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Eeeee!

Thank you!

Overdue, but you're one of my favorite writers.
Just saying.

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Not yet. There's a third story (The Messenger of Love) WIP, but no ETA on when it will be out. It introduces us to the great AI Cadence, along with Rarity and her familiar Spike.

I'm really glad you liked those stories. I'm very proud of them. They were about topics (child abuse and toxic relationships) that are pretty important to me personally, so writing them felt meaningful.

I really liked city upon a hill and familiar, did you write any more in that universe?

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I do! Recommendations first:

• Blueshift's writing talent is a god-damn treasure. While he does a lot of stuff ranging from light comedy to crushing dark, I recommend you start with the hilarious Nineteen Neighty Four!
• Cold in Gardez is my senpai, and one day I will either get him to notice me or kill him and wear his face. He just gets better with time, so I'd recommend you start with one of his newer works, The Adventuring Type.
• Estee can be a bit hit or miss, but when he hits, he hits like a god-damn literary steam locomotive. Prepare to laugh so hard you may pass out with Barnyard Barge-Ins!
• Skywriter writes the best Princess Cadence in the fandom, and it's not close. Get to know her with In The Bleak Midwinter!
• And finally, if you want to read any more of my stories, I recommend Familiar!

Now, onto Siren Song. Spoilers below!

Sine Rider wasn't a pony. He was some kind of shapeshifting monster. His exact form is never described, but: "-he was the voice of Sombra. His breath was insidious rumor. His fangs dripped venomous slander. When he wrote, the words took on life, and multiplied themselves in the hearts of the fearful. Any mortal who stared into his eyes was at once entranced, and fell into a sickened love they could never escape. He saw through flesh, and knew the deepest shame of those he encountered."

He's Siren's father. Twilight is her mother.

Siren isn't supremely charismatic. She is exactly as petty, childish, and selfish as she seems to be. But she has a power that any pony who stares into her eyes starts to care for her. The power isn't quite at the level where they fall in love with her, but it's enough. That is why Siren always seems to have friends. And she has no idea.

This is foreshadowed throughout Siren Song by how she describes interacting with ponies. Whenever she makes a point of "looking into a pony's eyes" they nearly always react positively to her. On the few occasions they don't, she always has a sudden and profound insight into their motivations and what makes them tick. And it's always negative. Siren can never see what makes a pony good, or kind, or pure. She can only see what's dark and twisted inside them. She appeals to pettiness, greed, vanity, arrogance and anger, and just like her father, she slowly poisons everything around her.

Unlike her father, she comes to realize that that's wrong. Siren was born a monster, but with Celestia's help, she can choose not to be a monster.

Sine and Twilight had a relationship. Celestia was suspicious of him. He seemed cold, or even mean, and his relationship with Twilight struck her as unhealthy. His actions during the blight seemed designed to drive a wedge between Twilight and Celestia. Then Celestia realized that Sine was causing the blight. She had to free Twilight from his control! A battle in the throne room ensued, and Celestia struck him down!

Only, Sine's magic didn't suddenly end when he died. Slaying the serpent doesn't negate its venom. Twilight still honestly, truly felt she loved him. And that Celestia had just murdered the father of her future child in front of her. Day by day, bitterness and hate consumed Twilight's heart. Her palace fell apart, and became a dark and foreboding place.

Then Siren was born. She had fangs. And so Twilight sank into denial, abandoned her and left Equestria. And Siren came into Celestia's care.

The fangs are foreshadowed in that Siren repeatedly mentions the only surgery she's ever had was "getting her teeth fixed," when she was young. Doctor Stable's report mentions that she seems to have had dental surgery on her canines at a young age.

And all this brings us to Siren Song's arc, and how it ends. It looks like Siren is going to retrieve the Elements of Harmony. The Mane 6 are no longer worthy to wield them. Sine's poison -- now manifest as mantles -- has slowly corrupted their hearts and turned their magic dark. And hey, Siren is magic! And Berry is loyal. And Green is uh... laughing on the inside? And, Echo is uh... honest. Kind of?

No. They aren't the Elements of Harmony. They never will be. Siren isn't a hero. She can't aspire to be a hero. All she can aspire to is that maybe, if she works really hard at it, she can be a decent person.

And that's enough. Harmony isn't a weapon you can wield and the power of friendship isn't inside six magic stones. It's in the hearts of every pony, in every moment and every day they choose to be better than they are. Like when Golden Palm helped her when she was sick. Like when Berry gave her a chance she didn't deserve. Like when Green sang to her. Like Swiftwing giving her shelter. Like all the dozens of tiny moments of goodness from random strangers that let Siren get this far.

And in that moment, the Elements of Harmony activate, not to take the form of six cutie marks for six new heroes, but but to take the form of a civic monument. And the city rises up out of the water and sees the sun once again.