A message from a distant friend prompts Queen Twilight Sparkle to reopen the mirror portal and face a new magical threat to a world without magic.
One year after returning from her trip through the mirror portal, Queen Twilight finds a book she recieved from Princess Celestia acting strangely. Finding a message from Sunset Shimmer to be the cause, she must reopen the gateway and travel to Canterlot Highschool once more, for a new magical threat has arisen.
Set in the continuity of the Hive-Series by Law Abiding Pony and one year into the time between Of the Hive and For the Hive. A retelling of Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks
In the throne room of the Royal Palace of Stripped Gear, Queen Cadista and Queen Twilight Sparkle had just finished breakfast and their conversation about a visit by Queen Kreesus several weeks earlier was winding down. They had just finished another discussion about the oddity that was Fluffy, when Twilight was pinged over the link.
<What is it, Ratchet?> The fact that from the outside it was impossible to tell that Twilight was speaking to her consort over the link, was a testament to her improving multitasking ability.
<You may wanna come to our quarters, one of your books is glowing and vibrating.>
<I'm coming. That's something I have to see.> "Mom, I'll have to go to my quarters for a moment, Ratchet says one of my books is glowing."
Cadista was only surprised for a moment, she had long since grown used to the fact that anything from Equestria, where most of Twilight's books (save for her engineering manuals) came from, had a tendency to act in strange ways. Without even saying anything she transmitted her silent affirmation over the link and Twilight left the room.
After only a few short minutes Twilight arrived in her own and Ratchet's quarters and soon heard the humming noise coming from her bookshelf.
"Ah there you are, do you have any idea what this is about?" Ratchet was seated on the bed, suspiciously watching the glowing book, his horn lit with orange light.
Twilight lit her own horn and lifted the book from the shelf. Once more of the tome than it's nondescript back was visible, it was revealed that its cover showed only a picture of a stylized sun.
"Princess Celestia gave me this book. She said I'd know when the time came to read it. This must be what she meant." Thinking back on the occasion, she recalled the conversation. The glowing page, huh? Let's see...
Turning the book so she could see the pages she found that, while the magical glow came from all of them, like on the back of the tome, it was repeatedly increasing and fading again, a single page, partway through the book, however, was indeed glowing permanently. Opening the book to that page she found a message that didn't seem printed.
Dear Princess Celestia,
this is Sunset Shimmer from beyond the mirror. We have a problem over here.
Three new students here are using Equestrian magic in the form of singing to hypnotize the students and faculty. Myself and the others seem to be unaffected at the moment, but we don't know if that will last, if you have any knowledge what they could be or how to defeat them we'd be grateful.
Your former student,
Sunset Shimmer
"This is a message from Sunset Shimmer, she must have some connection to this book, that must be why Celestia gave it to me. What she's describing sounds a lot like the Sirens, I did some research into ancient Equestrian mythology a few years ago."
Ratchet had been reading over her shoulder and now looked at her, intrigued. "This book is connected to somepony in another world? Do you think we could use that connection to force-open the portal? Then you could go help them yourself."
"Yes ... yes, that could work. Come, we have prototype to build." As they moved onto the balcony and flew off towards one of the workshops, Twilight started setting up a mindscape in which she could start prototyping the device.
A few minutes later, they had arrived in the workshop where the portal was being kept and entered the linkscape.
The linkscape was an exact replica of the workshop they were in. Various shelves and drawers blanketed the walls and in one corner of the room stood, in its crystalline frame, the magical mirror that served as the portal between worlds. Over the next few minutes they created a machine of brass and steel with various crystalline implements to guide the magic it was meant to use. It looked somewhat like a lectern with various magical and mechanical components and a single crystal pointing away from the reader and to where the portal was supposed to go.
Once they were confident that the machine would work they departed the linkscape and Ratchet got to work building the machine, while Twilight went about putting a linking enchantment on two gemstones. Within ten more minutes both finished their respective tasks and Twilight stowed away one of the gemstones in a drawer and the other in her mane.
After visually checking the machine herself, Twilight placed the book on the lectern and pushed up a lever beside it before taking a step back. It only took a few seconds for the gems to the left and right of the book to start glowing. Gears on the sides of the lectern started spinning and puffs of steam came from small funnels next to them. Crystals in an array around the one pointing at the portal started pulsing a soft lavender as the magic flowed through them. Finally the central crystal started glowing brightly before a beam of lavender light erupted from its tip and hit the small horseshoe-shaped crystal formation above the portal itself. A bright point of lavender light started gathering right in the center of the portal. Finally the point exploded in a flash of white light and, after the two of them had blinked the startlingly bright light out of their eyes, they saw a swirling magenta portal where the mirror had once been.
"Well looks like it worked." Ratched gave Twilight a satisfied smile.
Twilight smiled right back, before giving an update of the situation to Cadista, Roseluck, and Ambassador Gloss, in the cases of the latter two, so they could pass the message to her Ponyvillean friends and the princesses in Canterlot respectively. Then she gave a passionate kiss to Ratchet before stepping through the portal, eager to see her friends again.
She didn't have to wait long. When she tumbled out of the portal on the other side, she landed on all fours, much like the first time she came here. She recovered much faster than the first time she arrived. When she looked up, she saw a yellow hand reaching down to her. Sunset was standing in front of her, a genuine smile on her lips and her hand stretched out, ready to help Twilight up. After taking a short moment to get her bearings and comprehend the situation, Twilight took the offered hand and stood up with Sunset's help.
Looking around she saw the rest of her CHS friends standing behind Sunset. After a short moment all seven of them were suddenly gathered up in a large group hug courtesy of Pinkie Pie. Happy chatter erupted afterwards, welcoming Twilight back.
After a moment Sunset spoke up. "So, did you find out anything about those girls?"
"I did, and it's not good. If my suspicions are correct they're the Sirens."
"Anything on how to deal with them?" Rainbow asked.
"Not really. Starswirl dealt with them by banishing them here. I guess that's not really an option now."
"No. I suppose it isn't, dear. But say, how did you get through to us? I thought you said the portal wouldn't open for a while yet."
"It didn't open on it's own. I forced it open using the connection Sunset used to send her message. It's only been a year. It wouldn't normally open yet. What?!"
The others stared at her, clearly baffled at something she just said. Finally it was Sunset who spoke up. "It hasn't been a year yet, it's been barely over five months."
"It's been a year in Equestria." She looked off into space for a moment, thinking on something. "You think the portal might have a chronal differential?"
At her expectant gaze, Sunset shrugged. "I guess that would explain it."
"A chronal what now?" Applejack interrupted the two.
"They mean that time flows faster in Equestria than it does here." Pinkie explained with her typical wide grin.
As the girls looked like they understood, having long since stopped trying to figure out how Pinkie knew these things, Twilight returned to their contemplations. "But when I was last here the portal was open for three days on both ends."
"Maybe the portals synchronize when the connection is active." Sunset suggested.
"Yes ... That could be it. Anyway, that reminds me," she reached into her backpack and as she expected she found the gem she had enchanted earlier. "Do you know of a place where we could safely keep this?"
As they looked at the gem, the girls seemed confused. "What's that for?" Fluttershy asked quietly.
"It's linked to another one back in Equestria. So we can open the portal without having to rely on the book."
"Good thinking. I'll think of something," Sunset agreed.
Putting it back into her backpack, Twilight went on. "Say, Sunset how long were you here before I last came here?"
"About three years, why?"
"Yes, that makes sense then. Celestia said you left twelve years before then."
"Twelve years?!"
"She also said that I was born about ten years after you were. Interesting that despite you having been born about a decade earlier were roughly the same age now."
"Okay, time travel is weird."
"Well, this isn't technically time travel, but having also done that before, I wholeheartedly agree."
"Wait. What?!"
As they walked along the school's corridors towards a destination Twilight could only guess at, Rarity spoke up. "Oh, I do hate that you had to return at a time of crisis. There's so much catching up to do! Perhaps you would give us just the slightest bit of gossip from your world?"
"Oh nothing much to tell, the nymphs are growing up well, and Ratchet's as nice as ever."
"Uhh, who's Ratchet?" Rainbow vocalized the girls' collective confusion.
"Oh, I never told you about him, did I? Ratchet Altair, he's, well I guess over here he'd be my boyfriend, but back home he technically is my consort."
Rarity instantly jumped at the juicy gossip. "You have a boyfriend? Can we meet him?"
"I guess we could arrange that, the portal is open. That being said, what's new here? I mean, besides your school becoming the target of dangerous magical creatures from Equestria?"
"Yeah, so, that isn't exactly the only strange thing that's happened since you left." Rainbow pulled out her phone to show Twilight a short clip of her playing the guitar before suddenly lifting of her feet and taking the part pony shape she’d assumed at the Fall Formal. "Pretty sweet, huh? It happens to all of us when we play."
"So your magic is activated by music?" The nature of harmonic magic alone should be enough to cancel out the effects of the mind control She shuddered as she cast her empathic gaze across some of the other students. Something is clearly off about them, foreign emotions are such a strange thing. If we can all activate this magic with music, we should be able to reverse the effects and maybe even stop the sirens. "Okay, I may have a plan, is there a way to reach all the students who have been hypnotized?"
"Well the final round of the competition is held before the entire school and guests." Fluttershy pointed out.
"Good, you're taking part in this competition, right?"
Rainbow snorted at that. "Obviously!"
"Good, then all we'll have to do, is make it to the final round and release our magic there, that should nullify the mind charm and just maybe take down these sirens as well."
As Twilight soon found out, that evening would bring a party to celebrate all the bands that would participate in what should have been a Musical Showcase. Arriving in the gym, which had once more been decorated to host the celebration, the five girls and one transformed pony saw a visible shudder run through Twilight who was walking ahead of them.
"Are you alright, darling?"
"I'm fine. But I can sense what the sirens have done." Twilight spoke quietly, so as to not be overheard. Not the most complicated task to accomplish as the other guests at the party where either keeping to their own bands or having rather noisy arguments between them. "Doesn't exactly make for the best party mood."
Sunset walked up to stand beside her. "Right, you're empathic. Can you sense what exactly they did?"
"As far as I can tell, it's not outright mind-control. It's a combination of suggestion and magically induced emotion, mainly anger, as well as increased competitiveness." Sunset looked troubled, but the others looked at Twilight with expressions that made her question if she had lapsed into vespid again. "It makes them more aggressive and more likely to fight. It also makes them want to prove that they're the best, probably why the students are supporting the idea of a 'Battle of the Bands'."
A round of 'ohh's came from her friends, before a somewhat downtrodden Pinkie spoke up. "Yeah, they're really messing up the party." She gave a singing glare in the direction of the three girls standing alone in a corner.
Following her gaze, Twilight saw them too. A girl with extremely curly orange hair, stood at the front of the group, wearing a tight, purple piece of clothing that, Rarity told her with a not exactly subtle roll of her eyes, was called a siren suit. Her gaze was wandering the hall, across the arguing students, but kept returning to the seven girls who had just arrived.
The second of the three, had long purple hair, held together in two straight ponytails that fell down behind her. She wore long purple trousers and a short green vest. Prominently shown on her outfit was the silver, five pointed star, that was her belt buckle. She seemed to be staring at the newcomers disinterestedly, a frown perpetually marring her face.
The third of the girls had blue hair in a single long ponytail and wore a deep magenta vest and a pink skirt. Unlike the other two, she didn't look at Twilight or her friends, simply staring off into space instead. The most noticeable thing about them, however, was that they wore matching necklaces, holding identical red gems that, if Twilight wasn't imagining things, were glowing.
Across the hall, Aria moved her eyes from the new arrivals and turned to her older sister. "Would you mind explaining to me how this is any different to what we usually do? I can feel there's magic around, but its not here."
Adagio too turned her gaze away from the hall and looked upon her sister with a sly smile upon her lips. "But it is sister dear. Don't you see?"
She pointed a finger in the direction of the seven girls that had just arrived. "Everyone here is affected by our magic. Everyone, except them. Something is protecting them. That has to be the magic."
"And how do you propose we get it from them, oh sister dear?" Aria's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes and once more looked at the seven friends who were looking back at the three with suspicion clear in their eyes.
"They're too close. That's protecting them. We'll use the classic strategy."
"Ask nicely?"
Adagio's and Aria's hands immediately made contact with their foreheads."No Sonata. She means 'Divide and Conquer'."
With the siren's magic still in place the party never properly got going and it wasn't long before the first of the guests started to leave. After Twilight and the girls left as a group Twilight turned away from them in the entry hall with friendly wave.
"Where're you goin'?"
At Applejack's question Twilight turned to see six confused faces. "Well, last time we were here, Spike and I spent the night in the library."
At that, Pinkie's eyes lit up. "Are you crazy?! We're besties now! Slumber party at my house!"
Half an hour later, the six had accompanied Pinkie home. Twilight had wondered where they would all sleep, but Pinkie had said something about having 'sleeping bags stashed all over the house, in case of unexpected sleepovers' before leaving her room and returning a moment later having managed to procure six extra sleeping bags.
Twilight had learned many things about this world, including but not limited to: the human's strange obsession for clothes, which Sunset had been very helpful in explaining, the concept of social media and the importance of 'status updates', which only seemed to her like a crude version of the hivemind, and the concept of 'selfies', which she still didn't quite understand.
Twilight and Sunset were currently using their native sensitivity to Equestrian magic to try mapping out the reactivating leyline-network of this world. The others had tried asking them to explain what they were doing, but the two only got about ten sentences into their explanation before the others realized that, without some basis to go off of, they likely wouldn't understand magic anytime soon and waved them off.
After the others had turned back to video games, another new concept for Twilight, and makeovers, one she was entirely familiar with, the two Equestrians continued their research.
"I've been trying to do some of this myself, but from only one point of observation ..."
"You can only get a rough idea which way they are. With two of us here, we can get a much better idea of how this network is made up. Now ... let's see what you have so far." The two leaned over a large map of the city and the immediate area on which Sunset had started to draw a number of lines streaking across town.
"From what I could find out so far, the nearest nexus seems to be deep below CHS."
"Somehow I'm not surprised." Twilight focused on the large point Sunset had marked the school with. She tried to sense the leyline network and soon found it streaking throughout the city, growing ever denser the more she focused on the direction of the school. What distracted her, however, was that there seemed to be a leyline passing right underneath the house.
"Sunset, do you feel the one beneath us?"
"Yes. And it's not the only one that does that. Look!" She took out several small pins and started marking places on the map. "We are here, this is the farm, where AJ lives, this is Rarity's home, this is the boutique, this is Fluttershy's house, This is Rainbow's, and I live here."
With every pin Sunset placed Twilight's eyes grew wider. No way! "All these places have leylines beneath them."
Sunset nodded. "Exactly. And that's not even the best part, look here." She pointed at another place on the map and let a finger glide along the exceptionally large line connecting it with the nexus below CHS.
"Hold on, isn't this ..."
"Yup, Sugarcube Corner. It's a favorite hangout for us."
Twilight was baffled. Could it be?
"If only I knew why." Sunset seemed lost with this information.
"Do you think the leylines followed you?"
"What?"
"You know, after the Fall Formal, the network lost its original power source when I left. Think about it!"
"The leylines would follow other sources, like ... Like the remnant magic in the girls and myself. The network would have been unstable for a few weeks. It changed to connect the places we often visited."
Spurred on by this new discovery the two set upon mapping more of the network. Interestingly it didn't seem to stretch far beyond the city yet.
Early the next morning, the seven girls woke up. Applejack was the first to rise, being used to it from the farm. Sunset and Twilight were the next to wake, one having always been an early riser, the other being used to having little sleep and requiring less rest thanks to the hivemind. Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy were the next to rise and after some gentle coaxing from Fluttershy, even Rainbow got up, if somewhat reluctantly.
The girls talked over breakfast, with the exception of Twilight. The young queen remained silent most of the time, only speaking to give short answers, a serene expression ever on her face. After some time, the others started to grow worried.
"Twilight, darling, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, sure, why, is something wrong?"
Fluttershy looked at her worriedly. "It's just, you've been very quiet today."
"Oh, sorry. I was talking with the nymphs."
"Ah right," Rainbow was interrupted by a massive yawn, "your 2000 kids. How are they?"
"Oh, they're doing fine. But it keeps surprising me how different they all are, even the ones that should be practically clones off me."
"Clones? What's that s'posed ta mean?"
"When a queen doesn't get a consort to fertilize the eggs, they self fertilize upon laying. So the nymphs end up perfect genetic duplicates of their mother, the fact that they're drones aside."
Fluttershy seemed unusually enthusiastic at the topic of nymphs. "And they're all different?"
"Well, my entire first clutch, for example, are rather militarily minded. ... Well as much as you can say that for a two year old." The girls shared a short chuckle. "Others are more the scholarly type like myself, they're even more curious than I am. There is a multitude of different personalities among them, even though they're all my children. I wonder if being a changeling has something to do with that high level of diversity."
Sunset seemed confused. "How do you know that much about their personalities? Is that because of your link."
"Huh?" Twilight gave her a questioning glance before understanding what she meant. "Oh. I see, no, nymphs just develop faster than foals mentally they're at about the level of eight to ten year olds right now."
"Really dear? But however do they learn all they need to know in such a short time?"
"Well they have the hivemind on top of normal school."
After their conversation, the girls quickly finished up breakfast and moved out to an empty barn at Sweet Apple Acres to practice. Twilight quickly integrated into the band, greatly helped by the fact that, thanks to the impromptu musical numbers that were known to happen all throughout Equestria and had even started to happen in Stripped Gear and, if her local friends were to be believed, now also at CHS, everypony in Equestria could sing on at least some level.
After a few hours of practice, Sunset noticed that they should be at the Battle of the Bands in 15 minutes, prompting the girls to quickly pack up their instruments and head for the school, glad that Sweet Apple Acres had been built in a time when the city was much smaller and thus still surprisingly close to the center of the city that had long since grown around it.
"Welcome to the first ever Canterlot High School Battle of the Bands. I believe I speak for everyone when I say it is by far the greatest thing we have ever done here at this school!" Principal Celestia's opening address had just begun. Twilight and her friends had arrived just a minute before and Twilight already wished she was somewhere else, the aura of positivity from the six girls around her was helping, but still the sirens' manipulation of the cheering students' minds was clear on her empathic senses and making her stomach turn. The fact that Principle Celestia would not normally say such a thing being a good indicator that the sirens likely had an even tighter grip on her and her sister was not helping.
"We are so glad our three newest students encouraged us to turn this event into something exciting!" The agreeing mumbles of many students were accompanied by three smug expressions from the sirens and seven pairs of rolled eyes from Twilight's group.
The Vice-Principal now took over for her sister. "But, as this is now a competition, we can only choose one winner. Who is it going to be?" Immediately the students began arguing once more.
On the other side of the crowd the three sirens were growing increasingly excited, to anyone else safe for, perhaps, Twilight, the situation would seem to be little more than a small group of arguing teenagers. To the sirens however, the crowd was shrouded in a green mist. One that moved towards the three and gathered into three streams of green, each flowing into one of their necklaces. No one, not even the sirens themselves, could see that the glow of the gems was growing ever so slightly stronger, but the three could feel their power rise along with it.
"You feel that, girls? Our true power is being restored." Adagio Dazzle was clearly excited at that prospect, a spike of emotion that caused Twilight to give her a worried glance, not that Adagio noticed, she was too preoccupied with the power flowing into her and the rather malicious giggles of her two sisters. By the time she looked over to the Rainbooms again, Twilight had already averted her gaze once more. "And that's before we've tapped into the strongest magic here."
At that Aria scowled at the group. "But the Rainblossoms, or whatever they're called, aren't under our spell. How exactly are we supposed to get to their magic?"
Adagio didn't share her sisters worries. "The Rainbooms are just as capable of falling apart as anyone else. They just need a little ... push in the wrong direction. I have a feeling everyone here is going to be lining up to give them a shove."
Aria and Adagio shared a malicious grin, Sonata meanwhile had found her sisters' discussion to be less than fascinating and had returned to gazing across the crowd which had now started to scatter and move into the gym.
On two sides of the hall two girls were enjoying the performance onstage, Pinkie and Sonata were smiling happily and looking upon the two performers onstage, clearly appreciating their music. They were, however, the only ones. The rest of the crowd were showing everything to sKepticaly raised eyebrows to outright facepalms at the performance. Snips and Snails seemed oblivious to all of it.
A wince ran through the crowd, as noisy feedback rang from the speakers.
"Please do not drop the microphones." Principal Celestia called out in exasperation.
"Yeah! Bam!" Snips called out, while Snails just laughed. "In your face, Rainbooms!"
Behind the six others, Sunset gave a small smirk. At least they got the name right. Sunset had always had excellent ears and with years of experience in listening in on private conversations she had been the only one of the friends to overhear the sirens' conversation before.
"'Least we know one group who won't stand in the way of us gettin' to the finals."
Rainbow stood beside her strapping her guitar on. "Let's get ready to rock!"
"Wait!" Pinkie interrupted, "Where's Rarity?"
At that moment the jingling of metal could be heard. Turning around the girls saw Rarity wearing a rather bizzare outfit. A plain white top served as the backdrop for a long golden necklace and a pale brown jacket with strips of metal hanging from it's sleeves, making it obvious where the jingling had come from. Additionally she wore a headband and bands around her ankles, both with strands of fabric hanging down from them and both matching the color of the jacket.
As she reached them she looked to be somewhat out of breath. And as she spoke her voice very much supported that impression. "Oh! Here! I'm here!"
She was met with a number of stunned expressions from most of the girls and a sKeptically raised eyebrow from Applejack.
"We will be performing in front of an audience. I'm not going to wear something fabulous?" Rarity gave a mildly annoyed grunt at her less fashion forward friends' eyerolls, but noted that Twilight simply closed her eyes and shrugged. Applejack gave a sound of mild annoyance but didn't comment further.
Moments later, the six girls had taken center stage while Sunset watched them from behind the curtain.
"Remember, we have to be good enough to make it through but not so good we let the sirens see the magic within us. They could realize we plan to use it against them." Twilight reminded the others.
"Got it! Be cool enough to win, but not so cool that we end up showing off the whole ears and tails and rainbows thing. Sooo ... about twenty percent less cool." Twilight rolled her eyes as this Rainbow Dash once more reminded her of the one she knew from Equestria.
Pinkie banged her drumsticks together and counted them on and as one the girls begun playing the song 'Shake your Tail'. Twilight had taken part of the evening to learn the songs the rainbooms had in so she had no problem keeping up.
As they started, Twilight noticed something. Not only could she sense the emotional background noise from the crowd in front of them, she also picked up emotions from the gantry above them, where the lighting and some other stage tech was hung. Curious and once more demonstrating a queen's impressive ability to multitask, she opened up her empathic senses, she had kept closed before to ward of the effects of the sirens' manipulation, and immediately felt five signatures above them. She knew it would look strange if she was to look up in the middle of the song and she likely wouldn't be able to see anything anyway, with the lighting shining down at her.
Instead she closed her eyes, still focusing part of her mind on singing the song, and used her psychic ability to scan her surroundings, and immediately detected five students standing on the gantry above them.
On the gantry Photo Finish stood flanked by her two assistants. In her hands she held two large magnets bound to strings with which she wanted to interrupt Rarity, the jingling metal parts of her outfit immediately obvious to the photographer's trained eyes. She began lowering the magnets but soon gained a look of surprise as the air around them seemed to warp and the strings that once held them went slack. The magnets were simply floating in midair.
"What iz happening?" She murmured to herself, eyes wide and locked onto the magnets.
A small distance beside the three girls whose eyes were now locked onto the floating magnets, stood Snips and Snails next to one of the lights pointing down at the stage, they had already pointed it at Fluttershy, well aware of the girl's shyness. As Snails went to turn on the light, however, he found his finger getting stuck on something hard. Looking back at the light he found the object to, in fact, be the switch he had meant to flick into the 'on' position. He tried once more to move it, but found to his dismay that the switch wouldn't budge. Snips had now noticed his struggle and went to help him. With them being so distracted by the disobedient switch, neither one of them noticed that one of the plugs in the switchboard at the end of the gantry had unplugged itself.
Together the two of them managed to flick the disobedient switch only to find that the spotlight still didn't react. They looked at eachother, confused. After a moment Snails' eyes followed the cable connecting the light to the switchboard that connected the power to all the lights up here. His eyes widened and he pointed at it. Snips followed his gaze and soon found what he meant. The two silently stalked over to the switchboard and put the plug back in place. Their jaws dropped as the spotlight still didn't turn on.
While they stalked over they failed to even notice that the music below them had stopped. While the Rainbooms had not poured their emotions into the song, they had nonetheless played it to perfection and the two principals that were acting as the jury gave them approving nods.
As the girls vacated the stage, Snips and Snails had once more reached the light and tried once more to flick the switch. Once more there was much more resistance than the little switch should have given. Snails went to help his friend who was now once more struggling with the defiant piece of electronics.
The moment the girls had left the stage however, Twilight released her Psychic hold, the magnets dropped down until they were hanging from their strings once more, Foto Finish trying desperately to stop their descent. At the same time the switch suddenly gave way and Snips and Snails, who – in their focus on the switch – had failed to notice that the light was now pointing in a different direction entirely, yelped in surprise and tumbled backwards and over one another as the light shone straight into their eyes, momentarily blinding them.
The damage was marginal, but they were dazed for a moment. Their yelp however got the attention of the Vice-Principal, who looked back up at the stage from her grading sheet and saw the magnets dangling there. In that moment Sunset, who had watched the entire thing, struggling not to burst out laughing, flicked a switch behind the curtain, cutting the power to the switchboard above. As the lighting above the stage went out, allowing a clear view up to the gantry, the Vice-Principal's face was marred by a frown and with a single gesture, she ordered the five students down.
A few minutes and a stern lecture about the gantry being off-limits while the stage was occupied later the contest had two bands less participating in it as Luna, despite all arguing and pleading had disqualified them all as punishment.
Luna turned towards the gathered crowd, Celestia standing behind her with folded arms, both wearing rather imposing frowns. "If anyone else is planning to cheat in this competition, I would strongly reccomend them to reconsider."
The Rainbooms and Sunset meanwhile were having an agitated discussion about the attempted sabotage next to the stage. It was Rarity who first noticed something was off. "Darling, are you alright?"
Twilight was leaning against the stage next to them, her chest rising and lowering rapidly and sweat on her brow.
"Oh yes, I'm alright, just a bit out of breath."
"Why?" Rainbow asked obliviously, "What's so hard about singing?"
"She wasn't just singing," Sunset explained between a renewed round of chuckles, "She was using her powers to stop the sabotage. You should have seen Snips and Snails, their faces were priceless." She looked to the side, gazing at nothing in particular. "Now that I think about it, they should remember that you can do that, weird. Oh well, they never were the brightest."
"You mean other than when the light came on?" Pinkie asked, with an entirely straight face. After a short moment, however she burst out laughing and the others fell in a second later.
"Well," Twilight said finally, "they learned an important lesson today: Don't try to use stealth and subterfuge against a changeling queen. Unless you're one yourself, you don't stand a chance. That's our schtick."
Once more the girls shared a laugh before walking off to prepare for the next round.
On the other side Adagio and Aria were watching them.
"Well, that didn't work out as planned." Aria finally frowned after the girls had left.
"Don't worry sister, there are plenty of chances left for them to break apart." Adagio answered, though her confident expression was slipping slightly.
"Shake your tail-"
"SONATA!" Adagio and Aria cried out simultaneously as they whirled around to face their youngest sister.
Soon enough, the competition resumed. Derpy Hooves accompanied on percussion by two others gave a display on the musical saw. The judges however, seemed to not particularily enjoy this style of experimental music. Next up on the schedule would have been 'Ze Magics', the band of Photo Finish and her two assistants, but since they had been disqualified from the competition, 'Glam!' a group made up of a number of the school's fashionistas, who had already performed earlier, was automatically advanced to the next round. The same happened to Bulk Biceps, who was advanced over the disqualified Rap-Duo of Snips and Snails without even having to perform his violin act.
Next in line were 'Trixie and the Illusions', consisting of the titular stage magician and two assistants, whose performance quickly convinced the Principals to advance them to the next round, leaving 'Hard Rock', a band made up entirely of the school's resident rocker club and given a supremely creative name, behind. 'Ebony and Ivory', the piano duet of Lyra and Sweetie Drops was next in line, easily meeting Luna's taste for classical music and thus beating 'Synthwave', the local Science Club's entry into the competition, who hadn't managed to entice either Judge with their retro-futuristic synthesizer music accompanied on theremin.
'Classic Tragedy' the band of the drama club stood no chance against 'The Dazzlings'. The sirens' performance of 'Under our Spell' only strengthening the hold they had on the minds of students and faculty alike. 'Natura' the band headed by Sandalwood and made up entirely of the school's eco-kids had performed earlier but was soundly defeated, by 'Flash Drive', the band of Flash Sentry and his friends whom had accompanied the rainbooms in the cafeteria that fateful day half a year ago.
'Crusaders', the band of the local movie club managed to beat Derpy's performance from earlier, by a small margin. And finally Octavia Melody performed on her cello but was soundly beaten by the Rainbooms’ earlier performance, thanks in no small part to Celestia's enjoyment of pop-music. Thus the first round of the competition had concluded.
In one of the music rooms of Canterlot High, the girls were practicing further, while Sunset finished making a copy of her leyline-map for Twilight. She had just finished copying the last of the finest lines onto what was once a normal map of the city, when there was the characteristic ringing of the school's intercom system activating.
[To all students: The first round of the Battle of the Bands has now concluded, we will take a 15 minute break before continuing the competition, all bands that have made it into the second round are displayed on the tournament bracket in the gym.]
The Rainbooms had interrupted their song as the announcement began and were now looking at each other. Sunset rolled up the map she had been copying and placed it back in her backpack, before standing up and facing her friends.
"Well, sounds like we should head back down for the next round."
Rainbow immediately nodded, "I'll say. We have practiced enough, now we'll go down there and win this thing."
"And then we'll show 'em sirens what for." Applejack agreed.
"Soon, I hope." Twilight spoke up, "All these mind-controlled students are starting to give me a headache, good thing I have the hivemind."
"Oh my, darling, I completely forgot about your empathy, I guess that must be rather ghastly." Rarity chimed in with a worried frown.
"Don't worry about it, as long as I have you girls and the hivemind to provide a contrast, I'll be fine."
"Okie, dokie, lokie! What song do we play next round?"
"Oh don't worry Pinkie, I have something in mind." A smug grin crossed Rainbow's face.
"Uhm, I have a song too."
"Sorry Flutters, but we need something with a bit more-" Rainbow started, but Sunset, looking over Fluttershy's shoulder interrupted her.
"No, this is actually pretty good, look!" She took the sheet and held it out to Rainbow."
Rainbow quickly glanced at the sheet, then looked at it again, more closely this time. "Hmm, this ... this ..." Suddenly a wide smile came across her face. "I know what this is."
The girls looked at her expectantly.
"This is the song that will beat the sirens. We'll stick with my songs for now, and save this one for the finals. This positive attitude is perfect against them."
There were various noises of agreement from the girls around her and together they left the music room, ready to take on the second round.
No one noticed that Twilight's copy of the leyline-map was left behind on the table.
A few minutes later the girls were back in the gym and the competition was ready to go into its second round.
The first band to perform this round was 'Crusaders', but while their punk rock style had been enough to beat the highly experimental music on the singing saw, it was no match for the more traditional rock from 'Flash Drive' who performed directly after them and managed to at least somewhat entertain both principals.
Next to perform was Bulk Biceps, his violin music was quite pleasing, especially to Luna, but nothing exceptional. His performance was followed by 'Trixie and the Illusions' who in a surprising turn were presenting a more powerful, rock-style version of 'Tricks up my Sleeve', the song they had already played in round one. The Principals were surprised at their move but appreciated the variation from one to the other.
Next up was 'Glam!', whose style hadn't impressed Luna in the first round and even Celestia had to admit that their style of pop-music was losing its novelty fast. Following their performance the Rainbooms took the stage, it seemed as though Luna's words had had the desired effect, as their performance went on without a hitch and without any further attempts at sabotage.The Principals decided that they should move on to the next round over Bulk Biceps.
Now was the time for 'Ebony and Ivory' to take the stage. Lyra and Sweetie Drops delivered another piano duet, while Twilight wondered about the discrepancy in the name of the girl she thought should be named 'Bon Bon'. After some rather heated discussions, the principals decided that the performance didn't quite measure up to the second version of 'Tricks up my Sleeve' they had heard earlier. Finally 'The Dazzlings' seized the stage, delivering jet another vocal number, this one without any lyrics at all. The Rainbooms found it somewhat strange but everyone else was entirely captivated. The performance outdid that of 'Glam!', surprising precisely no one.
Some time later the semi-finals were in full swing and the Rainbooms were preparing to give their performance. At Rainbow's insistence they had agreed to play 'Awesome as I wanna be' for this round, saving Fluttershy's 'Music in our Hearts' for the final round. Two of the three other bands had already played, 'Trixie and the Illusions' had performed yet another version of 'Tricks up my Sleeve' while 'Flash Drive' had performed a purely instrumental rock piece. At the moment the Dazzlings were on stage, their song only registring as background noise to the girls as they readied their instruments. Before long, the song ended and the girls were not at all surprised to find out that 'The Dazzlings' had beaten 'Flash Drive' and were the first ones to make it to the finals.
The three sirens walked off the stage, and past the Rainbooms. After they had passed, Adagio turned around with a fake smile. "Good luck, girls."
"Yeah!" Aria agreed, "You'll need it."
"Oh don't worry," Rainbow replied with a smug expression, "if Trixie thinks she can win this by playing the same song four times, she's got another thing coming."
"The great and powerful Trixie can hear you , you know!"
Ignoring the interruption, Adagio turned around and continued walking off. "Whatever you say, Rainbow."
Soon enough the girls were called on stage and finished setting up their equipment, Pinkie took position at the already prepared drum kit, Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity plugged in their instruments, Fluttershy and Twilight took their positions at the microphones and allowed Rainbow to take center-stage. Sunset meanwhile took her own position at the edge of the stage, hidden from the audience by the curtain. As soon as they were all ready, Pinkie counted them in and the song begun.
Rainbow was having an excellent time, as she played her guitar and sang her song, the song that represented her like no other, she forgot about everything around her, the sirens, the contest, the other bands, even her friends, all were secondary to the song she was now playing. After a few moments she felt a tingle at the side of her head, but she ignored it. The song was all that counted now.
Twilight was enjoying herself as well, this song only needed basic vocalisations from her and Fluttershy, Rainbow had all the lyrics, she remained vigilant however. The last round had gone off without a hitch but someone might still try to sabotage them. She once more made use of her multitasking to focus on her empathic senses without failing to play her part in the song. She didn't bother sensing the crowd, with all the magically amplified emotions, she wouldn't be able to find anything if she tried. She cast her psychic gaze upwards, but the gantry was devoid of emotion.
Then, suddenly, she felt a surge of emotion from her left, panic, distress and worry came from someone who was standing there, it only took her a split second to understand. The only one standing there was Sunset. She glanced over, worried what she might see, but she only saw Sunset with a distraught expression on her face. Following Sunset's gaze she saw that she was looking at Rainbow. Immediately she found the reason for Sunset's distress. Rainbow's ears were glowing. Twilight was sure she recognized that glow, she tried to remember where she had seen it, then it hit her, the video Rainbow had shown her, the glowing ears were the first sign of the transformation that revealed their magic.
Twilight acted immediately. She closed her eyes and sent a pulse of psychic force at Rainbow.
Rainbow was in the zone, the sensation at the side of her head had gotten stronger, but she ignored it, focusing on the song and on the feeling that came with it. Then, something hit her. She was startled so much that she missed a note. She easily played over it, she was a masterful guitarist after all, but the feeling was gone, and so, she now noticed, was the tingling of what she realized were her ears. At that moment it hit her. She knew what had almost happened. She barely managed to stifle a gasp as she realized what she had almost done.
Twilight opened her eyes and looked at Rainbow, she watched as the glow subsided and gave a relieved sigh, as she felt the distress she had felt from Sunset fall away.
Soon after, the song ended and the girls looked expectantly at the principals. Celestia and Luna looked down at their sheets and noted some things down. They then quietly talked to one another for a moment, before Luna stood up, turned to the tournament bracket and moved the Rainbooms' symbol to the place of the second competitor of the finals.
The girls cheered for a moment but were interrupted by a cry from the audience.
"What?! The great and powerful Trixie will not accept this!" Trixie stood up and glared at the Rainbooms. "You will regret this!"
With that she stomped off, out of the hall. Her two band members rolled their eyes and then turned around to follow her.
Aria turned to her sister. "Well, I think it's safe to say that your plan has failed. These girls are as close as ever."
Adagio seemed very displeased by the situation. "I know that, Aria. I guess we'll need a backup plan."
They both turned around as they heard footsteps approaching quickly. They quickly relaxed as they saw it was only Sonata. The youngest of the three sisters held a rolled up piece of paper in one hand waving it around frantically.
Adagio and Aria stared at their younger sister then turned towards one another and exchanged glances.
"Well, I don't have any other ideas." Adagio finally said, looking back at Sonata. "Come sister, what did you find?"
"Well, I was looking around the school and I found this in one of the music rooms." She unfurled the scroll and showed it to her sisters.
"A map?"
"Wait, Aria. These lines." Adagio traced one of the lines on the map. "Could it be?"
"What? Do you know what those are Dagi?" Sonata looked at her elder sister expectantly.
"Leylines." Aria breathed, "That's what we've been feeling. How did we not realize?"
"Calm yourself, sister." Adagio comforted her. "After all, we haven’t been near any in centuries. It's not really surprising that we wouldn't recognize them. It seems Sonata just found us our backup plan."
The Rainbooms had departed the gym and were heading towards the outdoor fields, for a short moment they stopped, marveling at the sheer size of the stage that had been constructed over the morning.
"Wow, how is the school affording this?" Rainbow asked incredulously.
"I may have had something to do with that." Twilight pointed out with a sly grin.
Five pairs of eyes turned to look at her with stunned and confused expressions, Sunset meanwhile merely gave her a knowing smirk.
"Well," Rarity said finally, "shall we have a look? Test the waters as it were?"
"Yeah, let's go!" Rainbow agreed.
The seven made their way up onto the stage. They gazed across the vast empty space before them, up to the hills beyond the field, past the edge of school grounds. Above them were various pieces of lighting and sound equipment Twilight was eyeing curiously, Rainbow was giving the amps and other musical equipment onstage an inquisitive glance. Rarity seemed to be daydreaming about something and Applejack and Fluttershy were simply sitting at the edge of the stage enjoying the view. Sunset and Pinkie were idly chatting.
"Well, seems like the stage is all set." Rainbow finally spoke up after finishing her investigation of the amps.
"It certainly seems so, Rainbooms."
The girls turned at the voice, their eyes narrowing when they saw the speaker. Trixie was standing at the edge of the stage, flanked by her other two band members.
The girls got up and gathered up behind Rainbow, who then spoke up.
"What are you doing here, Trixie? Pretty sure the losers are supposed to be up there in the cheap seats."
She pointed her finger at the open space beyond the stage. Trixie didn't even turn to look, instead continuing to give Rainbow a singing glare.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is the most talented girl at Canterlot High. It is I who deserves to be in the finals. And I will not..." She snapped her fingers "...be denied!
One of her assistants grabbed a lever at her side and pulled it, with an audible clanging noise, a trap door beneath the girls swung open and they dropped into a storeroom beneath the stage.
Trixie gave a malicious cackle. "See you never!" With that she turned around and walked off, her assistants, following her, left the lever to swing back on its own sealing the trapdoor shut.
Form the hill beyond school grounds the three sirens watched the exchange take place.
"Told you someone would give them a shove." Adagio gave a sinister chuckle.
"She didn't shove them. She pulled a lever."
Aria groaned but otherwise ignored her younger sister. "We still don't have their magic though. And I don't think we'll get it either."
"We may not have their magic, sister." Adagio pointed out with a smile. "But we do have this!" She rolled out the map they had found before. "Now we've been using our magic plenty while we were here. It looks like the leyline nexus is beneath the school, but it's probably too far down for our magic to reach it."
By now Aria had exchanged her usual frown for a genuinely intrigued expression. "Then the next best place would be here." She put her finger on the map, pointing out a smaller secondary nexus where the leylines split up further.
"Hey, I know that place! That's Sugarcube Corner." Sonata suddenly chimed in.
Adagio grew a sinister smile. "Well come on then girls, it'll be another hour before the final round and Sugarcube Corner just earned itself a private performance by the Dazzlings."
Laughing, the three sisters walked off.
"So. What do we do now?" Rainbow said, deadpan.
"I can't see anything" Fluttershy spoke quietly, her voice shuddering.
"Hold on girls," Twilight spoke up, extending her psychic abilities, feeling out the room they had found themselves in, after a moment she felt a doorknob and then a small box with a switch. There we go! she focused on it and flicked the switch. With a flicker the overhead lights came on to the left and right of the trapdoor.
"Oh, thank you." Fluttershy gave Twilight a quick hug.
"Alright, now how do we get outta here?"
Rainbow walked up to the door and tried to turn the knob. "Nope. Who designed this thing? There isn't even a lock on this door, the knob on the inside just doesn’t work." She gave a groan of exasperation.
Sunset walked up to her fellow Equestrian. "Could you use your telekinesis to open it, Twilight?"
"I can try, but I don't think it would work." She walked up to the door, laying her hand on the door and closing her eyes to focus. After a few seconds she reopened her eyes and shook her head. "It's no good. The psychic power can't get through the door. If there was a lock, I could maybe funnel it through there but without that it won't work."
She sat down leaning against the wall and Sunset sat down beside her. "So it doesn't work like magic?"
"No. It works differently. I asked Cadista to teach me something more about it after the last time I was here. That's why it's grown more powerful. I've been practicing. The main thing is that if I want to affect the physical world, the psychic power basically becomes like an invisible form of matter, so it can't go through normal matter. It can only phase through matter if it's meant to affect the minds of others. It's not all that effective against solid matter but it's very effective when used against magic."
"Ah so it's a kind of rock-paper-scissors situation?"
"Rock-paper-scissors?"
Sunset facepalmed "Oh right that's not a thing in Equestria."
"Wait!" Rainbow jumped in. "How do you not have that in Equestria?"
Sunset gave her a sKeptically raised eyebrow. "Rainbow, how about you find that out for yourself. Go through the mirror, then try playing rock-paper-scissors with hooves."
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. "Right, ponies, somehow I keep forgetting about that."
"Well to answer your question, darling," Rarity chimed in, "rock-paper-scissors is a game in which the players simultaneously form symbols with their hands. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beat paper." While she explained she used her right hand to demonstrate the different symbols."
"Oh, I see, then yes, it works kinda like that."
"Twilight, I have an idea." Sunset turned to Twilight whispering in her ear.
Twilight leaned to her to listen. "Well, yes.", "I guess that could work.", "Well alright, I don't like doing it, but I guess it's really the only option."
"What are you two on about?" Applejack asked, staring at the two with a skeptically raised eyebrow.
Sunset got up, arms crossed before her chest, a sly smirk playing across her lips. "Oh you'll see."
Fluttershy sat down next to Twilight. "Are you sure you're okay with ... whatever Sunset suggested?"
Twilight put an arm around her shoulder and smiled softly. "Don't worry Fluttershy. It's a thing I can do. I knew there would come a time when I'd have to do it. Don't worry about me."
Applejack seemed placated by that. "Alright, then now what?"
Twilight stood up next to Sunset, matching her smile. "Now, we wait."
In Sugarcube Corner meanwhile, the Dazzlings had arrived.
Adagio turned to speak to her sisters in a hushed voice. "The magic is here. Can you feel it?"
Rather then answer her sisters simply gave her rather manic grins and nodded.
"Then let's go."
Sat in a corner booth the sirens looked at each other, the gems in their pendants momentarily gleaming. Then, as one, they raised their voices.
For a moment the idle chatter in the restaurant seemed to die down, then it devolved into agitated squabbles and outright shouting. Customers and staff alike started arguing about whatever they had been speaking of before. The voices of the sirens, magically amplified, carried above it all adding to the eerie ambience.
Invisible to all but the three sisters a green mist started seeping from the squabbling patrons and descended down onto the floor where it gathered. However, this time, unlike they had done so many times before, the sirens didn't will their pendants to absorb the energy they had released. Instead they simply waited, letting the energy start to slowly sink into the floor.
The mist seeped through the ground, beyond electrical lines and sewers, until it made contact with the leyline node beneath.
Suddenly the three sirens felt the pressure of the magic build up at their necks, and quickly willed their pendants to absorb the power. The green mist came back up as a compact sphere with arcs of bluish-white lightning coming off of it and surging throughout it. Three arms formed from the mist and soon made contact with the red gems. In that moment, they seemed to act like miniature tornadoes and within seconds the mist was gone, absorbed into the pendants, a few remnant sparks dancing around them, leaving a distinct taste of ozone in the sirens' mouths. The gems were now visibly emanating a soft red glow.
"Do you feel it sisters? Our true power is restored. After all these years. Now the 'Rainbooms' will learn what we can do."
Aria and Sonata joined in her malicious cackles, only keeping quiet because the knew they were in a well visited café.
In the storeroom beneath the stage. Rarity was in her element, it just so happened that she had stored some of her designs in this very room for use in the finals. In her professional opinion they were some of her finest work yet.
"Rarity, there is more important things than our outfits right now." Applejack groaned in exasperation.
"Oh, and what would that be, if I may ask darling? It's not like we have much else to do right now."
"Oh alright, fine. Give it here."
With a victorious smirk Rarity handed Applejack the dress, an ensemble of a green top and a yellow skirt with stylized red apples sewn onto it.
The others were handed similarly thematic dresses.
Soon enough the girls were suitably dressed and ready to rock. All they need to do now was wait for the audience to show up. And they didn't need to wait long.
Vinyl Scratch was approaching the CHS outdoor sports field. She hadn't come to school today since all the classes had been canceled in favor of the 'Battle of the Bands's early rounds. She didn't understand why, but all her fellow students had been acting strange ever since yesterday's lunch break and so she hadn't bothered to come in for school.
She had however no intention of missing the finals of this contest. When she approached, she found that she was one of the first ones there. She sat down to wait for the others to appear.
She could feel a strange sensation at the back of her mind, but she gave it no heed.
Twilight meanwhile was standing in the storeroom beneath the stage. So someone out there is unaffected. I need to know why. Well, here goes. She focused on the one mind that was not under the sirens’ influence and gently coaxed it to make it more open towards her suggestion. She took care to take matters slowly, she did not want to risk damaging the mind of a student, after all.
Over the next quarter hour she felt more and more students gather, the audience steadily growing.
Just as she heard the ringing of the microphone above their heads, signaling Principal Celestia’s opening announcement, she felt the other mind's resistance falling away. For a moment a shimmer of green washed over her eyes.
<Come to the door at the back of the stage and release us.>
At the back of the audience a green shimmer could be seen behind a pair of purple shades.
"Yes, my Queen."
As Vinyl Scratch got up from her seat and walked to the backstage area, Principal Celestia announced that the Rainbooms had not appeared and that 'Trixie and the Illusions" would fill in for them.
As Trixie took the stage, Vinyl walked up to the door and opened it.
"I have come to release you, my queen."
Twilight looked at her with a stunned expression. "I may have gone a little too far. One moment."
Twilight focused, once more her eyes glowed green and, once more, that glow was mirrored behind Vinyl's shades. After a moment Vinyl shuddered and shook her head. Twilight looked at her with a slightly worried expression. "Better?"
After a moment, Vinyl seemed to have caught herself and gave a thumbs up.
"Wait, you mind-controlled her?!" Rainbow burst out from behind Twilight.
"I did. I don't like doing it, but desperate times call for desperate measures."
"You can do that?!"
"Well, yes, that's also part of my psychic repertoire."
"How did you know about that, Sunset?" Fluttershy asked their friend.
"She told me about it after ... well you know ..."
"So Vinyl, you know what we need to do?"
Vinyl gave another thumbs-up and Twilight went to explain. "I tried to give her a loose idea when I took control of her mind." She turned to Vinyl "Sorry about that by the way."
Vinyl simply waved her off and motioned for them to follow.
After they had left the storeroom, Vinyl pointed over the crowd at one of the hilltops beyond school grounds.
"You got a plan?" At Rainbow's question Vinyl simply nodded.
"Okie, dokie, lokie, we'll meet you there." At Pinkie's words the Rainbooms walked off to the nearest gate off school grounds while Vinyl confused all of them by walking off in the direction of the parking lot.
On stage, Trixie had finished playing yet another version of 'Tricks up my Sleeve' and the Dazzlings came up on stage.
Standing on the hill, the Rainbooms and Sunset watched the three sirens get on stage and raise their voices.
"How are we supposed to play over them from up here?" Rainbow's question was answered by the sound of a car horn from behind them. Driving up the hill came a white convertible. The car stopped behind them and Vinyl Scratch waved at them from the driver's seat. Upon the press of a button the car began to shift, folding out into a makeshift DJ-pult with an impressive amplifier setup and two gigantic speakers on either side. Once more Vinyl gave a thumbs up.
After a few moments of stunned silence the Rainbooms started plugging their instruments and microphones into Vinyl's setup.
On stage, the three sirens had finished the intro to their song and Adagio raised her voice to begin the lyrics.
"Welcome to the show We’re here to let you know Our time is now Your time is running out"
Once more the sirens returned to their wordless vocalisations giving a break in their song.
"So, when do we come in?" Rainbow questioned among her friends.
A number of unsure noises came from the rest of the Rainbooms before Twilight spoke up. "Don't worry girls, I'll give the signal."
The sirens on stage had now ended the calmth and started their song in ernest. As one they raised their voices and they sang.
"Feel the wave of sound as it crashes down"
At their words they moved their arms first up, then down and a visible wave of red light washed through the audience. Twilight felt as the agitated emotions before her were washed away and replaced with the same empty husks Sunset had created at the Fall Formal.
"You can't turn away We'll make you wanna sta-a-a-ay
We will be adored Tell us that you want us We won't be ignored It's time for our reward
Now you need us Come and heed us Nothing can stop us now"
Oh really? Twilight thought to herself, a sly smirk playing across her lips We'll see about that. With a short moment of focus she sent a pulse of psychic energy to the rest of the Rainbooms who understood immediately. With a drumroll from Pinkie the Rainbooms fell into the song.
"Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh I've got the music in me Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh"
At a powerful guitar riff from Rainbow, Twilight began to sing alone as the rest of the Rainbooms fell silent, letting their instruments speak for them.
"Don't need to hear a crowd Cheering out my name I didn't come here seeking Infamy or fame"
Once more the Rainbooms sang as one.
"The one and only thing That I am here to bring Is music, is the music Is the music in my soul
Gonna break out Set myself free, yeah Let it all go Just let it be, yeah
Find the music in your heart Let the music make you start To set yourself apart"
As they sang a now familiar wave of magic washed over the girls and once more their ears became the pointed ears of ponies and moved to the top of their heads, as their hair grew long, bound together at hip height, creating the image of a tail, Rainbow and Fluttershy grew feathered wings matching the respective colors of their skin, and Twilight, once more grew large, deep crimson gossamer wings, buzzing behind her.
On the stage the sirens grew mischievous smirks as Adagio voiced the thought the three shared among them. "So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands?
"Then let's battle!"
Once more the three sirens fell into the song.
"What we have in store All we want and more We will break on through Now it's time to finish you!"
From somewhere, likely the gems they wore, the sirens heard a loud guitar chord as energy pulsed between their pendants. And as the rocky guitar music turned to metal, the sirens lifted off the ground, shrouded in a dark mist as they transformed. They didn't change much, but as the mist parted, it became clear that they had sprouted a strange combination of wings and fins.
Suddenly, bursting from the girls, came three ethereal forms, which Twilight immediately recognized as the sirens' natural forms, large winged reptiles of draconic appearance, but with more fin-like appendages, even a tail fin, and characteristic slits on the side of their throats, indicating the presence of gills. Of course the absence of water to breathe didn't at all bother the ethereal forms of the sirens as they shot forward towards the hill where the Rainbooms had taken up positions.
As the ethereal sirens circled around them like hungry sharks, Vinyl simply dialed up her amplifiers and with a drawn out drumroll from Pinkie, pop-music once more flooded the area. A wave of rainbow-colored magic radiated out from Vinyls speakers, knocking the three sirens back.
The rest of the rainbooms didn't stand idly by either and with an energetic tune on her keytar Rarity opened the counterattack, launching a salvo of diamond shaped force-constructs at Aria's aetherial self. The siren did the equivalent of rearing up, moving backwards and helplessly waving her finlike appendages before her body to try and defend herself.
Sonata's ethereal form reacted much the same as with a furious shake of her tambourine Fluttershy sent a veritable tidal wave of magical butterflies against the siren.
Finally, Twilight herself raised her voice and with a long drawn out note sent a wave of purple and orange starbursts against the final aethereal siren. Adagio, however, was having none of it, her ethereal form opened its maw and waves of red energy shot from it as she sang, pushing Twilight's attack back. Both attacks finally dissolved and the three aetherial sirens regrouped.
As one, they opened their maws and they sang. The combined force of their voices pushed the Rainbooms backwards, before knocking them off their feet entirely. As Twilight tumbled backwards, the microphone flew from her hands and landed on the floor with a dull thud. It rolled over before finally coming to an abrupt stop at the tip of Sunset's boot.
In that moment, realisation lit up Twilight's face as she called out, "Sunset Shimmer! We need you!"
Sunset looked down at the microphone at her feet. Then her face morphed into one of determination, with one hand she grabbed her leather jacket and pulled it off of her, revealing the purple upper part to the dress she was wearing. With the other she reached down and seized the microphone. She gave a glance to Vinyl at her mixing pult, who simply grabbed a record and placed it on her player. Immediately an energetic drum beat came from the speakers at her sides.
For the first time this evening, Sunset raised her voice and sang.
"You're never gonna bring me down You're never gonna break this part of me My friends are here to bring me 'round Not singing just for popularity"
As she sang, she walked over to Twilight, reaching down and helping her up. Sharing the microphone the two continued as one as the rest of the Rainbooms retook their places.
"We're here to let you know That we won't let it go"
Once they had all seized their instruments the Rainbooms sang as one.
"Our music is a bomb and it's about to blow"
The Rainbooms fell silent focusing on their instruments as Twilight and Sunset continued
"And you can try to fight But we have got the light of-"
Finally the Rainbooms fell into the song once more.
"-Friendship on our side!
Got the music in our hearts We're here to blow this thing apart"
As they sang a rainbow coloured shockwave washed out from them and the students blinked as the mind-control fell off them.
"And together, we will never Be afraid of the dark
Suddenly Sunset let go of the microphone as she floated up into the sky, a blinding yellow glow of magic around her, as she transformed to match the others. Her ears moving upwards and becoming pointy, and her hair elongating into a long ponytail.
Here to sing our song out loud Get you dancing with the crowd As the music of our friendship Survives, survives!
The rest of the Rainbooms now too started glowing brightly, as they were lifted into the air, floating alongside Sunset. A swirling cloud formed above them as streaks of colorful magic shot up from them in a large, prismatic beam. Finally a streak of red flowed up along it, coming from Sunset herself. Seeing that students and teachers alike raised their voices, falling into the song alongside the Rainbooms.
"Got the music in our hearts We're here to blow this thing apart And together, we will never Be afraid of the dark
Here to sing our song out loud Get you dancing with the crowd As the music of our friendship Survives, survives, survives!"
As they sang the clouds above their heads parted to reveal a bright orb of swirling magic floating above them.
Soon enough two large prismatic gossamer wings grew from it's sides as a long smooth horn grew upwards from it.
Slowly, stretching out from the orb came the multicolored form of a changeling queen, bearing fur and large wings, holes in her legs and fangs, as well as eyes with slitted pupils, shining a pure white in the darkening sky of the evening. Most noticeable however were the plates of chitin covering the neck and upper torso of this queen, as well as some of her forelegs. Twilights mouth fell open, as she recognized this queen from one of Cadista's paintings. Yumia?!
As the singing stopped Rainbow gave a few deafening riffs from her guitar as the gigantic ethereal changeling queen lowered her horn and unleashed a prismatic beam from it. The rainbow beam flowed straight through the aethereal sirens, who looked no less stunned at this display of raw magical power than their masters on stage who were engulfed in the beam a split second later.
Cracks began forming in the gems, the sirens wore around their necks, mirrored in the aetherial forms above.
As the ethereal queen above their heads dissolved into a glowing mist that quickly dissipated, the only lights illuminating the scene were, once more, those up on the stage, casting light on the three girls who now fell to their knees looking down at the shattered remains of their pendants.
Floating down from their position in midair, the Rainbooms landed just behind the fence that separated the crowd from the hill they had positioned themselves on. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Sunset landed, the crowd parting for them, while Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy remained flying overhead, the soft buzz and whooshing of their wings the only noise heard over the almost eerie silence that had fallen now that the song had ended.
The sirens, noting their approach, scrambled to pick up some of the fragments of the gems at their feet and attempted to sing. The result was not what they expected, clearly the same song as before, but without harmony, completely out of tune and off key. It only took a few seconds before the booing crowd drove them off the stage.
Those among the Rainbooms that were walking got up onto the stage with some help from the crowd. The others simply landed, seconds later their, Transformations reverted. Ignoring that, Sunset picked up one of the larger crystal shards. "That's why these were so important to them."
"Without those pendants and the magic you brought here from Equestria, they're just three harmless teenage girls." Twilight agreed.
Any further attempts a conversation were drowned out in the cheers of the crowd.
Some time after, the girls sat at the edge of the stage while the crowds dispersed.
"You know what to do about them, don't you?" Twilight asked
The others gave questioning glances, only Sunset understanding what she meant. "'Responsible for the lives you save', I remember. I'll make sure they get the same chance I got."
"Good, you can contact me with the journal. Tell me how they're doing, I might have something for them, the next time I come here." She turned around and scooped up as many of the scattered shards behind them in her psychic hold as she could.
"You thinkin' bout givin’ them their powers back?" Applejack asked with concern.
"Not exactly." Twilight replied cryptically. "Now unless one of you wants to host another slumber party, I'll sleep back in Stripped Gear, we can catch up properly tomorrow. Good night girls."
The next morning, Sunset was leading the other five to the portal. It was five minutes before ten in the morning, but since it was a Saturday, the girls had no school to worry about. They had decided to come a few minutes early, just in case Twilight was more than punctual. They happily chatted as the minutes ticked away. Finally, at exactly 10am, not really surprising anyone, the portal began glowing and a second later Twilight once more emerged out from the seemingly solid stone.
Her practice from her recent passages through the portal allowed her to remain standing, only wobbling slightly. After hugging each of the girls in turn. Twilight focused her mind. <Okay Ratchet, one at a time now.>
Her lover quickly answered. <Sure thing.>
Almost immediately, the portal wavered again and only a short moment later another girl emerged. To the others the girl looked like Twilight, except she seemed to be about the age of the CMC, the only feature that broke up that image was her rather messy hair, not unlike Vinyl's hairdo, as opposed to Twilight's immaculate style. Unsurprisingly the young girl fell to all fours the moment she emerged from the portal, but Twilight stood ready to help her up, quickly gifting her the knowledge for bipedal locomotion and the use of hands. After she had ushered her over to clear the way from the portal, she gave ratchet a quick ping, signaling him to send the next.
The process repeated for three more girls looking almost the same except for differences in hairstyle. The second of the four had hair kept just as well as Twilight's own, only shorter. The third and fourth both sported the same haircut, having long hair hanging off of them only on one side, only the third had it hanging on her left, and the fourth on her right. Finally, a boy emerged from the portal, looking to be about their age and bearing gray skin and and orange hair in a short, utilitarian hairdo complimented by simple clothing and a toolbelt with various wrenches and other tools, some of which had strange crystal structures on them, looking completely alien to the CHS students.
Rarity stepped up to him, appraising him with a schooled eye, after he managed to stand on two legs he looked at her and after only a second or two seemingly made the connection. "Miss Rarity, I presume?"
As Rarity gave a pleased smile and nod, Twilight barely managed to suppress a giggle. <Gentleman as always, I see?>
Ratchet gave no outward indication of the conversation. <Gentleman? Is that like gentlecolt?>
Twilight rolled her eyes, noticing she had neglected to mention that and quickly granted all five of them her knowledge of the terminology used in this world. Turning to the girls she spoke up. "I've already told you about Ratchet, and these are Aegis, Intel, Ferrum and Riposte, my first clutch." As she introduced them, she pointed at each of them in turn.
It took a few minutes to get introductions over with, but then the group of now twelve began making their way towards the city center.
As it turns out, the booths at sugarcube corner really were never designed with twelve people in mind. Even with four of them still being children, it was still stretched to its limits. With some generous help from Pinkie, Ratchet and Twilight, the kids picked out their drinks and conversation started.
"So, how old are you four?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
"Were two, well slightly older technically, but that hardly matters." Intel answered nonchalantly leading to a round of stunned looks around the table and a soft chuckle from Twilight and Ratchet, who were sitting right next to each other. They were still trying to get the hang of physical closeness in these strange bipedal bodies but they did a fairly good job.
"Two years?!" Rarity exclaimed so loudly that she would likely have attracted curious glances from other patrons, had they not been too busy discussing the second occurance of strange light phenomena at the evening sky in this city.
"Pre-adolescent development is accelerated in changelings." Twilight pointed out, earning herself a round of confused glances from the others.
"She means that drones mature faster," Aegis calmly pointed out causing a round of 'Ohh's to run around the table.
"Well it's nice to meet some more of yer family, Twi. Woulda liked to meet all of 'em tho." Applejack fell in.
"And I would have liked to introduce them all to you but even four children that look practically the same are bound to arouse suspicion. Subtly introducing you to two thousand is just not possible."
"Fair enough." Rainbow agreed. "That would be hard to hide. Anyways, what do you girls usually do everyday?"
"School mostly, we learn lots of stuff." Riposte pointed out before going on to talk about some of the things they had learned recently, from geography to basic engineering. The other three soon joined in.
"Yup, definitely Twilight's daughters." Sunset chuckled to Fluttershy who was sitting to her right and only gave a silent nod in response.
After a few minutes the girls finished their tales of education and Pinkie, who had kept exceptionally quiet during their explanations, seemingly listening attentively, spoke up. "So what do you girls wanna do when you grow up?" At the stares she received she only gave a "What? It's an important question"
The currently-not-nymphs didn't seem deterred however. "I wanna be one of the Queen's Guard." Aegis said proudly, while the other three gave sounds of general agreement. "I'm gonna keep mommy safe."
Twilight gave a small, proud smile at her children but remained quiet otherwise. She knew that they didn't need words to feel her pride.
The conversation went on for some time. Between Twilight and Sunset chatting about the differences between worlds, the recent developments in Equestria, magic theory and ideas on how the portal bridge and the local leyline network might work, and the other girls talking to Twilight's children about various topics it was easily an hour before they finally finished their drinks and, soon after, left for the portal once more.
Back at the portal, Twilight once more pulled out the enchanted gem she had brought with her from Equestria. Taking only a moment to appreciate the soft shimmer of magic in its reflective surface. She turned to Sunset, handing her the small gem. "Here, keep that somewhere safe, then we can open the gate whenever necessary."
"Oh right, with everything that happened we completely forgot about that, didn't we?" Sunset took the gem with a smile.
The girls, once more, came together in a group hug, eliciting giggles from Twilight's children and an amused chuckle from Ratchet. All too soon, however, they began returning through the portal one by one. Twilight went last, giving a final wave to her friends. The portal kept glowing for a short moment before once more returning to being an inert stone surface.
Back in the small workshop in Stripped Gear, Twilight stepped down from the portal's small pedestal and walked over to the machine that kept it open. Pulling back the lever soon caused the beam of magical energy to vanish. Once more the portal was only a simple mirror, though admittedly a rather elaborate one.
Ratchet reached into one of the drawers and pulled out the counterpart to the gem Twilight had just given to Sunset and went about mounting it to the machine they had used to open the portal, they had dubbed it the 'Gatekeeper'.
Twilight meanwhile went to take the four nymphs back to the caretakers.