“Rawr in siren means die.”
Adagio smirked a little as she looked outside of her castle. It was her domain after all, and she needed to make sure that no one was coming to try to take it from her. Not that they could even if they tried, but it was still a constant job with the two annoyances that lived in her kingdom. Then again. They gave her something to do at least.
Speaking of which, she thought as she saw a small, blue tail flick underneath one of the pieces of coral in the tank, one such pest appeared to be approaching, a thought that brought a wide smile to the small fish.
“Starswhirl, that is one of the silliest things I think I’ve ever heard you say. Is fatherhood beginning to give you a sense of humor?”
While Adagio squirmed against the window of her castle, which was barely able to hold one of them since it was only a few times larger than the sirens and not entirely hollow, a purple fish glanced up at the movement. Aria hadn’t been planning to do much today, not when she was feeling a touch hungry and Sonata had managed to trap her in a bubbling chest yesterday, but this promised at least a little bit of excitement. Besides, she couldn’t be tricked into chasing one of them into a trap if she was allowed to just sit in the castle. Yeah, all she had to do was wait for Dagi to make her move.
“It’s not fatherhood; it’s experimentation. Besides, while silly, it’s accurate, and I suspect that they shall give you a demonstration of it shortly.”
Sonata turned around, holding a small, extra shiny pebble in her mouth while her little flippers twitched at her sides. She had spent most of the morning looking for anything like it, like she often did, and that was how she had figured out how the treasure chest worked. Or, well, how it opened. She still hadn’t managed to get in to get its booty, but she didn’t need to now! Not with her pretty bauble. It was probably pretty enough to make even Aria care about it!
When she came out from the small bit of coral she had hidden beneath, a familiar, whining roar came from above her. To anyone listening, it likely sounded innocent, or even cute. That was how the white thing that stood over the tank reacted to the pathetic war cry. To those who knew better though, it made their muscles tense.
And then brought smiles to three fanged faces as they got excited to ‘play’.
Adagio shot down from her place on high, smacking Sonata against the floor of their tank, but then shooting off herself into the coral past her pest. This was of course something she blamed on the pest, and not on her own, perfect self. No, she was the cause for her feeling dazed and confused, blinking in confusion as she tried to figure out where she was.
At least, you know, until a blue blur came up and nipped her in the side, before taking off with a mad little giggle, and Adagio followed in hot pursuit.
“Why do you jump, your highness? I already told you their point. To be pure rage. Even their friends are no exception for who they’ll hurt for their own desires.”
As if to prove the point, Aria had already made her move and had started lazily swimming towards the castle, softly humming to herself as she moved. She didn’t have a care in the world really, not with how long she knew the other two may be distracted by their little spat. By then she would have made sure that no fish could get into her little home.
Or she might have, had she not already tried this a dozen times in the past, and Sonata tapped her as the blue fish made sure that her game got all the better, and another furious squeak escaped Adagio before her and Aria shot into the castle. The castle tilted and came up from the bottom of the tank with the force of their hit, and the onlookers could see as the two fish bit and clawed at the other while hisses and squeaks escaped both of them. The only thing that seemed to stop them was Sonata diving in and knocking all three of them out of the castle.
“I made that one with a bit more simple chaos in her. It helps the experiment for them all not to be the same, though I don’t know if I’d call any of them a success.”
“You admitting to a fault? I… Are they going to be okay?”
At this point, Adagio and Aria had grabbed Sonata, who looked kind of confused by the whole situation, by the ears, and were swimming straight at the glass of the tank itself. The two had both been recently miffed at the smaller fish, who was still chuckling at what she had caused, and now worked on trying to do something about it. It wasn’t the first time either, though it wasn’t uncommon in general for any of them to team up momentarily to hurt another more, just to then go back to fighting each other.
Unfortunately, as they forgot each time with this tactic, it really just led to all three of the fish smacking against the tank, and squeaks filling the air as they screamed about it.
“They’ll be fine. I refill their gems from time to time to keep them fed, and otherwise, I believe they’re indestructible, much like Discord was.”
“Their gems?”
There was a pause, and Adagio looked around herself as she tried to right herself. She had noticed the new person outside of their tank as they had headed for the glass, but now she really noticed the fact that they were being watched. Were these two enjoying watching them? Enjoying her and her sister’s squabbling? If they were, then they needed a swift rawring at!
Instead of getting to do that though, Adagio felt a familiar magic wrap around her, and she thrashed against it as she was pulled from the water, and her sisters came up to the surface of the water to watch.
An odd calm that Starswhirl didn’t notice as for the first time he pulled only one of them out to examine it. “See the small ruby in her chest? It’s the focus for her, much like that of a familiar. It is fueled by pure wrath though, and dictates much of her essence. This one is mixed with pride, the purple one is pure, and the blue one is mixed with capriciousness.”
“Starswhirl, those are elements of chaos. That makes them dangerous.”
Adagio smiled at the word as she looked up at the white pony above her. She was so big, and so… radiant. It made something stir inside of Adagio, and her twitching began to slow as she focused on it. After all, this feeling was better than just wanting to attack things. It was more fun, more filling, and… And powerful.
Not that either of them really noticed the small hum that began to escape the creature as they continued to talk. “Princess, I assure you I have taken all the necessary precautions with them. They only eat rage, which I give by thinking about Discord, and that keeps them sustained. They would need something deeper in order to ever even grow beyond the goldfish they are now. Do you actually doubt me this much, student?”
The first glimmer of red came back to Adagio’s depleted jewel as her tail began to swing happily, and her small warbling and humming became slightly firmer and she began to actually make proper notes with her mouth.
“And if I do, subject? It is my right as princess, and I will not see creatures of chaos be made haphazardly, and while I respect your skills, the fact that you have kept these a secret from me is a sign that even you have your fears about them.”
Adagio’s eyes were fixed on the white pony now as her gem, normally a blood red that dulled to a faded maroon when fed, began to be polished and cleaned, and she lapped up that which she felt now.
“And what would you suggest I do with them then? Flush them? It took me days worth of magic to make them, let alone the weeks that went into their equations!”
“I would not say that, as they are still lives in my Kingdom, but I do not know if they can find a place for them either…”
Adagio scowled a little as the good meal she had been getting began to fade. The white pony wasn’t giving her what she wanted, and the humming wasn’t seeming to work anymore. Maybe if she was with the other two? Or, she thought with a smile as the pony brought a hoof towards her, she could resort the expedient that she always did.
“Rawr!”
“Ow!”
Sonata and Aria swam out of the way as their sister was rocketed back into the tank, smacking against the water from the impact. The two moved quickly to get her, but a few warbles stopped them, and they went back to the top of the tank to do as they had been.
After all, now the fight between their horrendous father, and this new princess was really going, and they all needed what this pony had to give. They all needed bright red gems for the weeks to come, starting with Starshirl’s attempt to destroy them failing, before he flushed them to protect his reputation, and then when they sang their first song ever together, that drove a pony to madness.
Because any animal practices hunting on their brothers and sisters. It’s merely nature at work, and something Starswhirl never took into consideration with his little abominations.
