Note: Alright, the story is back again! Several on both DeviantART and here has come with suggestions to what chapters they would like to see and with those, I got a decent storyline and has more or less an idea of what will happen. So, really guys, thanks for the patience.

Now this happens two weeks after the last the chapter and made after the episode "Castle Mane-ia"


**Human world**

Noticing their 'newest' member has written another letter, Marcos turns briefly away from the conversation he had with Rune. Sunny hands him the paper upon agreement and he reads to see if this other world woman has written anything that might point out she has malicious endeavor. But like the others, he does not see anything other than Sunny genuinely wants to make up for her action and simply wants to keep in contact with her own world. He does linger on the writing for a moment, scanning the text to see if there are any hidden codes in there, but no, he does not see anything and he is good at spotting what is invisible. Marcos returns the letter back to its owner, "You can send it" he tells Sunny.
She nods and walks over to the room they have made to house that elderly and blind woman. Marcos returns to Rune and the conversation they had before.

It is a bit annoying that she has to get her letter checked like this, which makes her feel very much like a prisoner from the lack of personal privacy, but Sunset can understand this team's hesitating in trusting her. She was the one who lured them into the Sirens clutches in the first place and has, for a time, been using them as her personal guard, so yeah, Sunset can see why these people want to check everything she writes or does on her own.
Stepping into the room that house that old woman, Sunset must say that she is still surprised to see an Umbra wizard, and a very old- which equals powerful- is doing the biddings of a blind old lady, it's quite amusing really.
"Good evening Mrs. DeGroot." Sunset greets the old woman, the only one besides Rhys who does not treat her as a prisoner.

Hearing the voice of the woman named Sunny lights up Mrs. Degroot's day a lot, she has begun to consider this young woman and the boy Sunny is taking care of as surrogate grandchildren. "Hello dear," She greets Sunny and requests her, "come and join me for tea. I should still have the cookies you fancy so much." and she walks over to check.

"Oh, you don't have to…" Sunset tries to argue; she isn't planning on staying for long, merely send the letter to Twilight and... ah what's the point? Mrs. DeGroot isn't really the woman who takes no for an answer and Sunset guesses she can keep the old woman company for a little while. Letting out a small sigh, Sunset tells Mrs. DeGroot in a kind yet defeated voice. "I'll come over the moment I have sent this letter, alright?"

"Of course, dear." Mrs. DeGroot replies, right that moment her hands touch the packing of the cookies, "Ah, I knew I still had some!" she exclaims in a victorious voice, does change when taking notice that there aren't that many left. "Mr. Butler, can you put the cookies on the list?" She calls to where she can hear the butler rummage around with that kettle of his.

"oOf course ma'am." Merasmus replies and writes it down the moment his brew will let him. He returns to the potion, not really paying Sunset much mind. In fact, Merasmus is sort of happy she is here as that will make Demoman's mother busy and give him some free time to brew his potion. One he sort of desperately needs as he is at his lowest in magical prowess and although he does have an alicorn and a whole team to keep him safe, Merasmus would prefer to do defend himself in case the shadow person or something else decides to attack the building.

Putting the letter into the magical mailbox, Sunset walks over to join the elderly woman in her daily tea hour. Taking a seat, Sunset grabs one of the cookies and as she takes a bite, Mrs. DeGroot asks her: "Are the others still giving you a hard time?" Sunset shrugs, for a moment forgetting that this old woman cannot see a darn thing. "Yeah," She smiles weakly, but she hadn't expected them to like her right away, this requires a lot of work but something she feels more comfortable doing than merely be around ponies that do not know of her past. "but at least they are giving me a chance." Unlike a certain alicorn… Ignis wholeheartedly believes that she is going to turn evil and lure team Vanguard into a trap, not much she can do. It seems that alicorns are just stubborn in their ways.

"Hard work should make them turn around." Mrs. DeGroot says and begins to tell yet another tale about her husband, who apparently worked ten jobs. Sunset only listens with a half ear, she has heard this story before and the only reason she humors the old woman is that Mrs. DeGroot is kind to her.

**Equestria**

Checking the magical mailbox is a daily thing for Demo. This time, the letter that has appeared inside is not for him. Instead, the letter has Twilight's name on, so he decides to bring it to her. Figures she won't check the mail for a while, being busy looking through her books in what that strange box that appeared where the destroyed tree of Harmony was before. No one really knows what's it's about, only that it looked pretty important.
Demo knocks on the door before he steps inside, he is not surprised to find every surface littered with books in the purple alicorn's search. "Ey Twilight," he calls, catching her attention. Demo levitates the letter over to her. "You got mail from our world."

Twilight takes the letter with her magic, "Thank you, Demo." He nods and leaves. She puts down the book she had been reading, in hope it would tell her why a sprout summoned a box with ten keyholes, a box that was brimming with ancient magic from the aura it gave off.
Celestia and Luna did not know anything about it, hay! Ignis did not know anything about it!
She doubts any book she owns knows about it, but Twilight checked, just to be sure.
Twilight opens the letter and reads what Sunset Shimmer has been writing to her.

'Dear Twilight,
I am glad to hear you have located and rescued the princesses, sorry I wasn't much help with this mystery box of yours.
Team Vanguard does still not trust me, but that's to be expected from my past behavior towards them. It's alright though, I want to prove myself towards them and help them against the fight towards Grey and the Sirens. Things are calm at the moment, but from how it has been these two weeks alone, it won't last for long. The army will soon attack again and the only thing keeping us all safe from these women is this world's Tree of Harmony.
Twilight, you don't happen to have a book about what these Sirens are? I know of their powers; seen them brainwash people and make others' emotions turn negative which would start fights. But how do we defeat them?
If you can find something, it would be a great help, for right now: they are our biggest problem.
Sunset Shimmer'

Twilight puts down the letter, figuring she can be of some use to the former student of Celestia instead of hitting her head against a wall about the mystery of the box. "Spike, do you know where the "encyclopedia of ancient creatures" is located?" She calls and starts searching for that particular book as well.
Her number 1 assistance arrives from upstairs not long after, as always, eager to help. Spike grabs a ladder and not long after, "Found it!" he slides down the ladder and trots over to her with the book. Twilight takes said book with her magic, scrolling through it in search for the Sirens.

"What are you looking for?" Spike asks.

"The Sirens, it was what Sunset called those three women our human friends mentioned when they got brainwashed— ah, I think this is it." Twilight gasps happy and puts the book down so Spike can look at the picture and text about these ancient foes. "The Sirens: three beautiful but dangerous creatures. They can charm ponies with their music, but to maintain this power; they need to affect negative emotions onto ponies which they would absorb to strengthen their voices." Twilight taps on a picture showing the most powerful unicorn in Equestria's history, "But Star-Swirl wasn't having it. He banished them to another world, where he would believe their magic powers would've been lost."

"Yeah, that didn't happen…" Spike remarks dryly. Sure the human world does not have as much magic their world has, but still enough for the Sirens to have survived. That does not answer the question. "But how to defeat them?"

She does not really fancy somepony talk bad about Star-Swirl, Twilight is certain the ancient unicorn thought what he did was for the best, but unfortunately, the Sirens is still a threat. She scans the book for answers, but other than the explanation of Star-Swirl got rid of them by banishing them to another world, there is no answer on how to defeat them. "The book does not have any answers, other than throwing them to another world." She muses.

"Isn't that like throwing a problem to others and hope they can fix it?"

Twilight nods slowly at Spike's remark, quietly agreeing that it is more or less like that. Who knows, maybe the next world they get hurled into has just as much magic as Equestria. They just cannot risk it.
An idea strikes Twilight, "Maybe with the use of the Elements, Sunset and this other team can defeat them. Just like our human friends and I did when Sunset Shimmer turned into that terrible she-demon!" It takes her a second to realize what she has just said and is sort of happy that Sunset wasn't around to hear this offending blunder on her part. Back to topic, Twilight Sparkle levitates paper and pen over, writing:

'Dear Sunset Shimmer.

I have read up on these illusive Sirenes. According to history,
Star-Swirl the Bearded banished them to the human world in the hope they would perish from lack of magic. Unfortunately, both you and I have seen that plan did not go as expected. However, I do not think the Sirens are at full power, due to the fact there isn't as much magic as in our world.
The Sirens powers are like this: they absorb the negative emotions from people, causing those caught in their song to be utterly under their control. It's mostly affective if their victims hold hostility towards others or if magic resides those trapped by their song. The history books do not say how to defeat them, other than banishment, but I am positive that the Elements of Harmony can be of aid. According to my partner's friends, this team Vanguard is connected to the Elements as well, so they should be able to use them in your fight against the Sirens.

Best of luck, Twilight Sparkle.'

Right as Twilight has sent this letter to Sunset Shimmer and returns to resume the search for any clues involving that mystery box, Spike burps up a letter with Celestia's seal on. Opening this letter, Twilight reads:

'My dearest Twilight, after a talk with my sister, it came to my attention that I and Luna's old castle might have the answers you seek. The castle is in ruins but if you look carefully, you may find a book that could prove helpful to your research, hidden somewhere in what's left of the castle library.'

Worth the try, and even if they don't find anything, this will be a good spot for Heavy to find a new book perhaps. Much to her joy, that big horse loves to read as much as her. Twilight heads downstairs to where her current roommates are living. Here she gets reminded that her partner is a mad scientist, for Medic is doing some sort of experiment on the wood pieces he gathered from the timberwolf, turned it into a small but very aggressive imp looking thing.

Said wood thing hisses and snarls at Medic from behind the container he has put it into and the white alicorn gets all giddy at this. "Oh it hates me so much." He laughs over to Heavy, who glances up from the book he's reading and chuckles when Medic goes back to adore/mock his current creation.

Medic notices Twilight and with a wide smile, shows her the snarling imp he has put together, "Fascinating isn't it? The parts of a timberwolf can still fully function without the rest," he puts a hoof under his chin. "though by my latest tests. These parts do seek the rest of the wolf so we may get a timberwolf invading the town at some point."

Must admit, this few parts of a timberwolf is quite interesting, but Twilight does snap away from her own scientist mode from what Medic has just told her. "If that's the case, then either you and the others have to deal with the timberwolf before it invades Ponyville, or you have to return its parts."

"Let's go for the first option." Medic replies, the look he gives the parts reveals that he really does not want to lose his test subject. "By some of the team's recent behavior, I deduce they could use a good fight." Twilight shrugs.

He smirks bemused as he still hasn't fully gotten used to that his chosen partner has become quite lax in how he handles things. "Anyway, any progress about our mystery box?"

Twilight shakes her head, "No, but Princesses Celestia suggested I should check out the Castle of the Two Sisters." and turns to Heavy, asking the large pony. "I thought if you perhaps would accompany Spike and me. There might be some books there that will catch your fancy."

It only takes a moment of debating with himself before a decision is made "Heavy go." He replies and gets up to accompany Twilight to this castle. "Like see more of pony world." Twilight smile and nods, she then turns to Josef, but Heavy doubts the doctor will leave his current pet project.

And so right he is, "You'll go ahead," Medic tells the two as he levitates the still snarling creation over to his table for further testing.

"Don't try and let it loose." Twilight Sparkle calls, mostly because she does not want to find that thing roaming around under her bed or something. She leaves along with Heavy and Spike, heading to the ruins inside the Everfree forest. They head inside and noticing that Heavy is looking very curiously around, Twilight explains; "This is the castle where we fought Nightmare Moon and found the Elements residing inside us. It's also here where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna lead Equestria at the beginning of their rule. There is so much history inside these ruins." Heavy hums, not sure if he agreed or not, only that he was listening. It takes a bit of searching, but when finding the library, Twilight Sparkle gasps loudly, her eyes brimming with joy seeing that so many of the books have survived the many, many years in these ruins. Twilight runs inside, "Wow! Look at all these ancient books!" she begins to fly up to the higher shelves, for once her flight is not awkward. "It's a veritable goldmine of information! I can't believe it!"

At the door, Spike and Heavy look somewhat deadpan at each other at Twilight's excitement of being here. Without a word, they both follow. Spike's deadpan expression did disappear when he walked into some spider web and like most would when getting that stuff all over the face, Spike begins to panic and flail around. He trips over a rock and gets knocked out for a moment. When opening his eyes, Spikes sees a pair of staring stone eyes, he yelps but when realizing it's just an alicorn stature, he calms down again. The young drake notices that Heavy is staring at him and with an embarrassing chuckle, Spike sits up and pulls the spider web off. Already gotten enough by this creepy place. "So, uh, Twilight. Uh, ready to head home?" He asks.

But Twilight is too busy having her nose in a book that she didn't hear him.

A spider with a star mark on its back crawls past the young drake and Spike is quick on his feet, running over to Heavy. Hiding behind one of the large pony's hoof. "So, um, what about we go back?" He asks, keeping a nervous eye on the many spiders crawling around. "Y-You can't read with all these spiders."

Not really seeing why Spike is scared of spiders, granted, such things weren't something Heavy ever dealt with back in Siberia but one never knows if these spiders are venous. One thing for sure though, "We not leave, has to find book." Heavy tells the little dragon, Spike starts to tremble in fear, so like when his sisters were young and easily scared, Heavy lifts Spike onto his back. "Do not worry tiny dragon. Spiders not dangerous."

"Maybe, but they are still creepy." Spike shudders but he does feels a lot safer on Heavy's back and away from the spider-infested floor. Heavy hums, before following the fawning Twilight deeper into the library

**Meanwhile, Sweet Apple Acres**

"I'm not gonna move. You move." Rainbow Dash tells Applejack, both having their bodies covered in bees, and only their eyes free, allowing the two to stare at one another.

Applejack does not budge; she's not scared of some bees, "Uh-uh. There is no way I'm moving." she tells the pegasus and is confident she is going to win this daring streak they have going.

Watching the two do this bee staring dare is Sniper, who is chilling under an apple tree, and at a table not far off is Pinkie Pie. Unlike the griffin, very excited to this 'show' and she says as much: "This is the most daring dare anypony ever dared dare another pony to dare!"

"Huh?" both Applejack and Rainbow Dash asks at the same time, unsure what their pink friend had just said. Sniper too and he lifts his head just enough so to stare confused at Pinkie.

Said pink pony rolls her eyes at what she considers simple logic, thought quickly replaced with her former excitement, "It's exciting!" she exclaims to all three. The three return to what they were doing and Pinkie pet alligator do the same by letting a bee fly into his nose.

"Uh, what are you all doing?" The owner of these bees asks; a stallion with a light brown coat and dressed in a bee protection suit. Pinkie, in her goofy and exaggerated manner explains that the two ponies with his bees are daring one another. The stallion is not really interested though, he's more interested in retrieving his bees so they can resume their honey production. "…I'm gonna need my bees back." He hesitantly tells them, whistle and the bees follow him back to the flower fields.

No longer having the bees for this dare and very annoyed by this interruption. "Now we'll never find out who the Most Daring Pony is!" Rainbow Dash exclaims to the stallion, who calls back: "Sorry about that." But does not let them keep the bees for a while longer. She snorts annoyed by this.

Shrugging it off as Applejack can see where that bee owner is coming from, she turns back to the sulking pegasus, asking, "Well, what do we do now?" blinking when Pinkie Pie is suddenly right beside them.

"Don't worry, ladies, Sniper and I have been keeping excellent score all day!" and Sniper lifts his hat, pulls out a note block and after a moment, the griffin calls to them: "You're tied."

Applejack blinks, "tied?"

Sniper nods and Pinkie exclaims in her usual joyous attitude, "Congratulations! You're both the Most Daring Pony!"

Nu-uh, that's not how titles works. "You can't be tied for the Most Daring Pony!" Rainbow Dash annoyed points out, which means they still have to keep doing this. "One more dare to settle this!"

Fine by Pinkie Pie, but it has to be without her. "I love to stay and keep keeping score, but I promised to help test the new school bell." Pinkie explains the two and after have gotten her pet alligator Guppy to bite her tail. "I get to ring it all week! I don't even have to take turns, because no one else volunteered! And after that, Scout and I will be out playing our new hide-and-seek! It's super-duper fun!" She giggles and with her silly skipping, heads out to do those two things.

"Okay, no problem." Rainbow Dash replies as she takes off the bee protection suit, turning to the pony she has made several dares with all day. "We just have to come up with another daring dare."

Applejack ponders for a minute, then her eyes go to the Everfree forest, it did take quite the beating from the dragons' fire and the monsters residing have most likely fled. But there is still one good place they can use for this final dare. She smirks back to the rainbow-haired pegasus. "I think I might have an idea of what we can do." Rainbow Dash returns the smirk.

Sniper raises a brow slightly, pondering; 'What are those two up to now?' but will accompany them as these many dares shenanigan Applejack and Rainbow Dash have been doing has been quite interesting to watch.


Chekhov's gun activated... you will know what I mean in the next chapter.

I was highly considering in letting Medic join but decided otherwise as he would just ruin "the mood," so he stays back and torm- I mean experiment on his newest creation.