- Member Since 21st Dec, 2021
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SizeofMT
Occasional author. Emphasis on "occasional."
SizeofMT
Joined 21st Dec, 2021 ·
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Does this story have any sex scenes, implied or otherwise, where the woman does most or all of the work?
Reading the first two chapters, this story looks like it has a lot of promise! Keep up the great work, I want to see where this goes!
11129265
To begin with? And considering the sex tag. Yes, Adagio leads the way. Later moments will be more balanced once Radian gets some experience.
11129266
Thanks! It's going to be a pretty long journey and should offer some twists and turns, and I'm currently planning weekly uploads, but that may increase if I get substantially ahead of the writing (I'm on chapter 8 at the moment).
11129292 Glad to hear you've got more in the pipeline!
One question though: no spoilers, but judging by the tags, Aria and Sonata aren't going to make an appearance?
11129305
The interesting things with tags is certain ones I've had to be transparent about (for moderation purposes especially, like the sex tag even though that won't appear for a good few chapters yet, or narcotics even though it only really features in these first two chapters and one bit of casual drinking that will appear later), and others I intend to play close to my chest because there's a lot of plot points that I want to keep hidden until closer to time, where I'll edit said tags as necessary.
Trust me, those character tabs will get filled. Some may be more expected than others.
I will say that Radian and Adagio will be the only constants throughout, but there are a fair number of characters that will play a major role before this story reaches its conclusion, but hints will be dropped so the reader will have a fun time guessing (or frustrating time guessing, depending on how you interpret the story).
11129289
What about the other two Dazzlings?
11140679
I'm sorry. I wanted to respond so you know you aren't being ignored, but this is one of those impossible questions where any answer would be massive spoilers.
All I can say is to read this comment I made earlier.
11129310
We're still far far from the end of the story.
I don't get the science at all but I like this. My OC Cassandra does get the science and she likes it too.
11143770
I'm glad to hear that!
Plenty more to come. It's going to be a long, winding road.
Wow! That was a very amazing chapter!
11146712
Thanks! And I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Hopefully the plot is entertaining too. I wanted to build into the relationship gradually, even if the 'spice' in this one was given plot reasons.
That said, there will be more to come if that's what you're after.
11146736
I'll be honest: I was expecting a bit of hypnosis in this chapter.
11146827
Adagio's sadly lacking any of her old powers, but that's the point of the plot. Any control she has over Radian at the moment is purely because he wants to obey.
But, of course, if they succeed? This is a story of some length. Who knows what's on the horizon?
11146878
Keep it going!
God damn it, Sunset! Do you not get that looking at someone's memories without their permission is not only invasive, it's a violation?!
11163528
It's a challenging situation. A former nemesis, who has demonstrated a lack of desire to play nice didn't even want to when she had no choice but to act as a human, suddenly comes up to you and starts wanting to build bridges with you, which is great.
But then they ask to have the source of their powers restored? Good faith gets tested and sometimes you need to get answers directly from the source.
(On a purely storytelling perspective, it's a risky one too and I halfway expect the act might have annoyed some. I wanted to demonstrate the good guys as good guys as they should be, considering we're humanising a villain and who would have easily been a lackey of a villain in the form of Ray, but also have some degree of animosity between Adagio and Sunset as well that isn't so cleanly swept away because of their past. Not to mention it's not out of character, considering Sunset literally stole a glance at Adagio's mind at the Starswirled festival)
Glad you're still along for the ride, by the way! Hope you're still enjoying it.
11163579 I'm very much still getting a kick out of your story!
I agree that this is entirely in-character for Sunset (as you noted, she's done this in the source material), but hopefully this will be a lesson to her that it's not okay to just start going through people's memories at her own convenience. Unfortunately, she seemed indignant when Adagio slapped her, rather than properly ashamed of herself, so I doubt any lesson was learned.
But at least we're up to two Sirens now! Everyone's favorite bubbly airhead is back, and I suspect the character she's voicing isn't the only one her fans on the forums want to have sex with.
Just one word for Sonata at the end here: DAMN!
11165518
One of the things I wanted to give to this story was a sense that after breaking up they all developed and become unique in some way since they've all broken away from the status quo. It has been a couple of years, and without them being a group, they've all learned something about themselves as individuals.
Spoilers for anyone reading comments before reaching chapter 15
Adagio always has the brains for success, but held onto her resentment and has struggled for it. An angry loner is a hard sell. Though this story shows she did try other options (her bar idea, getting into music theatre and such). She got unlucky and fell on hard times, but having someone support her has not only given her a chance to recover a lot of her ego, but she's been forced to apply herself and learn, and has shown that she was the brains of the Dazzlings for a reason.
Aria, as revealed here, did start making something of herself, but she's also come unstuck since she was more talented than her band and they've kicked her out out of jealousy. Again, she's still very much like her classic self, so playing nice doesn't come that natural to her.
Sonata, though? She was the easiest going of the three and I always figured she would get along with humanity if they showed her a little kindness that her bandmates really didn't know how to offer. So she's found success, she's applied her talents and is doing well. She's also reconciled with Aria after bshe was dropped by her band, and with Adagio apologising and letting her anger go, Sonata's also found that they do get along too, if only as as pairs. Not to mention she draws a lot of inspiration from her cartoon (which is all about differing personalities joining and becoming stronger together), so she's going to apply what she knows to her sisters in the form of tough love.
I suppose it wouldn't have ended well for Ray, but it's a shame he didn't get to bag the remaining Sirens. At least Adagio's learning how to treat her family like an actual family.
11168410
In early drafts, he did, but I know the non-consentual nature of how things play out might have been not to everyone's tastes.
But who knows what'll happen when everyone's getting along better?
Well it took awhile but their in ponyland now.
11174679
It is, in fact, time for ponies!
I've tried to strike a good balance of time spent, so buckle up, because we're gonna be here for a while.
And here I thought the Sirens were supposed to be temptresses.
So Sunset Shimmer's ability to read minds from a distance, from the animated short where that happened, is a bit of an unpleasant surprise. Doubly so since she and Twilight know something's up now, but it's their insistence on helping anyway that's bordering on condescension, since they seem intent on "reforming" Radian and the Sirens. Which in Sunset's case seems rather self-righteous, since she's the one who has yet to fully make up for the hurt she caused Radian in the first place (true, he's deliberately kept from her exactly what she did to him, but she still knows she treated him very badly).
But this...it's almost like she's trying to drive a wedge between him and Adagio, here. Unbelievable.
11177654
Sunset has seen the consequences of her actions (even saying she understands his anger back when she read his memories in chapter 14). Her reasons for this act will be forthcoming in the next chapter, once we delve into what finally broke Adagio.
Also, in defence of Sunset, Radian’s hardly been willing to meet her halfway, nor openly let her help him. That’s his right, of course. Instead he’s leaning on her good intentions in ways that’s not exactly going to smooth the problem over.
It’s fun playing and writing in these shades of grey. Neither side is exactly being stellar or honest, and it’s doing nothing but cause problems.
That wasn't as dark as I was worried it'd be, since it really seemed like Adagio had either been sexually assaulted or made to turn tricks to survive. Which isn't to say that what she went through wasn't extremely upsetting, but still...it could have been worse.
At least now Radian knows that he shouldn't have looked at her memories, but I'm a bit worried by his not arguing with Sunset's preaching. She's really coming across as heavy-handed in her trying to push reformation on him and Adagio, and it makes me wonder how much she's really changed. I mean, yeah, she's not leading an army to conquer Equestria anymore, but she still seems to be inclined to try and shove her way of doing things down other people's throats. "I know what's best for you" isn't exactly a message that garners a lot of sympathy, regardless of whether or not she happens to be correct.
Of course, after all of these setbacks, it's nice to see that Radian now has an unexpected power all his own. Hopefully he and Adagio won't abandon their plan now that he has an ace on his flank.
11179448
From a purely storytelling perspective, sexual assault would have been an easy and ham-fisted way to earn sympathy. I'm not going to look down on people who do feel the need to use the trope, but it's a very 'napalm the story for character sympathy' way of doing it. Also ensuring there was a constant sign she never quite lost all her pride was crucial, so yeah, selling herself for money wasn't the message I wanted to go for either. She skirted the very bottom of 'living life', saw what was there, and that's all that was needed.
Showing how vulnerable Adagio was for that moment is plenty, in my opinion. Especially since it I think it depicts an understandable lowest point for Adagio as a once nigh-unstoppable siren; the very people she despised, and had all the control she ever wanted over, can easily best her.
There's still merit in what Sunset says, but you can't help but wonder how the scism between her and Radian may be skewing and conflating the situation on both sides. Both do want to help Adagio, especially in light of what she's been through, both have very different ideas on how to do that.
And I do hope I'm striking a believable balance. I don't want to make Sunset's attempts to help seem unbelievable or too overt.
How can a story that updates this often not be complete?
11185239
Two words; Pony novel.
Seriously, though, this baby's gonna hit 100k words easily.
Twilight's elucidating that there's good in Sunset isn't without merit, but that's not the issue at hand (or rather, at hoof). The issue is that Sunset's conclusively responsible for making Radian miserable for what sounds like at least a year or two, and was arguably a contributory factor in the death of his mother (though that one is far from certain, and is likewise somewhat mitigated by the fact that she couldn't possibly have known that).
To put it another way, Twilight is saying that Sunset's reformation alone warrants Radian's forgiveness, and while that particular stance might be common in Equestria, most people from contemporary Earth hold that a state of genuine remorse does not obviate being punished for wrongdoing. That Sunset feels bad about what she did isn't enough; she needs to pay a price for it, otherwise justice is being miscarried. You could argue that she approached Radian about trying to make it up to him, and he turned her down, but that was a ploy on his part to preserve his plan with Adagio; it's clear he still wants some sort of restitution from her. (And no, her helping out with the Sirens' gems doesn't count; that scenario was presented to her under the premise that the three Siren sisters were dying, which means she's morally obligated to help prevent that; doing so does not serve a dual purpose in also making up for her past misdeeds.)
Unfortunately, Equestria's idea of justice doesn't seem to take obligatory punishments into account if the wrongdoer is repentant, and while Twilight is talking a good game, I have to wonder if Radian will really be satisfied with that.
Radian's indignation at Sunburst's inadvertently referring to the Sirens as creatures was really sweet.
11190023
Two socially awkward guys.
One who's longed for and earned a deep relationship (and a couple of budding ones), is eager to do whatever he can to sustain and improve said relationships, and has learned to make use of his ballsier attitude but is still not great at controlling said emotions.
Another who's mellow, a bit of a Starswirl the Bearded fanboy and had literally only noted the sirens as an Equestrian threat until a couple of days prior to the events in this chapter.
It was always going to end in an awkward clash.
At what point does Radian think to try scanning Twilight for an "alicorn signal" or something similar? He could push his own ascension if he tries!
11191734
I'm afraid I'm not Hasbro. I do not throw out Alicorns without due cause (although I'm sure I would if I stood to gain money from doing so from toy sales).
In all seriousness, though, there's enough going on in this story without making scientifically created ascension a thing. Scanning Twilight, though?
Soon
I'm all for justified paranoia, but why are Radian and Adagio not assuming that they're under surveillance while they're alone together? I mean, yeah, that seems like it's a little more canny than the princesses usually are, but Twilight has all but said "we know you're up to something." A little discretion might be in order, but Radian seems to be more worried about what his allies will do than his potential opponents if their scheme is discovered.
Also, you think that he'd be worried about the effects of magical-induced emotion poisoning on himself also, and that's why he's suddenly getting cold hooves.
11194951
Well, Radian (gifted as he is) is no siren; he doesn’t have the sheer capacity for magic she does as a once Equestria spanning threat, and the fact she’s never experienced friendship before and therefore is basically receiving a huge dose of overwhelming emotion, it’s dragging aspects she thought she’d conquered back up to the surface. Otherwise, besides discomfort with openly swearing, Ray’s been mostly lucid.
(On a purely writing perspective, I’ve tried to keep that aspect a quirk of Equestria and Equestria only; that swearing and the like is something all residents just learn makes them uncomfortable, so it almost never happens. So while these chapters are pretty safe, to make it seem closer to the show, the human world allows all the cussing they desire.)
I chuckled...
...and then I chuckled again.
Also, props to you for remembering that dark magic isn't inherently corruptive in and of itself, and that not only does Princess Celestia use it in the show, but she also teaches it to Twilight who then turns around and uses it herself. That's a bit of lore that gets overlooked too often in fics that deal with that particular subject.
11163579
And the memories of Wallflower, Post Crush, Juniper Montage, Gloriosa Daisy.
Then again, technically it's more of a history reader, so it's not exactly the same thing.
*Oh fancy!
Smolder and Ember? It's a very good day to be Radian.
11187269
I feel obligated to point out that the sirens did horrible things too. When people fight, bad things tend to happen.
We also have no idea how bad the conflicts between the Siren's victims could get, nor how long they could go on.
Have wars been started because of them? Have people fought themselves to extinction because of them? We don't know, and can only guess.
More to the point, neither cannon, nor this story, is clear on how severe or long lasting the effects of Siren Magic actually was.
Twilight (as the only one with historical research) seemed to think the school needed to be cured, which implies a more permanent affect.
Priotizing the safety and well being of other humans and ponies over the Sirens may seem like a harsh decision, but it's also perfectly within their rights to make.
Sunset Shimmer did a lot of awful things, and I don't necessarily expect Radian to forgive her. However, she's doing the best she can to be better.
More to the point, even if you do still believe she deserves additional punishment, on top of everything else she suffered, that really shouldn't be a factor with how she approaches Radian or the Sirens.
She shouldn't need to bend over backwards for people who don't have her's or anyone else's best interest in mind, just so she can soothe her guilt. Especially if it puts other people in danger.
I wouldn't give her that much credit. But the fact that the people best suited to fix the stones also happen to be the most likely to relate to Radian, certainly doesn't hurt Twilight's aims.
I'm glad I was right and this was just Twilight picking out the best team for the job. It feels much more genuine and believable than it would have otherwise.
As much as I do enjoy this interlude between the girls, it does remind me of the woefully small level of interaction between Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
I really wish they had bothered to develop that combination more, if only because Rainbow Dash looks good in everything.
But in all honesty, I wish Rarity had been utilized with more characters besides Applejack.
11198484 The problem with this line of thinking is that it's presumptive; other than the instance at the beginning of Rainbow Rocks where we see them causing disharmony in a diner, the only wrongdoing we've seen the Sirens engage in was at CHS, and they were punished for doing so. Now, obviously, it's implied that the Sirens were around and doing bad things for a long time, but you can't punish someone for what they "probably" did, or even "likely" did; that's not concrete enough to indict someone over. Particulars are required.
Similarly, there's no one with standing to prosecute such an indictment. Radian is the wronged party with regard to Sunset, and has a legitimate grievance (i.e. the bullying), even if the issue of what happened to his mother is a much harder needle to thread regarding Sunset's culpability. The Sirens, by contrast, have no one who's been presented here as having been hurt by them (again, CHS students notwithstanding, since they had justice enacted by Twilight and co.). Ergo, with no specific misconduct to lay at their feet, and no one claiming that justice has been denied them, the Sirens can't really have anything held against them here.
And even if they could, that alleviates Radian's problem with Sunset not at all; she still wronged him, and that can't be obviated by saying "well what about your girlfriend?" The fact that Sunset wants to be better is likewise immaterial; remorse is an issue to be considered for sentencing, but Sunset Shimmer was never properly sentenced for her longstanding harassment and intimidation of her peers; her punishment was entirely related to her crimes against Equestria (i.e. misappropriating a powerful artifact and trying to use it against Equestria). It's not a question of "additional" punishment; she was never punished for her non-Equestria-related malfeasance to begin with.
11198695
Except the Sirens weren't punished for CHS.
They lost their stones, but that was a entirely preventive measure to prevent them from causing trouble, and they still landed on their feet afterwards. They even regained their signing voices in this universe.
Their break up, and Adagio's subsequent misery in this story, is the result of their own decisions, no one else's.
Sunset was ostrised from the school body for months. The only way that doesn't qualify as a punishment, is because it was a situation of her own making, just like the Siren's situation was.
And even then, Sunset was still tormented by Wallflower during the memory stone incident. The worst thing that happened to the Sirens is they had food thrown at them for a few seconds.
Plus if Shadow Play is cannon in this world (and judging by the reference of a Shadow Monster that "destroyed Starswirl" it is) then the Pillars stand a high likelihood of existing in this time period. They could easily lead a prosecution, given their first hand involvement with the Sirens.
The fact the Sirens were feeding off a pony village, and caused property damage and violence to break out, has some pretty dark implications.
We similarly see students having to be held back from fighting during "Under our Spell" to say nothing of what Trixie did while under their influence. A fall from that height has the potential to really mess someone up.
Also none of Radian's personal feelings for them, changes the fact that the Sirens with their stones have proven so far to be parasitic and dangerous, and will most likely continue to be so.
Radian doesn't risk much by forgiving Sunset, because she could have screwed him over long before now, and chose not to.
The ponies are risking everything by helping the sirens, and by viture of the stone's own natures, it's almost a guarantee someone will get hurt.
I'd say they were being uncharacteristically reckless and irresponsible, except for the fact that "Keep Calm And Flutter On" exists.
11198896 The Sirens were punished for their actions in the events of Rainbow Rocks, namely via the loss of their gemstones. That it was a preventative measure doesn't mean it doesn't also serve as a punitive one, as Adagio herself related in Sunset's Backstage Pass when she remarks about how their latest song is "about being stuck in this miserable human world with no magic, and no hope of returning to Equestria":
That a particular form of punishment can serve dual modes of justice is a well-established principle (in fact, punishments are typically supposed to serve three: deterrence, just deserts, and rehabilitation), so the fact that it serves as one does not mean that it isn't also serving as the other. As such, we've conclusively established that the Sirens have paid appropriately for what they've done, specifically for all of the events in which we conclusively see them victimize others (notwithstanding the diner at the beginning of Rainbow Rocks, as noted before).
Sunset, however, has faced no such punishment for her actions prior to the events of the original Equestria Girls film. We do have conclusive evidence that she committed such acts, since the premise of this story is partially founded upon that one of her victims has yet to receive justice for what she did. However, Sunset's defeat at the hands of Twilight and co. cannot be held to be with regard to that, since it was entirely predicated upon other impermissible acts taken in Equestria; if she hadn't stolen the Element of Magic (as part of a plot to overthrow Equestria), then Twilight would not have taken action against her. That establishes that the events of the movie are not, unto themselves, an enactment of justice for misconduct that Sunset committed prior to that in the human world.
Similarly, the idea that Sunset was shunned by her peers cannot be held to be justice either. As you yourself postulated, simply being cautious around someone else with a criminal background is simple prudence; by your own logic, the other students being scared/skeptical of her is not in-and-of itself any sort of official sanctioning of her actions. The same way that remorse alone does not obviate the need for punishment, other people changing their behavior toward someone - especially when that person has yet to pay a price for their crimes, the way Sunset hasn't - is not justice being enacted.
Finally, simply because someone is "inherently dangerous" is not a salient factor when taking applications of justice into account. Anyone is potentially dangerous, as the latest chapter confirms by noting that anyone can potentially use dark magic to become powerful enough to challenge an alicorn even as it warps their thought processes. As such, the idea that "they must be discriminated against because they have the potential to do bad things" is not justifiable unto itself, let alone as a basis for saying that there's reasonable suspicion to limit their freedoms.
To put it another way, the Sirens paid for what they did, but are still being treated like potential criminals, whereas Sunset never paid for what she did, and has been given a pass by everyone. If that's not a miscarriage of justice, I don't know what is.
First, thanks for reading! Hope you've enjoyed the story so far!
11198515
I'll be the first to admit that I can think of fun little scenes for many of the characters. I admit to having weaknesses to some (I struggle to be consistant with Pinkie, for example, so I use her sparingly), and I'm middling with Dash but quite enjoy the flamboyance of Rarity. Putting them two together? I get why the writers struggled to find some common ground that isn't a primarily external factor.
11198484
Yep. The summit felt like the right spot to have them at least appear in the background. This story already features a good number of characters, and some only have a couple of moments, so I didn't want to spread it even thinner.
11198943
Sunset being shunned by her classmates was a logical outcome of her actions. That is simply prudent.
Destroying the weapons which the Sirens used to sow chaos is also a logical outcome of their actions. That is simply prudent.
It can't be both ways. Either punishment is enduring the logical consequences of your actions (in which case both have been punished).
Or punishment is additional suffering meant to balance the scales according to a victim's pain.
In that case, there are good in cannon arguments that none of them have suffered enough.
I'm sure the school still holds a grudge against the Dazzlings, even if the Rainbooms don't.
11199340 You're comparing two different things. Other students shunning Sunset Shimmer for what she did previously can't be equated to an authority figure handing down an enduring punishment on someone who's actively engaged in wrongdoing at the time said authority figure acts. To that end, Sunset's being kept at arms' length by the rest of CHS isn't, strictly speaking, a punishment at all; it's simply everyone else exercising their right not to associate with her; Sunset herself has had none of her autonomy or freedoms abrogated, nor otherwise been made to pay a price insofar as the rest of the student body is concerned...hence Radian's lingering acrimony toward her.
By contrast, the Sirens had an enduring loss inflicted upon them in the form of their gems being destroyed (and continuing their exile in the human world), unlike Sunset, who lost nothing. So they actually had a punishment levied on them in that regard, since they were stripped of tangible abilities that they had previously. As noted, the fact that this is a preventative measure doesn't change that it's also punitive. Hence, what they've gone through can't be compared to what happened to Sunset (which was, effectively, nothing). That both situations could be called "prudent" doesn't mean that they're the same thing, just like you wouldn't say that a pegasus and an airplane are the same thing because both can fly.
A negative consequence is not the same as a punishment. If no one wants to hang out with Sunset, they're not punishing her any more than she was punishing Wallflower Blush by never noticing her. There's no actual curtailment happening to Sunset, since she's entirely free to do everything she was before she stole Twilight's crown. Not so for the Sirens; hence, they were punished where Sunset wasn't.
11199164
I do get why certain characters weren't utilized all that often.
Although I'd argue that (aside from a few background roles) Rainbow Dash was poorly written and poorly characterized.
She had the potential to be so much more if the writers had come up with something more interesting for her to work with.
Fluttershy and Rarity however, were a missed opportunity for a brilliant gal pal relationship. Especially with such sweet writing between them.
"Green Isn't Your Color", "Filly Vanilli", and "Best Night Ever" showed just how a friendship between the two of them could happen, while also testing and growing both of them in meaningful ways.
Instead Rarity barely got any growth moments aside from learning to tolerate Applejack, and Fluttershy spent far to much of her screentime nannying Discord.
11199347
How are the Rainbooms a authority figure? They have no real authority in this world, and the Dazzlings ceased to be citizens of Equestria some time ago.
If anything, what the Rainbooms did was acting to defend the school from the Siren's brainwashing, and to defend themselves from being attacked with magic. Formalized punishment had nothing to do with it.
That would be like saying stripping Sunset of her magic was a punishment, despite the fact it was stolen and she was threatening people with it. Just because someone is inconvenienced, doesn't mean they were deliberately punished.