The Taking of Tartarus, Chapter XVI

The Return of the Sirens, Part IV - Rainbooms VS Dazzlings

Everything was ready for the Autumn Equinox Ball and, consequently, to the final battle of the Battle of the Bands. The ponies were beginning to fill the seats in front of the stage. The royal family also took up their seats in the royal tribune. Among the royalty were: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor and Blue Sword.

"Well, but who would say we are about to watch a battle of the bands" Shining said. "I always thought Melody didn’t like that kind of thing."

"Yeah, me too" Cadance said. "It's a little strange."

"Strange is an understatement" said Luna. "We met Melody there a long time and she never liked a music competition."

"Maybe she decided to try new things" Celestia said. "After all, sometimes the competition can be healthy."

Blue was the one who said nothing. He knew Twilight was trying to solve a problem that had arisen in Melody’s studio. She had told him not to worry, but it had already spent a lot of time.

"Are you okay, Blue?" Shining asked, noting the thoughtfully air of his best friend.

"What?" He asked, before awakening to reality. "Yes I am."

"It's a shame that Twilight couldn’t have come to watch this" Cadance said. "She would enjoy it so much."

"Yes, maybe" Blue said, somewhat nervously.

The Lord of Chaos watched the scene with great joy.

"Within a few minutes, Fire Punch, the Sirens will perform and recover their original power" he said. "And then we will attack the Light Kingdom in full force. Purple Smoke and Heartbeat will not have the slightest chance, and when the Light Kingdom fall into my hands, I'll take the original star seed from Princess Twilight and this world will be mine!"

And he laughed.

"But, master, what about the other alicorn princesses?" Fire Punch asked. "They will be able to get in the way. Not to mention Shining Armor and Blue Sword and the Royal Guard."

"Do not worry your little brain with that, Fire Punch" the Lord of Chaos replied. "It's handled."

Then the stage curtains opened to start the end of the Battle of the Bands, Trixie and the Illusions appeared and started acting with "Tricks Up My Sleeve".

Under the stage, the Rainbooms (with Twilight back to her true form) were all seated and quiet due to being attached. That stage was built so that nothing could broke it, not even magic. But there was one of them that was not quiet: Rainbow Dash. She kept moving from one place to another trying to break into either the trapdoor as the door, but always without success.

“Give it up, Rainbow Dash” Applejack said to her. “Ya've been tryin' at this fer hours. It's not gonna open.”

Rainbow Dash so stopped, convinced finally she wouldn’t manage to open the door.

“Maybe it doesn't even matter that we're trapped down here” Twilight said, saddly. “I don't think the counter-spell would have worked anyway.”

“Of course it would have work’d, Twilight” Applejack said to her, with a smile, putting a hoof on her shoulder, turning them to Rainbow Dash with a no so happy face. “Assumin' a certain band member didn't try tah hog tha spotlight tha whole time we were tryin' tah play it!”

“Hey, if you wanna tell Twilight she's getting a little too caught up trying to be the new leader of this band, you don't have to be all cryptic about it” Rainbow Dash said.

That made Twilight’s guilt come up and she retreated against the wall against her, while Rarity advanced and told to Rainbow Dash:

“She was talking about you, Rainbow Dash!”

“Me?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “I'm just trying to make sure my band rocks as hard as it needs to!”

“OUR BAND!!” the other four exclaimed, for Rainbow Dash’s annoyance.

“But how did this happened?” Twilight said to herself, against the wall. “I should know what to do. How could I not know what to do? How could I have failed like this?”

Meanwhile, her friends started a arguing.

“It might've been yer idea tah start a band, but it's not jest your band, Rainbow Dash!”

“I'm tha one who writes all the songs!” Rainbow Dash said.

It was with that last drop that Fluttershy finally exploded:

“I write songs! You just never let us play any of them!”

“I had the most perfect outfits for us to wear!” Rarity said.

“Again with tha costumes!” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. “No one cares what we're wearin'!”

“I care, Applejack!” Rarity answered her. “So sorry if I enjoy trying to make a creative contribution to the band!”

“Hey, anybody here remember fun?!” Pinkie asked, yelling, appearing in the middle. “I'll give you a hint: It's the exact opposite of being in the Rainbooms!

“I wish I never asked any of you to be in my band!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed to her friends.

“I wish I'd never agreed to be in it!!” Rarity answered.

“Me neither!” Applejack and Fluttershy agreed.

And the five began to argue intensely. They didn’t know, but, in doing so, they were generating a great amount of negative energy that began to ascend to the stage.

"Look at that, Fire Punch" the Lord of Chaos said, seeing the five friends arguing. "It appears that their dear friendship it’s about to crumble like a house of cards, while Twilight Princess does nothing, full of guilt and self-pity."

"Amazing" Fire Punch said. "With all that negative energy..."

"Yes, certainly the Sirens will have enough energy to spread disharmony throughout this world, a world that I will rule."

And he laughed.

On stage, Trixie and her band were finishing their performance, doing it with a huge explosion of fire fireworks that captivated the audience who applauded them.

They went to the backstage where the Dazzlings were waiting their turn to act. As she passed by them, Trixie told them haughtily:

“Try to top that.”

“Oh, gosh!” Adagio exclaimed, sarcastically. “I don't know if we can!”

She and her sisters laughed, but Adagio quickly stop it and the three noticed the amount of negative energy that was coming under the stage where the Rainbooms were, what made them change evil smiles between each other.

Then came their turn, entering the stage singing, while everypony turned their attention to their performance and in complete silence, looking immensely fascinated by the Sirens’ voices. The Dazzlings, as they sang, absorbed all the negative energy generated by the Rainbooms.

"Well, those girls are really good" Shining commented. "They sing very well."

"In fact" Cadance agreed.

But Celestia and Luna didn’t say anything, they were more concentrated in the Sirens that in their performance. Then, to their great shock, they recognized them.

"Oh no, this is not good" Luna said.

"What's up?" Cadance asked.

"We have to stop those ponies" Celestia said.

But before she or her sister could do something, the royalty was surrounded by nothing more and nothing less, than Golden Paladin, Mirror Coat and Leaf Mane.

"I don’t think so, Princess Celestia" Golden Paladin said. "You won’t go anywhere."

Celestia then noticed the green glow that the three generals’ eyes had.

"Golden Paladin, but what's wrong with you three?" Blue asked.

"They are not theirselves, Blue Sword" Celestia said. "They are being controlled."

"Controlled?" Cadance asked. "By who?"

"By the Sirens" Celestia said.

Under the stage, Twilight’s friends continued arguing and generating more negative energy, while the Princess of the Light Kingdom remained motionless with her head down and leaning against the wall. Then a voice called:

"Twilight."

She lifted her head and saw the Order of the Lord sitting beside her.

"Lord of Order!" she exclaimed, before returning to her sorrow. "I'm so sorry. I disappointed you. I disappointed everypony."

"Why do you think that?" the Lord of the Order asked.

"Because I could not stop Dazzlings and now they will recover their power and conquer this world to your brother" Twilight replied.

"Twilight, you can’t let me down, because I know you can reverse the situation" the Lord of Order said.

"How?" Twilight asked.

"To begin with, you have to stop it" the Lord of Order said. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. This doesn’t solve anything. And second, you can solve that."

He pointed to Twilight’s friends. When she saw her friends arguing, she was shocked.

"My friends..." she said. "But how...?"

"I think you were too busy doing the song to stop the Dazzlings, that you didn’t notice what was happening between your friends" the Lord of Order said. "The divisions that were emerging between them and the Dazzlings explored and played with.

Then Twilight realized it.

"That's why they made us to pass to the final" Twilight said. "They wanted Trixie to prevent us from perform so my friends could turn against each other and so they could feed from their negative energy."

"Did you remember the lead that I gave you about Melody’s secret?" the Lord of the Order asked.

Twilight thought for a bit and then realized it.

"My friends... They are the answer."

"Yes, but for the magic to happen, there must be harmony" the Lord of Order said. "Small discussions can strengthen relationships. But to do so, they will have to be treated and cured. Otherwise, even the slightest wound could infect and contaminate the entire body."

Twilight realized what he meant and then told him as she arose:

"I will not let that happen."

"This is Twilight I know" the Lord of Order said.

"But why are you helping us?" Twilight said. "I thought you'd let us solve things by ourselves."

"My brother decided to turn the game by starting using the top 6 of Tartarus" the Lord of Order answered. "I know he just bring this war to a new level which can lead to the complete corruption of this world. I cannot let that happen. And I hope you don’t let it too."

And having said that, he disappeared.

“Stop!” Twilight exclaimed to her friends, managing to stop their arguing. “You have to stop! This is what they've been after all along! They're feeding off of the magic inside us!”

“How can they be usin’ our magic?” Applejack asked. “It's tha magic of friendship.”

“Ever since you started this band, you've been letting little things get to you” Twilight said to her friends. “I also can't believe all this tension was happening right under my nose and I didn't realize it until it was too late. But now I see that if you don't work out even the smallest problems right at the start, the magic of friendship can be turned into something else. I'm supposed to be the one with all the answers. And all I've done since I got here to stop the Dazzlings is let you down. I still have a lot to learn, but I know I can count on my friends to help me find them.

Twilight’s words seemed to have reached her friends who exchanged their angry faces for smiles full of joy. Then Twilight told to all:

“C'mon! We need to get out of here!”

And the six together tried to break down the door, but that was when it opened and Spike appeared.

“Spike!” the six exclaimed.

“Sorry I took so long” Spike said. “But Purple Smoke and Heartbeat only realized you were trap a few moments ago. Normally, it’s Mirror Coat that does this kind of things. They send me to release you, as they were still trying to recover Melody’s voice and also afraid of the Sirens’ voices.”

It was then that Twilight hugged Spike and said to him:

“Thanks, Spike, you’re teally a good friend.”

“Come on, y'all!” Applejack said to her friends. “Time to prove we've still got the magic of friendship inside us.”

“And there's only one way to do it” Twilight said.

“We're getting the band back together?” Pinkie Pie asked.

We're getting our band back together” Rainbow Dash answered, what make Pinkie Pie extremely happy.

“Whee!” she exclaimed.

“Which version of the counter-spell are we going to play?” Rarity asked.

“I don't think it matters what song we play, as long as we play it together as friends” Twilight said.

“I know just the song” Rainbow Dash said in a way that made her friends wondering if she went to suggest some of her egocentric songs. “Fluttershy's written a really great one.”

That made the little and pregnant yellow pegasus to smile with tears on her eyes.

“We're about to save the world here” Applejack said. “Personally, I think we should do it in style. Rarity?”

“I thought you'd never ask!” she exclaimed, going to get her cloth cart where she had her last and final costumes to her friends to wear.

The Dazzlings continued to sing their song, fascinating everypony as royalty couldn’t do anything because they were surrounded by the three Generals.

At the top of a building nearby, the Rainbooms appeared with the dresses that Rarity had created and with their instruments to play. But there was a problem.

“How are we supposed to play over them from up here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Oh, by the way, Melody said to me to give you this” Spike said, taking an orange light ball. “She said that would be usefull.”

It was then that the light ball raise in the air and formed a big stereo that marveled the Rainbooms.

Then something began to happen. The Dazzlings’ power reached its peak and they launched into the air great red sound waves that put the ponies who heard them in a trance state. They also began to glow with a red light while being lifted into the air and enveloped by the light. When it cleared, the Sirens appeared with a new look. Their manes were fluid and on their backs it had emerged translucent fin-shaped wings.

However, something interrupted their immense happiness of having their power in full. It was a song that was completely opposed to theirs and that was beginning to drown out their voices. The Dazzlings looked around to see where it was coming from and then Aria pointed to a building and they saw the Rainbooms playing and singing a song written by Fluttershy with Twilight as the lead singer. Their song began to release the ponies of the trance state and make them concentrate on their music.

When Rainbooms reached the pinnacle of their song, they managed to free the magic Melody had given to them that involved them in rainbow light that changed their appearance, giving them rainbow-marked coats, manes and tails.

When she saw how much they were taking that seriously, Adagio said with a smile:

“So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands? Then let's battle!”

She, Aria and Sonata continued to sing, recovering the ponies’ attention. So their power took such high proportions that their eyes became completely red, while their pendants were connected by a spark of magic that created an explosion of light, turning the Sirens into their true forms with tail fins instead of hind legs and with their pendants attached to their chest, to the great shock of the Rainbooms.

The Dazzlings advanced against them, surrounding them, which generated some concern between the Rainbooms. When the Sirens were preparing to attack, Pinkie Pie began to play intensely her drum, which made the stereo release amplified sound waves that made the Sirens disperse and cancel their tackle. Rarity played her keytar, releasing several diamonds like her Cutie Mark that hit Aria, causing her to retreat. Fluttershy shook her tambourine, creating a great amount of butterflies made of pink light she launched against Sonata that roared when she felt them. Twilight achieved a high note that invoked several stars of white and violet light that launched against Adagio.

But she would not allow the Rainbooms to win and then she also reached her highest note that launched sound waves that scattered the stars and made Twilight protect herself and be dragged a few feet back. She scowled at Adagio, but Sonata and Aria joined her and the three sang the same high note, releasing more sound waves that pushed Twilight further back, while she and her friends were trying to protect themselves from the power of the Sirens’ voices. It was then that the strength was such that the Rainbooms were thrown to the ground, while Twilight dropped the microphone that fell on the ground some distance from them.

It seemed that the battle was decided, with the Dazzlings exhibiting big smiles. Then, it happened. Somepony came up and grabbed Twilight’s fallen microphone, while a song began to play through the stereo. Everypony looked and saw with great joy that it was Melody who started singing, having recovered her voice. Twilight and her friends were immensely happy to see her, but the Dazzlings twisted their angry face when they saw their old enemy.

Melody encouraged Twilight and the other and then the princess and the General began to sing together while the others continued to play their instruments, also adding their voices to the music. The Dazzlings attacked again, but the combined voices of the Rainbooms and Melody create a burst of colored light that hit the Dazzlings and made them return to the stage, returning to their hybrid form, while the ponies were freed from the influence of the Sirens, including the Generals.

With Melody singing again, her light intensified and so did Twilight’s and the other’s and the seven were raised off the ground with them launching into the air a rainbow that formed a ball of colored light where wings of pure light appeared. The ponies in the audience sang with them, as well as the royalty. The Dazzlings could not believe what they were seeing, but became without reaction when they saw that from the ball of colored light appeared an alicorn of white light with a fluid rainbow mane which launched a rainbow from its horn that hit them and involved them in an explosion of light.

When the light faded with the end of the song, the Dazzlings were fallen on the stage floor, back to their earth pony forms. Their pendants were lying on the ground, completely shattered and with the magic within them dissipating. Seeing this, the Dazzlings rose, with Adagio taking the shards of her pendant, and tried to sing again. But instead of sing with melodious and mesmerizing voices, they sang with shrill and tuneless voices that made the audience booing them. They started throwing food against the Dazzlings who rushed to leave, but their path was blocked by Purple Smoke and Heartbeat.

"Look who we got here, Heartbeat" Purple Smoke said. "The Sirens."

"I think you mean the new birds of our cage" Heartbeat said.

"Yes, you are quite right" Purple Smoke said.

He invoked the cell blaster and shot at Sonata, that started to be sucked it into the cell life that was there. When she was completely sucked, Purple Smoke invoked the prison-book and put the life cell in there. Adagio and Aria tried to escape, while Purple Smoke imprisoned Sonata, but Heartbeat, using her speed, blocked their way and said:

"You're not going anywhere."

Purple Smoke threw the cell blaster to Heartbeat who caught it with her magic and then fired it against Aria, who was sucked into a new life cell that was put inside the prison-book.

Adagio tried to run from the other way, but she came across with Melody, who was accompanied by the Rainbooms.

"I don’t think so, Adagio" Melody said. "You're not going anywhere."

Heartbeat passed the cell blaster to Melody who, with it, began to suck Adagio into another life cell which has placed within the prison-book.

"And the Sirens return to their place" Melody said, going to see each Siren within their respective cells.

Fluttershy took a piece of the pendants laying on the floor and said:

“Guess that explains why these were so special to them.”

“Without those pendants and the magic they contained, they're just three harmless ponies.”

“Well, although I don’t like musical competitions, I have to say” Melody said, while she made the cell blaster and the prison-book disappear. “It seemed we have our winners: the Rainbooms”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash, exclaimed, making everypony turn to her. “Well, I mean, that’s cool.”

That made everypony laughs. It was then that Trixie appeared and said to the Rainbooms:

“You may have vanquished the Dazzlings, but you will never have the amazing, show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

She created a smokescreen that made everypony cough. When the smoke dissipated, Trixie wasn’t there anymore, again.

“She's gone!” Pinkie Pie and Heartbeat exclaimed, leading their hooves to their mane.

“No she’s not” Purple Smoke said. “She’s over there.”

He pointed to Trixie that was running away.

“Hey, we wanted to say that!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Yeah, you ruined everything!” Heartbeat said.

"Although we have to thank Melody, I think we also have to thank you, Purple Smoke" said Twilight. "After all, you cured Melody."

"Oh, it was nothing" he said. "I said I could cure her."

"The truth is that he just discovered the cure due to an accident" Heartbeat. "It was just lucky..."

But before she could say anything else, Purple Smoke covered her mouth and said:

"Can you shut up, please?"

The others laughed and then Melody said:

"Well, there is still some time before the equinox. Why don’t you go enjoy the ball before returning to one last performance?"

"Of course, since you join us" Twilight said.

"You bet I will."

And then everypony returned to the ball with Twilight going to Blue, hugging him immensely and dancing with him until the time came that Celestia made the sun come down from the sky and Luna made the moon rise, causing the two sharing the sky at the same time. This made the moon absorb the last rays of sunshine and take an orange color that enchanted everypony, especially the couples. After this, Twilight and her friends went to the stage where they, along with Melody, made the first musical performance of autumn.

The Lord of Chaos filled with rage when he saw that happening, making Fire Punch find a hiding place, as always.

"I can’t believe that not even the Sirens were able to give me the control of this world!" he exclaimed. "We were so close!"

He then calmed down and said:

"But if they think that it’s over, they’re so wrong. I still have other villains in solitary that are waiting for the moment of their freedom, adding the ordinary ones. And nothing and no one, not even my brother, will prevent me of getting what I want!"