The Girls Known Collectively as Dazzlings
Author's Note
Dear Reader,
About a few weeks ago, I was heading up to "Shetland Shakes and Fries" for lunch and who ended up serving me? Sonata Dusk! After disappearing from the face of the earth for months! She didn't recognize me, thank goodness, so I was able to follow her home and found the remaining sirens. I spent the following watching them and little by little discovered just how much they'd changed from the power-hungry monsters I'd seen before. Then one afternoon, something strange happened. Something I wrote down as soon as I could.
I know I should tell someone about this. The Mayor? The police? Bonnie? This could spell grave danger for everyone in this world. I need to worn everyone about them before it's too late!
But....I just can't.
ME
The Girls Known Collectively as Dazzlings
“You wanna play with my life (bah-bum, bah-bum-bum)
Then you playing with a knife (bah-bum, bah-bum-bum)
Your devil lipped lies are my sugar and spice, so you better be ready cause your paying the price!”
The chart topping song from the hit band “Witch’s Way” was blasting from a small department store. Even the combined noise of passing civilians and rushing cars wasn’t enough to cover the voice of the lead singer, Mary Lunette. Her pitch was perfect, her tone was superb and despite the quick pacing of the music, made each and every note shine like a gem.
Aria Blaze couldn’t help stopping to listen. Her eyes were closed as she took in music, her purple handbag beginning to slip from her hand. Some busy people tried to shove her aside and others cast her strange looks as they hurried away but she continued to stand in the center of the sidewalk just outside the store. Her face was peaceful as she drank in the singer’s melody.
This is my poison garden (ba-bum, ba-bum-bum)
So sorry you were dragged in (ba-bum, ba-bum-bum)
Maybe this was all you wanted, but now you’ll get haunted by the screaming of a siren in the death of the night.
Upon hearing this lyric, she gave a small sad smile.
“Sirens don’t scream.” She thought sadly. “They sing. They sing so beautifully that they take your breath away.”
Aria lowered her head.
“At least, they used to.”
Suddenly, the song stopped and changed to some stupid talk show. Aria’s eyes snapped open. She snorted in disgust and resumed her walk, her head lowered with her hands and the strap of her bag shoved into her hoodie pockets. A few people looked at her curiously as she passed, most likely wondering what a girl her age was doing out of school, but Aria simply ignored them and walked faster. The quicker she got back, the quicker she wouldn’t have to be around these moronic creatures.
“Hey Aria! Hey! Wait up!”
From a few feet behind her, Aria head a familiar voice calling after her. So familiar, in fact, that Aria could almost see what she was doing. Pushing past annoyed people and waving her hand in the air in a despite attempt to get Aria’s attention. The voice called again, louder this time.
“Hey Aria! Wait! Oopsy! Pardon me, sir! Hey Aria!”
Aria reluctantly stopped to allow the girl chasing her to catch up. A minute later and the girl was standing beside her, out of breath but smiling brightly.
“Thanks for waiting!” She panted.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work, Sonata?” Aria asked with obvious annoyance.
Sonata Dusk held up a finger as she filled her lungs with air. Aria grunted and continued walking with Sonata walking at her side.
“Well, yeah. I kinda wish I was, actually! It’s so fun to shake the French fry maker and hear the oil make those funny popping sounds!” Sonata’s smile grew even bigger at the thought. “But it turns out that I got my hours wrong, so now Road Rash is working and I’m not! Kinda sad, but I was SUPER relived because when the boss called me over I was SUPER worried that he’s figured out that I’m not eighteen and was going to be fired! Thank goodness it wasn’t that, huh Aria?”
“Huh? Oh, sure.” Aria mumbled halfheartedly. She’d been trying to remember the lyrics to “The Castle and the Clown”, another song by Witch’s Way. The radio she’d heard it from had been in a drive through so most of the words hadn’t been clear.
“Not to mention I was still able to bring lunch home!” Sonata announced as she held up a white paper bag, covered in greasy fingerprints.
“This place isn’t our home, it’s our banishment.” Aria snapped. “Stop acting like-“
“-like it’s a vacation. I know, Aria, I know.” Sonata rolled her eyes. “But this world really isn’t so bad when you give it a chance! Now that we don’t absorb people’s negative energy, I’ve been able to get a job and DO things. Fun things, you know?”
Aria didn’t reply, having gone back to her song lyrics.
“So…” Sonata began again. “How has your work been? Get anything interesting?”
Aria grimaced.
“I don’t know…”
“Come on, let me see!” Sonata made a pouty face. “PLEASE!”
Aria rolled her eyes, trying to hide a smirk of pride, and held out her handbag.
“Ooooooooooo! That’s a lot of stuff!” Sonata marveled. The bag was halfway full with watches, necklaces, rings, cell phones and wallets. “How do manage to get so much?”
“It’s not anything easy, let me tell you.” Aria boasted. “There was this one kid who saw me pinching so I decided to buy him an ice cream to keep his mouth shut. The little parasprite wanted a triple scoop and all the toppings, though. He swore to tell to police I’d done a lot worse then pick-pocketing.”
“What happened?” Sonata inquired as they turned onto Colton Blvd, a much more empty street.
“What else? I took him to the bathroom and beat his head in!”
Sonata gave a low whistle.
“Yeah, it was pretty good.” Aria grinned. “But hopefully we’ve got enough to pay for the hotel room now.” Aria her face fell into an angry frown as she suddenly stopped walking.
“What is it?” Sonata asked.
Aria stuck her free hand into her pocket. She looked up at a nearby building in an attempt to avoid eye contact.
“Well….you’re off with a job, I’ve got my own work and we make enough to keep a place. It’s not five star of course but it’s something. All in all, I think we’re doing pretty well. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Sonata nodded brightly.
Aria back at Sonata. Her amethyst eyes had an icy tinge to them. Sonata’s cheerful mood wilted slightly and she held her little paper bag a bit tighter as Aria spit out her idea.
“So…what would your opinion be on kicking out Adagio?”
Sonata gasped and glared at her friend in shock.
“Don’t say stuff like that!” she scolded in a tone that was far too harsh for her. “You know we couldn’t-“
“Why not!?” Aria demanded. “She hasn’t been in her right mind in weeks, doesn’t eat, barely talks and DEFINATLY isn’t doing any work! I’m surprised she hasn’t just killed herself yet! At least then we wouldn’t be stuck saddling her!”
Sonata opened her mouth to speak, to say something, anything, in defense of her friend, but Aria was still talking
“Here I am running around dealing with important stuff like how the hay we’re going to survive while she’s huddled up in the corner feeling sorry for herself because she lost a stupid contest, which was her idea by the way!”
“But...”
“Well, guess what? I can’t sing either and I’m still alive! I can’t do the one thing in the world I care about! I can’t do the only thing in the stinking, idiotic world that’s even vaguely like it was back home! And you know why I can’t sing?! Because she wouldn’t listen to me! This is all because she doesn’t listen to me, she will never listen to me and now she feels like she can act like a whiney brat about it!!!”
Aria screamed in rage. A few tears were building around the edge of her eyes, but she was struggling to keep them back. Sonata placed her hand onto Aria’s shoulder, but it was quickly pushed away as Aria recollected herself.
“Forget I said anything.” She pulled her hood further over her face as she spoke. “Come on, we’re almost there.”
Sonata nodded slowly.
The Everfree Escape loomed above them. The windows were foggy with dirt and the building was in despite need of a paint job. The brown bushes lined near the entry were so shriveled, that they looked like clenched fists. The girls walked in stony silence across the cracked sidewalk. As they approached the entrance, Sonata pushed open the greasy glass door.
“Hmmm? Oh, hey girls.” An elderly man with whiskers as thick as pipe cleaners looked up from his magazine at the squeak of the door hinges. His legs were resting upon front desk and a cigarette was held in his teeth, sending wisps of smoke into the air.
Swallowing her gloom, Sonata gave him a friendly wave.
“Hiya Wesley!” she greeted him. “Gotten around to painting yet?”
The man gave his cigarette another puff before returning his gaze to the magazine.
“Eh. Maybe once I’m finished with “Celebrity Calamity”. Countess Coloratura got into a catfight with Raven La Lunette over Trenderhoof and it’s a riot.”
“Hey! Isn’t Raven a member of “Witch’s Way?” she inquired, glancing hopefully over at Aria. Her friend made no reaction except to walk up to the elevator and push button number twelve.
“Yep, and this is gunna wreck her reputation now that the public’s caught wind. Especially with how much the Countess’ manager has victimized her. ” The man continued despite that fact that Sonata had stopped listening and sullenly stepped into the open elevator with Aria. “That Raven’s in hot-“
The metal doors closed, cutting off the last of his sentence.
*****************************************************
The room belonging to the Dazzlings was in even worse shape then the rest of the hotel. A floor coated with stale soda and beer, moldy furniture with legs on the verge of cracking, walls of faded floral wallpaper filled gaping holes and the overpowering smell of mouse urine coating the area. Sonata set her lunch bag down on the table and pulled it open.
“What are you hungry for?” she asked kindly. “I got fries, hamburgers, cookies…”
Aria slumped down on the green-grey couch, avoiding the open springs and reached for the television remote. She clicked through the six channels of their cable until she found one airing “Pitch Perfect”
“Okay then, but you’re missing out!” Sonata sat down in a wobbling wooden chair and helped herself to some fries. She’d accidentally cooked them for too long, causing them to look like shrunken black twigs, but she didn’t mind. It felt good to have something that she’d made, even if it wasn’t very pretty.
“I wonder…if that’s how humans feel.” She thought “About living by themselves.”
She’d heard her co-workers talk about it all the time. About how awesome it was to be independent. How cool it was to live on their own. None of them seemed to mind working hard and not having people living with them.
Sonata frowned slightly and looked over at Aria, still hunched over on the couch. The way she was talking earlier; it didn’t sound like her normal type of complaining. If that was the case, then why in Equestria would she want to abandon Adagio? The sirens had lived for centuries and had never once been separated. Sure they were jerks around other ponies (and people), but they were still friends to each other. Deathly loyal ones at that, staying together even when it was stupid to do so. How could that suddenly change?
It dawned upon Sonata, slowly and painfully as the truth always is.
Their singing.
The Dazzlings had always sung together. When they were sad, they sang a ballad. When they were happy, they sang an aria. When they were hungry, they sang to feed themselves. Even in this strange world, banished from the only world they called home, they had still kept their power to sing. It was that power that caused them to be banished in the first place and made them…them!
And now it was gone.
Sonata felt a wave of doubt wash over her.
If they couldn’t sing, did that mean they couldn’t stay friends?
“AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!” A sudden scream came piercing through the room.
Sonata sat erect, broken away from her thoughts.
“Great.” Muttered Aria, who had barely glanced up from the television. “There she goes again.”
“Come on Aria! She needs our help!” Sonata leaped up from her chair and hurried toward the locked door of the bathroom. As she did, Aria reluctantly sulked after her.
“Adagio! Adagio, are you okay?!” Sonata shouted as she franticly knocked upon the door. “Don’t worry, we’ll be right there!”
She reached for her pocket and pulled out the bathroom key.
A loud crashing sound emanated through the wooden door, followed by another scream.
“I’m opening the door, Adagio!” Sonata shouted. “Just stop moving and calm down!”
She turned the key in the lock with a soft click and slowly twisted the knob. The noises stopped.
Sonata gulped as she hesitantly opened the door a crack. The bathroom was tiny, each wall only a couple feet long with a toilet and shower taking up most of the space, yet she still couldn’t see Adagio. She pushed the door further and as she took in the full view, Sonata shivered. The medium size mirror was now in shambles, with glass shards coating the tile floor. The small sink was partially disconnected from the wall. The ratty shower curtain had been pulled down and now rested in a large heap on the floor.
“I’ll get the broom.” Aria stated dryly. She turned to leave, but Sonata caught her hand. Taking a deep breath she stepped into the room, being carful to avoid the glass. Another step and she was standing next to the shower curtain.
“Adagio?” she whispered. She kneeled down and began to gently lift the curtain.
First came a pair of shaking legs, scrawny and feeble, covered with scars.
Next were two hands that were clenched into fists. Blood was falling from her fingers and shards of glass were sticking out, glittering like tiny crystals.
A mass of long orange hair, once light and vibrant had now become tangled and knotted. Coated with grease and clods of dirt.
The hair was connected to the worse sight of all and Sonata knew it, but she threw the rest of the curtain off anyway.
Adagio Dazzle’s face was ghostly pale. Her mouth slightly opened to allow for thin, hoarse breathing. Long bangs were dripping over her face like claws, almost hiding her horrid eyes. The eyes that were faded and stared straight through Sonata, Aria and the rest of the world as if it was all empty and pointless. Just watching her stare like that was made Sonata want to cry.
But she couldn’t. Not right now.
Instead she wiped the blood and glass from Adagio’s hands and held them gently.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.” She chanted softly.
“The mirror is broken.” Adagio’s voice was dry and quiet, nothing like how it should be.
“I know. It’s okay.”Sonata comforted and began to pet Adagio’s hands.
“It….it….lied to me.” Adagio whimpered. Her breathing suddenly picked up, causing her chest to heave up and down. “It…m-m-made me look nice. And….Pretty!”
She fell forward into Sonata, who hurriedly embraced her trembling body.
“There, there. It’s all right. You are pretty -“
“NO I’M NOT!” Adagio screamed angrily “I’m not pretty unless my voice is pretty! And it’s ugly! It lied to me!” She swallowed the spit that had begun to drip from her lips. Her breathing steadied as tears and mucus ran down her face.
“Now it’s broken.” She murmured. “Just like we are.”
Her words seemed to stab the two other girls. Sonata cringed and continued the hold Adagio, but Aria’s respectful silence slipped away.
“Do see what I mean now!” She shouted at Sonata, who didn’t have the strength to tune her out anymore. “We can’t keep carrying that….”Thing”! She’s doing more harm for us then she ever did to those humans! There’s nothing we can do for her! Can you hear me, Sonata?!”
She said nothing.
“Hello!?”
Still nothing, but tears long overdue began running down Sonata’s cheeks.
“LISTEN TO ME YOU BUCKING MORON!”
“Exactly.” Sonata breathed.
Her response, let alone such a quiet one, confused Aria back into silence.
“I’m a moron.” Sonata continued, slightly louder this time. “I’m supposed to be the moron and you’re supposed to be a jerk, who acts tough to hide how much she cares. And Adagio is supposed to be the leader because she’s strong and smart. She comes up with a plan, then I say something silly without meaning too, then you act all high and mighty about it and we all laugh afterwards.” She squeezed Adagio’s hand a bit tighter. “We’re not supposed to be like this. We’re supposed to make other people act like this. We’re supposed to stay together! We’re supposed to…”
Sonata stopped, leaving her last thought dangling in the air. She looked at Aria, showing hatred to hide her pain, and Adagio, whose eyes still wouldn’t see her.
“Th..this is n-not the end.”
She whispered out a few notes from Witch’s Way’s first song. The one that started their musical career.
“What are doing?” Aria stared at her in shock.
Sonata didn’t answer. She knew the three of them hadn’t sung since the accident. Not since they’d lost the battle of the bands along with their enchanted pendants, which had allowed them to sing so beautiful. She wondered whether those girls who had beaten them even knew what had happened to them. They had preached about the power of friendship and yet didn’t see how the three of them were friends. They had only caused trouble because they had too. Those girls couldn’t see how even though their singing cause chaos to others; it was the only source of harmony they had.
With these thoughts firmly planted inside both her head and heart, she began to sing. She didn’t care how terribly she’d sound anymore.
And she swore she never would again.
“This is not the end.
This is not the end.
We were hurt, broken to pieces,
but we’re not who’ve been.”
There was a collective gasp as Sonata sang. Her voice wasn’t terrible. It was beautiful! Slow and smooth without a single screech. As if she still had her pendant. As Sonata sang, she became surrounded in a pale green glow. Sonata stopped upon realizing how she sounded. She blinked in confusion.
“Don’t stop!” Aria and Adagio both pleaded urgently.
Wondering what was going on, she started the first verse.
“They say the past’s in the past,
But time is moving too fast.
There are chains left and their holding down.”
As she continued, the green glow grew brighter. The other girls watched in astonishment as Sonata’s blue ponytail lengthened and tiny pointed ears peaked out from her head. A pair of pink wings sprouted upon her back, bat-like in appearance and glimmering in the light.
Aria continued to watch Sonata’s performance, a dim glimmer of hope lighting within her. If Sonata could still sing like, then maybe….maybe…
“They said it was last straw,
and I was dead after all.
I’ll take that pain and I’ll turn it around.”
Aria’s matched Sonata’s perfectly and she too began to transform. Her hair became longer and her wings, colored a pale lavender, glimmered just as brightly. Together, they sang the song far better then anyone else ever had. Every note a shining gem. Every word a work of art.
“I know that this regret is worthless,
I know that everyone has a flaw.”
Adagio’s eyes became clear as she joined the song, her voice more powerful and melodious then the others. Aria and Sonata looked at her with joy as her hair regained its glossy hue and her own pair wings sprouted, but they never slipped in their song. Instead, they instinctively began singing the harmony as Adagio took on the lead vocal.
“So now I’ll take back what they have broken,
And I will put an end to them all!”
Adagio’s mind was clear for the first time in weeks. The foggy haze that had fallen over her disappeared like a spell had been lifted. However her first thoughts were not on herself or the other sirens or even the strangeness of their revived powers. What she thought first were a series of names.
Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy
Rainbow Dash
Applejack
Rarity
Twilight Sparkles
And that despicable Sunset Shimmer.
They had done this to her, to them. They were the cause of all their misery and humiliation. Adagio swore, even as she continued singing, that they would pay for it.
No, that they would DIE for it.
She pushed her voiced even harder, with a ferocity that coursed through every fiber of her being, as the three of them reached the second chorus.
Singing in perfect harmony.
“This is not the end,
this is not the end!
We are strong, we move on!
Now we’ll start again!”
The End
