I woke early that morning around three o'clock or so. It was still dark outside, and I could hear the soft breathing of the girls around me. The wind outside was still howling at the windows, but the space heater in the corner was keeping the room warm enough.
As I lay there quietly, breathing in and out as if I was still sleeping, I began to think about what the hell I was going to do with the Sirens when we got back to Equestria. Now that I knew they were actual royalty, I had an idea of how I could use their former station to try and talk to other Sirens, if they still existed. I still knew next to nothing about the other races, only ever having either met or seeing them on screen. I knew at some point I had to at least go and speak to Steven Magnet, if at least to find out if the purple Sea Serpent knew anything about his species' origins.
Just as I was about to doze off, I heard a strange noise coming from one of the Siren's beds. It sounded like soft sniffing. Laying still, I listened closer, only to hear a sharp intake of breath before a clear sob. Slowly, I turned myself over to face them to try and discover just who it was. Two of them were just lying there, sleeping silently enough, but the third had her blanket covering her head and in the dim light coming in from the windows I could see some trembling.
After a while, I quietly sat up, swung my legs over the bed, and faced her. Judging from the placement of the cot, the owner of the crying had to have been Sonata. I thought back to her actions the night before. While her fellow Sirens had been stubborn on the verge of hostile, Sonata had behaved differently. Subservient, almost terrified of me. A small part of me felt badly for her. Even so, when I stood and approached her, I did so cautiously, keenly aware that this could very well be some sort of trap.
When I reached her cot, I knelt. In a quiet whisper, I said, "Sonata?"
She jolted and pulled her blanket off, staring wide eyed at me. Even in the dark, I could see a single reflection of tears that had flowed down her cheek. "Y-Your Grace?" she said haltingly.
I held up my finger to my lips. "Shh…it's still early. Best not to wake the others."
A third presence was immediately by my side. Zecora, who had volunteered to take the last watch before dawn, had walked over and was kneeling beside us. "What is going on here?"
"Sonata? Seriously, is everything okay?" I asked.
Sonata slowly sat up, wiping tears from her eyes. She looked down. "I-It's nothing, Your Grace," she said.
I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Sonata, ever since last night, you've been afraid of something," I said. "You might be my prisoner along with the others, but that doesn't mean I'm heartless. If you're worried about me doing something horrible to you as punishment, I'd like to know."
Sonata slowly wrapped up herself in her blanket, looking anywhere but at my face. I didn't look away from her, instead reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. She flinched a bit, but nothing more. Zecora quietly spoke up. "My fiancé will not punish you too harshly. It's not in his nature."
Sonata slowly shook her head. "Th…that's not it," she said.
"Then what is it?" I asked.
Sonata finally looked at me. "As much as I think this world is the worst, I'm scared to go back." She wrapped her blanket tighter around her. "There are…some things about Earth I like, but it's still bad here. Bad for us…"
I quietly moved and sat next to Sonata on her right, and Zecora joined in on her left. "What has you terrified about going back to Equestria? It's your home planet. If you hate it here so much, what's wrong?"
She looked down at the floor for a bit, then said, "Do you know anything about Sirens?"
"Only from what I've heard in Earth myths and what I learned from Equestria Girls," I said. "Sirens can sing so beautifully that they can ensnare anyone who hears it, specifically, males. They would lure sailors to rocky shores and to their deaths."
Sonata turned and pointed at me. "There, see?" she said in a harsh whisper, "That's not what we really do! I've never lured anyone to their deaths!"
"Okay, that's fair," I said in a quiet but calm tone, "but what does this have to do with being afraid to go back?"
She bit her lower lip. "We…when we left, our population was decreasing. Sirens…we're…"
"What the taco loving slut is trying to say is that we're a single sex species," Adagio said suddenly, startling us since we'd all been whispering. She sat up and I could tell she was glaring over at us. I used my magic to flip the light switch, and the single bulbed fluorescent light turned on, illuminating the bleary eyed and pissed off Siren. "Sonata, the fuck are you doing up? It's way too early?"
"I don't wanna become a breeding cow!" Sonata, unable to hold herself back, shouted desperately.
"Breeding cow?!" I asked, eyes wide.
"Ugh…the hell's going on?" Aria asked as she, too, sat up, her loose hair falling over her and making her look a lot like Sadako from The Ring. She pushed her hair back behind her ears. "Oh great, another Sonata breakdown…" This earned her a smack upside the head from Scarlet, who'd woken up as well. "Ow! The fuck is your problem!?"
"The fuck is YOUR problem!?" Scarlet shouted back, then without any hesitation she slapped Aria again. "You're just ignoring your friend!"
"We're not friends," Adagio said in a low growl.
I put my hands on Sonata's shoulders, ignoring the two angry Sirens. Turning her towards me, I said, "Please tell me what's wrong."
She shook her head. "If I do, you'll make us into sex slaves," she said miserably.
"Why is that the first reaction of every enemy I turn into a neutral ally?" I muttered. I grabbed her cheeks and made her face me. Her fear became shock as I continued, "As the Emperor of Aelyssia, I swear to you I will never, EVER, make you three become sex slaves. So I have spoken, so shall it be done. When we return to Equestria, I will have it put into writing that anyone who so much as touches you inappropriately will be severely punished."
As I let her go, Sonata looked at me carefully, searching into my eyes. When I didn't break eye contact, she visibly relaxed, and a tentative smile formed on her face. "Your Grace…thank you…"
"No matter what you might have done, I would never tolerate sexual slavery in my empire," I said. "It's beyond barbaric. But why would you assume I'd do that?"
"Because we're probably the last Sirens alive," Aria, who was still rubbing her cheek, said plainly.
I looked over at her. "What?"
"You really don't know, do you?" Adagio asked, sounding surprised.
"The only things I know about you three are from My Little Pony," I said, "and that's a girl's show. You honestly think they'd include something that dark in children's entertainment?"
"Disney showed a shadow of Clayton being hung in Tarzan," Sonata pointed out.
"Point taken," I said, "but this is Hasbro, not Disney. Please tell me."
Adagio sighed. "If it'll get you all to shut up and go back to sleep, sure…" She inhaled and began to explain. "Like I said, Sirens are a single sex species. We're only female and we have to have hatchlings with other Dragon species so we can propagate. Before Aelyssia, we would ensnare males with our music, have our way with them, then let them go. But when Aelyssia was created, we changed that. We couldn't just ensnare a male and steal their seed anymore. Our birth rates began decreasing until there weren't many of us left. There were only about, what, a thousand or so Sirens left when the three of us ran away?" She looked over at Aria for confirmation.
"I thought it was eight hundred," Aria said.
"Well, whatever the number, there weren't many left," Adagio said. They're probably all gone, now…" Adagio suddenly got a faraway look in her eyes, an almost mournful expression passing over her face before it was quickly replaced with rage. She turned back to me. "So there's the story. We're the last Sirens probably, so it's no wonder Sonata's pissing herself. So can we go back to sleep, now?"
Sonata then did something I did not expect. She turned and buried her face in my shoulder, her tears returning. Zecora reached over and rubbed her back gently while I put an arm around her, squeezing her shoulder gently. "Now I understand," I said as kindly as I could, "but I meant what I said. I will not turn you into sexual slaves."
Sonata put one of her hands on my shoulders, and I could feel her trembling. "Thank you…Your Grace…" she whispered.
"Jesus Christ…" Scarlet said in horror, "that's just…fuck…"
"We don't need your goddamn pity," Aria said, grabbing her blanket, flinging herself onto the bed and covering herself with her blanket.
Adagio said nothing as she, too, lay down and covered her head to block out the light. Scarlet stood and walked over to us and put her own hand on Sonata's back in her own effort to be reassuring. Slowly, Sonata's tears began to cease until she slowly sat up. Her eyes were red and her face was wet with tears. I grabbed a handkerchief and handed it to her. She graciously accepted it and cleaned her face before she slowly let go of me. "I'm sorry, and thank you," she said in a whisper.
"Don't apologize, I completely understand," I said as I stood and gently lay her in the bed. "Get some more rest. We're going back to Equestria in a few hours, and you'll need all your strength."
She nodded and covered her head with her blanket. Zecora, Scarlet and I exchanged a silent look between us, a look that promised a private discussion about this at a later time. We all returned to our cots, I turned out the light, and closed my eyes again, forcing the contents of the conversation I'd just had out of my mind so I could get a few more hours of sleep. Soon, I had fallen back in another dreamless sleep.
Dear Twilight,
A lot has happened since last night. It's a long story, so I'll be brief here. Last night, the Sirens came to the farm as I thought they might, but they came armed and with hostages. The hostages were your human counterpart and Spike's. We caught them by surprise and took them captive. We're about to have breakfast before coming back home. Please ask the Princesses to have guards ready since I've no idea just what they'll turn into when they pass through. Don't come through the Stargate; Spike and I will be home sometime this morning.
Love, Jethro
Dear Jethro,
Thank Elysium you're all okay! I've already contacted Princess Celestia and she's sending Shining Armor along with at least three squads of guards to your house. I'm going to get the others when I'm done writing this. Please be safe. I love you.
Love, Twilight Sparkle
Morning rose slowly that cold December Sunday morning. The snowstorm had worsened during the night, leaving the world a thick blanket of white. The clouds were dark gray and full of the ever falling snow over the land. The air was bitter cold and visibility was very low. Jackie had let Twyla park her in the spare place in the garage. Twyla and Brandan had slept together in Jackie's bed, warm and secure. I had stayed in the same room as the Sirens, but with Zecora and Scarlet both with me. We were too far up for them to try and escape, and I asked Jackie to lock us in until morning. The other girls had slept downstairs in the farm living room for the remainder of the night. Spike had slept in the same room as Mac.
At around eight thirty, Jackie came, unlocked the door and told us that she'd spoken to her grandmother about what had happened, and she had invited the Sirens for breakfast before Spike, the Siren Princesses and I all went back to Equestria. She quickly told me that I really didn't have a choice in the matter before I even had a chance to protest. So, I graciously accepted, woke the Sirens and brought them with me across the snow covered farmland into the house where I chained them to the chairs before they were served.
Pomeline had woken early to make a very large breakfast for all of us. The dining table, which looked bigger than it had before, had platters of many different breakfast foods spread all in the center of the table. There were breakfast sausages, thick strips of homemade bacon, scrambled eggs, an entire loaf of bread that had been toasted, some room temperature butter, and two large jugs of milk and orange juice. There were chairs set all around the table for everyone.
After the Smith matriarch led us all in a quick grace, the meal began. It wasn't long before Twyla, who's actual full name was, surprisingly enough, Twyla Sparkle, was directing question after question towards me, almost as if she hadn't gone through some traumatic experience the night before. I had no idea that Sparkle was even a last name on Earth, but after a quick Google search on this earth's internet, I found there were some Sparkles even so far back as the late 1800s.
As Twyla asked question after question, I began to guess it was a way for her to cope, especially with her captors in the room with her. I decided it was best to indulge her, answering her questions between bites of food. It was also a good way for me to distract myself from the revelations the Sirens had told me earlier that morning.
"You're seriously telling me that the new My Little Pony TV show that's airing right now is real, and that the three girls who kidnapped me and Brandan are some kind of fictional entities from Homer's Odyssey?" Twyla said incredulously. "How?! Is Lauren Faust from Equestria?"
"I doubt it," I said. "I don't know what to think, really. Twilight and I have talked about it a lot, and we're both at a loss."
"We're not from the goddamn Odyssey," Adagio grumbled.
"No swearin' at the table," Pomeline said sharply to them. "Yer lucky yer even eatin' at the same table with us! But, like it says in the good book, Jesus Himself ate with the tax collectors and sinners."
I chuckled, then redirected my attention to Twyla "There's a lot more to it than that," I explained. "The Sirens here are a group of villains who show up in the Equestria Girls movie titled Rainbow Rocks. They try to take over a high school and make everyone in the world adore them."
Twyla was busily taking notes on this, but Jackie, who was sitting next to her, put a hand on the notepad. "Not at the table, pardner," she said. "It's disrespectful."
"Oh, yeah…sorry," she said sheepishly as she put her small notepad back in her backpack.
"So how come can't ah tell mah friends about Equestria, but you can tell her and her brother?" Marigold asked, pointing to Twyla and Brandan.
"Marigold Smith, that's rude!" Jackie said.
"She has a point," Pomeline said. Turning to her youngest granddaughter, she said, "Tell yah what, Mari, we'll talk about it later, alright? But fer now, no tellin'."
Marigold's spirits rose. "Can ah go to Equestria?"
"Again, that's a whole other discussion," Pomeline said. "We'll talk about it, okay sweetie?"
"Ah'm gonna meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Ah'm gonna meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Marigold shouted eagerly.
"You already reached that episode?" I asked the excitable young girl.
"Ehehe, ah watched up tah the Grand Galloping Gala," she said sheepishly.
"I actually went to the Gala," I said, "and so did Zecora."
"Yah did?! Did it go as bad as it did in the episode?" Marigold asked.
"Nope, I made it the best night ever for them all," I said. "Someday, I'll tell you all about it."
"Yay!" Marigold said happily.
"As fascinating as this is," Trisha said, dabbing daintily at her lips, "shouldn't we focus on the elephants in the room?" With that, she pointed to the Sirens.
Sonata swallowed her breakfast burrito which she had made from the ingredients on the table and said, "Hey, we aren't elephants! We're sexy!"
"You idiot," Adagio grumbled.
I inwardly smiled. Sonata looked a lot better than she had during her meltdown. "They're coming home with me today after breakfast," I said. "I've already sent a message back to Equestria, and they're getting ready to receive us over there."
"Not to sound rude, but are you sure they'll be enough over there?" Dash asked. "I mean, they're Ponies."
"Hey! We can take care of ourselves plenty over there, thank you," Scarlet said defiantly.
"Not at the table, you two," Pomeline warned, causing both human and Pony turned human to flinch and go back to their meals.
"They'll be fine," I said. "Those chains I have them in now? They're magical. They grow and shrink to match whoever wears them."
"We're right here," Aria grumbled before taking a sip of her orange juice.
I turned to her. "And you're also my prisoners-no, you're Aelyssian prisoners." I gave them my full attention now, letting some regal displeasure show through. "You might have had good reasons for fleeing the Empire, and I can't blame you for wanting to prioritize your own happiness over a duty that would make you miserable. But Aelyssia and the Kingdom of Equestria are allies now. As such, you must answer for your crimes."
"As long as we're out of this fucking world," Adagio said under her breath.
"Ah won't tolerate foul language at mah table in front of the children!" Pomeline growled. Even the Sirens flinched at this and pressed themselves against their chairs.
No matter what world she's in, Granny Smith is scary, I thought with an inner smirk. "Don't think that just because I'm taking you back to Equestria that things are gonna be easy. Now that I know who you really are, my list of punishments for you has only increased. And no, that doesn't include forced marriage to me," I quickly added when Adagio moved to say something.
"What are you going to do?" Shye asked softly, "um, if you don't mind my asking?"
"They'll be taken back to Virynth Atheos," I said. "Soon, I will be leading the scattered Dragons back to that city and under my rule, the city will be made livable once more. And since these three were alive during that time, they'll be essential in helping."
"Doesn't sound like much of a punishment tah me," Jackie said.
"I never said their helping me would be easy," I said. "They'll be getting their hands, or hooves, or claws or whatever they get when they go through, dirty." I gave the three a smirk. "They have no magic. They'll be working hard to rebuild everything with the rest."
"You can't do that to us!" Aria shouted angrily.
"Would you rather I do something worse to you?" I asked in a menacing manner, letting the unspoken threat hang in the air. "Because I will." I put my hand on Eclipse, which was leaning against the table next to me.
Sonata swallowed quickly and shook her head fearfully. "No, that's alright!" she said in a trembling voice. "You're being very lenient with us, Your Grace."
I slowly released my grip on Eclipse. "Yes I am," I said, "it's a weakness of mine that I need to work on. But for now, behave." Looking at Sonata, I added, "Sorry about that, Sonata."
"It's alright," she said, giving me a small smile.
I turned to the others. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to lose my cool back there."
"Just don't do it again, young'un," Pomeline said sternly, sending a shiver down my back.
"Yes, ma'am!" I said, giving her a salute.
"Good boy," Pomeline said.
Nothing like being lectured by another family's matriarch to make you feel like a kid again, I thought to myself. "Well then, back to other business."
"Um…so, can I ask some more questions, now?" Twyla asked.
I refocused my attention on her and smiled. "Sure, go ahead."
"Great!" Her mood improved and she got a thoughtful look on her face. "So…can you show me some more magic, now? I've got to know more!"
I decided to stop her in her tracks right then and there. Holding up my hand, I said, "Twyla Sparkle, if you go down that path, it'll end in nothing but tragedy. Now hear me out before you say anything else," I quickly added when she got a startled look in her eyes. "I can appreciate you wanting to know more. A desire for knowledge is what drives humanity, and you're a good example of that. But that desire can turn deadly. Just like it did in the third Equestria Girls movie where the cartoon version of you let magic consume her and turned her into a demon."
Twyla gave me an incredulous look. "Okay…but didn't you say that this other version of me was a teenager? I'm twenty, not a teenager."
"And I'm almost thirty one, but I still have let my emotions get the best of me and they turned me into a monster once," I retorted. "Listen, this is actually a conversation for another time. And in private."
"Oh, yeah…sure," she said apologetically. "But still, I'd love to see some magic!"
I smirked. "I bet you would. Okay, but just this once. And I won't be using my own." I brought out the journal and opened it. "This is a journal that we use to keep in touch with people across the dimensions," I explained. "There's another identical one just like it back in Equestria. Watch this." I picked up a pen and wrote a brief message: Hey Twilight, your Earth counterpart, whose name is Twyla Sparkle, has been practically begging me to show her some magic. Could you write something to her for me? With that, I slipped it over to her. "Now, just wait and watch."
Twyla took the journal and watched it curiously. After a few seconds, I saw the book glowing a bit. Twyla's eyes went wide as saucers. "I…but…whu…HOW?!"
"You two are definitely alike," I said. "That sounds exactly like her whenever something weird happens that she doesn't understand. What did she say?"
Twyla silently handed me back the journal. I read the following: Hi, Twyla! It's nice to meet you, sort of. I'm sorry what happened to you, and I'm glad you're okay. Maybe the two of us can meet sometime and exchange theories? Your hopeful friend, Twilight Sparkle.
I chuckled. "If you think that was impressive, just wait until you see how we go through the portal back to Equestria."
That was when the poor girl fainted.
"I'm alright, really," Twyla was saying a little while later as she lay on one of the couches in front of the fireplace. Breakfast was over, and everyone was in the living room checking on Twyla. Her younger brother was there beside her, comforting her. "I'll be fine, I promise. I just need to sit quietly for a moment."
Zecora had brought out a small brew of Equestrian herbs that she'd used with me a few times to help Twyla come out of her unconsciousness. It worked extremely fast and Twyla said she'd never felt more clear headed before in her life. "You should be fine in a minute or three, at least, as far as I can see," she said.
"Thanks, Zecora," I said, putting my arm around her.
"Not a problem, dearest," she said, leaning her head on my shoulder, "but I believe it's time for us to head back home, isn't it?"
"Let's just make sure Twyla's okay first, then we can go," I said.
"Really, I'm okay," Twyla said reassuringly.
"Are you absolutely sure?" I asked. "I can stay here a little while longer."
"We can handle this, sugarcube," Jackie said, putting a hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "With them gone, ah'm sure she'll calm down more."
I nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's true," I said. "Thanks, Jackie. I owe you one."
"Yah don't ow us nothin'," she said, flicking my ear playfully. "Now…git!" She shoved me towards the kitchen with a chuckle.
"But I have so many questions," Twyla groaned sadly.
"When things calm down over in Equestria, you'll get them answered, I promise," I said.
"You sure?" Twyla asked.
"Yes," I said. "For now, though, I need to get these Sirens back to Equestria."
Adagio and Aria were standing near the edge of the living room, with Sonata standing a few feet away from them. I walked over to Sonata first. "You ready to go?" I asked.
"More than I was last night," she said. "Again, I'm sorry for that."
"It's fine, Sonata," I said. "I just hope you're ready to work really hard and with whatever appendages you end up with."
"I am," she said, standing up straighter.
"Ugh, let's just get this over with," Aria said.
"Spike! Get your coat! We're heading back to Equestria," I called out.
"Coming, Dad!" he shouted, running over to the front door.
I watched him go in complete surprise. Did he just…call me Dad? I thought. When he came back, wearing the coat he'd come through the portal with, I looked at him. "What did you call me?"
"Um…Jethro," he said, tilting his head curiously at me.
"No, you said Dad," Scarlet said, a knowing grin on her face.
"No I didn't," he said.
"Yes, you did," I said, kneeling to face him eye to eye. "Any reason why?"
I saw his face go red, and he looked away. "I…I don't remember saying Dad," he said, "Honest I don't!"
"But…?" I persisted.
Spike looked at me with his human eyes. We held each other's gaze for a while before he sighed. "Remember when I said I thought of you like an older brother back in Aelyssia?"
"I do," I said.
"Well…I think you're more like my dad than anything else," he admitted. "I've never had a dad, but you're more like my dad than whoever was my real one. He was a real jerk, whoever he was."
Quickly, I pulled him into a hug. "Don't say that about him, not unless you know what really happened," I said.
He hugged me back, and I lifted him up in my arms. "I'm sorry," he said. "I've always wanted a dad…"
"Well, if you want me to be like a dad to you, I'll gladly be one," I said reassuringly.
His grip on me tightened. "Thank you," he said softly.
Brandan, who'd been watching this exchange, walked over to us. He looked up at me. "I…I don't know if it helps, but my birth parents gave me up because they couldn't afford to raise me and they wanted me to live in a nicer home than what they could provide. Maybe the same thing happened for yours, Spike."
Spike didn't say anything, but instead nodded. I looked down at Brandan. "Thanks, kiddo. I think that helped." Turning to the rest, I said, "For the moment, this is goodbye."
"Oh silly, don't say goodbye! That's too sad," Diane said, walking over and giving me a comforting side hug. "Just say, until next time."
I smirked. Pinkie or Diane, either one could make me smile. "You've got a point. Okay, until next time then."
"Please do come back soon," Trisha said.
"You'd better let us come through sometime!" Dash said, "I wanna learn how to fly!"
"Stay safe," Shye said with a tender wave.
"We'll see y'all later," Jackie said.
After the others said their own farewells, I walked towards the door, put Spike down and grabbed all my stuff. Zecora and Scarlet led the Sirens out the door behind me and out into the biting cold wind.
By now, the snow was at least five or six inches deep, and the snow was coming down heavier now. I pulled Spike closer to me, protecting him almost instinctively from the wind as best I could. The wind had died down slightly, but the heavier snow left visibility lower. We all trudged through the winter wonderland until we reached the snow covered statue. When we reached it, I looked down at Spike. "You ready, kiddo?"
He looked up at me. "You bet, Dad."
Just hearing him call me that made my heart swell with pride. Sure, he wasn't biologically mine, but just the fact that he looked up to me like a dad was enough for my desire for children of my own to effectively double. I turned back to the Sirens. Walking over, I grabbed the shackles around Adagio's wrists. Bringing out the key, I began to undo it. Before she could say anything, I said, "Don't misunderstand me. I don't want you permanently injured. These go right back on the moment we're through."
She just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah…"
After I had Zecora and Scarlet undo the shackles from the other two, I handed them to Spike. "Be ready to give them back to me, got it son?"
"You bet!" And with that, he ran towards the statue, vanishing through it with a warping of the stone.
Sonata's eyes went wide. "Whoa!"
"Let's just go…" Aria said.
"Your wish is my command," I said. "Ladies? Follow me." With that, I grabbed Adagio by the wrist and pulled her towards the statue, passing through it…
Rainbows, the screams of my companion beside me who was warping and twisting in the endless rainbow abyss beyond me, and the feeling of being squeezed through a tube like so much toothpaste overwhelmed me…
…And I fell out of the Stargate, just barely getting my footing so that I didn't crush my laptop by falling on it. My arm was still around an arm, and I knew something was definitely wrong. Even more so when I heard fabric ripping and a terrified scream coming from the Siren I was holding.
I turned around…and gaped at what I saw.
Adagio was still in a nearly human form, as were the newly arrived Sonata and Aria. But behind their backs, I saw a pair of wings.
The same type of wings that the cartoon counterparts gained during the final concert in Rainbow Rocks. And that wasn't all. Their human ears had been replaced with equine ears.
Everyone in the room, which included a large number of guards led by Shining Armor, the Elements of Harmony, Spike, Zecora and Scarlet, all just stared at the Sirens. They all looked back at their new wings and ears in horror. Then they all fainted, falling to the wooden floor with a heavy thud.
I looked back at everyone there, then back at the Sirens. None of us spoke for a while. Finally, it was surprising to hear Rarity of all Ponies say the following:
"Well…fuck…"