The Dazzlings trip takes a short detour... a detour back to a place they haven't been to in a long time...
While the Rainbooms are busy performing in the Friendship Games, the Dazzlings are off to find a special cure to undo what Sunset Shimmer has done. But their trip ends up taking a little detour... into an old place they had once called home...
Spin-off story of Tournament Of Friendship. Special thanks to Scholarly Cimmerian for the idea.
Does not require reading of previous story to understand this one.
Thunderclouds ravaged the skies. Winds blowing hard. Darkness all around. Lightning bolts striking the sky, accompanied by the loud thunderous boom. A single private jet was soaring through the stormy weather, trying to make it's destination. Somehow in the midst of leaving California, the jet took a bad detour and somehow ended up leaving the United States and overseas. Though there was really one person to blame for this mistake;
"And it's you, Adagio! It's all on you!" Sonata Dusk cried, screaming at her oldest sister. "We're all gonna dieeeeee!"
"Sonata, calm down!" Aria yelled, grabbing her younger sister by the shoulders. "We're gonna be fine. We survived King Arthur, we survived both World Wars, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, Jonestown, Vietnam, we've been through much worse than this! It's gonna be okay, got it!?"
Sonata quaked in her older sister's grasp, nodding nervously. The oldest sister, Adagio, who was in the pilot seat sighed and rubbed the bridge above her nose.
"Look Sonata, it's going to be okay. I'm going to radio any nearby frequencies, maybe we're near an airport and we don't realize it."
"Adagio, I jumped off the plane five minutes ago to check, we are no where near any continents," Aria replied, putting herself in the co-pilot seat.
"Well if that's the case, maybe the Coast Guard will pick us up. Just got to have faith," Adagio smiled, patting her shoulder.
Aria, to be frank, wasn't so sure if she should believe her. Knowing the last few times they had run in with military in the present, it didn't go exactly as they had hoped. But just then, a bright flash of lightning literally flashed before their eyes, followed by another loud boom.
"Okay, now we have to get somewhere to land," Adagio said with some urgency. She picked up her headset, pulling the microphone to her ears. "If there's anyone in the area, please respond. This is Atlantis Airway, please respond."
No response.
"Please, if anyone can pick up, we are lost and we need somewhere to land. My coordinates are--"
The entire jet rattled, throwing Adagio and her two sisters out of their seats. Their bodies slammed against the ceiling of the plane and then were tossed back onto the ground.
"What was that!?" Sonata cried.
Adagio pulled herself back into the pilot seat, and her face exploded. The entire panel was blaring with red lights and alarms all around.
"Okay, something's gone wrong, what happened!?"
Aria looked out the window with a fearful face, but then her face drooped into a deadpan expression. "One of the engines is on fire."
"Aria, don't joke about that!" Adagio panicked.
"No, one of the engines is actually on fire!"
"WHAT!?"
Adagio ran up to look out the window and gasped. One of the engines was on fire, and smoking! And the propeller had stopped spinning like it should.
"Engine one is on fire," Aria began. Then she looked out the other window. "And we lost engine two."
Adagio moaned. "Come on, not now..."
But as Adagio started pressing buttons at random on the plane's dashboard out of sheer panic, a transmission began to pick up over the headset. When Adagio picked it up, she heard a man on the other side calling to her.
"Unidentified pilots, please turn your jet around and come to the carrier. It's too dangerous to be flying out in this storm, turn yourselves around and come here at once. Over."
The man watching the jet didn't get a reply, all that was replied was a few shorts of static. But it sounded like someone was speaking to him!
"What was that? I did not understand, I repeat, I do not understand, over!"
All he received was nothing but static. And up in the skies, the sailors could see what was happening. One of the engines on the jet was smoking and on fire. Worse, it was spiraling out of control!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
And the plane continued to run straight down.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Adagio screamed, arms flailing like deflating balloons.
And the plane kept diving.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Aria and Sonata simultaneously screamed.
And the plane kept diving.
The men watched as the jet roared down to the island. And then the plane vanished into the trees. It wasn't until a sudden mushroom cloud of fire and smoke burst out of the island could they see where they had crashed.
"What the--okay, send out the search and rescue squads, now!" The captain ordered.
"Yes captain, right away."
A small craft was dropped onto the waters, and with the men all gathered, they were ready to go. The engines were turned on, and they raced towards the island. The men had their coats, their boots, medical kits, possible guns in case of defense required, they gathered everything needed for this operation.
The boat beached onto the island, and all the crew jumped out one by one. They charged deep into the jungle with their flashlights, their tools, they got all the power and steel they needed! Besides, they didn't mind the rain.
As they wandered deeper into the jungle, everyone came to a halt. A few sparks flashed in the jungle, calling to them. And when they found the source, they saw electrical wiring and cables that were still fizzing from the damage.
"Well, we found the crashed plane," One of the men said, pointing the flashlight towards the jet.
Two men walked towards the plane, pushing through some of the smoldering debris that had fallen with it. Pushing a few leaves out of the way, they got closer until they found the door. Tugging on the door, there was no luck. Until another man came to the door with a heavy tool to try and yank the door open. Sliding it in between the crack, he yanked hard as he could, until the door finally broke it's lock and opened up.
They pulled the door open, flashing their lights inside. The interior of the plane was a little dark, with the only lights provided being the lights that were still working in the cabin and in the passenger area. There were a few gaping holes in the skin of the plane, with rain from outside falling right through and staining the floors.
"Any sign of the pilots?"
The first man looked around, flashing the light towards everything. "No. I can't see anyone." He stepped inside, shining his light all around the floors and sides of the interiors. As he looked around, a woman stepped inside to investigate as well, a representative of the National Transportation Safety Board. She came along with the rest of the rescue team to do a comb through of the ship.
The first man opened up the bathroom doors, hoping that there was at least someone bracing themselves within. Nothing. Nothing in the first one, and nothing in the second one. And there was nothing else in the back as well.
"No one's here," The man said.
"And based on how bad the windshield is, I say whoever they were, they were thrown through it," the woman replied, looking at the shape of the cabin. "Look at the glass, and then look down to the nose. The plane smashed into something first, and based on the angle of how it's dented along with the shards of glass that have been broken, it looks like the pilots were thrown through."
"What gives you that theory?"
"You didn't see the pilots jump out with parachutes, right?" The woman asked.
"Right."
"So if they didn't jump out, they must have been trying to steer the plane to have a soft landing, but couldn't do so."
"Even then, what caused the plane to spiral out of control?" He asked.
"Follow me," she gestured. The two of them walked back into the rain where the rest of the crew was standing. Their eyes and flashlights all focused towards the engine that was still smoking and in flames. Drops of rain were visible through the light of the flames despite it not being enough to evaporate the fire.
"Look at the cracks on the plating. Penetrated through, and look at all the blackened marks, the impact created several sparks, not including the fire," She finished. "In conclusion; Their plane was hit with a bolt of lightning, they tried to land it safely but failed to do so, and upon the crash, they were tossed right through the windshield."
"But if they're not here, then where are they?"
Unbeknownst to them, they had fallen far away from the crash. Deeper in the jungle. The Dazzlings had crashed, but upon crashing, they bounced through several trees like bowling balls until they hit something hard enough which knocked them all out one by one. And unfortunately, the guards didn't even see them enraptured by vines from plants which dragged them into a giant pit of quicksand which started to engulf them all.
All that remained was a hand sinking through the quicksand, while the minerals surrounding the hand softly glowed...
The early hours of the morning were quiet. Very quiet, almost as if you could hear a pin drop. A large mass of plains were asleep, next to the masses of hills and mountains. Crickets were chirping and a few fireflies were buzzing around, occasionally showing a speck of light or two. But the morning sun, all the way across the horizon began to rise. Slowly it cast it's glare across the land, bringing light for a new day.
Light brought itself upon a town, sitting in the middle of a valley, surrounded by a small river and hills and mountains. Apple trees protected by surrounding fences, all in the lands belonging to a big apple-farm just down the road to it. A fountain rested in the middle of a small area on the left side of town, with plenty of water rushing through. All the homes in town were made of concrete and wood, with straw hay forming many of the roofs. Roads and paths paved all throughout the town, connecting them all together.
As the morning hours continued to draw nearer, the entire town began to wake up. Curtains and windows opened, letting the light inside. Shops began to open for the day, ready for the customers to come. The morning rooster cawed at the skies. Everyone within the town was getting up to start the day. Especially the individual living over at the tree palace, a palace that had erupted from the ground up. Everyone in town knew who it belonged to, and they were happy to be sharing the same hometown with her.
A set of glass doors opened up, allowing entry to the balcony. Sounds of hooves clopping along the terrace as the individual stepped out to view the morning sun. As the sun finally reached up all the way to the sky, it's light reflected upon the blue mare who gazed out to see it.
An alicorn, in fact. A pair of wings and horn on it's body, with an ice white mane. A cutie mark in the shape of a cresent moon with a magician's wand next to it. A pair of violet eyes opened up to greet the day with a joyful smile on her face as she galloped and cheered to the heavens.
As she jumped off her balcony, leaping into the air, her wings unfolded and she began to take flight. She soared above her hometown of Ponyville, watching as ponies all over were opening up shops and buildings for the day. Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres, the flower shop, the arcade, everything was opening for the day. And as ponies in town began to open up shop... out of nowhere, they began to sing. Now there was some occasions where everyone in Ponyville did began random musical numbers out of left field, but for the most part it was usually tame.
But here? They were singing in the most cheerful and hopeful voices possible!
More and more shops opened up, ponies singing along.
A brand new day is coming A brand new day for adventure And all around we'll have a great day together
There's plenty life and fun to have In our home Equestria Our friendships make it better A brand new day is finally here!
"Whoo-hoo!" A green mare with a minty colored mane squeaked. "Come on girls, we can't be late!"
The unicorn galloped through the town with a few friends by her side; one was a gray earth pony with a black mohawk with some light purple streaks. She had a graphic of a treble clef on her flank, and she sported a black punk vest with studs around the collar. The only other things that stood out about her was the jewelry she had hanging from her ears and the piercings in her brows.
Trixie carefully found a spot to land, (thankfully not falling on her face this time) and was greeted by two of her friends.
"Trixie! Happy Birthday!" The green mare smiled, giving her friend a hug.
"Turned another year older, luv!" The punk mare grinned, giving her a hug as well.
Trixie giggled. "Thanks Lyra. Octavia."
"Come on, Bon Bon's already cookin' up a big meal to begin your big day!"
The princess giggled. "Great! What's she makin'?"
"Oh every breakfast food you love."
Trixie's eyes lit up. "Pancakes?"
"Mmmhmm. With an extra dose of syrup and butter."
Her mouth began to water at the image. "Yummm..."
Octavia snickered. "Come on, Princess, lets get a move on."
The three mares trotted over to Bon Bon's Bakery, a small little stop set up in Ponyville that sold mostly confectionery goods. Sugarcube Corner also sold confectionery goods, but that place was more of cafe. The three mares trotted to the front door and gave a few knocks. The mare behind the door opened it up with a smile.
"Trixie! Happy Birthday!" Bon Bon smiled, hugging her friend.
"Thanks Bonnie," Trixie cooed, hugging back.
"Come on up, girls! I've got a delicious pancake breakfast coming right up!"
The mares dashed upstairs and gathered around a breakfast table. Bon Bon had stacks of pancakes all piled up, nice and steaming. The fresh smell made Trixie's mouth water.
"Oh that smells so good..."
"And I added an extra amount of whipped cream onto yours," Bon Bon winked.
"Eeeee!" Trixie squeaked. Immediately she dived into a delicious plate of pancakes with whipped cream filling. She buried her face full of pancake, happily chomping down some like she hadn't been fed in weeks. She couldn't help it, the pancakes were too good!
"We've got quite a list of fun activities for your birthday today," Bon Bon smiled.
"Oooh, color me intrigued," Trixie grinned, her tail swishing with some excitement.
Lyra giggled. "Well this pancake breakfast was number 1 on that list. But we're also takin' you out to a magic show being hosted over in Canterlot, and Amethyst is on her way with a special gift for you."
Trixie squeaked in excitement. "Oh, I'm so excited!"
Outside of Ponyville...
A few ponies were trotting along on a path, taking a little nature walk. It was peaceful, relaxing, everything that a nice nature walk should have been. Until the sounds of something rustling in the bushes made the ponies skitter in fear, running away.
A massive siren body flopped against the ground, within the trees, covered in black smoke and ash. The explosion from the airplane had left it's mark, along with several bruises and cuts. "You call that a soft landing!?" Sonata coughed up smoke.
"Don't give me that attitude Sonata, it's not my fault! I was trying to get us to land, I didn't know where the stop function was!"
Aria growled through her teeth. "It's called the landing gear, dummy. And I've said this once... I've said this a thousand times... YOU. CAN'T. FLY. A PLANE!" She enunciated while waving her hooves around. "I mean how many times have you done this, how many?"
Adagio pouted. "I lost count."
"Try 37, Adagio! 37! You can't fly a plane! You lost several shipments of cargo because you don't know how to use a radar system, you blew up planes carrying several good soldiers because you don't know how to dodge enemy fire, you even crashed a crop-duster even when you were a few feet close to the ground! How do you even do that, how is that possible!?"
"Wait a minute..." Sonata interrupted.
"Maybe if someone gave me proper flight training, I wouldn't be such a nervous wreck in the pilot seat, now would I!?"
"GIRLS!"
"WHAT!?" The two sisters growled.
Sonata cleared her pipes, and looked at them both, pushing her body to perch straight up. "Have either of you two noticed that we're speaking clearly?"
"What's your point?"
"Girls," Sonata used her front hooves to pull herself forward, leaning closer to them. "We couldn't exactly talk fluently when we changed into these things, could we?"
"Well, back in Equestria, I swore we..." Adagio thought. But something occurred to her. They were talking clearly, fluently. But something still wasn't right; why were they back in their siren forms? No one had any memory of changing in the crash. "Wait a minute... we are. Hold on a second..."
Adagio's eyes squinted as she closed them, trying to close all thoughts and everything around her. Now would be time to try and change back. .... Any second now... Any second now.... Nothing.
"I'm not changing, am I?"
"Actually... you are."
Adagio's eyes opened with a grin. "Wait, really?"
"Yes, you're changing into an idiot!" Aria deadpanned.
"Don't get snippy with me, young lady."
"You're not my mom!"
"Will you idiots just shut up for a minute!?"
Both siblings were met with swats with Sonata's fish tail slapping their cheeks.
"Ow!"
"Ow!"
Sonata snorted. "Listen. Like it or not, we crashed. But right now, we need to figure out where we went, and why we can't change back to humans! Okay?"
Adagio sighed. "Okay. You're right. But I don't understand, we crashed, didn't we? What was the last thing you remember?"
"The last thing I remember was being tossed through the windshield after the engine blew up in my face, being set on fire, and then suddenly everything went black," Sonata admitted. "Ari, what about you?"
"Windshield, screaming, set on fire, more screaming, me trying to strangle Adagio, and then getting knocked out."
Adagio groaned, swatting at her own face with her left hoof. "Oy... Well I'm afraid my memory is still a little fuzzy. I don't remember how we changed back into these forms, not even if we chose to or not."
"Girls?"
"What, Aria, what is it?"
"Shhh! Listen!"
Aria's ear twitched as she heard something. It sounded like someone was singing. And the song? Oh, it just made the girls cringe. Another bubblegum pop song from the 80s, nothin' spectacular or grand, at least to them. But who was singing it... oh that made them all light up. There was one girl they recognized who had a voice like that...
As they poked their heads out from behind some trees, they could see someone trotting down the path, enjoying a morning walk. A mare with purple skin and a purple mane all wrapped up in a headband. A soft gold earring dangled from her ear, and she was holding two saddle bags across her body, and a boombox resting on her back playing some music from a cassette tape. And on her flank, a graphic of three diamonds.
See the ponies trotting down the street Equestria's where they wanna' meet They don't know where they wanna go But they're trotting in time Cause
We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat Yeah We got the beat
The three Dazzlings had their jaws practically hitting the ground. It was uncanny! Amethyst Star, the same girl they all knew but... a mare? How was this possible? No, not just a mare, but a unicorn?
Realizing that they were out in the open, the all yanked their heads back to stay out of her sight as she galloped around the bend, still singing and happy as a clam.
Go-Go music really makes us dance Do the Pony puts us in a trance Do the Watusi just give us a chance That's when we fall in line Cause
We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat Yeah We got the beat
The gem around Adagio's test softly glowed, making her gasp.
"Did... did you see that? D-Do you realize where we are?"
Aria and Sonata looked at each other, shrugging in confusion.
"Girls... we're... we're... we're home..." Adagio was speechless. "We're... we're back home... We're home!"
Adagio's jaw slowly started to form an excited smile, and she started shaking.
"Uh oh, Sonata, take cover!" Aria shouted.
Both sirens collapsed onto the ground while their eldest shot up into the skies, squeeing as loud as ever.
"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! WHOO-HOO!!! WE'RE BACK, BABY!!!" Adagio shouted into the skies. "WE'RE FINALLY HOME!"
She spun and flipped her entire body around in a 360 motion, completely overjoyed by their situation. Surviving the crash was good on it's own, but finding out they had gotten themselves back home? Oh this was a whole other revelation!
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" Adagio squealed. "We're home, after one thousand years, we're FINALLY home again!"
And every bird flocked out of the woods for the next couple of miles just from that one single burst of joy. Creatures hid back in their homes, animals fled from their natural habitats.
"Great job, Adagio. Now everyone within 100 miles will know there's three giant sea monsters hanging around here," Aria snarked.
Aria groaned. "Come on, Sonata. We gotta keep her from getting killed, again." She took off for the skies and Sonata was close behind as they raced after their oldest sister.
"This is beautiful! Oh the mountains, they're gigantic! And the trees, ohhh so many trees!" Adagio squeaked. "I haven't seen this land in over a thousand years!"
Before she could even do something else, she saw her youngest sister flopping around in the giant field of grass, rolling around like a cat. "And there's so much grass! Wheee!" And Sonata went rolling down a hill like a barrel, until she reached the bottom near a lake. Aria had to admit, she couldn't help but giggle at how child-like her sister was behaving.
"Alright, Sonata, Adagio, I know you're excited, but could you keep yourselves together? I know we just got back and all, but what if someone freaks out?"
"Oh come on Aria, there's so much to do!" Sonata squeed before she rolled right into the lake. And then she jumped right out of the lake and back onto the grass, flopping around in a very silly manner. She shook herself around like a dog, getting all the water off her body. And then she gasped, cupping her muzzle with her hooves. "I just got an idea. Let's take a vacation here for Spring Break!"
Aria's hoof scrunched her muzzle. "Oh we are so dead..."
"Aria, relax, besides this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us! We have a chance to see our home again!" Adagio said, hovering back into the air.
"But what about getting back, how are we going to do that?"
"Simple! Princess Trixie found a way to our world, we can just go talk to her! And if not, we retrace our steps and get back through whatever we fell out of," Adagio said.
"You make it sound sooo simple," Aria rolled her eyes.
"Oh don't be so nippy. Admit it, you missed this world," Adagio smirked.
"... Oh okay, I do," Aria rolled her eyes, nodding. "But I dunno, we haven't been back here in over 1,000 years. Things are probably different now."
"She does have a point," Sonata pointed out.
"Very well. Well, how about we try making proper introductions to ponies again, we'll take it slowly," she suggested. "Now come on, let us see if there are any towns around here, there has to be populated areas here somewhere."
"Then lets take it to the skies!"
Aria burst off the ground and into the skies. Adagio soon followed, and Sonata jumped out of the like and followed after her older sisters.
Back in Ponyville, Princess Trixie and her friends were continuing to enjoy a very hearty and delicious breakfast.
"Mmm, this is delicious," Trixie smiled, wiping her face off with a napkin.
"Trust me Trix, this is only the start. We got together and we made an entire plan of all the things to do today," Bon Bon smiled.
"And it includes all of your favorite places!" Lyra squeaked.
"Yay," Trixie squeed. "This already is turning into the best day ever. I've got my friends, I've got all of you guys... oh shoot! Wait!"
Her horn lit up and she flashed out of the room in seconds. And then returned in another flash, accompanied by a smoke bomb igniting. She came back, this time with a dog next to her. A fluffy gray, white, and black dog who's tail was wagging in excitement.
"Forgot about Fluffernutter," Trixie blushed, looking down at her dog. "Don't you worry, I'm not forgetting you little guy." She hugged her dog who licked her face in return, making her giggle.
Amethyst smiled at the two best friends embracing, until she turned her gaze out the window.
"Hey, um, Trixie?" Amethyst asked.
"Yeah?"
"Um, I know we've ran into a lot of ponies and um, non-ponies here in Equestria, but what is that?" She pointed out the window.
Trixie and her friends got out of their seats and looked out the window. All of them gasped; what were these giant beasts that were flying straight for Ponyville?
All six of them were teleported out of the house faster than the speed of light and all stood strong and battle-ready, just in case. The three Sirens flew over Ponyville, zipping and soaring right past and over it, spinning around like they were members of an air show. Eventually they came back around and landed on the ground, now standing across the bridge that would cross into Ponyville.
That is until they saw the pack of ponies charging towards them, now standing there in guard dog pose.
"Oh dear, this is... wow, this is awkward," Sonata rubbed the back of her head with her hoof.
The land was quiet. Like a pin dropping, everything had gone completely silent.
"How do you want to approach this?" Aria whispered. "Do we attack, snack, or backtrack? What?"
"No," Adagio whispered back. "These ponies look just like our friends. Besides... I have a better idea."
"Ahem! My name is Trixie, the Princess of Magic! Who are you?"
"Ponies of Equestria..." Adagio introduced. Slowly she lowered her body to the ground to get up close, but still keeping her head level with the alicorn's face. "We are Sirens, having returned to our home from 1,000 years of banishment..."
"Wait, what are you doing?" Aria raised a brow.
Adagio tilted her head at her sister who rolled her eyes and groaned.
"This is so humiliating..."
Sonata joined as well.
"Wait a minute, hold on... I remember you," Princess Trixie said.
Adagio's ears perked up. "You do?"
"Yes, you... wait a minute. Adagio?"
Adagio slowly smiled.
"I-Is that you!?"
"Mmmhmm!"
Princess Trixie whinnied in excitement. "Oh my goodness, it's so great to see you again! I was wondering when I would get the chance to see you again!"
"Wait, you know them?" Vinyl asked.
"Sort of like that, but we know you girls. Well, your counterparts at least," Adagio explained.
"That portal I assembled and traveled through where my crown was stolen?" Her friends nodded. "That was a gateway to a whole other world, a world where all of you are, well... um, I don't know how to say--"
"Bipeds, we'll use that," Adagio finished. "To put more simply."
"Yeah, exactly. And that's where I found these three, they were biped versions of all of us! And they got my crown back!"
Octavia and Amethyst slowly turned their heads and glared.
"Sooo... you three are the reason Sunset Shimmer is trapped in your world?"
Aria's tail sharpened with a swish sound as she locked onto them. "Yeah..."
And like a lightswitch, the two mares expressions changed from bitter to more welcoming and friendly.
"Well then, I say it's very nice to meet you! What's your name?"
"Aria. And I believe you're Octavia," Aria said, looking at the gray earth pony and then to the purple unicorn, "and you are Amethyst."
The two ponies grinned. Soon Vinyl, Lyra, and Bon Bon stepped up to take a closer look at Sonata, still keeping at ease.
"And you are?"
"I'm Sonata!" Sonata smiled, cheerfully. "And you are, no, don't tell me..." she used her hoof to point. "Vinyl, Lyra, and Bon Bon."
"Huh. I guess you really know us, at least, counterpart wise," Bon Bon commented.
"Actually we know a lot about you girls on the other side," Sonata shrugged.
"Like what?" Lyra asked.
"Well for starters, Lyra, I know you're a master in the martial arts, you come from Trotkyo, and your favorite food is sushi," Sonata grinned.
Lyra nearly fainted until Bon Bon held her up with one hoof on her frozen stiff body.
"Well if you know that... what about me?" Amethyst beamed, a soft angel halo hovered over her head.
"Amethyst, I know you're a single child with a parent of one, you have an obsession with retro tech and culture, and judging by the headband on your head, and the sweatbands on your ankles, I'm going to assume you are a dance instructor?"
"Ohh you're good," Amethyst smirked. "I like you."
Just then a beam of light flashed before their eyes before a new figure set foot on the Ponyville grounds. A tall white alicorn with a lustrous mane that swayed side to side even though there was no wind to make it move that way. Her mane was colored with shades of green and blue, and on her flank was a cutie mark of a radiating sun.
"Stand down!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey there!" Adagio said, backing up. "Wait, hold on, we're not--"
"I said, stand down!" She yelled.
"Princess Celestia, wait! I know them!" Trixie said, moving in front of her.
The alicorn looked back down at her. "You know these three?"
"Yes! These are the girls who helped get my crown back in that other world! Trust me!"
The princess gazed up at the three Sirens were steadily backing up out of caution. They had only just gotten here, they didn't want to risk another banishment. Not again. But the princess didn't do anything to provoke them any further. Her horn simmered from glowing, and she sighed in relief.
"Okay. If you say they're trustworthy, than I believe you."
"Wait, wait, wait... Princess... Celestia?" Sonata asked, raising a brow.
"Yes, that is me. Why?"
"Oh, just, we have a version of you back in the world we were banished in! And she's a principal of power!" Sonata giggled.
"I see... Well anyways, I apologize for being so hostile with you girls. Under normal circumstances, I would have properly introduced myself, but with the barrage of villains that have been popping all over Equestria, I wasn't sure if I should be worried or not," Princess Celestia apologized.
"Huh. Sounds like something we had to deal with, doesn't it?" Adagio winked to Aria and Sonata, who were both grinning.
"But lets get back to the matter at hand. So you three aren't here to cause harm?"
"None miss. In fact, if I can be honest, being here after all these years is honestly a blessing. I've wanted to come home and now we finally have the chance to see our home again!" Adagio squeaked.
"Yes, I can see that," Princess Celestia nodded, softly smiling. "But there's one problem. Now I'm not one who likes to change who anyone is, but remembering your previous, ahem, history, I think we may need to do something about your size. Ponies don't think when they're afraid, and when they're afraid, they panic."
"Hmm..." Adagio's tail fin swished. "You do have a point... but how do you propose we solve this issue?"
"I believe a simple shrinking spell can help you three," Princess Celestia suggested.
"Shrinking? Wait, you're not going to make us microscopic, are you?" Sonata's ears flopped.
"No. I can simply shrink you all down to the size of the rest of these ponies. If you three want to wander around with Trixie and friends, that's fine. But being down to their size will increase the ponies chances of staying calm, and less likely to... well, you know."
Adagio glared with a deadpan expression. "I know. Just make with the magic, sunbutt."
Princess Celestia just rolled her eyes with a held back chuckle and her horn glowed.
"Wait, wait, wait! This isn't going to vaporize us, right?" Aria begged.
"No, I've done this spell time and time again. This will be quick and effective."
The three Dazzlings braced for impact, even scrunching their faces and keeping their eyes shut. And a giant beam of bright light flashed, almost in a mushroom cloud within Ponyville. But when the light vanished, everyone was able to see again. Princess Celestia's horn was smoking, but she just cooled it with a lick of her hoof and apply to her forehead. Princess Trixie and friends all opened up their eyes to look, and smiled.
"... Are we dead yet!?" Aria whined.
"Girls, you can open your eyes now!" Princess Trixie said.
Adagio's eyes slowly opened, and before her eyes with the alicorn herself; face to face, as if she was actually in front of her. And as her head tilted around, looking at the buildings, she could see they were now bigger than her. A squeak of excitement escaped her breath.
"It... It worked!
"We're pony size! Now we can walk around this city without crushing things! Whoo-hoo!" Sonata squeaked, spinning around in a circle.
"I think my work here is done. You can handle things from here, correct?" Princess Celestia asked with a soft smile.
"Absolutely. Thank you, Princess."
"No problem. Oh!" Princess Celestia remembered, before making a small colorful box wrapped in a ribbon appear before her. "Before I forget, Happy Birthday Trixie."
Trixie squeaked again with a smile, just before Celestia vanished with a teleportation spell.
"Alright, this day just gets better and better! Now we can finally walk without scaring anyone! ... Um, anypony. Sorry, haven't been here in over a thousand years," Adagio blushed.
Trixie giggled. "It's alright. But if you don't mind, I do have a couple of questions?"
"I don't mind at all. Fire away," Adagio smiled, sitting up like a cat.
"So you three were banished, right? How did you even get here?"
"I don't know. One minute we were crashing onto an uncharted island, the next thing you know we blacked out and we woke up here in Equestria. Hmm," Adagio thought. "Perhaps we found another portal?"
"It could be possible," Trixie nodded. "But I'm glad to see you three were able to visit after all! What even brought you here?"
Adagio rubbed at her chin, thinking for a second.
"Adagio? That potion, spell, thingy?" Sonata asked.
"Oh!" Adagio's eyes lit up in shock. "Oh my goodness, I nearly forgot! Did you get the message I sent you?"
"Do you mean the one that said 'oh my goodness, oh my goodness, we need to come here right away I am freaking out'?" Trixie raised a brow.
"... yes, that one," Adagio blushed. "We needed to come here, it's an emergency. Please tell me you know how to undo sleeping spells!"
"Wait, what?"
Adagio rolled her eyes and facehoofed. "The thing that Sunset Shimmer did to the younger sisters of the Rainbooms in our world?"
"Yeah?"
"We believe they've been put under some form of sleeping spell. The doctors have done everything they can, but nothing is snapping them out. Health-wise, they're all ok. But Sunset put them under some spell that's keeping them in a state of a deep sleep."
"Oh my gosh..." Princess Trixie said. "Wait, I don't know how to do that! I'm still trying to learn being a princess, and there's only so many spells I know!"
Adagio groaned and dug her face in the ground.
"Ow."
"But I do know someone who can help!"
Adagio's ears perked as she rose her head up.
"You do?"
The Everfree forest was always considered one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. It neighbored Ponyville and it was always used in many stories regarding spooky legends and folklore. Where the plants grew out of control, the animals cared for only their own, and the clouds moved all on their own.
But the Everfree forest was also home to a friend of Princess Trixie. A zebra from a far-away land who always spoke in rhyme, and was a master when it came to coming up with potions and cures and whatnot. And her name was Zecora.
"Creating a potion to undo a sleeping spell, will be very quickly and swell! It is a remedy that I've done some testing for quite some time, and it should undo those who were forced into this crime."
The three Dazzlings were all looking in awe at the decorations of her home. So many interesting relics and knick-knacks from her home. Some traditional masks, plants, herbs, even some dream-catchers in some areas. Sonata was almost thinking about touching one of them until Aria swatted her hoof with her tail.
The zebra grabbed a few potions and herbs, mixing it all up in the pot which boiled with steam.
"But this should bring them free from their state of paralysis, correct?"
Zecora smiled. "Absolutely. It will get them up and at them, you soon will see. Just need one dash of these roses, which I would not recommend sniffing with your noses." Zecora quickly mixed it all together and then slowly poured into a glass jar which she sealed up tightly. "All the material you need is in this potion for you creatures from the ocean. Inject this in their system or get them to drink, and they will be upright in a blink."
Everyone stared in awe as they looked at the potion.
"... that's it? That's all we needed? We just need that one potion?"
"... we crashed an expensive plane on an uncharted island... and all we had to do was simply walk here and we'd get it in a few minutes!?" Aria shrieked.
"Well then," Adagio said, sitting up right like a cat, her tail swishing side to side behind her. "Hmm. ... Seems rather anti-climatic, don't you think?"
"Ohhh don't you worry, I know what won't be anti-climatic."
"What?"
"Your inevitable murder when I'm finished STRANGLING YOU FOR CRASHING OUR PLANE!"
And Aria tackled Adagio straight out the door, rolling like a wheel that had gotten loose from a wagon. Sonata watched as a giant dust cloud of a battle was taken outside, cringing from some of the physical violence sounds. But she turned back to Zecora with a soft smile.
"Thank you, Zecora. This should help us."
Zecora smiled and nodded back.
"It is no trouble at all my seapony friend. I only hope that the sleeping spell meets its end."
Sonata winked at her and grabbed the jar with her mouth, keeping it carefully wedged in between her teeth. Waddling out of the hut, she just casually waddled past Aria and Adagio who were still fighting in a cartoony cloud; occasionally with their heads pushing through the smoke with pained expressions.
"Come on girls, we got the spell now!"
"Not until she finally dies!"
"I cannot die, you know that!"
"Then I will take much more enjoyment in beating the living shrimp out of you!"
Trixie and her friends watched as Sonata happily waddled over to them with the potion still clutched with her. Thankfully she found a place to put it in a small satchel draped over her back. Not too far behind were Aria and Adagio who were no longer fighting, but visible with cuts and bruises. Even a soft black eye on Aria's face was still there.
"We got it! Thanks Princess, I didn't know it was going to be that quick," Sonata smiled.
"It's no problem, Sonata."
"Well... I guess it's good we got it either way. But what do we do now?" Aria asked.
"Welll... we were about to get some train tickets, cause we planned on taking Trixie out on our next stop for her birthday," Bon Bon said.
"Oh, right! You girls go, we should probably head back home" Sonata nodded.
"Wait, hold on, you just got here! You can't leave!"
"I agree!" Adagio raised a hand--er, hoof, up. "Listen, we've been banished from this place for a thousand years. I didn't plan on coming back here to waste time and interfere with other people's... ponies, sorry, I didn't come here to waste ponies time and interfere with their lives."
"Who said you were interfering?" Princess Trixie asked. "Adagio, would you and your sisters like to come with us? I would be more than happy to let you stay with me if you want. Besides, you're probably going to need some help, a lot has changed over a thousand years."
"Well..." Adagio said, unsure.
"Come on, Dagi! She said it was okay, pleaseeeeee?" Sonata begged, clutching her oldest sister's shoulder.
"You know she's not gonna stop until you say yes," Aria smirked.
"Well... I'd be happy to. Aria, Sonata, you want to come with?"
"Of course!" Sonata whinnied. "... Where did that come from?"
Trixie giggled. "Come on, follow us!"
Princess Trixie led the way as everyone trotted over to the train station. All the while, the three sirens just waddled right behind them, with some occasional bounces on their bellies, trying to catch up with them.
"It's been a while since we've done this. Ugh, how are they faster?" Aria complained.
"Come on..." Adagio rolled her eyes.
Soon they arrived at the station, and Trixie quickly paid for nine tickets. Just then, the train eventually came to the station. Once the doors opened up, Trixie's friends all galloped inside and found themselves their seats. But they were still waiting for the Dazzlings to come to the station.
"Ugh, that's it!" Aria lifted herself off the ground so she was hovering again, and like a bullet she shot herself right inside the car and found a seat, sitting across from Octavia and Vinyl. Sonata was next to follow and soon the last two to come on board was Adagio, and the princess herself. Adagio flopped her belly onto the seat, and rolled around until she managed to pull herself up just enough so she could sit up properly. And Trixie climbed into the seat next to her.
The doors closed and the train's whistle blew. With a whoosh, the train began to pull out of the station.
"I'm gonna be honest Princess, I am really excited, I cannot wait to see what Canterlot is like here," Adagio beamed.
"It's a big city, that's for sure. I actually got enrolled in Princess Luna's School For Gifted Unicorns there," Trixie smiled.
"Really? Is that what got you to earn your title of Princess then?"
"Well... not exactly. Honestly I kind of.. .dropped out," Princess Trixie blushed.
Aria snickered. "What? What'd you do, did you turn someone into another creature? Start a fire in a dorm room, what'cha do?"
Trixie blinked. "She's a little..."
"Aria can be scary in her own way, I know," Adagio said, patting her shoulder. "But most of the time she's only joking, I know from experience."
"Oh. Well, no. To be honest, I just wasn't... happy there. I couldn't keep up with the other unicorns, and most of them were so intimidating. I couldn't really approach them."
"Well, how did you become alicorn princess then?" Sonata asked, head tilting.
"That is a whoooole other story on it's own, it'd take about three seasons to explain that," she said shaking her head. The Sirens blinked in confusion. "... I was just repeating what Pinkie Pie said."
"Ahhh...", the three said in unison.
The Dazzlings looked around for a moment or two, looking at the train's interior.
"You know, this isn't so bad. Usually we do the driving," Sonata said, beaming a little, letting her tail kick back a bit like legs.
"Next stop, Canterlot!"
The doors opened up, and the Dazzlings hovered out of the train cars, still keeping low to the ground with the rest of Trixie and her friends.
"Here we are! Welcome to Canterlot!" Princess Trixie exclaimed, standing on her hind legs, and making a big wave with her front hooves.
The Dazzlings were in awe. The city, the kingdom it just looked so... so... gorgeous! Buildings that were as high as skyscrapers, so many ponies walking around that were incredibly well dressed and gussied up, and plenty of shops that looked like they had everything from clothes to jewelry and even food!
"Well, I must admit, this isn't anything like I had expected, but it's gorgeous..."
"Eh, it's alright. I prefer the Canterlot we live in," Aria shrugged.
"Oooh, donuts!"
"No, Sonata, remember we can't... eat. A lot," Adagio's hoof drooped.
"You wanted us to come here. Just let her have fun," Aria rolled her eyes, chuckling.
Adagio groaned and rubbed at her snout. "She better not fill up on donuts, or dinner's going to be wasted..."
"Actually, that's exactly where we're planning on going to! Come on," Bon Bon giggled. The ponies clopped their hooves down the sidewalk while Adagio and Aria hovered behind, following close. Now one of the things that they had concern about was of a few passer-byes looking at them questionably, since, well, they weren't a typical kind of animal that Equestria usually had seen. In fact, a ton of ponies who were just minding their own business looked at them like they were circus animals on display for a show.
"My dear, what are those things?"
"I swear, those are... sea ponies, could they be?"
"They look like ruffians, I swear..."
Aria snorted with a growl. "Can I?"
"Aria, no," Adagio said sternly. "Just ignore them, you pay attention to them, you're only going to make them aggravate you more. Need I remind you of the Cloudsdale incident?"
"Which wouldn't have started because of Click--"
"--I don't care who started it, I shouldn't have lashed out or responded to her, let's just focus."
Octavia's walking slowed down as she moved back to where Adagio and Aria were following. But instead of looking at them with disturbed looks like the others, she just gave soft smiles.
"Don't worry, mates. Just stay with us, it'll be okay. These ponies wouldn't do a thing to tarnish their precious reputation," Octavia said in a mocking tone of voice.
"Sounds like you know a thing or two about that," Aria asked, raising a brow.
"I do. Before I settled in Ponyville, I had the displeasure of being raised here by a father who wanted me to be a 'good little mare'," She said in disgust, sticking her tongue out. "And what do you know, soon he and mum argue over whether or not my happiness even matters and then... they divorced."
Aria and Adagio's faces drooped, and their pupils shrunk.
"Well... that's, um... less than pleasant," Adagio said, trying to find the right words.
"It's fine. Besides, that was honestly the push I needed," Octavia grinned. She turned herself around to face them. "I still feel bad for my dear mum for having to end things, and I admit, I do feel all the blame should have been on me. But Mum told me I should be happy being who I wanted to be, and that was just the push I needed! I took up music lessons, got my mane shaved, and I spun myself around into a completely new mare!"
Aria grinned. "And that's what I like about you," she winked. "Well, your biped self anyway, she's just like you!"
"Now come on girls, we're almost there at Donut Joe's!"
Donut Joe's was a relatively nice little cafe. Plenty of nice wallpaper, tiled floors and ceiling, kept the place very inviting. And the food, oh the food... if royalty food wasn't your cup of tea, the sweet taste of coffee, tea, milk, whatever drink you desired would be here, along with the delicious pastries. The most popular of course; were the donuts. Every kind, every flavor imaginable was available.
The girls got themselves a table, and the Dazzlings perched on stools like the others Though the only challenge was trying to tuck their tails close so that no one tripped over their fins. But on the positive side of things, Donut Joe, the manager, had no problem with these weird fish pony things coming into his shop and hanging out with the girls. He just simply gave them their orders and left them be while he attended to other customers and continued to bake more and more donuts and pastries.
At the table, Adagio had two donuts with soft baby blue glaze and colorful sprinkles, with the addition of some coffee next to her. Aria's had three caramel donuts, simply glazed with chocolate. And Sonata, was happily munching down on the offering of a delicious eclair with a glass of milk next to her. She had intent on getting some donuts, but after seeing the eclairs available? Score!
"So let me get this straight," Adagio asked, taking another sip of coffee. "This... unicorn, stole from you, and was trying to free Daybreaker from her statue of a prison?"
"Mmmhmm!"
"Mmm. Sounds like someone had a bit of a god complex going on.."
"Pfft. She was plain bonkers, that's what she was," Octavia spat. "Stealing from my friend, and almost destroyed the world."
"So what happened to her then?" Aria asked, nibbling on another piece of her donut.
"Well, I don't wanna say... if you don't mind, I really rather not talk about it," Trixie said, her ears flopping.
"Oh, well, that's alright. You don't have to if you don't want to," Adagio smiled, taking another bite of the donut. "Mmm... this is delicious. Compliments to Joe."
"Think that's good? Try some of Bon Bon's homemade eclairs," Lyra winked.
"Oh I've had them," Adagio smiled.
"Wait, really?"
"Mmmhmm. Your counterpart's eclairs, at least."
Bon Bon giggled.
"So what are our counterparts like, you said they were... hoo-mans, hu..."
"Humans," Aria corrected.
"Yes, that."
"Well, judging by your behaviors, I say they're just like you ponies," Adagio said.
"Except they walk on two legs and they don't walk around naked," Sonata grinned, nonchalantly.
"Um, we don't usually wear clothes," Vinyl said, raising a brow. "Except for when we're attending certain events like the Grand Galloping Gala, or somepony's wedding."
"So we are living in a nudist colony," Aria teased, sticking her tongue out.
"Ha. Ha." Bon Bon said with a deadpan expression.
"And here's your coffee," Donut Joe said, passing Sonata a mug.
"Oooh, coffee!"
"Wait, Sonata that might be a bit--"
Sonata didn't wait, she just started drinking from the mug... and her wide eyes clearly showed that she had made a horrible mistake. She dashed out of the donut shop, slamming several chairs to the ground on their backs and pushed right through the doors to back outside. And just in time, she spit up her drink into a nearby trashcan, coughing like she had just gotten sick.
"Blegh, ohhh... why'd they make it so hot?", she whimpered. Hoping her tongue was still okay, she turned back around ready to waddle back inside the donut shop when suddenly she felt somepony bump into her. "Ooof!" Sonata grunted. She shook her head violently like a dog from the bump and saw that she had slammed into a stallion in a suit who was just minding his own business. Blue mane in a fancy style, small blue mustache and monocole, and his cutie mark was in the shape of three gold crowns.
"I say, that's one way of making an introduction," the gentlepony said, brushing himself off.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that," Sonata said bashfully, helping pick up some of his dropped bags with her mouth.
"Oh that's quite alright, miss," he said. He stopped to look at her again. "I dare say, I can't say I've ever seen you around before. Are you new here?"
Sonata blinked. "Sorta..."
"Mmm, a new pony in Canterlot I see. Though I cannot say I've ever seen a pony of this type before," the white unicorn next to her said, observing her. "A fish and pony hybrid..."
"Actually, I'm a..." Sonata looked over to Aria who looked over at the two unicorns with a glare that said 'you hurt her, I will hunt you down'. How she saw them from that far in the shop, she wasn't going to ask. "I'm actually a Siren."
The male unicorn blinked. "A Siren? Wait, I think I remember those from history, weren't they creatures with beautiful singing voices?"
"Mmmhmm! And uh, we unfortunately got banished from... Equestria as a whole," Sonata blushed.
The pair didn't quite know how to respond to that.
"Well then, that's rather unfortunate. But it's clear you made it back now, haven't you?"
Sonata's ears perked up and she smiled. "Mmmhmm!"
"Well then, I think proper introductions would have to be in order then. My name is Sir Fancy-Pants, this is my girlfriend, Fleur De Lis, might I ask who are you?"
"I'm Sonata Dusk. Nice to meet you," she smiled, shaking his hoof. "Again, sorry, I didn't mean to bump you," Sonata blushed.
"I'm not," he chuckled. "You are obviously somepony worth bumping into."
Sonata blushed even more, her ears cutely brushing against the sides of her head.
"Thanks."
"Say, I'm attending a little soiree later on today, perhaps you wish to join me and my companions?"
"Oh, really? I-I'd love to, but I'm actually attending a friend's birthday party later, I-I don't know... I-I mean, I'd love to but--"
"--Oh that's quite alright my dear," Fancy Pants nodded. "Actually... I do have another soiree to attend tomorrow, perhaps I can invite you tomorrow?"
"I'd love to!" Sonata smiled.
"Then it's settled. I'll be sure to send you the invitation, Miss Dusk. Have a lovely day," he smiled before leaving her to her business.
"See ya!"
Sonata waved her goodbyes, and then quickly waddled back to Princess Trixie and her friends who were now walking outside of the donut shop.
"... anyways, so where do you girls want to go next?"
"Well, I don't know, shouldn't we be going somewhere you'd want? I mean, it is your birthday after all," Adagio nodded.
"Oh, we've got time! Actually... you three want to see the Royal Sisters throne room?"
"And here is the throne room," Princess Trixie smiled, using her magic to open up the doors to the room. The three Dazzlings were in awe as they waddled inside. The place was huge, and for Canterlot's princess no less?
The room was tiled with massive white, a royal red carpet that was stretched all the way across to the thrones. Beautiful glass pane windows almost as tall as the ceiling, displaying colorful artwork for many victories and achievements, as well as small nods in history. Two of them were Luna and Celestia's of course, but there was also an inclusion of Daybreaker as well.
"This is a nice room and all, but what are you trying to show us?" Aria asked.
"Sonata wanted to see the throne room, I thought I'd show you girls!" Princess Trixie responded.
Just then, Adagio's attention was drawn to one of the displays on the left.
"Ohohoho! There you are," Adagio smiled.
A beautiful glass pane with light shined through, depicting her coronation as an alicorn princess, and with her closest friends standing by her side.
"That is so cool!" Sonata squeaked.
"That was made a few months after I was made into alicorn princess," Trixie explained. "Every time I look at it, I always see how far I've come since I came to Ponyville."
Adagio smiled. "You really have, haven't you?"
The princess smiled back. "Yeah. I guess I have."
"Wait a minute... what is that?" Aria snarled.
Adagio and Sonata tilted their heads and their pupils shrunk into diamonds. They didn't realize their eyes were glowing red, until they started snarling and growling with anger. Their tail fins sharpened and clicked as their bodies with anger, staring right at the pane. A single gray unicorn, a long gray beard, and in a blue wizard's robe and hat; only one pony they knew fit that description.
"Starswirl..."
"Why does he have a pane dedicated to him?" Sonata spat.
"Why does this exist?" Aria snarled, smoke puffing out of her nose.
"Oh, that's from our battle with the Pony of Shadows. We brought him and the rest of the Pillars back from a thousand years in limbo and, well... I really wish I had thought it through, but we also brought back the Pony of Shadows with them, but we defeated and saved him!" Trixie smiled.
Adagio's ears perked up, and she craned her head around to look at the princess, still not moving from where she was sitting. "What do you mean, defeat and save him?"
"The Pony of Shadows was a unicorn who was jealous of their strengths and powers, and he just wanted to be like them. He just wanted a friend."
"And Mr. Bearded Meanie here didn't take that well?" Sonata asked.
"Well not really. But when we brought him back and some incredibly long time later, we were able to confront the Pony of Shadows again and save the pony who had became him in the first place."
Adagio softly growled as she looked back up at the pane. "I see... and just--wait a minute." Her head turned back. "Are you saying, Starswirl is back? As in, here in the present?"
"Um, yeah...?"
Adagio's entire body slowly moved around, fully facing Trixie. And her ears twitched as she growled again. "Where... is he?"
"Don't you think maybe we should have told Trixie what we're doing?" Sonata asked, feeling the wind brushing past her ears.
"Maybe, but I've got anger building up, and I gotta let it out! That so called wizard, is going down!" Adagio growled through her teeth.
Ever since Trixie had given them directions, they rocketed out of Princess Luna's throne room and were now flying in the skies, heading straight for a location, any location. There was one location that they were given, and they were hoping to find his home, or anyone associated with Starswirl. They didn't even leave without so much as a goodbye.
"This is the woods, now we just have to find him," Adagio directed.
"Wait a minute... who's that?" Aria pointed.
Down below, they could see somepony trotting down a path in the middle of the woods. A sand-pink pegasus with Egyptian wear was galloping down the road,
"Wait a minute... it's one of those, what did the princess call... oh yes. She said she was one of those Pillar ponies," Adagio growled, grinding her teeth together. "I think we're going to need to have a little chat..."
Adagio's dorsal fins on her back began to light up with energy, and the inside of her mouth was glowing with heat. A burst of energy shot out of her mouth, burning a small line in front of the pegasus, stopping her. She nearly fell back, and was met with the shock of a blue siren slamming down onto the ground with a mad face. And another one in purple, and the other in orange/yellow.
"Hello, pegasus," Adagio greeted. "Or should I say... Pillar?"
"Who are you three, I... wait a minute. I remember you three," the pegasus said, looking closely at them. "Yes, it's all coming back to me now. We helped Starswirl banish you three from that village a thousand years ago," The pegasus gasped.
"Guess what, we're back honey," Aria snarked.
"I only want to know one thing, Pillar...," Adagio stomped her hoof into the ground. "Where is Starswirl the Bearded? I know he's here in the present, and I know he's still around. So where is he?"
The pony's expression turned from fearful into mad. "Him? I do not wish to speak about him."
The sirens blinked.
"I'm sorry, what?" Sonata asked.
"I said, I do not wish to speak about Starswirl. Some great wizard he was..." she said with some bitterness.
Aria was speechless. "Well, dang. I thought I was salty."
"To tell you the truth... I am glad to see you three are still alive," the pegasus said with a genuine smile.
"I'm sorry, what's your name again?" Sonata asked.
"Somnambula. Pleasant to meet you...?"
"Adagio," Adagio began. "And these are my sisters, Aria and Sonata."
"Nice to meet you three."
"So, about Starswirl..." Adagio continued.
"If you want to find him, he's just down the path. Follow the smoke reaching the skies, I gave him an extra assortment of firewood. Should be a home somewhere there for you to find him," Somnambula explained.
"Oh. Well, thank you, that's very kind of you. Um... I guess, see you later then?" Sonata said.
"Have a good day, you three," she said, trotting away. "Though, I must warn you. I can believe if you three are planning on seeking some form of revenge... I'm afraid it will not feel as good as you would hope it would be."
And with that, the pegasus was off on her way, leaving the three sirens behind, a little dumbfounded.
"... Okay, I don't care what she says, I'm getting some payback," Aria snarled.
"We all are getting payback. And now that we know where to go... let's settle our unfinished business."
The Dazzlings went back up into the air, and just as Somnambula noted, they could see smoke in the air. All they had to do was follow it.
Right there before them was a small cabin with a little tower on the side, which had some windows could peer out into the wide open world, beyond the forest. Though it looked old and rustic, like it had been sitting there for quite a long time.
"There it is ladies. It's time."
Adagio raced down to the front doors, angry as ever. Steam was blowing out of her ears, and she was ready to burst down the door with fury. But when she went straight to the door--
--she knocked politely, waiting for someone to provide an answer. No reply. She knocked a little louder. Still no reply. She knocked on the door using her head, bashing at it like a ram. Now someone was answering it. The door was glowing in an aura as it pulled itself open for her.
And with a roll inside, she stood up in a hunting pose, snarling and growling. And there he was, the wizard himself, the one who banished her and her family from Equestria.
"Starswirl the Bearded... remember me?" Adagio growled.
The wizard took a step back, until he heard the loud smashing from the other door, with Aria Blaze crawling inside like a lizard. "Or how about me?" Aria snapped, growling like a rabid dog.
"Or me?" Sonata finished, coming right behind Adagio.
"You... wait. You three... how are you three back?"
"Turns out there's another way back that we somehow failed to see, also apparently we're immortal and can't die which keeps us the same age forever and ever which I really hate, but I think I said too much," Sonata admitted, getting a glare from Aria.
"You know something Starswirl? I was hoping that in the years that had passed that you would no longer exist. That one day you would just cease to be... but then I find out that you're still alive and here in the present. I thought Trixie was pulling my chain; but not now, uh-uh. Only one problem..." Adagio said. "My sisters and I did nothing to you, or any of those Pillar ponies. We were perfectly happy in that village, and we had made wonderful friends, a life there. And then you just had to come along and... banish us. All because we were something you didn't understand. And you know something?" Adagio flashed her teeth. "It HURT. You threw us into another world like we were garbage that needed to be tossed away, and had to fight for our own survival! We were children, we had no home, and you just took it all away from us!"
The oldest was so mad that her tail slashed and thrust right through the floorboards, creating a hole.
"Now... I want to see you give me a reason for why I shouldn't blast you into the next dimension right now for everything you've done! Go on, try it. Give me a reason... I dare you."
Starswirl was at a loss for words. It had been so long since he had banished those sirens, and to where, he didn't even know. But now they were here; they were back. They had survived over a thousand years of banishment, and were ready to drop on him and get revenge after so long.
"To tell you the truth... I have no reason. What I did so long ago is an action I wish I could take back, but it has been done. And always will be. You three have every right and reason to be mad."
Aria's eye twitched. "... What."
"... Where did this come from!?" Sonata was confused.
Starswirl looked at the three of them, and for the first time since their entry into the tower, they noticed something about the wizard. He did not look like the stern, cold and harsh sorcerer who had brushed aside all protests or talk and thrown them through a portal like so much trash. No, instead, Starswirl the Bearded looked tired. Though he seemed no older or younger than the last time Adagio had seen him so many years ago, the old stallion’s posture was bent, like he had been carrying a great weight for a long time. His hat and cloak were not in good condition, missing a few bells, they could smell that the clothes hadn’t been washed in a while.
And the rest of the room… it looked very uncared for. Bookshelves and furniture, coated with dust; the bed unmade, half-eaten dishes resting on the table. It looked less like the tower of a might and legendary wizard, and more like the room of someone who had nearly given up on life.
“Where did this come from?” Starswirl repeated Sonata’s question. He closed his eyes for a moment, and let out a tired, gloomy sigh. “Sit down and I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.”
“Please,” he added, as Aria bristled. “This is not a trick. I swear… however much that is worth…” And with that, the wizard slowly sat down, grunting slightly. He did not take his eyes off Adagio however, and she was taken aback by the look in his eyes. There was no cold glare or haughty pride in his gaze. No self-righteous anger towards the “monsters” that he had so willingly banished from Equestria for the crime of not being ponies. All she could see in those eyes, was exhaustion… and what looked uncomfortably like sorrow.
Adagio, Aria and Sonata all exchanged looks.
“Can you believe this?” Aria hissed. “If he thinks a speech is gonna fix what he did to us…”
“I… I don’t know,” Sonata whispered. She swallowed, her eyes anxious. “He – he looks pretty serious to me.”
Aria growled in frustration. “Sonata, you’re my sister and I love you, but you can’t be getting cold feet right now! This is the creep who tore us from our home, forced us into a thousand years of living on the run. A thousand. Years!” she stamped a hoof for emphasis, cracking the wood beneath it.
“I know,” Sonata whimpered. “But… this just isn’t what I thought would happen…”
“Adagio, just say the word, and we’ll stomp him,” Aria said, venom dripping from her tone as she glared at Starswirl with utmost contempt, “I wanna make him eat that stupid hat…”
“Adagio?” Sonata asked. “Dagi?”
For her part, Adagio Dazzle had said nothing. She continued to match gazes with the old wizard seated before the three of them. He had not moved, not said a word during their discussion. And for her part, the eldest Siren’s expression was hard to read, almost blank. Finally, she spoke.
“What do you have to say?” she asked, in a low voice.
“Dagi!” Aria protested.
”I want to hear what he has to say.”
The steel in Adagio’s tone startled both of her siblings. Aria fell silent, and Sonata gaped; she could not remember the last time her sister had spoken to them like that!
“…All right.” Aria found her voice again. “Fine. Let’s hear what he's got.”
“Okay…” Sonata added, moving closer to Aria’s side as the three Sirens turned to face Starswirl, to hear what the old wizard had to say to them.
Seeing that the three of them were now ready, Starswirl the Bearded lowered his gaze for a moment, and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.
“All right,” he said. “I will tell you, everything. I suppose I must start at the very beginning. Yes, of course… it was so long ago, very much so… Before the founding of Equestria, there was the three pony tribes. Earth pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn. And I, of course, was a unicorn. A devoted student of magic.”
Starswirl lowered his eyes, his brow furrowing as he thought back to those long-ago days. “When I was still young… still beardless”, he said with a faint snort of wistful amusement, “I set out to travel the wider world, beyond the towers of my home. I wanted to learn more than what there already was, I wanted to discover things. I thought I knew so much, that it would be a grand adventure indeed…”
He sighed. Adagio, Aria and Sonata said nothing, wondering where he was going with this.
“Well, so I set off. And I traveled out into the world, as far as my hooves could carry me. I found so many places, met so many creatures – griffins, minotaurs, buffalo tribes, breezies… I faced bugbears, diamond dogs, cyclopes, and more…”
“And let me guess, that made you decide that you had to fight the monsters and banish them all?” Aria sneered.
Starswirl looked at her with a glare. “I’m not finished,” he said, pure ice in his tone. “Do you want to hear my account, or shall I just let you stomp me and quit wasting your time?”
Aria growled in suppressed rage, but she fell silent. Sonata gave her sister a tentative, reassuring nuzzle, before looking back to Starswirl. “But I don’t understand,” Sonata ventured, in a careful tone. “If you went out and had all these adventures, what happened to make you… hate creatures like us?”
Starswirl smiled at her, without humor, without warmth. “I was just getting to that,” he sighed. And then he continued:
“I finally came across an arid land, far to the west. It was a miserable, desolate place, scarred by war, full of desperate creatures just trying to survive…”
“And it was there, that I met him.”
He said it was such coldness, such disgust, that even Aria was taken aback.
“Who?” Adagio finally asked.
“Scorpan,” Starswirl said, the anger suddenly rushing out of him all at once, leaving him again looking drained and miserable.
Adagio thought, trying to remember everything she could of that hall of windows in Canterlot, showing the threats to Equestria. “I… don’t recall any Scorpan,” she finally said. “Who, was he?”
Starswirl said nothing at first. Then, he lit up his horn. The Sirens tensed instinctively, all of them recalling the last time they’d seen him cast a spell. But the unicorn did not unleash a mighty blast or open a portal… no, instead, his horn shone with a gentle light, that eventually created an image before them, almost like pages from a storybook blown up to gigantic size. The Dazzlings looked upon the sight of a stallion in familiar blue robes and wizard’s hat, meeting with a gargoyle-like creature. The stallion, who was undoubtedly a young Starswirl, was listening attentively as the creature spoke to him; though they could not hear what was being said.
It was a memory that they were seeing.
“Scorpan sought me out one day, having heard that I was a wizard,” Starswirl said, looking wistfully at the moving image of his younger self. “He was curious about my magic, and asked if I would be able to help him.”
“He told me that his father, a centaur named Vorak, was the king, a cruel and wicked tyrant who had ravaged the country…”
The image changed, showing a red-skinned centaur with antlers and a golden crown and armor. A moment, and he faded away, replaced by another centaur, this one powerfully muscled, with horns like a bull.
“And that Vorak’s son Tirek – Scorpan’s elder brother – had taken the throne from his father, and was planning to use dark and evil magic to conquer further lands.”
“Scorpan asked me, begged me, for help…” Starswirl let the image fade, and although his voice was bitter, his expression just looked sad and worn, “And how could I refuse a creature in need?”
He cast the memory spell again, and a parade of images flowed forth, like flipping through the pages of a book. Scorpan and Starswirl, traveling the desert landscape. Pony and gargoyle seated around a campfire, the young wizard casting spells for his companion. The two of them sharing a laugh.
“Scorpan led me across the blighted landscape of his father’s kingdom, as we discussed a plan to defeat Tirek. And as we travelled, he asked me questions about my magic, about Equestria. He was curious, quite intelligent, and always interested to learn more. And it felt good to have someone to talk to, someone who was willing – eager, even – to learn from me. And in turn, he would tell me about his home, of other lands and places he had heard of… Of course, when he wasn’t telling me of the atrocities that Vorak and Tirek had committed.”
Starswirl closed his eyes for a moment, before conjuring up another memory. This scene was of a battlefield: the younger wizard, his hat missing, his robes tattered and burnt, engaged in mortal combat with Tirek. The brutal centaur absolutely towered over the smaller pony, his hands lit with fiery power as he blasted magic from his horns.
“Well… we finally met Tirek. Scorpan had told me that his brother could steal magic, and had hoarded it for himself, to make himself invincible. But I had come up with a plan, a way to turn Tirek’s own strength against him.”
The memory changed. Tirek began to charge up his power, readying himself for one final attack with which to obliterate the battered young Starswirl – and then, before the centaur could react, Starswirl began to shoot magic into him, more and more power than Tirek could handle! The massive centaur let out a soundless roar of pain, as he grew and grew, and then disappeared in a colossal fireball!
“Hmph…” the old Starswirl sniffed, as he dispelled the memory. “So that was how I won. I destroyed the evil usurper and would-be conqueror. I was nearly dead of course, but my friend Scorpan surely would help me…”
There was silence for a moment, before Aria finally spoke, grimly.
“I can guess what happened next.”
Starswirl smiled again – that empty, bitter, miserable excuse for a smile. His horn lit up one last time, showing the young Starswirl limping, nearly dead from exhaustion and injury, across the desert. All alone.
“Yes. Scorpan had used me. Taken advantage of my conscience, my trust… my friendship… to kill his own brother, and ensure that the throne would be his for the taking. And I was in no shape to do anything to try and right my mistake. All I could do… was limp back home with my tail between my legs.” The wizard’s face darkened, his expression becoming ugly as he practically spat, “Stewing in my shame, my wounded pride, my bitterness at having been so used. Every step of the way I swore that I would never be tricked again, never be hurt again. I would become the greatest, most powerful, smartest sorcerer in all of the world… and never again would Starswirl let himself be swayed by such fickle things as sentiment, or friendship. And he would never let any sob story sway his judgment, or any pitiful creature worm its way into his good graces, ever again.”
He sniffed, looking disgusted. “So, I imagine you can fill in the rest for yourselves. I returned home. I became the greatest wizard in Equestria. I led the other great ponies of the era, the Pillars, to defend our kin against threats both far and near. My judgment was absolute, and none of my fellows ever doubted me… or at least, never to my face. For I was Starswirl the Bearded… how could I be wrong?”
In the wake of that bitter statement, there was once again silence. None of the Dazzlings said anything. Aria was still looking at Starswirl with an expression of contempt, her eyes hard and her jaw clenched tight. Sonata was staring at Starswirl, unable to take her eyes off of the old wizard; her face troubled, her eyes wide and frightened.
And Adagio…
She could not even look at him, her face was turned towards the floor, her eyes closed, expression unreadable as the eldest sister tried to process all of what she had just heard. Finally, after what felt like an eternity in that miserable, dusty old cabin, Adagio found her voice again.
“So…” the words were hard to get out, it was hard to talk, with all of these emotions swirling around inside of her, it felt like her guts were twisted into knots and hardened into bricks, “So what made you realize you were wrong?”
Starswirl smiled, and this time it was only with sadness, not bitterness. “Princess Trixie… she and her friends freed me and the other Pillars from Limbo… along with Stygian – or what he had become.” He scowled, as he admitted, “I was not grateful at the time. In fact, I was… terribly rude.”
“There’s a surprise,” Aria scoffed. Starswirl pretended not to hear her.
“But, she and her friends did what I and the other Pillars could not. They defeated… no. They saved Stygian, from what he had become… from what I had done to him.” Starswirl bowed his head, his hat drooping, as he muttered, “Another mistake, realized far too late…”
No one, pony or Siren, said anything.
It was Sonata who first spoke. Sonata, in a small, soft voice. “What are you even doing out here?”
Starswirl took off his hat, and listlessly threw it aside.
“I am not popular with most of my old acquaintances. When they realized that they had spent thousands of years in Limbo because of what my judgment of Stygian had led to… well. Rockhoof still won’t talk to me. Mistmane will sometimes visit, and Somnambula brings me supplies, but that’s about all. None of the others want anything to do with me. And out here, at least, is better than Canterlot. Better to be alone here, than have to walk the streets there, listening to those snobs, those hoof-kissers, trying to cozy up to me – Starswirl the great. Starswirl the wise…. Starswirl the fool!” He nearly roared that last word, and finally looked up at them… and Aria was startled to see that his eyes had tears in them.
“So…” Starswirl croaked, in a wretched voice. “There you have it. The whole story. Do what you will with me now…” He sighed once more, and closed his eyes. “I more than deserve it.”
But Aria did not charge at him. She did not stomp him like she had sworn to do. She did not bite him or kick him or slam him with her tail. She just looked at him, with an odd expression, that was not quite like disgust, but not quite pity either.
Sonata shook her head sadly, unable to look at the wizard any longer. She turned around and made her way for the door. “Come on, Dagi,” she said, “I want to go now…”
“Go?”
Adagio’s voice was brittle, trembling with an anger that made Aria step back in surprise. “Go!?”
The eldest Siren lunged forward before either of her sisters could react, and she tackled Starswirl with a roar. The two of them tumbled across the floor, crashing into a table and upsetting it, sending books and papers and plates and old food flying. Sonata shrieked, and Aria shouted in disbelief, as Adagio pinned the old wizard to the ground, a hoof pressed down against his throat. Starswirl could only wheeze for air, as Adagio shouted, at him, at her sisters, at anyone who would listen:
“This piece of filth ruins our lives, throws us away like garbage, gives us this, this sob story about how he’s sorry, and you want us to GO!?” She snorted, blowing steam from her nostrils, grinding her hoof down on Starswirl’s neck, making him choke and wheeze.
“Dagi, stop it!” Sonata cried, staring at her sister in horror.
“No! He needs to pay for what he’s done!” Adagio was shaking with rage, she looked errifying as she snarled down at the wizard feebly struggling against her chokehold. “You heard him, he even said he deserves it!”
“Adagio, please, you’re scaring me!” Sonata begged. “Don’t do it, please!” She turned to Aria, pleading, “Aria, help me!”
Aria, for her part, had frozen up, staring wide-eyed at the sheer rage that her big sister was showing. But then, she forced herself to speak, to act.
“Adagio, listen to me. You need to stop.”
“Why?” Adagio snapped. “Why should I, because he’s so sorry?”
“No,” Aria answered immediately, her next words taking everyone by surprise. “Because he’s not worth it.”
Adagio froze, unintentionally lightening the pressure on Starswirl, letting him gasp for breath. “What?” she finally asked.
“He’s not worth it,” Aria repeated in a grim voice. “Look, I get it. You want to hurt him for what he did. I know that feeling. I know it. I wanted to pay him back a thousand times over for everything that he did to us, that his banishment put us through…” she shook her head. “But there’s no satisfaction in beating up a washed-up sad sack like this.”
“Dagi?” Sonata ventured, in a trembling voice. “Just leave him alone. He’s not going to hurt anyone, ever again.”
“Come on,” Aria added, in a softer voice. “Just leave him. He’s already in a worse state than anything we could ever do.”
“Let’s just go. Please, Dagi? I wanna go back to Trixie and the others,” Sonata pleaded. “Please, don’t do this…”
For an awful, breathless minute, that seemed an eternity, the two younger Sirens watched Adagio to see what she would do. If she would take her hoof off of Starswirl, or if she would crush his throat with one good stomp. None of them, not even Adagio herself, knew what would happen.
But finally, Adagio finally found herself stepping back, away from the still-wheezing, sputtering old unicorn. She could only look at him, at the miserable old stallion with his untrimmed scraggly beard and his grubby robes, as different as could be from the cold and ruthless sorcerer who had visited so much misery on her and her sisters. He was not the high and mighty Starswirl the Bearded now.
He was just a broken old mess of a pony.
Starswirl looked up at her, and she could see that his eyes were red-rimmed, and filling with tears. “I’m sorry,” he rasped, in an awful, desperate voice, “Please…”
She turned away, feeling disgusted and angry and upset all at once. “Let’s just go,” she said miserably.
They left the cabin in silence, Sonata looking like she wanted to say something, to comfort or nuzzle her big sister, but was still scared to. Aria didn’t say anything, but kept her head down, focusing on looking ahead, back towards the way they had come. All of them tried not to hear the small, pathetic sobbing from the old wizard, as they left Starswirl alone to his fate, to his shame and misery.
But they could not, would not, forget that sound. Especially not Adagio.
"Come on. Let's just go back to Ponyville," Aria suggested, leading the group away this time. Adagio said nothing. But realziing she had no other choice, she slowly followed her siblings. Sonata couldn't look back at Adagio, mostly because of how afraid she was of her. She never saw her so mad like this before. Sure she got mad whenever she did something bad/wrong before, but it was never to this degree.
But right now, Sonata didn't even want to talk to her. She was too scared to think so. And the thought of her yelling only made her want to cry.
Dusk had turned to evening, and by now everyone in Ponyville was at home, having finished their jobs for the evening and were getting started on making dinner, maybe eating with friends and family if anyone was invited. For the Dazzlings, it meant waddling back inside Princess Trixie's home and stumbling to the guest rooms that Trixie had made up for them. Adagio wanted to say something to her sisters, but they weren't ready to talk to her right now. Not after the anger inside of her was released.
Her anger slowly began to dwindle, and she mostly felt guilt inside. Bad enough she almost killed someone who wasn't even worth it anymore, but she scared her own family in the process. Not exactly something she was hoping to achieve, but now she had. Adagio slowly waddled into her room, ears still flopping and whimpering, thinking about their states. All these years of being banned, all those years wanting revenge... and it was all for naught. She slowly curled up on the guest bed like a cat, head slowly slumping down, whimpering more. A soft year leaked from her face as her eyes just close. Right now she just wanted the day to be over already.
She contemplated going to sleep until she felt a soft wetness hit her face. Her nose twitched a bit, and she opened her eyes to the sight of an adorable little fluffy dog looking at her, tail wagging and panting with some excitement. Adagio's head slowly raised up and she couldn't help but smile at the little dog.
"Well hello there little one," Adagio cooed, using her tail fin to wipe a tear away. "Where'd you come from?"
"Fluffernutter! Come on!" Princess Trixie galloped down the hall until she saw the open bedroom where her dog had gone into. "Oh hey, you're back! Sorry about that; Fluffernutter, come on..."
Adagio couldn't help but smile at the little fluffy canine's attempt to make her smile. "Is this your dog?"
"Yeah, he is. I adopted him, actually. You're not allergic, are you?"
"Oh heavens no. I love dogs," she used her tail fin to lightly pat the dog's head, "you named him Fluffernutter?"
"--yes, I named him Fluffernutter, I gave him a name and a backstory!"
Adagio giggled. Even as princess, Trixie was still a bit geeky and silly. But she managed to wipe away another tear from her face.
"Adagio? Are you okay?"
"Hmm? O-Oh, I'm," Adagio wiped another tear from her face, "I-I'm fine, really."
The dog whimpered a bit, sensing the sadness. But immediately cuddled up next to her, rubbing his head against her to give some affection.
"You know, if you have any problems, you can talk to me, alright?" Princess Trixie said, reassuringly.
Adagio sighed, and her ears flopped. "Okay. I'm not alright. Do you mind if I vent my frustrations?"
"Not at all," Trixie nodded, pulling up a chair and perching herself on it to listen.
Adagio flopped onto her back and groaned. "I had been banished from Equestria for over one thousand years. And in that time, my sisters and I have constantly been on the run. We never knew when we could finally settle, or when our next meal would come from. We had been running and hiding for all of our life, because we were always seen as... monsters. And when we found out Starswirl was still alive, we went to confront him. But just seeing him, it's just... ugh!"
Adagio knocked her head into the wall. "I want to be furious, I should be furious, I got banished into an alternate dimension because some wizard thought we were monsters just because we're part fish! Then I come back and I see he's... he's this washed out, tired old man! I... I am at my wit's end, I don't know what I should do! I should be snorting fire, blasting intense energy at him to get back for so much, but... I can't! Attacking this shell of an old man won't make me feel better, and even if I did, I would only prove his past words right! On top of that, I now scared my own family who no doubt do not wish to talk to me ever again! It makes me so furious, I just want to destroy something!"
Adagio's eyes were glowing harshly and the fins on her back began to glow intensely.
"Um, Adagio, your fins, they're uh..."
Adagio stopped for a moment. "Excuse me for a moment."
She quickly hovered over to the nearby window and pushed the flaps open. She pushed her head outside, and she let out the biggest roar of anger she had built up inside.
Trixie put a soft shield bubble over herself and her dog for safety, all the while the castle grounds and everything around them shook and wobbled. The sound was so loud it carried all throughout Ponyville and scared everypony to death! Ponies were sent falling to the ground fearing for a heart attack, and glass in the windows and doors shattered all through the town!
But like clockwork, it slowly began... and her roar of anger slowly died. Adagio slowly pulled her head back in, revealing some smoke puffing from her nose like a dragon.
"I needed that," and Adagio slumped back into the bed.
"Feel better now?"
"A little bit," Adagio snorted fire. She raised her head up and perched herself up like a cat. "But it doesn't matter. It's over. I spent over a thousand years desiring revenge for nothing. And I don't know what to do now."
Trixie climbed off the chair and walked over to her, looking at her softly.
"Well... I'm not a revenge seeker, but, I think there's something else you're forgetting. You made friends with the other versions of my friends in the other dimension, right? It can't all be bad."
Adagio thought about it. She was right.
"I suppose you're right. I am happy to have friends again. And even though living for over a thousand years was a long time... we did do a lot of significant things," Adagio softly smiled. "And no one can ever take away some of the things we pulled off."
Trixie smiled. "Like what?"
"Well... we survived multiple wars, most of which I'm not proud of, but some I am proud to have been a part of for noble causes," Adagio said. "I did meet some wonderful men and women along the way. And even though I haven't told my friends in the present..." She looked around for anyone who could be listening, (not that anyone could). "They have no idea I've had children before," she whispered.
Princess Trixie was expressionless.
"Though to be honest... I wish I could have seen how they've grown up. I've done so much running and hiding, I... I couldn't let new life brought in this world have to deal with what we did."
"That has to be really hard," Trixie frowned.
"It is," Adagio nodded. But when she raised her head, she looked back at Trixie with a soft smile. "It's nice having someone who I can vent to."
Trixie smiled. "Well, I can't say I can relate to everything you've been through, but I am happy to help."
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the side of the door.
"Hey mate," Octavia called. "Bon Bon's almost done with making dinner."
"I'll be right there," Trixie answered. "Adagio, do you want to join us?"
Adagio raised her head up. "I wouldn't be intruding?"
"No. I said you weren't intruding on anything, and I'd like you to come," Trixie said, tilting her head to come follow.
Adagio smiled. "I'll be right there."
Adagio waddled down the hallway, following after the princess. Even though she was still feeling a bit sour, the thought of having dinner with Trixie and her friends made her smile. With her magic, Trixie opened up the doors to the dining room and the two of them waddled inside. There they could see Aria, Sonata, Amethyst, Vinyl, and Octavia already sitting at the table. Adagio's ears flopped, seeing them. Sonata scooted a few feet back in her chair, while Aria glared at her.
"Oh. Joy. You're still alive," Aria deadpanned.
"Aria..." Sonata pleaded, pawing at her shoulder with her hoof.
"Oh, there you are!" Vinyl smiled. "I wondered where you girls went. Trixie said you just up and left when she told you where to find Starswirl."
"We did," Adagio nodded, planting her behind on the stool provided for her.
"So what happened?" Amethyst asked, standing up on her hind legs.
"I'm afraid our meeting with him didn't go as well as we would have liked," Adagio shook her head. "I would have loved to let all of that anger and rage out on him after all these years, but seeing that broken man..."
Trixie raised her head with confusion. "What is that word you keep using? ... 'man'," she repeated, finding it weird.
"The point is, it wouldn't have been fun to release all that anger on him, and even if I did, I would still feel miserable because he's clearly miserable and I would only have proven his words right," her head slumped down on the table, landing on the plate.
Aria snorted with some frustration mixed with disappointment. "I wanted to stomp him into a paste, but after seeing him - and hearing all of that - I don't need to. He's torturing himself worse than anything I could ever do."
Sonata was the only one who had amount of sympathy to share. "I never thought I could see something so sad... he was just so miserable, he had all that pride and anger inside of him. And it just destroyed him. It ate him up from the inside."
Trixie sighed. "I was afraid of that. He was like that since we defeated the Pony of Shadows."
"He has?" Adagio asked.
"Mmmhmm. I want to say he shouldn't be continuing to blame himself, but I do understand that making a mistake as massive as that would put someone in a rather... ahem. Less than pleasant disposition."
"That's one way of putting it," Aria snarked.
"Aria. Do not talk to the princess that way," Adagio glared.
"She's not your girlfriend, Adagio! And I don't want to talk to you after you almost went crazy back there," Aria shook her head.
"I don't care, that's not how you talk to people, ergh, ponies that way!" Adagio barked.
"I'm just in my room, I'm just in my room," Sonata whimpered, holding her hooves over her ears.
"Oh really? You were about to kill someone who didn't even matter to us anymore," Aria stomped her hooves on the table
"You're defending a monster who we just learned helped a tyrant kill his own brother and take over his kingdom!?" Adagio growled.
"How could he have known!? You say one word, you could sway anyone's mind!" Aria argued.
"It's fine, everything's fine, it's just a bad dream," Sonata whimpered, sinking into her seat, shaking in fear. Vinyl and Octavia felt their hearts tug at the sight.
"Okay, mates, maybe you both should--"
They still ignored her.
"He banished us from our home, forcing us to fight for our lives every single day," Adagio got up closer, snarling.
"He's a sad sack now, it doesn't give you the right to go and attack him," Aria growled.
"Girls, you know, maybe we should--"
"You wanted to take him down with me, haven't you?" Adagio asked.
"I did. But not anymore," Aria barked.
"Alright both of you, STOP!"
A massive aura of magic exploded in the room like a bomb. No one was hit, but Aria and Adagio were now being held in place by Trixie's magic. The two of them struggled to move, until they looked down and saw the very unhappy princess glaring at them.
"Can I have a talk with both of you, outside?" Trixie snorted.
The two didn't have any control over the situation, until Trixie levitated them both to come with her outside of the dining hall. The doors closed behind them, leaving everyone else to just sit and wait.
"Well then," Amethyst said, awkwardly.
"It's not happening, not happening," Sonata kept shaking, holding her head.
"Um, Sonata, it's okay, they're out in the hall now," Vinyl nudged her shoulder.
Sonata raised her head up, but her eyes were watery, and her lips were quivering. She whimpered as she covered her head, making Vinyl frown.
"Oh, Sonata, hey," she got off her stood and onto the floor with her. "Hey, don't cry, it's okay..." She pulled the youngest seapony close, holding her in a hug. "There, there. Shhhh..." Sonata wrapped her arms around her and cried on her back. "Shhhh... Shhhh... it's okay..."
Princess Trixie set Adagio and Aria down who had given the princess their full undivided attention.
"Princess, it's not--"
"--I don't care whose fault it is!" Trixie interrupted. "You're both getting out of control, you're scaring your youngest sister, and my friends, and you're driving me crazy!"
The two of them were hunched back, ears flinching at her yelling. They had never seen this side before; then again, the two of them were still imagining it was Trixie from their world yelling at them.
"Look, I know you two just got back here and you're upset because you couldn't get back, but you know something? Revenge is completely pointless! And another thing, if you hadn't left like that, I would have told you that he secluded himself in the woods because he refuses to forgive himself for what he's done! You Sirens included!"
Trixie's body jumped in the air, all fours flailing and waving to express her frustration.
"Adagio! Did you not just vent to me and tell me how upset you were when you yelled at your family?"
Adagio sighed. "I did."
Trixie nodded her head over to Aria. Adagio was confused, but the message got through.
"Adagio, what is she talking about?"
Adagio looked at her sister, shamefully. "Aria, I... I'm sorry." Aria was going to speak up, but Adagio still going. "I'm sorry I went all psycho in the cabin, I'm sorry I yelled and scared you two... I'm sorry I even thought we would get revenge in the first place. We shouldn't have spent half of that time vowing revenge. So... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to lead you two on with that thought."
The middle Siren had wanted to trample Adagio down, but she didn't anymore. She could hear Adagio's words sting as she spoke, as if her sad face wasn't enough.
"... I forgive you," Aria said. "And, as long as we're apologizing, I'm sorry for snapping at you."
"You had every right to snap at me. And I do appreciate you trying to be the voice of reason for me when I was going crazy," Adagio softly sniffled. "I swear, I wish I had more common sense just like you."
"I'm pretty ragey, Adagio. I don't see how you could find any common sense in me," Aria raised a brow.
Adagio giggled a bit. "You have moments, Aria."
She opened up her hooves, welcoming a hug. Aria was a bit hesitant, but she gave her older sister a hug anyway. The Princess who had stayed silent and watched as they resolved their issues, smiled proudly.
"Now then. Perhaps we should both apologize to our youngest sister too?"
"Agreed," Aria nodded.
The two of them waddled back into dining area, where poor Sonata was still being held by Vinyl who was trying not to collapse under the weight of the stronger seapony.
The oldest Siren cleared her throat, trying to catch her attention. "Sonata?"
Sonata looked up for one second. And then went back to wailing her eyes out. Adagio and Aria cringed; this was going to be hard.
"Sonata? Sweetie, can we talk?"
"No, just leave me alone," Sonata cried. "You two are just going to fight and yell again."
"Sonata, we're done fighting--"
"--No you're not! You two always fight, and I'm stuck in the middle of it! And then when I try and stop you two, you two just yell at meeeee! And it all it does is make me wish we had a mommy and daddy!"
Aria and Adagio both frowned at that.
"And then the truth always comes back to me that I'm never going to have a mommmmmy," Sonata wailed some more, tears now falling like waterfalls.
Adagio winced, hearing more and more whimpers come from the sad seapony. She looked at Vinyl with a worried look. "Has she--"
"--The entire time since Trixie took you two outside to talk," Vinyl said, shook her head. "I can't help her, nothing I've done has helped."
"Let us," Adagio said, stepping in. "Sonata, please. Listen to me," Adagio said in a soft voice. She lifted her chin up to look at her. "I'm not going to yell at you. I wanted to say I'm sorry."
Sonata's crying halted in between, and she finally opened up her eyes. Those sad, leaking eyes which were bloodshot red finally looked back at her.
"Sweetie, I never wanted to upset you. I am so sorry for scaring you. I was angry, I lost control, I couldn't stop myself. And I know our fighting always scares you, but we're a family. Occasionally, we're going to fight, these things are going to happen. You understand, right? Just because we fight, doesn't mean we're never going to speak to each other."
Aria chipped in as well. "We still love you Sonata, okay? We're gonna spat every now and then, but we still love each other, alright? No matter how much we get on each other's nerves, we're still family. Alright?"
Sonata sniffled. "O-Okay..."
"Hey, come here..." Adagio brought her youngest close to her, hugging her properly. Sonata wrapped her hooves around her and hugged her back, finally calming down. "It's okay. It's okay."
Aria moved in as well, holding Sonata in a nice cuddly hug as well. Sonata purred softly as she hugged them both, finally removing that frown and smiling once again.
"You're a good sister, you know that?" Aria said.
"Mmmhmm," Sonata replied.
The three Sirens pulled from the hug, and Aria affectionately petted Sonata's ears with her hoof, making her giggle.
"Feel better now?"
"Y-Yeah. I do," Sonata said, clearing the last of her tears.
All of Trixie's friends smiled, seeing the sight of the family finally coming back together. It was a nice feeling that brought warmth to their hearts.
"Now come on, let's sit at the table like mature adults," Adagio smiled. The three sirens platned themselves back on the stools they were sitting on, now officially joining the others again.
"So where are Lyra and Bon Bon?"
The doors swung open. "Right here!"
The two of them were pushing two carts to the table, covered in trays of food.
"We got plenty of food prepped and set up, and everything for everybody. For the birthday mare," Bon Bon grinned, sliding her tray down. "Your favorite," She lifted up the lid that was covering the food up. "Special bale covered in spaghetti sauce which I got all the way from Ponypei."
Trixie's eyes lit up like diamonds. "Oooh."
"Octavia, Vinyl. Your regulars; hayburgers made with imported oats from Appleloosa."
The two mares nodded.
"Thanks, mate," Octavia smiled.
Bon Bon squeed with a happy face. "For Amy, I got you your usual favorite; Hot and ready, your grilled cheese sandwich."
Amethyst's mouth watered, looking down at the sandwich. The hot burning cheese that melted into the bread, mmm, mmm, mmm.
"And I know you girls didn't tell us what you wanted, but judging from your demeanors, your size, and from what I heard from your past..." Bon Bon started. She pushed a few trays towards them, and Lyra used her magic to levitate them off the plates revealing grilled fish.
All three sirens looked down at the plates and their faces instantly lit up.
"How'd you know?" Sonata asked, her tail swishing side to side.
"You're marine animals, aren't you? Also Trixie might have told us a few things about you three when Adagio messages her," Bon Bon shrugged.
By now, everyone was digging into their food, Lyra and Bon Bon included, having gotten their seats and food prepped.
"Very delicious, Bon Bon," Aria complimented.
"Thank you!" Bon Bon grinned with a sparkling smile.
"Master of culinary arts, just like our human friend back on Earth," Adagio winked.
The earth pony giggled. Until a thought crossed Adagio's mind. "Okay, I'm curious. What exactly do you girls do here? If you're not doing these quests this 'Friendship Map' calls you to do, or fighting evil, what do you usually do?" Adagio asked.
"Well, we usually try to keep on top of things, but most of the time we just hang around Ponyville, go traveling, meet new ponies, that kind of thing," Trixie replied. "Though I do like performing from time to time!"
"Magician?"
"Mmmhmm! How'd you know--oh wait. My counterpart's a magician too, isn't she?"
"She is. Though the poor thing is too shy to perform in front of a live audience. I keep telling her things will be okay, but she always backs off from it, or tries changing the subject."
The princess had a soft blush on her face. She remembered back when she was in a similar state; she wasn't always the most confident of ponies after all.
"Well, how about you tell her that she has her friends and family to support her no matter what--"
"--Tried that," Adagio pouted. "I even suggested an old trick that always works in the human world, imagine the entire audience naked; but that just makes her blush even harder than you are right now."
"Well... hmm. Have you considered maybe providing her a hand in her magic shows? I think she would appreciate having some help. I mean, I didn't get back on stage performing on my own. It was because of my friends who helped me get my confidence back again."
"Hmm... I suppose I could try that. Maybe I could offer her a hand as an assistant?"
"That could work," the princess nodded.
"You sure you're not just looking for an excuse to hang out with her?" Sonata teased.
"Absolutely not, I want to offer a hand because she is my partner, and I want to help her," Adagio said, straightforwardly.
"... You dated Al Capone, what happened to you?" Aria shook her head, still trying to figure out Adagio's choices in previous partners.
"Anyways!" Sonata said, stopping that part of the conversation. "Well, what do the rest of you girls do?" Sonata asked, curiously.
"I'm a fitness/dance instructor. Bustin' a beat, get those bodies movin', make some ponies smile," Amethyst grinned with pride.
"You own a dance studio?" Sonata asked.
"Mmmhmm!"
"Wait... how old are you?" Aria asked.
Amethyst raised a brow. "I'm 25."
Aria's jaw dropped. "You're 25? But how is it you're in your 20s here, and Amy in our world is 17?"
Amethyst giggled. "Oh it is. You should have seen the day I first met Trixie, She had nooooo idea how to react when she saw the retro garb on me."
"And people say millennials have weird tastes in style," Aria muttered.
"I wish we could see what our counterparts look like though..." Amethyst pouted.
"Well..." Adagio said with a grin. "I could send a photograph of our human counterparts to you ponies when we get back home."
"Oh could you?" Octavia said with excitement. "I want to see how our hoo-man counterparts rock!"
"I promise," Adagio winked.
"Now Octavia, I gotta ask... what do you do here?" Aria asked.
"Well mate, I share a house with Vinyl," Octavia smiled, looking over at her friend. "The two of us both run a music store, and from time to time, we give some music lessons to young colts and fillies looking to dabble in music."
Aria was elated. "Really?"
"Yep!" Octavia grinned, raising her hooves into the air.
"I'm a martial arts instructor," Lyra grinned.
"Hence the... what's the dress called again?" Sonata asked.
"Kimono," Lyra giggled.
"But wait, I saw your cutie mark earlier, what exactly does that represent?"
"Oh, I do play the lyre," she poofed the musical instrument before them. "But I spent a lot of time on the flute!"
"And you already know I'm a baker," Bon Bon finished.
"Oh we're definitely tellin' our friends back home. Hehe, maybe we should get their counterparts to all interact with each other?" Sonata asked with adorable innocence. And Adagio just petted her ears.
"Maybe one day, Sonata. One day."
After a period of time, everypony was done with their food and just sat in their chairs, content with what they had eaten. Octava admittedly blushed after softly burping.
"So, what now?" Aria asked.
"Oh I know what we should do now," Vinyl smiled. "Trixie, now that we're done with dinner... you ready to open your gifts?"
Trixie's eyes lit up and she squeed like a little girl. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"
The girls shared a collective giggle.
"Alright, alright. I'll go fetch your gifts, I hid them in another room, I'll be right back. And after that... cake time!" Bon Bon announced.
"If I knew it was your birthday, I would have made sure to bring a gift over. My apologies," Adagio's ears flopped.
"Oh, it's alright. None of you knew, no harm, no foul," Princess Trixie smiled.
"Come on everypony, gather round!"
And so for the rest of the evening, it was nothing short of happiness, smiles, laughter, and all around fun. Even the Dazzlings had to admit, they were having a fun time with their new pony friends. What started out as a really nice day, turned into a horrid afternoon, and back into a really nice evening. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were all reflecting back on their entire day; even though there was some things they could not fix or repair... they were still happy to be here, in the present, with Trixie and her friends.
The sun began to rise over Ponyville again, beginning another glorious day. After the opening of presents, the Dazzlings continued to have fun with Trixie and her friends. Playing some games, telling some stories, even enjoying the sweet deliciousness of cake. Eventually everyone went back home, and the Sirens got their beds set up and slept through the night.
The morning light crept its way into her room, and Adagio's eyes slowly opened. She stretched on the bed like a cat, arching her lower back up into the air. She smacked her lips, ready to begin a new day. Crawling out of the bed, she pushed the door open with her snout, and waddled into the hallway. The smell of fresh food was calling to her, enticing her to follow. With a tongue out, she waddled down the hallway to follow the visible steam.
She pushed the doors open to the kitchen, finding the Princess of Friendship working on making breakfast over the stove.
"Good morning, Princess." Adagio greeted. Her head turned to the dog who barked at her. "And hello to you too, Fluffernutter."
"Morning Adagio," Princess Trixie greeted back. "How do you feel?"
"Much better than yesterday, thank you," Adagio stretched and arched her back up like a cat waking up. "Say, where are Sonata and Aria? I checked their rooms, they aren't there."
"Oh Sonata left early, she said she wanted to go to Canterlot and attend Fancy Pant's soiree, so Vinyl left with her. And Aria is hanging out with Octavia and Amethyst over at Amethyst's fitness studio. I thought since maybe it's just us here right now, I'd make us breakfast!"
"Aww, Princess, that's so sweet of you," Adagio smiled. "You shouldn't have."
"It's no problem," the princess smiled back.
Adagio perched herself on a stool and the princess pushed a plate of fresh pancakes covered in syrup.
"Mmm, pancakes," Adagio's mouth watered at the smell. She took a bite out of a pancake, enjoying the sweet mixture of flavors that danced on her tongue.
"Sooo... are you sure you're okay with your sisters being out? They said it would be fine--"
"--Did they accompany any of your friends?"
"... Yeah," Princess Trixie said.
"Then I'm sure it'll be fine. Those two are strong mature adults, I'm positive they won't do anything stupid. ... I hope."
Turns out Vinyl and Sonata were on their way to the soiree, but before they even went that way, Sonata wanted Vinyl's company to go somewhere else first...
It was only the second time that she had gone down this trail, and yet it already felt eerily familiar to Sonata. As she waddled down the path to Starswirl’s hidden cabin, Vinyl just behind her, the youngest Siren couldn’t help the sense of dread and anxiety pooling in her stomach.
“Are you all right?” Vinyl asked softly. The musician could clearly sense that she was troubled.
“I… I hope so,” Sonata answered, looking down at the ground for a moment. “I just can’t get it out of my head, what happened the last time I was this way. I never saw someone so miserable…”
“You don’t have to do this, if you really don’t want to,” Vinyl offered, gently placing a forehoof around Sonata’s neck, giving her a careful hug. “Nopony would ever blame you for not wanting to come back after what happened last time.” However, her words held little comfort, and Sonata just shook her head.
“No. I – I think I need to do this.” She lifted her gaze up, and could see, through the tree branches, the cabin just ahead. “I don’t want to leave this unfinished.”
Vinyl seemed a bit dubious, but the classy unicorn didn’t press the matter further, and in a minute they were just outside the hideaway of the once-great Starswirl the Bearded.
Sonata raised a hoof to knock on the door, but then froze, remembering every awful thing that she’d seen when she’d gone inside it before. The wizard who’d tossed her and her sisters into another world like trash – a miserable, broken old mess of a pony. The awful story he’d told, the shame and the guilt in how he had been. And Adagio’s awful, awful rage, how she’d attacked the old stallion… possibly even to kill him…
“Sonata?” she heard Vinyl ask, worried.
The blue-scaled Siren let out a shaky breath, and then she worked to compose herself. You can do this, girl. You have to! “I’m all right,” she said, and she gently rapped on the door – it swung open, unlocked, and after a moment’s waiting, Sonata and Vinyl carefully stepped inside.
Vinyl suppressed a gasp of horror when she saw the state of the cabin’s interior. “Oh sweet Luna! He was living like this!?” she stared in horror at the wretched state of the place.
“I don’t think he was really living…” Sonata whispered softly, looking for a moment at the table, still upended with its contents scattered all over the floor, courtesy of Adagio’s earlier rage against the wizard.
Speaking of…
“Where is he?” Vinyl asked. She carefully lit up her horn, and shone a gentle light around the cabin, looking for some sign of Starswirl. She nearly screamed when she found it – in the form of a huddled shape sprawled on the rug near the back of the cabin.
“Mister Starswirl!” Sonata rushed over, horrified, as she placed her hooves on the old stallion’s body and tried to shake him, “Don’t be dead, please don’t be dead!”
The old pony suddenly groaned, feebly, reluctantly opening his eyes – they were bleary, bloodshot and unfocused. Sonata caught a strong whiff of cider on his breath, before Starswirl’s eyes closed again, and he fell back into a drunken slumber. Vinyl trotted over, delicately sidestepping more than a couple empty tankards on the floor that she’d missed in her earlier panic. She was looking at Starswirl with a kind of dazed horror on her face. “Oh my goodness,” she said timidly, “I didn’t know he was in this bad a state…”
Sonata looked at the old pony in her forehooves, and she felt another stab of sorrow. Her gaze moved to the bed on one side of the cabin.
“I’m going to put him to bed,” she said, in a quiet voice.
“Very good.” Vinyl sniffed as she lit up her horn again, and picked up the cider barrel in her magic, “I am going to pour this out, maybe it’ll keep him from drinking himself to death in the next few days.”
Sonata nodded, as she awkwardly waddled across the floor, and tried to gently lay Starswirl down on his bed. It was hard work, his legs splayed out as she set him down and he nearly rolled onto the floor before she could catch him. Starswirl moaned something in his sleep, coughed, let out a noise that sounded awfully like a whimper, and then was quiet again.
The Siren looked down at him, and she suddenly wanted to cry. He just seemed so… broken. An empty shell of what he’d once been.
She, like her sisters, had been angry at the wizard who had banished them – maybe not as angry as Aria, who would sometimes like to voice how much she wanted to hurt him… and definitely not as angry as Adagio, who’d bottled up that anger for so long until she’d nearly exploded in sheer rage.
But now, looking down at the wretched old pony, as she carefully tucked a blanket over him, Sonata Dusk knew that she could never bring herself to be angry at Starswirl again. Not like her sisters had been. There was just no point in it… he was half dead already, drowning in shame and guilt.
The door opened, and Vinyl carefully walked inside. She came to stand by Sonata and looked down at the unconscious Starswirl with sorrow. “Do you want to go now?” the musician whispered, “I don’t think he’ll wake up anytime soon.”
“I don’t know…” Sonata answered. “I just…” she sniffed, and then felt a tear run down her snout. “I just wish I could do something for him…”
Vinyl gave her a reassuring hug, and the two of them slowly turned towards the door. Sonata cast one look back at the wretched cabin, at the dusty floor and surfaces, the overturned table, the scattered books and paper—
And suddenly, it came to her.
”That’s it!”
Vinyl shushes her, startled by her sudden exclamation. “Sorry,” Sonata whispered in apology, “But I think I have an idea!”
“Yeah. I do.” Sonata nodded, a serious look on her face, “But it’s gonna take a bit of work, okay?”
“What is it then?”
“Listen closely…”
Sometime later after a quick hearty breakfast, the princess and Adagio were outside around the back of the castle. The two of them were going through several boxes and items of some of Trixie's magic gear.
"So is there any magic tricks you know my counterpart is good at? Maybe she can just practice with those," Princess Trixie said, her wings fluttering a bit as she threw stuff out of several bins.
Adagio was trying her hardest to dodge everything that came flying at her. "Well, agh! I don't--whoa! I don't know!" A metallic pan slammed her in the face. "OW!"
"Sorry! Oooh, how about this one?" Trixie asked, her horn levitating a pan. "It's a dove pan! You show everyone that it's an ordinary pan..." she lifted it up, conveying it. "But what people don't know is when you set it down and lift it again..."
Lifting the top up again spawned a small white dove which was cooing in place, wiggling as it finally got free. Adagio's eyes sparkled in wonder. And just like that, the bird flew away from the pan which made Adagio frown.
"Aww..."
"Don't worry, that always happens," Trixie grinned.
"But anyways, I suppose I could ask her about that. Maybe she can start with that. ... Assuming we can trap a bird."
"Hey Trixie!"
Down a path they could see Vinyl Scratch, trotting along like she usually did. And beside her was Sonata Dusk, rolling down the hill like a silly cat, enjoying the feeling of the grass all against her fish body.
"Hai Dagi!" Sonata said in a cheery voice, rolling around on the hill of grass.
"I take it the soiree event in Canterlot was enjoyable?"
"Yes!" Sonata grinned. "Though everyone kept wondering what kind of pony I was. I kept saying I'm a seapony, but they were sooo confused. Though it wasn't fun trying to wash the hot stuff out of my fins, or the soap in my mouth," she cringed.
Adagio tilted her head and Sonata groaned. "I thought the soap was candy. And the hot cheese did not taste like hot cheese at all..."
"I'm starting to think you're not really the fancy type, Sonata," Vinyl said, observantly.
"But it was fun though!" Sonata squeed. "Fancy Pants was so nice!"
Vinyl smiled with an affirming nod at that statement.
"No thanks to Jet Set or Upper Crust," Vinyl scowled. "Just because someone's not fancy they treat them as if they're nothing. My understanding for Octavia leaving there continues to grow. Anyways, Sonata I hope you had fun, I need to get going. I have to teach a student at 12."
"Okay Vinyl! Thanks for coming with me!"
Vinyl smiled and waved. "Oh it's no problem at all Sonata."
"See you later Vinyl!"
The violinist went on her merry way, galloping down the road.
"Well I am glad you had fun at the party, Sonata."
"Mmmhmm!" The youngest pulled herself up. "So, should we get going? I mean today is Thursday. Today's the last day for the Friendship Games and since we already have the cure for the Rainbooms' sisters, we should get going! Come on, I wanna see their faces light up when we finally undo it!"
Adagio froze. "Oh... right. Well, I don't know, I mean... what if we... stayed?"
Sonata frowned. "Stay?"
"I mean for a few more hours, at least til we get some lunch!" Adagio caught herself.
Trixie's ear twitched and she looked at Adagio, unsure. Sonata was equally unsure.
"Well... I guess so. But what else can we even do around here?"
The princess locked up the lid with an over the top amount of chains that would have made it impossible to pull apart, and faced the two Sirens.
"You know, if you want, we can go wander around Ponyville for a bit. Maybe I can show you the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Trixie asked.
"The what of the what?" Sonata said, confused.
The princess giggled. "I'll show you. Come on, follow me!"
"Wait, where's Aria?"
Let's get physical, physical! I wanna get physical! Let's get into physical let me hear your body talk!
Amethyst was leading Aria throughout the workout lessons in her fitness studio, all the while listening to some poppy song from a mare who called herself Olivia Hooften Brawn.
"There you go, stretch that tail!" Amethyst said, not breaking a sweat.
Aria was trying to do the pony equivalent of a sit-up, and while she was doing mostly fine, it was a bit obvious she was struggling. Mostly because she didn't think she'd be doing it in a body without any legs.
"This would be better if I was a human!"
"No pain, no gain!" Amethyst called out. "One more push, come on!"
Aria struggled and grunted, until finally she made one more push to sit right up.
"And we are done!"
And Aria collapsed onto her back like she was ready to be cut up by a sushi chef.
"Can I die now?"
Amethyst pulled herself up and stretched her legs. "Come on, Blaze. Working out isn't that bad."
"I don't mind working out, heck, I do it every day! But when you haven't been a fish for so long, you kinda forget some things," Aria whined.
"Hey, come on. How about a video game?"
Aria raised her head. "Video game?"
"Yeah. I got some arcade cabinets, wanna see what I got?"
Aria immediately threw herself straight back up. "Sure, yeah!"
Amethyst squeaked with a grin, and led her around back. She opened up a door, leading her through a small storage room for some workout equipment; a few mats and weights stacked on some shelves. And opening yet another door, it led them inside a garage looking place. The lights were turned on, and the entire place was lit up. Dozens of arcade cabinets were inside, lined up against the walls, some even facing back to back in the middle of the room. A small workbench in the corner with tools and spare parts, sitting next to a machine that looked like it was in need of repair.
"Whoa. You know when you said you had some arcade cabinets, I assumed like three or four."
"Nope! I am the pony that everypony goes to when they need an arcade machine. There's an arcade further in Ponyville, and every once in a while there's a machine or two that either breaks down or is need of repair. So they'll come see me, I'll patch up the machine that's broken, all the while the replacement cabinet takes it's place til it's fixed. And as another additional plus, for me that is, it means whenever I want to, I can play these games whenever I want!"
"Hmm, hard to say. I like almost all of them! Though if I had to pick my personal favorites..." Amethyst looked at the machines near her. "Pac-Pone, Centipede, Menasor, Goat King, and Scorponok!"
Aria tilted her head. "Scorponok?"
"Oh, somepony modeled this game after the legend of Scorpan and the centaurs," Amethyst said, nonchalantly.
Aria's eyes shrunk. "Well then..."
"Say uh, actually... does my 'hoo-man' counterpart play any games?" Amethyst asked.
Aria forgot about the disturbing recollection and smiled back at her pony friend. "Are you kidding me? If she was here, she would be having a blast. That girl is a master at arcade games, all the classics from the 80s. So if you're talking about games from say... 20 to 30 years ago, you bet your flank she does!"
"Yes! That's awesome!"
Aria chuckled. "Yeah..."
Amethyst clopped her hooves to the door, and pulled the door open. Some light was finally allowed inside the room. Which meant that the machines were available for rent! Unfortunately Adagio, Sonata, and Trixie all came right at that moment.
"Aria, there's a place we got to show you."
"Aww come on, I haven't even started!" Aria whined.
"Aria, come on. We can play games later, let's go look around," Adagio said.
Aria rolled her eyes and whined some more. "Whhhyyyyy??? Ugh, save Centipede for me, please?"
"You bet!" Amethyst grinned.
Aria waddled out of the garage and followed right behind the others. Amethyst waved at them, and then turned her gaze to a cabinet and flipped it on, inserting a coin into the slot.
Ponyville was relatively calm today, just like most of it's days (aside from a few magic based incidents that caused terror). Most of them were just wandering around, minding their own business. A few of them waved hi at Princess Trixie as they walked, making only a little bit of small talk.
"So what should we do today? I know we have to go home eventually, but I'm still eager to look around. I want to do some things before we go home," Adagio said.
"Maybe do some karaoke?" Sonata asked. "Now that the ponies here don't pitchforks or machine guns at us, I think we can sing to them again!"
"I honestly want to see the big castle that the two princesses fought in. Apparently that place is still standing," Aria said with a grin. "Any place that's had a big battle in there is good enough for me."
"... You're too violent. It makes you scary," Sonata shivered.
"I'm not violent, Sonata. I just have issues," Aria bantered.
"Understatement of the century," Adagio deadpanned. "But alright, so maybe we should--doh!"
Adagio felt somepony bump into her, somepony small. Wiggling her head around, she looked back to see who it was. It was a small yellow filly with cherry red hair, with a little bow in the back of her head.
"Oh, sorry little one, I didn't see you there," Adagio apologized.
"No, I'm sorry, I... wait." The filly stood back up confused. "I don't think I ever seen you before."
"Oh she's new in town, Apple Bloom. She's an old friend," Princess Trixie explained. Trying to explain strange creatures was a difficult task to some parts of Equestria, but she knew just the words to cover for her and her sisters.
"Oh. But I can't say I ever seen anypony like this before," she tilted her head.
"Apple Bloom, come on now," a country-accented voice called. "What'd I tell ya about judgin' ponies by their looks?"
"It's fine. I know Equestria hasn't seen typical creatures like us," Adagio shrugged off.
Sonata's eyes sparkled. "Oh hey, it's--"
Aria moved her hoof up and covered Sonata's mouth to shut her up. "Not, somepony... we know," Aria corrected. Sonata pouted.
"You are?" Adagio asked without hesitation.
"I'm Applejack. Nice to meet ya," the farmer smiled, shaking her hoof.
"Pleasure's all mine. Adagio Dazzle," the siren greeted. "Judging by the hat, the accent, and little bits of mud, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're an apple farmer."
"Why yes I am!"
"I thought so. Well, still very nice to meet you. These are my sisters Aria and Sonata."
"Nice to meet ya!" Apple Bloom greeted.
"And nice to meet you, little one," Adagio politely greeted back.
"Where you headed off, Applejack?"
"I'm meetin' up with Rarity and Sweetie Belle over at the Sisterhooves Social this afternoon," Applejack explained. "Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo should be down there as well."
The three sirens exchanged glances, quietly nodding to one another.
"Ah okay. Well you girls have fun, okay?"
"Oh we will! See y'all later, and enjoy Ponyville!" Applejack waved, trotting off with Apple Bloom. Their hooves galloped across the asphalt, while the quartet watched them leave.
"So that's Apple Bloom..." Aria said, watching her trot away with Applejack. "Nice kid."
"Indeed. It'll be even nicer when we free their human counterparts from eternal slumber though," Adagio said.
"Come on, follow me!"
The Sirens flew with Princess Trixie high into the air, going above the Everfree forest, straight for the remnants of the castle. The wind brushed past their fins and their ears, and the three of them soaked it all in.
"Ahhh... feel that wind in your fins. The freedom in the skies, you will never get a chance like this on Earth."
A bug flew into Aria's mouth midair, making her cough hard. "Blegh! Agh! Oh no, that's gross, blegh!"
Sonata laughed hysterically, even pointing a hoof at her older sister's misery. "Hahahaha! You actually ate one! Now we're even!"
"Shut up and die, Sonata!" Aria yelled.
Adagio rolled her eyes, but chuckled with a smile. Same old shenanigans as ever. Since she had been taking care of them, she had to constantly keep them apart from trying to kill each other. But it was a statistic that she knew was going to happen either way, so she just stayed calm and knew the fight was eventually going to die.
"We're here!"
Princess Trixie gracefully landed on all fours, while the Sirens stayed hovering closeby. In front of them was the ruins of an ancient castle; Only one tower was remaining, plants and vegetation was spreading over some of the walls, some flags and banners were hanging with some torn strands. Bricks and stone were loose from the walls, decaying from the years of resting.
"Welcome to the Castle of the Two Sisters!"
"Whoahoho. So you mean this is the place that Daybreaker was born in? Wicked," Aria grinned.
"Thank goodness it's been left alone. A piece of history like this shouldn't have anypony tearing it down," Adagio stated.
Aria shot into the air like a rocket and immediately began flying over the ruins. Princess Trixie just shrugged and walked inside, pushing the doors open with Adagio and Sonata behind her.
"So not only is this place that Daybreaker was born and freed in, but it's the place where... um... what was it again?"
"We found out that we were the bearers for the Elements Of Harmony," Princess Trixie explained.
"Yeah, yeah, that!"
Adagio perched like a cat, her tail swishing side to side as she looked around. "This is fascinating... oh if only I could take a picture to send back to our friends at CHS..."
"This is so cool!" Aria grinned, hovering above the castle grounds. And she swooped by her older sister in a flash, blowing some dust and leaves past her, making her cough and wheeze.
"Ohhhh..." Sonata said in awe, looking all around her. The siren's head twisted and turned as she gazed up at the ceiling, looking at a few gaping holes. Moving her head back down and turning around, she found herself standing face to face with an angry gray pony. "Dah, oh!" Sonata yelped. In front of her was a statue of a unicorn who had an angry glare, ready to make the jump as she stood on her hind legs. Aria saw her chance and slowly crept up on Sonata, touching her shoulder and making Sonata squeal like a pig. "DOH!"
Aria snickered, but Sonata didn't find it funny. "Don't do that!" Sonata whined, slapping Aria's shoulder.
"Relax. It's just a statue," Aria shook her head.
"Yeah well I was almost turned into a statue. Stupid cockatrice, I was just trying to be friendly..." Sonata pouted.
"Who even is that?" Aria asked.
"That... is the one who brought back Daybreaker," Princess Trixie answered.
Aria blinked. "Wait, this is her? Is she... is she in that thing?"
"She's petrified," Princess Trixie explained. "After Daybreaker was freed, she tried to gain control of Daybreaker, but didn't think of the fact that Daybreaker only wanted herself in charge and not her. So she petrified her where she stood."
Aria gulped. "Well... dang. Is she even alive?"
"She still is. But Princess Celestia and Luna found this to be a better punishment than the suggestions from before; which was to send her straight to the moon." The Sirens looked at her, fearfully. "She was upset! ... A lot more than you imagined."
Aria stood in front of the statue with no expression, taking another sip of the soda. She moved her head to the left, still keeping her eyes on the petrified pony. And then to the right, still looking at it. She childishly stuck her tongue out and made a mocking roar noise.
"Can't do anything about it, can you?" Aria snickered. "You know, be thankful you're not stuck on the moon. It's awfully lonely up there..."
"Can we leave? I don't wanna look at it anymore, it's scary," Sonata whimpered.
"Oh relax, it's a statue," Aria rolled her eyes. "Baby."
"Buzzkill."
"Girls!" Adagio barked. "Princess, perhaps we should go back to Ponyville for lunch?"
"That's fine with me. Come on, follow me," the Princess nodded, leading the way.
Starswirl woke up slowly and unwillingly, his head aching like Rockhoof had been using it for a kickball. The wizard grimaced as he shifted in bed, trying to ignore the hangover. But as he turned over, he suddenly heard – and felt – the crumple of parchment. Someone had stuffed a roll of parchment into his beard, and it was pushing uncomfortably against his chest.
“What in…”
He tried to sit up quickly, wincing as he got an eyeful of the morning sunlight through a window – and then, a moment later, gaped in realization: for the cabin was clean. The floor had been swept, the upended table put back in its original place, the bookshelves had been dusted… even the damaged floorboards from the previous day had been crudely – if effectively – repaired with a simple sticking spell to lock them back into place!
“Who?”
Starswirl could only gape, utterly baffled. Mistmane on her occasional visits had offered her “critique” of his messy cabin, and Somnambula had said even less on the subject, but he couldn’t imagine either of them, no matter how exasperated they might have been, sneaking in and cleaning up everything!
His gaze shifted, and he carefully removed the rolled-up parchment from the depths of his beard, snorting to himself as he did so. The cheek of the pony responsible! And then he opened the scroll, and his irritation vanished to be replaced by utter shock as he began to read.
Dear Starswirl,
I am Sonata Dusk. I am the blue siren you met yesterday, and before you ask, my hand-writing is awful so I asked my friend Vinyl to write for me.
I don't know if you're going to read this or just set it on fire, but if you do, I want you to stop beating yourself up over this. I didn't like being thrown into a parallel dimension either, but it somehow became one of the most awesome things I've ever been through, for realzies. My sisters and I have a home now, we have friends, we have money, we're in a good place now. But I know you're not. I still think you banishing us was wrong, and I understand why you did it. But all of this happened over a thousand years ago. If I can move on, I think you can too. Let go of your mistakes, and focus on the present. I know my friend Vinyl who's still writing this letter wants you to not stay holed up in here. I do too.
I just hope you'll listen to me by the time you wake up from your drunkness. And lay off the cider, alcohol is never the solution; it makes you do some bad things. You would not want to know how bad it is when Dagi gets drunk; she's a lunatic! Where was I? Oh yeah! Vinyl and I also helped restock some food in your cabin, you look starved. Maybe have a taco sometime, just to have a bite. Go see some ponies, start anew.
I hope this helps,
Ever yours,
Sonata Dusk. A forgiving Siren.
Starswirl finally put the letter down. He’d read it once, twice, and again until he wasn’t really reading the words on the parchment, but he just couldn’t look away. But finally he did, and let the scroll flutter to the ground, and he sat down heavily on the bed once more.
She forgave him. It didn’t seem real. She forgave him.
He repeated the words out loud, to see if they sounded any truer, more tangible that way. He couldn’t tell. Starswirl closed his eyes, feeling his chest heaving, with an indescribable rush of emotion. It wasn’t just grief, or shame, or even relief, but something like all three at once, and more. He buried his face in his hooves, wanting to cry, but no tears would come. It was like he’d finally cried until he finally couldn’t.
How long he sat like that, he did not know. But finally, after what felt like an eternity, he found himself looking up again, sitting up fully, as he suddenly realized that his stomach was growling – and that he, Starswirl the Bearded, was starving. Unbidden, part of the letter came back to him. The Siren advising him to eat a taco sometime, whatever that was. But even though he didn’t know, he found himself craving one.
It was the strangest thing. He had barely eaten for so long, hadn’t really wanted to, and yet, suddenly, he couldn’t stop thinking about food. Goblets of sparkling fruit juice, sweet rolls, dozens of other tasty and mouthwatering foods, some of which he’d nearly forgotten completely!
…Hay, even a simple daisy sandwich would be good too. Though the thought of cider and other alcohol made his head throb. Perhaps he’d stay away from the drinks for a while.
“Hmph,” Starswirl grunted to himself, as he clambered out of bed, a bit unsteadily, and made his way over to the pantry to see what he could scrounge up. There wasn’t much, but there was more than he’d thought, seems as if his food supplies had been restocked; brushing aside an odd prickle of guilt, he began to put together a simple, if delicious-looking, plate of sandwiches.
He was just about to start eating, when he suddenly noticed the bright glow of the noon sun, shining through the small windows of the cabin. Starswirl stared at the light for a long moment, noticing for the first time in what felt like an eternity, the trees outside. Green and lush and full of life, swaying in the breeze…
Starswirl watched for a moment, and then he glanced to the door of the cabin. When was the last time he’d been outside, anyway? The thought made him feel oddly nervous, but as he looked back to his sandwiches, the thought of eating outside, in the warm sun, seemed like a good idea.
And so he took his plate, and a simple bottle of juice, with him, as he tentatively crossed the cabin to the door. Again he felt that strange nervousness as he put his hoof to the door, but, after a moment of hesitation, the wizard made himself open it and step out into the light. He hissed as the bright outside nearly blinded him and he nearly dropped his food, but he caught it at the last second, and when his sight had adjusted, he shut the door behind him. Starswirl the Bearded looked around, at the open nature that was on every side of him. He squinted up at the sky, the blue color and the cheerful white clouds and the bright yellow sun.
And he took his first, cautious steps back into the outdoors. Finding a nice spot under a nearby tree (that was still close to the cabin) Starswirl slowly sat down and settled in to eat his lunch. And for the first time in a very, very, very time, he began to feel somewhat better. It was a start. The very first, hopeful step on the long and hard path to a far-away recovery. But more would follow. For now, Starswirl was simply content to eat, and sit in the grass, watch the clouds, and feel a little bit alive once again.
After walking back to Ponyville, the Dazzlings and Princess Trixie found themselves a table at a restaurant. It was outdoors, but they didn't mind. The weather was nice and nopony was cold. And ponies were still galloping around town, minding their own business. Occasionally a few ponies said hi to the sirens just to say hi, while also waving at the princess. And for the most part, they were pretty friendly.
Sonata's eyes moved up and down, looking at the selection of foods on the menu. "Oooh, this place has ice cream! Can we--"
"--If you finish your food, Sonata," Adagio said, not letting her finish. She had gone over this with her dozens of times already. "I don't want you wasting food, only order as much as your stomach can handle, okay?"
Sonata rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dagi..." Her mood then switched back to happy in seconds. "Oooh, Sammich!"
Eventually their waiter came by and took their orders, and so the group sat and waited. While they sat there, the group turned to see some familiar ponies trotting by them. And judging by the medals around two of their necks, they could assume they were the winners of the Sisterhooves Social event they were talking about.
"Afternoon Applejack, Rarity," Adagio nodded, watching them trot on by.
"Howdy," Applejack said, casually.
"Wait up guys!"
"Hey Rainbow," Aria waved.
"Hi Aria bye Aria!" Rainbow said, speeding right by them in a dash.
"... It's nice to just be treated as if we've always been here," Sonata said nonchalantly.
That was a thought that Adagio had never thought before. Very quietly she spoke to herself, with a soft smile. "Yeah... it really is..."
Eventually the waiter came by and handed them their food. Like animals, the Dazzlings munched away, enjoying the deliciousness of the food that was offered.
"Mmm, mmm," Aria munched on her food. "We'll have to come back here, this is delicious."
"Mmmhmm!" Sonata said, happily.
"This is one of my favorite restaurants," the princess squeaked, taking a bite of her sandwich.
While the eldest Dazzling was eating away at her food, an epiphany came to her head. Looking back on the day they arrived and the hours spent here back in Equestria, it was actually really good. Surprisingly very few ponies looked at them strangely, and they were mostly accepted. They didn't approach them constantly with negativity and just looked at them with wonder. No fear, no hate, no worry. No negativity whatsoever! If she stayed a little longer, maybe these ponies could become even more used to her!
Maybe... just maybe...
Once the bill was paid, the princess and the sirens walked back to her castle. Though none of them noticed as they walked back, Adagio was too busy looking at everything around her, distracted by the calm atmosphere that was here in Ponyville. And when she waddled back into the castle doors, she frowned, seeing the wondrous sights now gone.
"Ah, well that was a nice lunch. Thanks again for taking us to eat, Princess. Especially for taking us around Ponyville," Adagio expressed with a smile.
"Oh it's no problem at all! I'm glad you sirens had a great time!" She opened the doors leading back into the room where the portal was resting. Just one cross through and they'd be back on Earth. It was a nice machine, with all types of coils and tubes connected together, it was like some industrial machine used in a factory. All to siimply provide power to a mirror, with a single book in place as the power source.
"Okay, all you need to do is just pass through and you should be back home."
Aria and Sonata both gave hugs to the pony princess, who in turn hugged them back.
"Thanks for letting us stay here and chill with you, Princess. We'll be sure to visit again," Aria smiled.
"Just send me a message if you want to come back here again. The quarters will always be available to you girls," the princess smiled. She gave a quick hug to Adagio as well, and was trotting out of the room, having said her goodbyes.
Sonata squeed like a little girl. "Come on, let's go!"
Aria nodded. "Adagio, come on, we should probably go now. Sonata's eager to go home, and so am I."
"O-Oh... um... j-just give me a second, okay, I... I think I need a moment," Adagio said, turning her back away from her sisters, looking right at the doors.
"... why are you talking like that?"
"Like what?"
"Whenever you talk quietly, it always means you have other thoughts."
"What other thoughts?" Sonata asked, waddling closer to her sister.
"Well, Aria, I guess I'm... I guess I'm just not ready to leave."
"What are you saying, Adagio?", Aria stopped for a moment, but her face scrunched up with a horrible thought. "You're not thinking about staying, are you?"
" ... maybe?"
Aria's fins sharpened up with the sound of a sword pulling out.
"... you aren't."
No reply was given.
Aria was appalled. "You have to be kidding me. You're actually thinking about staying here, throwing away what we came here to do, throwing away the home you have back on Earth?"
"I'm not throwing my home away!"
"Dagi!" Sonata pleaded. "Just come home with us, we know we can come back here now! We can come here and visit again!"
"And we're not throwing our home away, and by the way, last time I checked, Equestria wasn't our home. Not to mention, you made a promise, you made our friends a promise!"
"I know what I said!" Adagio yelled.
"What about our friends back home, hmm? What about Sunset Shimmer who's still locked up in human prison? What do you want me to tell Trixie, huh? That her girlfriend doesn't care enough about her to stay?" Aria yelled.
"Ponies like us again, Aria! Before we were just abominations of nature, inhuman creatures who needed to be wiped off the face of the planet! Things are different now, these ponies don't see us as monsters anymore! We can live among their kind like them, we can be free again! We no longer have to live in fear for the rest of our lives, and I think I would very much like that to stay!" Adagio growled.
Aria was appalled. "Oh, sure, sure, just stay here! Stay in Equestria like it's so perfect! You know what we got back on Earth? Legs, over a thousand years experience of history, skill, and strengths under our belts. And we have family; for the first time, we have a family Adagio. We're home. ... But I guess that's not enough for you. Come on, Sonata. We're going home. We'll have to tell Trixie that her girlfriend doesn't care enough about her to stay," Aria hissed, waddling away to the room where the portal was. "And tell the rest of our friends that she's not coming back..."
Sonata was about to leave, but she didn't. Instead, she looked at Adagio who still had her back turned. Adagio, even though she didn't show it, was hating every part of herself right now. She wished she could undo what she had said, but she knew the damage was done.
"You know... I know you miss it here, but I thought we already were home. And that's in Canterlot. On Earth."
The two of them left and slammed the doors behind her. Adagio felt someone had shot her right in the chest, only no one did. Her ears flopped and she whimpered. She didn't want her sisters to leave, but they were gone. They made their choice, and she made hers. She was finally home here, in Equestria again. But she felt more unhappy than she had before.
Her head slumped against a table, the rest of her body flopping onto the couch. A soft tear dripped down her face, wishing she could take back what she had said to her family.
"You know..." Princess Trixie began, making Adagio gasp. She didn't even see her come in. "I didn't get to be the Princess of Friendship for nothing." She sat next to the siren, scooting up next to her. "I think you should go talk to them."
"Princess." Adagio sighed. "I do, but... I just... Ugh! I can't. I've been cut off from this world for far too long. I only now found out that we made it back here yesterday. What if I can never come back here? What if this world is closed forever, and I will never be able to return to my roots?"
"Well, what if it doesn't happen? There is the portal that leads to the front of your school..." Princess Trixie said with a wink.
Adagio heard glass shatter. "... The portal's in the Wondercolt Statue, ugh!" She bashed her head into the floor. "I'm such an idiot!"
Trixie patted Adagio's shoulders. "But, do you mind if I say something?"
Adagio shook her head.
"I know the thought of not being able to return home is scary. But you should know you can come back here any time. But even if you can't, there's something else you're forgetting. You've made a home back in that other dimension, you've made friends, you have your family. Home is where your family and friends are... and I think you're already there."
Adagio turned her head back to the portal, frowning a little. "I guess I forgot I had already made a home there... how could I have been blind?"
"You're not blind, Adagio. I know what it's like, missing a home you've been so far away from for so long. I've had days where I missed my home in Canterlot. But tell you what," the princess stood in front of her. "Since the portal will be open for you girls any time, how about you just come visit me every now and then? I can still keep those guest wings available for you, and if I'm gone, I can leave you notes about where things are if you need to take care of yourselves."
The siren smiled. "I would like that." A second thought came to her mind which made her look at her like a little girl asking for ice cream. "Coooouuuld I possibly bring some friends from the human world over here sometime? Maybe?"
The princess giggled. "Of course. If they're okay with it. Any friends of yours is a friend of mine!"
"I... I don't know what to say," Adagio said.
"Don't. It's okay," the Princess smiled. But she did not expect Adagio to come towards her and yank her in a hug. She was was taken a-back for a moment, but she leaned in and hugged her back.
"So, what are you waiting for? Go home, you got a family and friends to talk to," the princess nudged.
"You're right. I need to apologize to them," Adagio turned around and waddled towards the portal, ready to leave--
"One more thing?" Trixie said.
Adagio turned back around to look at the princess once more, who was nothing short of happy. "Tell our counterparts we said hello. And maybe give my counterpart assistance in her magic shows if you can?"
The siren smiled. "I will. Thank you, Princess. For everything."
And with a content face, she waddled back through the portal, going home...
“… you didn’t tell us what happened," Bon Bon said, confused by the story that Aria told them.
“Yeah, I did. We crashed the plane. No, Adagio crashed the plane. Once again, that ramen-haired idiot doesn’t know why I keep offering to fly, but nooooooo, she just HAS to be the one to fly!” Aria said, almost hateful. “But… in the process, we were able to get this.” She reached behind her back and pulled out a small jar that was sealed tight, with glowing liquid within. “Whatever spell those three girls were put under by Sunset Shimmer, is about to be undone.”
“Alright!” The group cheered.
But one of them, looking at the two who were back, started to frown.
“Wait… where’s Adagio?” Trixie asked.
Sonata and Aria’s faces drooped, immediately dropping the joyful looks they had to see their friends. And they looked at the magician with disappointed expressions.
“Trixie… I’m not sure you want to know,” Sonata frowned.
“Wait… is she—”
“—No, she’s not dead!” Sonata yelled. “… sorry. I feel salty today."
“But… Okay. Trixie, I… this is gonna hurt, but Adagio, she—”
“—Is staying home.”
The two Sirens heads went up and looked back, now they were the ones in shock. Standing there was Adagio Dazzle. There was some guilt mixed with a little bit of joy on the siren's face, but she was beaming with more joy to see one particular girl.
“A-Adagio?” Trixie gasped, cupping her mouth.
Adagio smiled. She knew that it wouldn't be far away to go back through the portal and into Equestria now. But she did know this; she was in fact... home.
“Hi sweetie. I’m home.”
The End
Epilogue!
Trixie's friends were all gathered in a small room with a bunch of chairs surrounding a massive circular table. On each chair was a small graphic of their cutie marks, representing each and every one of them. They were just chilling out, relaxing, enjoying some quiet time. Nothing was happening today, but the girls had their plans set.
Everypony was working on getting their costumes ready for Nightmare Night which was coming in a few weeks. Everyone was excited, and it was a time of the year they always looked forward to. Well, that and Hearth's Warming Eve of course.
Bon Bon and Vinyl were engaged in a card game, while Octavia was flipping through a catalogue of costumes available for purchase; the rocker couldn't make up her mind unfortunately, at least not with the manestyle that was nothing but a mohawk. Lyra was levitating pieces of cloth, knitting them together to form a small piece of a costume she was prepping for herself.
"How's the helmet going Amethyst?" Lyra asked.
Covered in some splotches of paint, Amethyst had her eyes locked onto getting the bristles covered in paint to hit the right spots on the helmet she had assembled. She found some old helmets that were thrown away in a dumpster (admittedly she was not proud to admit that she was a dumpster diver) and with the extra pieces she found at a junkyard, she was putting together a sci-fi looking space helmet from a favorite comic book series.
And even though she wasn't looking, she could see hear everyone loud and clear. "Almost done with the helmet. Just need a last bit of yellow, and... we are done!" Amethyst used her magic and levitated the helmet in the air, showing it off to her friends who were grinning.
"Not bad."
"Very well done..."
"Nice work, mate," Octavia nodded.
"Helmet's done, now I gotta work on the rest of the body armor," she set the helmet back down on the newspapers which kept the paint from spilling on the table. "Lyra, have you picked your costume out yet?"
"Mmmhmm!" The ninja pony replied, sitting up right in her chair. "I got most of the gear for it already, but I was wondering if I could ask for your help in making something for me."
"Sure, what is it?"
Lyra's horn lit up, and a holographic projection of the image she had in her mind was in front of her. Amethyst squinted her eyes, and brushed her hoof against her chin. "Hmm... could take some time, but I think I could make something. I'll scrounge around in the junkyard, let you know what I find."
"Great, thanks!" Lyra squeaked.
Just then, the doors opened up revealing Princess Trixie levitating a book with her.
"Hey girls," Trixie greeted.
"Hey mate, you wanted to talk?" Octavia asked, looking away from her game.
"Yeah! If you girls don't mind, I brought something I wanted to show you. I just got a message from Adagio, she sent pictures of our human counterparts back at Canterlot High!"
The girls interest all turned to her, completely forgetting their activities within seconds.
"So we finally get to see what these 'hoo-mans' look like?" Bon Bon asked.
"Yeah!"
Everypony gathered around Trixie to take a closer look. She opened up the page, and the first photo she saw was a picture of the three Dazzlings, all standing as the same young women they always had been.
"Is that the Sirens?"
"Mmmhmm!" Trixie nodded. "Back in their world, they've taken on a name of a musical band. Everypony... er, everyone just refers to them as 'The Dazzlings'."
"I say that's rather fitting," Vinyl inquired. "Look at those outfits, they do have a certain... dazzling, effect to them."
"Look at all that hair," Octavia pointed. "How does she hold all of that?"
"Maybe she has some magic of her own. I mean, how does Princess Luna get her hair to wave in the air like she does?" Lyra asked, shrugging her shoulders.
"Magic conditioner?" Vinyl shrugged.
"Now as for us..." Princess Trixie flipped the page over to the first one; Lyra.
"Ooooh. Oh I like her," Lyra grinned. "Oh and she's got a kimono too, oh that looks so adorable on her! Oh and she's got a chopstick piece in her hair!" The other ponies looked at her with smirks, making her blush. "... hehe."
"Though according to Adagio, she doesn't really wear those that often. Apparently now she's only been seen wearing those on Fridays and a few holidays."
"Makes sense. Who would want to wear the same thing every day, that would get boring very quickly," Lyra nodded.
Then the Princess flipped over to the next page; this time showing Bon Bon, in her standard white dress she was always seen wearing.
"Oh now that's cute," Lyra smiled.
"Ehhh... she's alright, I mean, she's no pony," Bon Bon said, unsure. "That necklace is cute though."
Another page flip; Vinyl was next.
"Classy hoo-man," Vinyl grinned, admiring her counterpart's well dressed exterior. Nice pantsuit, white jacket over blue button up vest, and her hair looking all nice and clean.
"Very classy indeed," Amethyst agreed. "Who knew hoo-mans had style?"
"Well from what Adagio's explained, in their world, hoo-mans wear clothes, it's a requirement for walking around in public."
"But none of us wear any clothes," Octavia said, dumbfounded.
"Yes, but they do. They have laws written about these, so no one looks at their, erm... let's--let's just move on," Trixie blushed. Trying to change the subject, she just flipped the page to show Amethyst Star.
"Well helllooooo good lookin'," Amethyst giggled. "I am digging that hairstyle. Oooh, and I like her vest, that's cute, always loved denim. Oh and she's got little earrings too, aww. I like this girl's style!
Everyone chuckled, rolling their eyes in unison.
"Do hoo-mans wear retro stuff in that world?" Amethyst asked with excitement, her tail swishing.
"Well... back in the, what did Adagio say... oh, she said back in the '80s' they wore wacky stuff like this, but nowadays it's mostly seen as, um... goofy."
"Goofy's my wheelhouse," Amethyst shrugged, still smiling at the photo.
The princess flipped over to another page, this time showcasing Octavia.
"Oh yeah!" Octavia roared with excitement. "Rock on!"
Princess Trixie giggled. "I thought you'd like her."
"Looks pretty wild. I mean the black jacket, the purple shirt--"
"--Tank top, actually--"
"--Tank top, the black leggings with holes in them, the skirt, the heeled boots, she looks like a rocker right there," Bon Bon observed.
"If ever meet this counterpart of mine, I'll definitely need to have a conversation with her. I bet we'd all enjoy some nice talks with our hoo-man figures," Octavia giggled. "Say, Trix, what does yours look like?"
"Well... she doesn't look exactly like me," the princess blushed.
"So this is another counterpart of yours, I'm sure it's nothing to be ashamed of," Vinyl said, brushing the thought aside.
"Come on, let us see!"
"But wait, it--"
Too late. Amethyst had already plucked the book and flipped to the next page, revealing Trixie's doppelganger. "Ja... whoa. Okay, I'll admit, that is not at all what I imagined you look like," Amethyst said, looking at her counterpart. "When did you wear glasses? I mean the vest is cute with the buttons, it's nice, but... I don't know, there's something about this look, I don't know, it's um..."
"Well, it's unique!" Vinyl said, trying to salvage the situation. "There's nothing wrong with that!"
"Heh... heheh... um, can we just, ignore this one?"
