Shackles Unseen

Chapters

I - Bitter Draught
II - Hot Coffee
III - Homeward Bound

I - Bitter Draught

As Adagio Dazzle burned eternally in the light of her failures, she wondered if life would ever deal her and her sister-sirens a fair hand, and then laughed bitterly. It came out a strangled cry.

It's easy to paint failure as a natural part of life when you're not burning alive. When you're burning alive, it's far easier just to take the pill and beg for a merciful end.

Though Adagio Dazzle was never one to beg, or take the easy road for that matter.

As the sensation of what could only be described as having one's skin peeled off with a salted red-hot butter knife tore across every nerve in her body, Adagio's naturally stubborn mind refused to accept the screaming passing through her ears as a reality. Her little troupe was much too proud to scream, and on top of that, screaming was a reaction to pain, which in turn was a variable of defeat or weakness. The magic washing over her in a mighty, hot rush simply did not exist in Adagio's mind. It just wasn't possible, they did all the steps; they hooked their claws into that little school, consumed the Equestrian Magic within, beat those miserable Rainbooms back. Their reward?

Pain. Immeasurable, writhing, torturous pain. It just didn't make sense to Adagio. The plan was flawless. Her plan was flawless. This hurts too much to be real, she argued. It's just the Equestrian Magic settling in, that is all. For how could one react to such a pain without dying? Nothing but the white light engulfing her answered, in its own screeching voice.

Perhaps, Adagio mused, she was, in fact, dying, as the last minute that transpired came to her in fits and flashes: the sirens were all shrieking, a horrific trilogy of hellish wails that filled the blood-red skies of Canterlot City. The sound of their voices in unison mingled with the deep rumble of a bass, the smashing of drums, the crash of a tambourine and the joining of two powerful voices that made for a melodious and ethereal battle.

A battle of the bands, thought Adagio, as she felt the short-lived Equestrian Magic in her veins smolder and burn away like the bacteria infesting a broiling steak. The pain was pure agony, yet she refused to spare the primal sound ripping from her throat any thought. Rather, her memory hearkened back to the last words she remembered speaking before...before whatever is happening to her now happened:

“So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real battle of the bands?”

A challenge posed, she remembered, right down to that cocksure smile, a dare for those weak human girls to face off against a trio of juiced-up monsters ripped straight from their mythology books. Adagio, and her fellow sirens, she suspected, hardly saw this as a battle at all in truth, not even a scuffle. Yet it may as well have been the greatest battle this world had ever seen, considering the powers at play.

Equestrian Magic. The phrase seemed so enticing rolling off Adagio’s tongue amidst the weeks of planning after that fateful night in the cafe. Now it was the instrument of their downfall, a maelstrom of color and sound that enveloped and obliterated the sirens’ familiars like they were no more than glass, before continuing to hail down from the heavens unabated and consume their masters as well.

Unfortunately, the Dazzlings did not have the luxury of shattering. Sonata is screaming, I can hear it. Aria may be as well. But I’m not. I won’t. I’m stronger, I’m not weak.She ignored the raw tenderness blossoming in her beloved throat, her “weapon of war” as it were.

The light around them grew brighter, and it only became whiter and hotter and whiter and hotter until the whole of existence was nothing but. This must be what Tartarus feels like, an annoying voice rang in Adagio's mind. Perhaps I am already there. Then suddenly it ended, vanished, swept away and discharged through the air like the cloying victory the Dazzlings had tasted not a minute ago. Blackness dusted with silver took over the sky once more. The pain, the agony, it all parted with it, though the trauma, at least for Adagio, lingered on the surface of her mind. She permitted only a lone a shuddering gasp before steeling her heart and thrusting any lingering thoughts from moments ago into a dark corner in her mind. It's a good thing they didn't hear our screams, the annoying voice rang in Adagio's mind. In a brief lapse in sanity she wanted it purged, only to realize with acidic bitterness that it was her own.

The rest of the world made its worm-crawl back into reality, with Adagio finding herself and her cohorts on their knees, just barely obtaining support on trembling elbows. A surge of heat rose within Adagio's stomach, and for a glimmer of hope and, unbeknownst to herself, desperation, she thought her Equestrian Magic remained. Any notion that such a miracle occurred was expelled, among other things, when that same heat rose up her gullet and came spewing out her mouth. From there, the trio’s stomachs left them all at once and their dinner came surging back up.

None of the sirens, least of all Adagio, heard the triumphant hurrahs the student body were shouting to the Rainbooms as they stepped down the hill and weaved through the crowd, nor could they make out the crude comments and jeers pelted at the girls already beaten to the ground and forced to their hands and knees. Perhaps no words were necessary; they all meant the same in the end:

We bet our entire plan on Sunset Shimmer’s insecurity. We failed.

It was as simple to comprehend as it could be, but Adagio Dazzle considered herself too proud to even consider admitting that aloud. Sunset should have fallen after what we said to her. When an epiphany hit Adagio in that moment, a cold and mocking realization that the sun always rises after it sets, her very core seemed to be set ablaze. Moments later, that fire turned out to be a round of dry heaving, forcing her to topple over on her side and moan pathetically as she clutched her belly.

Oh how the mighty have fallen, she mused venomously.

It took a few moments for Adagio to find her strength again, at least enough to merely crack her eyes open. Her sight of the roaring student body was partially obscured by a pair of black leather boots with violet toes. Immediately she felt a rage swell in her breast, and, fighting against the burn in her stomach, the Dazzling leader unceremoniously leapt to her feet, wobbling back a little from sudden lightheadedness but regaining her footing without embarrassing herself further. She wiped her arm across her mouth. “Get up, girls,” she commanded, trying to muster an imposing tone but it came off slurred and feeble.

So very feeble. “Get up, you fools!” she repeated, loudly and, unintentionally, desperate.

Despite her words, Sonata was done, beaten; she just curled up on the ground, hands moving to cover her ears as that poxy-faced Applejack and thrice-damned Twilight Sparkle knelt over her. Adagio couldn’t see beyond the backs of their heads.

Always the fighter, Aria gnashed her teeth together and forced herself to one knee, but collapsed into the same pathetic submission as her cohort. Adagio rolled her eyes; they felt like bowling balls in her skull. Weaklings! she thought sourly.

“I’m not beaten yet,” Adagio snarled, shifting her weight to her other foot. She opened her mouth to sing, hand clutching the pendant pulsing at her throat. “Aaaah, aaaah! Aaaah, aaa—”

A fist connected with her jaw, so fiercely it struck that Adagio’s head almost twisted around before she fell to her back. For the longest time she heard only an incessant ringing in her ears, but it gradually cleared up to the sound of those Rainboom girls talking.

“...want to know, was that really necessary?” asked the posh-sounding voice of Rarity, their keytarist.

“Well, she started singing!” Shimmer. She sounded quite defensive. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Well, can’t say Ah really blame ya,” said a third voice. “Who knows what they’re still capable of?”

The sound of footsteps rumbled through the wood, an earthquake in Adagio’s ear, and stopped at the back of her head. “I don’t think they can do anything for a while.”Sparkle… “But we should still exercise caution. Here, can you help me out girls? Rarity, Applejack, grab her by the ankles and under her arms. Rainbow and Pinkie, get the other. Sunset, help me with this one. And try not to drop them! We don’t need them hurting anymore than they already are.”

Adagio felt a pair of delicate hands grope her under her arms and lift, then another pair wrap firmly around her bared calves. She dreamed she was flying again before darkness took her.

She dreamed of a sky drenched in blood and the smells of aged wine and silk and sex. Scores of men and women alike were groaning all around with as much vigor as one whose mind is so simple. The droning would be occasionally pierced by someone crying out her name, thick with tears and reverence.

“We will be adored,” the song echoed in the mind of Adagio Dazzle. We are adored, now. But she looked to her left, then her right. Where is Aria and Sonata? she wondered. Where were her two companions and why weren’t they basking in the plunder of their victory? Adagio would have called out their names, but when she tried to speak a broken sound escaped her throat.

Adagio blinked her eyes once, and true to that overused saying her vast crimson sky was replaced with a dark wooden one. Instead of millions filling her world, she heard only two: at her left, the quiet little snores of Sonata Dusk, and her right, the slow and measured breaths of Aria Blaze. All at once the events over the past twenty-four hours, from the pomp she boasted upon arriving at Canterlot High, to her losing her dinner before the entire student body, flooded her thoughts, and realization dawned on her:

They lost their one chance to restore their ancient Equestrian Magic. And worse yet, they’ve been found out. A thousand years of hiding and Equestria has found them.

When Adagio blinked, she felt tears batted away. Was I crying just then? Pain gripped her by the heart, pain borne of a genuine ache and the reality of her failure beginning to weigh. I must not let them see, Aria and Sonata. I am their leader, the Magnificent and Powerful Adagio Dazzle. If this is to be our final resting place… no I won’t let it be.

When she tried to move, Adagio found her limbs uncooperative. She was slow to register the feeling of two hands laying upon her arm. Nearby she started hearing voices, and she sensed something cold and nourishing put to her lips. Whatever it was tasted like nothing, but it was enough to satisfy an emptiness in her gut she never realized she had. Too feeble to speak, Adagio allowed her arm to relax and she shut her eyes. The last thing she remembered seeing was red and yellow striped hair accompanied by a smiling orange face. She wondered if that was her mother, and continued to listen to the voices out of her sight prattle on in hushed whispers. After a time her world darkened and became red once more.

Everything was black when Adagio opened her eyes again. Immediately she fell into a panic, her breath quickening and her hands grabbing at whatever they could find. They only found a velvety softness that was draped over her legs, a blanket it would seem. Is this the Afterlife? she wondered, recalling her hearing about how death was like a warm blanket that engulfs you forever. It was meant to sound comforting, but Adagio always found it to be a truly horrifying fate. She was of the ocean, and she belonged underneath the bed of sand that she and her sisters in all but blood once ruled over.

The world returned to her in small increments, and slowly the vague outlines of two familiar persons huddled up beside her came into clarity. They were all sharing an actual blanket, violet colored, her favorite, and was large enough to cover the three of them. She drew small comfort in that, being beside her companions and, supposedly, alive and well. A coldness swiftly blossomed in her chest at the realization that they were alive and well, and in someplace totally unfamiliar. She scanned the area, the outlines of a simple pair of chestnut bedposts in her sights first. Beyond that, not much else; the drapes, a similar violet as their comforter, were drawn closed, barely shielding the room from completely filling with sunlight, and adjacent to that, beside the door, was a simple wooden bureau.

With only escape running through her mind Adagio moved her elbows beneath her, pushing them against the yielding softness of the bedding. She barely rose half a foot before collapsing into the mattress. Adagio puffed and sweat, and her arms felt enormous, too heavy to even move again.

How did we get here? Adagio felt her temples begin to pinch; if there was one thing she could never stand, it was not being ahead of her enemies. What happened at the finals? She tried to remember, to recall everything that happened after that Rainbow girl’s fake and self-congratulating performance.

Her memories came in stuttering flashes: the Rainbooms transforming, the "real" Battle of the Bands, Sunset Shimmer...

Horror. Adagio remembered the clouds parting, the furious white eyes, and the pain that followed. Oh, Gods, the pain…

Fear swept over her in a sweltering rush; beneath the sheets she could feel sweat trickling down her legs. I am Adagio. I am Adagio Dazzle, Magnificent and Powerful. I don’t cry and I don’t scream and I will never let anywhere become my resting place. Adagio would have cried out, if she still had her voice. No one came to help her that time, to put something cold and nourishing to her lips again. No one came to comfort her. No one ever did, not when she could say otherwise; she would not allow it. To be a leader, to be Adagio, is to appear strong and fearless for those who followed her, never the other way around.

Alone in the dimness, Adagio drifted back into sleep. Her senses remained just long enough to detect an arm wrapping comfortingly around her. She allowed it, too tired and weak and afraid to care.

Adagio dreamed again, this time not of her utopia but of that one Rainboom, Fluttershy was her name, standing over her and gently sliding a spoon past her lips. At least, she assumed that was a dream, for why would the Rainbooms help them? The idea became less likely as other girls came and went between periods of darkness. They would put more spoons in her mouth, in her teammates’ mouths, slide a fresh pillow underneath her head to replace the old one. One time she swore she could see Princess Twilight Sparkle from the corner of her eye, legs folded as she sat on a stool and wrote in a journal of some kind. Sometimes she would hear them talk to one another, the Rainbooms. She could never make out what they said, it was always in a hushed whisper.

Though from the urgency in their whispers, it would seem like they were always in constant argument. Presumably about the Dazzlings, since heated discussions always occurred in their presence. They’re trying to figure out what to do with us, Adagio decided. That's why they're keeping us close by, and alive. They want to do something with us. It pleased her to have at least figured that one out; her critical thinking skills were, however slowly, coming back to her.

This was great, all things considered. Given the situation, they might be all Adagio has left.

She spent her last moments of consciousness wondering why the Rainbooms had not tried removing her pendant, as she fell asleep massaging the cold gemstone clenched in her fist. Maybe they hadn’t figured it out yet… she mused. Hoped.

She later woke to something blessedly familiar and torturously aggravating.

“Dagi, you awake? I’m so hungry.” Someone was jostling her by the shoulder. “Dagi,” the person whined.

“Stop,” Adagio croaked. It was an unexpected pleasure to hear her own voice again, hoarse as it may be. But her thoughts immediately turned to more pressing matters the first instance her wits allowed it. What's the hour? For how long was I asleep? The curtains closed prevented her from knowing that. The damnable weight of lethargy was still heavy on her fatigued mind and body.

Curse it all, why am I so weak?

The jostling of her shoulder grew slightly more vigorous. “Please don’t fall asleep, Dagi,” the voice whispered. It sounded urgent.

Another familiar voice joined hers, glum as ever. “Seriously Adagio, I can’t sit in this bed any more. I swear I’m just going to stab the next Rainboom that comes in here and break for it, with or without you.”

Adagio could not resist the smile that pulled at the corner of her mouth. “Enticing idea,” she mumbled. With that, she fought a vicious battle against her drowsiness and pushed herself back, sitting up against the pillow. A sickly wet-warmth stuck her clothing to her back. One of her hands moved to remedy her discomfort while she knuckled the sleep out of her eyes with the other. A sudden chill struck her as she did, and Adagio realized she was wearing a deep-purple tank top.

When her sight returned to her, Adagio found Aria and Sonata kneeling in front of her, wearing identical tops and matching sleep-shorts. The first thing that caught Adagio's ear was how clear and firm their voices were.

“How long have you two been awake?” she asked, voice still containing a bit of a rumble.

Aria jerked a thumb in the direction of her fellow siren. “Sonata’s been awake for about an hour. I’ve been up for a lot longer. I dunno how long, but at least when the sun was still up.” Aria then looked over her shoulder, at the door across from them; bright orange fingers were slipping through the crack at the bottom. She leaned in closer, and spoke in a low voice, “I pretend to sleep whenever those Rainbooms come in. Call me paranoid, but I don’t want them doing anything to me if they found out I was up, not until you guys were awake too.”

Adagio allowed herself an amused smile. “That was surprisingly patient of you, Aria,” she admitted. “I half-expected you to start throwing punches the moment you cracked an eye open.” Her approval was met with a dispassionate huff from Aria. Adagio swallowed a grunt; how could she, their leader, still be out cold long after her teammates had roused from their extended rest? “Even so,” she continued, “I would have appreciated it if you roused the two of us immediately.”

“I did,” Aria snapped, glowering. “You just kept falling back asleep.” Sonata nodded in verification as she hugged her knees tightly to her chest.

There was a long silence between the them, punctuated only by the eerie stillness of their current quarters. Adagio would have said something, but her brain was still trying to wake up. "So,” Sonata said, likely to break the awkwardness, “what do we do, now that we’re all up?”

“I say we pretend we’re still asleep,” suggested Aria. “The next time one of them gets close, we get the jump on her and book it while we have the chance.”

Adagio sighed; it was certainly an enticing idea, if one were as thick-skulled and narrow-minded as Aria. “A masterful escape plan,” she said mockingly, drawing a hair-trigger frown from the girl, “but we don't know where we are. Where are we to go if we find ourselves in, say, the dank slums of Canterlot City in just our nightwear? And let’s assume the Rainbooms are here, every single one. We can’t take them all on, and for all we know they could have done something to us to make us weak.”

Sonata nodded her head vigorously at that. “Yeah! I remember they were feeding me something funny whenever I woke up. It could, oh!” she gasped. “It could be poison!”

Aria scoffed at the idea, but Adagio did not allow herself to take the situation lightly. For all her ramblings, Sonata could be right about this. Better safe than sorry, as the old saying goes.

“What about singing?” Aria proposed. “We crank out a quick little number to get them bickering and slip out.” She eyed each of the girls’ pendants pulsing a ruddy glow against their busts, and the hint of a smirk appeared on her lips. “We could grab a quick meal as we leave, and jack their stuff too. One of them’s bound to have a car.”

A phantom pain shot through Adagio’s jaw; she recalled the “meal” she had received immediately following their defeat, one “knuckle sandwich” to be precise. That aside, Aria my dear you continue to assure me of your incompetence as a leader. “Our spell doesn’t work on them, darling,” she explained, slow and mockingly. Aria put on an irritated scowl; briefly Adagio pondered if it was directed at her, or the realization of her flawed plan. Knowing Aria, definitely the former.

“Besides,” she continued, “it wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do, to dive head-first into physical conflict after being bedridden for Gods know how long.”

Aria pouted. "Then what's your plan?"

Adagio pulled her feet in so she sat crisscross, one hand placed upon each knee. The air she breathed felt heavy in that moment, knowing her patience and nerves would rue the words about to come out of her mouth:

“The best course of action, girls, would be to buckle down for the time being, and comply with whatever the Rainbooms ask of us.”

Aria’s reaction was as predictable as the rising of the sun. “Are you kidding me?” Her mouth hung open in disbelief. “Those stupid human girls destroyed our first and only chance at finally restoring our old magic. They humiliated us in front of everyone! We’re now their prisoners, and you’re saying we should just go along with it?” She exhaled heavily out through her nose, akin to more of a bull than a teenage girl.

Adagio blinked slowly; this was par for the course with Aria, complaining and trying her damnedest to be a little rebel-genius despite never having a single strategic thought in her stupid thick skull.

But what Aria said next was something else entirely. “This is why I should be the leader,” she snarled. “You always let our enemies walk all over us, King Neptune, Starswirl, the Rainbooms, all of them. And the centuries have only made you softer, Adagio. If we followed my lead back at the school, we’d be queens of this stinking 'hole by now, and Equestria.” She straightened her back, suddenly appearing as the tallest of the three. “Maybe I should call the shots from now one, given your track record. What do you say, Sonata?”

Sonata wisely hid her face behind her knees and held her silence; she knew what was coming, as she shifted her eyes towards Adagio. The siren in question breathed in, then out. It was all she could do not to start hollering and scare the daylights out of every soul in the neighborhood. The blank look on her face betrayed not a single emotion as she leaned forward and said with frigid sweetness, “I would sooner let maggots feast upon my beautiful flesh before I even consider naming you leader of this team.”

Aria held her ground, rolling her eyes and trying to play it off with a simple hand wave. “And that lovely image was brought to you by Adagio Dazzle because...why exactly?”

The Dazzling pulled back. “‘Why’?” Adagio accepted long ago that she will never grasp the scope of Aria's ignorance, yet despite that she still could not help but be baffled. “Aria Blaze, you’re seriously asking ‘why’? Aria Blaze, always responding to everything in a violent knee-jerk reaction without ever grasping the larger picture at hand?" Behind a sullen look, the scolded siren ground her teeth together. "And even if you cleaned up your act, you’re still ill-tempered and possess too-large an assurance of intelligence you do not have.” She allowed her head to drop, to sigh aloud, before collecting herself again.

“There must have been some way that Equestrian Magic got into this world," she said in a low voice, "and word of mouth tells me that that purple Rainboom isn’t a local. There’ll be a way to get what we want, girls. There always has been. I’m not saying we have to play nice and make friends; we’ll just need to lay low and bide our time.”

“Like always?” chirped Sonata.

Adagio smirked. “Like always.” Her eyes darkened when they returned to Aria. “I will not hear another word about your ill-reasoned and childish fantasies of becoming the leader of this team. Are we clear?” The squeak of underused door hinges came from the other side of the room.

Sonata looked over her shoulder, though Aria continued to glare daggers at her leader. “Crystal.” Adagio decided to be generous and give her a month before they would find themselves having this same conversation again.

With that, she and Aria mimicked their teammate and directed their gazes towards the doorway. Sunset Shimmer of all people stood there, holding a jar of some orange goop in one hand and a metal spoon in the other. She looked like a deer in the headlights, especially with the orange dim of the hallway glowing around her. “Rarity?” she called out, never taking her eyes off the Dazzlings. “Start a coffee pot…"

II - Hot Coffee

"This place is a mansion!" Sonata breathed in wonder. Her eyes glittered, whizzing this way and that as she and her friends were herded down a long portrait and silver-spangled corridor.

Beside her, Aria grunted with her arms folded below her chest. "Not a mansion," she muttered, low enough for only Sonata to hear and not the three girls before or behind them. "'s just a big house. Don't be a dummy."

"Isn't that what a mansion is?" For some reason, only sullen footsteps acknowledged Sonata's musings. Annoyed, she glanced at Aria, and found the grumpy siren had one heck of a thousand-yard-stare trained on the back of Sunset Shimmer's head. The intensity of her gaze made Sonata think Aria was trying to shoot lasers from her eyes. We probably could if we still had that Equestrian Magic, she thought. Sonata suddenly felt hollow in the tummy, not in the sense that she was hungry but rather a cavernous sphere where her stomach would be. Thinking about their failure, and where they were now, gave Sonata that vacant discomfort, and she gently rubbed where it hurt. Stupid Rainbooms, she half-fumed, half-mourned. I wanted eye-lasers, and Equestrian Magic, too.

Though it was never hard to take Sonata's mind off things, something that was both a curse for her friends and an unsung blessing for herself. This time was no different, in spite of recent events, as Sonata's breath was taken away along with any mournful thoughts upon entering the kitchen. "Holy smokes, you could make, like, a gazillion meals in here!" she gushed in delight. A firm nudge in the ribs from Adagio silenced her, but Sonata was too swept up in her envy to take proper notice.

A marble countertop of grainy blacks and grays ran the perimeter, broken up by a gas stove oven across from one of two doorways, the one they had entered from. Smooth, dark oaken cabinets lined the wall, stopping at a great monster of a refrigerator, the fancy kind that had an ice dispenser on the door. A white crystal bowl hung from the center of the ceiling, where light beamed all around. When she passed by the tilt-and-turn window overlooking a stainless sink, Sonata was met with green pastures that rolled into the horizon. She briefly pictured herself running through it in her bare feet, but dark clouds overhead put a damper on such fantasies, and a reminder of where she was and who she was with tied them down.

Upon hearing her amazement, that pretty girl with the curled violet hair, Rarity, made a weird noise, almost like a wry laugh. "I suppose you could," she admitted, thoughtfully. "Though Daddy never cooked for more than four, us that is." She looked back at Sonata as they strolled through the kitchen, deep blue eyes glimmering with a hint of amusement. "'You never know,' was always his reasoning for making it this ridiculously, but may I say fabulously, extensive."

Her words were only a buzz in the siren's ears, bees underneath a sheet of cloth, as Sonata was quickly filled with the desire to own a kitchen of this magnitude. We'll have to charm a rich guy once we get out of here. Hopefully Adagio wants another place as ginormous as this! She passed a hopeful glance to her leader, who sent it back her way with a pair of sharp daggers. Sonata could only give a rueful grin, which allowed Adagio something else to roll her eyes about. They're gonna roll out of your head if you keep doing that! she wanted to sing, as old Typhon always teased. But looking at Adagio brought forth that cavernous space in her tummy again and sucked her words straight into the void.

She and her friends were seated in the far side of the kitchen, at a rather small wooden table that did not match the rest of the decor. Before long the Rainbooms were bustling about, some getting themselves fruit from the refrigerator and others fiddling with a coffee machine. The girls tried evoking a bit of small talk with the sirens, but none of them would say a word. At one point the colorful girl, Rainbow-something, approached the Dazzlings and offered them an orange or a suggestion of something else to eat. She was met with a cold stare from Aria, and a quiet waving off from Sonata, who eyed the orange suspiciously as Rainbow gestured it to Adagio.

Sonata could see the cold acidity in Adagio's eyes as they dragged from the offered fruit to the teenager's disinterested expression. “I do hope there is an end to this monotony," she complained, loud and rudely enough to reach over the idle conversations the others girls were engaged in, and getting them to stop what they were doing.

All eyes were on Adagio then, and her glare danced to each and every one of them before explaining. “We don't want to be here, and we don't want your company. If there is a point to all this, get to it now. Don’t fancy-up the inevitable with pleasantries.”

The sounds of the coffee pot gurgling permeated in the background; the Rainbooms all shifted their attention towards the purple one, Twilight, who regarded Adagio with brows pushed together and a quirk in her lip. As the silence persisted, a clenching in Sonata's belly tightened. "Dagi, just take the stupid orange!" she pleaded. But Adagio continued to glare, straight ahead.

Before much longer, Twilight finally collected her thoughts and found the soft, kindly voice to speak them. “We have no intention of wasting time, Miss,” she said; Adagio’s name was apparently a mystery to her. “Please, we’ll explain everything once you guys have something in your stomachs." She let out a soft giggle. "I know I’d feel the same if I’ve been living off just water and applesauce for the past couple of days.” Her ensuing laugh was light and childish. Sonata tittered herself, just to lighten her heart and some of the tension as well. The idea certainly sounded fun, at least to her; she liked food, it made her feel comfy and safe, two things she did not realize she so desperately wanted until that instant.

With nothing else in the world existing beyond what she felt inside, Sonata rose her hand much like a schoolchild would, and asked in as similar a fashion, "Can I have that orange, actually?"

The one who offered it previously, Rainbow, was in the middle of returning it to the fridge. Shrugging, she pitched it lightly at Sonata like a baseball, and the siren caught it with both hands and her bosom.

After the exchange Adagio slipped back into her silence, having an impassioned look the whole time while Aria remained her usual grim-faced self. Sonata tried her best to look as fearsome as she ate the orange. But every time a Rainboom would walk behind her Sonata’s tummy tightened into a knot, and the feeling betrayed her efforts. She sensed the tickle of sweat rolling over her temples and down her cheeks. Please don't rainbow-blast me again! That really, really hurt! Sonata never knew such a pain existed in the world, the pure agony of her muscles twisting and throbbing and writhing beneath her skin; Oh, was the last thing she remembered thinking, as the fury of the alicorn in the sky fell upon her and her friends. Thinking about it made Sonata's arms itch, and she picked at them absentmindedly beneath the table, all while keeping her eyes staring listlessly at the empty space before her, devoid of any Rainbooms.

She could not blame Aria for her hostility towards Adagio back at the bedroom; Sonata herself would not mind wandering the dangerous parts of Canterlot City in her jammies if it meant getting away from these girls. What were they going to do to her and her friends? Hundreds of possibilities ran through her mind, each worse than the last. The Dazzlings were the bad guys, she knew, and they were now at the complete mercy of the Rainbooms.

But they’re good guys too, she realized. So they won’t be that horrible to us, right? They have to be nice! Maybe they’ll let us go with a warning. The thought made a big smile explode across her face. It drew a sidelong glare from her two buds, forcing Sonata to retract her enthusiasm a bit, especially from Aria's "What the Hell are you grinning about?" look.

“So how long were we unconscious?" Adagio suddenly asked. "Must have been days ago.” She was looking at her nails.

Applejack sifted through a cabinet and handed off three plain mugs to Rarity. “Just two, barely,” she replied with enthusiasm. She seemed thankful for the break in silence as Sonata felt. “We had you gals moved underneath the stage when y’all were passed out, and then we carried ya back here, to Rarity’s place. Quite the haul, I'd say.” She lost herself in the memory for a brief spell before a devilish grin appeared. Sonata wondered if that meant something funny happened on their way here.

Rarity began pouring coffee into each mug. “It’s quite fortunate that my parents are gone this weekend to take my sister and her friends to a Sapphire Shores concert,” she said, grabbing a handful of sugarcubes from a black polyester jar. “Lord knows it would take quite a bit of explaining if they found us all filing in, carrying three unconscious girls into the guest bedroom.” Hearing that statement, Rainbow Dash clamped an open palm over her mouth and snickered into it. Rarity shot her a pointed look as she dropped a sugarcube into each mug. “There is no need to be so lewd, Rainbow Dash.”

That only seemed to bring a new wave of laughter upon Rainbow Dash, as her eyes nearly bulged out of her head before squeezing shut again, and more snickering was smothered by her hand. Sonata had no idea what was going on. When she looked to Adagio and Aria for a clue, they both had their eyes on the ceiling. Sonata followed their gaze, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Sillies, she thought.

Sunset Shimmer sauntered over with a mug of coffee in each hand. She set one down in front of Aria, then Sonata. Curious, the blue girl took a sniff. Her nose wrinkled. Smells like burnt water. Sonata hated coffee. She always preferred something yummy, like soda or grape juice.

Leaning over, she watched Aria pick hers up and stare at it just as Adagio was given her own. The purple siren put it to her lips and blew on it a little before taking a sip. Her lips moved like she was smacking them, but Sonata heard no noise. “This coffee sucks." The whole table jumped and thudded, easily drowning out Aria's "Ow, dammit!" hissed in that instant. Her face twisted into a cringe as both hands moved beneath the table.

Adagio must have kicked her in the shin, Sonata realized with a giggle. When she glanced over to the Rainbooms, they gave no indication that they heard her complaint, or even took notice of the scuffle that followed.

“I noticed you hadn't taken our pendants off," Adagio noted suddenly. She sounded polite, but Sonata knew she was just faking it. That’s why she usually did the talking in these kinds of things. “Tell me, do you trust us enough to allow such a thing?” she inquired, batting her eyes in that "I’m being sarcastic and condescending" way Sonata always liked.

“No,” Sunset Shimmer curtly replied. “We tried to, but the straps wouldn't break. We even resorted to using scissors, but whatever those straps are made of must be magic or something.”

Sonata felt her stomach turn at the mention of scissors and their being so close to her neck, but what Sunset said about the straps quelled the fear and caught her intrigue in an instant. “Wow, really?” she cooed, fingering her pendant. “I had no idea they were like that!”

Adagio subtly rubbed her chin. “My friend here is right. That is quite interesting.” For whatever reason, that drew some stares from Twilight and Sunset.

“Wait,” Sunset rose a brow, “you have been here a thousand years, and not once you tried taking your pendants off?”

Adagio lowered her eyelids. “Is that a serious question?” she dryly imposed. Even Sonata had to admit it was pretty silly of Sunset to ask. Why would they even try something like that? Adagio shook her head. "Tch. And you managed to beat us."

Sonata nodded in agreement, but stopped herself short out of a sudden fear gripping her - the glare of Sunset Shimmer could melt glaciers. "Yeah," she said, "we beat you. Which is why you're over there, and we're over here."

"Burned," Pinkie whispered. And Sonata had to agree; no one ever had the gall to talk to Dagi like that.

Aria suddenly shot forward. "It's not the same, you idiots just cheated!" she snapped. "We had everything, we were the ones planning. Then you went and just got lucky!" Her fist struck the table, jangling the mugs slightly. Adagio lifted her's just in time so it wouldn't spill, all with a bemused expression.

"You bet your ass we got lucky," Sunset replied coolly. "If it weren't for Spike or Vinyl, you'd be ruling the world right about now. Good thing they came along, right?"

Sonata could see the hate in Aria's eyes, the clenching of Adagio's jaw. Herself? She hoped no one noticed the blush on her cheeks.

With her own cup of coffee, Twilight pulled out a chair and joined the Dazzlings across the table. She smiled at them a kindly smile, fingers lacing around the steaming beverage. Everything about Princess Twilight was genuine, Sonata noticed, right down to that smile. There was nothing fake in the way she presented herself, which was a step up from what could be said about other humans Sonata had known over the centuries. Though Sonata never toted herself as some kind of a genius, she learned how to read people just by picking up subtle clues about how they held themselves. Twilight had an honest face, clean-cut hair, a humble posture with a fairly slim physique. She was also flat as a boy. A real good girl, Sonata observed. She caught herself staring, and quickly averted her gaze.

“I think some proper introductions are in order. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and the girl behind me is Sunset Shimmer.” The aforementioned teen was leaning against the counter with Rainbow and Applejack on either side. She did not smile like the princess, but she nodded her head towards them all the same.

Twilight continued, "As you probably know by now, we’re both from Equestria. The rest here are locals: Pinkie Pie, Rarity—”

“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy,” Adagio cut in. The seven girls looked to one another, somewhat taken aback by her bluntness. “I know who you are, we all do. We were busy the day prior to the Battle of the Bands, you see. We didn’t waste our time with sleepovers and pizza.” Sonata could feel the air in the room suddenly becoming heavy and uncomfortable between the Rainbooms, as they looked to one another with uncertain glances.

“How did they know that?” Fluttershy whispered. Adagio smirked, and her smirk made Sonata smirk too.

They’re totally afraid of us, she thought with glee. Maybe we'll be in control here after all!

Twilight Sparkle broke the tension with a light titter. She brought her mug up and blew in it a little before taking a quick sip. “Well,” she said, setting it back down, “you clearly know a lot about us, but I’m afraid we don’t know a thing about you! So...” Her smile was broad and toothy.

Adagio opened her mouth to speak, but Sonata was a lot faster. “How do you not know anything about us? We’re from Equestria and we sing songs to feed on negative energy!” How could they not know this by now?

Down the table, she heard Aria concur with a grunt. “And that’s all you need to know,” she added. There was an edge to her voice, moreso than usual.

Sonata leaned over, finding Aria with her arms folded tight across her chest and scowling. She grinned. “Well Ari, they obviously need to know more, but we’re not gonna tell them anything.” Sometimes Aria could be such a silly goose.

The siren rolled her eyes and focused her glare on something off to the side, away from Sonata. Uh-oh, I probably just said something dumb. Stupid, Sonata! Stupid!

She tensely waited for Adagio to sigh, to cup her forehead and tell the two of them to shut up. Instead, in the rare instance of surprising chatterbox-Sonata Dusk into silence, Adagio simply leaned back in her chair and kept her mouth shut behind a face of indifference.

Wow. I said something to the Rainbooms that didn't upset Dagi. Sonata felt a little flicker of pride flare in her chest. She returned her gaze to the seven gathered on the other side of the table, each displaying various looks of disappointment to their withholding of information. Her smile was wide and close-lipped. We’re not telling you bullies a thing.

“We aren’t going to force you to share with us anything you’re not comfortable with,” said Twilight Sparkle. Her voice was heavy with disappointment. “But we’d at least like to know your names.”

Sonata leaned over again. She looked to Adagio and Aria. Adagio looked to the two girls on either side of her, then leaned forward with her fingers laced in front of her. “Adagio Dazzle.”

She shot a glance at Sonata. “Oh! Um, Sonata. Dusk. Sonata Dusk.” Both she and Adagio set their sights on Aria, expectantly.

She was still glaring off to the side. “All of you can go to hell,” she snarled.

The table jumped and thudded once more, this time giving Twilight Sparkle a small start. “OW! Blaze, Aria Blaze!” Her face twisted into a cringe, and her hand moved down below the table.

Dagi must’ve kicked her in the shin again, Sonata realized. She giggled into her palm.

Adagio clasped her fingers around the rim of her own mug and tipped it towards her lips. She didn’t even blow on it. “So what’s next? Are we going to make friendship bracelets and sing about how great it is to be frivolous lickspittles?” Twilight Sparkle’s lips held parted, but no words came.

Applejack, whom was keeping to herself for most of the conversation, now stepped beside Twilight with a ferocious glint in her deep-green eyes. “Ya know, t’weren’t easy keepin’ y’all here. We coulda left ya fer the wolves. Instead, we gave ya food n’ drink, a warm bed and somethin’ comfortable to sleep in.” Sonata looked down at her purple tanktop; it was pretty comfy. “The least y’all could do is keep the rude comments to yerselves.”

“Oh dang,” muttered Aria. “We just got told. Like, thank you for having common courtesy, I guess.” The apple farmer turned red as her namesake.

Adagio gave an amused laugh. “Indeed. Now, if the wannabe cowgirl is done reminding us why we should be so grateful to be their prisoners…” her voice slowly began to rise, as her saccharine smile and pleasant voice dropped, “...I for one would like to know the point of all of this and why we’re still here!” The force of her fist slamming against the table sent their mugs quivering, and the contents inside to slosh about and dribble down their sides.

Fluttershy and Rarity reeled back at her sudden outburst, the others reacted with hostile glares, all except Twilight, who remained in place with her brows defiantly furrowed. Yet Sonata couldn’t help but gaze in wonder at how quickly one’s face like that loudmouth Applejack’s can go from looking like a ripe tomato to curdled milk with just a few words.

Such is the power of Adagio and her scariness, mused Sonata. Aria wishes she could be that scary. She’s not though, she’s just a dumb-butt.

“Well, if you want to just cut to the chase, I can oblige,” Twilight sighed, hands folding over the table. The Rainbooms slowly gathered around her. Seeing all of them looming behind their friend, looking like a mob or something, Sonata started getting that squeezy-feeling in her tummy again. Do they need to look so menacing? she complained in disquiet.

“I’ll be honest with you three: I had no idea what to do after the Battle of the Bands. Passed out, sick to your stomachs, and with an angry crowd at our backs? We had to act on the fly, and so we took you girls down below the stage while the faculty quelled the audience.”

“You were getting kinda crazy there, Twi,” quipped Rainbow, lightly cuffing her friend in the shoulder.

The princess blushed. “Hm, I suppose I did. But how couldn’t I? ‘Three evil creatures who may be older than Celestia,’ I thought. ‘How in the hoof am I supposed to handle this?’ And to add to this mountain of a problem, we noticed you girls still had your pendants, which Sunset Shimmer deduced as your source of power. You... know how hard we tried to remove them.” Hearing that, Sonata gently laid her hand against her throat, trying to imagine a pair of scissors and their cold, sharp metal sliding against her neck. A shiver went down her spine. She wondered if her friends were as frightened by the thought as she was.

No they aren’t, she quickly decided. Dagi and Ari are tough as nails. I should be too. Sonata clenched her jaw tight and tuned-in to Twilight Sparkle’s rambling.

“...amidst our debating, we finally agreed that we had no idea when you girls would wake up, or what you’d do when you did.” Twilight let that sink in for a moment. “So, with a small pool of options and an even smaller amount of time, we hastily carried you three into the car of our friend, Vinyl Scratch, and she drove us here. Since then, I’ve been writing with Princess Celestia after sending my assistant back to Equestria, to tell my friends at home everything that happened.”

Adagio objected with a chuckle. “Very sloppy, Princess. Not knowing how to dispose of your enemies? I do hope this isn’t a frequent problem when fending off the evils that threaten your home.”

To that, Twilight Sparkle let her head drop, and she sighed. She met their eyes again, this time with shame in her voice. “That may have seemed irresponsible of me, yes, and what I’m about to tell you even moreso. You see, back in Equestria I was recently crowned as the Princess of Friendship. Friendship Magic is... powerful, to put it mildly. It’s fueled by a sense of harmony that is, to my knowledge, only attainable by a special bond that multiple ponies share. Once, the only way to even control it was through the Elements of Harmony.”

“Wait, those are real?” Sonata gasped. “Like, really real? As in, that’s-how-the-two-sisters-really-defeated-Discord real? I thought that was just an old ponytale!”

Twilight smiled a little. “So did many others, myself once included. But they’re definitely real. I had to return them to their place of origin a while back, and not long after they granted my friends and I the ability to utilize Friendship Magic without them. That’s how we were able to defeat you."

Adagio leaned back into her chair, arms folded. “Wow,” she breathed in faux amazement. “That is quite the tale, Princess. But, ah, I fail to see the ‘irresponsible’ part in all of this.”

“I’ve told you of the power Friendship Magic contains. It’s powerful as it is unpredictable. For instance, it banished the evil and fear from Princess Luna’s heart, but then it goes to completely eradicate King Sombra, a unicorn whose dark powers fed off of the very fear his subjects had for him. How and why does it choose to do this to these ponies? It’s a question that’s always been on the back of my mind, and one I still don’t even have a hypothesis for.”

“Then there’s the pivotal moment in Equestria’s founding, in which Clover the Clever was able to repel a herd of windigos with the help of Private Pansy and Smart Cookie. This is the earliest known casting of Friendship Magic, and it was used to defeat creatures that fed off of hatred and strife. Much like you girls. And with you three... nothing. Why?”

Why? The room was quiet. Why? Why? Why? Even Sonata was at a loss on what to say; they were just sirens, that’s it. Nothing more to it, yet she pressed her temples and tried to think of some way they could be something more. This is so confusing. Why didn’t the Friendship Magic kill us or banish us or whatever? Why did we have to lose at all? Sonata wanted to leave. She had no desire to be here anymore, having this conversation with these people and their freaky big-scary-alicorn-god-summoning powers.

And yet here they were, sitting and talking and drinking yucky hot drinks from porcelain mugs like civilized human beings. There was a word Sonata knew that fit this insanity perfectly, it sounded kind of like iron even though it had nothing to do with the actual metal. Being evil involves none of this dumb stuff. Being evil is simple, and fun, and I like it for that.

Twilight’s voice broke the silence. “Regardless, now isn’t the time or place to question such things. Whatever the reason, we were able to expunge the Equestrian Magic you three had absorbed, but it did nothing to quell the immediate threat you impose on the people around you.”

“I don’t suppose we can just pinkie promise that we won’t do bad things ever again,” Adagio said lightly, waggling her pinkie finger.

Twilight shook her head. “No, we can’t let you do that. I leave you three here, and nothing would stop you girls from fleeing this city and continue to ruin other people’s lives in some far away corner of this world.”

“I dunno, Twilight.” Pinkie Pie craned her head over the princess’s shoulder, eyeing the Dazzlings across the table. “Adagio did say she could Pinkie Promise, and nobody ever breaks a Pinkie Promise…”

“Not if you do this!” said Sonata, holding up two fingers twisted around one another.

“Oh, shoot! You're right!” the pink girl gasped.

To that, Adagio cupped her forehead. “Can we please get to the climax of this song already?”

“Very well," Twilight sighed, her voice suddenly gravely tired. The princess took a long, noisy sip from her coffee, then set it back down. She laced her fingers in front of her face, much like Adagio. “As I’ve said, Princess Celestia and I have been sending messages back and forth for, I dunno how long, two days? A day and a half? We've debated over what to do with you three, and tried deciding the safest course of action. We felt that Tartarus would be too extreme, not without allowing you girls a second chance to try and learn the Magic of Friendship.”

“Barf.” Aria. Both Adagio and Sonata snickered into their hands. The Rainbooms looked less than pleased, especially Twilight. Even saints have a last nerve, Sonata recalled a saying from Typhon.

“As I was saying," Twilight continued with a bit of a sharper edge to her voice, "the princesses and I agreed that teaching you girls the Magic of Friendship would be the ideal solution. If we could get Chaos Incarnate to see the value in such a thing, then I think you three can change too.” She smiled thinly.

The three sirens each took turns rolling their eyes, but that only seemed to strengthen the Friendship Princess’s optimism and boost the width of her smile, as if she had been down this road before. Sonata herself felt yucky inside, visualizing it all in her mind. My girls and I, being nice and having tea parties? Her mind flashed over to the Battle of the Bands, and their Siren Familiars circling around the Rainbooms, huge and powerful and deadly. Are they seriously imagining us, the really-real us, flying around and helping ponies? When they know how powerful we can get and how much we enjoy it? Besides, Sonata always preferred the mind controlled masses screaming her name over the non-controlled ones. They were less... judgemental.

“You honestly think you can change us with friendship,” Adagio mused aloud. “Your confidence is admirable, Princess. There’s no denying that, and it’s something I can personally respect. But you can’t tempt a man with food if he just ate, if you catch my drift.” With that, Adagio limply gestured a hand to the girls on either side of her. Sonata grinned at the princess.

“I know what you mean. That was the first thing on my mind when the idea was initially pitched,” said Twilight. “But we believe that befriending a nicer crowd and learning humility will be quite beneficial.” The princess smiled all smug-like. Sonata wanted to take a cheese grater to her face. She basically just called us bitches. Bitches that should be friends with "better people."

Suddenly, Sunset Shimmer stepped forward with one hand leaning against the table and the other on her hip. “Look,” she began softly, “you girls once said you knew all about me. Then that must mean you’re aware of how much better it is to be loved, genuinely loved, by people who actually care about you.” The she-demon smiled when Rarity put a hand over hers, and Rainbow Dash gave a hearty pat on the back.

Sonata folded her arms, and regarded the display with a small frown. Why do they think we care about how real it is? In her mind, a whole nation of brainwashed subservients not only had more appeal, but also a lasting guarantee that the “genuine” love of seven fickle friends did not. Besides, what's the point of getting close to anybody if you were going to outlive them all? I don't need anybody else! I got my forever buds right here...

“I can personally attest to how appealing the prospect of ultimate power is,” Sunset went on. “It feels good, it’s easy and worth the effort in the long run. And friendship? I won’t sugarcoat it: friendship is hard. But you just have to take my word for it and look right in front of you to see how much better it is. We know you girls are already friends—”

“At least, we hope so!” Pinkie Pie cut in. “I mean, how can three people who hate their roomies live together for a thousand years?” There was some truth to that, Sonata knew. Sure, she and Aria may get into small quarrels, Adagio sometimes grew sick of their constant bickering, and more than once arguments between the three of them would get physical. But we’re still besties forever! Sonata thought with glee. Emphasis on the ‘forever’!

“It seemed like we had a plan,” Twilight resumed. Her face suddenly turned disdained. “Until I realized… what would happen if you three were all in Equestria? At the same time? Surrounded by Equestrian Magic? We were nearly beaten when you girls had consumed just mere scraps of of that power. What would you be with even more? Who would stop you? Both Princesses Celestia and Luna said having you three there at the same time would be a great risk…”

Sonata heard a sharp breath to her right. From the corner of her eye she saw Adagio’s gaze flare into a burning one. “I’d choose your next words carefully, little ponies,” she warned. Her eyes raked across the room. “I am not liking where this conversation is going.”

"What?" Sonata asked. "What are they suggesting?" Not a voice spoke up, making Sonata's worry grow.

Princess Twilight looked upon them one last time before squeezing her eyes shut; when they opened again, they shone with nothing but pity, but her voice was, for the first time that night, firm like that of a princess. “We have decided that it would be safer for everypony if one of you returned with me to Equestria, to live in Canterlot Castle, where you will learn the Magic of Friendship.”

A nuke could have detonated in that instant and none of the Dazzlings would be roused. Twilight’s words remained unanswered for a long time. Sonata saw Adagio from the corner of her eye completely motionless, her face nigh unreadable, save for the subtle way her jaw clenched. She’s pissed, Sonata realized. She herself felt all yellow and green inside, like her innards were rotting away. We’re gonna be split up? For...how long? Sonata could scarce hear her own breathing. They were together for...for she did not even know how long; the very notion of such an idea seemed like a big joke. But jokes invoke laughter, and that was entirely nonexistent.

She wondered how Aria felt. When she looked over, her friend seemed bored as ever, sipping her nasty coffee sharply with one arm slung lazily across her chest. It was the only sound in the room. “Just one of you has to come,” Twilight reminded them, like that would make the blow any softer. “I promise, it’s only temporary. I think if you girls really make the effort to change, you’ll see each other again in no time! Meanwhile, the other two will stay here, and with that we think both worlds’ safety will be assured if we split you guys up.” A sudden sound from her right gave Sonata a start; Adagio was inhaling.

"Dagi?"

Adagio Dazzle's eyes flashed open, burning quietly, as beautiful as they were terrifying. “A hostage,” she declared in an icy, flat, deadened tone. Then she leaned forward. “Not on my life.”

The quiet that followed was more threatening than Aria’s brutish malevolence, or Applejack’s angry southern drawl.

Her words lingered in the air, heavy, bloody, poisoned. The Rainbooms all exchanged a look, unease evident in their faces; they knew Adagio spoke the truth, she always does, but Sonata could not understand what she was trying to say this time.

“Dagi,” she began gently, “I don’t think the Rainbooms are gonna chain us up in a dungeon or anything. They’re just going to take care of one of us until…” Until we change, she suddenly realized.

Adagio never tore her gaze away from Princess Twilight when Sonata spoke to her. “Maybe not,” she said. “But the chain is there all the same. And if the two left behind so much as breathe in the wrong direction...then they’ll kill the hostage.”

Sonata covered her mouth. She looked Twilight Sparkle in the eye, hoping to see something beyond the shock that still clouded her expression. "What if we can't? What if we can't change?" The siren covered her mouth again, fearing she'd cry out further. Sonata didn't care, she's not strong. She's scared of all this, of being split up, of changing for these weird ponies. Couldn't they just go back in time? Couldn't they be banished somewhere else!?

The Rainbooms’ eyes widened in surprise to their assertions, and Adagio immediately lashed out before any of them could try and possibly object. “I know what this is, don’t pretend to be all shocked, unless Princess Twilight lied to you wretches. Griffon kings did it all the time in our day: they’d take a child of their lesser lords to assure loyalty. If they acted up, the hostage was killed. That’s exactly what they’re trying to do now. You groveling wretches, you think you have the power, the right, to threaten us?”

Twilight Sparkle tried forcing herself to speak. “That’s, That’s not what I—”

“Then what?” Adagio slammed both fists against the table. Sonata shrank into her chair; she had not seen her this angry in a long time. “Tell me! Educate me, you damned upstart!”

Then Twilight Sparkle, who moments ago looked ready to break out into sweats, placed a hand to her chest and breathed deep. When she spoke, she sounded calm and collected as before. “We aren’t barbarians,” she said gently. “We would never think of executing anypony, for any reason. Tartarus, that is punishment for acting out of line.”

Sonata felt her heart rise in relief at this revelation, that is until Aria said, “Oh, okay. Instead of snipping our necks, we'd spend the rest of existence rotting away in the most miserable place in existence. And do you have the guts to do that, Princess of Friendship?” There was mockery evident in her tone, but Twilight showed no reaction to it.

“I don’t," she admitted. "But they do.”

Sonata blinked. “‘They’ who?”

“The Two Sisters, dummy,” answered Aria. All eyes were on her as she brought her mug to her lips and took a sip. “And you know what, I think it’s really nice of Sonata to volunteer going back to Equestria.”

“Hey!” she cried. “I can’t go, because Dagi already said she would, since she’s the leader and all.”

Adagio frowned. “You’re right, I’m the leader," she pointed out, a quiet burn edging her voice which was especially evident when she said, "and I say you two aren't taking this as seriously as you should be.”

“Quiet, please!” Twilight cut in. The sirens all looked to her. “The princesses and I have already decided who we’d begin reforming. Now if you’ll just listen…”

“And what’ll happen if we just run away?” Aria asked.

“Aria…” Adagio said in a warning tone, but Twilight spoke over her, “Now if you’ll just listen… I can explain why I’ve picked you to be first, Aria.”

Her face fell, as did the following silence.

Though there was no noise, Sonata could hear the hammering of her own heart. It took a moment to find her voice. “Ari?” she squeaked.

The purple siren brought her mug up to her face, and stared at it hard. She practically slammed the thing against her lips, getting most of it dribbling messily down the corners of her mouth, down her chin, neck, underneath her tank top. She smacked her lips a couple times. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “this coffee really friggin’ sucks.” Aria looked up, each of the Rainbooms’ eyes fixed on her, their bodies all tense with uncertainty. In one fluid motion she flung the black liquid in their direction.

Princess Twilight took most of the assault, her hands put to her wet, steaming face in the blink of an eye and a ragged cry echoing in her palms. Aria shot up with enough force to send her chair back, crashing into the wall behind her. Her pigtails whirled around as she turned for the doorway near Sonata.

But she never even passed Sonata. Before the girl could even understand what was happening she found Aria pinned beneath Adagio, one arm twisted behind her back. “What did I tell you!?” snarled Adagio, eyes alight with fury. “What did I say to you back in the bedroom!?”

III - Homeward Bound

Adagio stood leaning against the window of Rarity's guest bedroom, her gaze risen to the heavens veiled by a thick grey overcast that well-suited her mood. She inattentively massaged her forearm, where the towering human in gold plating had grabbed her. The siren still felt the leathery coarseness of his palm squeezed against her bare skin, and a chill shivered down her spine at the idea of it pressed against her throat.

Or Aria's.

That hotheaded idiot, Adagio thought. She briefly flitted her gaze across the guest bedroom, where Aria was pacing back and forth, her shoulders hunched, arms folded tight across her chest with fists clenching and unclenching, all without producing a sound save for the soft but urgent thumps of footfalls upon the pale-cream carpeting. She looked just about ready to punch somebody. Preferably not me, Adagio hoped, though she had no disillusions that that was exactly what Aria was thinking about, if the glares she sensed at her back were any indication. Adagio made the subconscious effort not to grant Aria the pleasure of being caught while threatening her leader with her eyes.

Let hot air be blown, if it will get her to cool down faster. Adagio had no longing of a one-sided stand off with the raging siren; her nerves were spent for the day, most of them on this horrid situation, the rest on said Dazzling. The slightest nudge may be enough to send her into a fury the whole house would hear. Although deep in her heart she knew it was inevitable, Adagio sought to avoid confrontation at least until Aria stamped her feet a couple times.

At her right flank, the gentle creek of the bed was the telltale sign that Sonata had sat down, who has yet to utter a sound since the news-bomb was dropped. One would expect her to be chattering nonstop of their predicament, maybe make some inane musing or escape plan that would lull Aria and Adagio into yet another one of their frequent disgruntled exasperations. Adagio repressed the urge to bark out in bitter laughter when she realized, if the warmth slowing her churning heart were any indication, that she would actually enjoy that. Anything that resembled familiarity would lighten their predicament. But Adagio knew better than to distract herself from more important matters at hand, and never lingered on such ignorant hopes.

Yet Sonata is unusually quiet, Aria is so pissed she hasn't even said anything yet, and I'm here just being... here. Adagio frowned, and slowly twisted her face into a silent snarl. One of you idiots, just do something already! Why do I have to be the one to do all the hard work!?

Now may be the time to break that streak, as part of Adagio wished, prayed even, that Sonata would open her blessedly stupid mouth and chirp out whatever pile-of-trash pondering that was racing through her mind.

Someone has to say something eventually, thought Adagio. I have no intention of spending the rest of our lives caught amidst a perpetual silence in the ugly little room of this ugly giant house, with its ugly, ugly people watching us like starved hounds as they wait at the door for the three of us to "talk it out."

But it would seem that for once the gravity of their situation penetrated that hunk of cement Sonata called a skull. Adagio assumed it was the shock of it all that still held her. We've been trying to get her to shut up for a thousand years and the key this whole time was to threaten us with a choice between eternal banishment or prison.

The irony almost gave way to a truly bitter laugh, but a lump in her throat caught it and she choked a little on the inhale. Adagio listlessly coughed into her fist. It was the first sound any of the sirens made, and Adagio could feel both her teammates' stares at her back as she stared out the window, arms folded tight against her slim bust.

The strain between the Dazzlings was palpable, or, as the humans were wont to call it, the "awkwardness." Adagio suspected, no, knew for a fact that her teammates were all waiting for someone to speak first as well, to make the first move that would knock over the first domino and send this fragile silence into an unstoppable collapse.

Then Sunset Shimmer would get what she wanted for certain.

"We'll give you girls time to talk it out," the girl had said, as two Royal Guards from Equestria led Adagio and Aria by their forearms.

'We'll let you talk it out,' psh! Adagio almost snorted aloud at the memory. Like I'm letting them to dictate our right to speak to one another in private. Those snivelling, grovelling…

"It could be worse."

Adagio inhaled silently, and held it. And held it. There was only silence, and then, "...Shut up, Sonata." Aria's voice came low, and threatening. "Just shut the hell up."

And here we go… Adagio kept her back on the two, feeling like she should step in but at the same time weighed by the desire not to do anything else. Her attention remained drawn on the grim-looking sky.

Maybe I just don't care about what happens anymore. A sudden burst of fire in her gut said otherwise. No, wait, I care, she quickly decided. I've just come to accept defeat like a beaten animal. She felt the black rot in her stomach worsen, and the squabbling at her back did it no favors.

"Do you have any idea what this will mean for us?" snarled Aria. "Our whole lives are now shot in the foot because of those stupid Rainblossoms and you don't even realize that! You... you're just the worst, okay? The absolute worst!"

"But I'm serious! Equestria is green and safe, you'd be able to swim in the ocean again, too! And it's not like we're actually gonna be thrown in a dungeon or anything. How can you not see that this could be totes worse?"

Still and silent, but listening, Adagio had no illusions that the ponies would let them anywhere near a body of water no bigger than a bathtub. But neither Sonata nor Aria needed to hear that, especially coming from her. She instead silently grit her teeth together, and lowered her forehead to the cool surface of the window. Its bite was sharp, and cold, but she did not wince, not even a little.

She could practically hear the hot steam pouring out from Aria's ears. "We're going to be theirs for the rest of our lives! Their prisoners, their property! We'll never obtain power again, we won't sing, we won't even be who we are anymore! Those stupid ponies, they think they're the good guys as they point a gun at our foot and tell us to rip our fangs out, making us into... into them." Her contempt was so blatant one might think they disgusted and horrified Aria more than anything in the known world could.

But Adagio knew Aria, even if the other siren would deny it to her grave, and she knew her old friend was feeling nothing short of absolute terror. Like the Yin to Sonata's Yang, Aria let herself be consumed by the things that terrified her the most out of all this: leaving her team, the unknown that lied beyond that portal, whatever the Fates had in store for their little troupe.

When she spoke again after a lingering quiet, her voice was a low snarl. "How could you give a damn about seeing the stupid ocean again with all of that?"

"Because it's our home, and it's pretty!" Sonata cried, even doing a little stamp of her foot. After that, quiet. Adagio could practically hear the simpler siren's face turn red amidst the pressing silence. "Well… Well you wouldn't be needing to be taught friendship if you weren't such a grumpy pants!"

"Hey!" There was a faint smack. "Don't push me, don't even touch me!"

Sonata huffed. "You're so angry and stupid right now, you're like a big purple ape!" She spoke like a child throwing insults at the schoolyard, though Adagio had little doubts about their effect on the already livid-beyond-measure Aria Blaze. "And do you really think Dagi doesn't have a plan right now? She's going to outsmart those girls and get us out of this jam like she always does!"

Adagio closed her eyes, groaning low enough for only herself to hear. Why bring me into this now, Sonata?

Aria scoffed. "Oh, yes, our incredible and crafty leader is going to hatch another amazing plan. Who knows? Maybe by the end of this one we'll get ourselves banished to a dark torture chamber! Can't wait to see how you'll look on the bright side of things as some psychopath runs a knife along your fingertips." Her words hit Adagio like a pillow to a brick wall; she felt absolutely nothing towards their slander, outside of an emptiness that was apparent before the argument even started.

But whatever sadistic amusement Aria likely held after that was whisked away when Sonata countered, "How will there be a bright side in a dark torture chamber?"

The sound of Aria smacking her own face cracked throughout the bedroom. She said nothing, though Adagio could practically hear the blood in her veins boiling.

Sonata, being herself, missed the hint to back off. "Didn't you hear me? I said—"

"Oh my God, just shut up!" Aria snapped, voice like a whip. "I swear, I actually want to go if it means getting away from you!"

"That's the spirit!" Sonata chirped.

"Why don't you just go fuck Twilight and all of her stupid friends if you love them so much?"

Sonata squeaked, but made not another sound. Though she was at her back, Adagio had a clear picture of Sonata with her mouth agape in complete shock as an angry flush scaled her neck. "Why are you so horrible and nasty all of a sudden!?" she cried out.

"Because I'm pissed! Why wouldn't I be, idiot?!" The harshness of Aria's voice actually made Adagio wince, and a sudden throbbing in the back of her head made itself aggravatingly known. "We probably would have won too," Aria took a deep breath, "if you didn't act like such a dense ditz in front of that Sunset girl, made it obvious we were up to something."

There was a tick in which everything stopped, followed up immediately by slow, measured footfalls upon the carpet. When they halted after just a couple, the whole world seemed to have froze with them. For a moment, Adagio only heard the thumping in her own head. Then Sonata purred with sweetened malice, "I'm gonna kill a Rainboom and get you sent to Tartarus."

"Not if I kill you first!"

This has gone on long enough. Adagio Dazzle's palm slammed against the wall loud as a thunderclap. "Both of you, shut up!" She whirled around. "There will be no more of this senseless infighting, do you hear me? We're in too dangerous a place to be bickering amongst ourselves now."

As per usual with scoldings, Sonata's eyes fell, her bare foot twisting into the rug as she tapped two fingers together, ashamed. Aria, however, defiantly folded her arms. "You should have let me rush out of there," she complained.

Adagio's face twisted into a snarl; it must have looked hideous without any makeup on and the gloom shining in around her. "And I told you, no! I knew, I knew that those girls out there wouldn't take any risks with us…!" Adagio stopped herself, to take a moment to breathe deep and calm her weary mind. Aria's an idiot if she thought the ponies were so foolish they didn't think we'd try an escape, Adagio thought, remembering the towers of armored ivory marching in through the front door at Princess Twilight's call, pikes in hand, faces locked in severity.

She returned Aria's gaze with chilly calm and a lifted chin, staring down the length of her nose. "I had my eye on you the whole time, you know. It's a good thing I stopped you, or you may have ended up with a spear in your belly. You should be thanking me." Aria gave thanks with a rude snort. Adagio frowned, her lips pursing. "It's just a shame I wasn't quick enough. You're lucky Princess Twilight's burns weren't grievous, or that she's so forgiving. So help me, if you had made our situation worse with that sad little revolution... "

All at once a scowl exploded across Aria's face as quickly as a flush crawled up her neck. "Oh, bravo! Bravo, our brilliant leader! The Rainbooms treated us like dogs and you treat me like one too. You're perfect for them, you know? You blame your failures on everything but yourself, just like they do!"

Adagio gasped. "You dare?"

"Oh, I dare, sister! I've actually got balls."

Any other day, and I would have beaten you senseless for that. "Well, maybe if you weren't so volatile and stupid, I wouldn't have to babysit you all the time!" Aria simply huffed and angrily glared off to the side, arms folded tight against her chest. The sound of her teeth grinding permeated amidst the quiet. Adagio narrowed her eyes. "They had Royal Guards brought in through the portal, waiting outside the front door!" she cried, exasperated. "Come on, Aria! For once, use your head!"

Aria's cheeks turned scarlet as if she had just been smacked. Verbally, I suppose, Adagio brooded. She was surprised in herself to find that, for whatever reason, she gained no enjoyment out of it.

Aria was quick enough to muster up a comeback with a red tint still evident on her cheeks. "I made a stand to show that we aren't weak," she coolly retorted, though the effort failed and she came off sounding much like she was trying to convince herself.

Adagio, at least in her mind, couldn't be blamed for responding the way she did. "Ah, yes, marvelous rebellion," she sneered. "It shall be known as, 'The Righteous Defiance of Aria Blaze.' They'll be speaking of it for hours to come."

"You should have let me go!" Aria insisted, her voice ringing in the emptiness of the bedroom. "There's no way, no way, that I'm playing buddy-buddy and bending my head to those pathetic little featherweights! Those same ones that got us trapped here in the first place, all because of your manure plans!"

You're really taxing my patience, you little monster. "And you'll continue to follow these 'manure plans' Aria. You are my teammate, my follower, and you will do as I say. You will be going to Equestria and doing whatever is necessary to bring us back home."

Perhaps the lack of insults caught Aria off guard; for a moment she could only stare, chewing on what was just said as if weighing whether or not she should feel insulted.

Then she said, "No." Aria shook her head. "No, there's no way I'm going to get all lovey-lovey with those ponies, Adagio. I just can't. I won't."

Though the defiant "teen rebel" in Aria's tone had faded to one of guarded desperation, Adagio still felt something begin to crawl and scrape its way through her skull the longer this debate went on. "I don't care if you have to marry one and shoot out a foal or two." Sonata winced to that, covering her mouth with both hands. Adagio's brow gave an involuntary twitch. "We are going to play along with the ponies' little games for as long as need be, and then we'll break the chain and strangle them with it when the time is right." Wait it out, like always.

When she focused on Aria, Adagio anticipated her to come to a crotchety understanding, as per usual. But she only looked to Adagio with disbelief, as if what Adagio had just said was utter heresy. "That's it?" She laughed once, bewildered. "This is your 'brilliant plan' that Sonata here thought you had? Stab them in the back? Two, no, three freaking princesses on their own turf? Wow. What is there to say? Did that alicorn fry your brain or something?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she countered with her usual panache, hand on her hip. "You think I'm some kind of super genius that could hatch an intricately detailed plan within a few minutes? I wish I could, but sadly, no, I cannot."

Aria shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'll just wait to see how spectacularly you fail this time."

Adagio purpled. She fought to restrain the rage in her tone, though failed miserably. "Friendship Magic, Aria. Friendship. Magic. How could anyone possibly account for a whole new school of powerful magic that hasn't been properly invented and honed until just a few months ago?"

A derisive laugh burst from Aria's lips. "No, how about this," she said, hands raised, fingers bent and pointed at Adagio, "instead of ignoring it as I keep bringing it up, how about you actually account for the fact that your blind lust has, once again, irrevocably screwed us over?" Her face erupted into a snarl between breaths. "How about you actually own up to your mistakes for once instead of blaming me like always?!"

Adagio felt all of that heat vent from her stomach and rush up to her face as she stood there, teeth grit so hard they should have cracked. "I," she stammered, tone rising, "I brought us closer to our old power than we ever had in the last thousand years!"

"And now we've fallen farther than Starswirl ever hoped we would, and it's all your fault!"

A crypt silence fell upon the Dazzlings.

Sonata sat on the bed, hugging her knees with eyes that penetrated her leader's steely gaze. They shimmered wetly, as if she finally comprehended the truth of their situation. Adagio wrenched her gaze away, unable to behold the pitiful sight any longer. Her own eyes fell on the dark shadow attached to her own feet, trembling feebly.

Utter silence is impossible to achieve, as the sound of one's heart beating would always intrude if nothing else.

But even that was still as the air in the room. Yet in Adagio's mind, the space normally occupied with plots and schemes and thoughts of the future were smothered by Aria's words playing over and over again, each repetition louder than the last. "It's all your fault!" she sneers with a grin. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Adagio thought of Aria standing in front of her, all smug with her arms crossed...

...because she knows she's right.

Adagio felt her mouth twist. If her throat hadn't closed on itself she would be screaming. You utter moron, Aria! I'm at fault!? You treacherous snake in the grass, our failure is on your head, not mine!

"It's all your fault."

I had the plan, me! You lacked the effort! And Sonata did, too! The both of you, you didn't take this seriously! You never take anything seriously! You never understand when stakes are higher than your delusional fantasies of leading this team. The more Adagio thought, the hotter a burning in her face grew, and the hotter it grew, the greater her rage flared, and it looped again to her quietly screaming at Aria, like one domino toppling over another.

How dare she, a voice seethed in Adagio's ear. Who gave you the gall to speak to me in such a way?

Adagio wanted to grab Aria by the straps of her top and slam an open palm across her cheeks, then do it again, and again and again till they burned hot as her namesake and the girl had tears streaming over them. She wanted to have her by the throat, face brought so close Aria would feel hot breath in her ear. You will do as I say, she wanted to growl through gritted teeth, or you'll fall even further than you have now, you little monster. She wanted to hear the girl whimper pathetically, and in turn feel satisfied and even gaining relief in putting her in her place.

Yet the fantasy playing out in her mind made Adagio feel no better. It, in fact, made her feel marginally terrible, like sludge suddenly emptied into her guts and was left to roil. Yet when she tried moving forward, to make that dream a reality, something petrified Adagio's legs and made them as much a part of the floor as the carpet squeezed between her toes. The cavernous void in her gut expanded in a heartbeat, filling her chest and hollowing it all at once, leaving her feeling more like a plastic doll than a real person; a plastic doll with a blank, stiff face and wide, unblinking eyes.

When she remembered she had to blink, her shadow on the ground was rendered an inky blurr. She blinked again, and finally the sounds of reality came roaring back: the low hum of the heater behind her ankles, the soft breaths of Sonata Dusk, her own heart, hammering faster than an overzealous smithy she had a fling with centuries ago.

Her breast felt devoid of oxygen, and Adagio released a breath in her lungs she had been holding since Aria said…

Since Aria said…

Adagio took a breath, to compress the phantom mass inside that burdened her chest and prevented her from swallowing a bothersome lump in her throat. She took another, and then another after that, then another, each more broken and quiet than the last. Then Adagio realized where she was, who she was with, and why they were there. All of the horrible memories from just two days ago came to surface, beginning at an ethereal alicorn in the clouds with piercing white eyes, and punctuated finally by Aria's words slamming her in the gut:

"This is all YOUR FAULT!"

Then, Adagio felt something tickle the length of her cheeks, slow and deliberately; mockingly in a way, but she didn't have the wits to curse them. Only one thing was on her mind:

"It is." Her voice was barely a whisper, but Adagio knew she heard. "You're absolutely right." She never looked up from the shadow, shame weighing her pathetic face down. "I'm sorry for everything—!" Her lips burst out with an ugly sob that echoed sharply in the room.

Ashamed, Adagio covered her humiliation with a single hand. Another sob came, but was smothered by her palm. She hoped her hair would hide the painfully obvious. For how long she was like this, Adagio couldn't say. But in her world it was just her and this room, and she made sure to count every stupid, weak sob that shot out of her throat.

She counted four when she finally threw her gaze up, where both Aria and Sonata stood a couple feet before her, visibly shocked but the latter much more subdued than the other. Adagio, suddenly realizing that she was crying and her teammates were staring, hastily dragged her palm across her cheeks, brushing away tears before any more fell.

And then the unexpected happened, in which Adagio felt another person collide with her own and squeezed her arms around her. It hurt, but felt comforting and protective all at once: it was a Sonata hug, mighty and full of all the heart that the bubbly siren contained, conveyed in a gesture to make her loved ones feel better. But Adagio was so taken aback by the suddenness of it to process it completely. Her eyes just held open, tears still pooled within them, peering over Sonata's bared shoulder where the strap had partially slid down.

The cold light fixture in the center of the ceiling held Adagio's rapt attention. She felt the occasional pat on the back, the hand pulling aside her unruly hair, the face nuzzling into her neck. More sobs wracked her body, and in response Sonata held her tighter until she couldn't move at all. When a soft voice tried speaking, Adagio only heard what sounded like mumblings stifled by a pair of earplugs.

Then Aria's spoke for the first time, and sounded like it was right beside her. "Dag'…" Her voice was whisper-quiet, almost meek in an un-Aria sort of way. "I'm… It's whatever." Adagio felt a third hand lay across the small of her back and give it a pat. The act felt as forced and stiff as Aria sounded. "C'mon Dag', keep it together. We're fine, we're all okay."

Adagio gently pushed herself away from the girls, just forceful enough to give herself room. Both girls still kept a hand on either shoulder. When Adagio looked up, she was first met with Aria, whose face was somber yet in her eyes there was a glimmer of sympathy.

She rightfully blames me yet finds the compassion not to rub her victory in. And Adagio could tell, by just the way Aria held herself and spoke to her just then, that it took great willpower and even some of that rare maturity she knew her teammate had in her not to.

Sonata offered a weak little smile, and moved in to wrap her arms around Adagio's person once more while pulling Aria in too. She did not push either of them away, nor return the gesture. "It'll be alright," the girl assured, gently chipper. "It's like you said, we'll see each other again soon!"

Adagio began to fan herself, to stop the flood from spilling and disgracing her further.

"No." The word sounded forced out of Adagio's throat. Both Aria and Sonata stepped away. As if missing her friend's embrace, Adagio hugged herself. "No," she echoed, clearer. "It's not... just that. It's... I came expecting an easy victory. I had everyone wrapped tightly around my finger, each and every one of them doing as I bid like trained h-hounds." She forced the word, then paused to sniffle; it was hard to speak while weeping. "I was on both sides of the chessboard. But then I got careless, and now we are shamed and beaten. Centuries of tiptoeing under the radar rendered null in the span of a few short days. Aria's absolutely right; a thousand years and we are prisoners moreso now than we ever were." Her face flashed into one of rage. "I thought we won the damned world! I ask, is this how all of Celestia's enemies feel after a defeat?"

"...Well," Aria folded her arms, "I guess I should be grateful you didn't mess up so badly we got turned to stone, or lost our powers."

Adagio's eyes flared open. "Are you being serious?"

The other girl sputtered, gesturing with her hands out. "What? What did I say? We got lucky, I was being serious!"

"I heard your sarcasm! The way you worded that—"

"Oh, now you're just trying to find reasons to yell at me!"

"Stop it!" Sonata cried. "Stop fighting!" She wrapped her arms tight around Aria and buried her face into her shoulder.

Aria wriggled against it. "Lemme go!"

"No!" Aria struggled a bit more against Sonata's boa-like hold, but eventually her snarls and pants tapered into a quiet, tired breathing. The flush slowly left her face.

The whole display, the show they must be giving the Rainbooms, it tickled Adagio and gave her the chuckles, drawing in odd stares from her two companions. "Is this it?" she asked, palms out. A tired smile was plastered to her face. "Is this what the Rainbooms meant when the two gold-plated humans shoved us in here? Is this what they meant by 'talk it out'? Screaming our heads off until we tire our rage?"

Neither siren spoke a word, but the look they shared said it all. Sonata went back to Adagio with glossy eyes. "I guess so." Her voice was meek.

To her words, Adagio sighed deep, massaging her own forehead as she strode over and took a seat on the disheveled bed. We used to be amazing. What happened to us? she wondered. What happened to me? Adagio had spent a greater part of her life stuck in prison, this world of Humans, with Starswirl as their warden. Then old Starswirl died, Equestria forgot about the Sirens and their ill-fated conquest of the Surface World, and Adagio swore she would find a way back home and restore her power. And now we are going home, through a portal that has been under my nose this entire time, constructed by Starswirl no less. But all's we're doing is just moving to a different cellblock.

Adagio felt bile rise up in her throat. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to laugh at the insanity and irony of it all, like people usually do in the movies when they have a mental breakdown. But no laughter came, nor a sob. Nothing.

"Sonata, I'm fine. I'm okay now." Aria's voice grabbed Adagio's attention. Her face rose to find the two sirens slowly untangling from one another's arms.

Aria turned to Adagio. When their eyes almost met, hers dodged away immediately, narrowing, seemingly bitter. But Adagio looked past that and saw the burn in her friend's eyes, the subtle hints of shame that lingered with the way her lips stiffened. She has every right to be upset, Adagio thought, her heart suddenly very heavy. She is the one suffering the most out of all of us.

Adagio silently forgave Aria for her behavior; no good will come if she keeps chewing out the poor wretch. "So," she spoke suddenly, "what now?" Her companions looked to her, each with uncertainty.

'You don't have a plan?' they're probably thinking. The thought made a sour ache blossom in Adagio's chest. No. No girls, I don't. "I mean, where do we go from here?"

Sonata took a couple steps forward, one hand clutching her arm. "Wha-What do you mean, Dagi?" she asked, all innocent and gentle. "I thought you said we should do whatever the Rainbooms ask."

"I know what I…" Adagio caught herself; she breathed deep. "I know what I said. I guess…" I guess I need someone to tell me that what I'm doing is a good idea.

But there was no way in Hell she would ever utter such pathetic musings out loud. "We're really in it deep now, girls," she said. "I don't think we can sing our way out of this one, or talk, or fuck or fight or flee.

"You want to be a leader so badly, Aria? Here's an important lesson about leadership: never second guess yourself. The moment you do is the moment you've failed as a leader."

"You're... probably right," Aria grumbled, still refusing to look at them. "Those glorified bouncers will probably spear us through the gut if we attack, or try to run. Certainly be doing the ponies a favor that way. Well, if I'm really doing this, might as well make their lives as miserable as possible." The other sirens chuckled dryly at this.

There was silence for a long time. Then Sonata said, "Probably not." All eyes were on her. She shrank a little. "Well, they don't seem to want to kill us. They'll probably just, I dunno, bonk us on the head." As she explained, Sonata made the gesture of her fist bopping an invisible object in front of her.

"They'd 'bonk' us?" Aria spoke as if she'd never heard the term.

"Yeah, I guess. They'd like, I dunno…" she performed the gesture again, "bonk!"

"And we'd fall?" Aria clarified. "Just like that?"

Sonata shrugged. "That's usually how the movies do it."

Adagio couldn't help but smile. "It will be a legend for the ages." Sonata grinned wide, and even Aria permitted herself to let a smirk appear on that damned gloomy face. Adagio stood up, smiling broader, her hands splayed out in front of her. "The Dazzlings!" she announced dramatically. "Feared by Starswirl, thrived in an alien world for hundreds of years, forced the beloved student-turned-princess to her knees… and then felled by an accursed bonk!"

Adagio and Sonata both stumbled into girlish giggling, from either the silliness on display or the sudden dispersal of tension in the air, the disgraced leader could not discern. Even Aria, whom stared at her a moment, could not fight her own mouth breaking into a rueful grin. She was soon laughing too.

As liberating as it felt, the mirth died down quickly as it began. Silence trickled in again amongst them, and with it, Adagio's wits. We must sound completely mad, she mused, picturing the Rainbooms huddled around their door, ears pressed to the wood.

"We needed that," Sonata mumbled, trying to suppress her grin.

Any traces of her prior glee had fled from Aria's face. Her expression was stern once again, and her arms folded across her chest. She looked at Adagio from the corner of her eye. "So, Dag', about this purple princess… whatever this plan of yours is, what do you plan on doing about her? She controls the portal, from what they're telling us."

"They're calling her the 'Princess of Friendship'," Sonata added, leaning in beside her teammate. "I didn't even know 'friendship' was a thing you could rule. Do ya think she executes people who aren't friends and mounts their heads on the gate?"

"It's an amusing thought," said Adagio.

"Probably not though. Too metal. She just traps you in an invisible collar and indoctrinates you into becoming friends," said Aria, possibly joking but with that monotone of her's... it was hard to tell. "It's like prison, but a lot gayer."

Sonata tutted. "That's not very PC, Ari. Maybe the nerdy princess saw this rotten-banana attitude of yours and hopes she can change it! Oh, we're still gonna bust you out before that can happen though, but she doesn't know that!"

Aria snorted. "Good luck to her." She nodded to her leader. "This one's been trying to collar me for centuries. If Princess Sparkle decided she can do better—"

"Please." Adagio rolled her eyes. "I doubt Twilight Sparkle made any independent decision regarding who was picked. She is a sheep with the Princesses' voice, nothing more. She'd call for a mass suicide if Celestia told her to."

Adagio was no fool; she had no doubts that whatever Twilight said to them about their reasons for picking Aria first for "reformation" was nothing more but parroted drivel to cover the hard truth.

That truth of course being, Adagio is the leader. Those in such a position were never taken as wards; a leader kept order amongst his or her remaining peers. Though Adagio did not mistrust the loyalty of her teammates, even Aria, to get her landed in Tartarus, the Two Sisters did not know that. And Sonata, well, Adagio would not be quick to jump to her defense if someone were to say she wasn't as valuable a hostage as Aria.

On top of that, they probably think I won't be able to plan anything big with Sonata. The thought of such a thing knotted up Adagio's insides. She had the overwhelming urge to prove them wrong.

"I suppose that's all there is to talk about." Adagio pushed herself off the bed. She looked to Aria, and Blaze looked back to her. Despite their typical steeliness, Adagio could still see the trace bits of fear in her gaze, the fear they all had of being separated from each other. Adagio could hide it no problem, but it was clear to Aria they were feeling just as... as afraid as her.

Perhaps I am more scared than her, Adagio thought. Her stomach swarmed with hornets. We've never been apart before, not like this.

She approached her sister-siren, eyes never leaving hers. Adagio's hands folded together, rubbing together. She swallowed what must have been cotton in her throat. "Aria," she began, her own voice booming in the silence, "whatever you may think of me right now, know that not an hour will pass when you aren't on our minds."

Aria nodded. Her eyes gleamed. "I… I know."

"Every day will bring us closer to freeing you from these monsters." She spoke quietly. "There are eyes everywhere, we will have to work slow. But it won't be long until you are free of their chains. That is a day that will certainly come, and... " Adagio breathed deep, involuntarily trembling; these next words did not come easy: "...And this is a promise that will not be sat on for another thousand years."

With that, Aria stepped forward in front of Adagio and clasped her firmly by the shoulders. Hesitance was evident on her face: eyes averting Adagio's, lip biting, brows pushed together. But finally, whatever battle was waged inside her head resolved itself, and Aria leaned forward and gently pushed her lips against her friend's nose.

Then she pulled her roughly into a hug. "Can the sap, Dag'," she said. "I knew all that already."

When she pulled away to do the same to Sonata, Adagio permitted herself a gentle little smile. That kiss was a farewell of ocean dwellers, a small gesture worth more than gold promising they would see a each other soon. Even with only her family bearing witness, Aria sacrificed a lot of dignity to perform it. For that, Adagio wanted to beam. She hid it in a smirk.

I pray to any Gods that care to listen, that this plan won't end in another failure. I cannot fail again. She looked to her sisters, Sonata squeezing Aria into a tearful embrace, and her sister-siren actually returning the gesture, one arm around the other girl.

For their sakes, I won't.