The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Sunset had gone to find her little sister after everything was done, and found her with the Glacier Stone in hand, down on one knee panting heavily, and the girl known as Indigo Zap lying dead on the ground. The Keeper of the Balance had gone to retrieve the Blood Sword and Pandora’s Box, both of which were held in chains from her armor.

“Sun, what happened?” Sunset asked.

Sun looked up and sighed in relief. “Oh, Sis…thank god you’re alive.” Her gaze fell to the dead Indigo Zap and said, “After we came out of it, Indigo was still hellbent on fighting me, and she…she threatened to hurt Twilight if I didn’t give up! She lunged for my Ember Stone, guess she thought she could grab it and use it, but during the struggle, I managed to slip her Glacier Stone off her…unfortunately, I reacted quicker than I did and stabbed her with my hand…”

Sunset looked upon the dead body of the girl who had abused the doppelganger of her best friend, she knew she should feel some kind of pity for Indigo, but she didn’t. There was no helping her, with or without the Glacier Stone, she was still a threat to Twilight’s wellbeing. “You did what you had to do, Sun. If anything, she sounds just like Suri, some people are just…irredeemable.”

The younger Sunset nodded and noticed the naked girl in her arms. “Can I assume that that’s the one responsible for all of this mess?”

Sunset nodded.

“And she’s still alive?” Sun asked.

“She’s weak, I’ve used the Witchblade’s power to heal her several times on the way here. But somehow she’s still weak…I think Pandora’s Box took more out of her than we think.” Sunset looked around and asked, “Where are Tempest and Fluttershy? They were trying to keep you two pinned down!”

Sun shrugged as she looked around herself. “Don’t know, when I came too, it was only me and Indigo. They might’ve bailed seeing as how much destruction was caused. Anyway, let’s get out of here, we have a lot do.”

“…Yeah…”

Sun assumed her fire form and both girls flew out of the park. After a couple of minutes flight time, they arrived at where the RV was, and thankfully, Fluttershy and Tempest were there waiting. Unfortunately, Sunset had to see the saddened faces of Pinkie Pie and Twilight, now seeing Applejack’s dead body for the first. Sunset glanced to her right, hearing a gasp as she saw Sun change back to her normal form.

“Is that…Is that Applejack…?”

An idea struck Sunset as she remembered Sun’s explanation of her power. “Sun, can you use your power to bring her back?! You said the Ember Stone holds the Flame of Life! Can it bring her back?!”

Hope sparked in the faces of the teens, but it did not show in Sun’s. “I…I can’t…She’s been gone too long. The flame can only reach out to those who have the will to continue living. If I was there when she died and tried to call out to her, I might’ve been able to save her. But…after this long…I’m sorry, she’s in a place I’m not allowed to tread.”

Twilight walked over to her girlfriend and gave her a hug, both out of joy for seeing her alive and sympathy, she could see the look on her girlfriend’s face, it spoke of regret. “I’m happy you’re okay. Um…w-what happened to Indigo?”

Sun hugged Twilight back and answered, “I’m sorry…I had to break my promise to you, Sparky. She…She was still trying to fight, and came close to getting me if I hadn’t…”

Twilight didn’t know how to feel just then, Indigo Zap was dead. Her rapist, her stalker, was dead. Part of her did feel happy that she no longer had to fear Indigo’s presence or touch, and yet, it all felt so surreal, unfortunately, whatever feelings that Twilight had over the news was overshadowed by the fact that she had just lost one of her newest friends.

Fluttershy was crying, but she was also praying over her friend. Sunset hoped that the god of this world would hear her prayers, she didn’t know if Applejack’s actions with her older brother was grounds for her to go…down there…but if Fluttershy, the descendant of the Savior, was praying and asking God to allow Applejack entry, to see her parents again, then maybe there was hope.

“DAGI!” The two younger Sirens exclaimed as they rushed over to Sunset.

“Let’s go inside the RV, we don’t need people seeing this.” Sunset brought Adagio inside the RV, with Sonata, Aria, and Tempest coming in behind her. She walked further inside until she they arrived at the bedroom, upon which Sunset set Adagio down.

Sunset exited the room to allow the three sisters time to themselves, before she left, Sunset saw a bathrobe. The former unicorn mare took the robe off the hanger and deactivated her armor, casually saying to the Sirens, “I’m borrowing this.”

The mohawked woman crossed her arms as she leaned against a shelf and sighed through her nose with unease. “So, what happens now?”

“……” Sunset thought for a moment, and then said, “I hate to ask, but can you make sure that Applejack’s body is taken to the proper people?”

Tempest nodded. “Don’t worry, kid. I’ll make sure she’s treated like a priceless gemstone; you have my word. Now, what are we going to do with them,” she asked, tossing a thumb towards the bedroom.

“I’m taking them back to my world, they’ll face Equestrian justice.”

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Huh, not too sure how I feel about that. Considering how many people they killed, not to mention the amount of destruction that was caused by them.”

Sunset dragged her hands down her face as she groaned. “I know, I know…but what are you going to do?! They don’t have any records, same as me, they don’t have any form of ID! If they find out what they are, then they’ll experiment on them!”

The OSOD agent couldn’t really deny that, as supernatural beings, her agency would more than likely take them into custody and either incarcerate them, or experiment on them, or most likely both. “Point taken…Fine, and while we’re at it, there’s the issue of those Artifacts outside.”

Sunset already knew what to do with those. “Yeah, they’re coming with me.”

“Pardon?”

“You didn’t think I was going to let you guys take them?” Sunset asked.

Tempest placed her hands on her hips and gave Sunset a serious look. “Sunset, those things are dangerous. I’ll take them to a place in the OSOD where they’ll be locked down hard, in a place that nothing short of the mother of all nukes could get to them.”

Sunset crossed her arms and replied, “In all honesty, I trust you, but I don’t trust the people you work for. If there’s one thing that I have learned in my time here on Earth, it’s that humans have a penchant for screwing the pooch when it comes to messing with forces that they shouldn’t. I should know, I screwed with a magical artifact from my world and brought it here.”

“Okay, so where are you going to hide them?” Tempest asked.

“With me, at Sun’s mansion. We already have the containers for both the Angelus and the Darkness there. You can’t deny that they’re much safer there with me and Sun. My backup plan, if that doesn’t work, is to bring them to Equestria and ask Princess Twilight if she can stash them somewhere,” Sunset explained. “I’m not budging on this Special Agent Tempest, and please do not argue with me, I just lost one of my friends and I’m dealing with too many emotions right now to get into an argument about it…”

Tempest sighed again, the last thing she wanted to do was force the teen into making more tough decisions after everything that had happened today. “Okay, I’ll keep it on the down low back at HQ, but I want an update the moment you get those things secured.”

Sunset held out her right hand for a handshake, to which Tempest reciprocated. “You have my word…and thank you.”

Princess Twilight paced the library as she waited, glancing at the glowing portal every ten seconds as she awaited the arrival of her friend, Sunset Shimmer. Part of her didn’t want to believe what Sunset wrote down, all the horrible things that happened on the other side, and then…Applejack’s death…Just thinking about it made Twilight’s eyes glisten with tears, the feeling of loss was great, despite knowing that the Applejack of her world was alive and well, the teenage human Applejack was like her in almost every way, so the pain of loss was just as impactful as if she had lost the Applejack in her world.

Just then there was a reaction from the portal, a flash of light went off as two beings exited and landed a few feet away from the portal. The first was Sunset Shimmer, having regained her unicorn form, however, there were some differences. For one thing, a black armor had wrapped itself around her body, her mane and tail had a metallic sheen to them and seemed as if it they were made of metal. Sunset’s horn was wrapped in a protective armor, while the rest of the armor seemed to accentuate her curves and draw attention towards her…ahem…plot. Another thing that was odd was the color of her eyes, they reminded Twilight of the time when Sunset had transformed into that demonic state after putting on the Element of Magic.

Chains were coming out of the armor that wiggled around like serpents, two of them, both of which were connected to the portal. With a gulp, Twilight spoke, “Um…S-Sunset…is that you?”

Sunset glanced over to her right and smiled upon seeing her friend. “Hey, Twilight. Yeah, it’s me, sorry for freaking you out like this, it’s just that I needed to make sure not to jostle Adagio around too much, so I transformed and wrapped some chains around her like a lifeline. Oh – one sec – here she comes!”

No sooner had Sunset said those words did the portal flash again, and from it came out a…Earth pony mare? Not long after Adagio’s exiting did two more Earth pony mares stumble out of the portal, landing atop the other.

“Huh…I…Uh…I did not see that coming,” said Twilight.

“I thought you guys were supposed to be more…monstrous looking,”

Aria got up first, her mane was still in its twin tail style, with a violet coat and a cutie mark that had a star with a forte symbol behind it. “That’s because we can change our bodies at will, we are called Sirens after all.”

Sonata got up and added, “Yeah, sometimes we fly around like this.” Sonata’s body glowed a sky-blue color and a moment later, she was in the large half-equine and half-aquatic creature that was their true form. “And other times, when we want to sneak around, we just change into ponies.” Sonata reverted to a pony form to finish her point.

“Before you ask, no, we can’t change into unicorns or pegasi, for one thing, we can’t use magic like you, so other ponies would look at us funny if we didn’t use our horns. We can fly, but we don’t exactly know the way you ponies fly with wings, so we’d look out of place. Hence, the Earth pony disguises.”

Sunset gently placed Adagio down on the floor, letting her hooves touch down. The moment she did, Adagio was flanked by Aria and Sonata who helped to keep her standing.

“And besides, who’s going to suspect a trio of young Earth pony mares? Back in those times, this tribe was looked down upon by the other tribes, so it made it all too easy to slip in and out wherever we pleased…” Adagio looked at her hooves and brushed them through her mane. “By the seas, it feels so good to be back…”

Princess Twilight stood before the three Siren sisters, spreading her wings and giving them a cross look. All three sisters finally took notice and realized that, unlike back on Earth, where Twilight had no access to her alicorn magic, here, in Equestria, she had all the power. And with the destruction of their gemstones, they were essentially powerless to stop her should the young alicorn seek retribution, even they weren’t stupid enough to take on an alicorn, at least not without having consumed enough negative energy to attempt it.

“Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, I have been told of your recent transgressions on Earth. How your actions have – yours in particular Adagio Dazzle – have cost the life of countless innocents, and almost ended the world. You also ended the life of one of my friends…” Twilight snorted, trying keep a crying fit from starting. “Sunset has informed me that you’re willing to subject yourself to my judgement and sentencing, but truthfully…my emotions are most likely to skew that judgement. So, I will place you under arrest here in my castle, and we will then make the journey to Canterlot Castle, where you three will be judged before myself, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.”

Adagio sighed. “Fair enough…I only ask if there is a lake nearby could we……we…I’m feeling really dizzy…”

The light-yellow mare slumped against Sonata, causing both sisters to freak out.

“HEY, SIS, WHAT’S WRONG?!” Aria asked.

“Are you hurt?!”

Adagio, on weak legs, managed to correct herself. “I…I feel very weak…I-I don’t know why? It was an exhausting experience, but…this tiredness has lingered.”

Twilight gave the lead Siren a curious look as she took another step forward. “Adagio, would you allow me to scan you with my magic?”

Adagio looked to Sunset, who had her armor deactivated, and nodded to the Siren. “Very well…”

Twilight’s horn lit up, it then released a thin layer of light that swiped up and down Adagio’s body about ten times before stopping. Once the scan was complete, Twilight’s expression of curiosity turned into one of shock. “Oh…my…”

“What?!” Sunset asked. “What’s wrong?!”

Twilight glanced back and forth between the Siren sisters and Sunset, and after a pregnant pause, she told them, “Adagio…I don’t know how…but…your life force, it’s been drastically drained.”

Aria’s brow rose from that statement. “What the hell do you mean, ‘been drastically drained’?! She doesn’t have a scratch on her!”

Sunset stamped her hoof against the floor as she muttered, “Pandora’s Box…” She then looked up at the Sirens and said, “Pandora’s Box must’ve done this, some kind of curse to the one who opens the box should they have the strength of will to close it, or if someone else closes it…”

Sonata looked to the alicorn Princess and asked, “C-Can’t you just give her some magic?! Charge her up like a battery?!”

“Magic isn’t the same as somepony’s life force. Magic can be recovered, it can be whittled down to near nonexistence if overused, but it can recover. Life force, the very driving energy of all living things, is finite, and not replenishable unless one uses extraordinary magical means…Right now, Adagio, your life force is very low, which is why you’re feeling so weak despite your recovery,” Twilight explained.

“T-There must be something–?!”

“Quiet!” Adagio ordered, making Aria clamp up. “……How long do I have?”

A hard light board appeared before Twilight, she wrote out some calculations, creasing her brow as her brain went to work figuring it out. Sunset joined next to Twilight, adding her own expertise here and there as they both worked to figure it out. After a minute of calculating, both mares arrived at the same unfortunate conclusion.

Sunset looked to Adagio with a grim expression. “You have twenty-four hours from now…”

Sunset sat with Twilight in her throne room, she stared in awe of the holographic map of Equestria. Twilight had just gotten through explaining how the map functioned, and Sunset had to admit, she was impressed. “I can’t believe this thing actually sends you out on missions to fix friendship problems. You’ve come a long way, Twilight.” Sunset looked down at the map, more specifically, at the mountain which held Canterlot. “Much further than I ever will.”

“Sunset, what are you saying? You’ve saved the human world, by means which…I’ll be honest…I don’t think I could go through. I believe in the Magic of Friendship, and it’s power to bring about resolutions that doesn’t end with the taking of a life.”

Sunset winced, remembering the lives that she had taken with the Witchblade, evil though they were.

“However, the human world’s magic apparently operates on a different set of rules. I never knew it possessed such powerful magical artifacts such as your Witchblade and given how immensely dangerous the creatures you’ve faced have been, you’ve done what you needed to do,” said Twilight. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Princess Celestia is proud of you.”

That caused Sunset’s heart rate to spike. “S-She’s not here…is she?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, she’s in Canterlot right now. Sunset…are you…afraid of seeing her?”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she let out a long sigh. “I didn’t leave under the best circumstances, Twi…I pretty much told her to go to hell before leaving her and everything she ever taught me behind, like it was nothing. She may say she’s proud of me, and I believe that, but you can’t just erase the hurt I must’ve caused her when I did leave.”

“You should go see her now that you’re back, I think she’d like that.” Twilight placed her hoof on Sunset’s shoulder in a show of reassurance.

“I will…but not today. There’s somepony else who needs attending to.” Sunset placed her right hoof over Twilight’s hoof and asked, “How are you holding up?”

Twilight sniffled as she remembered the news. “I’m…I’m still trying to process it. Applejack being dead, it hurts, but at the same time, I can see Applejack any time I want…If anything, what happened to her on Earth, it just makes me want to cherish my time with them all the more. I had to fight the urge to teleport to AJ’s farm and just hug her and never let her go.”

“I kinda wish I could do that,” said Sunset.

“You know…I could take you to her, it might not be the same, but…”

“Later…”

Sunset gently removed Twilight’s hoof and walked out of the throne room, she proceeded down one of the hallways and headed towards the room where Adagio was resting in. Sonata and Aria were sitting outside of it, their eyes red from the crying they had done not long ago, and probably had been doing since. Sunset stopped at the door and asked, “How’s she doing?”

“…Okay…she’s not angry or anything…And she said she wanted to talk to you…If you wanted to?” Sonata asked.

Sunset nodded and then knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The unicorn mare opened the door with her magic and once inside, closed it again. Adagio had been given a room with a window, allowing her to look out into the world. She laid sitting up with the blankets covering half her body, her gaze was trained on the window as she continued to stare out into the land she had wanted to return to for a thousand years.

“It’s ironic, we used to siphon off negative energy in order to live as long as we had, and now, something that fed on my negative energy has nearly robbed me of all my life,” Adagio commented.

Sunset sat beside the edge of Adagio’s bed and said, “It’s most likely due to the fact that you still had some lingering magic from your gemstones when you absorbed the magic of my friends. If it wasn’t for that, I think you would’ve died on the spot.”

Adagio chuckled dryly. “I don’t know whether to be grateful or resentful for that. I guess you won’t be able to see me stand trail for my crimes, but I guess this is a fitting punishment all the same. All my sins have finally caught up with me, a thousand lifetimes of mistakes have all collected their penance from me, and the change they left was a day to live. Did you come here to tell me you’re going to execute me?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not here to ‘execute’ you.”

“You know, we weren’t always like this. My sisters and me. We were born to a loving family, a mother and father. One day, a swarm of sharks swam through our colony. They ravaged everything, many of our Hippocampi tried to fight them off, but in the end, the three of us were the only survivors. Another Hippocampi colony sent a rescue team to help survivors, but they only found us.”

“We were taken to this other colony, but we had no other family who could care for us. Eventually, we ended up on the streets. Sonata was still a ditz even back then and Aria had, has, some anger management issues. Everyone wanted me though, although all three of us had beautiful voices, I was the only one who had the grace and ‘potential’ for being taken in by as a prime mate, while my sisters were destined for lesser things.”

Adagio scowled at the memory. “We had lost everything, I wasn’t about to lose my sisters, so we went on the run. Survived how we could, and eventually, we found an ancient temple of the Hippocampi, a dark place that our ancestors had wanted to keep hidden from the world, but we found it, almost as if destiny had taken us there. We took the gemstones, infused them into our bodies, and from then on, our voices, our song, was our greatest power. We fed off negative emotions, growing stronger with each land village we passed through.”

The lead Siren chuckled feebly when she remembered the plans she had made with her sisters. “I promised Aria and Sonata that if we continued on that way, we could carve out our own place to live. Rule the ponies of the land and show everycreature that we were not to be underestimated, or thrown away, we were to be – all three of us – adored and revered! And then Star Swirl threw us into the human world…” Adagio changed her view from the window to the ceiling as she moved her right foreleg to her forehead.

“Every decision I made was to protect them, I don’t regret what I did.”

Sunset’s jaw tightened, her nostrils flared and gave a snort of anger at her declaration.

“However……the death of your friend was not part of my plan…” Adagio confessed, she then looked to Sunset, noticing her angered expression and asked, “Did you mean it when you said you went looking for us? That you wanted to help us?”

Sunset sighed heavily as she gave Adagio a hard look. “Yes, I did. I wanted to help you three, because I knew just how devasting it feels to lose your magic. I didn’t want to leave you three in the lurch, but before I could help you, you vanished without a trace.”

“Tch, yet another grand decision I made……dammit, it’s like I can’t help but make bad decisions.”

“What was your plan, originally?” Sunset asked.

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you want to know.”

“You’re confessing this much to me already, might as well bare it all.”

The yellow earth pony couldn’t argue with that, she was going to die soon one way or another, and it wasn’t as if Sunset couldn’t get any angrier than she was now. “Very well…My original plan was to threaten you with Pandora’s Box, you would surrender yourself to me, and then I’d take you to someplace remote where I would put you through all manner of sexual tortures, that was mostly stemmed from how my sisters and I have had to whore ourselves these last few months in order to survive. Then I’d offer you an ultimatum to make me stop, which was to tell me how you came to Equestria and to show us how to get back. Once you had, I was going to leave you, used and abused, but alive, and somewhere where your friends could find you quick enough. And then we’d scurry off into Equestria and live the rest of our lives there.”

Sunset’s face turned red. “You were going to sexually torture me?!”

“I’ll be frank, I do find you attractive for a human, and just as much as a pony. So, part of that may’ve been mostly my own sexual frustration coming into play, since there was no other Equestrians in that world, you were the only other one that I could probably get enjoyment from,” Adagio confessed.

Sunset gave her a deadpan expression. “If that’s your way of asking me to fuck you before you bite it, then you’re wasting your time.”

The lead Siren chuckled and replied, “Oh well, a fantasy it will remain…”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Sunset asked as she stood on all fours. “Is this your way of asking forgiveness?! Or are you trying to justify all your actions up until now?!”

“No…No I think I’m beyond forgiveness after what happened. I had planned to double cross Indigo and Suri, they were deeper into their own darkness than I was, and I didn’t want to risk having them follow us to Equestria or kill my sisters. I underestimated how powerful our magical artifacts were, and it cost the life of your friend.” Adagio turned her body to the left to face Sunset. “I just want somepony to know why I did all that I did, not just my sisters, they know, I say this because I want them to live.”

Sunset briefly glanced over her shoulder to the door, where Aria and Sonata waited. “You really care about them that much.”

“I do, they are my family, even if they irritate and annoy me to no end.”

“I can relate to that, the other me, Sun, she sees me as a big sister, and I see her as my little sister. We’ve only known each other for a month or so, but I’d do anything to protect her,” Sunset confessed.

That made Adagio smile a bit. “Sunset Shimmer, I don’t have the right, but may I make one request?”

Sunset nodded in the affirmative.

“Please ask if Princess Twilight can take us to the ocean. I’ve longed to swim in the waters of Equestria again, and if I am to die, I want to die as a Hippocampus.”

Sunset thought back to the map of Equestria, the closest body of water would be the Celestial Sea off to the East, but that would take too long by train to get there. By the time they did arrive, Adagio would be dead long before she even got close enough to smell the salty sea air. “I’ll talk to Princess Twilight and see if there’s a way to accommodate that request. No promises though.”

“I don’t expect much, but thank you anyway,” said Adagio in a grateful tone. “Can you have my sisters come in; I’d like to be with them as much as possible.”

Sunset nodded and went to the door; she opened it with her magic and told the two Sirens to go to their big sister. Without hesitating, they entered the room and Sunset closed the doors behind her. Sunset could understand why Adagio did all that she did, of course she didn’t condone it, hell, her friend paid the price for Adagio’s foolish actions, but in the end, all she wanted was to come back home and protect her family.

“Guess I better talk to Twilight…”

Sunset had fallen asleep in the library along with Princess Twilight, the duo had spent most of the day and night figuring out the best way to get the Sirens back to the sea. Taking them there via train was an option, but anything other than express wouldn’t get there in time before Adagio’s time was up. Spike walked into the library holding a couple cups of coffee, the little drake set the tray on the open spot on the table in front of them and handed one to Sunset.

The unicorn mare took the cup into her magical grasp and took a sip of the brew. “Thanks, Spike.”

“No problem, how’s it going?” Spike asked.

“Well…the best we can figure, we’ll need to teleport them there. Which will be tricky as teleporting oneself is a fairly simple feat, along with transporting a second passenger.”

Spike chuckled, “Yep, I can attest to that.”

Sunset chuckled as well, wondering how many times Twilight had teleported around with Spike in tow. “That being said, teleportation with multiple passengers can be dangerous unless you’re either well versed in translocation magic or have a vast mana reserve.”

Spike scratched at the back of his head as he thought, “Wait, but aren’t you both pretty smart when it comes to magic? And since Twilight became an alicorn, she’s got a lot more magic than before.”

“Both true, but I don’t want Twilight to take on the full brunt of teleporting all five of us to the Celestial Sea. So, we’ve been working on calculations and measuring my mana output so I can contribute to the spell,” Sunset explained. “And I think we got it down where we can land somewhere along here.”

Spike looked as Sunset pointed to a spot near Horseshoe Bay, next to that map was a topography map that showed the elevations of the earth around that area, along with scribbled on magical formulae and mathematical numbers that might as well have been a whole other language to Spike. “Sunset, not to be the plothole here, but why are you doing this for them? Twilight told me what…what happened to Applejack over there, along with all the other stuff that Adagio did with that weird box thing.”

Sunset sighed as she stared at the brown liquid swirling in her mug. “What else am I supposed to do, Spike? Put her on trial? She’ll be dead long before that. Kill her myself? What good would that do me or anypony else when she’s going to die in a few hours anyway? Throw her in a prison cell? Again, dead in a few hours. She’s already about to pay the price for her actions, what use is there in beating a dead horse? No pun intended.”

Spike sighed as she leaned against the table. “I get what you’re saying…but…I still feel…angry, angry and sad and…and I don’t know what else to do about it.”

Sunset put down the coffee mug and walked around the table to sit next to Spike. The unicorn mare brought the drake into a one-legged hug and rested her chin atop his head. “Well, the first part is admitting how you feel, the second part is telling somepony about it. And it’s okay to feel that way.”

“I also feel…ashamed. Because the girls in your world don’t have Applejack anymore, but I can take a walk and see her at Sweet Apple Acres any time I want…” Spike sniffled.

“……Things won’t be easy when I go back. If I’m being honest, I’m really fighting the urge to just stay here.” Sunset took a deep breath and let out in a long sigh. “But I still have friends back there, a sister I adore, a girlfriend I love, a human version of Princess Celestia that’s welcomed me as her daughter. And there’s also my partner here.” Sunset nodded towards the bracelet that was on her right foreleg. “He chose me to keep the balance of the world, and that’s a duty I’ll keep doing.”

“You know, you’re cooler than any of the Power Pony heroes,” Spike commented.

Sunset used her left hoof to give the young drake a noogie as she said, “And don’t you forget it!”

During this talk, Twilight had been listening and smiled contently had how much Sunset had grown since the last time she came to the human world. She had suffered for a period of time, it was almost to the point that Twilight was seriously about to jump through the portal and give everyone at CHS as piece of her mind, failing that, she was going to bring Sunset Shimmer back to Equestria and never have her return to a place that would so easily throw away their friendship. But then this whole business with the Witchblade occurred.

At first, Twilight wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. From Sunset’s descriptions, it sounded almost sinister in nature, but with each telling of her adventures and what the purpose of the Artifact was, Twilight started to think that perhaps it was destiny that Sunset was to go to the human world. Out of all the people in that world, the Witchblade appeared to Sunset, and only Sunset. Perhaps the Earth needed its ancient protector back, and felt Sunset was the best candidate despite being from another world. Maybe it was that fact that made her a better candidate?

Twilight had to admit, she really wanted to study the Artifact, to find out how such a simple looking trinket was able to manifest into that armor she saw not too long ago and perform all the feats that Sunset had described in her journal entries. Twilight didn’t want to say this out loud, for fear of invoking some kind of ancient jinx, but she contemplated that the Witchblade might be more powerful than Princess Celestia, heck, she was even willing to bet bits that it was as powerful as the Tree of Harmony and the Elements.

However, something did worry her, especially based off these latest events. It seemed that Canterlot City was attracting one powerful mystical Artifact after the other, and it was feeling less of a coincidence and more like a powerful force was guiding them all there. Twilight wished she could do more research on the ancient magic and history of Earth, she was so certain that that world had no magic, and yet, here it was, hidden, and now out for others to see. In a way, it was probably a good thing that both she and Sunset did not discover this until much later. Twilight shuddered to think what Sunset would be capable of if she was still the same pony she was when she first met her.

Twilight decided to stop pretending to be asleep and yawned to indicate her stirring. The young princess smacked her lips and said, “Morning Sunset, morning Spike.”

“Morning Twi,” said Sunset, she then giggled and added, “Nice bedhead.”

Twilight had a confused look and then teleported a mirror in front of her and frowned. “Ugh, why does my mane always do this?! I wasn’t even sleeping in my bed!”

“Better than falling asleep in your breakfast,” Spike commented.

That caught Sunset’s attention. “Oh, hold up, she actually fell asleep in her breakfast?”

“Yeah, it was back when she first got the castle, she tried to spend as much time out of it as possible. So much so, that during a pancake breakfast with the girls, Twilight was snoozing in her pancakes, and when she woke up, she said, ‘I’m pancake’!” Spike recalled.

Sunset started laughing as the mental image of the alicorn with pancakes on her face proclaiming such a thing stuck in her mind, for Twilight she was blushing as the embarrassment of that episode had yet to completely leave her memory.

“Okay, okay, it wasn’t that funny,” Twilight huffed.

“Eh, it was a little funny,” said Spike.

“Not helping!”

Sunset’s laughing fit soon subsided, she then glanced at the clock in the room and noticed that it was time to put their plan into motion. “C’mon, let’s get to work.”

Adagio had woken up a little earlier than either of her sisters, thankfully, the room that Princess Twilight had given her had a large bed big enough to accommodate the three of them. Which was a good thing as neither Sonata or Aria felt like leaving her side, both were currently sleeping on either side of Adagio, huddled close like they used to be back in the ocean, and when they were on Earth for the first time.

The eldest Siren knew that her time was coming very soon, but at least she was back in Equestria, she and her sisters were back home. Their time would probably be spent locked away in a dungeon somewhere to pay for Adagio’s crimes, something that she wished she could take from them. But serving time was not an option, execution was pointless, banishment……that made Adagio’s heart race with fear. What if Princess Twilight consulted the other Princesses of Equestria and found that the only suitable punishment for them was to banish the Sirens back to the world they hated so much. For Adagio it would be pointless, but for her sisters it was a real possibility, even if she couldn’t be punished her crimes, there was nothing saying that that couldn’t be foisted onto her little sisters.

Adagio turned her head to the right to look at Sonata, she was always a cute little thing, if they hadn’t gone down the path they had, she imagined Sonata would be a sweet girlfriend to whatever male or female was lucky enough to garner her attention, and an even sweeter wife and mother to her children. Such a thing was still a possibility as Sonata still possessed some childlike naïveté, but also possessed some level of maturity to understand certain things.

The older Siren then turned her head to the left and looked upon Aria. The cantankerous Siren was cute when she was sleeping and looked at peace. She worried a bit more for Aria, she was always a fighter, always willing to butt heads with others if she believed her way was the right way. But underneath all that, Adagio knew that it was all just to keep from showing weakness, Aria never allowed herself to feel vulnerable or open herself up to other beings. There was a time, a long, long time ago, in the human world, where Aria did find a young human male that she had grown fond of.

This male found her abrasive attitude to be more an attractive quality than a turn off, which threw Aria off her game as usually many were put off by her aggression. However, disaster happened, and the young man was killed, and Aria forced herself into never wanting to be that close to anyone other than her sisters. A couple of centuries later, Aria found herself infatuated with another human, this time a young woman. Just like the male before, this human found Aria’s aggressiveness and brashness more a selling point than a detriment. However, unlike before, Aria did not lose this lover to disaster, it was Aria herself who ended it.

When Adagio asked why, Aria responded, “What’s the point in doing anything more with these humans? We’ll outlive them, and at some point, they’re going to wonder why I haven’t aged since the first time we met. Plus, it’s not like I can give them any children even if I wanted to. At best, they’re just good to break up the boredom from time to time.”

Adagio knew that Aria did want to be loved, not just familial love, that she had, she wanted romantic love. Thanks to their Siren dark magic, they could manipulate anyone into adoring and worshipping them as goddesses, but that was just empty. Adagio could see that Aria craved someone that she could say truly loved her for herself, not because of the magic, and be happy with them. In an ironic twist of fate, perhaps losing their dark magic was the best thing to happen them, now it meant Aria was free to be with anypony she wanted and not fear outliving that lover.

When Adagio thought about all this, she began to cry bitterly as her ears folded against her skull. This stirred Sonata and Aria from sleep, making them look upon her with concerned expressions.

“Dagi, what’s wrong?!” Sonata asked.

“Are you hurting?!” Aria queried.

“No…I’ve just realized how terrible a sister I’ve been to you both…”

The younger Sirens shook their heads in disbelief at what Adagio said.

“What are you talking about?! We’re alive because of you!” Aria stated.

“Yeah, without you, we’d be dead a long time ago,” said Sonata.

Adagio wiped her eyes and looked at them in turn, “But I never gave you what you needed! Yes, we survived, but by the skin of our teeth! You two never got to live your lives…to love…to grow…all you have done is follow me because that’s all you knew! All we had! I never looked to the positive, never looked to the brighter side, instead I hung onto my bitterness, anger, and hate for our fate, and forced you both to do everything I wanted and needed you to do without considering what you needed to become better…”

Sonata got closer to Adagio and nuzzled her cheek. “Dagi, without you, I’d have probably been taken advantage of, used and abused, and whatever else. You made me think better about what I do before I do it, and to look at everything before just jumping right in.”

Aria took Adagio’s left hoof into her own and squeezed it. “And how many times have you kept me from losing my cool and messing us up?! I know I can be pissy and aggressive, but without you putting me in my place again and again, I would’ve put us in deep shit more than once! Plus…because of that, I can finally tamp down my anger on my own, and not drive everyone away from me.”

“Dagi, you’re didn’t fail us as a big sister, you did the best you could with what we had.”

“Don’t ever think anything different, or I’ll smack you upside the head! And you know how much that’s going to hurt now that I have hooves again!”

Adagio chuckled at the empty threat, her heart swelling with the love that she had from both her sisters. “Thank you, girls…”

A knock came at the door before it opened and revealed both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Aria scowled a little and asked, “What do you want?”

Sunset ignored the scowl she was getting from Aria and looked at Adagio directly. “So, do you think you’re strong enough to take a swim?”

Aria, Sonata, and Adagio sat up with wide eyes.

“Y-You don’t mean…?” Adagio gasped.

Princess Twilight stood next to Sunset and said, “We’ve figured out a way to teleport all five of us to Horseshoe Bay, which will allow you to take a dip in the waters. The only condition we ask is that you don’t swim too far away from us, if something happens, we want to be able to help you.”

“Or keep an eye on us to make sure we don’t run away,” Aria commented.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Adagio answered. “What matters is we’ll be in the water together. When can we go?”

“If you’re ready, we can go now,” said Sunset.

Adagio wasted no time in getting out of bed, once she hit the floor, however, she stumbled a bit and looked as if she as about to fall forward. However, a turquoise aura of magic wrapped around the Siren and kept her from faceplanting. That same magical grasp floated her over next to Sunset, allowing the lead Siren to lean on Sunset’s left side for support.

“Sorry…” Adagio apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sunset replied.

Sonata and Aria stood close to the unicorn and alicorn, readying themselves for whatever it was they were about to do.

“Just brace yourself, this might get a little bumpy,” Twilight warned.

Sunset and Twilight’s horns began to glow, a bubble formed around that was comprise of Twilight’s magenta aura and Sunset’s turquoise aura. The bubble swirled about as the two strongest magic users concentrated on their work, and in the next moment, the world around them shifted in a flash of sparkling light. The Sirens had shut their eyes, fear wandering into their hearts as they worried that this would either go badly, or that this might just be an elaborate plot to put them in a dungeon.

However, those fears were erased when the familiar scent of salt water wafted into their nostrils, along with the caw of seagulls. When the Sirens opened their eyes, they gasped in joy. They were standing on a sandy beach, with blue waves crashing against it. Reeds flowed as the gentle breeze blew through them, carrying the heart-warming scent of the open sea, the sky was clear and blue, and the sun was warm. Sonata, Aria, and Adagio dug their hooves into the sand, feeling the tiny bits of quartz and sediment brush against them, this wasn’t like the sand back on Earth.

The sand, the water, the air, it held a magical energy to it, an invigorating energy that made it Equestria’s sand, Equestria’s water and air. The three Sirens broke away from the alicorn and unicorn, despite the tiredness that Adagio was afflicted with, just being near the sea was having a rejuvenating effect on her. The three sisters stood at the edge of the sea, letting the waves crash against their forelegs. They reared up and splashed, giggling like school fillies.

Sunset and Twilight watched this, and oddly, felt a sense of joy from seeing how happy they were. The Sirens moved a bit more into the water, but paused, they then turned their heads to look at Sunset and Twilight, as if they were the parents and were asking for permission to go swimming.

“Go on,” said Sunset.

“Have fun,” Twilight added.

With their permission granted, Aria, Sonata, and Adagio were wrapped in shimmering light colored purple, blue, and yellow. When the light faded, the Earth pony forms of the Sirens was shed away, and now they were in their true forms. As far as size was concerned, they stood about two heads taller than Princess Celestia. They were covered head to tail in scales, their front legs were similar to that of pony legs, with hooves instead of flippers. The gemstones that had originally been on their chests were gone since they were destroyed during the Battle of the Bands competition, but that was of little concern to them. Some of their sharp teeth were sticking out but mixed in where were also a bit of flat teeth that were associated with an omnivorous species.

The Sirens took a moment to enjoy the fact that they were now in their true forms, no longer in a compressed pony body, or a bipedal human body, but in their full and true Hippocampus form. Without wasting another moment, all three sisters galloped-slithered towards the water, letting the waters splash over them, and after the next big wave, they dove underwater.

Sunset and Twilight watched them disappear into the water, but with a wave of their horns, the two magic wielders created hard-light air bubbles around their heads. Twilight and Sunset galloped into the water and dove in after them, and once under the water, the two mares were granted a wonderful sight.

A beautiful coral reef was laid out before them, teaming with various aquatic creatures from crabs, sea anemones, and various species of fish. But what really caught their eyes was how the Sirens were swimming so gracefully, weaving through tall rock formations, performing loops, barrel rolls, and practically dancing. Their elated laughs and giggles were carried on the currents, echoing in all directions. And for the first time in a long, long thousand years of living, they were able to sing. This song was not filled with malice, jealousy, envy, or any negative emotion, it was filled with complete joy and happiness, not sung for manipulation or to antagonize, but for just the pure enjoyment of singing.

The various aquatic creatures stopped to see the three mysterious creatures as they played and swam, singing beautifully for no one else other than themselves, even Twilight and Sunset couldn’t help but feel a sense of joy from hearing their singing.

“Twi, I’ve been thinking,” said Sunset.

“Yes, Sunset?”

“I’m starting to think that their song has more power than just to cause others to feel negative emotions, what if it could do the opposite?”

Twilight hummed in contemplation. “Bring out positive emotions, if what we’re feeling is any indication, I think that’s the case.” Twilight’s ears folded as a frown appeared on her muzzle. “If circumstances were better, perhaps those three could’ve brought joy to ponies and others. Perhaps Equestria might’ve become a different place altogether?”

Sunset sighed, “Unfortunately, fate chose a different path for them.”

It was a sad thing to think of, but for now, they just enjoyed the private concert as the three sisters played and laughed, for the first time in their lives, they were able to just enjoy their time together.

Twilight and Sunset had summoned a blanket for them to lie on as they waited on the beach. The two mares believed that it was better this way, the Sirens didn’t need them to hover over them, and believed that giving them some privacy was best. A few hours had passed by and now it was the middle of the afternoon, Sunset was getting a little antsy at not being able to keep an eye on Adagio, given her weakened state, and the time Adagio had left, she feared that the Siren could collapse at any moment.

It was right around that time that a lone Siren breached the surface of the water, Sonata Dusk. The blue Siren swam up to the beach and waved for Twilight and Sunset to come to her. The two mares got off the blanket and rushed to Sonata with worried expressions. “It…It’s time…”

A lump formed in Twilight and Sunset’s throats, they could tell by the sound of Sonata’s voice that she had been crying, but thanks to the seawater it was hard to tell. The unicorn and alicorn formed their air bubbles and followed Sonata down into the depths of the water. It seemed that the two ponies weren’t the only ones in attendance to this impromptu funeral, the fish, crabs, and dolphins that had been watching the Sirens swim and sing were all in attendance, despite not having Fluttershy’s special ability to communicate with animals, it was evident enough that they the creatures around them were feeling sad.

Sunset and Twilight were led to a clearing in the coral where Adagio was lying down, Aria was lying next to her, her head gently perched atop Adagios as she hummed a loving song to her dear big sister. Sonata took her place on Adagio’s vacant side and joined Aria in her harmonizing.

Adagio weakly looked up at the two mares and said, “You didn’t have to come, I just wanted Sona to tell you.”

“We wanted to come.” Sunset swam further down to meet the Siren face to face. “I don’t want you to feel as if no one cares.”

Twilight swam down and floated next to Sunset, smiling in agreement. “Nopony should feel alone, especially at a time like this.”

“I know I’ve wronged you…and everyone back in the human world…I’m sorry I can’t do anything to atone for it other than die here…but I ask you, please let my death absolve my sisters of their crimes,” Adagio pleaded.

Sonata and Aria stopped their humming and looked at their big sister with surprise.

Twilight placed her forehooves atop of Adagio’s large right hoof. “As a Princess of Equestria, upon my title as the Princess of Friendship, I Twilight Sparkle, proclaim your crimes absolved, and that no punitive action is to be taken against your sisters Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze. I swear this to you, Adagio Dazzle.”

Adagio’s bottom lip trembled as she sniffled and said, “Thank you, Princess Twilight.”

Sunset placed her own hooves atop Adagio’s large left hoof, making the yellow Siren turn her gaze to the amber colored unicorn. “Adagio……there’s a part of me that can’t forgive you for what happened to Applejack…but…there’s another part of me that does understand why you did everything you did, and while I don’t condone it, I can respect your wanting to protect your family. If, when I die, we’re reborn into another life, I hope next time we can be friends.”

Adagio smiled and said, “If that happens, I’d like to be more than just friends, Sunny.”

“Tch, hitting on me at a time like this? Seriously?”

“…Heh…Can’t blame…a girl……for trying…”

“Dagi?!” Sonata whined.

“Sis!” Aria cried.

Adagio started to feel weaker and weaker, it wasn’t scary though, she felt at peace. “Please…sing for me…my dear sisters…one last time?”

Sunset and Twilight watched as Sonata and Aria closed their eyes and released a beautiful melody, their song spoke of happier memories, filled with all the happiness and sadness such memories brought, it was their last lullaby, for the sister who always sang them to sleep, this was their last gift to her. Sunset and Twilight couldn’t help their own tears from falling as they watched Adagio’s eyes shut, and the bubbles from her snout stop.

Sonata and Aria stopped their singing and leaned down to kiss the top of their big sister’s head.

“Goodbye, Dagi…”

“Find peace in the Great Current…” the Siren sisters moved away a bit from Adagio’s body, prompting Aria to say, “Stand back you two.”

Sunset and Twilight swam back, and the moment they did, Adagio’s body began to glow. In a flash of light, her body had been completely transformed into a tree shaped piece of yellow coral.

“What…What happened to her?!” Sunset asked in shock.

“Relax…this is what happens to a Hippocampus who dies in the water,” said Aria.

“Hippocampi are part of nature, when we die, we become coral, which helps the fish and other creatures, which in turn those creatures become our food. It’s the circle of life that our parents taught us when we were little,” Sonata explained.

Sunset and Twilight swam up to the tree coral and placed a hoof on it, mentally reciting a silent prayer to Faust on high. After a few minutes of mourning, all four of them returned to the surface, making their tears more prominent than they were earlier. Sonata leaned into Aria, crying into her neck as Aria gently nuzzled her little sister’s head. It now dawned on the middle Siren that she was the big sister now, and that she had to be strong for Sonata.

“…N-Now what…Ari? What…What are we supposed to do?” Sonata asked through her sobs.

“I…I don’t know, Sona, but we’ll have each other, okay? I won’t leave you alone,” said Aria.

“You two can stay with me,” said Twilight.

Both Sirens looked at her with confusion.

“W-Why? Y-You don’t owe us anything, or are you just taking pity on us?” Aria asked.

Twilight shook her head in the negative. “No, I’m just trying to be a good friend. A lot of things have changed in the thousand plus years the three of you have been away. Land formations, villages, all kinds of things. It’s better if you stay with me so I can help you two get reacclimated to Equestria as it is now, that way, when you’re ready, you can go out and live the lives Adagio wanted you to. What do you think?”

Aria looked at her little sister and then back to the two ponies. “Back in the day, Adagio would’ve said something like, ‘We don’t need your charity!’, but if she was here now, I think she’d kick my ass for being that stupid. If you don’t mind putting up with us, I think we’d like that. Right, Sona?”

Sonata smiled a little and nodded her head in agreement. Twilight, Sonata, and Aria walked further up, prepared to teleport again. However, Sunset remained at the edge of the water, her gaze transfixed on the spot where Adagio’s coral tree resided. It infuriated Sunset, if not for that one thing, Adagio and her sisters would be living peaceful and happy lives. Sunset was able to change her fate due to Princess Twilight’s intervention.

“Sunset?” Twilight called out.

“I should’ve tried harder…” Sunset stated as tears flowed. “I should’ve tried bucking harder to find you three, no matter how much Adagio was mad at me, even if it took me a forever I should’ve–!”

Sonata walked up to Sunset and slapped her across muzzle. “Don’t you dare think that way! Adagio didn’t want you dwell on her death, she was happy, we are all happy! Don’t bring that to this moment.”

Sunset sniffled and rubbed the spot where Sonata slapped, but then smiled softly and said, “Sorry, Sonata.”

Sonata smiled and escorted Sunset back to the group, but as she walked, a breeze blew across Sunset’s left ear that carried the words, “Live and love, my sisters. And Sunset, thank you for bringing us home.” Sunset stopped and turned around and, she believed, she saw Adagio’s ghostly image for a just a moment before it disappeared.

Sunset smiled and continued to walk towards Twilight and Aria. With all four of them gathered, Sunset and Twilight cast their spell once again, and vanished.