Radiotrophic

By the time I finally struggled out of bed, it was one in the afternoon. In fifteen minutes I was outside, heading for Canterlot High on motorcycle. Twilight gave me some money the last time we met up, and it was supposed to be for an apartment close to the school, but… the factory felt too much like home to leave. The next time she asked, I was going to tell her I couldn’t find anywhere closer.

The night before was the third time I’d ever drawn Caladbolg, and I still wasn’t ready to hold it for more than seven breaths without burning myself. Twilight called that impressive, but it just felt exhausting. She had work of her own back in Equestria, sent out by Celestia to meet the Sibyl.

I got to school way late, and didn’t go to any classes, staying out of the hallways when the bells rang and avoiding the cameras. Mostly I hung around the stage, doing something like meditating. I tried to feel all of the other students who had walked through these places, and let their spirits recharge my magic. I couldn’t tell if it worked.

Adagio had mentioned her own plans in the works. I didn’t like the sound of that, especially because I didn’t really know how old they were or what they’d spent the last however-long doing in the shadows. The downside of my new magic was that I couldn’t touch her outside school grounds, unless she threatened someone I cared about. If she started a riot of random strangers, I might not have been able to care enough to draw Caladbolg against her.

I tried forcing myself to care, imagining my compassion wrapping around the world, but after all this time I didn’t even know the names of all the countries. It was too big to care about all of it, or maybe that was the part of me that gave birth to the demon, taking the easy way out. I tried not to think about it.

The next few hours flew by, and then it was just me and the janitors. I hadn’t looked for my friends. I would’ve asked them for help, but… well, if the legends were accurate, the Dazzlings had a lot of practice making friends argue with each other, and I didn’t want to risk making them stronger.

It was a few hours until they showed up, so I broke out a packed lunch and went to the upper library to watch the sunset. That filled me with more confidence than all of the meditating I’d done all day, but it went by too quickly, and then it was just the nighttime. The stars were the same here as they were in Equestria, and I traced out constellations while I ate PB&J.

It was a while before I saw Adagio’s car pulling into the student lot. It was a minivan, nothing anyone would notice in a grocery store lot, and within seconds they were all out and heading for the side-entrance she’d used last night.

They moved in perfect harmony, always stepping the same distance, close but never touching. It was like watching ants. They’d been singing and dancing for who knows how long, so I guess they got used to each other? They weren’t very friendly, though. When I thought about it, they were more like grumpy old people who’d known each other forever.

I headed down the stairs and through the hallways to meet them. Thankfully the school only had a couple of cameras, and they were easy to dodge around, but the hallways were long and I wished I’d been in position earlier.

Still, I felt Caladbolg, as a potentiality, resting against my leg like a sword in a sheathe that doesn’t exist. I could draw it, for another seven breaths, and in those breaths I would have to do my business and be done with it.

When they walked in, they saw me immediately. I’d put a little thought into what I had to say, so I started. “Hello, girls. How are you tonight?”

“We’ve come with an answer.” Adagio said.

“We think this world isn’t right.” Sonata cringed. “It’s super icky sometimes, and full of stuff that doesn’t even make sense. People do bad things without understanding why, and then all of the really good stuff gets laughed at.”

“But,” Aria crossed her arms. “Equstria’s worse. At least here they don’t have magic. We can work with that. Ponies have no excuse.”

“So we’ve spoken, and we’ve come up with a counter-offer,” said Adagio. “If you grant us free access to travel through the portal, we will leave you, this school, its past and future students, and everyone you meet in the next hundred years alone.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” I asked.

“No, it’s supposed to be a counter-offer. Duh.” Sonata said.

Adagio looked at her for a moment, then turned back to me. “Now, now. We don’t see any reason to fight you. You’re just here to protect your territory, and we’re looking to protect ours. We don’t want to be trapped in this world or in yours. After all, if we were supposed to do our penance here, hasn’t our sentence run out by now?”

“Or is it just the princess’ entourage who get to go where they like?” asked Aria.

“I exiled myself on purpose.” I said. “I made a life for myself here, and when I had the chance to go back I knew that this world was more important to me.”

“But you have the freedom to leave. You can go wherever you like, in this world or that one. We don’t have that liberty, all because of supposed crimes that no one can even remember any more. Do you know why we were banished?”

“You’re not about to pretend that you’re all innocent victims.” I gritted my teeth.

“No, but neither are you.” Adagio. “You made your mistakes, you paid your dues, and now you get to decide your life for yourself. Don’t we deserve the same treatment?”

“You would have to actually repent to earn that.” I said.

“And what if we have?” Aria asked. “There’s a reason that people don’t get murdered around this place, you know.”

“Yeah! And what about all of the places we’ve helped people out? We’re not all bad!” Sonata chirped.

“Even if we weren’t, do you think there’s any harm we could do in Equestria that someone wouldn’t be able to stop? Are you going to keep us imprisoned forever because we asked to leave for a glass of water?”

“There are worse places to live, you know. You weren’t banished to Tartarus.” I said.

Aria slow-clapped. “What an amazing and heroic defense. I’m astounded.”

“I think we visited once. It was fun. This place isn’t.” Sonata said, and I realized why they were sent to a world without magic in it.

“I think we’re all getting a little off-topic.” Adagio said. “No reason to get heated about this when it can be a simple exchange that helps out everybody.”

“You want to go into Equestria and breathe in some magic whenever you want in exchange for leaving this school alone? You think that’s a fair deal? You wouldn’t be able to hurt anybody on this world if you just went through and stayed there.”

“Neither would you, but you’re free to do what you like here. Why aren’t we?” Adagio asked.

“Stop making this about me!” I shouted. “I’m not going to go through the portal and never come back, and I’m not going to accept that I’m somehow an irredeemable person because I made some mistakes in my life.”

“No one’s asking you to. This world’s a part of you, and you want to make it a better place. It’s where you found yourself after a long quest, and now you’re attached to it. We know that feeling, and there’s no shame in being sentimental.” Adagio said, and stepped closer. "But however important it is to you, it’s clearly not so special to… others.”

“If the princesses or whoever really cared about this place, would they be dumping evil sirens into it?” Aria asked, staring directly into my eyes even when I wasn’t looking into hers.

“Or world-conquering she-demons?” Sonata made pretend horns with her fingers.

“Stop.” I said, turning my whole body to her until she dropped the horns and looked sheepish. “You’re right that this place is my home. There’s nothing that matters more to me than keeping it safe. If the princesses made a mistake leaving you here, they’re fallible like all the rest of us. And if they really don’t care…” I stepped forward to meet Adagio. “Then I’ll care for them.”

I could feel the magic coming off of me in waves. It looked like they could too.

“Good. This world needs people like you, Shimmer.” Adagio said. “And we know exactly what you mean. You can’t think that we spent so long here without feeling the same things you do?”

“We’ve seen this place grow up.” said Sonata. “Warts and all!”

“And we didn’t stand by and watch the whole time, either.” Aria added. “This world isn’t just a part of us, we’re a part of it.”

“We helped carve history into the right shape. We had a hand in creating the world you wanted to protect so much. Shouldn’t that make us allies? Can’t we agree to stay out of each others’ hair?” Adagio was talking softer and softer, sounding more and more reasonable. I considered her words for a minute, and none of them showed any impatience.

“You’ll say anything to get your magic back.” I said, finally. “What you care about is taking over this world, using it for attention and adoration, without caring about the little people.”

“Give yourself a while, kid.” Aria said. “You won’t either.”

I continued anyway. “If I let you into the world at large with all of your magic, I’d be damning every place you went to, every little life you didn’t care enough about. In at least a thousand years you haven’t rid the world of evil, you’ve just turned it into a farm. You’re nothing more than predators in a different ecosystem.”

“So what?” asked Aria. “Were we supposed to starve ourselves to death to make the people who banished us happy?”

“Yeah, what she said.” Sonata frowned. “We didn’t put all the bad people in the world, and we haven’t taken most of them out either.”

“If you won’t let us take back our magic, we’re just going to take the long route. It’s not like we’ll never have another chance. Either way, we get what we want. Do you?” Adagio asked. “If what you’re looking for is the safety of your people, then this is the best offer we can give you. If you let us have what we want, you never have to worry about us again. Or are you going to guard this building until the end of time?”

I shook my head. “I don’t need to know how my life’s going to turn out to know giving you your magic back isn’t the right thing to do. And I can’t let you run around this world either, even if it’s not the part I live in. Nobody needs you stirring up chaos, but at least in Equestria there’s a place for you among your own people. If you don’t go through, I’m going to have to stop you permanently.”

Adagio’s face darkened. “You don’t want me as your enemy, child. I could take you here and now if I wanted.”

“Maybe. But then you’d be trapped here. Princess Twilight won’t let you through the portal if anything happens to me, and she’ll make sure to avenge me. After all, I’m her favorite knight, aren’t I?” I said.

They watched me, and I continued. “If you swore a geas to never hurt anyone in this world, I would trust you to come and go.”

“Sure, as soon as you swear to never eat or breathe again.” Aria said, rolling her eyes.

“I hope you see how unreasonable that is.” Adagio said.

“Maybe. But it’s what I can offer you. If you want to make a life for yourself, you can do it peacefully here or on your own in Equestria. Princess Twilight can teach me scrying in a couple weekends, and then I’ll know everything all of you do.” All three of them looked upset by that. “If you’re really noble shapers of history, then it shouldn’t matter if someone’s double-checking your work, should it?”

Sonata hissed. “We don’t trust you.”

“Maybe if we could discuss this with Princess Twilight personally, we could come to an easier agreement.” Adagio said.

“Oh, but Princess Twilight doesn’t care about this place, remember? I do.”

“You’re not giving us much choice, Sunset.” As soon as she was around the other two, Adagio was a thorough leader. They acted like they’d rehearsed every line of this, somehow. “We don’t want to fight you.”

“Then don’t.” I said. “One way or another, you’re leaving Canterlot High alone and letting this world grow unimpeded.”

Adagio sighed and pinched her forehead. “Fine. Girls…?”

Sonata let out the first notes, and they weren’t like the jagged melody I’d heard after we broke their pendants. They were healthier, even if they weren’t beautiful. Aria joined in, and as I realized what was happening shards of red hovered out of their pockets. When Adagio joined in, dozens of them came out of her sleeves, and I realized that she’d picked the pieces of hers up after it shattered.

They joined in the air, coalescing into something a little murkier than the original jewels, with facets that weren’t cut right, but they eached laid a hand on it and their voices started growing into forces of nature.

I drew Caladbolg. It was an instinct already, the feeling of avening anger pouring down my arms and collecting at my palms. I suddenly felt like I’d sprinted a mile, like all of my reasons for fighting had left my body, but I held onto it and paid attention to my breathing over the song.

One…

Their eyes were closed. They were attacking, and I had to get all three of them. I readied a swing over my right shoulder, and the blade moved with instincts I’d never learned.

Two...

I lunged, and they opened their eyes as one and thrust their palms out at me. My vision started to cloud, and my legs slowed down as the air got heavier.

Three…

I lost a breath to the surprise, and I still wasn’t in range. I didn’t want to kill them, but if I could scare them off maybe there’d be another chance later, maybe I really could learn scrying and get them to behave.

I was tired of hurting people who I might be able to save, if I were just a little faster or stronger or better at arguing.

Four…

I pushed Caladbolg into the floor like a pole-vaulter, leaving a nasty gash in the tile, and came close enough to swing. The cut was clear and simple,

Five…

I sliced through the gem and their hands. Caladbolg passed through their skin without destroying it, because I willed it not to sever the flesh, but it cut deep. The scars would almost match, before they finally healed over.

Six…

They recoiled, fell, and I dismissed the blade before it could take all of the rest of stamina. It was close, but at least I wasn’t swaying.

“Leave.” I said. “Leave and don’t come back.”

They did.