A Touch Of Evil

Chapters

A Dash Of Hate
A Pinch Of Rage
A Hint Of Gloom

A Dash Of Hate

Even without magic, the cloud of sheer antagonism that radiated from the girl as she stomped down the street pushed away anyone who so much as glanced at her. If she'd still had her choker, she could have used herself for fuel--not healthy, but sometimes it was just so tempting to auto-odiolize, especially since...

...since...

No. She snarled, shoving the thought out of her head. She couldn't afford to break down. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Life was dangerous now, in so many subtle ways. All the shields and systems that she'd spent literal centuries building up and maintaining, all the little tricks and mental pushes... there was no way to keep them up anymore. All it would take was one slip to attract attention, and that was the last thing she wanted.

At the very least, she'd had enough sense to create a diverse portfolio over the years. She and the girls would never have to work again, unless some idiot went and got rid of the global economy; thankfully that wasn't likely to happen any time soon. It also meant she had oodles of spending cash, and she was forever grateful to whoever invented debit cards... was it the mid sixties or seventies? Eh, what really mattered was that she didn't have to carry hundred dollar bills anymore.

A grin formed on her face as her destination came into sight. It wasn't a grin that lessened her aura of hate; if anything, the ambiguous antagonism focused into a sharp and directed schadenfreude. She quite enjoyed her time in this establishment, after all; the kid had her tacos, and her partner might have loved those strange fried-bird sandwiches, but there was something deeply... satisfying... about seafood. With a spring in her step, she pushed open the door.

"Hello, and welcome to--" The teenage boy behind the podium froze. "W-What are you doing here?!"

She had to roll her eyes. "I have a mouth, and it has teeth. Gee whiz, what in the world could I possibly be doing in a restaurant? The mind boggles."

"Look, Adagio," spat the boy, "I don't know what it is you're planning, but I can get my manager out here and--"

"Flash Sentry, right?" The girl rested her arm on the podium, giving him a wicked grin. "You just started working here last week. You know how I know that? I'm a regular. I know the faces, names, and homes of everyone working here. Sea Swirl and I are on great terms. She calls me her best customer. Now, surprising as it might seem, I am here to give the facility money, in return for food which I intend to consume myself. Perfectly legal, perfectly normal. I'm not going to cause a scene. I'm just going to get my usual."

She leaned forward. "So are you going to seat me or what?"

Flash Sentry frowned. "...We've got an open table. In the corner."

"Perfect." Shoving herself off the podium, she held out her arm. "Lead on, my fine sir."

With a snort, the teenager walked past her, marching through a small assortment of tables before coming to the tiny window table. "Here you are, miss."

"Thank you very much." Adagio pulled out the chair, sitting herself down. Her eyes flickered toward the glass tank the lobsters were kept in. "Would you be so kind as to tell the kitchen I'm here? I usually have a special request for them."

Flash Sentry narrowed her eyes. "Really."

"Yes. My normal order is the lobster and calamari. It's just that, before they start preparing it..."

Her grin turned feral.

"I like to kill the lobster myself."

She slapped the monster with her tail, sending it flying through the dark current. "SHOO BE DOO, BOTTOMFEEDER!" Her eyes snapped on the tiny blue form huddling in the coral. "What are you doing, kid? Swim for the bunker!" A ripple on her back, and she spun round, hooves snapping into the chitinous form sneaking up on her.

"I--I got split up, I don't know where--"

Adagio groaned. "Oh, just perfect." She flicked her gaze around the battlefield, seeing the various other sirens holding off the endless count of the invaders, before her eyes fell on a red form in the sea of black. "ANTIPHON!"

The bellowed pressure wave caught the attention of the warrior, as well as unbalancing the monstrous creatures around her; the siren took advantage of the opening to grab a flaming sword from one of their claws and slice them all in half. She swam through the cloud of blue blood, quickly coming up to the yellow woman. "What is it, Adagio--?"

Her gaze fell on the child, who was staring up at her in awe. "You... you're Antiphon Gleam!"

"Yes, yes I am. But you shouldn't be here." The red siren turned to Adagio. "You were right to call for help, but I can't leave the battlefield. ARIA!"

A purple form rose out of the masses, spitting out the head of an enemy as she swam up to the group. "Captain!"

"You're with Adagio. Get this little one to safety."

"What?!" The purple siren stared wide eyed, gesturing at the black masses around them. "Captain, the Charp are all around us! I have to stay and fight--!"

"Don't forget what you're fighting for," Adagio hissed, flicking a fin toward the blue seapony.

"Enough!" Antiphon snapped, glaring them both into submission. "I've given my orders, lieutenant."

Aria growled, but bowed her head. "Yes, captain."

"Good. Work together, and work fast. Waves be with you." With a twirl she dove back into the fray.

Adagio snorted, turning to Aria. "We'll take her through the kelp. You go high, I keep low."

"Makes sense." She nodded, turning to the seapony. "Come on, kid, let's get you out of here."

The blue seapony swam out, ducking quickly under Adagio's leg. Aria gave the yellow siren a raised eyefin, and Adagio gave her a shrug back. She could feel the tiny form trembling under her leg.

"Hey kid, what's your name?"

The blue seapony looked up at her. "I... I'm Sonata, miss. Sonata Dusk."

"Don't worry, Sonata. We're going to get you home safe. You just have to do everything I tell you, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Can we get moving?" Aria snapped.

Adagio nodded. "Right, stick close to me Sonata. Three, two, one, GO!"

Perhaps it might have been a bit disturbing, to see such a contented smile on the face of a girl leveraging her fork through the lobster's carapace. Adagio didn't care, though. The sound of it breaking, the cracks peeling away, it filled her with an odd nostalgia.

Flash Sentry, leaning on a post a ways off, had crossed his arm. "Do you know how creepy you look right now?"

"Probably very." She spun the meat around her fork, slowly bringing it to her lips and sucking it into her maw. "MMmmmmmmm...."

"Oh good lord..." Flash dragged a hand down his face. "You say you're not going to start a scene and then you do something like THAT."

Adagio swallowed and pointed her fork at him. "Seafood is sacred, prettyboy. That's one thing us sirens agreed on when we came to this pathetic world--we'd never start a fight, not even to feed, in the presence of seafood." She stabbed her calamari for emphasis.

"So wait. If I ordered a pizza with anchovies, you'd just... relax?"

"Until the pizza was gobbled," Adagio agreed, slurping up a tentacle.

"Salmon?"

"Freshwater." She waved her fork dismissively. "Doesn't count."

Flash tilted his head curiously. "That... okay, I don't see how that makes any sense."

"Look, before that idiot sorcerer threw us here, we lived in Equestria's oceans." Adagio tapped her plate. "This? This isn't what we ate, but it's the closest freakin' thing we can find in this world. It's almost a taste of home, aside from the spices... which aren't bad, just different." She twirled the fork in her fingers with a sly smile. "And I get to stab a lobster. Always a plus."

The teenager snorted. "Well it's good to know you can be tamed, anyway."

Adagio rose an eyebrow. "You really think that you can tame me?"

"Ooooooh no." Flash Sentry rose his hands. "I'm not getting into an extended sexual metaphor again. And definitely not with you--you're, what, over a millennium? Way too old for me."

"Wise move," Adagio agreed, her free hand slipping into her pocket. "Especially since I had that threesome with your grandparents forty years ago."

With lightning reflexes, she whipped out her phone and snapped an image of his horrified visage.

"That--you--" He shook his head, glaring at her. "You're lying!"

"Oh probably," she agreed, "but the look on your face!" She turned the phone around, cackling gleefully. "Oh, that is going on Sharebook."

Flash tried to fight back his blush, hands tightening into fists. "You wouldn't."

"Well...." Adagio flipped the phone, making a show of contemplation. "I wouldn't tell them the context. But the picture is just too great not to share. I mean, unless you want to back off or something," she added, putting the phone back in her pocket. "Since, you know, I'm trying to eat here, and you're kind of hovering."

The teenager narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said you wouldn't start a fight around seafood."

"I'm not. I'm asking you to leave me alone so I can eat in peace."

"And the picture?"

"Just a little blackmail. I learned pretty long ago that sometimes you have to do horrible things to get what you want."

"Yeah that's right," Adagio growled, tossing aside the corpse. "I just ripped your buddy in half! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!"

The hideous beast in front of her screeched, clacking its claws and charging at her. A red light came from the gem around her neck, and she pulled her lips back in a predatory smirk. "That's right. You're pissed at me aren't you? Keep on doing that!" Her hooves shot up to deflect the claws and smashed forward, ripping the limbs off their sockets. The monster only had a second to twitch its antennae before she smashed its head in.

Adagio reared back as the glowing gem charged its magic into her blood, reveling in the power flowing through her--but forced herself out of it, spinning her gaze to the massing horde. She gathered her strength and sang. Before, her voice would have staggered the Charp; now it slammed into them, pushing them against each other's swords and claws.

The cloud of blue rose into the water, joining so many others caused by her fellow sirens. Through it she spotted something, a shape of purple--not the dark and healthy purple of Aria, no, but a hated shade of indigo with a golden crown.

"KRANG! I SEE THE KRANG!"

Her cry caught the attention of the other sirens, and they looked to see her already darting forward through the brown masses. It didn't matter when some clumped together to stop her--Adagio careened through them with nary a thought, eyes never leaving her target.

The Krang rose its claws, dark fire sparking between them as it twirled to face Adagio. She barely managed to dodge one swipe before the next slammed into her chin, disorienting her entirely. Her ears rang and her vision blurred as she flailed, trying to strike at the now undefined shape--but she could feel the Krang's claws pounding into her chest, her hips, her neck--

She hit the sand, her senses coming into focus. The Krang had her pinned, flaming claws raised for the final blow.

And them a sword pierced it from behind, slicing up to the crown it wore.

Adagio took a breath, shoving the corpse off of her and swimming into a hover. "Ugh... thanks for the save, Antiphon."

"It shouldn't have been necessary," the red siren grumbled, looking around as the Charp finally began to retreat. "You know better than to chase after the Krang alone."

"I'm... I'm sorry. I think this gem...." She glanced down at the necklace she wore. "The power of hate makes us strong, but it clouds our minds as well. Where did the Court find these anyway?"

"Who gives a fin?" Aria swam up, casually ripping through one of the retreating foes. "The Charp are almost pure hatred incarnate. Using these gems against them is just poetic justice, you know?"

Antiphon picked up the Krang's crown, examining the embossed octopus upon it. "...They're getting bolder. Or more desperate. I can't tell." She looked up; without the mass of their enemies pressing around them, it was easy to see the coral rubble. "This whole town... at least the seaponies living here can move, but I don't think any of this can be rebuilt."

Adagio sighed. "Came here with my dad once. Had a gorgeous kelp park."

Aria looked between them, and then around. "Lotta dead sirens, this time."

Antiphon nodded. "We need to go on the offensive."

Adagio flipped her card back into her wallet as she handed her check to the shocked Flash Sentry. Maybe an ordinary person would have considered a fifty percent tip excessive, but when it came to seafood the girl spared no expense. Well, except actually going out and fishing; it wasn't that she considered herself bad at it so much as she got strange looks when she came up with crushed lobsters in her hands.

She turned to leave, but Flash put a hand on her shoulder. "Want me to walk you home?"

Any other day, Adagio would have dismissed the offer. Any other day she would have shoved his hand off and given some sarcastic quip as she stormed out. Any other day, she would have tried to build up her field of hate again.

She pointed a suspicious glower at him. "Why are you offering?"

"I feel bad that I gave you such poor service, I'm impressed at the size of your tip, I'm still thinking that you'll try to stir up trouble, I've gone temporarily crazy..." He shrugged. "Take your pick, I don't know."

"...oh why the hell not." She pushed his hand off her shoulder. "Fine, you get to be a chivalrous little gentleman for once in your life. Tell Sea Swirl you're going on break or whatever."

"Actually, my shift was over three minutes ago."

Adagio crossed her arms. "You just stuck around to keep an eye on me, didn't you."

"Well, you did try to hypnotize the whole school that one time," Flash pointed out, pulling a coat off the rack behind him.

"Yeah, and so did Sunset Shimmer," the girl pointed out as he swung it on. "I don't see you keeping a close watch on her."

"That's because she actually seemed to be sorry. You've just acted all sullen since you lost." He pushed the door open. "I mean, you could have tried to apologize or something, but..."

Adagio stepped out onto the sidewalk. "Really, that's it. She said sorry, and that's all it took."

"Well..." Flash frowned, falling into step behind her. "...okay, it took some time, and... uh..."

"And you didn't really trust her until she saved you from us." Adagio huffed, her footsteps pounding against the cement. "I'm not stupid, prettyboy. I know what it takes to get back into favor after a stunt gone sour. And frankly, I don't care enough about my reputation in one high school to bother." She flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Not like we're even really students, anyway."

Flash held up a finger, but didn't say anything before he let it fall back with a small sigh. They walked on in silence for a while.

"...why'd you do it?"

Adagio glanced over her shoulder. "What, why'd I try to hypnotize a bunch of high schoolers?"

"Yeah."

"We saw that rainbow column from Sunset's little stunt," Adagio explained. "Magic like that is pretty powerful, and there's really only a few ways to get ahold of it after somebody opens the jar. Friendship's one method, but that takes time and effort and for what we wanted to use the magic for, friendship wouldn't really work. Worship, though?" She brought her hands together. "Worship's pretty easy, especially when most people don't know what magic's like in the first place."

"So, what," Flash deadpanned, "your plan was for us to pray the magic into you?"

"Pretty much. Granted, popstar worship is not nearly as efficient as convincing people you're goddesses, but it worked." Adagio growled. "Then bacon-hair had to whip off her jacket and somehow she... ugh."

The boy rose an eyebrow. "Bacon-hair?"

"What, you think it doesn't look like bacon?"

"That's... okay, you have a point, but--" Flash shook his head. "Look, what was it you actually wanted to do with that magic?"

For a moment, Adagio's gaze turned wistful.

"...doesn't really matter, does it? We didn't get the magic. And our gems our gone." She sighed. "We're almost powerless now. Barely sirens at all."

"Hey, being human's pretty great," Flash said defensively. "It's not like you're a monster anymore--"

He jumped back at the fiery glare she snapped at him. "Sirens are monsters, huh?"

"It's not--well, you... What could possibly justify what you tried to do?!"

The fire in Adagio's eyes slipped away, replaced by something... old. Dark. And weary.

"You have no idea what I've been through. Pray you never find out."

"WARCRAB!"

"I see it!" Adagio spun through the Charp horde, her gem practically radiating as she darted under the massive claws of the crustacean and up through its body. The explosion of dark blue blood coated her, blinding her vision even as she heard the monster groaning into a collapse. Her other senses were quick enough to sense the former riders jumping off their mobile platform, one pushing water as it swam toward her--and suddenly, jolted sideways, hit by what she assumed was another siren.

Blinking the blood out of her vision, she caught sight of her rescuer crushing the Charp's chitin with a powerful tail slap. She glanced at the ichor-drenched siren and giggled. "Hello miss Adagio! Now you're as blue as I am!"

Adagio blinked. "Wait... how do you know who I--?"

"You saved my life fifteen years ago, remember?"

"...swirling waters. Sonata Dusk? Is that you?!"

The blue seapony--well, siren now--gave a happy little salute. "Honored to be here, captain!"

Aria swam up with a growl. "What are you two doing?! We're right in the middle of the assault--!"

"Miss Aria! It's good to see you again!"

The purple siren blinked. "I... who are you?"

"It's Sonata," Adagio supplied. "You know, that kid we saved the one time."

"Swirling waters. I knew they wanted ten thousand sirens for this, but I didn't know we'd be scraping the anemone's stomach!"

"Hey!" Sonata cried. "For your information, my vocal control--"

She leaned to the side, piercing the water with a resonation that caused a good thirty Charp exoskeletons to shatter.

"--is pretty shimmering good!"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Then get DOWN there and use it, kid!" She snapped around and swam into the horde, ripping through foes left and right.

Sonata sighed. "She's still just as grumpy as I remember."

"Don't worry, kid." Adagio gave Sonata a pat. "She's just very goal oriented. Come on, let's get to fighting."

The two of them dove into the sea of brown bodies, singing notes of destruction as they danced through the enemy's flaming swords and giant crabs. Every so often they'd catch sight of a Krang and work together to break the indigo chitin apart. And they caught frequent glances of the other sirens--some coordinating to drop humongous boulders on the teeming mass, others slipping through the legs of Warcrabs to kill them from below. The horde seemed endless--and perhaps it was--but knot by knot, they were fighting through, pressing in, getting close to the deep pit they all crawled out of..

Adagio caught sight of her commander close by, surrounded by four of the Krangs. She turned, ready to swim in--but Antiphon twirled a flaming Charp blade, deflecting every swing the Krangs made, and pounded a magically enhanced hoof into the sand, kicking up a shockwave that sent them all flying.

"Wow." Sonata breathed. "She's good."

"She's a commander for a reason," Adagio agreed.

Aria swam up to them, grinning sharkily. "They're clearing out!"

The yellow siren blinked, looking around in surprise. The Charp were, in fact, falling back... or to the side, to be more precise. Scrambling over each other to get away, leaving a clear path to the pit.

Adagio frowned. "This isn't right," she muttered. "This is too easy..."

Antiphon looked confused too, but only for a moment. She rose the sword in her grip. "SIRENS! AWAY FROM THE GROU--!"

O̸̴͟s͠͡ o҉s̶̀į͘ x̢͠į̀͠ ̕q̢͘͟iȩ͘ ́͟͠i̕ ̛͝l͢͞͡s͏̧e̴vmvm̸͟͏ ̴̡͢ȩ͠oy̸̧͡ ̸x̧̛e̡q͜͏e̶͠v̡͡mom͞?̸

"Huh. You know with that huge tip you left, I kind of thought you'd live in a mansion."

Adagio shook her head. "Just because something's affordable doesn't mean it's worth having. This house is big enough for us three." She turned to Flash Sentry. "Anyway, I'm home, so you can go now."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I... look. If you want, I could try to talk to the other students--"

"I already told you, I don't really care what anyone in Canterlot High thinks of me. Not even you," she added forcefully. "So stop trying to be so nice, and just leave me alone, okay?"

"Hey, there's no reason to be so rude. If you don't want friends that's fine."

They stood there for a few moments, glowering at each other.

"Aren't you going to go in?" Flash finally asked.

"Aren't you going to leave?" Adagio countered.

"The whole point of walking you home is making sure you get home safely."

"And I am. You've succeeded. Why are you still here?"

"Well, why are you still outside?!"

"That's none of your damn business!"

"Look, just because I don't like you doesn't mean I'm not allowed to worry about you!"

"I just flipping told you, prettyboy, I don't care what you think of me! VAMOOSE!"

"Not until you go inside!"

"Don't you try to push me around, I'm old enough to remember the crusades and I can go medieval on your tight little--!"

Aria slammed open the front door, her expression furious. "ADAGIO DAZZLE!"

"...shit."

Adagio turned toward the door, holding up her hands defensively as the purple girl stormed up. "Look, I can explain every--"

Aria's hand hit her cheek with the force of a tsunami. "THREE WEEKS! Three weeks, Adagio! Where the hell were you?!"

"Doing research." She rubbed her smarting cheek.

"Research?"

"Yes. Research."

"So you were doing research, for three weeks, without ever sending us a phone call, or a text, or an e-mail. I would have taken a damned letter! From the damned pony express! YOU COULD HAVE SENT A CARRIER PIGEON, FOR HIPPOCAMPUS'S SAKE!"

Adagio snorted. "Carrier pigeons don't work that way and you know it."

"Do you know what I've been through? I thought some criminal group had sold you to a whorehouse, or you were picked up by the government, or that some of those Canterlot kids managed to beat you up or something!"

"Hey now," Flash objected, "we're not like that at all--"

"And what about Sonata?! Do you know how fast she goes through the taco stuff when you aren't here? She gets flipping terrified when you go missing! You know I can't handle the kid on my own!"

"Er," Flash interjected, "isn't she a thousand years old--?"

"Oh come on," groaned the yellow girl, "you're exaggerating--"

"She's been crying herself to sleep, Adagio!"

Adagio blinked. "What? I thought she stopped doing that a couple of centuries ago..."

"Well she's damned well started up again." Aria dragged a hand down her face. "You can't keep doing this. You can't go running off to do 'research', Adagio. We've got to stick together. Don't you realize that?"

"Aria... we don't have our gems anymore," Adagio explained calmly. "You know what that means--"

"Yes, I do. And do you know what? Maybe I've actually accepted it, unlike you."

The yellow girl flinched. "So, what? You want to just... give up? Stop fighting? We're sirens, Aria! You know what that means."

"We're not sirens anymore, Adagio. I don't think we've been sirens for a long time."

They stared at each other for a long while.

"Time was," Adagio eventual started, "you'd rip off a Charp's head with your teeth."

"That was a long time ago. After Antiphon... We have to move on, Adagio. It might be best to forget about--"

"I will never," Adagio hissed, "forget about Antiphon."

Adagio clutched her head as the massive voice thundered through the water, barely hearing Sonata's pained scream beside her. Her eyes were on the sand below, shifting and rising and--

The ground exploded, sand and rock spiraling out into the battlefield as something tore itself free. The great red shape moved like an eel, bending and writhing, but she couldn't see anything that looked like a head--

Some of the sirens charged at it, and it snapped around impossibly fast, slamming them into the ground. When it lifted again, Adagio saw her fellows trapped in great toothless maws, struggling to free themselves as one by one they were crushed. Great hippocampus, there had to be thousands of those lining the thing's underside--

"...OUT OF RANGE!" Her hearing was coming back, and she turned to see Antiphon swimming up. "ATTACK WITH SONGS ONLY! SIRENS, TO ME!"

Her eyes widened in realization, and she whipped to Aria and Sonata. "Swim up and sing at it! Can you hear me?!" Adagio pointed a hoof up and patted her throat. "UP AND SING!"

"...Up and sing!" Aria nodded. "Got it! Sonata, get off your tail!"

The three of them shot up, joining the convening crowd and blasting at the new foe with their voices. For all their effort, though, the only effect was an odd ripple on the creature's skin, as though it was going right through.

O͡ý͏e̛̕ ͢҉q̸e̸ś͘r̸̡͘kś ͢éle͝y͞҉͏ ̸í ̛o̴s͘͜yx̨̛s̸͠y ale̶͝ǫ͝èx̀yx̵y͏v̕͘m ͞xeqę̷y̧͠.̧͜

Another massive explosion rent the ground--and another, and another. Four flailing monstrosities dashed slammed through the sirens like a whale through krill, the Charp below screeching mockingly as more and more of them were trapped in the gummy, toothless...

"...suction cups," Adagio whispered, her eyes going wide. "It's a kraken--it's an intelligent kraken!"

The screeching of the Charp seemed to morph into a chant, one word repeated endlessly in devoted hatred. "Sqµ¡rk! Sqµ¡rk! Sqµ¡rk!"

She darted toward Aria and Sonata, pushing them just out of the way as one of the arms swung at them. "Where's Antiphon?! We've got to get to Antiphon!"

"What?" Sonata asked, nonplussed.

"It's a kraken," Adagio explained. "The thing that the Charp have, it's a kraken of some sort--"

"Krakens don't get this big," Aria objected. "And they certainly don't talk--!"

"I know how crazy it sounds, but just look!" She pointed at a swaying red limb as it slapped away the boulder some sirens had thrown at it. "THAT IS AN OCTOPUS ARM. Suckers, boneless, the whole thing. We've got to get to Antiphon and tell her, so we can coordinate--!"

"ENOUGH!"

The three of them turned just in time to see their commander fill shine with her gem's glow. "On my mark, send forth all your power!"

"Commander, don't--!"

"NOW!"

Adagio watched as a storm of siren song descended on the arms, lit with a great magical power brought forth by the gems they wore. As each impacted she could see the waves of force bounce back and forth, the great edifices spasming under their combined power. It lasted but a few seconds, and yet to her it seemed like hours. When the great song finally stopped, the arms hung in the water, and she dared to hope.

Q͞e͘y̷ ̵ḿ͏e̡͞r̵̡im̀͘ ̧o͢si̸͘ ̨́͢x͘é̸̶q̧͝e͜͟x͞e͢͠͡ ̛o̵͡m̶͠ ͞͞x̢̡̨i a̷̢ļé͘͟o͏e̢q҉̸e̢͘͠l̵̵m̨͘ m͜ xş͠o̡y҉ ò̷͝é̵ļe͘͢͝ ͢eó̢i͏͘ ͟͝à͢ļ̵e͞a̷͟lem ̷o̴̕m̸ ͠҉̨e̛l͞ȩý?͠

Even seeing the arms, even knowing what the creature was, Adagio couldn't help but gasp in shock at the sheer breadth of the fleshy red dome rumbling slowly out of the pit. A mane of orangish feelers ran across the top, reminding her all too much of the fire on a Charp sword. It ended just before the massive pair of eyelids, each large enough to hold a whole pod of orcas... and when the eyes opened, she could see an incomprehensible, ancient intelligence within the dark tyrian whirlpools.

The arms spun suddenly, catching the sirens by surprise. This time, though, they weren't flailing about randomly--no, each move was a snatch, a grab, a twist.

Adagio's senses returned when Aria shoved her out of an arm's swing. "Sheesh, I guess you were right. Well, what do we do now?"

"...Go for the eyes." It was a basic strategy, but it was something she could wrap her head around. "Maybe if we cut through, we can find the thing's brain and... I don't know, kill it."

"That's not going to work on a Kraken," Sonata pointed out. "The brain's decentralized. What you want to do is tear off the beak--they can't regenerate that, and without a chomper they'll starve to death. If the wound isn't infected first."

Aria and Adagio stared at her.

"I apprenticed under an octopus gardener," she explained sheepishly. "Before I joined the sirens."

"Right. Beak." Adagio nodded, turning to the largest group of Sirens she could see. "WE HAVE TO TEAR OFF THE BEAK! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO KILL IT!"

"UNDERSTOOD!" Antiphon dodged another arm, letting her sword slide through the flesh as it passed. "SIRENS, YOU HAVE YOUR GOAL! WE SWIM FOR FREEDOM, LIFE, AND THE FUTURE! SHOO BE DOO!"

"SHOO SHOO BE DOO!" came the returning roar.

"NOW, CHAAAARGE!" Antiphon spun her sword, leading her forces. "AND WAVES BE WITH US ALL!"

A Pinch Of Rage

"Thank you so much for bringing her home," Sonata mumured, hugging Flash and giving him a light kiss on each cheek.

"Uh... not a problem." The teenager blushed, glancing around the foyer. After a moment, he lifted bent his elbow and managed to pat her shoulder awkwardly. "There, there?"

Sonata giggled, releasing him and backing off. "Sorry. I'm a little grabby, sometimes..."

"It's fine. Really. Around Canterlot High, I'm apparently the number one hug-destressor." Flash coughed into his fist. "It's just, uh... you're kind of not a teenage girl."

"It's the body," Sonata explained. "Well, kind of. When we were thrown through the mirror, we ended up just post-puberty, physically... I think it's a glitch the portal has, but we managed to freeze our development with our gems..."

Her eyes grew downcast. "It's been so long since we've actually aged... now we're actually getting older, and having to deal with all these hormones flowing again, and..." She trailed off, rubbing her arm.

Flash Sentry bit his lip for a moment. "...Um. Well. You're... very good looking for a millennium old teenager," he finally offered.

Sonata rolled her eyes, but there was, at least, a smile on her face. "And you're quite a fine specimen. For an ape from an alien world."

"Oh, right, you're one of those... fish horses."

"Seaponies."

"Right."

They stood in the foyer for a few moments longer.

"Do you want a cookie-cream sandwich?" Sonata asked suddenly. "There are some in the freezer, and... well, I don't think Aria is going to be done with Adagio for a while." She glanced significantly up the stairs.

Flash opened his mouth to turn her down politely, but his grumbling stomach betrayed him. "...maybe just one."

"Alright. Kitchen's this way."

The blue girl gestured for him to follow her, walking into the main room. Flash couldn't help but give out a low whistle; instruments of all kinds and eras were set up in a careful pattern on the floor, while shelves of sheet music, records, and CDs dominated one wall. Every other wall was devoted to the sea; shells, nets, oars, a boat of some kind, starfish, and against one wall a large aquarium, filled with fish of every shade.

Sonata had already stepped over the bagpipe and crossed into the kitchen. "Don't bump the hydraulophone, please," she requested with a wave toward an oddly leaking pipe assemblage. "It took us a while to get ahold of."

Flash nodded, standing behind the counter. "I've heard of those. Water-keyboards, right?"

"It's a little more complicated than that." Sonata opened the freezer and bent down, reaching into a cardboard box. "But, yeah, that's how it's played." She straightened up and shut the door, turning around. "Took us a bit to realize it wouldn't make whalesong, though."

The teenager cleared his throat. "You know, I just noticed... out of the three of you, you're the only one that usually goes bare-legged."

Sonata dropped a plastic wrapper on the counter with a wry smirk. "You just noticed that."

"...yes."

"Did you see my panties when I was bent over?"

Flash blushed. "Wh--No! I'm sorry, I, I wasn't thinking--"

Sonata giggled. "Relax, it's perfectly normal for a growing boy. I'm not going to tattle on you. Besides," she added casually, "it's a thong."

"Gruuuuh. First Adagio with that threesome quip, and now you with... do you three just like to tease people or something?"

"Mmmm... yeah. It's good for a laugh." She pushed the cookie-cream sandwich toward him. "You've got to remember, we've been around for a while. It's gotten to a point where nothing is sacred."

Flash opened the wrapper, raising an eyebrow. "Except seafood."

"Yeah. Except seafood."

He nodded, dropping the cookie-cream sandwich into his hand. After a moment, he brought it up to his mouth and bit down.

Then he swallowed. "So... um. Outside, when Aria and Adagio were... fighting... Adagio kind of said something strange."

"Yeah?"

"She said Aria used to bite heads off of Charps." He gauged Sonata's expression, noting the sudden frown. "I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it, I can--"

"A Charp," Sonata explained, "is a lobster. As big as a dolphin. As cunning as an octopus. And as cold-hearted as a shark. Also they have swords that stay on fire underwater. Don't ask me how that works." She sighed. "They'd attack seapony settlements in groups of... a couple hundred, I think, led by a Krang. Blue-purple Charp, extra strong and smart, also has magic."

"...oh."

"I remember, when I was a kid, we got a warning keel. The Charp were coming, and everybody had to head for the bunker, but somehow me and my parents got split up. I heard them screeching, I could feel them in the water, and I hid in this tiny coral outhouse--I thought, hey, who'd want to destroy a pooping place, right? Then this big brown claw burst through the wall." Sonata shook her head. "If Adagio hadn't seen me... they saved my life that day, those two."

Flash let out a breath. "That... wow. That's pretty amazing."

"Joined the sirens because of it."

"Huh." He drummed his fingers on the table. "You know, all this time I've been thinking that sirens were, like, a species, not a group."

"Yeah, well, we were all seaponies. And to be honest, I kinda think most of the seaponies joined the sirens in the end. Things got... bad."

Flash finished the cookie-cream sandwich, pushing himself away from the counter. "So I've gathered... uh, the Charp wasn't the only thing that got brought up. They also mentioned something called an Antiphon?"

Sonata's eyes shot wide, her breath hitching as she backed into the hydraulophone.

"Oh gosh." Flash moved around the counter, slowly. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to--"

"Don't." Sonata held up a finger, shaking. "Just... just don't."

For a moment, the only sound was the trickle of water.

"I... I think you should go." Sonata forced her breathing back to a calmer level. "Now."

"...Alright." Flash held up his hands, backing away. "I'm going. You know where to find me if--"

The bagpipes wheezed under his foot. He glanced down for a moment, maneuvering it off the instrument.

"...yeah."

Sonata shook her head. "Yeah."

The teenager turned, heading for the door.

"...Flash?"

He stopped. "Yeah?"

"I really am grateful you brought Adagio home. I... don't want to lose her."

Blood, blue and red, seeped into the water all around her. The metallic tang on her tongue, in her nose, could not be denied, could not be ignored. The powerful grip of a claw suddenly clenched round her tail, a cry of agony rolling out of her throat as she felt her spine crack--

"GET... OFF!"

Adagio shook off the haze, tossing the Charp toward one of the kraken's massive arms. At the very least the monster didn't care enough to discern between what landed in its suckers; she huffed a tired grin as the lobsterfiend shattered. A jolt of pain lanced from her tail, and she winced, giving a look at the twisted thing. "Sand, I hope the medics will be able to fix that."

"Captain!" Sonata dashed up to her, absently blasting away a small squad trying to sneak up behind her. "Are you alright?! Can you swim?"

"I'm fine," Adagio reassured her, "I'm totally--GNNNF. Well, I can still fight, anyway," she insisted, even as the water round her grew slightly more red.

"Oh, that doesn't look good, not at all not at all... ARIA!" Sonata shouted, waving wildly at the purple siren.

"What the fin is it now--Swirling waters, Adagio!" Aria's eyes widened in shock, and she tail slapped a Charp away as she swam over. "Okay, just focus on me, captain. We're going to get you out of here--"

"I'm not dazed!" Adagio snapped. "I can still swim! We're almost at the beak, and I am NOT curling this one out!"

"Captain--Adagio, please--"

"ARIA BLAZE, WE NEED EVERY SIREN ON THIS! YOU WILL GET BACK TO--guuug--TO FIGHTING THE CHARP. THAT IS AN ORDER!"

The purple siren flinched. "...yes ma'am. With all due respect, though, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Me either!" Sonata insisted. "We're in this together!"

Adagio rolled her eyes. "...Fine, if it's--grf--the only way to get you two idiots to do what you need to."

The three of them rejoined the battle, pushing further down into the pit. Their enemy was scrambling out of great cracks in the rock wall, leaping at them as they descended, but for every siren they took down five of the Charp were smashed, sliced, or shattered. It was the arms they had to watch for--when one of the great eyes focused on a group, the kraken would sweep them against the wall.

And yet--the webbing of the beast was only a few knots away. Already she could see Antiphon and her group swimming under it; Adagio pushed herself as fast as she could, ignoring the stream of blood behind her and the shocks of pain from her tail. They were close, she could almost taste it past the bloodied waters. They were going to take this monster down, they were going to destroy the Charp, and all of the sea would be safe at last!

With a great cry, the trio darted beneath the creature, ready for anything.

Krangs swarmed across the kraken's underside, flinging dark fire at the sirens swimming by as they screeched and scuttled in their own harsh language. The beak hung from center, a great black edifice with four petals each as large as a blue whale. And, oddly, a great glowing crystal was clutched between them, its color reminding Adagio uncomfortably of the gem round her own neck. Four pink tentacles shot out of the gaping maw, sweeping blindly through the water as they chased after the invaders.

"Great hippocampus," Sonata breathed. "I've never even heard of quad-beaked krakens before..."

"Let's hope this is the only one." Adagio narrowed her eyes. "Those tongutacles could drag us in, we can't let them catch us."

"Belly up, swim high," Aria suggested. "We'll be able to keep a better eye if we've got a surface to swim against."

"What?!" Sonata cried. "But there are Krangs all over that!"

"I've seen you sing, we can handle a few Krangs." Adagio winced, nodding to the two. "We're going with Aria's idea. Shoo be doo."

"Shoo shoo be doo," Aria replied.

"...waves be with us," Sonata muttered.

And they dove up into the fray.

"Flash asked about Antiphon."

Sonata's quiet voice drew a wince from Aria. "Sorry, I... let that slip in front of him. Kind of forgot he was there, really, after..." She trailed off, glancing at Adagio.

The yellow girl raised a hand out of the water. "Yes, yes, I made a mistake. I was planning on coming back today anyway."

Sonata said nothing, poking at the tray floating in front of her.

Aria crossed her arms over her bare breasts. "You know that's not going to cut it."

"Fine." Adagio sighed. "Sonata, I'm sorry. There, I said it."

After a moment, the blue girl reached for the anchovy pizza on her tray. "I know you are. I just..." She bit down, chewing softly. "Why don't you ask us to help you? With your research, I mean."

She opened her mouth... and shut it, awkwardly rubbing the long red scar on her hip.

"Yeah, why don't you ask?" Aria flicked her hair out of the water. "I mean, I've got a mind like a steel trap, and Sonata might be spacey but she's not stupid."

"...I wanted to do this on my own," Adagio admitted. "I just thought... if I could find a way back, before today, I could surprise you girls."

"You showed up with that Canterlot prettyboy. Consider us flippin' surprised."

"Aria!" Sonata scolded, lightly shoving a wave at her.

Aria rose a hand, parting the water to keep her own plate from getting soaked. "What? You can't deny that was pretty random."

"He apparently started working at Sea Swirl's place," Adagio explained. "Somehow he got it into his head that I needed an escort home."

The purple siren rose her eyebrow.

"Look, I would have turned him down, but... he's working at Sea Swirl's," Adagio defended, pathetically. "I couldn't do that to her."

"Never thought you'd have gone soft."

"Hey!"

"Aria, she was being polite," Sonata interjected. "That doesn't mean she was being soft."

"Yeah," Adagio agreed.

"Really." The purple girl gave her a flat look. "You, being polite."

"Well..." She tapped her chin, grinning wickedly. "I pulled the grandma threesome line on him. I've got to show you the pic later."

Sonata snorted. "You're terrible."

Aria smirked. "Might have been interesting to invite him to dinner, though."

The blue girl looked at her quizzically. "I don't think he'd be all that comfortable."

"We're three naked chicks, sitting in a pool, and there's pizza. What's not to like?"

"Well, gee, I don't know, the part where we're more than a whole millennium older than him maybe?"

"That," Aria stated with an uprised finger, "just means we're experienced."

Sonata rubbed her forehead as the other two sirens started cackling. "I can't believe I used to idolize you two..."

"Oh come on, Sonata!" Adagio cried. "Aria's just twiddling your fin. We wouldn't really try to seduce him."

"Or invite him for dinner," Aria added. "Unless he brought shrimp or something."

"And we definitely wouldn't have him over today," Adagio finished, suddenly very serious. "This is... this is just for us three."

A somber pallor descended on the group as she reached out, gathering three wave-engraved goblets and the winebottle off a small table set beside the pool just for this purpose. With utmost respect, she poured; the cup with purple gems, then the one with blue, handing each to the matching companion before she filled her own.

"To absent comrades." She lifted her yellow-gemed goblet high, and the others matched her motion. "May the sea rest your bodies where beautiful coral can grow."

"May the ocean guide your souls to the deepest lights," Aria added.

"And may the waves lead your children to glorious songs," Sonata finished.

"Shoo be doo, shoo shoo be doo."

With that quiet chant, they drank. The empty goblets descended onto the trays with a series of clinks.

"...it wasn't that he asked about her," Sonata murmured into the silence. "Not just that. It was... that he asked today, of all days. Everything just flooded back, all at once..."

She clutched her shoulders, curling forward far enough that her chin rested in the water.

"It's a pretty grim anniversary," Aria agreed, wrapping an arm around her. "I don't really like remembering it, but..."

Adagio lifted a hand, running it through Sonata's hair gently. "...I don't think any of us can ever really forget."

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Aria rose an eyefin, giving Adagio a wary look. "You're pretty enthusiastic right now."

Adagio replied by ripping a claw off one Krang, stabbing another through the head, and using the resultant amalgam to smash three more into the pit above her head. "Is that a problem?!"

"No. Just weird." Aria put her hooves through two blue lobsterfiends, popping the heads off and punching at the others around her. "You sure the inverted swimming isn't getting to you?"

"I am a sand-rippling siren," Adagio growled, fighting back the pain in her tail. "I can fight through anything."

Sonata shook her head. "Good for you. I'm getting seasick." She blanched, forcing something back. "Oh hippocampus..."

"Suck it up and sing, Sonata!"

"Aria, please--" Sonata screeched into the crowd of Krangs. "--stop picking on me like that! I'm doing the best I can here!"

"Sirens!" Antiphon shouted, blade slicing through seven separate foes. "With me! The beak is within reach!"

Adagio looked toward the commander, seeing her red form swimming through the Krang ranks. "You heard the commander! LET'S GET THIS DONE!"

Aria and Sonata nodded, and together they shot forward. Lobsterfiend after lobsterfiend fell into the great pit, clearing the path for the remaining sirens as they swam closer--ever closer--to the great black obelisk that towered down above them. At last, Sonata let out a final note, and the path was cleared. Antiphon darted forward and cut into the fleshy foundation with her fiery blade.

"If I fall, take my sword! We must--!"

O̧̨y̸͞e̶̕ ͞j̴͏ȩ̕é̸͢x͟me̸͘ q͝e̸͝os̨͢͢r͝e ͘͏͏e҉l̢͜é̵ý̸ ̷͜m̴̶ ͏̸s͏ ͏͠x͢i̸r͠į̷m̸͟.̕

Across the kraken's flesh, Krang's eyes all started glowing with a pale yellow light, their screeching fading away as their claws becoming enveloped by dark fire. The tongutacles peeled in half, great stalks unfurling from within that each ended in a large black orb. Then, in a blink, they snapped out--one reaching for the four at the beak's base. Adagio and Aria managed to slip its grasp, but Sonata and Antiphon were tight in its clutch, whisked toward the beak-held gem with all the sirens that the other strange limbs had managed to catch.

The sudden motion combined with her inversion-induced nausea, and Sonata heaved into the dark waters around her--thankfully, the beast was carrying her too fast for the results to stay close. "Hippocampus.... Oh waves, what's going on?! Krakens can't do this, it's--I don't even know what it's doing!"

"Keep it together, Siren!" Antiphon struggled in the grip of the stalk next to her.

"Right--Right!" Sonata shook her head. "Sorry, commander, lost myself there!" She pushed against the stalk wrapped tightly around her, trying to find some sort of give--and her eyes fell on the orb at its end. With a desperate jolt, she leaned forward and dug her teeth into it. The stalk spasmed, uncoiling and drifting after Antiphon. She turned to the commander, grinning. "The sphere! Commander--!"

Antiphon was pushed against the red crystal with all the other captured sirens. All of them let out a scream of incomprehensible pain.

Ó́s̶҉ x͟s͘͠o̶y̢͘ ̶͝xy͠͝v̛͜͏í͟ ͝͠x̸̕͝ir͜i͘͟ḿ:̸͠ ̡͟a͏l͡eo҉̀͠eq̡͞͡e̴̛lme ͠͞i̛ ҉̶o̧͘͜s͠į̴͡ x̡́ş͘͠o̡͠y ̡oe͝l̀͝e̢͘͜,̧́ ̴r̵̡ȩ ̀o̡è̸҉ ̢͘͢a͏ȩ̛ml̷͝s͘͢ ͜o̸͞s͟͞i̧̨ ҉̵̕x̷̡e̡o̶͢y̷̴ ͡ts͏r̢͘s͢r̶̵̀ke̕ ͟em͢e͡r͞i͢m̡̀ ͏e҉̨ e͏̵o̡͡i̸ ͝͡x͟s̨̛͠ry.̀ ̛̀L͝ei̴̕vi ̧q̸̛e̸m̡,̀ ̴͢ò̵͡e̴̶̕ ̧a̷͠lȩ͢a̷҉҉lem͘ ͠x̸̷e͝l̸e̸ ̶̢m̸̀̕ x̴i ̨̕͏x͝el̨e̴͝ o̢̧m̢̀ ̢͜e҉ơ̛y҉ ̷͞͞x҉̕eq̡e̡̡v͞m̴̀o͢͞m͏̢.̛

The necklace Antiphon wore sunk into her chest, veins of light spreading across her twitching form. Her scales peeled away, unfurling into strange kelp-like ribbons with shining edges. Her eyes shut and sunk in; her teeth lengthened incredibly. Sonata watched in horror as her body stretched, tore, a pair of limbs bursting from her hips and ending in sickle-like claws, the flesh around her tail disintegrating into long straps. And then, and only then, did the great stalk uncoil, pulling back from the panting...

"...commander?" Sonata swam forward cautiously. "Commander Antiphon? Can you hear me?"

Sunken eyes snapped open, glowing a pale yellow.

The thing that had been Antiphon pushed itself off the red crystal with a wild screech, darting at her and trapping her hooves under its forelegs. Sonata struggled against the grip, flailing her tail as the scythes swung down at it, head butting the fanged visage, screaming as it swam towards the rock wall at an incredibly fast clip. She tried to gather her voice, tried to sing, but the skeleton of Antiphon's tail constricted around her barrel, holding back her voice--

They slammed into the rock wall--how fast, how fast had they swam--and the aberration reared back with a fierce shriek--

--and a sword lanced through the gem embedded in its chest.

Sonata gasped as the bony tail released her, relief flooding her when she saw the yellow light in the eyes fade. It was just as quickly followed by disgust, and then horror, and then sorrow, all mixing into a strange and unstable concoction in her chest.

"Good to see you made it kid." Aria swam out from around, a broad smile on her face--for only a moment, before she turned back. "Nice sword-work there, Adagio. Where's the commander, she'll want to know about whatever these things are--"

"That..." Sonata pointed at the corpse. "That... was the commander. It pressed her against the big crystal and..." She shivered.

Aria looked at her. "What?"

"The crystal, it... did things--to her, and the others, I think--"

"Swirling waters... I guess that means you're in charge, captain. What now?"

The yellow siren hadn't said anything. She was staring at the sword in her hooves, at the body floating on its point... she looked up, up to the beak from which she had pulled the sword, around at the strange forms chasing the sirens, at the shivering figure against the rock wall...

Pain lanced through her tail, and the scent of blood overwhelmed her.

"Fall back."

"What?"

"FALL BACK!" Adagio shouted, releasing the sword and turning to the battle. "SIRENS, RETREAT! WE MAKE FOR SCALLOPING COVE!"

"Scalloping Cove?!" Aria objected. "That's three day's swim--! We can't just abandon the assault!"

"You have your orders, lieutenant!" Adagio snapped. "It's time to follow them."

Her eyes drifted to the slowly falling corpse below them. "Or maybe you want to follow her, instead."

"I--" Aria sighed. "No. You're right, we're losing here." She turned to the shivering Sonata. "Come on kid, we've got to go."

As the hundred sirens that remained swam away, they heard a great boom from behind them.

I̧ ͟v͏̴i͞v̡̀͟i,͝ ͜͜e̡͟m͞e̢͞͠r̛̀i͠m҉͢.͡ ̵O̕͢͡e ͢xe̸͘͞x̨͢e̴v͢͞m͟͜ e̵̸̢l̢͘͘e̷y̴̢. ̸O͝͠ę͡ ̴҉ļs̸͢l̵͢s͏v̧́s ̡x̸̡i̡ ̴͞v̕͜͟e̕͞ ҉͟m҉̕͝ ̨͜l͡e҉͏i̷vi̵ ̸̢̧q̶́͘eḿ͜ ̵͠e̢̡m͘ ̢͞l̶̨̛e̛o͏͠e̡͢v̶m̧̀̕ ̨̡e͏l̶̢e̴͠y҉ ̛͡o̶m̡͡ ̷v̢y͝ŕ̵k̨͟e̕͡ ̕͏ơ͝m͏ ̷̀x̶͜s̶͘ ̵̛́ơ͜s̶y͘͢xs̸̡y ́̕o̕ḿ̸o̡s̶͏o͘͜m̧̧͟ớ͠s̶.̧͘

Adagio narrowed her eyes. "We'll be back, you bottomfeeder. Just you wait."

A Hint Of Gloom

"Ugh," Aria moaned as she drooped over one of the couches. "Who in the world could be knocking this late in the night?"

"Probably another evangelist," Adagio sighed, gathering her bathrobe as she took her own seat on the other. "'Have you heard the word of Megan?' 'Why yes, I have. The pope told us all how Zacherle would forgive us for out sins after we slaughtered some arabs, but that was nine centuries ago. Anything new?'"

Sonata held up a finger, leaning on the aquarium as she gently swayed. "I reeeeeeally don't think that's what they believe anymore."

"I really don't think that's what they ever believed," Aria replied.

"And I really don't think I want to listen to one of their stupid sermons again," Adagio pointed out. "Let's just wait until they leave."

The three of them sat in the living room, listening to the knocking on their front door. Aria grabbed a book from the table, reading up on subharmonics. Sonata occasionally stuck her fingers into the aquarium, twiddling with the fish. Adagio just leaned back into the couch. And the knocking... continued.

Knock knock.

Knock-knock-knock.

Knock knock knock-knock-knock. Knock knock.

...

Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-

"GRAH!" Adagio stood up, tightening her belt and storming around the instruments. "FINE! WE'RE HERE! I'M COMING! Hold your damn--"

She opened the door.

"--horses."

"Hi, I just want to--"

Adagio slammed the door shut, locking it for good measure, stamped back to her couch, and threw herself facedown on it.

Aria rolled her eyes. "Mature. Real mature, Dags."

"Mi mm mnt," the yellow girl grumbled into the cushion, "monin tm meal miff mrr mmite mmw."

"Fair enough," she conceded.

Sonata pulled her hand out of the water. "Well if you two won't deal with her, I will."

"You do know who that is, right?" Aria deadpanned. "You recognized the voice?"

"Yeah, I know." Sonata somehow managed to stumble through the instrument collection. "But Flash was pretty nice, maybe she'll be too." She unlocked the front door and opened it with a wide grin. "Bacon-hair! It's good to see you!"

Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms. "Bacon-hair?"

"Yeah, you know. The stripey meat ribbons. They look like your hair!" The blue girl giggled.

Sunset's eyes briefly darted down before returning to Sonata's face. "Um... why are you wearing a bathrobe?"

"We just finished dinner."

"That opens up so many avenues of questioning I don't want to go down." She unfolded her arms, sniffing warily. "Are... are you drunk?"

"Uh... I don't know." Sonata leaned back and peered over her shoulder. "Hey Aria?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we get drunk without our gems?"

"We could get drunk with our gems. Pretty sure we could get drunk without."

Sonata turned back to the door and shrugged. "I guess we're drunk." She giggled again.

"...right." Sunset held up a hand. "Obviously this is a bad time. I'll come back later--"

"What? You just got here!" Without a second thought, Sonata grabbed her arm and dragged her inside, shutting the door behind her. "Come in, grab a stool--the couches are taken, but you can sit next to any instrument you can play!"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Well, this ought to be fun..."

Sunset negotiated the various artifacts with careful steps. "Wow. You guys have a lot of rare instruments--is that a Hang? I thought they stopped making those!"

"They did," Sonata singsonged. "But we got one. Cause we're rich."

"Yeah, I... kinda figured." She carefully sat on a stool next to a sitar.

"Wait a minute." Aria pushed herself up to her side. "How the hell did you find us, anyway?"

"Flash told me." Sunset glanced away, putting a hand over her eyes. "Well, called me."

Sonata frowned. "Did he say anything about... what he did here?"

"Uh, he said he talked to you and... that there are some things I shouldn't bring up. Ever."

The blue girl grinned, jabbing her finger at Adagio. "I told you. I told you he was nice. He's a good boy."

"Hm's n mmncomk."

"I dunno about that. Have you seen what he wears?"

Aria glanced at Sunset's averted gaze. "What are you doing?"

"I... uh..." she blushed. "Your bathrobe's open."

"So? I don't have anything you don't."

"Yes, but..." She lowered her hand and huffed. "You're naked!"

The purple girl lidded her eyes. "And you're a pony. What, did they start wearing clothes in Equestria while we were gone or something?"

"No--yes--formal--this isn't Equestria!" Sunset finally pointed out. "We're humans! We wear clothes!"

"My parents were nudists," Aria explained simply.

"Your parents were sirens!"

"Seaponies, actually, I'm the first siren in the family."

"Right..." Sunset rubbed her forehead. "You know what, never mind." She forced the blush off her face. "You're probably wondering why I came to visit."

"Not really. We're the big bad fish ladies. You want to make sure we're not planning anything." Aria spread her arms. "This is it. This is us."

"Well it's not just us," Sonata pointed out, skipping over to the aquarium. "We have the fish too! There's Accuratezza and Encore and Incalzando and Omaggio and Unisono and..."

Sunset's eyes drifted from the aquarium to Aria. "How many fish do you have?"

"Twenty."

"....has she named all of them?!"

"Yep."

"...and Quintal and Variazioni and Ridicolosamente and Pizzicato and Zartheit!" Sonata sighed wistfully. "Zartheit was such a cutie. Is! Is such a cutie! Because he is a fish, and fish are cute! That's what I meant!" She giggled, swaying on her feet.

"....you know what?" Sunset declared. "If I keep asking questions, I don't think I'll stop. So I'll just get down to business: princess Twilight Sparkle wishes to extend a diplomatic invitation to all three of you to visit her castle in Equestria."

That got a response out of all of them. Sonata leaned over the back of the couch, eyes widening. Aria actually sat up, gauging her with her eyes. And Adagio grabbed a throw pillow, pushing it down over her head.

"What, exactly, brought this on?" Aria inquired cautiously.

"Well, I don't know how in tune with the news you are, but during the Friendship Games there was this whole... thing with magic and alternate universes and the local Twilight Sparkle. So afterwards, when Princess Twilight met Science Twilight--that's what we're calling her--the two of them decided to cross-reference all this world's legends of magic with Equestrian history, and that kind of led to Princess Twilight funding a lot of archaeological expeditions--"

"Double-meeting." Sonata grinned, nodding eagerly. "That's always exciting. Did you know our doubles were privateers? I mean, it was over a thousand years ago but still--!"

"Word to the wise," Aria intoned. "You ever meet your double, sleep with them at least once. You won't get a lasting relationship, but the experience is incredible."

Sunset Shimmer snorted. "Yeah, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Anyway, my point is that one of the expeditions Twilight funded, they recovered relics from some old town called Thadal Lapillus--"

Adagio groaned into the cushion.

"So you have heard about it. Twilight mentioned some of the symbols looked kind of like those projected forms you had at the Battle of the Bands." Sunset shrugged. "She just wants the opinion of somebody who was there, is all."

The yellow siren turned her head just enough to see the others. Aria rose an eyebrow and shrugged; Sonata's grin was so big, it almost hid the tears in her eyes.

"...Fine. We'll be ready tomorrow afternoon, we'll meet you by the statue." She glared at Sunset. "Now, get OUT."

Sunset stood up, nodding to them each in turn. "Thank you for your time." With some maneuvering through the instruments, she was at the door and out a moment later.

"All that time we spent looking for a way through," Aria deadpanned, "and some princess goes and drops the answer in front of us."

"Thadal Lapillus," Sonata repeated. "Wow. Who'd have ever thought we'd hear about that place again?"

Adagio sighed. "I could have gone my whole life without remembering that damned town."

"Krillrest. Silverscale town. Coralopolis!" Adagio slammed her hoof on the rock that she was using as a table. "They're breaking us apart!"

"It's a smart strategy," Aria noted, adjusting her finbags as she floated over the map. "Cutting us off from other cities. Wouldn't have worked before the kelpies, but..."

She trailed off, glancing awkwardly at the other two sirens. Sonata glanced away, folding her legs in tightly. Adagio didn't even look at her, focusing even more intently on the pebbles and lone calico scallop seashell atop the kelpscroll. Around them, various small groups of seaponies huddled together, conversing in hushed tones.

"...Maybe we shouldn't have let Omaggio try to go after Coloratura," she grumbled. "If he'd have been here, Zartheit might not have--"

"I didn't want to force him to choose between his wife and his sister," Sonata murmured. "That's why I told him to go. The blood of the sacrament is thicker than the gel of the egg."

"Yeah... I know if my mom had given a fin about me, I wouldn't even be here--"

"Enough ifs," Adagio growled. "The Charp are pushing us to shore. We need a plan." She lashed her tail--and winced in pain.

"Adagio..." Sonata swam closer. "Please, calm down. You know what the medics said, you can't put too much strain on--"

"I'm fine. Focus on the problem we have now, Sonata."

Aria looked at the refugees around them. "Obviously we can't stay here. A Charp attack is bad enough in a town, but out in the open... we've got to get these seaponies to safety." She sighed, looking down at the map and pointing at a group of pebbles. "Only problem is, I can't see how. This Charp line is dividing us from the closest delta, and we can't go this way--they'd overrun us."

"Um." Sonata tapped the map. "There's... there's a drylander outpost here. A port town, I think, they call it Thadal Lapillus."

Adagio rose an eyefin. "Really."

"Yes. I mean, that's what some of the refugees say."

"And why would that matter to us?" Aria asked flatly. "Drylanders don't speak wavetongue. We couldn't even talk to them."

"Well, maybe they'll help us anyway. After all, the refugees had to hear the name from somewhere. Maybe some of them are friends or something." Sonata traced her hoof across the kelpscroll. "There's a bit of overland trek, but we could make it to this river here if they carried us in... buckets, I guess. We can swim to this lake from there--"

"A lake?" Aria snorted. "Without the grain of salt?"

"Charp can't survive in freshwater. And the Kelpies... well, they'd have to swim upriver. It's a lot easier to guard against them if they can only come from one direction."

Adagio gave the map a long look.

"...we're really considering this." She turned to the other two. "We're really considering asking the seaponies to leave the sea."

Aria sighed. "I don't like it either. Being carried in buckets sounds like a horrible experience." She shrugged. "But, all things considered, I don't think we're going to come up with a better idea."

Adagio looked down at the map. The pain in her tail had dulled, but it still sent jolts every now and again. Her hoof reached for the shell, and her eyes darted toward the gap in the line of pebbles...

...and with a deep breath, she moved the shell to the shoreline. "Alright. Tell the refugees to pack up and be ready for an unusual trip. We swim in ten." The kelp scroll was rolled up and placed in her finbags. "Waves be with us."

"I don't know if there are waves on the drylands," Aria pointed out.

"The drylanders have to drink," Sonata replied. "And where there's water, there will always be waves."

"You know," Sonata contemplated as she looked herself over, "this is the first time I can remember having four legs. I mean, seaponies only had two, and humans have the arms, but that doesn't really count."

Aria held up a hoof. "Yeah, speaking of which--why the hell are we earth ponies?"

"Well, after my travels back and forth through the mirror, I grew very interested in the transformation modulation incorporated into the process, so I took some time to study the spellforms integrated into the arch structure. It turns out that the discus on the top actually serves as a secondary functional array, focused on analysis of genetic templates from the cross-realty thaumic bridge, and the mirror actually utilizes that data in its quantum integration process--"

"Hey Princess?" Aria interrupted. "Could you pretend we spend a thousand years outside the contact of any magical scholars? That'd be great, thanks."

Twilight Sparkle huffed. "The tiny mirror on top of the big one saw earth ponies, so it told the big mirror to turn you into earth ponies when you came through."

"Now wasn't that easier to say?"

"It kind of glosses over all of the pertinent details--"

"Oh hey," Sonata chirped, "I have a mooshri shreperii!"

The princess blinked. "A what?"

"This thing." She pointed at the image of a jagged eighth note over a heart on her flank. "Never learned the dryland words for it, so we just called them mooshri shreperii."

Twilight ruffled her wings. "We call those cutie marks."

"Whoa, seriously? So I have a cutie patootie?"

"What--? No--well, I mean I'm sure it's very attractive to ponies who swing that way, but--"

Adagio stepped forward, rolling her eyes. "Okay, okay. Enough exploring our new bodies for now, we can continue with that tonight."

"You know, I never thought I'd say this, but thank you Adagio--"

The yellow mare halted her speech with a single glower. "Look, princess, I'm not here to help you. I've been looking for... something, and your little artifact show is the biggest lead I've got in a long time. So why don't you just take me to wherever it is you've got the Thadal Lapillus junk set up, and we'll get this over with."

The alicorn opened her mouth to reply, but her eyes darted to the large scar blotting out one of Adagio's cutie marks.

"If... you don't mind my asking, how did--?"

"Actually I do mind you asking." Adagio flipped her mane. "The artifacts?"

Twilight gave her a long, silent look.

Then she sighed. "...Right this way, then." She turned away with a frown, trotting out and leading them down a series of crystalline hallways. "Now, the archaeologists have organized their finds into groups; household assemblages, artistic artifacts, small tools, large tools, surviving writings, and pictures of things they couldn't bring in for analysis. I've labeled things that I think might be of interest to you, but I recognize that my judgement might not be entirely accurate, so you'll be allowed to examine all the objects. Please don't handle them, they're all very delicate, and remember to tell me what you can about them so I can write it all down."

Aria snorted. "Any other commandments, your highness?"

The princess gave her a flat look. "Those are the rules. I didn't make them, I just expect you to follow them. You are my guests, after all; anything you do here reflects on me." She stopped and opened a door that looked identical to all the others they had passed. "Alright, here we are."

Sonata peered into the room. "Whoa. Lotsa old broken things... Hey, who's she?"

"What?" Twilight followed her gaze to a pony quietly perusing the tables. "Oh. That's one of AJ's old friends, she used to be a singer but she and her manager had a... falling out. I'm letting her stay in the palace while she finds a new one." She tilted her head. "I don't know what she's doing here, though..." She turned to the three with an apologetic roll of her eyes. "I have to go tell her the rules too. You just... start looking around, I guess."

She trotted toward the blue mare, shaking her head and leaving the three guests to their own devices.

Aria gave Adagio a sideways glance. "Well. We're back. Never thought we'd get here this way, but here we are. Now what?"

"...you remember the map shell?"

"The purple-orange one?" Sonata nodded. "You left it with that, uh, one kid. Darnit, I can't even remember her name..."

"Doesn't really matter. Spread out, look for anything that mentions it. We find the shell..."

Her breath hitched just for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed.

"...we find the seaponies."

"YOU! WAVETOSSED! IDIOT!"

Adagio dragged her strange new spiderhooves down the smooth stone surface, clawing at it in an ineffectual rage.

"WE WERE SAVING THE CARAVAN FROM THAT GIANT LAND OTTERRAY! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW WE WERE DOING IT! AND IT'S NOT DARK MAGIC, IT'S KIND OF A REDDISH GLOWING THING!"

Aria looked up from the rock she sat on. "You know he can't hear you, right?" She shivered at a passing breeze, clutching the strange brown fabric of her dress around her back leg-bends.

"AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DESCEND FROM YOUR HIGH AND MIGHTY MOUNTAIN AND JUDGE US?! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE?! YOU'RE SOME STUCK UP SORCERER WEARING BELLS JUST TO DEAFEN HIS OWN THOUGHTS!"

Sonata looked up as the gray sky rumbled, pushing her own strange new phalanges together. She put them down atop her back legs, looking at her leader with a sigh. "...I wish I knew what to say..."

"YOUR FACE HAIR WAS AWFUL! AND YOUR SILLY LITTLE CAPE WAS AWFUL! AND YOUR STUPID PONY MAGIC WAS JUST... JUST... just...."

Adagio stopped her ranting and clawing, just leaning into the stone with a heaving chest. The glow from the gem she wore slowly started to fade; she slumped, drained, and let herself slide to the ground.

"...my eyes." She brought a spiderhoof up to her face. "My vision's going blurry... oh hippocampus. My eyes, they're--they're spilling water!"

"It's called fletu," Sonata explained distantly. "That's what the drylanders call it, it happens when they're... sad."

"We're not drylanders," Aria pointed out. She looked down at herself. "I don't know what we are. I don't know if there's even anything like us back... home..."

The water dripped off Adagio's face, and she scrabbled at the dirt in a desperate attempt to retrieve it. "No. No, don't... I can't... I can't stop, I can't stop, the water, the water..."

Aria sighed, gently pushing herself off the rock and falling to the grass. She crawled over to Adagio, using her spider hooves to wave Sonata over before wrapping them around her sister-of-war. It wasn't long before the other siren joined in the clumsy hug.

"The water," Adagio repeated, her strange phalanges clenching. "We... we're out of the water. Oh hippocampus. Oh waves." She bowed her head, a shuddering breath escaping. "We're out of the water. I'm leaking water. Are... are we going to dry out?"

"...maybe." Sonata nuzzled closer. "But... If I had to dry out with anyone, I'm glad that it was to be you two."

"Yeah, what she said. We did what we could, Adagio." Aria rested her chin on her shoulder. "Antiphon... Antiphon would be proud."

Slowly, Adagio rose her spiderhooves to the others'. "...It's... it's been an honor girls. No matter what happens, no matter.... what ends up taking us down... I just want you to know--"

The sky rumbled again... and an odd sound began to surround them, as though a thousand pebbles were hitting a thousand others. For a moment, that was certainly what they believed; they could feel the tiny impacts on their long, flowing headmanes.

Aria held a spiderhoof out cautiously. Her eyes widened. "...It's... it's water. It's water from the sky! I thought only pegasi could do that!"

"Where there is water..." Sonata mimicked her, a small grin on her face. "There will be waves. Waves are with us. They're still with us!"

Adagio's vision finally cleared. She looked at the moisture pooling in her companion's new appendages. She looked down at the steadily wetting rocks. And she held her own spiderhooves up, for a moment.

"...girls."

Aria and Sonata focused on her.

"...I don't know what we are," she began. "Or where. I... I don't know what we're going to face in this... place."

A grim smile grew on her face. She reached up, carefully grasping the gem on her neck with two of her new phalanges.

"But... we've still got a few stunts on our fins. We've got some magic, even if it isn't a lot. And more than that, we've got each other. And we've faced a lot worse together." She looked at Aria, then Sonata. "This isn't the end. We might have been tossed out of our world, but we're not going to stay out. We're going to find a way back. We're going to find the seaponies again. And... we're going to make absolutely sure they're safe. Because we're sirens, and that means we'll do anything to get what we want."

She narrowed her eyes. "So, are you ready to seriously screw up some pony's stupid little spell?"

Aria snorted, but she couldn't stop a small smirk from growing. "Whatever you say... captain."

"YEAH!" Sonata cheered. "SIRENS FOREVER!" She giggled, pulling her wet headmane out of her eyes.

Adagio chuckled, shaking her head. Then she turned back to the stone surface. "No matter how long it takes... the waves will always be with us."

The three mares sat around the golden table, picking at the waffles in front of them.

"...It could have just... you know, disintegrated," Sonata offered. "It was only a seashell, after all. This stuff happens."

"Or maybe they lost track of the thing," Aria added. "Or maybe they didn't really consider it important to remember."

Adagio let out a long, slow breath. "It wasn't just the seashell. There's... there's art of seaponies coming up to shore, but not out of the water. There's no real image of us, of sirens. I would have thought, maybe one of them left a record of the caravan, or... something."

"Well, we were in a pretty big hurry," Sonata pointed out. "Maybe they just forgot."

Aria frowned. "...that's... something, actually. I didn't want to mention it, but some of the scratches on those things..."

Her eyes moved toward the scar on Adagio's flank.

"...they looked kind of familiar."

Sonata flinched. "Yeah... it's possible that the Charp could have survived on land long enough to, uh, chase the ponies out."

"What if's and maybe's." Adagio slid her fork down. "Possibly's and might have beens. Coulda shoulda woulda--I wanted something concrete! But look at where we are. No clues, no hints, nothing. We're just..."

She slumped into her seat,

"We're lost. Completely... lost."

The other two looked at her, then at each other. Aria rose an eyebrow, flicking her head toward the yellow pony; Sonata shook her head, shrugging helplessly. Aria rolled her eyes and gave her a pointed look. Sonata lowered her head, letting out a breath as she looked softly up.

"Hmmm hm-hmm, hmmm-hmmm hm-hmm..."

All three of them perked their ears at the sound. All three of them shared a look of pure shock. All three of them turned to the door, watching the mare Sonata had pointed out enter carrying a plate of crackers.

"Hmmm hmhm hmm hmmhmhmmm, hmmm hmmmm hm hmmhmmm... hm hmmmm hmm hm hmmm, hmhmmm, hmmmhmm hmmhmm hm-hm-hm--Oh!"

The mare shook herself out of a daze, giving them a small smile. "You're Twilight's, uh, study guests right? I saw you earlier. I just came in here to... well." She gestured at the plate, sitting down at an unused chair. "You don't mind, do you?"

"...No." Adagio shook her head. "Not at all."

"Thank you. Sorry about poking around that room with the things, I was... well, I've kind of hit a dead spot in my agent search, so I just wanted to poke around."

"Twilight mentioned you were a singer," Adagio agreed politely. "Would we have heard of you?"

"Well, I was the top on the charts, before I kicked Svengallop." She rubbed at her mane. "But of course, then I was wearing a ridiculous amount of makeup, I probably look completely different... I'm Coloratura. Well, Rara to my friends."

"Coloratura?" Sonata perked up. "I had a sister-in-law named Coloratura... once." She sagged into her chair. "But that was very long ago."

Coloratura looked at her warily. "...um. Okay?"

Aria cleared her throat. "Yeah, Sonata can get emotional sometimes. Don't worry about it. What I want to know is where did you hear the seapony anthem?"

"What? Oh, that tune I was humming when I came in?" The mare shrugged. "It's just something people from my town would sing. I mean, I've never heard it called the seapony anthem, just the seapony song."

"Really?" Adagio pressed. "Do tell."

"It's kind of a silly thing. 'Call upon the seaponies when you're in distress, if you're e'er in need ponies simply signal S.O.S...." She rolled a hoof. "Kinda grew out of a local legend. See, my town is by a lake, and apparently there are seaponies living there or something. Shoo be doo, right?"

"Shoo shoo be doo," Adagio replied.

Coloratura blinked. "Yeah, that's... that's the first verse. I never understood that, I mean the rest of the song is in Equestrian, what's with the random words at the front?"

"It's... from an older language," Adagio explained. "'Shoo be doo, shoo shoo be doo.' Oh deep heart, oh deepest of hearts. At least, that's the literal translation, but it kind of loses a lot of its meaning."

The mare peered at her. "...how do you know that?"

Adagio grinned. "Let's just say... I know a lot about seaponies."