As the sirens' power had slowly dwindled over the centuries, they had abandoned the abilities that fed off that power. Now, finally, at the eve of their victory, Adagio had felt that it was time to start tapping into their carefully hoarded reserves. With their gems as a focus, Adagio reopened the telepathic links that had lain dormant between her sisters for a millennium.
[Sonata] Is anyone else really hungry right now?
[Aria] No, it's just you. We ate all those schoolgirls while you weren't looking.
[Sonata] Aria!
Adagio was beginning to remember why they had shut down those links.
It was too late to do anything about it now, though. The show was about to start, and she was not going to miss it.
[Adagio] Places. We move on my mark.
The three sirens took their position and swaggered onto the stage as one.
[Sonata] Wow, feel the conflict! This is going to be EPIC!
[Adagio] Keep it together, Sonata. We need to harmonise for this.
[Aria] Suck up the energy, you two. We need something to work with here.
[Sonata] I'm sucking, I'm sucking. And harmonising. I still think we should have eaten first.
[Adagio] We have not eaten properly since the end of the civil war! We were on a schedule, and I am not going to rush our first proper meal in a hundred fifty years. Our victory feast is all locked up, nice and helpless. They'll wait until after the show.
[Aria] Mmmm, fresh schoolgirl. I want the purple one.
[Adagio] That one is mine! She's their leader, I'm our leader, so I get to eat her. Have the orange one.
[Sonata] Awww, I wanted that one.
[Aria] You can have her. Looks pretty stringy to me. I'll have the yellow one.
[Adagio] The pink-haired yellow one, or the stripey-
[Aria] Stripey! Ugh, the yellow one with pink hair looks like she's mostly fat and tears.
[Adagio] Fine. Can we at least agree that we save the pink one for dessert?
[Sonata] Sure.
[Aria] Sure.
Adagio assayed the crowd with a critical eye. They were already pretty drained from the pre-show and the earlier stages of the Battle of the Bands. Not much to look at, but they would do as a start. It was definitely time to move on to something bigger and better.
[Aria] Okay, we've gotten all the residual energy, our gems are practically glowing, and we've only just started. This is too easy.
[Adagio] Time to start priming the crowd. They look pretty listless, but some might be fighting back. Aria, Sonata, focus on anyone who's still resisting. I'll save power for any surprises.
[Aria] On it.
[Sonata] Eeee! Fun!
"Welcome to the show..."
Adagio liked the song. It was good. They'd all worked together on it, putting their own personal touches in there.
"... your time is running out..."
Of course, Sonata's contribution had been one line. And Adagio hated it. But it was better to keep it in than listen to her whine about not being appreciated for the next week.
"Feel the wave of sound, as it crashes down..."
Adagio liked the shared imagery of sound and the sea. It spoke of the siren's dual nature.
[Aria] Okay, my gem is full. First time in ages. Feels good.
[Sonata] That bitch in the third row has finally given up. No resistors left.
[Adagio] Finally! Let's do it!
"You can't turn away; we'll make you want to stay..."
The mental locks slipped into place, leashing the crowd to their song. The resulting power surge was glorious, like riding a wave that would never break. Adagio blazed with glory as the power inside her was finally unbound. The whole stinking world would worship her, now that they could see her true form!
"We will be adored!"
[Adagio] Status report.
[Aria] I'm good. I'm fucking fantastic! I'm going to fucking tear every single--
[Adagio] Aria!
[Aria] --I'm ascended. Happy?
[Adagio] Esctatic. Sonata?
[Sonata] ... Yes?
[Adagio] Sonata, WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?
[Sonata] Oh! I've got my wings. Can we eat now?
[Adagio] [Sub-vocalised swearing] ... Not yet. We still need to drain the crowd. Refill our gems. Then we can eat.
Ugh, Sonata's line in the song was coming up. Adagio could feel it. Even when feeling this good, with terrible power at the tip of her fins and fangs just begging to be released, she couldn't stop thinking about the one line Sonata had contributed. Really, the whining wouldn't have been that bad.
"Now you need us! Come and heed us!" That was one of Aria's lines. It was fine. Except that the next one was--
"NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW!"
Adagio suppressed a scowl as she sang Sonata's line. The last time she thought she was unstoppable the 'Pillars of Equestria' banished them from their favourite feeding grounds for a thousand years. Well, that wasn't going to happen again. Not this time. This time everything was going their way. No mistakes. No surprises.
"Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh I've got the music in me."
Adagio cringed and turned to look at the sudden light show on the hill. The sirens' supper was standing there. Overlooking the stadium, singing at them. In front of the most ridiculous car that she had ever seen. Adagio glared at the Rainbooms.
"Don't need to hear a crowd cheering out my name--"
The cattle moved without Adagio willing it. Turned to look at the purple pony. The audience suddenly seemed more alive.
[Adagio] The counter-harmony is breaking our control of the audience. We need to shut the Rainbooms down!
[Aria] We're ascended and stuffed with energy. The crowd is still primed for feeding. What's the problem? Let's eat.
[Sonata] Food?
[Adagio] Wait--
...
"The one and only thing that I am here to bring is the music--"
[Aria] Waiting!
[Sonata] Yeah, are we going to let our supper steal our cattle or not?
[Adagio] Look at the crowd. They were ready for feeding, but there wasn't much energy there. They were all tapped out. Now look at them.
[Aria] Hmmm.
[Adagio] Think about it. We give them a little time. Let the Rainbooms energise the cattle, and then we drain them!
[Aria] I don't know. We were already doing pretty good. Why risk it?
[Adagio] What risk? We're gods now, and they're has-been wannabes. Let's make this meal a FEAST!
[Sonata] Are we going to fight? Fighting's fun. I could fight.
[Aria] Fine. But I get the prissy whiny one after we win.
[Adagio] [Grumble] Deal.
"Gonna break out! Set myself free!"
[Aria] I hope you're right about this, Adagio. They're ascending too...
[Sonata] Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Adagio] Trust me. Sonata was right. This is going to be epic.
"So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real battle of the bands? Then let's battle!"
[Adagio] The crowd looks alive. Let's give them a show!
[Sonata] Whoooo!
"What we have in store all we want and more. We will break on through."
The sirens quickly enslaved the audience for a second time, locking them down with a dominating spell.
"Now it's time to finish you!"
Adagio released a pulse of electric red power to the sirens either side of her. They directed this signal through their gems to summon their avatars.
Three flying sirens in the aspect of war appeared over the stage. They triumphantly fed all their remaining power into their battle-bodies, and inhabited them.
[Aria] YES! I am going to DESTROY them! I am going to tear them to shreds and devour their bleeding souls! Die you pox-crusted monkeys! Eat death, lice-ridden ponies!
[Sonata] Fight fight fight fight fight fight...
Adagio sighed mentally.
[Adagio] And now we see why I'm the leader. Formation, sirens. Aria, Sonata, take the flanks. Circle and feints only. Draw fire. Keep them off balance.
Aria and Sonata had enough presence of mind to listen to Adagio's orders, even through the haze of battle-lust. Skills long-unused came to the fore, skills learnt in battles fought under different stars. They were rusty, but against the new-spawn Rainbooms it would be more than enough. The looks of terror on the Rainbooms' faces were a delightful reminder of how things used to be.
Adagio's mind fell back through the centuries, to when her mothers taught her shoal how to hunt. The sirens would use the same tactics as seals and sharks. Circle the prey, keeping them tight together. Then one at a time would swoop through the swarm taking bites as they passed.
Adagio blinked. She and her shoal were flying around the terrified Rainbooms. Wasting time. It was time to eat!
[Adagio] Fuck these outdated tactics. We are gods. Form up. We're going in.
[Aria] I'll strip their skin, shatter their bones, suck their marrow...
[Sonata] Fight fight fight fight
Adagio took that to be agreement, but she was still relieved when her shoal formed around her. They dove towards the Rainbooms.
The pink one sent a flurry of drum beats at them, a staccato of explosive retorts. The sirens split up.
[Adagio] Reform, you idiots! They can't hurt us! Grrr...
Adagio pulled up and hovered over the battlefield, taking stock of the situation. The prissy marshmallow wielding a fucking keytar sent a shower of diamonds at Aria, baulking her. The freaking tambourine fairy barraged Sonata with butterflies. This was the most embarrassing musical battle that Adagio had ever been in, and she had once lost an eisteddfod to a senile ape who had written a ballad in praise of a leek!
At least Sonata and Aria had the presence of mind to avoid the orange base monkey and the blue guitar monkey. Bases could change the key of the music, and that was everything in a fight like this, and that blue guitar was a little too fast to dodge easily. It didn't matter. Adagio could already see the Rainboom's biggest weakness. She swooped down for the kill.
The purple two-legged pony attacked Adagio by wailing into her microphone. Good power, decent control. Adagio judged it a solid 'B'. A 'B' was not going to cut it in a musical fight against a siren.
Adagio's counter-blast obliterated the pony's vocal attack, and pushed her back, shiny boots scouring small divots into the grass. Adagio smirked at the pony's furious glare.
Sonata and Aria finally rallied by Adagio's side. As one, they attacked, putting their rage, and hunger, and power into a vocalisation that tore through the air. The Rainbooms tumbled in slow motion, falling one by one to a single concerted attack. It was beautiful.
Only... The Rainbooms weren't dead.
[Adagio] Argh! Give me your power! I just need a bit more to finish them!
[Aria] I'm out. I put everything into that attack.
[Sonata] Me too...
[Adagio] Fucking Tartarus. We are practising our pacing before we invade Equestria. Got it?
[Aria] Fuck. What are we going to do?
[Adagio] We are going to wait. That's all we need to do. We've already won. The crowd is ours, and the Rainbooms are down. We just need to drop back into our old bodies, recover just enough power to tap into our lovely primed and hyped-up cattle, and then we go back into our avatars and turn that fucking hill into a crater.
[Aria] Sounds good.
...
[Sonata] Waiting sucks.
...
"Sunset Shimmer, we need you!"
[Adagio] Ignore her. We're winning this race. Almost there.
[Aria] Adagio, they're getting back uppppp--
[Adagio] Ignore them. Let them. We almost have enough power to drain the crowd-
"Not just singing for popularity."
[Adagio] Fuck it. Forget the cattle. Back into the avatars. We've recovered enough to take them down.
"Our music is a bomb, and it's about to blow."
[Adagio] Get! them!
[Aria] Puss-drinking monkey fuckers!
[Sonata] Fight fight fight fight fight
Time seemed to slow, even as the beat sped up. Adagio felt herself dive towards the singing Rainbooms, hurtling towards them as fast as her power could push her. She could see the throat of the purple pony. She could almost taste the sweet salt water of her blood. Nearly there. Nearly... Just... a few... more... seconds...
The two ponies each brought a glowing hand above their heads. Adagio could see their fingers touch in slow motion, and saw a light flare. The distance was closing. Four yards, three yards, that throat was so close-
The ponies swung out their arms.
Adagio didn't have time to think when her avatar was clobbered by an expanding blazing ring of rainbow energy that knocked her back like a striken baseball. Mind shattering pain.
[Aria] Rain-
[Sonata] [Shriek]
Adagio blinked. She was back in her humanoid body. They'd been kicked out of their avatars. This was bad.
[Aria] We've lost control of the crowd. What the fuck was that?!
[Sonata] Owwwww.
The same rainbow that had smashed into their avatars now was barrelling at their humanoid bodies. There was nowhere to dodge, even if there had been time to do so. Adagio recoiled as pain bloomed in her chest at its impact. Her gem shuddered.
[Adagio] How in Tartarus did they recover so quickly?
[Aria] Fuck!
[Sonata] Shit shit shit shit
"Here to sing our song out loud."
[Aria] The stripey one is ascending, Adagio.
[Adagio] DON'T PANIC! We can still do this. We just need to get back in our avatars and hit them like we did before. Come on! One final push!
"Got the music in our hearts. We're here to blow this thing apart."
[Aria] They're ALL ascending, Adagio!
[Adagio] We still have a chance! They're show-boating. They think they've won. They're pumping all their power into a summoning.
[Sonata] Shit shit shit shit shit
[Adagio] Don't you see? They've stopped attacking, and they're throwing away all their power. As soon as we reconnect with the avatars, they're easy meat.
[Aria] What are they summoning? WHAT ARE THEY SUMMONING, ADAGIO?
[Adagio] Doesn't matter. Focus on reconnecting with the avatars.
[Aria] That summoning circle looks really fucking big.
[Sonata] I can't get back into my avatar. Something's blocking me.
[Adagio] Me too. Push through it. We can do this!
"Together we will never be afraid of the dark!"
Adagio looked up, and almost burst out into laughter.
[Adagio] Look at that! They are trying to summon something that can't fit through their circle.
[Sonata] Noobs.
[Adagio] Look! It's got its wings through, but it can't fit the head. Whatever it is.
[Aria] That summoning circle is HUGE. What are they summoning?!
[Adagio] Think, Aria! Something that big can not manifest on this shit-pile of a plane for more than a minute. Maximum. I don't care how much 'friendship magic' they're throwing down the spout. Thirty seconds in, that thing is gone, and we turn the Rainbooms into chum. Just hold out and we win!
[Sonata] Shit shit shit shit shit
[Adagio] & [Aria] Sonata, SHUT UP!
"Get you dancing with the crowd as the music of our friendship survives. Survives!"
[Aria] The crowd is feeding into the summoning!
[Sonata] What is that?!
Adagio stared up at the being that had finally struggled through the too-small summoning circle.
[Aria] Is that a cocking alicorn Titan?
Adagio's mind helpfully pointed out that it was indeed a Titan. Its colouration didn't match Eohippus, creator of worlds, but that was about as far as the good news went.
[Aria] That's Hippolyta! Adagio! You insane sprat! That is Hippolyta!
[Sonata] Shit shit shit shit shit shit
It wasn't Eohippus. It was Hippolyta. Eohippus' mate. The one with the anger management issues. Adagio looked up the cavernous nostrils of the mother of all horses and tried to come up with a plan.
[Adagio] Just hold out! She's going to blow.
It wasn't her best plan ever, but--
The conical blast of power that came from Hippolyta's horn was comically bright. The avatars lasted two seconds, if that, and then their essence was scattered like chaff in a hurricane.
[Adagio] We can do this! Just pump all the power of her shot into our gems! Fill em' up!
Adagio couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't taste. All she could do was channel as much of the torrent of power that was battering her into her gem as she could. She could feel Sonata and Aria wailing in her mind. But they were winning. They were doing this. Their gems were unbreakable, and they could store so much power. They were going to turn this around. They could still win.
Adagio felt her gem crack. It was like her heart shattering in her chest, and an ice-pick in her brain. She held it together through sheer will, her terror and rage focused on the one job of surviving just a few more seconds. Just--
Another crack. Another--
The world went white with pain.
Adagio blacked out.
...
...
The stage was dark, barely lit by the fading red glow of the remnants of their shattered gems. And Adagio's mind was silent as well. She couldn't feel the pain of her sisters. Her own pain enveloped her. She couldn't--
She could. Adagio picked up her gem. Struggled to her feet. This wasn't over. They could still win. The Rainbooms thought that they had won. They were wrong! Even without their gems, they could do this. Take the crowd. Turn them on the Rainbooms. FEAST.
"wE woN't be iGnorEd--"
The cattle were booing them. Adagio Dazzle was being booed at by cattle.
They needed to get off the stage. Some of the apes started pelting them with fruit. Adagio and her broken sisters staggered from the stage.
"What are we going to eat now?" asked Sonata in the darkness.
Adagio could think of nothing to say.
Author's Note
Just a quick one-shot, and then I'm back to lurking. Hope you enjoyed it though.
