Life From Strife

by Draxonos135

Rating: everyone
Tags: Scootaloo, Human, Sunset Shimmer, Sweetie Belle, Drama, Apple Bloom, Alternate Universe, Equestria Girls
Length: 6452

When Sunset and friends' "Friendship Beam" proves to be stronger than expected, the Canterlot Movie Club try to revive the Dazzlings before the Rainbooms find out.

Friendship, for the millenia it has existed, has brought peace and harmony. Even when it was used by evil, one general rule that was believed to apply regardless was that friendship could never be used to kill.

That rule was broken in one certain Battle of the Bands, by the group known as the Rainbooms.

Whether it was because Princess Twilight's power proved too strong, or because their friendship proved to be extra damaging, the very thing that brought the Dazzlings to life, their gems, had been destroyed.

And of all people to find this out, it was the Canterlot Movie Club.

Can they revive the Sirens in order to make it seem like they were just defeated, rather than outright killed?

Published 2020-01-26 03:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-01-26 03:20:01 UTC

CMC - Discovery

The Battle of the Bands came to an end as the swirling pillar of rainbow friendship dissipated, and once the Rainbooms had been declared the winners, everybody began walking back home. Among these people were the trio of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, still wearing their musician outfits.

"Well, we didn't win, but at least we had fun, right?" Sweetie Belle spoke, shrugging her shoulders. "Or, at least, we had some sort of fun before the Dazzlings came around."

"Dude, I don't remember anything from the point they showed up in the cafeteria until the Battle of the Bands," Scootaloo remarked with exasperation, rubbing her head. "If we did have fun, then those memories were blocked off."

"Well, at least there's a silver linin' t' this," Apple Bloom said. "Ta Dazzlings were beaten and will never hurt anyone again!"

"Help!"

Startled by the call for help, the trio ran after the source and stopped as soon as they a peculiar, yet disturbing sight: Adagio Dazzle, carrying a seemingly unconscious Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze on her arms, walked weakly across the ground, scanning her surroundings with tired eyes.

"Please... somebody help!" she shouted with desperation. "Somebody!"

Suddenly, she tripped and hit the ground, dropping her fellow sirens on the ground. She began crawling across the floor, still looking at her surroundings as her eyes lost their shine.

"Please... help us!"

Then, she stopped as her eyelids began feeling heavy, and her eyes began growing faint.

"Help... them..."

Until finally, she herself collapsed. The trio came out of hiding and ran up to the unconscious ringleader, with Apple Bloom being the one to vocalize their thoughts:

"What ta heck was dat!"

"From the looks of it, they were calling for help," Scootaloo remarked, crouching down next to Aria's body. "As far as we know, though, it could be a trap."

Sweetie Belle didn't listen to the last part and rolled Adagio up, before she lifted her eyelids. Her eyes had become completely blank; no pupils or sign of life in them.

"Sweetie Belle, don't go around doing thi-what happened to her eyes?!" Scootaloo exclaimed, stealing a glance at the duo.

"I..." Sweetie Belle closed Adagio's eyes. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Then let's get outta here!" Apple Bloom suggested. "Trap or not, ta Dazzlings are dangerous!"

Sweetie Belle turned back to the motionless siren. "I don't know, they don't seem to be... moving."

She promptly laid her head down Adagio's chest, and the ensuing silence sent a shiver down her spine.

"Girls," Sweetie belle clasped her hands and turned to her friends. "I don't hear a pulse."

Scootaloo was the next to rest her head on Aria's chest. "This one doesn't have a pulse either!"

"Neither does this one!" Apple Bloom stood up. "D-Do ya think they're... dead?"

"No, Apple Bloom, I'm pretty sure their hearts are just taking a nap," Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Even so, why did they die? The only thing Sunset and her friends did was destroy their gems and ruin their voices!"

"Maybe they felt such great despair that their own bodies couldn't take it?" Apple Bloom suggested. "One of mah cousins once felt such great despair, she died on ta spot."

"Oh, that's horrible, what happened?"

"They cancelled her favorite show on ta night of its season finale."

"Now I just think she took it way too hard!"

As the argument continued, Sweetie Belle looked at the bodies, and promptly tried to lift the ringleader's motionless person.

"Sweetie Belle, what are ya doin'?"

"I want to take the body somewhere else; if they stay here, then somebody else could stumble upon them, and I don't want to think the kind of chaos that would arise from them seeing a dead body," the girl argued. "I mean, just think about what would happen if Sunset and her friends saw them like this!"

That was enough of a convincing argument, as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom promptly grabbed Aria and Sonata and dragged the trio off to elsewhere.

They were surprisingly light, all things considered.

The trio eventually found a place to hide the Dazzlings, or at least store them somewhere, and that was at a cottage they had found in the middle of the forest near the school grounds.

What was a cottage doing there in the first place, they didn't know, but it didn't seem to be inhabitted, so the chances of the Dazzlings being found was pretty small.

That was more than enough to make them worry, though.

"We can't keep them there forever," Scootaloo stated.

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Ah don't know, ah once heard how Granny Smith buried a family pet, and it took years 'fore anybody found 'em."

"Yeah, but these are three interdimensional grief-sucking sirens, Apple Bloom, not a dog."

"Our family pet was a cat!"

"Doesn't matter, Scootaloo's point still stands," Sweetie Belle stated. "If the sirens just suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth, it's only a matter of time before people start wondering what happened to them. And even if they stay hidden forever, they could still decay like most dead bodies do."

"And once dat happens, ta cat will be outta ta bag," Apple Bloom folded her arms. "Ah see what ya mean, but what can we do?"

Sweetie Belle hummed for a moment, then got an idea. A horrible, terrible idea. "We could revive them!"

Scootaloo took out her phone and pushed some buttons, though since it was off no sound came out. "Hello, mental house? Yeah, I'm just calling to tell you that one of my friends has gone completely insane!"

"While ah don't like ta joke, ah gotta agree with Scootaloo on this one," Apple Bloom frowned. "Ta Dazzlings caused so much trouble for everyone, and ya want t' revive them after Sunset and her friends just beat them?"

"Girls, you don't understand: Sunset and her friends didn't just beat them, they killed them," Sweetie Belle argued. "Accidentally, yes, but that's even worse than if they had done it intentionally; right now they must think they just defeated them. And I'll bring this up again; can you imagine how they'll react when they see the Dazzlings' dead bodies?"

"They could always just assume somebody else killed them," Scootaloo frowned. "Which, now that I think about it, would be just as bad as if they thought they themselves did it."

"Alright, let's assume all three of us are okay with ta idea, how are we gonna revive them anyway?" Apple Bloom shrugged. "We don't have anythin' like a spell dat can revive ta dead. And even if we had it, ah doubt it'd have instructions t' revive ta sirens."

"Well, this is just an idea," Sweetie Belle twiddled her fingers. "The Dazzlings ate negative energy to feed themselves, right? Maybe that energy helped keep them alive. So, if we want to revive them, we just need to gather enough negative energy to feed them and boom, back to life!"

"There's still the problem of us not having anything that can tell us how to revive them, though."

As if on cue, something fell down and caught the attention of the trio. They got up and walked to a bookshelf nearby the lifeless sirens, and spotted a book on the ground.

The title of the book? "Revival: Giving Another Chance at Life".

"Well, this is convenient," Sweetie Belle said with a smile.

"Ya say convenient, ah say horseapples," Apple Bloom stated.

"Yeah, Sweetie Belle, a book about revivals falls down just as we mention the topic? Don't you think that's a bit suspicious?" Scootaloo rubbed her arm. "In fact, how do we know this place isn't a magical place itself?!"

"If it, Sunset and her friends can deal with it later, like they always do," Sweetie Belle as she opened the book and began surfing its content. "For now, let's focus on reviving the sirens."

Eventually, Sweetie Belle reached a page about sirens. And while Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged looks, concerned about the requirements-primarily "grief" written in bold-Sweetie Belle focused on the fact there was a page at all.

"Bingo!"

Author's Note

Bellesitter was something fun to write, so here's another Dazzlings-Cutie Mark Crusaders story for y'all.

Does this have any relation to Bellesitter? Maybe, maybe not. I'll decide when it's done. XD

CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS REVIVERS OF SIRENS, YAY!

CMC - Anon-A-Miss

After giving themselves the goal of reviving the sirens, the trio of Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo got to work on the revival spell. Apparently, they'd need to create negative energy equal to that of the amount that was used to kill the sirens, then take the lifeless bodies back to the spot they were killed and infuse them with the energy. Optional, but heavily recommended, was to bring gems with them so they could act as new hearts for the sirens, to replace the broken gems.

So, yeah, they had their work cut out for them.

They began working on an account called "Anon-A-Miss" to try and spread rumors that would hurt Sunset Shimmer. She was, after all, the center piece of what killed the sirens, so maybe her negative energy would be more potent than normal, and thus help return the sirens to life. And currently, they were writing a couple more controversial posts before calling it a day.

"Ah don't understand why we had t' make this account, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom asked as she finished writing and posting something. "Ah mean, surely there's better ways to gather negative energy, right?"

"Now you're okay with Sweetie's plan?" Scootaloo asked exasperated.

"Not at all, ah'm just pointing 'ther options."

"And I understand both of your concerns, but if you think about it, this makes the most sense," Sweetie Belle answered as she logged off. "Everybody uses the internet these days, so, it's safe to assume that if we cause strife on the net, the energy will come much faster than if we were to use any other method!"

"Maybe," Scootaloo logged off. "But I still don't like what we're doing."

"You don't have to; nobody will remember what happened today once we're done," Sweetie Belle twiddled her fingers and took a deep breath. "We'll get the energy, revive the sirens, we'll be able to continue on our merry lives, acting like nothing ever happened... hopefully soon."

Sweetie Belle's smile faltered as she thought about it, and lowered her head, her expression growing increasingly disturbed. Which wasn't lost on her friends, especially Apple Bloom.

"Sweetie Belle, are ya-"

"Finished with my posts? Most certainly!" Sweetie Belle chirped, snapping back to a cheerful attitude as she got off her chair. "Now, all we got to do is get the gems, and charge them!"

Sweetie Belle strolled off, and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom finished their stuff before they followed her.

Several weeks after the fact, the trio found themselves in the forest once more, digging up the ground in their continued search for the gems

"Sweetie Belle, ah still think this is a bad idea," Apple Bloom stated, eyeing the scenery around them with concern. "Ah understand tryin' t' keep ta fact friendship killed someone a secret, but do we need t' go so far?"

"The book didn't bring up any other methods to revive the sirens," Sweetie Belle argued, focusing on digging the ground. "Besides, what else could we have done? Leave them alone so somebody else can deal with them?"

"Uh, yes?!" Scootaloo growled. "I mean it, Sweetie Belle, we're just digging ourselves deeper into our graves the more we do this. And the worst part of it is that we can't go back now: as soon as we started to post stuff as Anon-A-Miss, that was the point of no return for us!"

Apple Bloom shushed Scootaloo immediately. "Keep yer mouth quiet, or we'll definitely have t' dig our own graves!"

"We already are, Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo argued. "We were lucky that the cottage from before seemed to be abandoned, but it's only a matter of time before everything we've done up to this point catches up to us, and take a big bite out of our butts!"

Just then, Sweetie Belle's shovel hit something hard. The girl smiled, forgetting Scootaloo's words, and began digging some more until the object revealed itself to be a trio of gems: a red one, a purple one, and a white one.

"Weird, those gems got our colors!" Apple Bloom remarked, scratching her head. "Or at least, they got our main colors..."

"The color doesn't matter," Sweetie Belle replied as she took out the gems. "What matters is that we got them! And by the time we perform the spell, the school should be turning on Sunset, bringing forth a ton of negative energy!"

"Sweetie Belle, that's not something you should say cheerfully," Scootaloo pointed out, Apple Bloom nodding in agreement.

"I know, but I'm saying it cheerfully not because of what will happen, but because of how close we are to accomplishing our goal!" Sweetie Belle frowned, her smile unfaltering. "Soon enough, we'll be able to go on with our lives as if nothing happened!"

"I hope so," Scootaloo sighed. "Because some of the things we wrote on Anon-A-Miss..."

Sweetie Belle's smile finally betrayed her and turned into a frown, right before she lead the way back into the school.

The trio saved the gems in their pockets and headed straight for the library. There were murmurs going around, some sounding angrier than others, so the girls quickly figured they were the result of Anon-A-Miss. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom tried their best to ignore them, but their frowns made it clear it wasn't as easy as they thought.

Sweetie Belle, however, betrayed herself once more; she stopped, slowly turned around, and her eyes widened at the sight.

Sunset was on her knees, covering her face with her hands as she cried her heart out, a group of her classmates surrounding her with disapproving glares.

This sight brought with itself something else within Sweetie Belle. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but as soon as she clutched her chest, she could tell it wasn't something she could touch. It came from her chest, that was clear, but again, grabbing it did absolutely nothing to the feeling.

"Ya see what we did t' reach this goal?" Apple Bloom asked, putting a hand on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "An innocent girl, ta friend of our sisters and friend, humilliated and alienated all over again."

Sweetie Belle threw a look at Apple Bloom... then shook it off and kept walking.

"Seriously?" Scootaloo frowned. "We just saw Sunset crying alone, surrounded by people who hated her thanks to something we did, and you still wanna keep going-!?"

"Any negative thoughts they have will go away once the gems absorb the negative energy," Sweetie Belle stated, not bothering to look at Scootaloo. "If you really want to help Sunset not feel like... manure anymore, then come help me with the spell!"

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo flinched, stunned at the statement. But alas, Sweetie Belle showed no signs of stopping to wait for them, so they picked up the pace.

The trio reached the library, sparing no time at the fact they had picked one of the busier locations in the school to do this definitely-supposed-to-be-private-thing was beyond them. Just their luck, however, was it that the library was empty at the moment.

"Good, this'll be perfect," Sweetie Belle smiled. "Alright, get the gems out and put them on a table."

"Which table?"

"The one in the middle!"

The trio headed to the mentioned table, took out the gems, and placed them on the table as Sweetie Belle reached for her pocket. From it, she took out a piece of paper that had the notes for a song in it.

Because of course singing had to be involved.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at the notes, and after exchanging looks with Sweetie Belle, they began to sing the notes... although no actual sound came out of their mouths. It's not that they weren't singing, it's just that... well, they had no real idea why they weren't singing despite their best efforts.

Not that it mattered, because once they finished "not-singing", the gems glowed as streams of red energy burst from the doors and entered the gems, which continued for a couple seconds until the gems were pulsating and glowing red.

"Okay, I think that did it," Sweetie Belle remarked, pocketing the glowing gems. "Just to be sure, let's go outside and see if everybody's fine, then we'll get the bodies and head to the stage."

Scootaloo frowned. "But Sweetie Belle-"

The words fell on deaf ears, as Sweetie Belle strolled out of the library with a wide smile, eager to confirm the results of the song. Exasperated, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom nonetheless followed their friend, still trying to wrap their heads around what she was thinking.

One thing was clear though: Sweetie Belle wanted to get this over with.

Sunset Shimmer - Learning

Today had to be the worst day of Sunset's life, and she went through the Fall Formal! This "Anon-A-Miss" somehow managed to alienate her from not only her friends, but all of the school, with even Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna showing their disapproval over the alleged posts.

It felt like a hammy, broken excuse to try bring up a lesson about cyberbullying, but how was Sunset supposed to see the lesson beyond this utterly crummy day?!

The girls eyed a rock, and kicked it with a furious expression. The rock bounced off the nearby body of water repeatedly until it had gone over the horizon, and Sunset hoped the rock had hit something on the other end eventually.

I just don't understand! Why would a day like this come after everything I've done?! I'd understand if it came right after the Fall Formal, when everybody didn't trust me, but I've proven that I've changed! I've proven everyone that they can trust me! And I seriously hate the fact that I'm sounds like a angsty, whiny.... what's the word for it?

"You stubborn mule!"

No, that word means something... wait, what?

Sunset scanned her surroundings and saw she had found herself back at the place where the Battle of the Bands had taken place. She figured the place would've been cleaned up several weeks after the battle was done, but alas, something more important caught her attention:

Not only were the Dazzlings nearby, piled up in the middle of the stage, but Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were around as well, the latter two arguing with the former.

So, she hid behind a tree and overheard their conversation:

"Tell us the truth, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo lowered her eyelids. "Why do you want to revive the sirens?!"

Okay, pause. Normally, coming from a magical land of talking ponies made Sunset impervious to weird statements, but that statement had too much information to pack off: The Sirens? The girls wanting to revive them?

And before she could even ponder what was going on, Sweetie Belle continued:

"Girls, we've already established that if we don't revive them, people are going to get suspicious-"

"No, Sweetie Belle, this no longer has anything to do with that!" Scootaloo stated, folding her arms. "We were willing to buy that explanation and go along with your idea because we were worried how our friends would take it, but this has gone beyond that!"

"Yeah, ya see Sunset in despair, and ya keep goin'! Ya know ta humiliation we put our families and friends through, and ya keep goin'! Ya see ta gems overflowing with ta negative energy, and ya still keep goin'!" Apple Bloom added. "Not t' mention yer're strangely determined to do it, so, what gives?!"

Sunset wanted to chime in, wondering what the heck was going on, but she managed to keep herself quiet until

"I just can't imagine living my life normally now that we know Sunset and her friends killed someone!"

Okay, maybe she should've chimed in after all, this just made her more confused. And slightly concerned: did Sweetie Belle seriously just say that Sunset and her friends, which she assumes were the human counterparts to Twilight's friends, had killed someone? Who and how?

Okay, not who, once she took a closer look at the Sirens' motionless bodies and the previous dialogue, it was clear that they were killed somehow.

Then came the how, because even when they were at each other's throats, the Rainbooms never tried to kill the Sirens, let alone hurt them. The most they did was destroy their gems with the giant sky alicorn beam-

Oh... wait... could that be how? But the beam it released was made of friendship! And friendship could never be used to kill!

Right?

"I mean, we didn't spend much time thinking about it, and I'm glad we didn't, because if we had, I don't think we would've slept that night!" Sweetie Belle continued, her voice becoming shaky. "But we didn't just see a trio of-admittedly terrible-girls collapse, we saw them die! And they didn't just die for no reason; they died because the thing that gave them life was destroyed by our sisters! By our friends! By Sunset!"

Sunset put a hand on her chest and held back the desire to gasp. Being accused of a bad thing was one thing, being accused of murder was another.

"I want to revive them so we can act like nothing happened... and if we're really lucky, maybe they'll forget that their gems were destroyed and, just... let us go on with our lives," Sweetie Belle clenched her fists and lowered her head. "B-But... we can't do that as long as they're dead... as long as they do, it'll mean our loved ones killed someone and... if they find out..."

Sweetie Belle couldn't bare to finish the sentence, so Scootaloo spoke next, "Alright, let's do this."

"Huh?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head. "Weren't you-"

"We're still against ta idea, but ya brought a good point: our families might not take ta news as well as we did," Apple Bloom sighed. "So, what're we waitin' for? Let's bring these girls back t' life!"

Sweetie Belle smiled, wiped her tears away, and nodded with determination. Sunset, on the other hand, kept watching silently to see what would happen.

The girls took out the glowing gems and held them on one hand as they aimed them right at the motionless sirens. They spoke something in whispers that, although Sunset couldn't tell what exactly they were saying, her intuition told her it was a revival spell.

That, and the white beam shot by the gems to the lifeless bodies also clued her in.

Eventually, the beams stopped firing, and the girls slowly walked closer to the bodies as they slumped over and hit the ground: Aria face-first, Adagio on her back, and Sonata sideways. Unfortunately, once they poked them with something safe like a stick, they got no response.

Then they tried again, and it was clear the sirens weren't moving.

"No, it wasn't enough?!" Sweetie Belle grimaced. "I-It can't be! The gems were overflowing with negative energy! That should've been enough to at least power them up!"

"Now you see, Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo folded her arms, glaring in disapproval. "We humilliated our family and friends, and ruined Sunset's social life, for nothing!"

It was at that point that every other sense or option Sunset had got thrown out the window. With that statement alone, Sunset connected the dots: Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were Anon-A-Miss, and thus, the ones responsible for her crummy day.

"N-No, it isn't over yet! W-We can still make this work!" Sweetie Belle cried, pulling her hair. "M-Maybe we just didn't do something right!"

They certainly didn't: they revealed their role in Sunset's misery while she was around!

"Come on, there has to be something else we can do, like-"

"Explaining yourselves!"

The trio flinched and turned around, being met with Sunset's stern, disapproving glare.

Sunset Shimmer - Versus Anon-A-Miss

Sunset Shimmer stood aghast, facing the trio of girls that had not only ruined her social life, but also were trying to bring up a trio of villains she and her friends gave their all to defeat, and accidentally kill. Yes, it had happened by complete accident.

"Please, tell me you can explain this, girls," Sunset sternly stated, though her tone of voice made it sound like she was pleading instead. "Tell me there's an explanation for this."

"O-Oh yeah, totally, we can explain!" Scootaloo stated. And after a few seconds, she pointed at Sweetie Belle. "She can explain!"

"Huh?! Why me?!"

"Yer ta one dat got ta idea in ta first place, Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom pointed out, folding her arms. "if somebody's gotta explain it t' Sunset, it's ya!"

Having no other choice, Sweetie Belle turned back to Sunset, and though her enraged glare made her flinch, she still gathered enough courage to explain:

"While we were walking back home after the Battle of the Bands, we came across the Dazzlings. The purple and blue one were unconscious, being carried by the orange one before she too collapsed. Before she did, though, she kept calling for help. And when we got close to their bodies... we discovered they had no pulse."

Sunset frowned, and Sweetie Belle continued:

"So, we took the bodies elsewhere so nobody else would find them and freak out. Soon after, we agreed that the best course of action was to try make it seem like nothing ever happened, by reviving the sirens so that nobody would ever know they died. A book fell off the cottage we were hiding the sirens at-"

Sunset instantly grew suspicious, but she didn't do more than throw a confused eyebrow at the girl.

"And it had instructions on how to revive the sirens. Basically, we'd need three gems, lots of negative energy, and a song. The gems we found after searching for weeks, and the song was written on a piece of paper, so that only left the negative energy... and thus came Anon-A-Miss."

Sunset's expression returned to a furious glare.

"Because the book said that we'd need negative energy equal to the energy used to kill the sirens, and you were part of the group who killed them, we thought your negative energy would be enough. But we needed to get the energy fast, so... we created Anon-A-Miss in order to cause enough strife to generate enough energy to power the gems."

Sunset's eye twitched.

"And then, we tried to perform the spell indicated in the book to revive the sirens, but... even though we said the spell right, even though we aimed the gems at the bodies, and even though I'm sure we did every single part of the spell right... they didn't revive... and..."

It was at that moment that Sweetie Belle fell silent, and Sunset found herself having to respond. But what exactly was she supposed to say? Sweetie Belle and her friends ruined her day, and yet from her words and their expressions alone, they were clearly regretful for what they'd done.

So...

"I can't believe it... The Dazzlings' mind control magic must've been stronger than I thought."

"W-What?" Sweetie Belle stuttered.

"Now I get it; Anon-A-Miss, my suffering, it's all the fault of the Dazzlings!" Sunset narrowed her eyes. "They put a second mind spell on you in order to begin a ritual to power them up again, under the guise that they were dead!"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Sunset, you can't honestly believe that!"

"I don't want to believe it! But..." Sunset stammered as she raised her hand. "I-If I have to choose b-between believing that... and believing my friends' sisters... a-and Rainbow Dash's fan.... ruined my social life w-w-willingly..."

Sunset reeled her hand back as a energy sphere materialized. "Then I'll believe this is the Dazzlings fault!"

Sunset shot the sphere at the trio, who quickly dodged that and the ensuing barrage of magical blasts from the redhead. It didn't take long before Sunset began focusing her blasts solely on Sweetie Belle, allowing Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to run up to her and try to stop her.

"Sunset, stop it!"

"Yer gonna fry 'er with those blasts!"

"Don't worry, I know how to hold back!" Sunset stated as she charged her magic. "If any of these hit her, they'll only break her out of the mind control!"

Even though there's no mind control to break out of...

"Why's everything going so wrong?!" Sweetie Belle whined as she kept dodging blasts. "We didn't forget anything! The negative energy, the spell, the song-"

And then, with another explosion, Sweetie Belle got sent right back to the spot of the lifeless sirens, prompting Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to run to her aid. As she stood up and looked at Sunset charging another blast, however, something clicked on her:

The Sirens are from Equestria... Sunset's from Equestria... their magic is Equestrian... so maybe, the only thing we need left, is Equestrian magic!

"What are you waiting for, you murderer!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she stood up. "You want to add me to your kill count, don't you?! Just do it already!"

Sunset flinched.

"Sweetie Belle, what are ya saying'?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Have ya gone nuts for real?!"

"Yeah, Sunset's just trying to hurt you, not kill you!" Scootaloo added.

"Girls, it's okay, I think I found the missing piece of the puzzle," Sweetie Belle whispered, mostly to Scootaloo, since Apple Bloom was busy gesturing Sunset not to kill them. "Both the Sirens and Sunset are from Equestria, and everything magical so far has come from there, so we need to charge the bodies with Equestrian magic in order to revive them! That's the piece we were missing!"

"And what if it isn't?!"

Sweetie Belle winced at the possibility, but she quickly shrugged it off and continued her taunting. "Do you have a preference for your kills or something?! You didn't hesitate to kill the sirens, but now you're hesitating against someone from this world?!"

"That's entirely different, Sweetie Belle!" Sunset growled, her magical spheres intensifying. "You're just trying to do what you think is good, while the sirens were trying to cause chaos and disharmony!"

"And for that reason, you killed them!"

Sunset's eyes began glowing. "I DIDN'T KILL ANYBODY!"

"Yes you did!"

Sunset brought her hands together, fusing the magic spheres into one.

"I!"

She reeled back and closed her palms, causing an intense glow to emanate from them.

"DID!"

Sweetie Belle smiled as she wrapped her arms around Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, ready to jump out of the way.

"NOT!"

Sunset fired a beam of concentrated magic at the trio, who jumped out of the way just in time, causing the beam to hit the motionless bodies of the sirens instead. By the time she stopped firing the beam, the bodies began glowing and levitating upwards.

"Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, now!"

The girls aimed the gems at the bodies and began saying the spell once more, and just to their luck, the gems had enough leftover negative energy to shoot to the bodies.

"Oh no!" was all Sunset could exclaim as red lighting enveloped the bodies.

Then, the gems levitated towards the motionless bodies, and planted themselves in the middle of the sirens' chests. The gems gave one final glow as they assimilated and entered the bodies, somehow leaving no cut behind, and once their very presence had no external proof, the light surrounding the sirens dispersed, sending Sunset and the CMC flying off into the distance.

The sirens promptly dropped to the ground, and barely a second later, they all groaned in unison, "Ow!"

Hearing that, the CMC and Sunset stood up and stared as the sirens stood up and dusted themselves, only to take a look at themselves with puzzled expressions.

"I can't believe it," Sweetie Belle smiled. "It worked."

"It really did," Scootaloo and Apple Bloom said in unison.

"They're... back..." Sunset uttered, her vision growing shaky. "But... no such spell ever existed in Equestria-"

*SNAP!*

Sunset and the CMC hid inside a bush as soon as the sirens turned to look at their general direction. After staring for a while, the trio left under Adagio's orders, and the quartet left their hiding spot.

And as soon as they did, Sunset grabbed the girls and looked at them with a serious tone.

"You three have a lot to explain."

The Dazzlings - Life From Strife

Adagio looked at her hands and clenched her fists twice, getting a feel for her new body while Aria and Sonata walked by her sides, looking at her with confusion.

"We really did come back to life, but how?" Adagio lowered her eyelids. "There was nobody around when I was asking for help."

"You? Ask for help?" Aria chuckled. "Who are you and what did you do to Adagio?"

"I only started asking for help once you and Sonata died on me!" Adagio sternly clarified, her tone growing quiet and concerned as she added, "You guys just... dropped all of a sudden, and when I noticed I was starting to feel lightheaded, I feared for the worst."

"Well, look at the bright side, girls," Sonata pointed out. "We're alive, so that means somebody found us and were nice enough to revive us!"

"Yeah, probably to use us for something nefarious down the line," Aria added, scratching her chin in thought. "Think about it: once the Rainbooms destroyed our gems, our voices were so horrible people began throwing food at us!"

Sonata took out a bite out of a watermelon she was suddenly carrying. "You can say they threw it at us because they didn't like our voices, I say they threw them at us to give us dinner."

Adagio eyed the watermelon and raised an eyebrow. "Sonata, how long have you had that with you?"

"Since the Battle of the Bands-"

Adagio promptly grabbed the watermelon, and threw it away, without taking her disturbed expression off Sonata. Aria, for her part, laughed out loud until Adagio slapped her.

"Okay, you two bring up good points," Adagio spoke, getting her bandmates' attention. "Sonata's right since we were brought back to life; that means whoever did that saw our bodies and, rather than try making sure we'd never come back, they did just that. However, Aria also has a point in that, until we find out who did it, we have to assume our revivers don't have the best intentions."

Aria pocketed her hands. "Hmph, took you long enough to admit I had a point!"

"That's because you never had a point before, Aria," Sonata dryly noted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two, stop it!" Adagio groaned. "Let's just go back home for now. We can search for who revived us tomorrow..."

"Yeah, I'm beat," Sonata rubbed her neck. "I feel like we laid on hay beds for weeks!"

"How do you know what a hay bed even is?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow. "We never slept back in Equestria."

Sonata shook her head. "Aria, believe it or not, we're not in Equestria."

"Are you guys serious?!"

Eventually, the sirens reached their home: a humble, two-floor beige building, with their symbols plastered across the walls: orange gems, silver stars, and purple musical notes. Their simplistic nature implied they were either recently drawn, or just not very well drawn.

Adagio reached for her pocket, took out a pair of keys, and unlocked the door. As soon as she opened it, though, a couple of bats flew away, with one of them being caught by Aria. "Awesome, I got dinner!"

"Aria, don't you dare send us back two thousand years!" Adagio snapped. "Let. The bat. Go."

Rolling her eyes, Aria obliged, blowing a raspberry as she did. "You're no fun."

The Dazzlings walked inside, and the first thing they noticed was the amount of dust and cobwebs the place had accumulated. Merely taking a step caused a small cloud to emerge, forcing them to cough and quickly unlock the windows.

"Alright, it's clear this place needs to be cleaned up," Adagio cracked her knuckles. "Time to clean this up."

"Yeah, good luck with that, you two," Aria calmly walked past the duo. "I'm gonna go take a nap."

Sonata grabbed Aria's jacket. "All three of us are going to clean up, Aria."

"You're not my boss!"

"All three of us are going to clean this up, Aria," Adagio repeated sternly.

Aria fumbled her words for a moment, then groaned and sulked, giving up to the statement. "Alright, let's get this over with."

An hour of cleaning later, Sonata and Aria collapsed on the couch, taking heavy breaths as they wiped the sweat of their foreheads. Adagio walked past them, but they barely paid any attention to her.

"I think I just died a second time," Aria groaned.

"Don't cry, we've been through worse," Sonata replied. "Like, you know, actual death."

"I'd rather have that than do this cleaning nonsense all over again!"

And as their argument continued, Adagio walked to an open window and rested her arms, then her cheek on her palm, as she looked at the starry night sky.

I'm not one to ask for help, and in truth, the only reason I cried for help was because I had no other choice. Aria and Sonata dropping down on me, followed shortly by me slowly succumbing as well, was just too much for me to handle.

Adagio lowered her head and closed her eyes.

Honestly, I thought that, after everything we did, nobody would listen. That it would be the end of the Dazzlings, and nobody would care.

She smiled and lightly chuckled.

Turns out, somebody did care enough to revive us. So, whoever did that...

She opened them again, and looked at the moon with a hopeful look.

I guess we owe you.

Author's Note

And that brings this story to a close!

I decided to challenge myself and write this in just a couple of days. I can bet you can clearly see this with how everything just feels wrong. XD

In terms of canon, while I wrote this as a prequel to "Bellesitter", I think I wanna go the Broad Strokes route: the CMC did revive the Dazzlings, but everything else about the story either happened differently, or didn't happen at all.

Isn't continuity fun?

Draxonos135, flying away!