!Attention Readers!

This story has Death tag and at one point also had the Dark as well as the Gore tag, and the following section of this chapter is going to fully justify their use.

If you want to skip these contents, for whatever reason you have, just scroll down until you find this transition-line again.

=o0o=

She looked like a picture from an old fable. A young-looking, beautiful girl, she rested peacefully on the bed as if in eternal slumber. Her fair features at rest, eyes closed, her hair framing her face perfectly. Slow and rythmic was her breathing, the only sound in the room.

It could have been a scene worthy of eternalizing, the sleeping beauty in the spotless room. The enormous windows letting bright orange light flowing in, most likely a sunset.

It could have…

Had it not been for the rapid falls of heavy feet outside the door. Or the harsh words quietly snarled. But still the Beauty remained sleeping as she was, even as the door opened.

Five figures wrapped in thick brown clothing entered. They stopped in a loose line a few feet away from the bed. In the orange light that bathed the room, the gunmetal glowed as they rose their arms carrying death.

This all did not stir the sleeping girl. Her face remained still and fair. Her hair remained beautiful.

It was with simultanious five loud clicks, as five rifles were readied; the so familiar sound finally awoke her.

She immediately rolled away from the figures and off the bed. Not a second later and the sub-machine guns were tearing apart the clean cloth. The soldiers just kept firing into her resting place, very quickly tearing apart the mattress and splintering the wood into peaces.

But by then she was already away, having darted, almost on all fours, around the furniture and towards the assailants.

Her blood was running hot, pumping through her heart so fast that she barely heard anything else. Her mind, so brutally ripped from the restful slumber, went into this most primal of all states. Her eyes saw red, her mouth already tasted the blood and her heart pulsed once.

Charging across the floor towards the firing line, the Monster was unleashed.

Her feet hit the ground hard before catapulting her towards the enemy, right into the center soldier. Two hands wrapped firmly around his throat, using her momentum to make him stumble backwards while also letting her vault over him and clamp to his backside. He chocked, releasing his weapon only to claw futlessly at her hands. His right also went for his knife. But truthfully, his life had already ended.

She did not need a weapon. She was one.

He choked out a scream as her teeth sought out his veins and burried themselves as deep as they could. And they could go very deep. Then he was released only for her to kick herself off his back, aiming his bleeding body towards two of his comrades that only now turned towards the threat.

She surged forward again, going for the pair not blocked by the body of her first kill. Jumping on the chest of the first like a bloodthirsty savage, she slashed her hand towards the other. It hit him in the throat, slicing it open completely. Then her hand rose over the soldier she was straddling.

It happened so fast, he could not react, only see the blade of his comrade glisting with blood. Then it came down on him, stabbing his eyes and then his chest as the sharp metal searched for his heart.

Even as he fell backwards to the floor and coughed up his last breath, she did not relent. Only when the last remaining two opened fire did she stop.

Bullets whirred past her and bit into her flesh, yet she did not succumb to them. Instead, she charged forward again, faster than they could perceive. Then she was inbetween them, ripping a handaxe from the belt of one only to bury it between the other’s legs and dragging the sharpened blade upwards.

He fell to his knees immediately, screaming in pain as his innards spilt out. Therefore, he could not witness as the monster savaged his last comrade, until a loud crack echoed through the room.

Letting the twisted head drop heavily to the floor, the monster turned around to the last of her prey. Her bloodied teeth were bared as her crimson eyes bored themselves in his. She only saw fear and pain…

…and she loved it!

Again, her teeth sank into flesh, drinking in the blood of the mortal that had dared to attack her. His twitching body hit the floor, joining the others in an ever-growing sea of crimson red.

Aria breathed heavily as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, everything changed. Gone was the sleeping chamber so familiar to her real one. The modern façade that was to lull her senses was stripped away, not important anymore. Instead, everything was old, a room from another time.

The window was shattered now, opening her view to the grand city beyond.

A city in flames. A capital under siege, with gruesome battles raging everywhere. Buildings ripped apart by grenades and explosive shells. Streets littered with debris and broken vehicles… and plastered with corpses. Lined by ditches and gullies were the water ran red with blood.

And she could hear it all. A constant staccato of shots from all around, the loud yelling of orders, the grinding of tracks against the ground and the screams of those trying to flee death, or worse.

And she just stood there, taking it all in. Looking down to the street in front of her viewpoint, Aria could see the familiar corpses of her group, gunned down in the streets in a mad dash to a false safety.

It was always the same.

Before she beheld the result of nearly twelve years of preparation and almost six years of bloody warfare. The downfall of a nation. A city dying on the ground, its streets were filled with misery and pain and conflict. She could sense it, see it. A hateful green mist everywhere she looked, like poison gas it choked the streets.

She did not want to look at it anymore. And so, she turned away, from everything and everyone. Most were dead anyway.

Stepping outside of the room, she found herself in a great hall, broken and burning like everything else was. The rows and rows of seats, the podium. She had been in this building, in this very hall when there had been power and decisions had been made. Now it was just another ruin filled with rubble. Rubble, and corpses.

Her feet carried her between them, bodies filled with blood-oozing holes lying everywhere. And then she saw him. Of course, he would lie in the exact spot where she had stood to watch the all too frequent debates. His eyes were still open. The uniform that he always kept spotless, all the stupid insignia he insisted on carrying. Everything like she remembered him.

Slowly she turned on the spot, looking over the enormous chamber. Round and round and round; she began to lift her legs like in a dance, to walk into the middle of the room whilst turning on herself. Singing to herself an old childrens song.

She stopped exactly before the podium and opened her eyes. In every seat, one of the people she had helped and who had given her all these orders, which she had carried out. Like a court, judging her for the crimes she had comitted, as if they could even be counted. A court of corpses.

And behind them… they were there. They were always here.

She had seen them so many times, displayed in so many horrible and cruel ways.

This time, they had been nailed onto the wall, right next to each other. Each had one arm outstretched, making them look a mockery of the eagle that they had replaced.

Their empty eyes were staring as they always did. Hair matted down by blood, skin marred and clothes torn. Throats shredded, causing a similar sting in her own.

Yet, she showed little reaction besides pained saddness. How far had it gone, that her sisters’ defiled bodies was nothing to her anymore. Had she seen them die so many times in her nightmares?

It was always the same.

“ARIA!” Her head snapped around, eyes wide. She knew this voice. But she had never heard it hear, not in this hell.

Aria felt something new, completely foreign in this nightmare. Fear.

There was a door seperating her from the voice, it did not stand against her. The scarred wood splintered under her weight as she threw herself through it with an angry roar.

Immediately she was fired upon. Half a dozen soldiers blocking her way through the narrow corridor and up the small flight of stairs. But they could not stop her, nothing could, not when she had to get to her.

She tore through them in desperate rage, breaking bones and ripping open flesh with her bare hands. She ran past the first chance she got, leaving behind brutalised and torn bodies still clinging to life. She did not care the slightest.

She just ran as fast as she could. Tears were forming in her eyes, threatening to spill out.

Not her! Leave her out of this!

The hallway seemed to stretch, seemingly intend on never letting her arrive and yet suddenly there she was before a slightly opened door. The cries for help mixed with pained screams were almost impossible to bear this close.

Suddenly her back was set aflame. Fire washed over her, searing away her hair and scorching her skin, yet she still whirled around and faced it. One scream, her powerful vocal chords straining against the heat and her front was bathed in light from the fireball exploding in the hallway as the flamethrower combusted.

Biting through the pain, Aria turned towards the door again. She pushed it open, even though back in her mind she knew what would greet her. But she had to take even the slightest chance.

The soldiers turned away from their two victims as she stepped into the room. The demon that had entered was enough to drag their attention away from the savaged bodies littered with small cuts and bruises.

It was seven against one. They thought themselves victor already. In reality, they were dead men walking, only yet to be buried.

The first to die was just jumping off the table. A horrid screech caught him and ripped apart cloth and skin alike, leaving behind a bleeding mess crumbling to the floor.

The second was, just like his predecessor just getting up from the other of the bloodied forms lying on the tables. His end was even swifter though no less brutal than the first or the torment he had granted only moments ago. The burned form was right before him in a dash and just as quick did she slice him open crosswise, leaving him to die.

Third to go was the unlucky soldier about to join the second in their horrid work. The only thing he felt were the two hands gripping the front of his throat before pain overloaded his mind. Gasping for air but only making wet sucking sounds through his open throat, he stumbled back as she was already onto the next.

The rest died as well in quick succession, though they managed to leave more bullets and blades in her flesh.

But then, everything finally died. The only things left to hear; the sound of battle, the screams of the innocent, the bodies she had torn open.

Aria was shaking. Not from the pain, that she could bear. Not from the fight, that she was used to.

No, she was shaking in fear, as she slowly approached the limb body displayed on the blood-soaked wood.

“…d-d…Dawn?” One of her redded hands reached out to the girl.

She was still alive. Aria did not know if that made it better or worse. Because she knew there would be little hope for the abused life in front of her, not here.

Watering eyes wandered to the other table for a moment. She could recognize her as well. Skin so similar to her own, yet a body so small and frail in comparison. She did not understand, why did they have to be here?

This had to be her fault.

And so, Aria broke.

Her head fell down, nestling into the shoulder of her friend. She wept openly, for she had not been able to stop this. Nothing had she done, nothing except further the bloodshed.

The world around her was consumed by darkness, drowning her with the rythmic sound of marching feet and the crackling of fires. The only thing piercing through the symphony of war and death were her strangled, tearful cries.

=o0o=

She bolted upright, gasping through lungs that burned and screamed for air. She could not see for her vision was too blurred. Her hands clawed at her throat madly, trying to get it free even though there was nothing. Yet, she was still choking.

The noises had not stopped, she could clearly hear the screaming, the gunfire, a thousand voices yelling at her. It was overwhelming to her. Her body twisted this way and that way.

“Aria!?” Suddenly she was held still by two hands. Immediately she tried to break them off, instinctively reacting to touch with hostility. But only until she saw the face of the person in front of her, recognizing it immediately.

That cardinal red skin. The frazzled hair that resembled fire. Those calm cyan eyes that looked at her with shock. For but a few moments, the nightmarish visions forced themselves before her eyes and the reality beyond, showing her the young woman covered in blood by a hundred wounds, defiled and tortured.

Aria stopped, stunned for but a few seconds. Her mind cleared up, banishing the image of her abused friend. She fell forward into the arms of the other girl and broke down. Her eyes released a flood of tears into the shoulder she was leaning into.

The siren had only once cried like this, atleast in some centuries’ time. It had not been too long ago, actually. Just like now, someone had been holding her as she cried. Then, she had finally allowed herself to spill her tears in mourning for her sisters. This fact was, however, completely lost on her in her current state. Her mind was filled with nothing but sorrow and pain.

It took minutes until Aria had no tears left to shed and she finally began to calm down. As she became more and more aware of her surroundings again, she was surprised to hear a soft voice singing. It was not the best that she had ever heard and definitely not up to par with the skill of her sisters or herself but, it was soothing nontheless.

She closed her eyes, letting Dawn’s voice sink in. Eventually they seperated from the tight embrace, though both were very tempted to let it stay for just a few more minutes. However, they also knew they could not.

“S-sorry, made a real mess on you.” Aria’s eyes were extremely puffy from all the crying, in fact her entire face had become an interesting red-ish shade that was only now starting to fade away. She was pointing towards the shoulder she had literally cried upon, which was now massively stained from all the tears.

Dawn however responded with a simple smile. “No problem, we can just wash it. What about you, what happened? What kind of nightmare would be this bad?” Despite her smile, her voice was saturated with worry.

The answer to her question did not come immediately. Instead, Aria took her time cleaning first her nose and after that her face with multiple tissues. This was simply for the sake of wasting time, while her mind was panicking, trying to decide what to tell her friend.

“Well…” She finally said, while her thoughts were still running in circles. The problem was that Dawn was smart, and she knew the Siren. After seeing her like this, she would not relent. However, telling her about this, even if it would not change their relationship, she would have to reopen her past and all the pain associated with it.

Then again, they had already gone through some shit. Best to do it now and do it correctly.

“It is a long story.” She said, only now meeting the worried eyes of Dawn. “And I know a place where I can explain it all better than here. It will open in a few hours though, so we would have to wait until then.

Dawn nodded thoughtfully. She carefully stood up from the bed and walked towards the bedroom door. “Alright.” She said. “I will just change and then I will be right back. And then later we will go to that place. Until then, you’re not going to leave my sight.”

And then she was gone already. Aria might have wondered why Dawn was so insistend on watching her, was she really that worried? Or maybe she did not want the Siren to go back on her promise and disappear. But Aria did not wonder that.

“I think, I’d like that.” She just mumbled to herself.

The steel monstrum before them was old, very old; it stood there silently on its pedestal surrounded by fake ground and fake plants and fake soldiers, yet it was very much real. She greeted it with a silent nod, coming to a stand before it. There were not many other visitors in the museum, which worked well in their favor.

Dawn kept silent despite wanting to give her friend a dozen different questions, leading with asking if she was truly alright for the tenth time. So instead, she looked at the small board detailing information to glean maybe a hint of why they were here.

The potential answer was rather worrying, though, sadly, not at all surprising. She had learned enough about the history of this world, more than enough to know a fair share about the last century, and the wars that had raged across the whole world. Generations of political ideals and aggressions, wars, and horrible actions against other people.

It should not be terribly surprising that the Sirens would be involved somehow in this, though the way that Aria had woken up this early morning alluded that it had not been an entirely good time for them either.

They walked to another display near the tank, arriving at a scene of miniature soldiers of two sides fighting in the ruins of a city. The board informed them of the last great battle of one of the major nations in the last world-spanning war, the fall of their capital after their opponents had pushed them back in years of bloody fighting.

Looking at Aria, Dawn was treated to the extremely strange sight, seeing the siren without any mask on her face, letting her emotions be on full display like the museum’s exhibits. And there was a great sadness mixed with a deep pain, yet also shame and guilt, which was extremely surprising for Dawn. Slowly, she let her hand wander towards her friend, hesitantly linking it with Aria’s fuchsia hand.

They stood like this for a few good minutes, taking in all the small details of the miniature battlefield.

“What they don’t show here,” Aria interrupted the silence. “is the people. They were lying everyhwere; couldn’t walk down a street without finding some poor sod who got killed by a stray bullet or grenade. Then again, you could not walk a street without fearing for your own life either.”

Ah, there it was. Dawn’s thumb caressed the back of the siren’s hand comfortingly. It had already been a rather solid guess that the being next to her had been involved more directly in these conflicts, though of course actually hearing it, that she was in a battle as especially brutal as this one, was even more concerning. She thought for a moment of trying to make a question to bring her to elaborate, however she decided against it.

A good decision, as Aria continued on herself to talk about her past life. “I… my sisters were not with me at that time. It is a… we did that sometimes, argue so much that we split up and went our ways. Always found eachother again, after days or weeks. This time it took years.”

She turned and let her eyes wander about the room, at the planes hanging from the ceiling and the other exhibits, clinging for a moment on the tank again. She could name everything here at the top of her head, as well as listing of details on how they actually worked and how they were used.

“It was soon after the first world war. The ‘Great War’ they called, the ‘War to end all Wars’!” She snorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm and bitterness. “Adagio wanted to go here, away from the old world. She thought it was not worth it anymore, I said we should be here, that the aftermath would be our greatest opportunity yet. We argued and I ditched them when they went on the ship across the sea. Let myself drift after that. Soon after, I found myself right in the middle of it all, the great loser nation of the whole thing.”

“That would be the Republic of Weimar? What came out of the Germanian Empire?” Dawn asked. Aria nodded, confirming her guess.

“The financial depressions, the hate, the political conflict, then the pomp and debauchery in between when the economy did not suck for a change. It was really a great time for a strife-loving monster. The poor against he rich, militarists against pacifists, socialists against nationalists; it was a real mud fight. I was doing great!” The melancholy of her smile was spoiled by the pain within it. “My great failure was that I did not see the change in the winds soon enough. Or maybe I did but I didn’t care, because I thought myself above it.”

They walked back in the exhibit, towards the pre-war section. Aria looked at one of the displays, a big photograph of a parade. Her eyes lingered very long on the many flags. She could almost hear them singing again, along the burning of many torches to illuminate the marching by night. Dawn was still holding her hand tightly.

“In hindsight, I want to kick myself for ignoring how fast they came to power. So many thought that the new government would not last, me included, yet they did. And as cuntish as they were, they could be efficient when they wanted to; only one year in power and nobody was able anymore to mount an actually effective opposition against their new nationalist rulers.” She continued to explain.

And her friend fully believed her. Afterall, they were surrounded by the evidence of this ruthless and bloody efficiency as well as the horrible actions that had been committed by the national-socialist government and their followers.

“I assume you did not leave the country for a good reason.” Dawn asked.

“Well, besides what I had already told you… I couldn’t leave.” A deep frown was spreading across Aria’s face, her entire look darkened as she stared at one of the many propaganda posters. “They just didn’t let me.”

She led her friend to a number of textes displayed on a wall that summarized the party's rise to power and eventually complete domination over the entire nation. The siren skimmed over the few paragraphs, her mind adding multitudes of additions and details to it, as well as bringing up many of the countless memories she had from that time.

“It happened when they made a move against the socialist party. I don’t know what caused it; I probably got careless and underestimated all of it. They cornered me in an alleyway in one of the more worker-heavy blocks, about a dozen if I can remember correctly. I could have fought them, would have won probably, but it would have attracted too much attention. I can handle about a dozen thugs even when they have guns, it will just cost me. And then more would have arrived, and that would have been it.” She recounted.

“So, you gave up?”

Aria sighed, rubbing her face once. “Yeeeah.” She said, drawing the out word out. Dawn did not know if this was because she felt ashamed or simply because both of them had woken up rather early today. She also felt unsure which option was actually the better one. “And after that?”

“Well, to cut a lot of talking and careful manouvering short; they suspected me to be a demagoge for the other side, ‘cause they had noticed my feedings in so many pubs and protests. I managed to convince them that I was unaligned and more then willing to work for them. Bit of magic was just enough to help my words ring completely true. And so, I got into their system.” Her hands intertwined as she stared at the floor, eventually turning her eyes in the direction of the historical proggression of the museum’s room, right towards exhibits from the start of the war.

“By the time they started their first invasion, I was just too deep. Or maybe that was what I told myself, I don’t know anymore. Made me officer in their special organizations, made me operate behind their troops to… do whatever they wanted. Was supposed to stamp out resistance.” Aria explained. She almost flinched away when she felt Dawn’s hand grip her own again. The cardinal red girl said nothing, she just wanted her friend to let it all out, and let her know that she was listening.

“It went like that almost the entire war. In the end, the front was pushed so far back that they were defending the capital, with what little they had left. Everything was pulled in, the young, the old, militias, my group too. They didn’t make it, all killed in some street blown to hell; I was captured soon after.” They walked back towards the miniature battle scene. Aria stared absentmindedly into it, she could almost imagine her soldiers lying in one of the streets, blood oozing from the holes riddling their bodies.

“They brought me east, because…” Nervously she bit her lip, looking past Dawn to the left, then to the right. As it would seem, nobody was close enough to them to be capable of overhearing their conversation. A good thing they had come early to the museum. As she continued, Aria spoke in a subdued tone. “They… they knew that I was, let's say an anomaly in this world. So they captured me and tried to study me. Sent me to some sort of research facility. I had to bid my time and use my… gifts very sparingly, but over time I managed to convince them that they had broken me and that I could be turned into an agent of sorts.”

Dawn stared right back at her, eyes growing wider by the minute. She had not expected it all to be this deep. Then something in her head pipped up. Mirrowing Aria’s movements, she got a bit closer to her friend. “You mean you were a spy?”

“More of a special agent, or soldier. Or, I mean, sometimes a spy, I guess.” Aria admitted. She was however surprised by Dawn’s next question.

“Is that where you know Steel Rain from?” The red girl asked.

“… yeeaah.” The siren replied, rubbing her neck somewhat nervously. “But please, never ask him that. It is just, his uncle was a tank gunner in the war and he was there when I had been captured; his father was a rather young political officer and through his uncle got notified of me first. One thing after another and they both got me directed deep into the nation towards their highest secret facilities. And then later on, when I had been elevated to, what they thought, a fully loyal tool… Well at that point Steel Rain’s father had already climbed up ranks and became my overseer of sorts. To better ‘house’ me between very long missions, he worked out to bring me into his home, where I met Steel Rain. That boy grew up with mysterious tales about me that his uncle and his war buddies always told, and then I was living under the same roof as him. We got rather close.”

“Did he know what you were exactly?” Dawn’s question was, thankfully, denied by a head-shake. “And his nickname? I think it was pevun’ya.”

“Ah yes, that.” This time, Aria actually allowed herself to smile, even if just a little bit. “It means Songbird. A nickname that they gave me; I had to work with soldiers a lot, special teams, and they soon started calling me that after I had to use some of my magic. The Songbird of the Night, they named me. Didn't take long before young Steel Rain picked up on it.”

They were approaching the end of the exhibit now, still keeping close to eachother for secrecy, still holding eachother’s hand. “I was under their ‘control’ for many years, doing their dirty work while pretending to be loyal. But, I proved myself reliable enough to slowly get more and more leeway, and make plans for my escape. Proved rather difficult however, since they were sending me all over. One year I was masquerading in the capital, next I am fighting a war in one of their neighbours' front lawn. I even met Steel Rain there again, think his father had a hand in that we got put into the same warzone. Maybe he wanted me to protect his son.”

“Wow. So, how did you escape?” They had exitted the section about the world war by now and were walking through the one committed to the cold war that had followed it.

“My sisters found me.” The siren admitted sheepishly. “Tracked me down while I was operating in another country that was distancing itself from my ‘master’s'. We managed to hatch a plan in secret and basically let my mission be blown, making me Missing in Action. After that we made our way here and from that-“

They were interrupted by a strange string of noises that sounded like a computer was having a seizure. Dawn jumped involuntarily, letting go of her friends hand, who looked only a bit annoyed even though the sound seemed to be coming from her.

“Excuse me, be right back.” Aria said, already turning away and fishing her phone out of the pocket and holding it up to her ear while she was making her way between some exhibits away from the sight of her friend.

“Blaze speaking.” Was all she said into the phone after accepting the call.

It was Twilight. Even without her voice burnt into the siren’s mind, curtesy of the utter shitshow she had witnessed from Canterlot High, she would probably recognize the hesitation and slight stutter anywhere. “A-aria? Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me.” She had to suppress a snarkier remark. It was the first time Twilight called her since the day they had made the deal, roughly a week ago. This could be important, for multiple possible reasons and any rash answers was more likely to waste more time. “So, why are you calling? Did you get in trouble?”

“No, I uh, found something. You know, the thing that you wanted to me to look into-“

“Stop beating around Twi, just tell me. What did you find?” The older creature interrupted her.

“A-alright.” Aria could hear the other girl wetting her lips nervously. Her free hand was freely moving in circles as she mentally willed the shy nerd to continue. A long and complete lack of any psionic powers rendered it to a simple means for her to remain patient and not snap at her phone.

“I developed a software that, connecting to my equipement at school, I set on this Anon-A-Miss account. It is still there, luckily. Right now, my programm is processing all the posts and tracking their location. Now, almost all of them originate from CHS.” The young scientist explained.

The siren nodded at that, glancing around for anyone who might be listening to her. However, there was still no one interested in her presence, it would seem. “Yeah, makes sense. Lots of people there, lots of cover to act under. Can you tell me from whose devices the posts were made?”

“T-that wasn’t part of our deal! I just had to t-track where they were p-poste-“ Twilight exclaimed, though she was almost immediately interrupted.

“Exactly!” Aria hissed into her phone. “Where they came from. Knowing they came from the school doesn’t help me Twilight! I need to know which devices they used! This person had to slip up at some point. One post, one comment made from their own phone and not some school-computer and I’ll have them! But right now, that doesn’t help me jack shit-“

“T-t-there were o-other posts! Not from t-the school!” Twilight squeaked through the line.

Aria leaned her head back. Bingo! You just had to pressure her a bit and then she would skip to the really important tidbit. She would still bring the nerd to provide her with the hardware of origin. After all, she knew better then to do anything half-measure.

“Speak.” The word rolled off her tongue with undeniable satisfaction. She let herself sound so calm yet predatory just to drive home the importance of this information.

Twilight needed three attempts to compose herself and get the words out properly. But now, she had Aria’s ear for whatever she had found.

“Most posts, and comments, threads, whatever the account did; almost everything comes from the school. But not all. Some are from streets a-and bus lines, so they must have used their phones. But I also have a couple of adresses from where some originated.” She shakingly recounted.

Aria permitted herself a smirk. This was already promising. A good lead on the phones of her soon-to-be victim, as well as potential homes. That or atleast the homes of their friends.

“Can you tell me the adresses?” It was less of a question and more of an order.

“O-one moment.” In her lab, Twilight hesitated. In her hand was a sheet of paper where she had scribbled down the three adresses. She didn’t know who lived there.

She was afraid. First-hand experience had showed her what the mysterious purple girl was capable of. And she was sure that Aria could do even more, and even worse. What if her helping would end to someone being hurt? Or killed?!

Before her mind’s eye, a different figure appeared. Red skin and beautiful fiery hair. A kind smile and clever cyan eyes. While she still didn’t fully know about Aria, she trusted her partner enough. Dawn would hopefully not allow Aria to actually harm someone.

Atleast none that she would not want harmed.

“Ok, I have 22 Hilda Street in Cloudsdale, the Carousel Boutique at Mercury Street and the last one is outside of Canterlot. About a fiveteen minute drive to a farm, I think. Sweet Apple Acres. That is all I got.”

“Alright. That is good. Call me again once you figured out whose phone Anon-A-Miss came from.” She didn’t even give Twilight the chance to protest. “Once you’ve done that, you should start thinking about what I can do to return this little favor. And please don’t be shy, I can handle a lot. Until then.”

Then she hung up. It was a purely tactical decision. It would deny Twilight the opportunity to continue questioning what she still had to do. Instead, she would have to get to work or better, think about whatever she wanted for this. She would think and only reaffirm herself and then she’d get back to work and get them both what they wanted.

Speaking of…

Aria let the adresses course through her brain once more. This was great.

She knew of course who lived there. She and her sisters had gathered whatever information they could get on the Rainbooms. One of those things were the locations of their homes as well as who lived there.

She also knew that the group had hosted sleepovers regularly, before the whole mess really kicked in, so that still kept every single member in the list of suspects. But now, that list was ever so small.

She allowed a full smile to graze her lips. This was going great. Soon, very soon she would have them.

Author's Note

...

So, this chapter is a lot.

It was always part of Aria, in this story, that she fought in WW2 and later in the Cold War. I mean, Europe was pretty much a powder keg for the majority of the 20th century, so for a siren it is prime opportunity. However, sometimes you should just quit when things are the best and she learned that the hard way.

Poor Siren just doesn't know when to quit and let things go, then and now again.

I don't want to say the whole 'hope you enjoyed it', so I'll go for a 'hope this chapter was digestible'.... or something like that.......

Anyway, stay safe and don't anger ancient sirens; ok byee!