After all was said and done, the two dragons, elder and young, stood before us again. Gratitude was given, promises of future deals made. Most of which came from Frostbite as Bleak struggled with the pony tongue, although I suspected he was mostly putting it on to avoid appearing to grovel to such tiny creatures. At least Frostbite was clearly grateful.

Without wings, Frostbite had to hitch a ride back to their homelands on her grandfather’s head. With a wave of hooves and claws along with the heavy buffeting from Bleak’s wings, the dragons took to the sky. While members of the guards continued to round up the gryphons, we watched Bleak fly until he faded into the horizon. With neither dragon around to hear me, I decided it was time to ask a question about something I found odd.

“Sooo,” I said to nopony in particular. “Frostbite?”

“Trust me,” Aria said as her form shifted back to that of her pony self. “Her name is far more threatening in the dragon tongue.”

“Huh,” I said, chuckling a little.

“What now, dingus?” Aria muttered. She really didn’t care about my princess status. Which was good. Neither did I.

“I just realised,” I said, smiling. “I never did learn his name.”

Aria blinked then scrunched her snooter. “Who? The minotaur?”

I nodded.

“Do you really care?”

I shook my head and grinned. “Nope.”

Aria rolled her eyes, turned her back on me and started to walk away. “You really are a nitwit.”

My grin faded into a dreamy smile as I watched Aria wander off. That flank and tail. I heard a snort above my head. I quickly shook my head a few times and turned to find Pyrus with Sickle still perched on his head. Both of them were giving me their versions of sly grins. I felt my cheeks warm. I coughed and looked away from them. “Oh, shut it!”

They didn’t stop grinning. I’d wondered if anyone had ever noticed the extra attention I paid to Aria at times. I guess, now I had my answer. At least neither of them could actually tell anypony. I spotted Luna approaching in her armour. Her on the other hoof…

I did my best to prepare for my mother’s arrival, hoping I didn’t come across as too over the top or cagey enough for her to suspect my thoughts.

Luna said nothing. She simply came to stand by my side then turned to survey the progress of our guards and the breakdown of the ship. I watched her mane as it billowed on an actual wind this time along with my own. It was soothing to watch the stars in her mane.

“We feel we must gift thee with advice, daughter mine,” Luna said, still staring into the distance.

I raised an eyebrow at that. What was she talking about?

“If thine heart is truly set upon her, thy must take heed. A Siren hath never been an easy conquest.”

I blinked then froze. My face suddenly began to burn with embarrassment. I felt a wing wrap over my back before pulling me against Luna’s armoured side. She nuzzled my cheek and said, thankfully in a soft voice, “It is a mother’s right to embarrass her daughter when it comes to the affairs of their hearts. Especially when we see your dreams.”

I let my head droop and I did my best to shrink my body as much as possible. Okay. Others had noticed. Right. And I was hyperventilating. Come on. Calm. Calm. I can handle this. At least Aria didn’t— Wait. Even thinking things seemed to be tempting fate on this topic at the moment. Knowing the three around me were acutely aware of my thoughts about Aria, I did my best to stiffen my stance.

“Please say nothing about this,” I hissed warily through my teeth.

I caught a full smile from Luna who still held me close. “If that is how thee wish it, our lips shalt remain sealed.”

She peered over at Sickle and Pyrus. “All of us. We do not need the newsponies to know of anything before time.”

And my heart sank. I’d forgotten about that. Now I really hoped I had managed to hide this part of my private life better than I had around a certain phoenix and ponies. If I hadn’t, well, the magazine headlines I could imagine made me shudder.

On the topic of Sirens, a while after we returned from the meeting with the minotaur, I was able to observe Sonata’s progress in bettering herself. She was clearly more happy-go-lucky compared to Aria and, with the efforts she had put into setting up her mobile taco business, she was definitely more focused on her work now than her darker actions when living in exile. The fact she was introducing the many races of Equestria to her favourite foods from the human world, catering to carnivore and herbivore alike, brought her endless excitement and happiness.

Not to mention, it gave me, although I could no longer consume meat without being violently sick, a taste from my human life. Even eating meat wasn’t worth the risk of what would happen to my prosthetics if I underwent the transformation back into a human, so having such a place in Equestria was a blessing I could never overlook.

Sonata was also clearly enamoured by her niece, often going out of her way to steal Crescendo away from Aria in order to fill the foal with as much joy as possible. Eventually, I reached my decision with regard to Sonata. Unlike with Aria, I consulted my Aunt and Mother with regards to my intentions. Unsurprisingly, they had their concerns but, considering how Aria had resisted returning to her older ways since regaining access to her magic, they were willing to give Sonata the benefit of the doubt.

It took a few more days to craft, but Pyrus and I were able to present Sonata with her attuned crystal, just like Aria’s. Sonata celebrated by taking on her hippocampus form in order to embrace as many of us as she could to share in her glee. Aria grumbled about her sister’s exuberance, but did her best to let Sonata enjoy herself. Crescendo even laughed at her Aunt’s monstrous form. She didn’t seem to care that she was part of a very different family.

Shortly after, Sonata closed her taco wagon for nearly a week and disappeared. No one knew where she had gone until her abrupt return. She just rocked up one day with the biggest smile on her snooter and a rather scary gleam in her eyes. At her side was a rather dejected looking pony of yellow hide and the most voluminously curly orange mane and tail I had ever seen. This pony, I soon learned, was Aria’s other sister. Adagio Dazzle.

Aria wasn’t massively enthusiastic about Adagio’s arrival. As I eventually discovered, they tended to butt heads quite often. Adagio was also not impressed with the offer Sonata had made in order to bring her here. That was to work for her at her taco business in order to prove she was worthy of regaining her full abilities as a Siren. Unsurprisingly, Twilight Sparkle, when she visited, was also rather vocal about Adagio even being considered for a path to redemption.

Aria’s mood brightened when she learned that Adagio would be working under Sonata’s control. The natures of the three Sirens, Twilight had warned about, were always there, just below the surface. But now, they were more interested in prodding each other than taking out their frustrations on the worlds and the people and ponies they believed had crossed them in some way. Again, Crescendo helped to temper their wilder appetites simply by being the cute foal and, eventually, filly she was.

In fact, as the years went by, Crescendo’s growth into a full-fledged mare, and subsequent reveal as a Siren, was one of the few things I had to judge the passing of time. I was definitely afflicted with my mother’s agelessness, not that it wasn’t already apparent from my life in the human world. The Sirens didn’t age either. In fact, the only ones I had such close contact with, outside of castle staff and my guards, who aged were Pyrus and Sickle.

Sickle aged much like Aunt Celestia’s pet phoenix, Philomena. The only difference being her return to a state of soft, powdery snow instead of smoky ash. A few hours later, she would emerge as her spritely self again, fully rejuvenated and ready to show her majesty to the world. This happened every decade or so and I soon became accustomed to her cycle.

Pyrus, however, was a different story. He aged much like any normal pony. His gait became slower and coat gained flecks of silver. The fire within him also tempered with time, making for the strange sight of him acutely feeling the cold in his later winters. It was painful to watch our beloved friend slowly succumb to the ravages of time while we so easily shrugged off such things.

It was, of course, a part of our curse, Alicorn, Siren and Phoenix alike. We would let others into our hearts and watch them pass in what we could consider the blink of an eye. For me, Pyrus wasn’t my first. I had lost members of the Gear Guard before him. Pyrus, however, was the closest friend I was yet to lose. I can’t say I was ready for it when the time came. I knew I never would be. I simply had to accept it.

That was why, on one morning, when I found him staring off into the distance. I asked Pyrus if there was anything he wanted to do. He was so old at this point, he struggled to walk long distances, and the fires of his mane and tail where barely more than embers in our memories. With many a miss-stepped question, I eventually deduced that there was somewhere he wanted to go.

The Gear Guard gladly leapt at the chance to honour Pyrus’ final request. What surprised me was that, not only did Aria, Sickle and Luna wish to join us, but so did the Night Guard. Even Celestia would join us with representatives of her Day Guard. They would attend his final day when we reached our destination, remaining in the castle until then to keep the country running.

And so, we set out. To where, we didn’t exactly know. Only Pyrus could direct us. This was his journey. We were only there to help him see it through. Our time on land wasn’t long. At Pyrus’ urging, we soon left the shores of Equestria to sail above it all on the Wings of Artemis. Considering our number, even the largest creatures of the deepest waters stayed away.

The unicorns and pegasi amongst the Gear Guard came into their own in the skies above the seas. Their magics, innate and active, kept storms away and wind in our sails no matter where Pyrus pointed. It was odd. Even though we were on a pilgrimage which would end with death, our journey was incredibly peaceful. Not unlike Pyrus himself.

Eventually, we came across the place Pyrus had been longing to see. At first, we wondered why he wanted to visit such a place. Then, it dawned on me and others as well. Pyrus was a Nightterror. He was a pony attuned with the element of fire. Looking at it with that in mind, it was fitting for him to bring us to an active volcano.

On the voyage and before it, he had struggled to walk. The moment his hooves sank slightly into the ash of the beach, the vigour of his pace was renewed. With his focus on the peak, Pyrus pushed on. Those with wings flew in his wake. The rest, including myself and Luna, used magic to protect our hooves from the heat beneath the ash.

Pyrus drove himself up the hillside. I was secretly glad it was a small volcano and not some mountainous craggy peak. It didn’t mean Pyrus never stumbled. When he struggled to rise from his third such fall, I moved to one side, while Aria took the other. We pressed ourselves against the sides of his barrel and helped Pyrus in returning to his feet. He was shaking, his hooves trembling and breathing ragged. Seeing his desire, Aria and I lent our strength to our friend, doing our best to help him step after step up the hill.

We were sweating by the time we reached the crater’s edge at the peak. I knew I was, and I could feel it on Pyrus’ hide. It had taken a lot, but we refused to let Pyrus fail his climb. It was what he wanted. We were simply there to lend a shoulder. It reminded me of several phrases I had heard in the human world. They all boiled down to helping your friends walk when they could no longer do so themselves.

We stopped at the edge. Well, we did, Pyrus only paused. We weren’t exactly sure as to why we were here and, even if he could tell us, I doubt Pyrus would have let us know what we were about to witness. Instead, Pyrus turned to Aria and embraced her. He gave a gentle headbutt to Sickle who now perched herself on my back. Even she could feel what was coming.

Pyrus turned to Luna and Celestia, who had joined us at this point. He nodded in gratitude to them, both elder Princesses returned it with low bows of their own. The embrace he then gave me was the strongest I had received from him in many years. It was also the longest. Again, I didn’t know what was going to happen other than Pyrus was close to ending his time with us. My throat clenched at the thought and my tears threatened to fall. Yes, my eyes had been replaced, but my tear ducts remained.

When he finally released me, I gritted my teeth and let out a whimper. Pyrus just looked at me, a faint smile on his snooter. He then reached out and tapped a hoof beneath my chin, lifting it to keep my head high. He touched his hoof to my chest, just over my heart, smiled again, then turned to face the simmering caldera.

Then came the most alarming thing I had ever witnessed. It was so shocking, Luna and Aria lurched to my sides in order to hold me back.

Pyrus stepped down the inner slope of the caldera. I was so shocked by his actions that my voice froze in my throat. I wanted to scream at him. I couldn’t. I wanted to order my guards to stop him. No order came. In the last moments, as he stepped amongst the simmering surface, his hooves slipping into the lava itself, I needed to run, to fly to him and carry him to safety much as he had for me the day we reached Ponyville.

I watched in horror as Pyrus’ shoulders dipped into the glowing, superheated goop. Maybe he had sensed my distress. Maybe he just wanted to see us one last time. All I know is that, before his head disappeared, he turned to us and smiled.

I fell. Sobbing. My heart ached for Pyrus, the fact this was how he had wanted to go and that I had enabled him, it felt as if my chest was being squeezed in a vise. Luna and Aria held me close. Even through my tears, after Pyrus had disappeared into the lava, I witnessed the members of all three guards show their respect. They stood or hovered about the entire caldera, all with a hoof raised in salute to one of the longest serving guards to ever stand beside their ranks.

After that, many of the gathered ponies returned to the ship. I, however, was not ready to move. Aria remained. I could hear her next to me. She was struggling to keep her throat clear. Sickle tried to nuzzle my head a few times. She was joined by Luna.

My mother tried her best to comfort me. After all, she had been through such passings of loved ones before. It was all just so hard. I sat at the edge of the volcano’s rim for a long time. Thankfully, though active, the volcano was docile today. Maybe it too could feel the loss we all shared and granted us our time to grieve.

The lava plorped a couple of times. I raised my head to find a few bubbles growing from the lava. The sound came when they grew so big they ruptured in a disgustingly gloopy burst. One after another, slowly moving from the middle of the caldera to the edge in front of me. I sniffled but felt my tears ease. It was just too interesting not to watch.

The final bubble was less a ball of air than a bulge of lava itself. It rose up like the bubbles before it, but it must have been over a shallow point near the edge as it struggled to burst. It even looked like it was reaching for the edge of the caldera. When the tension in the lava bulge became too much, it tore apart at the uppermost point nearest to me. My mouth fell open at what I saw next. The head of a small pony pushed free of its lava sheet. It shook its head to loosen a few splatters of molten rock from between its ears.

The pony pushed on, pulling its hooves free before dragging the rest of its body out along with it. Once free, the lava slipped back into the caldera while the pony looked back at it. Squinting at the pony, I was able to determine it to be a colt. The colt shivered as a breeze passed over the peak. He turned his head and closed his eyes.

With the cutest sound I had heard since Crescendo was small, the colt sneezed so violently, his mane and tail ignited as he almost threw himself into a forward tumble. I stepped free of my mother, my attention fixed on the colt who was busy figuring out a few things about moving. That and how fun it was to find his tiny fetlocks aflame.

When he looked at me, I froze. Staring at the colt in awe. This tiny pony, born of fire, oh how I wanted to wrap my hooves around him. Particularly around his familiar coat, which was cooling to a charcoal grey. My voice was weak, my crying had scoured my throat after all, yet my words still ran ahead of my thoughts. “P-Pyrus?”

The colt’s ears swivelled at my voice. His head snapped to face me only a moment later. He looked up at me, his eyes squinting as he cocked his head from side to side; studying me. Then, when he felt he was comfortable with what he had so far learned, the colt scrunched his little snooter as he let his jaw move about.

Eventually, he looked at me and returned my question with one of his own. “C-Chromia?”

I gasped at that. Part of me wanted to groan at hearing the nickname Aria had foisted on me. The same part cursed Aria for ever doing so as I was sure she was mocking me about it even in her mind. It wasn’t a very loud part of me though, as I moved forward to embrace the little colt Pyrus had become. I marvelled at Pyrus as he lurched into my forelegs to receive an embrace. Thankfully, he was as cool to touch as he had normally been.

Another small part of me revelled in the joy at hearing his voice for the first time. Although it was young, at least it had returned along with his life, somehow rejuvenated in the depths of the molten earth.

We learned much of the Nightterrors from Pyrus after that. They were ponies of fire. As with the other few remaining Nightterrors, Pyrus had existed since primordial Equestria. Birthed from lava, they helped to craft the land itself before returning to the volcanoes to replenish themselves. Like the phoenix. This was why Sickle attached herself to Pyrus. Though they were of opposing elements, they were kindred spirits.

For Pyrus, his longevity suffered from the same loss as the Alicorns. Something for which I was now incredibly grateful. We were so alike. Our forms, if not our friendships remained very much like ourselves, eternal.

The End.

Author's Note

So ends the story I wrote in pieces while in an incredibly dark place.

I know it isn't the greatest but I hope anyone reading it found something of interest from it.

I also know Monochrome/Selene kinda became a punching bag for a bit, but her losses, though great, are eventually outweighed by her gains.

As I have mentioned before, I am open to others using the characters in spinoffs so long as the spirit of the characters is retained and the eventual end of the story isn't compromised.

Do I think Aria and Selene become anything more than friends? Probably not. Selene's interest in Aria is one sided and mostly superficial. Not saying that couldn't change in time, just I don't see it myself. My thoughts, however, don't influence those of others. The story is open ended after all.

Hopefully I will come up with another story in the future.

Thank you all for reading,

Tael_Spinner