Twilight let out a content sigh as she stepped out of the portal, no longer was she greeted by the front of the school, but instead the basement that the statue had been moved to. Despite being the more logical location for the portal, she did miss gazing upon Canterlot High when entering this odd world.
She briefly held up her hand and swirled it around few times, causing the magic aura to appear in thin air. 'So Sunset was right, the spell does keep your magic active after you enter the portal…' She thought to herself, satisfied with this result she exited the storage room while stretching her arms, only to come face to face with Sunset Shimmer and... a girl that looked just like her… save for a few distinct differences… such as her hairstyle that was tied into a bun, and those glasses she wore.
"Hello, Sunset. I see you've acquainted yourself with my human counterpart..." She smiled as she approached the two, her human self taking a step back in surprise.
Sunset perked up at this and took the human Twilight's hand. "Y-Yeah, this is my girlfriend." She explained, blushing as she brought her close and whispered. "It's okay, there's no need to be nervous. She's basically you... only well, Royalty."
The human Twilight seemed to calm down at this, adjusting her glasses as she made eye-contact with her other self. "H-H-Hello, m-my name is Twilight Sparkle. According to my girlfriend, you're my alternate counterpart?"
"Yes, I am. It's very nice to meet you." Princess Twilight said as she shook her human self's hand, not lost to the surrealness of the situation. Despite having come here before, she'd never actually met herself. "I do understand how you feel however, the first time I came to this world I encountered an entire group comprised of alternate versions of my friends. It was… very surreal, to say the least…"
"It's nice to meet you as well. I have to say I feel the same way." Human Twilight giggled, now feeling less awkward about the situation. "This is very interesting though, I mean, to think there are other worlds we have yet to explore… by any chance, does your world have a version of Spi-"
Sunset tensed at this and was about to cut her off, but the Princess simply held up her hand to halt any questions her human self might start asking. "As much as I would love to discuss the possibilities of other realities, I still have business to attend to…" She stated firmly. Her human self looked disappointed, but nodded in understanding.
The Princess' expression then became more serious as she turned her attention back to Sunset. "Now then, tell me more about these three girls, Sunset."
"Yes, Princess." She nodded, sighing in relief... an action that was not missed by the human Twilight...
"...so you're telling me, that three girls showed up at CHS with unknown magic, and began hypnotizing the entire school with their singing?" Princess Twilight asked as Sunset and her human counterpart escorted her up the stairs leading out of the basement.
"That's right, the moment they started seeing everyone immediately started arguing, everyone's been at each other's throats ever since they arrived." Sunset explained. "We need to do something about them before they cause anymore harm."
The Princess opened her mouth to speak, but her human counterpart (unintentionally) cut her off. "But how do we do that?" She asked in a nervous tone. "If they can hypnotize anyone with their voices alone, what chance do we have of catching, let alone stopping them? All they need do is hum a little tune and command us to leave them be!"
"No exactly, I managed to catch them alone in the halls once, they didn't seem very eager to sing right then and there…" Sunset mused to herself. "It's possible that they were saving what little magic they had for something bigger and didn't want to waste it on me. No doubt they have a plan. And something tells me they won't do anything rash out in public. At least, not yet anyway…."
"If you're right Sunset, then we can use that info to our advantage..." Princess Twilight stated as they stopped near the stairs. "However we must act quickly, otherwise they could spread their influence throughout the entire school before we have a chance to take them down."
"So, what do we do?" Human Twilight asked.
"I say we corner them." Sunset said, smashing her fist into her palm for emphasis. "Confront them and make sure they have no way of using their powers on all of us, and then we capture them."
The Princess arched a brow at this."Oh? And are the others in on this plan?"
"Yes, they are." Sunset nodded. "I let them all know you were coming and that they should all think up a few backup plans, just in case mine didn't work."
"Sound reasoning, my apprentice." Smiled the Princess. "I am proud of you."
Sunset smiled back with a small blush. "Thanks, Twilight."
However at this moment her human counterpart stood beside Sunset and grasped her hand firmly. "We should get going if we're going to meet up with the others…" She said, a jealous gleam in her eye.
"You don't need to worry about me stealing her away from you, my dimensional sister." Princess Twilight giggled, earning a small blush from her other self. "Now..." She turned around and made her way through the doors.
"Let's go save the school."
Once out of the basement, they made their way through the halls of the school. Sunset opened the door and let her mentor go first, coming up beside her and leading the way towards the room her friends now used to meet up in. "After those girls took over the school, we couldn't meet at the statue anymore, least the the students they brainwashed overhear us. So I had to find a better place for us to meet up away from prying eyes..." She explained. They had been walking for a while since they arrived, and after a few twists and turns ended up in a closed off hallway in the school. The sign on the rope that separated them from the meeting place read; [Do Not Cross]. "This place hasn't been used ever since it was destroyed in my... attack. "
Twilight's Human counterpart tugged on Sunset's jacket sleeve upon hearing this. "Attack? What attack? Did you do something?"
"Oh right, Twi… let's just say I haven't quite told you everything yet… but I'll tell you when all this is over, I promise." Sunset explained, giving her a reassuring kiss her on the cheek before turning her attention to the Princess. "Anyway, let's go and get this meeting started, shall we?" Sunset said as they made their way over the rope and down the hall towards the room. From an outsider's point of view, it was just a pile of rubble, but Twilight could sense a weak illusionary spell covering. Sunset simply snapped her fingers to temporarily dispel the illusion, revealing the door. "Here we are, everyone else is already inside."
And with that, she opened the door and they walked in.
The meeting went without a hitch. Everyone was happy to see the Princess again, catching up and talking about what had happened since her last visit, but soon everyone got serious the moment the subject of the three magical girls came up. Idea after Idea was exchanged about how to approach these "Dazzlings", as they called themselves (which the Princess found to be arrogant and boastful). All the girls had given their piece, their ideas ranging from a meeting in the school courtyard to a straight up confrontation in the gym. Twilight kind of liked Rainbow's suggestion, the idea of shaming the evildoers in front of others made her feel a sense of pride and justice as she considered it. 'It would serve them right, let those who were wronged look upon them as they suffered her wrath.'
"But wait, doesn't that seem a little… I don't know, harsh?" Came a voice, snapping her out of her thoughts. Everyone turned their attention to Fluttershy, who instinctively hid herself behind her hair upon becoming the center of attention.
"Harsh?" Asked Princess Twilight with restrained anger. "Fluttershy, they're forcing the entire school to fight amongst themselves. They deserve more than to be publicly humiliated, they should be locked away-."
"Twilight!" Sunset snapped, getting her attention. "You have to calm down!"
Everyone stared at the Princess as she took a deep breath, they could tell something had changed about their friend. Sunset gave he mentor a disapproving look, reminding her that she was dealing with different versions of her friends, ones that were unaware of the untimely demise of her beloved son.
After a moment of silence Applejack spoke up. "Sugarcube… you feelin' OK?"
Princess Twilight sighed. "I… I'm sorry girls. I'm just...going through a lot on the other side. Stress of Princesshood and all that..."
"Anything you'd like to talk about darling?" Rarity asked curiously. "I know a thing or two about dealing with stress."
"Yeah." Added Pinkie as she hung from the ceiling. "And you must be really stressed to snap like that."
She shook her head. "No. I'll be fine, please continue."
Everyone looked less than convinced, but no one said anything. "Anyway, Fluttershy, what do you suggest we do then?" Rainbow asked, starting up the conversation once more.
The timid mare gave her friends a surprisingly confident smile. "That's simple, Rainbow Dash. The idea of getting caught unprepared is what scares most people, not the certainty of it. If we confront them in a manner where there's a chance they can't use their powers to their fullest, they'll be less likely to throw caution to the wind when pressured, and more likely to be paranoid and afraid. After all, they were more subtle when casting their spell for the first few times, so they must not have enough power yet, and therefore they won't be willing to use up too much magic unless they need to."
Everyone stared at her for a moment until Rarity placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Well then, I think we have our plan."
An hour later, the group made their way towards the courtyard, passing several students were arguing amongst themselves. The Princess recognized several familiar faces as she walked down the hallway, Lyra, Bonbon, Cloudchaser, Photo Finish, the Crusaders, even the human version of Flash Sentry, who was currently holding back Derpy from throttling Trixie, although looking like he was ready throw a punch himself. It brought dismay to the group to see so many close friends that they'd brought together now at each other's throats and pushing aside their friendships in favor of winning a competition…
It was then that they noticed a greenish mist wafting across the floor, through the open door and towards the center of the courtyard where three girls were appeared to be singing together, seemingly relishing in the sound of their own voices. While they didn't look like much of a threat to the Princess, she could feel ancient magic coming from them. Well, less them, and more the necklaces that adorned their necks. She could feel a massive amount of negative energy coming off of them. 'I've got to be careful if I want answers, but I'm getting them either way. No evil will stand in the way of my dream for Equestria.' She thought to herself as she observed the trio.
At the center stood a girl with yellow-orange skin, and fluffy orange hair held in a ponytail by a spiked band. She wore a purple outfit with shorts attached and a short-sleeved, violet shawl, purple boots with gold ankle bands; light violet fingerless gloves and matching tights, a studded gold belt buckle shaped like a gem.
To her right was a lavender-skinned girl whose was hair tied into two very long pigtails with large star barrettes. She wore a sleeveless top under an open, green shirt with ripped away sleeves, three dark magenta bracelets on both arms, magenta tights with glitter down both hips, dark magenta boots and a matching double belt with a star buckle.
And to her left was a blue-skinned girl with blue hair in a long ponytail. She wore short-sleeved dark red-pink jacket with a lighter-hued collar and cuffs, a spiked bracelet on both arms, light blue accents on the front, a pink skirt, and light-pink knee-high boots.
The group watched as the green mist swirls up to them and was absorbed into the glowing jewels that hung from their necklaces. "So those are the Dazzlings, huh?" The Princess asked with a scowl. She clenched her fists as she stormed towards them, her friends following suit, the moment they got close enough the quickly surrounded them.
This action got their leader's attention. "Oh? What do you girls want?" She asked condescendingly, as if she were addressing someone beneath her.
"What we want is for you to tell us what you're doing here." She snarled, glaring daggers at her as her eyes were briefly surrounded by the "mask" that adorned her face as a pony.
To her credit, while her comrades either backed away or shivered under her gaze, their leader didn't show any outward signs of fear. But the Princess could see it in their eyes, they felt her power, and they were afraid. Their apparent leader was about to speak up again, only for the one with purple hair to put on an air of superiority and glare back in Twilight's direction. "What do you mean "what are we doing here"? This is a school. We're learning."
Their leader growled. "Aria… I do the talking-"
"Don't play dumb with us!" Sunset cut her off. "We know you've been hypnotizing these students with your music. Tell us what you're really up to here." She then smirked at her their apparent leader. "And Adagio, before you try to give us the "you can't stop us" speech you probably have prepared, I know some of my friends are more than willing to get rough..."
And with that she stepped back, allowing RD, AJ, and Twilight to step forth, the Princess taking the lead as she flared her magic, the silhouetted image of Midnight Sparkle appearing behind her as she walked up to them, glaring daggers at the trio. The three girls looked upon the Princes with pure fear. Sure, they had planned on hypnotizing the school and bringing everyone under their control... but with power like this opposing them, they weren't so sure of themselves anymore.
But Adagio refused to back down, they would go down fighting if it meant they could keep what little power they'd amassed. "Fine! Try and stop us, but know this… we won't go down without a fight!" She snapped, her necklace glowing as two transparent wings appeared behind her back.
Twilight's frown was replaced by a slightly curious smirk at this act of defiance. "Oh really? The three of you against all of us?"
This time the blue one spoke up. "Uh.. Dagi? You sure about this?" She asked as she nervously took another step back. "You felt her power..."
"Zip it Sonata..." She growled, a bead of sweat trailing down her forehead.
"She's right though, you have… now then, are you three gonna play nice?" She asked before she flew over to Adagio, getting dangerously close to her face. "...or are things going to get difficult?"
Adagio was about to reply, but a startled yelp got her attention. Turning around she saw that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had taken this opportunity to sneak behind them and subdue her comrades. Applejack had put Aria in a full-nelson, and Rainbow Dash had Sonata in a choke-hold. Adagio began to sweat, she'd been hoping to at least work around these girls immunity to their songs, or at the very least absorb enough negative emotions to overpower them… but now the odds were completely stacked against her.
Biting her lip as she turned back to the Princess, she swallowed her pride and backed down. "Fine, you win… I'll cooperate."
"Good, now then..." She said as she took a few steps beck, her aura slowly vanishing. "Let's start with how you three ended up in this world."
The three stared at her, and, as if reconsidering, lowered their gaze to the ground. However before the princess could repeat herself, Adagio spoke up. "We're sirens, we need to feed off of negative energy. It's a part of how we survive. Back in Equestria we went from one village to the next, using our songs to force ponies into fits of anger and rage… but eventually we got too cocky and got sent here by that damn unicorn… Starswirl." She explained, spitting the name out like poison.
Sunset's eyes widened at this. 'Starswirl the Bearded? But… that would make these girls over one-thousand years old!'
"... him and his friends dropped into this we ended up nearly starving because we had no source of food." Aria added, despite the awkward position she was in. "So we started to make our own chaos. We fed off the misery we caused others, and that's how we've been living to this day."
"Surely you could've just eaten normal food?" Came Fluttershy's voice.
This time Sonata spoke up. "Well duh, of course we could have! But those bad feelings were our best source of food. We did what we were used to doing in a strange place with no clue how to survive here. So sue us." She scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Every world has conflict. You had no need to stir up your own trouble in order to eat." Sunset retorted angrily taking a set forward. "You three were sent here over one-thousand years ago, in other words, you're all immortal yes?"
"Wait, these three are HOW OLD?!" Rarity stammered, a glint of jealousy in her eye.
"Later Rarity, later." Princess Twilight chided, allowing Sunset to continue.
"You simply could've approached someone for shelter and food, or..." Sunset suggested.
"That's what we did at first!" Adagio snapped, cutting her off. "But we couldn't do that for too long. People are cruel, and most wouldn't help us, so we went about doing what we usually. Know this Rainbooms, we feel no remorse for our actions. We did what we had to to survive, no matter how extreme it may have been. Plus, we had our pride to uphold-"
"Pride?! You would bring harm to an entire populace for pride?!" The Princess snapped as her horn reappeared and wings erupted from her back once again. The three were engulfed in her aura as two of them were yanked out of RD and AJ's grasp and rose into the air. "I can't believe this! I'm going to...to..."
"Princess stop! You've gotta calm down!" She heard her human counterpart call out, all the while the rest of her friends watched in fear. Shocked that their once quirky, nerdy (and sometimes adorable) friend had become so ruthless and cold at the drop of a hat. "Please, I may not know what happened to you on the other side of the portal... but since I am you I know this isn't what you would want to become!"
The Princess glared at her counterpart for a moment, who surprisingly didn't flinch under her gaze. However as she turned her attention back to the Dazzlings, all three of them struggling in her grasp... she felt a sudden idea come up. "No, you're right… I won't go that route… I've got a better idea..."
Out of nowhere, Rainbow broke the silence. "Uh, not to question your logic Princess, but what idea could be better than just jailing them for good?"
"I'm getting there, Rainbow. Be patient" She said as she turned back to the Dazzlings, still in her grasp, and gave them a coy smile. "You're hungry, right? You want to feed on negative emotions? Well then… how about you work for me?"
The three sirens glanced at each other, and then Adagio nervously asked. "Us, work for you?"
The Princess nodded. "Yes, you see… your talents could in fact be used for a little project I'm working on back home."
"A-and what happens if we say no?" Came Aria's nervous voice.
A smirk adorned Twilight's features once more as her hands began to glow. Immediately an aura surrounded each of the Dazzlings necklaces before they were yanked off of their necks. "Hey! Give those ba-" They all yelled as one, only to be cut off by a flare from Twilight's horn.
"It's simple, either you three work for me…." She began as the three necklaces floated into her right hand. "...or I leave you completely powerless in this world. Choose wisely."
Adagio, Sonata, and Aria shared a uneasy look, but after a silent conversation Adagio spoke for all of them. "Fine. We accept. We'll help you with this... project of yours... Just please… give us our necklaces back..." She said in an almost pleading tone.
"Oh, you'll get these back in due time..." The Princess said before pocketing their necklaces. 'After I cast a spell on these, one that can limit just how much power they'll get. Can't have these three turning traitor the second they get strong enough...' She thought to herself before turning away from the trio and walking past her friends. "Don't you worry though, I have a plan for you girls that'll benefit all of us… but first things first..." "Let's get you three back to Equestria, shall we?"
[Seven Months later…]
Back in Equestria, Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath as she stepped out onto the balcony, in the distance she watched as an armored train made its way from the Pink Tower. That particular tower had been converted into a massive Train Station that contained several separate tracks and elevated turntables for re-routing various trains to other points in Ponyville. Due to the village becoming so big, multiple stations were placed in certain areas and various trains were created for different purposes, such as ones for multiple passengers from different cities, ones for different types of cargo to be shipped out, and ones for prisoners.
Speaking of prisoners, while the Diamond Dogs had been given their own homes within the empire, their abandoned mine had been hollowed out restructured into a special prison at the base of the Purple Tower…
...a prison that Starlight was now in charge of.
As she made her way to her office she slowly went through the files that had been gathered on the new prisoners. "Let's see, we've got a group of Bull called the "Cattle Rustlers" and their leader Longhorn, a Zebra sorcerer by the name of Braze, some jewel thief named Rough Diamond…" She mumbled as she continued to read through the names… however she stopped when one particular name caught her eye; a Pegasus named Fastlane, arrested for his association with the well-known terrorist organization: The Equestrian's First.
A smirk graced her lips as she looked down at the train as it pulled into the prison station. This was gonna be… interesting.
The prisoners were lead out of the armored train, chains binding their hooves, as they were walked towards the gate they crossed a bridge that lead over what looked like a forest of black vines covered in light blue thorns, a few of the prisoners noticed them move at certain points, weather the vines themselves could move or there was something else living in there they didn't want to find out.
They reached the wall that must have been at least half a mile high, and near the top one could see dark clouds with what appeared to be spikes sticking out of them.
It was like someone took everything that was lethal and menacing about Everfree and dropped it all into this one area.
"What did we do to deserve this?" One prisoner asked with sorrow in his voice.
"Broke the law." One of the guards scoffed as he pushed him forth. "Now get moving scumbag!"
As they reached the gate, Starlight, along with several guards came out with a tray holding several multi-colored collars.
"Now be calm." Starlight said with a motherly tone with a smile. "These collars won't hurt you... too much. But if you struggle then I can't promise they won't damage your throat."
"And what the hay do those things do?!" Another voice called out, getting her attention.
Starlight smirked as she turned her attention to the prisoner, the Pegasus had a dark blue coat, a short but wild orange and red mane, and his cutie mark was a red lighting bolt that seemed to be splitting a cloud in half.
"Oh, these are just specialized "limiter collars", crafted by Princess Twilight herself in order to prevent criminals like you from getting out of control." She explained coyly.
"Oh, buck that noise!" The pegasus shouted as he flashed his wings and tried to fly off as fast as he could.
Starlight simply giggled as he struggled against the chains and immediately pulled out a staff and aimed it at him, a beam of magic shot out from the staff and hit the stallion, freezing him in place. While the stallion struggled in its magic grip, suddenly his cutie mark slowly floated off of his body and into a jar which she promptly closed. The aura holding him in place dissipated, allowing him to fall to the ground. Not giving him another chance to react she clamped one of the black collars around his neck.
"...w-what did... what did you do?!" He asked Starlight, fear now in his eyes as he looked at her.
"Oh nothing much," She chuckled as she attached the collars to remaining prisoners. "I just removed that pesky cutie mark to make sure ponies like you stay in line..." She explained as an equal sign appeared on his flank. "As long as you're here, I own you."
"And this is... and this is what that psychotic monster thinks her kingdom will be like?!" The pegasus shouted with a laugh. "She thinks everyone will just accept that what your abominable magic does is okay?!"
"As long as it keeps lawbreaking criminals like you in check, she couldn't care less. Especially when it comes to those of Equestrian's First" She stated firmly before glaring down at the Pegasus with a smug grin. "Traitors like you need to be shown that the justice system will always prevail, especially against terrorist cells like yours."
"We only want what is best for our kind! You and that monster of a 'princess' are just going to let it all fall to ruin!" He shouted at her with a glare. "You think everyone will just support you?! You're wrong! You'll only lead us to ruination!"
"Oh spare me your over-bloated egotistical nonsense!" Starlight retorted, rolling her eyes. "You bastards are nothing more than stubborn, racist murderers who refuse to go along with a world that is adjusting to change!"
"Oh and you're so much better huh? Look what you did to my cutie mark!" He snapped at her as he pointed to the equal mark. "You talk about change and that's the result?! You force me to be average?! You're the hypocrite here you bitch!"
While a few of the prisoners backed away while the guards got ready to attack, Starlight shook her head dismissively. "That's the thing, ponies like you believe that they're above the law... and this is the result." With that statement Starlight simply tapped the ground with her staff, causing a powerful shock of electricity to emit from the collar and through the stallion's body, forcing a scream of agony out of him as he fell to the ground twitching in pain. "Unlike you, we try to help Equestria advance while you simply want to live in the stone ages." She scoffed as she turned away and led the group across the bridge, on the other side of the thorny vine forest was a misty moat.
"Oh, and in case-" Before she could finish the leader of the bulls head-butted one of the guards and dived over the edge into the water.
"Haha! Go boss!" The rest of them cheered as he attempted to swim towards the shore… only to stop and start swimming into the opposite direction. At the moment everyone could've sworn they heard… singing?
"Ah yes. That should be our "moat security" right about now." Starlight said with a chuckle.
Before anyone could ask what she meant, the mist cleared to reveal a odd violet finned fish/dragon beast, with a standard horses head and forelegs, sitting on a rocky outcropping.
As Longhorn swam closer the creature started singing higher, those who saw her from afar started to see something different… a beautiful mermare with a long flowing silver mane, however every few seconds the image would immediately shifted back to the creature.
The moment Longhorn got to the outcropping the mermare gave him a kind smile and gently caressed his face... only to for her to open her mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and proceeded to let out a predatory roar that ended illusion. Longhorn barely had enough time to scream before the Siren bit into his neck and tackled him into the water...
"Enjoy your meal, Aria! Now, I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… don't try swimming through the moat to escape, otherwise the Sirens will end up having an early lunch break." Starlight continued nonchalantly as bubbles rose to the surface and the water was tinted red. "Now that that minor annoyance is out of the way, let me tell you a few things about your new home..."
The prisoners all just stared at her with full comprehension of where they stood in this prison. They were dirt… no, they were LESS than dirt. The moment they tried anything at all they would pay... dearly.
Author's Note:
And the new chapter is here!
First off, I'd like to point out that this entire chapter wouldn't be possible without the contributions of the following users for helping write parts of this chapter:
wildprince15 (Dazzlings' section)
VampDash (Starlight's section)
Anyway, be sure to comment, and please support the Tropes Page.
