Chapters Recompense and Redemption
Five years. We had been exiled from our home, hell our dimension, for five years. But it was going to change that night at the Battle of the Bands. My sisters and I would finally get back to Equestria. Of course, that’s what we thought. The universe, on the other hand, decided to label us the bad guys.
The entire student body was there, as far as I could tell. Most seemed calm if a bit annoyed, others were about ready to kill each other. They pushed and shoved to find seats as close to the stage as they could, nearly starting several fights in the process. Thankfully, nothing violent happened. Yet. This, of course, was all the unfortunate result of the spells we were casting on the students and staff to gain magical energy. It’s not like we really had a choice in the matter. The only spells my sisters and I know are the ones to collect the energy, and they all have a side effect that it drains people of positive emotions. Of course, those spells are also the reason we got into this mess in the first place.
Seven people were noticeably absent though, I didn’t know if it was a good thing or not, but I wasn’t about to complain. The seven had already given us enough headaches to last a lifetime. Though, as I said before, we were the “bad guys” and the seven were the “good guys.” It’s our fault though, we should have known a princess of Equestria would probably beat us, but we were desperate. Desperate to get home. We were going to get home, no matter what.
That’s what it felt like as we went on stage for our performance at least. We were high on the magical energy emanating from the crowd. We simply believed nothing was going to stop us. Even when they started to play a counter spell on top of the hill across from us, we didn’t think much of it. Though better safe than sorry, as they always say.
We summoned a magical projection of giant sea ponies. They’re not the prettiest things, but it adds to the theatrics of it all. We’ve used the projections several times before, enough that people, er, ponies often think they’re our true forms. But even in our world, we’re beautiful. My sisters looked to me for confirmation to move ahead with our attack, which I simply nodded back.
It wasn’t really much of an attack. It was simply us trying to scare them off. We weren’t even expecting them to fight back. Well, color us surprised when all of a sudden we were getting bombarded with counter magic. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt at all, but it was like being shoved constantly, though from what Aria told me, having diamonds shot at your projection still hurts. Even then though, they’re counter-magic wasn’t anything special.
That’s when she joined their group, Sunset Shimmer. I know it's really not her fault, what happened. But that doesn’t mean I don’t hate her for it. She starts casting the counter spell with her friends and started to push us back, but that wasn’t even the worst part.
I was focused on the little group, trying to figure out what to do, when Sonata taped my shoulder, calling ‘Dagi,’ her little nick name for me. I glanced at her, a bit mad as she was making me lose concentration, but any venom I had quickly drained when I saw the look on her face. Pure Terror. I hadn’t seen that look on her face since we were being exiled. I hated seeing that look. She was looking to the sky, wide eyed. I followed her gaze and my eyes went as wide if not wider than hers. In the sky was forming a giant, magical alicorn. The thing was easily one hundred, maybe two hundred feet tall, completely dwarfing our projections. It was horrifying.
To make it worse, it’s horn started to glow; it was charging up a spell. All I could do is stare at this thing, I had no idea how they managed to pull that off when they were barely able to scratch us before. I didn’t get to think about it long before Sonata called me again, asking what we should do. Well… what could we do?
Well, there was one thing I could do at least. As I watched the alicorn rear up, about to cast the spell, I grabbed my sisters and held them close, hoping to take the brunt of whatever it was casting. There was a moment of silence before a bright light impacted us and the pain started. It was…nothing like I’ve ever felt before; like hundreds of thousands of burning needles piercing every pore and every inch of flesh on my body. It was unbearable. I think I recall hearing someone screaming, though it might have only been me, it was hard to tell. It felt like it lasted for hours before it finally let up.
We felt… drained I guess is the best way to put it, like something a part of us was missing, though we soon found out why. After a moment of catching my breath, I opened my eyes to make sure my sisters were fine. It seemed that they got hit, though I got the brunt of the pain like I had hoped. Aria actually asked me if I was ok, I wasn’t, but I also have never cared about myself when my sister’s safety is involved, so I just nodded. Sonata seemed to take a little longer than me to recover, but she was always the “little sister.” We usually made sure no pain came to her; we failed this time.
It took until then to notice our necklaces shattered. I can’t even begin to say how soul shattering it was. See, these necklaces were the source of our magic yes, but they were something much more important to us. They were the only thing we had left from our parents, our home. Those necklaces were coming of age presents, our parents telling us they trusted us to go out beyond our little town. A trust that was probably shattered because of our exile.
The necklaces were our one memory of and our only hope of getting back to our parents on our own volition… and they shattered.
I’m surprised I didn’t cry there, hell, I’m surprised Sonata didn’t either. No, we ran away first, booed off stage and being pelted with everything the crowd could throw at us. We’re just the “villains” there anyway, I shouldn’t have expected any different.
It took a few days for all of it to sink in, all of us, even Aria, spent hours crying. We didn’t leave our apartment at all, why would we? We had no hope of getting home. We just sat, cried, comforted each other.
Through all that though, there was a lot of time to think. And because of that, we got hope, hope that maybe we could still get home. Well, I came up with the idea, none of us liked it, but it seemed like the best bet. That’s what brought me here to Principal Celestia’s office. Our last hope of getting home.
Recompense and Redemption
Celestia looks to me with neutral eyes. Probably thinking about if she believes my story or not. I don’t blame her, my sisters and I used our magic on her and her sister as well as their students. She has no reason to believe or trust me. In fact, she probably will call the cops, though that’s why I made sure not to bring Sonata or Aria. They can take care of each other if I’m not there for them, they’re strong.
Celestia shifts slightly, leaning forward, putting her elbows on her desk. I squirm a bit in my seat under her gaze, I wonder if this is what it’s like to be around Princess Celestia. My eyes widen slightly as I see her eyes go from neutral looking too sympathetic.
“Miss Dazzle, I am really sorry that you and your sisters were pushed to do such drastic things.”
That was surprising. After everything that happened, all the anger and pain we caused, she believes me. Even more shocking, she’s sympathetic, why? Why would she be nice to me after everything that’s happened? I mean I’m not about to complain about it, I had hoped for it really, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t dumbfounded when it happened.
“A-after everything we’ve done, you believe me? Why?”
She gives a downtrodden smile before answering my question, “I’m sure you know Vice Principal Luna is my sister. I know all too well the lengths siblings go to help each other, granted I’ve never had to deal with magic before the whole Fall Formal incident, but it’s more or less the same thing.”
I gaze at her with understanding. It was something I actually didn’t think about. Though the past week I haven’t thought about much other than how we failed. To think someone actually understood, maybe even went through something similar to what we went through was honestly reassuring. Maybe there was hope for us after all.
“So you’ll help me find them?” I ask, she never actually said she would yet.
“Well it shouldn’t be too hard to find them, lunch is soon, so they should be in the cafeteria then. If you want I could even call them here. Though before any of that, I do have one question.”
I tilted my head, raising an eyebrow.
“How did it come to this in the first place?”
“You mean: How did we get exiled?” She gives a small nod. Once again, I’m surprised, not expecting her to want to hear, or care about that part of the story. Admittedly, I don’t want to explain it all, it is a long story and it could be easily summed up anyway.
“Basically, cultural differences, we went to Equestria to get magical energy to kind of prove our worth to our hometown, the Equestrians responded by sending their most powerful mage. The court mage against three, new to magic, sirens, fair fight, right? Well, this is the result.”
Celestia gives a frustrated sigh, dumbfounding me for the third time in this conversation.
“Cultural differences seem to cause every problem in the, apparently, many universes it seems. Again, I’m sorry you had that happen to you.”
I just tilt my head, not something I could argue for or against. A moment later I just simply nod.
“Now do you want to go meet them at the cafeteria or do you want me to send for them?”
I think about it for a bit. I wanted to go to them, a show of good faith. Thinking about it now though, I wasn’t sure. I would have to walk the halls of a school that probably hated me; to be in a cafeteria filled with people that very well might tear me apart, not that I wasn’t expecting that from the seven either. I give out a defeated sigh.
“Can you call them here? You might be forgiving, but the other kids I’m not so sure about.”
“While I would love to disagree with you there, but I know you are probably right. Hold on one moment,” She leans over to an intercom on her desk, pressing a button to activate it, “Cherry, can you please call Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack to my office please, thank you.”
“What about Twilight Sparkle?” She was the one person I think could help us, she was, of course, from Equestria.
“Oh, unfortunately, she left soon after the Battle of the Bands. Is that a problem?”
I let out a breath. Could we even get home now? Damn… Well, I’m already here and there’s no harm in asking them…
“Let's hope not…”
She nods, opening her mouth to say something but the intercom cuts her off.
“Principal Celestia, the six are here, should I send them in?”
“Yes please Cherry,” Celestia replies. She looks to me with a reassuring smile.
“You ready?”
“Not really…” I wrap my arms around myself under my hoodie, comforting myself as best I can, I am really not prepared for this. We both look over to the door as it starts to open. The first one to enter is the rainbow-haired lead guitarist. It suddenly dawns on me that I don’t know any of these girls names except Sunset Shimmer.
Rainbow hair’s eyes first go to Celestia, then finds their way to me. As she sees me, her demeanor changes to a grimace.
“What is she doing here?” She asks in her tomboyish voice. She opens her mouth to go into a rant, most likely, and I lean forward slightly, getting ready to try to defend myself. However, before either of us could get a word out, a proper and crystal-like voice cuts in.
“It is a school Rainbow Dash, she has a right to be here, don’t be so rude.”
The voice belongs to the purple haired keytar player of the group. She walks in with a sway, similar to how my sisters and I normally walk when we’re needing to get something. Behind her walks the pink haired, shy, tambourine player and the pink haired, hyperactive, drummer.
Behind them is the farm girl who plays bass and Sunset Shimmer. I keep my eyes on her for a moment before the farm girl catches my attention.
“Ah don’t know Rarity, you saw what ‘appened, can we really trust ‘er?”
“Applejack, doesn’t she deserve a chance? I mean you gave one to me.” Sunset Shimmer responds to the farm girl.
“Girls, you know she’s right here right?” Celestia silences them with her question. They look to her, apologizing.
“Now girls, I called you all here because Miss Dazzle here wanted to talk to you,” She motions with her hand to me. I bite my lip as I watch all of their eyes turn to me. I normally don’t have this kind of problem, especially not with a group this small, but after everything that happened…I don’t know, it’s just different. I take a deep breath before opening up.
“W-well I know this is going to sound crazy, and you really have no reason to trust me, but… I need your help…”
The bass player, Applejack, I think I heard Sunset call her, raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms.
“Say what now?”
“Its like I said, I… or really my sisters and I need you girl’s help…” Of course, they don’t trust me, I just hope I can convince them.
“Uh… help with what?” Sunset speaks up this time. This is the part I know they won’t like, probably wouldn’t agree to.
“We need to get back to Equestria, and to do that we need your help.”
I close my eyes, waiting for the shock and disapproval of the six girls. I’m not exactly disappointed as I hear a few ‘what’s’. Their voices are a mix of shock, anger, and curiosity. Slowly, I open my eyes, again, it’s as I expected. The lead guitarist, Rainbow Dash, has her arms crossed, a scowl on her face, she really seems to be a stubborn one. Then again, she did have a song called Awesome as I wanna be. Applejack also has her arms crossed but seems to be more curious and skeptical than anything. The rest of the group just seems to be curious, looking at me like I have two heads. I simply sigh, looking down.
“Listen, I know you probably won’t believe me, but my sisters and I need to get home, our home.”
“What do you mean by home? You just want to go back to Equestria to take it over,” Rainbow exclaims. This is the kind of thing I expected, at least I was prepared for it.
“We never wanted to take over Equestria, the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Did we do some bad? Yes, but that doesn’t make us demons. We just want to get home.”
There is a large moment of silence, I’m not entirely sure how long it dragged out, but it felt like it would go on forever. Thankfully, Applejack broke the silence.
“Well… Ah believe her.”
My eyes shoot up to her, not expecting that from anyone here, though maybe it has to do with them being magical.
“I’m a little skeptical, there’s a lot of stories about the sirens from Equestrian history, but, I’m willing to give you girls a chance,” Sunset adds. I smile as I start to hear two more voices support me, the two pink haired girls. However, there still are some doubts.
“I don’t know girls, they’ve already shown that they are good at deception and trickery. I’m not saying that she isn’t telling the truth, I’m just saying let us take this with a grain of salt, and not throw ourselves into the fire as it were,” Rarity warns. I’m not exactly mad or upset. She’s probably the smartest among them for thinking that way.
“Yea, we can’t just believe her just like that, what if she’s just trying to break us up,” Rainbow raises her arms over her head. She seems angrier than the others, though it's understandable why, given what she said. It was our plan to make the six break up so they couldn’t hinder our plans. I take a deep breath before standing up. I could spend hours trying to persuade them to my side, but in the end, it’s their decision, so I’ll leave them to make their decision. I walk up to Sunset, pulling a note out of my pocket to hand to her.
“This is our address. I don’t want to force you girls to do anything you don’t want to, so if you decide to help us, come see us. If not…” I shrug and start to head out, though before I do I turn back.
“Thanks for helping Principal Celestia, and thank you girls for coming here.”
Hopefully, they’ll help us, if not, who knows what my sisters and I will do.
Recompense and Redemption
The east side of Canterlot isn’t the best place to live. In fact, it’s the worst part of Canterlot. Gangs, drugs, prostitutes, any aspect of the underworld is available here, for the right price. The cops don’t come to this side of town, why would they? The gangs control the Eastside, even if they fight amongst themselves for who is the ‘most’ in control. So, there’s gunfire every now and again, sometimes not even that. Just a dead body found in an apartment or on the street. Ah, home.
Obviously, we wouldn’t live here if we didn’t have to. It’s cheap housing and the landlord is a complete pushover. With a pout and the flick of my hair, we don’t have to pay rent for another month. We would pay if we had jobs, but it’s a lot harder to fake the paperwork required to get a job then it is to fake the paperwork required to go to school; so, we did what we had to do to survive.
I let out a breath as I start to head off of the bus. Our apartment is two blocks away, but I’m not worried about walking in such a dangerous neighborhood. We made friends with the local gang leader, Chrysalis, as soon as we moved in, and her ‘boys’ make sure nothing bad happens to us. It’s not ideal, but it was necessary at the time. I slide a pair of ear pods in as I take out the mp3 player they were attached to, it was a piece of junk really, but it was a gift from Aria and Sonata, a birthday present actually, so it was one of my most valued possessions.
I scroll down the list of music till I get to one of my favorite relaxing bands, Flagship. They’re not the best band in the world, but they have some great music to just lie down and listen to, or in this case, walk and listen to. I hit play and let the music do its work.
Going out on the eastside, where I lived months ago Owe it all to a feeling, that I love
I walk down the sidewalk, avoiding the trash that clutters it. The street is fairly empty of people at least. A couple people here and there, some just hanging out, others walking. I wonder if something is going on, there are usually more people on the street. Then again, I’ve never really walked the street during a school day. I shrug to myself, it’s more than likely nothing. Though that kind of shows the mindset around the neighborhood.
Running round circles in New Orleans With a girl that I used to know Spending all of the money, that I don’t own
A car passes by me, turning the corner as I reach it. Glancing at it, I see it’s Chrysalis’ car. I always thought she worked during the day but I guess being a gang leader is a full-time job. I probably should tell her that the six girls may or may not be coming around, so she can let her guys know they’re under her protection. I’ll check in at home first though, I really just want to relax.
I'm faded Ah, sure enough You said it's alright, nothing's right
Faded Can never get enough You said it's alright, nothing's right
I turn my head looking at the empty lot that serves as the neighborhood’s park and junkyard. Several dozen tires litter the space, some arranged in walls and little structures that the neighborhood kids put together. From what I understand, the park is a kind of safe zone, anyone can go there without fear of drugs, alcohol, or death. Of course, these rules are broken from time to time, but they’re not taken lightly. The full weight of what counts as ‘law’ in this part of Canterlot is brought down on anyone caught doing something they deem illegal in the various ‘parks’ in East Canterlot.
And you cut me off Yeah, you passed me by
Ahead of me is the apartment complex my sisters and I live in. It’s a simple brownstone, almost completely the same as the rest of the block, the only difference being a slightly different brick color on the upper floors due to a fire that happened years ago. Like the neighborhood itself, the building was dirty, cramped, and, most importantly, home. We live on the top floor of the building. Thankfully though, while the building looks rather small, it’s pretty deep; each floor has a few rooms that can hold a family, or in our case three sisters.
Hanging out all of the time I never really want to go Calling all of the people that I know
Opening the door, I’m greeted by a small, pretty, black cat with emerald green eyes, trying to run out. Somewhat expecting it, I was prepared to catch her before she ran out. Picking her up, I pet her a bit, pulling the door closed. This is Jasmine, Ms. Fairweather, the second-floor tenant’s, cat. She tries to get out every chance she gets but, being such a friendly cat, she’s easy to stop. I bring her up the staircase to the second-floor landing, setting her down. Giving her one more pat on the head I turn, smiling, and head up the staircase again.
I think I'm losing the feeling The feeling felt years ago I can't get them back but they tell me they're in my soul
I push open the front door to the apartment, pulling my key out of the lock. It’s very dark in the room, though that’s probably from Aria taking a nap on the couch, err, her bed. See the apartment only has two bedrooms, so while Sonata and I take the two bedrooms, Aria uses the couch. I take a moment to let my eyes adjust to the dark, using the time to take off my shoes. I move towards the hallway, being as quiet on the hardwood floor as I can be. It’s not exactly hard, the floor was fairly new when we rented the apartment originally and we didn’t do anything to break or weaken it, so there wasn’t any creaking or squeaking to any of the floorboards. The hardest part was not stubbing my toe on a wall or anything, even if it’s during the day, with the blackout curtains Aria got for the living room, the apartment is pitch black.
I'm faded Ah, sure enough You said it's alright, nothing's right
I make it down the hall, where there are three doors: one leads to the bathroom, one leads to my room and the third leads to Sonata’s room. Glancing down I see there’s light showing through the crack between the door and the floor. Sonata was probably reading one of her manga books or listening to music. It’s the most common thing for any of us to do really. Whether it really is ‘music’ or not, our magic is tightly bound to music, and because of that, it’s of high interest to most sirens. That doesn’t mean our tastes are all the same though. For example, while I like most genres of music, my favorite is alternative rock, while Aria prefers heavy metal. Sonata, funny enough, doesn’t talk about what kind of music is her favorite. Even when we manage to sneak a peek at the songs she listens to they’re all over the place in terms of genre. I sigh before turning away from her door. I won’t disturb her; mostly because I don’t want to answer the questions she most definitely has just yet.
Faded Can never get enough You said it's alright, nothing's right
Opening my door, I’m greeted by my, admittedly, sparsely decorated room. Its purpose is for me to sleep and relax in, not much else, but that’s how I like it. I’m more likely to shirk off responsibilities if I’m working in my room then if I was in the living room or kitchen. It still has some stuff though. Obviously, it has a bed and a dresser with a mirror over it. On the dresser, I have some of the makeup that I’ve managed to obtain throughout our time here. I also have a waste basket and laundry basket but as one would expect there’s nothing special about them. On top of the bed, however, is my pride and joy: A nicely cleaned and maintained acoustic guitar. I bought it years ago when we were first settling in, from a flea market. It was in terrible shape but I got it, wanting to make it mine. For the last couple years, I spent all the spare money we made and used all the favors I could spare to get the parts to refurbish the guitar, and it’s finally done. Smiling to myself I put down my bag before grabbing the guitar and falling back onto my bed. Unfortunately, with Aria sleeping, I don’t want to play or even tune it; the walls here are kind of thin, so instead, I simply place it on the ground before closing my eyes, letting myself go into my thoughts.
And you cut me off Yeah, you passed me by You pissed me off
Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is the discussion with the six girls. While not the thing I really wanted to focus on, I should probably think of what exactly to tell my sisters. The truth no doubt, but if there’s one thing I learned on the streets of East Canterlot, it’s that there are many different ‘truth’s. The whole truth, partial truth, technical truth, all manner of variation. I don’t know why I’m dwelling on it though. I should just tell them the whole truth, though, what was the whole truth? The six didn’t have a clear answer, and I didn’t want to wait around for them to make one. In hindsight, it might have been stupid, but I didn’t want them to come to a rash decision. They had no reason to trust us, they still don’t. Really, the truth is that they may or may not help us. It feels like a stupid thing to tell the girls though, they expected me to come back with an answer and I came back with more or less a shrug. Still, they deserve to know what happened.
Can't stop Fighting for all I know Can't stop I gave up two months ago
Thinking about the meeting deeper though, I’m kind of surprised Sunset was so willing to give us a chance. She’s probably right, there are probably hundreds of stories about the ‘evil’ sirens and how they tried to destroy Equestria. Like most legends though, they’re ten percent truth, ninety percent fiction. This is no different, we went to Equestria, and we did do wrong, but ‘taking over Equestria’ never even crossed our minds, not that it would have. Still though, it’s understandable for someone who heard those stories to not trust the people those stories were based on. I guess it has to do with her past here as well. She did kind of have a whole magical reform before we showed up, if the stories are to be believed, and we made sure they were credible. Admittedly, even if she chooses not to help us, it’s nice to have someone else from our world around.
I don't know where I'm going I don't know where to go Holding on to the feelings that I know
The others of the group are kind of a mixed bag. The shy one and the hyper one both seem to be very willing to give us a chance, which I’m grateful for. They definitely seem the nicest. Rainbow Dash would probably need a lot of convincing, which would involve who knows what. She might just accept us because that’s what the others are doing. She seems the type to care more of what her friends think then what she thinks. Applejack though was the interesting one. She accepted what I said as fact without any questions. I wonder if it has to do with her connection to the magic. If they come to talk I might ask them. Lastly, there is Rarity. She seems like she wants to accept us, but is being realistic about it. She was and probably still is worried I’m doing this all as a deception, which admittedly, I probably would have beforehand to make sure they didn’t interfere, now though, desperation outweighs such things. Hopefully, with a bit of convincing from her friends and us, she’ll be on board. Really though, who knows, this could all be pointless speculating and they just will never show up. Hopefully not though.
I think I find this funny I think I'm gonna take it slow I'm thinking about the people that I know
I sigh a bit as my playlist comes to an end, it doesn’t last nearly as long as I want it to. I start to open my eyes to see how long I’ve been lying there, but as I open them I’m met with Sonata’s figure right over me.
“Gah! Sonata! What have I told you about startling me like that?” I ask, my heart racing at a thousand beats per second. As I actually focus on her face now, I can see just how tired and down she looks. It doesn’t help that my comment made her smile falter.
“S-sorry Dagi, I just got excited when I noticed you were home,” She steps back a foot or two. I wasn’t really mad at her, especially not nowadays, she’s the one who took our defeat hardest and she hasn’t really recovered yet, I’m sure my news isn’t going to help. Before I answer however, Aria walks into the doorway, rubbing one of her eyes with a hand.
“What’s going on, you two are so loud,” She ends with a yawn. She seems to be taking the whole situation well, but I can see that it’s affecting her just as hard as us, but she is the oldest sister, and she seems to think being strong for us will keep us from falling apart. While effective in some regards, I don’t think it’s to the level she thinks it should be.
Well this is it I guess, they’re both here and they’re expecting some sort of answer on how it went out of me. I take a moment to sit up, glancing towards my curtained window.
“They didn’t give me an answer. I asked them to come here if they decide to help us. It seemed promising because a few of them believed me, but some of them have their doubts. “
Glancing back to them, it seems Sonata deflated a little, hardly noticeable to anyone except someone who knows her like we do. Her smiled ran away completely, but there is still a glint of hope in her eye. I do like that about her, even when she takes things as hard as our situation and the banishment, she still seems to find hope. It’s part of the reason why we decided to try and live in this world instead of just letting ourselves rot.
Aria on the other hand, didn’t seem to change at all, she continues to have a continuous glare and kept her arms crossed. She was a lot harder to read, even for me being her sister, but she kind of prides herself on it anyway. I have a feeling though, this news doesn’t surprise her, honestly it wouldn’t’ have surprised me, and it didn’t when it happened. What surprised me was who accepted us and who didn’t. Well at least this is going better than expected.
“So there’s still a chance they’ll help?” Sonata asked, drawing my attention back to her. I gave her a small smile and nodded, how could I not smile, just thinking the same way makes me feel better.
“Yea Sonata, there’s a chance, a good one I say,” As if to emphasize my point, the door-bell rings.
Author's Note
The song that I used in this chapter if Faded by the band Flagship. A Very good band I recommend, and I thought it would be interesting to incorporate it into the chapter and story in general. I hope you all like it.