behind the clouds. She’s not listening. She doesn't care.
The Sea Serpent rises from the water, much bigger and more monstrous than even the Sirens once were, its big blue eyes looking down at us, its sharp jaws almost grinning at our hopelessness.
Aria readies her spear, and I stand with my sword in hand. Maybe cutting the tongue once I’m in its mouth will bleed it to death if the wound is large enough.
Suddenly, the clouds part, and a ray of sunlight lands directly on the Serpent’s eyes, making it reel back as it hisses in pain. Almost at the same time, a sudden current starts pushing our ship away from the monster and closer to land. Aria and I still hold our weapons at the ready in case the Serpent tries to attack, but the creature seems to have been completely blinded by the sun, its blue eyes now covered with white. It starts thrashing around in panic, trying to orient itself, but luckily we are already far away enough that we can’t get hit by its flailing body. Only when we see it disappear under the water do we finally sigh in relief and calm down.
We're safe. By a literal miracle.
I turn to look at the sisters and I’m suddenly pulled into a group hug by Sonata.
“We’re alive!”
“Why do happy people’s hugs hurt so much?” I strain to say as my lungs, spine and ribs get crushed.
“My theory is that they're too dense to give normal hugs.” Aria answers, her insides being equally pulverized.
Sonata finally lets us all go, and while we try to recover our breath, she turns to me. "By the way, what was that ritual you were saying? That's what brought the sun and stuff, right?"
"The- oh, you mean the prayer? Yeah, it was a prayer to Celestia, Goddess of the Sun." The three look at me with some confusion. "Right, you probably missed those ones."
"How many gods are there now?" Adagio asks.
"Uh, wait a second." I make sure we are going the right way and that the Serpent isn't around before sitting down with them. "Okay, so. You all knew about the Pillars and Tirek. Have you heard about the Ladies of Time?"
"Yeah, we met them a while ago," Aria answers.
"I believe those two were the first to become gods," Adagio adds, which makes sense.
"Okay, so, besides those and Wallflower, the next one to ascend to godhood were sisters Celestia and Luna, as goddesses of the Sun and Moon respectively."
Sonata raises her arm. "Wait, but we already had sun and moon in our times."
"Did they steal them or something?" Aria asks.
"Well, the story is, was," I correct, "that Celestia ascended when she killed Chrysalis."
"They killed Chrissy?!" Sonata suddenly explodes in rage, raising up with her sharp teeth bared and fists clenched.
"No no no no no, she isn't dead. It was a lie, she's fine, I met her a few weeks ago. We're actually going to her home so you can meet her there," I quickly shout to calm the angered Siren, which luckily works well enough as she lets out a sigh of relief before sitting down.
"I don't care what her mother did, Chrysalis is a sweet girl and shouldn't be hunted for what we did," she says grumpily.
"She… did start a war with the entire world."
Sonata blinks twice but her stance doesn't change. "She must've had her reasons."
"Okay. As I was saying, that was supposedly how Celestia ascended to godhood, being both revered by a large enough population and having the blessing of the gods after defeating such a dangerous foe to the world. But I discovered that it was a lie, so I don't know what she actually did."
"What about Luna?" Adagio asks.
"Supposedly, she stopped a meteor from destroying the continent."
"That… sounds kind of impossible," Aria says with a raised eyebrow.
I shrug. "Both sisters were pretty powerful, so I do think it's possible."
"Were there other ones besides those two?" Sonata asks.
"Yes, the next one was Cadence. She's… a bit more complicated."
"How so?"
"Well… she-" I stop, noticing a subtle shine all along the ship, right before it suddenly freezes in place.
We all look around us with weapons drawn, ready for some kind of attack, when I notice that the sail has been frozen too, meaning that whatever stopped us is of magical nature.
"We're close to land!" Sonata shouts, pointing at the pier in the distance, probably a few hundred meters away. "We can swim the rest of the way!"
I wince at the distance. "I won't make it that far."
"We can carry you. Let's go." Adagio grabs my arm and starts pulling me to the edge, but right before any of us can jump on the water, a bright silver circle appears in front of us, and inside it I can see a familiar symbol.
"Oh no."
The circle brightens, shooting a pillar of light to the sky for a few seconds, and when it disperses, it reveals an old man, without any wrinkles on his skin, wearing tunics with different shades of deep blue, decorated with markings of stars and moons.
It was Star Swirl, the God of Knowledge. The real Star Swirl.
We can all feel the raw magic emanating from him like an oppressive heatwave, yet Aria is mad enough to throw her makeshift spear at him, which disintegrates before it even gets close to hitting the target.
The ancient god focuses his eyes on me. "I thought my letter was clear, Sunset Shimmer. You had to kill these three so they would stop their rampage of harm. Why are they still alive? Why are you taking them to shore?"
I swallow a lump in my throat before responding. "I broke their curse, they're normal now. They pose no threat."
Star Swirl looks at the Sirens, who slowly move behind me, looking for protection. "These three will never be normal. Their mere existence is a threat to all."
"Because we know the truth you've been hiding for so long, you bearded morosoph!" Aria shouts defiantly.
To my surprise, Star Swirl seems unbothered by her words. "Whatever you think you know lacks any form of proof, and telling the world about your origins will only land you a slower death for defying the gods."
That is sadly true. Even if we had proof, the people would be more willing to burn us at the stake than hear our words.
"Regardless of what you wanted, Wallflower was the one that gave me this task, she'll decide their fate," I say, hoping that some rule between the gods could help me keep these three safe.
"She may be the Goddess of Empathy, but even she must know that these three deserve no mercy." Star Swirl raised one of his hands, moving his fingers until a circle of magic formed in front of it. "Besides, the Sirens are my responsibility after all." I feel very powerful magic start to gather into the circle. "I would recommend stepping aside."
I stand my ground, not sure if in some act of stupid defiance or just because I was freezing out of fear, but regardless, the last thing I want is for this bearded bawbag to murder the Sirens.
I consider praying to Celestia again, hoping for another miracle, but one suddenly presents itself on its own.
"The Sirens aren't your responsibility anymore."
Star Swirl turns his head back, and standing behind him is a much taller figure, looking down at him while wielding a dark blue, star-patterned trident. "What do you mean by that, Luna?"
"The Sirens have been my responsibility since the sinking of Mount Aris,” the goddess exclaims, clutching the trident in her hand.
“These aren’t the same kind of Siren, Luna. These are ancient monsters, they do not deserve protection or pity," the god explains calmly, not the least bit threatened by his peer.
“They’re creatures of the sea, which is my domain. So I will decide their fate." Luna takes a step forward, looming over him.
Star Swirl scratches his long beard, looking at Luna straight in the eyes. The Sirens and I are practically shaking, waiting for a response.
“Very well, but only as long as they remain in your domain. If I see them come to dry land, they’ll be out of your protection.”
“I still have to present them to Wallflower,” I interject.
Despite looking at his back, I know Star Swirl just rolled his eyes. “With that exception.”
“Very well, I’ll escort them there,” Luna declares, pulling her weapon back.
“As you wish. Do not be late for our meeting.” With another circle of magic, Star Swirl vanishes, and we all let out a sigh of relief, almost falling on the deck as the tension leaves our bodies.
"Despite the years, he's still a piece of shit," Adagio grumbles, while my attention focuses on the imposing goddess that is now standing right in front of us.
"I… sorry for… when we first met–" I start mumbling, but I stop when Luna lets out a long laugh.
"You mean when I made you literally face your inner demon?”
‘Luna’ laughs again at my absolute confusion, then lets me see her eyes change color to a familiar green. “Chrysalis?!”
Hearing my words, Sonata lets out a loud gasp. “Chrissy!” By some form of magic, the blue Siren suddenly launches herself into the disguised changeling, nearly pushing her off of the ship. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much! You’ve grown a lot!”
“Nice to see you too,” Chrysalis struggles to say as the blue menace hugs her neck with tremendous strength. “Now please get off me!”
Sonata lets go of her and takes a few steps back. “Oops, sorry, I forgot you like personal space.”
I feel like she and Pinkie would get along if they met, but humanity wouldn’t survive.
“Thank you for saving our asses,” Aria says, giving the changeling a fist bump while she smiles. “We owe a lot of favors already,” she then adds, her scowl returning immediately.
“I’m assuming what you told that old beard was a pile of lies,” Adagio says, seeming a bit upset at the changeling’s presence.
“Not all of it. You can be safe in the deep sea. What’s left of my family hid there for some time. It’s out of the gods' direct sight.”
“We’re not aquatic anymore,” Adagio points out, raising her eyebrow.
“I can teach you how to shape your bodies like my kind does.”
That statement got a reaction from all of us.
Sonata's excited. Aria seems hesitant. Adagio's incredulous. And I'm just dumbfounded that changeling magic can be learned. I need to get her to give me some lessons.
“I know you wouldn’t propose it if it wasn’t possible, but are you sure?” Adagio asks. “I know you like my sisters, but this is pretty much taboo for your kind.”
Chrysalis gives the Siren a sad smile as she lowers to her eye level. “A lot has happened. The changelings’ customs are pretty much gone. And I'll do whatever I can to save what little family I have left. And that includes your sisters and you.”
The Sirens look at each other, the full weight of Chrysalis' words sinking in each of them. Sonata walks over to the changeling and hugs her side, Aria adding a hand on her shoulder as a form of consolation.
Adagio seems to be internally fighting to say something, but, after about a minute of silence, just crosses her arms and sighs. "Thank you. We... really don't have anything else, do we?"
"I'm afraid so. But there's new allies to make," Chrysalis says, glancing at me.
Adagio looks in my direction, and I notice a hint of a smile on her lips. "I think I'm up for some new friends. But first we need to meet Wallflower."
"She's waiting on the shore." Chrysalis lifts her trident, and a sudden current starts moving the boat at top speed towards land.
"Wait, that's actually Luna's trident?" I ask as I brace myself from the sudden movement.
"I collected it from the center of Mareantis years ago." Chrysalis looks at the dark blue weapon, rubbing her thumb over it. "I thought that it would be enough for her to at least come take it back. See her again, even if it's brief."
I give her a sympathetic smile. That event was more than just 'years' ago. It must be a torture in of itself. I wonder why Luna would keep her distance, though. Maybe too risky of an encounter if the other gods realize she's alive?
I can visit her temple again and ask. Once this is over.
It takes just a few minutes to reach the shore, and, just as Chrysalis said, Wallflower is waiting there, walking circles on the sand. She looks a lot more nervous than any other time I’ve seen her.
As soon as we hit the shore, Sonata jumps off the ship and goes to her.
“Hey Wally… been a while…” she says nervously, rubbing her arm as she seems to struggle with finding the words to speak. “Sunset told me you–”
Her speech is cut off as Wallflower’s left hand grabs her neck in less than a second.
I can’t move. Aria and Adagio, who were the first to defend Sonata every time she was in danger, are also frozen in place. Even Chrysalis doesn't dare to move a muscle.
Because while Sonata cries and struggles to breathe… we all feel it.
It’s… a familiar feeling. Right, my execution. When I was at the top of the gallows and looked at the thousands of faces watching me. All their hatred focused solely on my person.
This is similar, except that instead of the population of a city, it feels more like entire generations of humankind are being concentrated in the singular body of Wallflower. Their ire burning in her eyes, their vengeance strengthening the hand that is about to snap Sonata’s neck like a twig.
Then suddenly, just as quick as it came, that feeling leaves, and Wallflower pulls her arm back as if Sonata’s skin was burning her.
“I’m sorry…” Wallflower says as she takes a few steps back. “I… thought I was better than that.”
Aria and Adagio quickly run over to Sonata, who’s touching her neck softly, feeling a quite noticeable mark where Wally’s fingers pressed into her skin.
Wallflower tries to flee by turning into petals, but she’s suddenly stopped when they burn with a green flame, leaving her confused.
I feel Chrysalis' hand rest on my shoulder. “Go with her, I’ll help the others,” she whispers in my ear before going with the Sirens, offering some comfort to the very scared Sonata.
I quickly run up to Wallflower, touching her shoulder to stop her from trying to leave again. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yes,” Wally answers automatically, then looks at me with confusion. “Shouldn’t you be worried about her?” she asks, looking briefly in Sonata’s direction.
“She has her family, you only have me right now.”
“I have others…” Wally says, and I can tell it’s another slip.
“Are they… inside you?” She pauses for a moment, seeming to think something over, then gives a small nod. “Are they who pushed you to do… that?
Another pause, much longer this time. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“I have time to listen. If you want,” I offer, trying to look her in the eyes,
“I don’t,” she says with bitter coldness, scratching her arm under the cape.
“Okay, not now. But later? That was… I’m just worried.”
“Did they tell you?” She asks as she finally looks me in the eyes. “About the slave.”
“They did… and I would also like to talk about that.”
Wallflower looks at me for a few more seconds before letting out a very long sigh. “Can you stay at the port? We can talk there after I… deal with some things.”
“It’s okay,” I say, grabbing her other shoulder. “I’ll wait till you feel ready.”
Wally nods, taking a deep breath before looking at the Sirens. “Tell them that they’re free to go with Chrysalis. She already told me what she had planned to keep them hidden.”
“I will,” I say with a smile, and it makes me happy when Wallflower smiles too.
“And… thank you for saving them,” she says before vanishing into petals, leaving me with a lot of questions.
But I’m more worried about what the answers will be.
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Peer.
I loved this chapter
11120957
Happy to hear that, and thank you, I can't believe I missed that error
Well, you did kinda defy her, so I'm not surprised.
But, at least in the end, she was merciful.
Sunset must've been desperate to pray to Celestia for help. Would suggest she might be coming around.
11121210
Remember she's not only praying for herself, but the Sirens as well.
11121215
True, otherwise Celestia would've cared even less, if at all.
Star Swirl...still a asshole he is before Twilight/Starlight Friendship lesson in FIM.....but that won't happen here because he is an asshole and God on top of that.......
well.....Sunset has the game it seems.....Sexy Siren after her....yum yum.
Unexpected but welcome vocab words in the sirens' dialogue.
"He even made up a card game to use in banishing rituals. It never caught on, like I told him it wouldn't."
"... Wait, we're in the middle of the ocean. How did you clean these?"
"You brought plenty of fresh water with you."
"Yeah, to drink."
"... Oh. Right."
Ah, contradictions in the dictates of gods. I'm sure this won't have disastrous consequences. And Wallflower's past definitely presents a lot to unpack. This will be awkward for everyone involved.
Oh Shimmer, Shimmer, Shimmer. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Haven't you learned by now that the hardest part of the labor is the emotional drama after the physical confrontation?
Another wonderful chapter! I wasn't expecting nearly the amount of world-building and lore that we got! I love that so much of it was told in dialogue to the Sirens, not just as narrative, and that it's excellent placement because, for all intents and purposes, we're just as much in dark about certain aspects of the word as they are (except for the stuff the reader already does know, in which case its just as hilarious to read and imagine the Sirens' response).
And twist after twist! You think the climax is when Sunset defeats the Sirens (which, I'll admit, happened so relatively quickly that I was thinking it was abit anti-climatic, before you pulled out all those other surprises), but the we get the sea serpent, Celestia's intervention, Star Swirl, Luna's reveal, which turns out to be Chrissy's reveal (now that was probably the most ingenious twist so far in this story!), and even Wallflower's semi-meltdown!
Every act of this chapter was just filled with immersive, plot-twisting, climatic goodness!
And Sunset praying to Celestia? Not just for her own sake, but for the sake of the Sirens? Very humbling.
I mean, I'd imagine she'd pray to Wallflower if she could,, but we've seen that Wallflower doesn't really work that way, and even so, Wally can't really fight or wield power like that (hence, why she needs Sunset as her champion to begin with). I'll admit, throughout the story, there's moments where we wonder why the gods and goddesses do or don't intervene the way they way that they do, but (aside from plot convenience 😉) we do have to realize that there are rules and reasons for this (though, with some being as petty as they are, not all the reasons are good ones).
Heh, and don't think we didn't notice the little 'Sun-Sun' slip, or how said Sun-Sun almost kissed what she presumed to be Wally when she presumed her goddess to have been the one to have saved her from Adagio.
Can't wait for the next chapter! I know it takes time to churn out such quality work, but I hope it happens soon!
11121879
I'm having a lot of fun with this little quirk I got for the story.
I may make this canon
You have no idea
Hahahaha, yeah, the Sirens fall into a very particular spot being in the beginning of the world and having lost the middle of everything. It was fun having them and Sunset fill the gaps of knowledge each have.
I'm happy because that was one of my worries since the battle was never intended to be very long (though I can assure you future fights will be longer since the threats won't have an easy solution)
I'll say, besides some plot convenience, there are rules, like the "you can only ask for help if you know the rites". But particularly with Wallflower, it's two things. One, she can't really intervene in Sunset's labors, since that would defeat the purpose of them (kinda like asking the teacher to solve the exam for you) and the other is, like it has been mentioned before in the comments, Sunset doesn't see Wallflower the same way as the other gods.
I hope not to take too long too! I do really enjoy making these but it's a lot of particular effort.
Thanks for the comment!
Loving this story. Hope all is well with you. Keep up the good work.
hope the next chap come out fairly soon please
11158585
Sadly, it'll come by next month if lucky. I've been busy with other projects
11158615
no prob, was just wondering, thx for the answer
Ok...
So, the fight wasnt quite as climactic as I hoped it would be, nor long enough, rather short actually, but I suppose it was fine the way it was. I just thought the showdown would be a great battle.
Though, after that, I have a bit of a problem. You see, the way information was given to us here, even though felt natural, didnt have much ompf. The sirens side of the story does change what we would have had in our minds about the gods, but the problem is, we gave little to no info about the past history and the gods for it to be a twist really. So, it felt more of an info catch up which, personally, I think it should have been scattered through the whole story instead of this one chapter.
The only bit it did manage to raise more question to keep me invested was the parts that were about Wallflower.
Now, I think I got my answear to why sunset calls Wallflower, Wally. Though, when I think about it a little, I feel the relationship might have went a little fast, though that might be me and there is probably a lot more left to come.
Additional note: you really gave Adagio a vore fetish, huh?
Well, one thing's for certain now. Regardless of what they did as overlords, they're really not the true villians here. This experience visibly damaged them, and no wonder. Granted, when death is off the table, getting rid of someone requires... creativity, but this was done to them out of spite.
I suppose this is part of what you meant by saying that some of Sunset's opinions of the gods are justified.
And that's the best possible demonstration of Sunset's indomitable spirit. Whatever her feelings on the matter, she will pray to Celestia, if that's what it takes. No hesitation.
An exceptionally strong moment here. After this, yeah, you better believe she'd try everything she thought of and more, to survive being vored. It's truly not over till it's over.
ehehe
well that’s very useful! good thing Sunset managed to contact Wallflower
very nice. of the three of them, Adagio is definitely the, well, possibly only one to get the better of Sunset tactically
Sunset! lol
very Adagio
learned two new words today that i may never see again in my life!
third one! and Sunset sure is meeting a lot of ancient creatures who personally know the characters from her own culture’s myths and legends lately
Adagio moment
definitely, considering the contrast with the missing left arm of Rainbow Dash in the previous chapter. also, oh, those Sirens!
Adagio is being very Adagio in this
oh, wow! after Aria’s line earlier i assumed that Wallflower was going to turn out to have a background similar to Sunset’s, so this is quite a twist, not to mention about the history of this world itself!
well i can’t help but wonder if that’s related to pony Starswirl’s relationship with the EqG world!
and oof. this getting to the Sirens who are otherwise so blasé about everything else they’ve done really says something
oh you just had to go there!
and augh, wow! this entire last section was so filled with twists that the only thing i’m really sure about at this point is that Starswirl is a dick. definitely looking forward to Wallflower possibly shedding light on her past, especially with the Sirens. her wish for Sunset to save rather than kill them has a lot more layers to it, looking back with the revelations in this chapter.
amazing stuff as always! just as i settle into the setting and lore of this world, the story adds ever more twists and turns to it. the picture that the Sirens paint of what the world was like in their day is so strange that it is hard to imagine it being accurate, but i will see!
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I'm loving researching words for this story. And Sunset will be discovering the past of the world bit by bit.
I woke up my cat from laughing so hard at this.
Next chapter is a big one for lore and the past of the world. Hope you enjoy it!