Magic, Sisters, and Hosting the Colors

Sunset Shimmer sat with her guitar and looking at the unlit candle, the two digital thermometers, voltage meter, and the UBS geiger counter all connected to her laptop in front of her and let out a frustrated groan as it recorded the drop in radiation, temperature, and electricity when she played, but the candle still remained unlit despite the rise in temperature near the candle wick. The power was there and it was going where she wanted, but the candle still remained unlit after twenty five tries. She was missing something and knew that if she could just crack this she would be more useful to the others.

"Why aren't you working?" She asked the candle as she went over it in her head again. She had focused on the candle and played while adjusting to the temperature readings, nearly having it reach hot enough to ignite it before dropping suddenly. She had even tried memorizing the cords that got the best response, but it just didn't seem to be enough. "What am I missing? What is the missing factor that will allow me to cast spells similar to the ones I did in Equestria?" She said to herself as she thought about it.

Finally she decided to just go fix herself a quick supper and take a break. While fixing herself some tomato soup and a grill cheese sandwich she really didn't think about it when she turned on some music and began singing along. it was just as she was getting into the song while pouring the soup into a bowl and putting the sandwich on a plate that she noticed the flames of the gas stove were dancing along with her voice. As soon as she stopped singing they stopped, but the flames on both burners had danced. Grabbing the candle from the living room and setting it near the stove while turning on the other burners as she restarted the song and just let herself go with the music.

She couldn't help but smile as she both sang and ponied up while the flames didn't just dance, but leapt and twirled as she directed them with her hands while dancing. As they whirled around her she saw not only the candle on the counter ignite, but at her direction the two on the table ignited as well and knew the parts she had been missing. She had been trying to use the guitar as a surrogate for her horn and forgot that even the basic spells needed you to concentrate upon the spell itself and not the medium through which it was casted, be it a unicorns horn or through a song. Yet there was also other components to it as well that explained why it had worked at the Battle of the Bands. It was a combination of both music and emotions that were the keys. The music allowed her to harmonize with the magic, she was sure that if someone could do a brain scan of her as she used it it would show her brainwaves were in sync with the magic at that moment. As for the emotional side of it, you had to be in the right mindset to access it. That meant that if you were not in the right mindset at that moment the magic wouldn't work and ponying up was the indicator of when you had reached the right mindset. Thinking on it, she then realized that it also explained why during the final battle with the sirens they had a sudden power boost like the Rainbooms. Their gems had been how they had been powering their abilities but once they had ponied up they had tapped into Equestrian magic... Only they had still been pumping all of it through their gems out of habit and when they lost it had created a backlash through the gems that had hurt them, but they had also acted like a circuit breaker at the same time and protected them from the full force of the magical blast. It was enough to change them back to who they were before and cure them without them waking up in a crater like she did.

She dispelled the flames and released the magic while turning off the stove as she thought about that. She still had plenty of gems from Equestria in both her safety deposit box and the safe in her closet and wondered if there was a way to make pendents that could intentionally act like circuit breakers. No, shields against magic would be better since circuit breakers were a one shot deal unless... That was when her stomach growled and she remembered her dinner. Setting her food on the table and grabbing her laptop she sat down and began eating while working out her ideals on the computer.

Koemi's star ball floated in front of her as she also floated above the bed as she meditated. Her mind stretching out and feeling everyone in the mansion. She felt the playful mischievousness of the Kama Itachi, Aiko's love briefly touched her, Toshi and Aria's wisdom and courage were similar yet Aria felt like a storm while Toshi felt like the calm at the center of the storm. Sonata of course confused her, she was so full of life and light that was in perfect balance with a deep darkness filled with death that lurked inside of her. Then she felt Adagio, the calm strength that had held the sirens together for over a thousand years. Next to her was a mortal who guarded her heart with an angry harshness that made her think of a diamond. Finally she felt something in the basement that was as frustrating as trying to catch a glimpse of a shadow just at the edge of her vision. No matter how hard she tried to feel it it always seemed to be just slip away from her and she finally just gave up.

Stretching her mind out further and felt the city the surrounding area. She felt every living thing in the city, but the further out she stretched the harder it got to focus in on most individuals. After several minutes she finally found who she was looking for. "Hello Mae."

Tamamo no Mae looked up from reading her tablet, "Hello little Koemi." She thought at her sister as she put down the tablet. "I see you have made it to Canterlot, despite my best effort."

Tamamo no Koemi frowned at that before continuing, "We don't have to do this you know. You could just give up whatever you are planning and just disappear."

"I could say the same to you, but we both know your too idealistic to actually listen to your older sister. Even when you were little and everything was obviously about to go completely wrong, you still persisted, thinking that with enough heart you could succeed and always ended up losing." Tamamo no Mae thought back.

"It isn't about winning or losing Mae." Koemi responded. "It is about stopping you before you go to far and a lot of people die."

That got a chuckle out of Tamamo no Mae, "If only you knew my plan." She thought back before adding. "Let's just say that you are half right little cricket." With that she sent the image of one of their shared memories, which was also when Koemi had earned that nickname, of her hugging Koemi as a little girl while pulling a fish out of her clothes after she had slid down a muddy hill and into a river. She laughed as she broke the connection and blocked her out completely. So long as she lived she would never let Koemi live down her first hunt and not only failing to catch a rabbit, but also discovering the quickest way to the river and how to catch a few fish in her kimono while wearing it. In her mind it was tied with another for the best examples of Koemi's belief that she could do anything if she put enough heart into it and often ending up in hilarious situations that big sister Mae had to rescue her from. The other one had been the day Koemi ran into the village covered in honey and being chased by the bees, a couple of badgers, and a bear while still carrying the branch with the remains of the hive on it while screaming for big sister Mae to save her. She loved her sister to death, even after all these years, but her idealistic beliefs tended to snowball into trouble of epic proportions that made her wonder if there was a god or goddess somewhere laughing their divine ass off because of it. As far as she was concerned, as long as it didn't involve her, the Tanuki could have the job of saving Koemi from whatever trouble she managed to get herself into and Tamamo no Mae would be the one sitting back and laughing from now on.

That night Pipsqueak dreamed of sailing on the ocean aboard a frigate with his friends from school as his crew. There was Rumble, Beesting, Aura, Bloo, Chip Mint, First Base, Lightning Flare, Tiny Topaz, and his new friends the Kama Itachi sisters. As normal there was another ship and they were chasing it so they could steal their gold and buy candy when he felt a chill run up his spine as the ship they were chasing disappeared. Then his friends disappeared one by one until only he remained. "Cor Blimey, what's all this then?" He asked as the ship took on a more sinister look and a strange green glowing fog started rising around the ship. Soon he couldn't see very far and was getting scared.

"Right you little git." A voice said from the fog, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. "I haven't waited this long for one of the seeds from the fruit of me loincloth to finally show some sign of being worthy enough just for some blasted fox girl with a great pair of tits to come along and sink it all. Mind you, if I had a body I would have raped her by now."

"W... Wh...Who...Whose there?" Pipsqueak stuttered out as he waved the toy cutlass about while trying to see through the fog.

"Right, got to remember too young for your testes to have dropped yet, but you haven't ran on me yet." The voice said as a wind blew away the fog and a huge shaggy blonde man with a big yellow beard,a red pirate captains coat, and a cutlass in it's sheath appeared before him. "Now let's have a look at my family legacy." He said as he quickly picked up Pipsqueak by the collar and held him off the ground with one hand while taking the toy cutlass from him with the other. "Not much to look at and a bit small." Pipsqueak tried to swing at him and kick him but he just held him just far enough to be out of range. "But you've got spirit boy, I'll give you that, and a lot of fight in your heart which is worth more than ten grown men without a single spine between them." He then dropped him onto a pile of netting and watched Pipsqueak get hopelessly tangled as he tried to fight his way out. "I can see why Aria has been polishing my old sword and getting it in all nice and ready for you, or at least she was, but now she's getting ready for a fight she might not win and I'm stuck in the dry docks with out a ship of my own to sail. Then there's you in the shallows of the bay with a little dinghy and longing for the open seas in a real ship to fly the colors from." He then smiled as the boy finally started to figure out how to get loose and said, "So tell you what, old Captain Yellowbeard here wants in on this fight and you'll want to help your three little girlfriends when it starts. So just say the family motto 'Us Yellowbeards are never more dangerous than when we're dead' and bob's your uncle, I'll turn that tiny piss ant of a body into a lean mean seven foot, eight inch tall, pirate wrecking machine. With your head on my shoulders we'll wreck civilization. So what do you say, ready to host the colors in this here modern day world and show them what a Yellowbeard can really do?" Smiling Captain Yellowbeard reached out his hand to Pipsqueak who didn't even think twice as they shook an sealed the deal.

Author's Note

Magic and not just any type of magic either, but Equestrian Musical Magic. Also a reason why they pony up, why the sirens didn't wake up in a crater where the stage use to be, and why Rarity lost her ability to pony up and had to use dark magic as a crutch to regain some of it.

I felt I needed a bit of something between the Tamamo no Sisters and a brief telepathic communication between them felt right. Before anyone asks, no, they won't be doing this again or doing it with anyone else. Koemi had to use meditation and her star ball to do so and it can only be done between two people that share a deep connection. In this case the fact that they are sisters and really do love each other despite being on opposite sides. The only other person Koemi could do it with is Aiko because of their love for each other, but they rarely do since cell phones are easier. Also Tamamo no is their family and clan name and currently there are only two members in the world and Tamamo no Mae is officially the head of the clan since she is the oldest.

Guess who is about to really mix things up.

As for how this works, think of them like a mixture of Firestorm and Etrigan the Demon, only it's Yellowbeard and Pipsqueak instead of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and a teenager with nuclear powers or a Demon. Don't think they will be powerless either, Yellowbeard is big, stronger in death than he ever was in life, as tough as cast iron, can out drink death, and is as fast and agile as a hurricane. If he seems too nice right now it's because he is trying not to scare Pipsqueak, but once things start The madness will begin. Also he's not the only blast from the past that will be in this story causing me to have to add the crossover tag.