Call of the sea

Chapter 2:

Under the sea

The sun was shining bright under the deep blue floats of the Luna bay, warming the summer atmosphere.

An extrordinar number of tropical fish were enjoying its light: from the small Barbs, known for the exquisite look of their deep blue and emerald scales to the weird Bettas with their giant fiery dorsal pines, not to mention the Fresh water Angelfish, colored in a tint black as carbon, and the Fancy Guppies, showing off their azure body.

Some Loaches, feasting on a Coral reef, were quickly chewing their lunch, while a tiny shy Gouramis was hiding among the white arms of a Staghorn coral and a small group of fascinating golden Cichilds played nearby a rear Sea Pen.

Buried under the sand, there was a rather large Demersal fish, careful not to be seen by the wandering predators, while many oysters decorated the sea floor.

Yet among this aquatic heaven, a violent movement of the water was enough to cause all the animals to flee, leaving nothing behind, but if they had been able to talk, they would have certainly shrieked at the sight of what was coming. A creature slowly approached the area: their dimensions were enormous, they must had been terribly strong, strangely they had a pair of upper legs and hooves which made them even more threatening to their neighbors.

Truth to be told, though, as unusual and scary they may have looked, they were beautiful indeed.

Their scales were as golden as the rays of the sun, illuminating the marine floats, if not even more, the large pin they had on the back was absolutely majestic and conveyed an impression of undoubted might. Their eyes were colored in an imperial purple tint, furthermore they were clearly filled with pride and self-confidence, yet on the other hand, it would not taken long for one, observing them, to understand that in their raging fire they kept something profound that had been locked away for a long time.

A pair of long dark eyelashes were visible on their face, they were girly and attractive, certainly the most stunning in all of the ocean; but the expression on the elongated face of the creature was so serious and cold, that could make one’s blood freeze in their veins.

Yet what was most interesting about that one, was that they had a sparkly peace of rock planted deep inside their chest, a beautiful gem of the same intense color of blood.

Now that solitary being was swimming calmly on their way, not turning their head in any direction like nothing was worth seeing.

The movements of their pins were gentle, their sighing heavy, the eyes staring deep at the bottom of the sea floor.

“What’s happening to you Adagio?” the siren said to herself.

“Why are you acting like this?” as she kept whispering, her pace became slower and slower.

“You are far better than this, you are the most fearsome of all the beings living underwater, you’ve got intelligence, strength, courage and beauty all together and yet you’ve let yourself down. But why? Do you feel like something might still be missing from your life, do you want more than what you already posses or is it because of what you’ve seen today? It may be so, but... if it is, I don’t fully understand you: you’ve gone through so much struggle so far, you’ve felt fear and misery, pain and starvation, but in front of those two you started trembling, witnessing their sorrow, and now you are the one looking miserable”.

It was down and withing the fair light of the sun, still needing to rise and the midst of darkness, painting the surrounding environment in an obsidian color, nothing could be heard but the barely perceptible sound of seaweeds, being delicately moved.

Adagio had woken up early that morning, so early her eyes were still heavy from lack of sleep, but she could not have stayed and rested in her hideout, not at a moment like this.

Having not eaten for two days, the rumbling of her stomach would not leave her in peace, besides life had taught her that in these kind of situations there was only one thing to give priority to: eating.

Early hours were perfect for hunting, she knew that well and could not possibly resist the idea of getting her hooves on an easy prey.

“This must be my lucky day” the siren thought from her hiding spot, gazing upon a couple of young sea ponies, slowly proceeding forward.

The first one, taller than the other, was a girl: the scales, covering her body, were colored in an intense red tint, her pins and eyes blue as the floats of the sea; the second one, a boy, had white scales and his eyes were as green as giant emeralds.

“They probably run away from home: this job is going to be so simple it’ll be like stealing candies”.

Adagio stealthy moved toward them, careful not to be heard, then stopped just a few inches away and hid behind a large blue coral.

In the mean time the two youngsters, had interrupted their swimming and started talking to each other.

“We shouldn’t have come here Ruby” the first one whispered: “Mom and dad always say to stay away from the wild area outside the borders of Seaquestria: it’s awfully dangerous!”

“Oh, quit your bellyaching!” his sister protested: “You really need to toughen up, Silver Scale, and this is the best place for such a purpose, plus there’s plenty of fun to have!”

“I don’t know...what if something bad happens?!”

“Like what exactly?”

“What if some creature shows up with evil intentions, what if they wanted to gobble us up?!”

“Are you being serious?”

“Well...”

“Listen, do you see anything, approaching?”

“But...”

“No buts, answer me”

“No”

“No reason to fret then, let’s go”

“Ruby, where are you going?! Wait for me!”

It was right when the two youngsters were about to leave that the siren decided to show up.

“Hi, little ones!” Adagio greeted them with a malicious smile, then took sit on a rock.

“Ah!” Silver Scale screamed terrorized: “A sea monster! It’s going to eat us!”.

While he was saying these things, despite being clearly frightened herself, Ruby made an effort to stand up for her brother and was brave enough to answer that suspicious, yet beautiful being.

“Who are you…and what do you want from us?”

“Relax, I mean no harm” Adagio grinned, showing her ivory teeth: “I’m just a friend who got worried seeing you, wandering around here all alone. Where are your parents?”.

Hearing those words, the shy Silver Scale hid behind his filly sister who was sweating like never before in her young life.

“We’re here all alone” the girl replied.

“Oh, and what two adorable ones like you might be doing in a place like this, don’t you know it’s dangerous to hang out alone in these parts?”

“We know, but...we kinda got lost”

“I see...” the siren giggled, knowing Ruby was lying: “Well, don’t worry I know the way back to your home town, I can take you there myself”

“We’re not supposed to be trusting strangers”

“C’mon, my pretties, I’ve already told you I am no stranger, but a friend”

“It’s kind of hard to believe in your words, counting the fact that we don’t even know your name, yet”

“Is that so? How rude of me not to properly introduce myself. Let’s start over: my name’s Adagio Dazzle”

“And...what are you? You don’t exactly look like a sea pony”

“That’s because I am a siren, my dear!”

“A siren?” the two youngsters questioned at once.

“You don’t know what a siren is? How is that possible?”

“Nopony ever told about your kinds before”

“Well, then you ought to know that sirens like me are legendary magical creatures who posses extraordinary powers, plus our lives are pretty long”

“How old are you, then?”

“Trust me: if I told, you wouldn’t believe me!”

“And what is it that make you sirens so special?” the shy Silver Scale asked.

“Are you really curious about that?” Adagio grinned, licking her lips:

“S...sure!”

“Tell, me do you like music?” the sea ponies nodded in response.

At that moment, the siren lifted herself from the rock she was sitting on, then, as she opened her mouth, the gem on her chest glimmered in a red light, and her vocal cords started to sing.

“Wow!” the two siblings exclaimed, hearing Adagio’s spectacular voice:“You are awesome!”

“You haven’t seen anything, yet...” the siren thought, raising her voice.

At that point the surrounding environment was filled with a greenish smoke, the atmosphere became heavier to breath, then Ruby hit her brother on the shoulder.

“What did you do that for?!” the boy cried, seeing the other sea pony laughing in his face:

“Cause you looked like you needed it, looser!” the girl giggled.

“What, you’re calling me looser?!”

“You heard right, dweeb!”

“How dare you little...”

It did not take long for them to start fighting physically and, so the ones who had previously looked like the best of pals, were now punching, biting and injuring each other.

While this was happening, the smoke, surrounding them became thicker and flawed right into Adagio’s gem, until there was no more left.

“Yummy” the siren giggled, satisfied: “thanks for the meal, my dearest, and remember to play nice!” and left the two sea ponies to blow off their steam.

“Easy as pie” Adagio thought, heading back to her lair: “I’ ll never get tired of that!”.

While she was swimming among the red ruby corals and green seaweeds, grinning from pleasure and congratulating herself for what she had just done, something drew her attention: an odd noise she had never remembered hearing before, yet made her curious more than anything else.

“It ‘s getting stronger” Adagio said to herself, moving: “It’s sounds weird...like somepony were...weeping”.

The more she got closer to the source of that unexpected noise, the more exited she got: her soul was suddenly feeling restless, her eyes burnt in a raging fire, her breath became heavier.

“Not here”, the siren pointed out, after searching a field of seaweeds:

“Where is it coming from?” she thought again, rushing to reach what she thought was the right spot:

“Where?!” she shouted, grinding her teeth:

“Where?”

Unreasonably furious, Adagio, began to tear apart the weeds before her:

“Where are you hiding?” she kept repeating: “Where?! Where?”. All of a sudden, her nose caught a rather strong scent, similar to the one that can usually be smelled on oysters.

“There!” she exclaimed in satisfaction, turning around: “They’re there!”.

Once she had gotten closer to her objective, she sneaked into the nearest field of seaweeds, ready to launch at her prey, but then, after removing the plants, blocking her sight, something stopped her from doing so.

Right there before here eyes, a small creature, the smallest she had ever seen, her body covered in sand, used as blanket, her eyes barely stayed open.

The baby was crying so desperately two long eyes of tears spoiled her innocent face.

She had her scales the azure tint of rare sapphires, a long pin on her back and a pair of hooves on the upper legs.

Next to her stood another youngster, not much older than the other, but, judging by her expression, one could say the little one had been already taught that ponies need to mature fast.

Her body, from pin to hooves, was the color of violets, her belly thin and miserably contracted from starvation and pain. Her eyes were large, circled by two heavy dark bags which clearly conveyed the feelings of those who have suffered much; furthermore her back was covered in scars like she had been hit several times by a strong wipe.

There she stood silent, with her hooves on her friend, gulping in suffering, often caressing the other one’s muzzle with her own in an attempt to cheer her up.

In front of that sight, Adagio felt a sudden trembling in her body, like she had seen something scary, while, unconsciously cracked a weed, producing a low noise.

Hearing it, the purple one, stood up firmly to defend the baby and, having noticed the intruder, put up a ferocious expression, showing off two lines of white pointy teeth in her mouth.

Seeing herself threatened, the siren arose from the field and revealed her full might, nearing her giant frightening mouth to the opponent who surprisingly did not move by an inch.

The more Adagio, tried to intimidate her the more the young one stood up to her, hissing like a sea serpent, having decided not to abandon her friend.

On the other hand Adagio was stunned, witnessing all that bravery:

risking your own life even in a situation as desperate as that one in order to save somepony else's...was something she had never seen before or so she thought.

It was right then that Adagio noticed something about her young adversary: she had a bloody red gem on her chest, just like hers.

“How can that be?” the siren said to herself.

Seeing her distracted, the young one stood still in her position, motionless as a statue.

Having lowered her gaze, Adagio surprisingly decided to spare those two, despite them being awfully easy targets, and left them alone.

“Ah” the siren sighed heavily, putting on a disappointed face: “You’re becoming softhearted”.

It did not take long for her to reach her lair which consisted in a cave, carved deep into a cliff, with a large entrance.

Having left the moth of the cavern behind, Adagio proceeded to the most profound spot of her hideout, situated underground; the further she went the more obscure the place was.

The ceiling above progressively lowered on her head and so did the stalactites attached to it, which forced Adagio to swim almost at the level of the ground.

That long corridor lead her to a large empty hall, the floor was made out of cold gray rock from the cracks of which short seaweeds grew, and the ceiling stood up high almost a thousand feet.

Adagio slowly moved toward the opposite edge of the cavern where she laid her head on what one could define a rudimental rocky pillow.

“You’re getting weak...” she kept repeating to herself in that grotesque loneliness:

“You’re getting weak, and we both know what happens to the weak, don’t we?”

“Mom!” the little siren cried: “Mom, I’m hungry!”

“It’s okay, don’t worry” a kind voice, sweet as honey, replied: “We’ll find some food”

“But we haven’t had any in days”

“Adagio, have I ever disappointed you?”

“No, no, absolutely not!”

“Then trust me: it might take a little while, but I assure you we’ll find something to eat”.

The one who had spoken was a tall siren with her body covered in millions of scales, sparkling in the fiery reddish light typical of rubies.

Her back pin, which she kept moving frequently, was majestic and ended in pointy spikes.

Her hooves were in poor condition like she had been working on a field her whole life, her muzzle long, her smile caring, her eyes were two deep ponds of red violet water.

“Hey mom” her daughter intervened: “Why do we always run out of food?”

“Well, my dear, that’s just happens at times...”

“So, are we supposed to suffer starvation and feed on tasteless mollusks for the rest of our lives?!”

“Of course not, it’s only temporary, till we find a better place to stay”

“But we’ve been wandering far and wide for...I don’t even remember how much time. Why couldn’t we just remain in our old home at the anemones field?”

“We couldn’t, it was impossible”

“But I loved that place”

“Me too, Adagio, but sometimes things don’t turn out they way you would like them to”

“Is it because of all that stuff the inhabitants of the upper world had been throwing in the water? Isn’t it the same reason why all the fish that used to live there run away?”

“Who told you that?” her mother questioned astonished:

“I don’t need somepony else to tell me these things; I learned them myself”.

As the little one swam away, the siren stared at the transparent water surface above her head:

“She’s maturing fast” she thought: “too fast”.

While they were wandering atop the see floor looking for food, Adagio’s mother heard an awkwardly deep sound: it was her daughter’s stomach.

“Darling” she immediately asked worried: “are you feeling all right?

” “Mmm...” the little siren struggled to answer: “Wh...I mean of course, let’s keep going!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I do feel alright let’s go”

“I don’t like when you’re lying to me”

“I am not lying”

“Oh, is that so? Well then, why don’t you come sit here?” her mom said, indicating a huge bolder.

“What do you wanna do?”

“Nothing, just check”.

As soon as her daughter obeyed, the siren noticed her little stomach was swollen, even more than usual, and contracted in pain: “It’s bad”, she said to herself, while reflecting.

“Mom” Adagio suddenly whispered:

“Yes, sweetie?”

“I think I might be starting feeling a little dizzy: my head is spinning and...” it did not take her long to loose consciousness.

“Adagio?!” the other one exclaimed worried: “Adagio?! Is this a joke?! Please stop fooling me, please!”. Despite her desperation, her daughter did not answer her call: “Adagio, wake up! C’mon, it’s time to go, wake up, wake up!”.

Seeing her in that state, the mother took Adagio in her hooves, hugging her tight and started swimming fast. Together they passed miles and miles, but still no food, not even the smallest ostrich, and Adagio had still to regain her senses.

“What do I do?” her mom shouted frustrated in her head: “There’s nothing here or here or there or anywhere!”.

Refusing to give up, the siren kept swimming in a furious race against time to save her daughter, until she found herself in front of the most spectacular view she had ever gazed upon: “That must be...”.

Not far from her had appeared an endless line of coral houses, each of them shining in a warm purple color. Stunning creatures, covered in bright scales, crowded the streets between them and at the horizon the most beautiful of castles the walls of which were decorated in thousands and thousands of orange nudibranchs and small magenta anemones.

“...Seaquestria: I never thought I’d see it”.

Right at that moment the siren heard something: two young sea ponies, probably run off from their parents, had arrived and were nothing but a few inches away.

She kept staring a them, putting on a sorrowful and worried expression:

“I’d rather not do this” she thought, yet the sound of her own suffering daughter, calling her in her sleep, erased her last doubts: “but I’ll do it for you”.

The siren neared the two fillies, playing, who looked astonished to see somepony like her, and without thinking twice made her vocal cords sing.

At the sound of her voice a green smoke filled the atmosphere, the two pals suddenly began to fight, pushing and hitting each other violently.

The energy their anger produced entered the gem she had carved on her chest; then the mother deeply looked at Adagio, who had barely opened her eyes, hearing the singing, and said: “Take it all”.

So, it was that that very negative energy the mother had absorbed was transferred into Adagio’s gem, after that the little one slept peacefully.

The scene repeated quite often, every time the siren was unable to find food for her daughter, until one day something changed.

While on her way, almost right at the border of Seaquestria, Adagio’s mom saw two sea ponies waiting: they were both wearing a full golden armor, the elmets covering their ears, and hold spears in their pectoral fins.

Seeing her approach, those two stood up firmly, staring at her carefully: there was no doubt who they where there for.

“Adagio” the siren said to her daughter who was following: “Stay here hidden and, as soon as those two launch at me, run!”

“What are you saying, mom?” the little one questioned surprised.

“Why would I...”

“No questions, do as I say and no matter how hard I cry, keep running and escape!”

“But...”

“No buts!”

“And if they...”

Hearing Adagio’s voice, the mother turned around and showed the little one a tremendously serious expression: “Do as I say, be strong!”; having never seen her mom so restless, Adagio lowered her head and nodded.

The siren turned her attention to the royal guards before her, stepping proudly forward, while the sea poines prepared their spears.

From behind her mother’s shadow, the child saw the warriors attacking her, the siren defended herself with a blow of her tail. One of the guards managed to avoid it and penetrated the enemy under the shoulder with his weapon, a loud cry was heard.

Hearing it, Adagio felt the instinct of rushing to the battle field, but remembered what she had been ordered not to do.

In the meantime four other guards came out of the seaweed bushes, ready to fight: the siren understood she was fighting a battle she couldn’t win.

A raging fire invaded the little one’s heart, but she saw her mother, gazing at her from far away, so she turned around to escape.

Having taken nothing but a few steps forward, Adagio turned behind and saw her beloved one falling under the many spears, penetrating her scaly body:

“Mom!” she shouted in desperation: “Mommy!”.

As drops of tears lined her face, the look of those murders put in her enough fright to make her run away, when she came back later that day her mom’s body was gone.

“Be strong” the siren whispered to herself, staring at the cavern wall on which she had painted the scene of her mother’s death with her bear hooves.

“She told me to be strong, I thought I was powerful enough, but it seems it doesn’t take much to make even the strongest become weak”.

She stopped talking for a moment to sight: “But maybe even the weak have their purpose”.

Adagio quickly exited her lair, headed to the spot where she had seen the two babies: they were still there, exactly how she had left them.

Seeing her return, the purple one stood up against her with her raging eyes, but this time it did not work on the intruder.

Ignoring her, the siren neared the youngest one, who stared at her deeply: her eyes were two deep ponds of red violet water.

As Adagio took her in her hooves, she heard the other saying:

“Where do you think you’re going with my sister?!”

“Home” she answered.

“Home?” her interlocutor asked, surprised at what she had just heard:

“Yes, home and you’re coming, too”.