The Siren

by McPoodle

Chapter 6

Canterlot.

Late that evening.

Moon Dancer waited several minutes in hope that the frantic knocking on her door would go away. Why would any pony in their right mind want to talk to her? At this hour?

Unless it was Twilight Sparkle with an apology?

The door was practically ripped off its hinges.

“Twilight?!”

It was not Twilight. It was, in fact, even more unbelievable. Moon Dancer rubbed her eyes several times, looking at the small stallion before her each time to be sure that she wasn’t hallucinating. Finally, she dared to address him: “…Dad?”

The stallion huddling in the shadows coughed piteously. “C…could I come in, Moondancer?”

“Yes…yes, of course!” She stepped back so the stallion could come inside. Here she could finally get a good look at him.

The unicorn stallion looked like a complete mess. Parts of his dark pinkish mane and tail had been shorn away, while his yellowish-gray fetlocks were long. He retained only a single sleeve of his business suit front.

Moon Dancer gasped. “What happened to you?”

The stallion shut the door, ducking down so he wouldn’t be visible from any of the windows. “Monsters,” he declared. “Horrible black monsters. They looked like ponies, but with holes in their legs and manes, insect-like wings, and crooked horns. Like a twisted parody of an alicorn.” He peeked out the window for the second, ducking back down at sight of a moving shadow on the street. “They came out of nowhere. Only a couple dozen members of the Badlands Expedition escaped with our lives.”

“That’s awful!” Moon Dancer exclaimed.

“But that’s not all,” the stallion continued. “The entire way back, we saw shapes in the darkness. Three more of my team were snatched up from their beds, pulled into shadows by those dark hooves, and then never seen again. They could be watching us this very second!”

Moon Dancer, realizing how exposed she was at this moment, used her magic to shut all the curtains in the house and douse most of the lights. “W…what will we do?”

“I need to get help,” Moon Dancer’s father pled to her, holding his forehooves together in supplication. “I’ve got the others staying in a hotel in Canterlot for now, but I can’t be sure they are safe even here. The Princess needs to send troops out to the Badlands, to hunt those monsters down before they take any more innocent ponies.”

Moon Dancer looked away. “Yes, that would be the right thing to do,” she said to herself. “But it’s not going to be easy. Nopony in Canterlot trusts you, or anypony else from OEDC, after the Griffish Isles Scandal.”

“I know,” said Night Lancer, CEO of the Outer Equestria Development Corporation. “The very reason we moved to the Badlands was to get out of the public eye, to get rich enough off of orichalcum mining to buy our way back into power. But this is a threat to all of Equestria. You believe me, don’t you, Daughter?”

Moon Dancer pulled Night Lancer into a tight embrace. “Of course I believe you, Daddy! I’m glad you finally came to me for help. There were times when I thought you might have forgotten you have Morning and I as daughters altogether.” She held her father at hooves’ length, her eyes wet with happy tears. “But you don’t need to worry anymore. As a graduate student of Celestia’s School of Magic, I can get you in touch with Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, Princess Luna…anypony that you need to convince of your story. In a matter of days everything will be better.”

You see, Moon Dancer had been born Moon Lancer. Her mother had changed all of their names once it became clear that Night loved making money far more than he loved them. But Moon had never stopped loving her absent father.

Night Lancer pulled his daughter back into a hug. “Oh, thank you, Daughter! I love you.”

“And I love you too!” Moon Dancer declared joyfully, her eyes tearing up again.

Unseen by Moon Dancer, Night Lancer opened his eyes, which were now green and vertically slitted. “Yes,” the being actually known as Queen Chrysalis said smugly as she grew stronger on her love, “I know you do.”

Author's Note:

Notes for Chapters 3, 4, & 6. (Chapter 5 had no notes.)