Featured songs:
Excerpts from:
1. "Set it All Free" by Scarlett Johansen (from "Sing")
2. "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by Usher (feat. Pitbull)
3. "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex
4. "La, La, La" by Shakira
Full song:
5. "Welcome to the Show" from MLPEG Rainbow Rocks
6. "Start a Wave" World of Color-ONE- Cast, Cody Fry
Crescenda laughed as she and her clones circled around the others and prepared to steal more voices, when they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone strumming a loud riff on the guitar.
And then, that sound was met with the sound of a slow rhythm of stomps. Onto the stage came Myra dressed in red and black leather, a pair of cool sunglasses on her face as she began to sing into her enchanted microphone.
I've followed my heart into the fire
Got burned, got broken down by desire
I've tried, I've tried but the smoke in my eyes
Left me blurry, blurry and blind
I've picked all the pieces up off the ground
I've burned all my fingers, but that's gone now
Got the glue in my hands and stickin' to the plan
Stickin' to the plan that says
I can do anything at all
I can do anything at all
Remix turned the volume up, and so did Myra. And sure enough, the enchanted mics definitely amplified her power along with the Force she placed into it. Crescenda's clones were thrown off a bit by the loud rock music.
This is my kiss goodbye
You can stand alone and watch me fly
'Cause nothing's keeping me down
Gonna let it all up
Come on and say right now, right now, right now
This is my big hello
'Cause I'm here and never letting go
I can finally see, it's not just a dream
When you set it all free, all free, all free
You set it all free (ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho, ho, ho-ho-ho-ho)
Ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho, ho, ho-ho-ho-ho
Ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho, ho, ho-ho-ho-ho
"Another powerful voice, I see." Crescenda smirked. "Let's see just how powerful you are without a voice."
Crescenda played her flute again, but Myra played louder, making it impossible to hear the flute music even if her ears weren't covered already.
I was a girl caught under your thumb
But my stars gonna shine brighter than your sun
And I will reach so high, shoot so far
Gonna hit, gonna hit, hit every target
Make it count this time
I will make it count this time
This is my kiss goodbye
You can stand alone and watch me fly
'Cause nothing's keepin' me down
I'm gonna let it all up
Come on and say right now, right now, right now
This is my big hello
'Cause I'm here and never letting go
I can finally see, it's not just a dream
When you set it all free, all free, all free
You set it all free (ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho, ho, ho-ho-ho-ho)
You set it all free (ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho, ho, ho-ho-ho-ho)
You set it all free (ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-ho, ho, ho-ho-ho-ho)
Myra kept on playing louder and louder, but Crescenda had yet another trick up her sleeve thanks to a power boost from Mariverde.
Crescenda played her flute again, and this time, some kind of purple light appeared and then headed right for Myra.
"Myra!" Mace exclaimed.
The Jedi Master jumped in and pushed his daughter out of the way, only for the light to hit him instead.
"Dad!" Myra cried as she saw her father on the ground.
Myra took a look at her father and rushed over to him right away. So did Mariposa, being a nurse.
"Is he alright?" Myra asked.
"He's alive, I know that." Mariposa confirmed after checking Mace's pulse.
Mace groaned as he started to wake up, seeming alright.
"Dad! Are you okay?!"
"I...I think so." Mace said.
"What was that hex Crescenda cast?"
"I'm not sure." Mariposa said, checking Mace again and helping him up. "Do you feel strange at all, Master Windu?"
"I don't think so."
Suddenly, that was when a strong wind started to blow, and everything started to blow all around until the wind literally blew the roof off the stadium and a tornado started to form, picking up everyone and everything in its path.
Everyone started screaming and held onto something as they were blown all around.
Every Jedi started using the Force to keep anyone from flying away, and Gabby tried using her wind magic to tame to breeze, but no avail.
"My wind magic's not working!" Gabby said.
Round n' Round tried casting a spell on the tornado, but her magic didn't do anything either.
"Neither is mine!" said the unicorn.
"Why is this happening?!"
"I don't remember Crescenda's profile saying anything about this." Garrett said, holding onto Mona.
But Crescenda wasn't stopping with just Mace. She played her flute again, and started making more purple light as everyone began jumping in with musical instruments and bursting into song to fight Crescenda and her clones. And she started to throw more of those purple balls of light, and one of them hit Comedia.
Fortunately, the tornado eventually let go of the stage everyone was on. Unfortunately, it threw them very roughly. However, Gabby managed to make a huge slew of bubbles, and Comedia blew up a ton of balloons, which softened the landing with a bunch of pops.
"Everyone alright?" Gabby called out.
Everyone said they were fine, though shaken up. And they saw Crescenda and her clones had all scattered. There were at least fifty clones, from as far as anyone could tell with how quickly they all moved.
"We've got a bigger problem than a tornado." Kara said.
Kara then quickly landed on stage, her clava detector glowing.
"Uh oh!" Peppermint said. "Don't tell me-"
Comedia whinned, "Mariverde clavatized Crescenda." That, Zipp translated.
"So, she gave her the power to start tornadoes?"
"But then why did she try to hit Myra?" Lamenta pointed out.
"That's what I'd like to know." Myra said. "If she wanted to start a storm, why hit me or my dad? Neither of us have weather magic, or any magic really."
But there was no time to debate, as Crescenda's clones soon arrived again. Well, three of them anyway.
"It appears Crescenda is trying to confuse us." Obi-Wan said. "If she is using clones, then we will just need to destroy the original's shell in order to return everyone's voices."
"Remix, do you think you can distract the ones here long enough to destroy their shells?" Kara asked.
"Can do, Princess." Remix saluted.
While Anakin, Carmine, and Wrecker went backstage, everyone else scattered to go after the rest of Crescenda's clones or stayed to aid in fighting the ones that remained at the stage.
Remix got to quickly spinning the turntables and playing a new tune. And in came Citrus borrowing one of Remix's performance outfits and sunglasses, in part because he figured it would fit with the battle, but also because he figured since Magenta was a music-corn, and she liked stallions who could dance (according to her brother) this may be the opportunity he'd been seeking to get her to notice him.
Citrus:
So we back in the club
With our bodies rockin' from side to side
Side, side to side, uh
Thank God the week is done
I feel like a zombie gone back to life
Back, back to life
Hands up, uh
Yeah, suddenly we all got our hands up, uh
No control of my body
Ain't I seen you before?
I think I remember those eyes, eyes, eyes
Eyes, eye-eyes
Citrus proved to have a surprisingly amazing and confident-sounding singing voice for such a calm horse. Mona watched from the sidelines as he looked so confident in his song. Despite still getting acquainted with everyone, Mona had so far gotten to know Citrus as one of the least talkative of the bunch.
'Cause baby, tonight
The DJ got us falling in love again (love again)
Yeah baby, tonight
The DJ got us falling in love again (l-love again-gain)
So dance, dance like it's the last, last
Night of your life, life, gon' get you right
'Cause baby, tonight
The DJ got us falling in love again (l-love again-gain)
And the three clones did come to attack, and Magenta and Yoda swooped in and managed to grab all three clones' shells, which they threw onto the stage, Yoda destroying one with his lightsaber, Magenta and Citrus destroying the other two by stomping on them with their hooves. And when they did, singing golden balls of light floated out and started to fly away, and the clones disappeared in a poof of red smoke.
"Did you see that?" Magenta asked no one in particular.
"See, I did."
Remix quickly activated his headset.
"Everyone, destroy the shells, and you destroy Crescenda's clones."
Everyone got this message and proceeded to pursue Crescenda and her clones.
"What about when we have to face the original?" Goldie asked.
"That's where those of you still here come in," said Remix. "Get ready to make your voices heard. That goes for everyone."
Mona wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that.
In all the time she'd been living with her family and new friends at the palace, Mona still wasn't big on talking. If there was one thing Mariverde had a scarily strange talent for, it was silencing anyone and everyone. Even many of her cronies were terrified of her; many of them couldn't even close their eyes at night because they were afraid that she would be hiding under their cots or be right on the other side of any door they walked through. Mona may have been trapped in the same cell all her life with a bathroom being the only other room she went into, but she still felt worried a lot of the time that her mother would pop out at any given moment.
Any time Mona would dare to say one word, Mariverde would do one of three things:
1. Yell at her.
2. Slap her in the mouth.
3. Or, cast a spell that threw her into the wall or worse.
It was a miracle the child survived this long. Most of the time, she even felt afraid to express herself at her new home... unless she was with Hunter. To her, he was like a big teddy bear, or a knight in shining armor.
Ahsoka rode Fiesta as she, the Cabello siblings and their riders (except Wrecker) proceeded to chase after a few more clones. There had to be at least fifteen of them, from what this group could see.
The sirens started to sing a powerful sonar wave and swim through the air surrounding the horses and their riders, trying to distract them.
"Ya know, Crosshair." Maybelle said. "I'm thinkin' these ladies wanna dance."
"Then let's show them a real hoedown." Crosshair said.
And Maybelle whinnied to her brothers to start a little square dancing session with the clones.
Pinto:
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?
The country horses started to gallop around to the beat, Fiesta joining in, and their riders too.
Banjo:
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?
Everyone but Crosshair, who was readying his weapon, approached the sirens and began to grab and swing their partners round n' round and spin around, randomly switching partners to confuse the enemy.
Pinto:
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?
"Yeehaw!" Fiesta whooped.
Banjo:
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?
One by one, everyone started to grab at the sirens' shells and shatter them, or set them at just the right angle for Crosshair to shoot the shells to pieces, making the magic clones disappear. But soon, they had to move even faster to capture the sirens before they could escape.
Maybelle:
He came to town like a midwinter storm
He rode through the fields, so handsome and strong
His eyes was his tools and his smile was his gun
But all he had come for was having some fun
Pinto:
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?
When the five remaining sirens sang another sonar wave to try and distract the group, Fiesta looked at Ahsoka and decided to burst into a sonar wave of their own with the magic microphones they wore.
Fiesta & Ahsoka:
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
Ahsoka:
I dare you
Fiesta:
Feel how the planet, become one
Beats like a drum to the same rhythm
Hear the whistle, kick the ball
The entire world soars like an eagle
In Rio we play, like we dance
Only today there's no tomorrow
Leave all behind, in this place
There's no space for fear or sorrow
Both:
Is it true that you want it?
Then act like you mean it
With everyone watching
It's truth or dare, can you feel it?
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
While the sirens were thrown against some walls of the buildings of the city they'd chased the sirens into, Crosshair shot each of their shells, making each of them unleash a stolen voice and make the siren clones vanish.
"That's enough lip out of those girls." Echo said.
"Ya think the voices are gonna return to their owners?" Banjo asked.
"We can only hope." Ahsoka said. "From what I know about voices, they'll find a way to be heard from the right vessels."
"What in tarnation is that supposed to mean?" Maybelle asked.
"No idea. I think Susy said it was something a teacher she had said."
Obi-Wan and Peppermint accompanied Hunter, Indira, Padme, and Sapphire as they pursued a few more clones, but also found themselves quickly being hit by more of those purple balls of light Crescenda had made.
"More of those purple lights!" Sapphire said, shaking herself. "Padme, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. But what were those things?"
"I still have no clue." Peppermint said. "But if they were meant to make tornadoes-"
Indira suddenly whinnied, and the sound of chains rattling came from below her, and she looked down and so did Hunter. Everyone was shocked to see Indira was chained at her legs, and suddenly she was all dressed in a fancy red dress and veil Hunter couldn't believe he was seeing. And then, the whole ground was suddenly filled with rotting fish, which had Hunter holding his very sensitive nose.
"Agh!" Hunter groaned. "The stench!"
Peppermint suddenly jumped when she caught a glimpse of Sapphire.
"What? What's wrong?" Sapphire said.
"Uh... I don't think you'll want to be looking in the mirror for a while." Peppermint said.
But that only made Sapphire want a mirror more. And she took one Padme had in her pocket and whinnied a shriek when she saw her face was covered in red bumps and her hair looked like she'd been hit by lightning or something.
"No! I'm hideous!" Sapphire cried.
"It's not that bad, Sapphire." Padme said, trying to calm her husband's horse.
"Easy for you to say!" said Sapphire, looking at Padme. "Why don't you look hideous?"
Suddenly...
"AHHH!"
Obi-Wan's scream echoed as Peppermint suddenly realized her rider was no longer on her back.
"Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan?!" Peppermint looked around, but didn't see him anywhere. "OBI-WAN, where are you?!"
And then, when Peppermint, Sapphire, and Padme looked up... they were all flabbergasted by the sight.
The children were all told to run and get to safety while the grownups kept the clones distracted.
With the Marehearts pursuing the sirens, Boba, Lamenta, and Gabby rode on Comedia and/or Emeraldi, while Mona hitched a ride with Omega and Estrella. Strawberry carried Kade on her back, and Diamond simply followed along.
"How are we supposed to know which of the sirens is the original?" Mona asked.
"Only one of them had Crescenda's flute." Omega said. "We find the one with the flute, we find the mariclava."
"And our voices," whinnied Emeraldi, which Buttercup translated.
"Only question is where did all the other clones go?" Boba wondered out loud.
Suddenly, the loud sound of a foghorn sounded. That sound immediately had Comedia frozen, and her ears fell back.
"Did anyone else just hear a foghorn?" Lamenta asked.
"I did." Gabby said.
Omega and Boba only heard that same sound one other time before. The twins looked at each other with the same thought.
"You don't think-" Omega said.
And when everyone slowly turned and looked in the same direction, they saw...
A giant tripod from War of the Worlds!
Comedia whinnied in a panic and immediately started to run away, so did the other horses. However, a tentacle quickly lowered down, and snatched Comedia, and Gabby with her! The human girl screamed as she was carried up high.
"Gabby!" Boba exclaimed. "Emeraldi! Fly!"
The horses quickly started flying before the tentacles could grab them too, so did Mona, who quickly flashed her wings when the tentacle tried to get her, only to freeze seemingly in confusion as she did.
The kids flew to where they'd seen the baskets when they saw this tripod in the realm of dreams, and sure enough, they were in the same place, and Comedia and Gabby were trapped in the basket! But they weren't the only ones in there. Obi-Wan, Peppermint, and Sapphire too... and...
"Mom!/Aunt Padme!" The twins and Lamenta exclaimed.
And it wasn't just one basket either. On the other side, a few Jedi younglings and civilians were in that one, all of them looking terrified.
Emeraldi and Boba all grabbed onto the bars or tried kicking them with all their might, but they wouldn't budge.
"How is this possible?" Goldie said, trying to pull the bars apart too, only for them to prove too strong for her to move. "This was only in a nightmare, right?"
"Are we in the realm of dreams again?" Boba said. Then he felt someone pinch his arm. "Ouch!"
"Nope. We're all awake." Omega, the one who'd pinched Boba, said. She tried heating up the bars to melt them, but only succeeded in burning Obi-Wan's shoulder by accident. "Sorry!"
Comedia shut her eyes and concentrated like she had in her dream, but nothing happened to the tripod or anything else. It didn't look like she would be able to turn it into a big pile of spaghetti like last time. And to make matters worse, the tentacle came into the basket... except, something looked different about it. Padme quickly got over Gabby to protect her, and the tentacle got her!
"MOM!" Padme's children exclaimed.
But the tentacle didn't wrap around Padme like in Comedia's dream. Instead, it deployed what looked like one of those breathing masks from a hospital with a tube of some kind, and it forced itself over Padme's mouth and sucked like a vacuum cleaner until she was nearly out of breath. And the same thing happened to one of the kids in the other basket.
"Mommy! Are you okay?!" Gabby said.
Padme tried to say she was okay... only to find she couldn't talk!
"Wait a minute!" Strawberry said. "I've seen this movie before. But... this tripod didn't try to eat Padme."
"It just took her voice!" Boba said.
"Do you think Crescenda gained some new power to make new ways of taking people's voices?" Goldie suggested.
"It's possible." Obi-Wan said, and then the tentacle came down again, this time Sapphire bit the tentacle and wrestled with it to distract it while the cage was open above.
"Comedia! Get Gabby and whoever else you can carry out of here!"
Comedia quickly got Padme and Gabby onto her back and flew out of the basket while Obi-Wan gave the children new orders.
He told them they needed to find Anakin and Carmine, and Wrecker, then lure Crescenda to them somehow.
"But what about you guys?" said Mona.
"We'll be fine," said Sapphire. "Just go! Hurry!"
So, the kids quickly split up to go and look for the assigned helpers.
Meanwhile, Carmine, though he had no voice, could still fight through playing music on a guitar, and he rocked out to distract more of the sirens while Harmony used her conducting magic to make more instruments attack and destroy many of the shells, releasing many stolen voices, but none of them were Carmine's, and there were still so many of them out there!
"There's too many of them!" Harmony said.
Tech blasted another siren, and Teatra stomped another shell, releasing another voice that sounded awfully familiar.
Just then, Emeraldi and Boba flew in, and the glowing orb of magic flew around Emeraldi, before the green pegasus vocalized a pretty tune.
"What just happened?" Boba asked.
"I don't know, but-" Emeraldi said... quickly pausing with a gasp. "My voice! It's back! I can talk again!"
"What's going on?" Harmony asked.
Boba and Emeraldi explained to Harmony and Carmine that somehow Crescenda brought out the tripod from Comedia's nightmare into the real world, and was using it to steal people's voices by capturing them in a basket, but instead of sucking the entire person in, the tentacle just took their voices. But they had no knowledge of what Crescenda would do with them afterwards, and they didn't want to wait to find out.
Comedia fled as quickly as she could to get away from the tripod. How it managed to follow her into the real world, she had no idea. She was confused. Hadn't that thing only been something from her nightmares? And Nefari had been taken back to jail, hadn't she? So... how was this tripod here again?
Comedia couldn't explain this literal living nightmare, but she did know one thing: she had to protect her family and her friends from this monster at any cost. If there was one thing she knew was no joke, it was that a princess was more than a pretty face; she was a fighter for the people she led and loved. But, how exactly should she go about beating this beast? But then, Comedia remembered she hadn't forgotten anything from the movie; it was trapped in her subconscious (probably forever), including how they were defeated. There was only one problem: she didn't have any grenades or any other kind of explosives. But... she did have vast knowledge of chemistry, which came in handy with creating some of her stickier pranks, and making sure nothing exploded or caught fire.
Comedia set Gabby down and tapped her hoof a few times to tell her to get to work with the others.
"What are you gonna do?" Gabby asked.
Comedia whinnied as if to say, "You'll see."
Crescenda continued to capture people and steal their voices from inside the tripod she was controlling, and she was capturing more and more people by the minute, and suddenly she had a more permanent method in mind to steal the voices.
"Alright, my dears. Time to make sure no one takes away my voices." Crescenda said in Fiesta's voice.
People started to panic as a tentacle came down again, this time the one originally from the movie, and it quickly wrapped around one of the Jedi younglings whose voice Crescenda hadn't yet stolen.
"HELP!" Ganodi screamed as she grabbed onto the bars of the cage.
The tentacle was too strong though, but Qui-Gon jumped in and hugged Ganodi just before she couldn't hold on anymore while Fiesta bit the tentacle, making the beast let go of the child.
Ganodi breathed heavily as Qui-Gon fell back, still hugging her to calm her down.
"I've got you." Qui-Gon soothed the frightened rodian girl.
"How is this even possible?" said Master Mundi. "This was only in a dream before."
"Well, I'm pretty sure none of us are sleeping!" Zipp said, amid the basket lowering again, everyone in a panic again as the tentacle tried to grab Mariposa this time... until Garrett jumped in like a wild animal and grabbed the tentacle with his jaws and wrestled it like a dog mangling a chew toy. The others were shocked by this, but the important thing was the tentacle went back up like a scared kitten just barely escaping a rabid dog, at least for now.
"Uh, since when can you...?" Qui-Gon said.
"Long story for later." Garrett said.
"In the meantime..." Mace tried to use his lightsaber to break out of the cage, only to find that this cage couldn't be cut by it, much like how Master Mundi's lightsaber didn't affect it in the realm of dreams. "Now I wish I'd asked Myra earlier how this thing was defeated in that movie."
"Assuming we survive this, Comedia is no longer allowed scary movies." Ki-Adi said. For the moment, he just hoped this thing didn't capture his daughter the way it did in the dream realm, seeing as it didn't appear he would wake up in his bed at the last moment before this thing grabbed him (the very thing Comedia said she was afraid of).
That was when everyone could hear the sound of a loud whinny, and something green started to fly in and go around the tripod. Master Koth looked out to see it was Comedia. And she was making faces at the tripod, blowing raspberries and taunting it in any way she could in her own silly way. She did this for a while and then landed on the roof of a building where the tripod could see her and let out a loud whinny to get its attention.
"What is she doing?!" Ki-Adi said.
The tripod's light got brighter as it got closer and closer to Comedia, and then it let out a different tentacle: the one used for abducting. And it grabbed Comedia, who didn't even scream this time, though she did look frightened for a bit. But she gulped and let it carry her into the basket anyway.
"Comedia, what are you doing?" Ki-Adi said.
Comedia whinnied, which Zipp translated.
"She says she knows how to defeat this thing!" Zipp said.
"How was it defeated?" Mace asked.
"It has to be blown up from the inside," whinnied Comedia, looking up at where the tentacle came from and imitating an explosion. The others didn't need a translation to know what Comedia meant this time.
"That would be great," said Hunter. "Except we don't have any explosives."
Comedia then reached into her satchel and held what looked like a homemade grenade made out of various pranking materials and smelled like coffee grounds in her mouth.
"Where did you get that?" Ki-Adi said, quickly taking the grenade.
"I made it myself with a few extra materials and a little chemistry." Comedia whinnied, and Zipp translated.
"Okay, and how exactly do you plan to get that on inside?" Hunter said.
Comedia gave a bit of a hesitant look that made Ki-Adi nervous. Inconveniently, that was also when the basket lowered again, and out came the tentacle to grab someone else. Of course, Ki-Adi attempted to protect Comedia, but she pushed him away and gave him a look that said, "Stay there!"
And the tentacle wrapped around Comedia (she made sure of that)! If Master Mundi didn't know how Comedia felt when she had this nightmare, he definitely understood it now!
Quickly, just as the tripod was ready to devour Comedia, Ki-Adi quickly wrapped his arms around her middle and began to pull as hard as the Force would let him, and others quickly jumped in to help and all pulled together really hard. At the count of three, three times, they pulled, and pulled until finally Comedia was out, but she wasn't empty-mouthed.
There was a metal ring in her mouth of some kind that she spit into her father's hand. He immediately knew what that meant.
"Everybody down!" Ki-Adi exclaimed. And everyone ducked as the tripod's body began to blow up from the inside, and the whole thing started to move more slowly like it was on a serious hangover or something, and the two baskets started to fall off, sending everyone plummeting to the ground... until Comedia's emotions got super strong, and her horn let out a burst of magic that conjured a giant pile of rubber duckies that softened the blow. And now that they were finally staying still, Qui-Gon managed to use his super strength to pull the bars apart and make an opening big enough for everyone to climb out of both cages.
"That was either the bravest or craziest thing you've ever done." Ki-Adi said.
Comedia shrugged her wings.
Ki-Adi had a sense that if Comedia could speak right now, she'd say, "I'm a silly-corn, crazy's what I do."
And when the tripod hit the ground, many voices burst out of the explosion and began returning to a few of the victims... including...
Ah-Ah-Aahh
Comedia felt herself sing.
"Comedia, did you just-?" Ki-Adi gasped.
"Sing?" Comedia finished with wide eyes. And she suddenly smiled hugely. "My voice is back! I can talk again!"
Except, there were still many clones of Crescenda left flying around, and they all seemed to be heading in the same direction this time.
"Where are they going?" Comedia wondered out loud.
"I have a hunch," said Qui-Gon.
Meanwhile, back at the scene of a familiar stage, Crescenda and her clones came and saw who they thought was Count Crescendo on stage.
"Hello, Crescenda." said "Crescendo" "I take it you want my voice?"
"Hmm... you are making this surprisingly easy."
"Not quite. I have a little proposal for you. Since you're so sure you know best how to use a voice, how about a little contest? You can have my voice and duel in a battle of your voices vs a new band of voices you haven't heard. They win, you return all the voices you stole. You win, you get their voices and mine."
Crescenda thought at first that Crescendo was crazy, but she liked the idea of the chance to humiliate Count Crescendo and literally leace everyone speechless.
"Very well then. I accept your challenge."
So, Crescenda worked her magic and took Crescendo's voice, and gathered her clones for another musical number unlike any they'd done before.
Sirens:
Ah, ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah
Ah (ah-ah-ah-ah)
Ah-ah-ah (ah-ah-ah-ah)
Welcome to the show (ah-ah-ah-ah)
We're here to let you know (ah-ah-ah-ah)
Our time is now (ah-ah-ah-ah)
Your time is running out (ah-ah-ah)
Ah-ha, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ha, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
The sirens made their power stronger and prepared to hypnotize whoever they could, and cheat their way to the top by enslaving more victims.
Feel the wave of sound as it crashes down
You can't turn away
We'll make you wanna stay
We will be adored
Tell us that you want us
We won't be ignored
It's time for our reward
Now, you need us
Come and heed us
Nothing can stop us now
Except, there then came a beat and song from the last people Crescenda expected. The Skywalker-Jinn children, Emeraldi, and Goldie. Mona continued just to watch from the sidelines. She felt sure the others could handle it fine without her; they'd defeated lots of villains before they ever met her, so why should now be any different, she figured.
Kids:
Oh-oh, whoa-oh
I've got the music in me
Oh-oh, whoa-oh
Goldie:
Don't need to hear a crowd cheering out my name
I didn't come here seeking infamy or fame
As the band sang their hearts out so on key and together, colorful streaks started to glow and appear in each kid's hair. Gabby got a pink one, Lamenta purple, Omega got orange and yellow, and Boba's blue streaks got brighter. Goldie even got a gold streak in her hair.
All:
The one and only thing that I am here to bring
Is music, is the music
Is the music in my soul
Gonna break out (out)
Set myself free, yeah
Let it all go (go)
Just let it be, yeah
Find the music in your heart (ah)
Let the music make you start (ah)
To set yourself apart
"So, these children think they have what it takes to beat me, do they?" Crescenda smirked. "Let's see how they do when they meet my big finish."
Sirens:
What we have in store? (Ah)
All we want and more (ah)
We will break on through (ah)
Now, it's time to finish you
The sirens made themselves even bigger and swam through the air. But the kids continued to play their instruments and/or sing. But Crescenda vocalized really loudly with all the different voices, throwing them off... until Crescenda prepared to use Crescendo's voice.
Crescenda vocalized the last voice she'd stolen, except, she was confused. This voice didn't sound on key at all. It sounded way off, like the user had been gargling nails and screaming from their throat, and it only sounded worse the more she used it. That just made the kids and the siren clones cover their ears (despite that the kids had headsets on their ears already).
But, Crescenda kept trying anyway. The number of good voices she had still was enough for her to throw the kids off some to the point it was too loud to even play their instruments. Crescenda and her clones laughed at the band as they lay fallen on the floor and it seemed she won the battle. But the kids started to pick themselves up. Unfortunately, it didn't look like their voices alone would be enough. They needed more power and they needed it now! Remix called the others for backup, but couldn't be sure if they would arrive in time. They needed to buy some time! But how?
Suddenly, Emeraldi had an idea. She looked at Mona, the only one who wasn't singing.
"Mona, we need you." Emeraldi said.
Mona looked confused though and surprised.
"Me? But, I'm not a performer. I can barely even talk to people, how can I sing? I don't even know if I'm any good."
"Every voice matters, Mona. No matter what your mom said before. Look, I know what it's like to have a mother who doesn't appreciate anything you do, and I lost so much I can never get back trying to make her happy, and worse, I let my sister take the fall for more, all by being silent when I should've spoken up and stood up for myself. A wise mare once told me that so much worse can come from staying silent when things get bad than if you speak up. Your voice has power. It's the unleashing of your inner strength. Use it."
Mona looked at her headset, and turned the microphone on. She looked a little scared at first. But, she thought about what Emeraldi just said and decided to sing something. At first, she didn't know what, so she sang the first thing that came to mind.
Mona:
You're never gonna bring me down
You're never gonna break this part of me
My friends are here to bring me 'round.
Not singing just for popularity
Mona & Emeraldi:
We're here to let you know
That we won't let it go
Our music is a bomb and it's about to blow
And you can try to fight
But we have got the light of friendship on our side
Soon, the kids managed to sing a song strong enough to break everyone out of the trance.
All:
Got the music in our hearts
We're here to blow this thing apart
And together, we will never be afraid of the dark
Here to sing our song out loud
Get you dancing with the crowd
As the music of our friendship survives, survives
Remix turned up the speakers and sent out a message.
"EVERYONE OUT THERE! SING ALONG!"
And soon, everyone with a voice joined in on the song, making the spell even more powerful.
Got the music in our hearts
We're here to blow this thing apart
And together, we will never be afraid of the dark
Here to sing our song out loud
Get you dancing with the crowd
As the music of our friendship survives, survives, survives
And soon, to Crescenda's horror, every Enchanted around her, had his or her power grow, and they combined their powers and cast a very powerful spell that not only shattered all the voice holding shells, but broke Crescenda's flute, releasing and removing the curse from the mariclava, and sending every voice flying.
The sound of many voices filled the air, all of them soon returning to their rightful places... including...
Ah-Ah-Aaaaaahhhhhh!
Carmine froze as he felt a sensation in his throat that he hadn't felt in days.
"Uncle Carmine?" Omega said, breaking the silence.
"Omega." Carmine said, delighted to hear his voice again. "I... I spoke. I spoke! My voice is back!"
Carmine was so ecstatic to have his voice back and he spun each of the kids around in a hug.
Anakin and Wrecker also felt the same sensation as Carmine moments later.
"When did Crescenda have time to take Daddy and Wrecker's voices?" Gabby asked no one in particular.
Of course, Crescenda was apprehended and taken into custody once the authorities arrived.
"What the heck was that that just happened?" Carousella said. "I thought Crescenda only stole voices that sang on key."
"She does," said Anakin, relieved that he could finally take off the itchy wig. "That was where we found an advantage."
Earlier in the attack...
Carmine looked again into his book about sirens to see if there might be a weakness they could use to beat Crescenda, and then he found something.
Carmine showed Anakin and Wrecker a spell he discovered that could swap voices similarly to a body switching spell. Not only that, but sirens' magic only functioned perfectly when they sang on key. One wrong note, and it bungled the whole spell, albeit temporarily. And so far, every voice Crescenda had stolen only came from good singers. If they could trick Crescenda into stealing a voice that couldn't sing well, it would temporarily weaken her, hopefully enough to defeat her.
And, Carmine remembered hearing Wrecker trying to sing a Count Crescendo song when the family had a karaoke night. Wrecker needed some serious singing lessons, that being proven as nearly everyone covered their ears until he stopped singing.
"Hey!" Wrecker said, offended.
"We'll worry about your singing skills later," said Anakin. "Right now, your voice may be our best bet at defeating Crescenda."
So, Carmine performed the spell on Anakin and Wrecker. The plan was for Anakin to go out there dressed like Count Crescendo, with Wrecker's voice in place of his own, with the voice changing microphone disguising the decoy voice to fool Crescenda into stealing Wrecker's currently tone-deaf voice.
Present time...
"Crescenda thought she could use our own voices against us," said Carmine. "But if there's one thing I've learned in all my years in music, it's that there's more than one way to make ourselves heard."
"I couldn't have said it better myself," said Susy, kissing her son's cheek.
"Mom!" Carmine whined, amid others laughing at the sight of the secret pop star being babied by his adoptive mother.
Emeraldi nuzzled Mona and said, "I told you you could do it."
Mona scratched her head, blushing.
"All I did was sing." she shrugged.
"No, it was more than that. You made your voice heard. You're very young, Mona, and have a lot of growing to do. Mariverde tried to break you for who knows how long, but you just proved you're a lot stronger than even you know. Just your one added voice gave just enough power to strengthen the band at their weakest, and then so many others joined in. You've got potential."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. I may have what some call an angelic singing voice, but even I've felt doubtful about speaking my mind at times. Now, I've learned just how important it is to speak up, and now you have to learn that too."
Suddenly, that was when Emeraldi's forehead started to sparkle. None of the Enchanteds around there were casting any spells. That could only mean one thing.
Suddenly, Emeraldi's appearance began to change. On her forehead appeared a small emerald in the center of gold lines that looked like circular sound waves, and sparkling gold streaks appeared in her mane and her tail too. Everyone was astonished! It appeared Emeraldi just marked her spirit.
"Emeraldi! You're sparkly!" Comedia said, flying near her sister to get a better view of how she sparkled.
But why Emeraldi only marked her spirit now, both she and Comedia began to wonder. Emeraldi had always been naturally good at a lot of things. Grace, beauty, and attracting stallions. But the one thing she'd never been able to do all her life was this: think for herself and make herself heard. The first time she'd done it, it was out of anger towards an abusive rider. But this time, she made not just herself heard, but got another child who'd been afraid to speak up to do so herself and uncover her own inner strength. It might have been that this girl had something in common with Emeraldi: both girls grew up with mothers who were unappreciative, abusive, and overall silenced their children, which in turn prevented them from growing, denied them both a proper childhood, and made discovering their true talents a bigger challenge than it needed to be.
Perhaps this was Emeraldi's true talent and her calling: inspiring people to make their voices heard, and see it as a natural superpower if used properly rather than something to fear.
Both the Evermare sisters looked proud of each other in that moment too. Both had found that they were destined for more than their parents ever would've cared to believe. Neither was meant to be some posh princess to take over a kingdom as a snotty queen who cared more about outer beauty than inner. Both were meant to make a difference, much like their cousins. Comedia to make people laugh, and Emeraldi to help quiet folks speak their minds and shout it for the whole galaxy to hear.
Speaking of voices. There was still the matter of what Crescenda broke when she invaded the concert.
A few spells and some more teamwork later, people were once again excited for the charity concert and the grand finale they were promised from Count Crescendo. And out came Count Crescendo, in perhaps his most colorful getup yet. His suit was blue like the ocean, but this time for his hair, it was colored every color of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet with a bit of magenta.
"Hello, people of the Galaxy!" Crescendo called. "Are you ready for the grand finale?!"
The crowd cheered louder than ever before.
"That's what I like to hear." smiled Crescendo. "Before we begin the song though, I'd like to share an important message. Recently, we were all attacked by someone who wanted to silence all of us and use our own voices as a weapon against everyone else. But in the end we came out stronger. Sadly, it doesn't take a magic spell for someone to silence another. Only fear, anger, and hate. I, myself have been exposed to such people too often to count. But no one can take your voice from you, especially when you know why you have to say what you want to say. One voice has the power to make waves, like a single drop of water has the power to make ripples. And that ripple can turn into waves. So, please join me in making some waves in this new song called Start a Wave."
Beautiful blue lights filled the stage as Crescendo began to sing.
Crescendo:
Maybe it's a smile on the subway
Maybe it's a whisper in the dark
Or maybe it's a hug that makes the heart ache
There's a million different ways that it can start
But someone has to start
Start the motion
Throw the stone
Stir the ocean
Be the hand that reaches out for the unknown
Sometimes just one drop is all it takes
See the ripples, watch them turn the waves
Right before your eyes
You never know who it might touch
And soon, it might be all of us
Made it as a world that you can change
So start a wave
(Oh...)
Soon, Crescendo wasn't alone in his song.
Emeraldi:
It doesn't have to be some epic gesture
Most simple acts of kindness never are
Anakin:
But soon, you might be on a grand adventure
Tracing out a path among the stars
Comedia:
Will you be the one to start?
Gabby and Qui-Gon:
Start the motion
Goldie:
Stand alone
Boba & Omega:
Stir the ocean
Padme and Myra:
Be the hand that reaches out for the unknown
Everyone:
Sometimes just one drop is all it takes
(Caroline: One drop is all it takes)
See the ripples, watch them turn the waves
Right before your eyes
You never know who it might touch
And soon, it might be all of us
Made it as a world that you can change
So start a wave
But someone has to start it
Yeah, someone has to start it
Will you be the one to start it?
Oh, will you be the one to start it?
The one to start it all?
Sometimes just one drop is all it takes
(One drop is all it takes)
See the ripples, watch them turn the waves
Garrett:
Right before your eyes
One becomes one-hundred then
A hundred, thousand journeys then
An ocean's just a drop when it begins
And then the big finish!
Mona:
But someone has to start it
Made it as a world that you can change
So start a wave!
Start a wave!
Crescendo lifted Mona up onto his shoulder so everyone could see her.
The crowd roared with applause as the song concluded.
The concert might have had an interruption that left it postponed, but it was nevertheless a huge success. Not only did the royals raise more than enough money to build the new school with a science lab, state of the art classrooms and sports equipment, and buy school supplies for the orphans, but there were at least two more friends they knew who learned to make their voices heard.
And the best part... Emeraldi had a new realization: she'd been wanting to find a person of her own for a long time. And in that moment when she'd helped Mona make her voice heard, something in her heart screamed that it looked like she already did, and she didn't even need the Equinary's help to find her child! But, just in case, she consulted her cousin.
"I couldn't have found a better match myself," smiled Queen Reigna.
And for what felt like the first time to her, Mona had something else to say when Emeraldi shared this news.
"Now that I have a pony... what do I do with her?"
"There's a lot you can do with an equine," said Hunter, picking Mona up. "You just gotta learn how to work with them first."
Whoo! This may be my longest chapter yet! Hope it was worth the wait. I'll soon be going back to chapters taking place in a few Bad Batch episodes. Excited that season 3 is coming February 21st, but also sad that it'll be the final season. But, who says the story has to end there? That's what fanfics are for!
Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Return of the Doresho. Be sure to check out and review my new series Magical Jedi Tales too. Until next time.