Western Equestria, 1500 years ago.
That morning, when the roosters first shrieked, the farmers of the small rural village of Trottingham woke up like every other day with a smile upon their faces and eager to get to work the fields.
You see, dear readers, back in the day Equestrian families were numerous, so everypony had to do their own part in order to feed their fillies and foals. Slacking off was not really an option, not even for the little ones who were brought out in the fresh country air to learn what farming meant since their first years of life.
So off they went, each one carrying their wagons, hoping to fill them with hay and oats by down. Little did they know that evening, nopony would come back home.
“It seems awfully small, Adagio”. Aria Blaze, commented once she and her fellow sirens were close enough to have a clear sight of what would be their next target. “Are you sure it's worth the effort?”.
“Every bit of energy counts, Aria”. Her older sister, Adagio Dazzle, the siren whose scales shone of the golden color of the rays of the sun, replied. “Besides, it's always fun to submit powerless ponies such as them”. The sea creature added, while an evil grin appeared on her face, slowly revealing her pointy, predatory teeth.
“Take a good look at them, sis. They are simple farm ponies, they won't have enough strength to resist our singing for even a single minute. They will fall under our spell, before they notice us coming. Plus there are youngsters among them and I know for a fact how much you love their taste”.
As soon as the sound of those words reached Aria's ears, a small light glimmered in the depth of the purple siren's cat-like eyes. At that moment Aria licked her upper lips with her long tongue, already savouring the taste of the sweet energy she and her sister would drain from those innocent little foals.
“So?”. Adagio intervened, seeing that the younger siren was lost in her thoughts. “Did I manage to convince you or what?”.
“Remind me when your birthday is, Adagio”. Aria asked in response, leaving her fellow siren quite surprised.
“Next month...But what kind of answer is that?”.
“Oh, y'know...I just thought I'd thank you with a nice present for knowing me so well”. Adagio found her sister's reply a bit too mushy for her tastes. However she had enough cold blood, running in her veins, to avoid making an expression of disgust that would without a doubt offend Aria.
“Your help in submitting this village will be enough to please me”.
“You're no fun, when you act like this, Adagio”. The younger siren went on saying, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “But I guess that we all have our own flaws and not everyone can have a good sense of humour”. This time it was Adagio who rolled her eyes, annoyed.
“Good one, Aria”. She said, faking a brief smile. “Now why don't we get started, so we finish sooner rather than later?”.
“We can't”. The younger sea creature answered, placing a hoof on her sister's shoulder to prevent her from flying away.
“Why is that?”. Adagio questioned, now visibly bothered.
“I'm surprised that you haven't noticed it, yet. Our group is missing somebody”. Hearing those words, the older siren quickly turned around and began to move her head, as if she were looking for someone.
“Where is she?”. Adagio asked, as her previously calm attitude turned into a strong sense of anxiety. “Where is she?”. The sea creature repeated, this time yelling.
“Why do you ask me?” Aria shouted herself. “I thought she was with you”.
“Well, she isn't obviously here any more”.
“It's not my fault, if you let her out of your sight”. Aria kept yelling in her defense.
“I was leading the pack and she was right behind me. How was I supposed to keep an eye on her? Meanwhile you were in the back, you should have been more careful. You know how fragile she still is!”.
“She is a grown up siren, she doesn't need you, constantly looking over her. Anyway if you're so concerned about her why didn't you pay any attention to her?”.
“I told you I was leading our group here, I couldn't get distracted!”.
“Well, why don't you go looking for her then?”.
“I will, but first let me tell you something...”. Right before Adagio could blow off of all her steam on her fellow siren, a shrieking voice came from behind a nearby hill. In an instant a shadowy figure appeared.
“Ada...gio, Ari...a!”. The two sirens heard shouting, as they noticed that the creature was getting closer and closer.
“Here she comes”. Aria thought to herself, recognizing to whom the voice she had heard belonged.
“Sonata!”. Adagio, exclaimed, rushing toward her sister, while the other siren preferred to wait for the two of them behind. “Where were you? You know better than to get away from the rest of the pack.
“I...know...it's...it's just...that I...”.
“Sonata what happened to you? You look exhausted!”. Adagio questioned, noticing that her sister was gasping for air.
“She must have run a marathon!”. Aria, who could hear just fine what the other sirens were saying from where she was, suggested. However her sisters did not seem to be effected by her teasing, as they went on talking, ignoring her.
“It's just...that...you guys were...so fast”. The youngest of the sirens said, struggling. “I could not keep...up”.
“I get it”. Adagio interrupted her. “Now we are going to take a short break, so you can catch your breath. You'll need it”.
Since she had been given some time to rest, the youngest of the sirens sat on a bolder big enough to sustain the weight of a large creature such as her and waited to regain her strength. In the meantime Adagio went back to gaze upon the village she and her sisters would soon attack. Not that she planned to submit its inhabitants in a different way than her pack usually did, but still, one could never be too careful.
Aria herself decided to remain isolated and rest on a bolder on her own. She would seldom turn her eyes toward her older sister, but never bothered to make sure that the other one was alright.
Sonata was, as we already mentioned the youngest of the three sirens. The legendary creatures who ruled over the western Equestrian sea. The marine organisms showed them complete and total respect, as they feared them and the mysterious power of their voices, yet their existence remained for a long period of time unknown to pony kinds. Even the neighbours of those beautiful, but dangerous creatures knew very little about them.
Among the seas of Equestria it was said that they were the daughters of Phorcys, the primordial god of the ocean, who lived chained at the bottom of the dark Abyss.
There were also other rumours about their origins, though. According to them the Sirens had once been mere ponies, before some unknown, powerful magic would turn them into sea serpents. This particular rumour had been spread by those who, after taking a better look at them, had noticed that they had front hooves.
However they might have been born one thing was sure: the three sisters were very old and powerful. The nature of their dark power had remained a forbidden secret to all those who inhabited the sea. Until one day an old starfish swore to have seen the sirens emerge from the bottom of the ocean, crawl over the rocky shore of its island and start luring ponies' boats to wreck on the nearby sea stacks thanks to their beautiful singing. The starfish also said to have seen a weird, greenish aura, coming from the boat and being absorbed by the gems that the sisters had on their chests, yet no creature had believed that part of the story.
Since that time the sea creatures had called the three sisters: “Sirens” a word that, according to their elder speech, meant the ones who bind through magic song. (The word siren comes precisely from the noun σειρά [seirá], which means rope, and the verb εἴρω [eiro], which instead means to tie. The combination of this two words led to the creation of the idiom siren).
The area where the three sisters had chosen to live was vast and, since they had claimed it as their own, they had simply given it the name of Siren Sea. The northern edge of their territory was marked by the island of Aeaea, while the southern by the Rocks of Scylla.
All of these details remained for centuries unknown to ponies who later gave the area the name of Luna Bay. The reason for such thing was that on one hoof the three tribes of equines who moved to Equestria came much later than when the Sirens had arrived in those regions; on the other, as we said before, the ones who ventured into those waters met their doom. However, some ponies decided to build their villages close to the edge of that cursed place, thinking that as long as they left it in peace, whatever lurked in the sea, would leave them be. Unfortunately they were wrong.
The sirens, seeing that their equine neighbours did not dare come close to them any more, quickly adapted to breathing the oxygen, contained in the air, and left their home to feed on the negative energy of the ponies, inhabiting Equestria.
During their long adventure on land the three sisters had not come across any obstacle to their plan of submitting ponies. No one had enough power or guts to stand in their way. No one but each other.
Despite all the time they had been living together, the sirens were still sisters and, like any other, they would often fight, especially Aria and Sonata.
The cause of this was probably that, as the youngest of the trio, Sonata received more attention from Adagio than Aria. Something that the purple sea creature would never accept and caused her to feel great jealousy toward Sonata. Their constant arguing would most of the time drive Adagio crazy, but right at that moment the oldest of the sirens was too focused on her objective to notice that her sisters refused to talk to one anther.
“Okay, I believe we are ready”. Adagio exclaimed, when she thought that Sonata had enough rest.
“Sure...”. Aria murmured, as she left her seat and levitated toward her sister. Only now did Adagio realize that something very awkward was going on. Sonata looked like a child who has just lost her favourite toy, while Aria seemed an erupting volcano. Being pretty sure about what had caused her sisters to be so upset, Adagio placed her hoof on her forehead and sighed heavily.
“Not again...”. She thought to herself, as her fellow sirens, who even refused to look at each other, approached. “Please don't tell me you had one of your fights...”.
No answer came from her sisters who instead turned their gazes as far from one another as possible.
“Great”. Adagio whined, wondering just how much time she would need to handle the torment that the two younger sirens caused her. “Will you two tell me how are we supposed to conquer this land, if you can't even keep yourselves from arguing over every, insignificant thing that bothers you?!”.
“Well, it's not my fault if Sonata can't spend two minutes without getting lost”. The purple siren shouted in her defense.
“Adagio”. Sonata said at that point, scowling. “Tell Aria that I am not talking to her, until she decides to show me some respect and apologizes”.
“No, tell Sonata that I am the one who is not talking to her, until the beginning of the next century”.
“Oh, yeah? If that's so, how are we supposed to seize power?”.
“I don't need to talk to you in order to become the ruler of Equestria. I'll just sing”.
“But we need to sing together to be powerful enough to control all the ponies in this land”. Sonata objected, trying to make a point that would force her older sister to admit that she needed her.
“That doesn't mean I'll have to talk to you”.
“Then I won't sing, until you decide to apologize”.
“You little!”. The purple siren roared, almost lunching at her younger sister.
“Will you two cut it out!”. Adagio suddenly yelled furiously, unable to handle any more of that ridiculous display. “Just cut it out!”
“But she started it!”. The other two sirens went on saying, accusing one another.
“I don't want to know who started. I just need you to stop bickering, so we can go on with our plan and reinforce our gems with the negative energy we are going to spread among the ponies of Trottingham and take one more step toward the conquer of this land. Do you think you can avoid fighting enough time for us to do that?!”. Instead of giving a clear response, the two younger sirens turned their gazes away from each other once more. Adagio was lost for words.
“Now we really need a miracle”.
In the meantime the farmers, inhabiting the village of Trottingham had noticed nothing. Surely they were too busy with their daily activities to notice the three giant, shadowy figures at the top of a hill just outside their little town.
The first to see the sea creatures, flying high up in the sky, was a white furred filly, walking in the market square next to her mother.
“Mom”. The little one exclaimed, as soon as she noticed the three mysterious figures, levitating above her head. “What kind of bizarre hoofed creature can fly and has a long fish tail?”.
“What are you saying, my dear?”. The filly's mother questioned distractedly, while negotiating the price of a sack of potatoes with a shopkeeper. “There are no such creatures”.
“But mommy, these ones have sharp teeth. They are scary!”.
“Listen, sweetheart”. The mare objected, trying not to loose her patience in front of her daughter. “This really isn't the time for playing. Mommy's busy; can't you see?”.
“But mom, I am not playing, I am serious. Look!”. The youngster went on saying, raising her hoof.
“What in Equestria are those?!”. The filly's mother shrieked, as she laid her eyes on the three, dark figures, flying above her head. Their size was incomparable to everything anypony in Trottingham had ever laid their eyes upon, a long fin run along their backs and their bodies were covered in shiny scales. Their long tails moved, following the rhythm of the blowing wind, gills were visible on both sides of their necks and their front legs were bulkier than those of the strongest stallions.
Yet what caught everypony's eyes the most were the large, luminescent, red gems, glistening on the creatures' chests.
The village ponies remained speechless: there were no words to describe the might and at the same time the fear that those visitors conveyed. None of the villagers could imagine the reason why those incredible creatures had chosen to come to their town, which was often not even shown on maps, but one thing was sure: they did not look friendly.
At that precise moment most of the ponies wished to run and hide cowardly in their cottages, yet they stood motionless in their position, witnessing that jaw-dropping sight. Although their legs refused to move, their hearts were filled with fright, as Adagio and her sisters put on a wicked grin.
“Greetings, ponies of Trottingam!”. The golden sea creature exclaimed, before she and her sisters started their show. “We are the sirens. My sisters and I have come from far away to visit the wonderful land of Equestria, seeking fame and glory. Our journey has brought us to your cosy town and we wish to grant you the same gift as all the other ponies we have come across during our travel. Prepare, folks, and behold the spectacle of a lifetime. We guarantee that afterwards you will be so in love with the sound of our voices that you'll be begging for more and more!”.
As Adagio spoke those words, the ponies of Trottingham did not understand anything of what they were hearing. Some of them were even more frightened than before and struggled to run away. But once more they found themselves unable to move their legs, as an evil spell prevented them from doing so.
Being sure that every inhabitant of the village was present, Adagio gave her sisters a wink, right before closing her eyes. At that point the the sirens' voices covered every other sound, as their spread their tune in a powerful wave.
Their melody was indeed beautiful, the most beautiful the ponies of Trottingam had ever heard; what the villagers didn't know though is that it was also a dark, powerful means of incantation.
Suddenly the village ponies' eyes began to shine in a deep green color and their minds slowly began to break. Soon they would be completely consumed by the sirens' evil magic and their will would be forever at the sisters' command: that was the gift Adagio had mentioned. The worst part of it all was that they could do nothing in their defense. The moment those mares and stallions had first hard the sirens' voices they fell under their spell, against which nothing could stand. Exactly as the oldest of the sea creatures had said, the more the inhabitants of Trottingham heard of that enchanting singing, the more they wanted, the more they demanded.
As their minds went blank, everypony felt a strong desire of fighting, growing inside them and filling every corner of their souls.
Without warning, a stallion launched at the fellow next to him who responded with a powerful kick. Other two ponies soon joined the riot, then others and so on, until the market square became a real battle field.
What just a few hours before looked the calmest and most peaceful village in all the wide land of Equestria, was now the most dreadful. There was nopony amongst the crowd who was not involved in a physical fight with the ones next to them. It did no matter how many or how big the enemies were, the inhabitants of Trottingham just wanted to fight and they did it with all their strengths, as if their lives depended on it.
Soon their small rural village was burning, as the ponies began to set fire to each other's houses. The buildings burned fast, since they were made of simple wood and hay. It was clear that the town would in the end become a handful of ashes.
Pleased with what they had accomplished the siren sisters, smiled to one another and silently flew away, carefully so that the ponies could continue to blow off their steam.
The gem stones on their chests were now brighter than before, having been charged by all the sorrow and anger of the ponies of Trottingham. The negative energy that the sirens had unleashed upon their victims had spread like a cloud of glimmering smoke and had been absorbed by the sisters' gems in order to increment their power. A power that was now nearly at its maximum level and would soon be enough to submit all of Equestria and the lands beyond its borders.
That was the sisters' plan and, if everything kept going as smoothly as it had until that moment, they would have surely accomplished it.
“I feel refreshed”. Adagio commented, smirking, as she and her sisters stopped to retrieve the energies that they had used to cast their spell upon their victims. “What about you girls?”.
“I feel like I could do a thousand air loops”. Sonata exclaimed frenetically.
“I'll give you this one, Adagio”. Aria added, doing her best not to loose her composure. “Trottingham was fun”.
“I told you it would!”. Her older sister went on saying, hoof bumping her.
“What's next? What's next?!”. Sonata asked, impatient to use all the energy she had absorbed. “Where do we go now? I need to do something, otherwise I 'll explode”.
“Contain yourself”. Adagio replied, indicating the road ahead of them with her hoof. “There's a sign post over there on the path. Let's go see what it says”.
Fast as lightening the sisters reached the spot where the sign post was. “Mmm...”. Adagio mumbled to herself, examining their options.
“So?”. Sonata went on saying, unable to hold on to her hooves. “What city shall we drain next?”.
“What about this...Alexandraya?”. Aria suggested, placing her hoof on the sign post. “Gotta admit the name's awful, but it could be worth the shot”.
“Nay”. Her older sister quickly replied. “Our performance in Trottingham was way too good to waste our energies on such a worthless place.
“If you say so...”. The purple siren commented, probably getting tired of waiting as well as her sister, Sonata. “Then, where will we go?”.
Adagio stood silent for another moment, before turning toward her sisters. Quickly her fellow sirens caught her wicked grin, something that they curiously both feared.
“Ladies”. The golden siren exclaimed, as she began her speech. “I believe that after our last incredible performance,we can all agree that the time has finally come for us to find ourselves a greater stage”. Hearing those words her sisters instinctively looked at each other for the first time in hours, as they gulped in unison.
“What do you mean?”. Aria questioned suspiciously. “I mean that I think it's time to take our craft to the very top, Canterlot!”.
“Canterlot?!”. Adagio's sisters shrieked at the same time.
“The city where stars are made, the city where stars are born, the very heart of Equestria”.
“The Agora, the Panathenaic stadium!”. Sonata exclaimed, eagerly counting the many places she would visit in the big city.
“...And the Royal Guard...”. Aria added visibly worried. “Adagio, are you sure this is wise? If we're caught, using mind-control magic in the capital, it'll mean our banishment or worse!”.
“If we're caught” Adagio pointed out proudly.
“But...”.
“No buts. Our songs are too subtle, our magic too musical. Nopony will see through our cunning spells. Soon we'll have all of Equestria at our command and it all begins...In Canterlot”.
“Oh, Aria, look! That must be it!”. Sonata shrieked, shaking her older sister by the shoulder.
“What are you even talking about?!”. The purple siren asked, annoyed, turning her gaze toward where her sister was pointing with her hoof.
“It's over there, Aria, right in front of you!”. Sonata insisted excitedly.
“All of I see is a bunch of constructions made of stones”. At the sound of those words, Sonata's jaw almost dropped; the youngest of the sirens could not believe her ears.
“How can you say that, Aria?!”. Sonata yelled hysterically at her older sister who was already trying to get away from her. “How can you make such a mean comment about the Akropolis?!”.
“The what now?”. The purple siren questioned, being clearly not familiar with the term that her younger sister had used.
“The Akropolis”. Sonata repeated with her usual smile on her face, being sure that her fancy talking had managed to attract Aria's interest. “Its name comes from the words ἄκρον (akron),which means the highest point, and πόλις (polis) which instead means city. In a nutshell, it's the local citadel. They need it for defensive purposes”. Hearing what her younger sister was saying left Aria absolutely speechless.
“Since where do you know so much about Canterlot?”. The purple siren exclaimed, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
“Oh, I don't really know that much, silly”. Sonata giggled, taking delight in her older sister's reaction.
“But...”. Aria mumbled out, still not believing what she had heard from her own sister's mouth. “What about all those morphological roots and stuff you just mentioned? In all the time we spent together, I had never heard you talking like that. How is it that you know so much about this city, if we only got here a few minutes ago?”.
“It's not anything special really...”. Sonata quickly replied, still unable to stop giggling, seeing her older sister's surprised face. “I read all that stuff in my tourist guide book”.
“Tourist what?”. Aria exclaimed, finally realizing how her younger sister had tricked her. “Tourist guide book. It's basically a volume where you can read lots of interesting information about the places you go”.
“I know what a tourist guide book is, Sonata”. The purple siren shouted, interrupting her sister. “What I don't understand is how you happen to have one. We've only been in Canterlot for like...fifteen minutes or even less”.
“That was plenty of time for me to purchase one from the pony behind that corner”. Sonata replied, waving at a blue-furred stallion, selling stuff at the tourist who happened to pass by.
“I cannot believe it”. Aria sighed desperately, placing a hoof upon her forehead.
“What?”. Sonata asked, curious to know what her older sister was talking about.
“I cannot believe that you did something so silly as buying a tourist guide book from a random stallion”.
“Hey, my tourist guide book isn't silly at all”. Sonata replied, clearly annoyed by her sister's comment. “It's filled with knowledge. Besides how else am I supposed to remember about our journey to Canterlot without it?”.
“This is not a leisure journey, Sonata!”.
“What? You're kidding right? Is this one of your jokes about me, Aria? Because I am not getting the punchline”.
“There is no punchline, Sonata, because this is no joke”. The purple siren went on saying, fixing her eyes on her younger sister. “Look at me, Sonata”.
“I am...”.
“Do you see me smiling?”. The azure siren shook her head in response. “Exactly, I am not smiling right now, because I am dead serious! I don't know what you were thinking, before coming here, but I can assure you that we have not come to Canterlot to do any touristic activities”.
“No touristic activities?”. Sonata exclaimed in shock. “Then we have come here for nothing. This Is gonna be the lamest family trip ever”. At that point Aria was lost for words. She had surely heard her younger sister mention a few places that she wanted to visit in the big city, when the trio had agreed to go to Canterlot, but she had not predicted that Sonata would actually forget about all about the real reason that had brought her and her sisters to the capital city of Equestria in the first place.
“Listen here, Sonata”. Aria sighed in the end, understanding that is she wished to get along with her younger sister for once, she would need great patience.
“We came here to submit the local folks, like we did in Trottingham or in every other place we visited so far, not to enjoy the sightseeing. Is everything clear now?”.
“Oh, I knew that”. Sonata answered once more with a giggle.
“I just thought that we could squeeze a little sightseeing into our schedule, since Adagio isn't here with us, but if say that it's not possible...”. As she spoke those words, Sonata simply threw her book away. In the meantime Aria turned around, searching for her older sister, who was indeed missing, with her sharp eyes.
“Adagio! Adagio!”. She shouted calling her older sister's name.
“She's gone, Aria, like I said”. Sonata repeated calmly.
“I cannot believe we lost her!”. The purple siren went on saying desperately. “I cannot tell where she might be. This is Canterlot we're talking about, not some random little town like the ones that we visited. How in Equestria are we supposed to find her now?”. Aria went on saying, while sweating worried.
“Excuse me, ma'am”. The purple siren suddenly heard saying, while lost in the depth of her thoughts.
“Have you seen a giant see creature like me and my sister over there, flying around the city?”.
“Sonata what are you doing?! You're gonna blow our cover!”. Aria shouted in her mind, as she noticed that her younger sister was conversing with a red-maned mare.
“Oh yes, I did. Is the creature we are talking about covered in golden scales, perhaps?”.
“She sure is”. Sonata replied, smiling at the mare.
“I did see her then. She was right in front of the Theatre of the Bearded. Probably waiting in line to sign up for the musical contest”.
“Musical contest?!”. Aria exclaimed, reaching Sonata and her interlocutor.
“You've never heard of the annual Canterlot musical contest?! Why, you two must come from far away!”.
“You could say that”. The young azure siren said. “But please, continue, we are terribly interested”.
“Every year all the best artists in Equestria gather up here in Canterlot to compete for the honour of the title of master musician. It's the most exciting event we have in the capital; the rest are...Let's just say a bit dull. I am not an artist myself, but I love to go and watch all those incredibly talented ponies”.
“Sonata, this is perfect!”. Aria whispered in her younger sister's ear. “Adagio must be have gone to the theatre to sign us up for the competition. If this event is really as popular as this mare says, we could submit everypony in the capital in just one single blow and nopony will ever get the chance to see through our cunning spell, just like Adagio said”.
“I know, awesome, right?”. Sonata murmured excitedly.
“Forgive me for interrupting, ladies”. Sonata's interlocutor intervened.
“Did you just say that you were going to sign up for the competition?”.
“Of course we are”. Sonata replied, feeling as excited as a child the moment they receive new toy.
“So you must be...Musical artists!”.
“Please”. Sonata went on saying proudly. “We were stars back home. Isn't that right, Aria?”. Sonata's sister quickly nodded in response, hoping that the azure siren would shut her mouth, before saying anything stupid that could cause them to get caught.
“Well then, I can't wait to hear you two on stage!”.
“Truth to be told, ma'am, our group is more of a trio than a duo”.
“Oh yes, your friend. You'd better reach her soon. The even starts in an hour”.
“Holly Molly!”. Sonata shrieked, shocked. “We'd better hurry, Aria. There's no time to loose!”.
“How perceptive of you”. The purple siren said in response.
“Could you please avoid teasing me right now? We need to get to the theatre fast. Adagio must be waiting for us there”. Thanks for the help, ma'am!”
“Don't mention, I was happy to...”.Before the mare could finish her sentence, Sonata had already flown away, dragging Aria along with her.
“Do you want to know something really funny, Sonata?”. Aria asked her younger sister who was flying quickly as an eagle.
“What are you taking about?”.
“Of all the things you and that random pony talked about, you didn't even think to ask her directions!”.
“That's because there was no need”. Sonata replied calmly. “I already know where the Theatre of the Bearded is”.
“How so?”.
“I read it in my tourist guide book”.
“The one you threw away just a few minutes ago?”.
“That one. It had a special chapter on this theatre, too! Now listen here. The Theatre of the Bearded is the major theatre in all of Canterlot and it is even considered to be Equestria's very first theatre. It has an excellent acoustics and can contain a maximum of 17,000 ponies all at once. Isn't that incredible?! Furthermore...”.
“Okay, okay, I get it”. Aria intervened, preventing her younger sister from getting carried away with her speech again.
“Look, I don't want to know how old this place we are going to is, how many ponies can get in there together or worse why they decided to call it Theatre of the Bearded. Just tell me where it is.” After a moment of blunt silence Sonata sighed. “It's located on the south slope of the Acropolis. You are no fun, Aria”.
“Then let's get going...and hope Adagio isn't too mad at us for being late”.
It did not take long for the sirens to reach the Theatre of The Bearded, where they immediately spotted a familiar figure, waiting for them just outside the main entrance.
“Adagio!”. Sonata exclaimed, joyful waiving at her sister; meanwhile Aria's reaction was quite different. As soon as she laid her eyes on Adagio, the older siren's gaze sent a shiver through her spine.
“This is not gonna end well”. She then thought to herself, gulping.
“Well, look who has finally decided to show up”. The oldest of the sirens began to speak. “Just, where have you two been?”.
“Sonata here thought we were gonna go sightseeing”. Aria intervened, trying her best to convince Adagio that the only one to blame for their delay was Sonata.
“I did not...”. Sonata quickly protested. “I told you I wanted to go sightseeing, but I meant to do it only, when our schedule allowed it. Honest”.
“Yeah, yeah, same excuses as ever”. Aria went on saying, determined to prove that she was the responsible one. “Point is we would had not gotten lost, if you hadn't stopped to buy that stupid guide book of yours”.
“You mean the one that you made me throw away?”.
“I didn't ask you to throw it away, you did it on your own free will”.
“Only because you kept harassing me”.
“I...don't...I mean”.
“Okay, stop!”. Adagio yelled, finally intervening. “Listen, let's just pretend that this didn't happen. All that matters now is that we found each other again, which means that we can put our plan into motion. This here is the Theatre of the Bearded, the major theatre in Canterlot”.
“And the oldest in all of Equestria, I know”. Aria whined, interrupted her older sister. Adagio looked at her both surprised and confused. “I'll explain you later”. Aria answered briefly. “Sonata gave me some history lessons, while you were gone”.
“You mean, while you were gone. I was the one who didn't find you following me like you were supposed to in the first place".
“Oh, yeah...that”.
“Anyway, every year this place holds one of the most important events in Canterlot”.
“The annual Canterlot musical contest”. Aria interrupted once more. “We know that, too”. Adagio looked at her sister even more shocked than before.
“Don't make that expression, Adagio”. Sonata giggled, seeing her older sister's staring face. “It makes you look funny”.
“ How?”. The oldest of the sirens finally asked.
“How what?”. Aria questioned in return.
“How do you know all this?”.
“A nice mare told us!”. Sonata quickly answered.
“A mare?”.
“She was passing by”. Aria began to explain. “Sonata asked her if she had spotted you, flying around Canterlot; turns out she had. So she said you were headed to this theatre, then started talking about the musical competition that they hold here every year”.
“ Alright then”. Adagio added, after hearing what her sister had to say. “I presume that you also know why we're here”.
“Please, Adagio”. Aria went on, smirking. “Who do you take us for? We can take a hint”.
“Yeah, who do you take us for?”. Sonata repeated nervously.
“Let's see...the ones who got lost, after spending ten minutes in the capital. The ones that would rather fight to death instead than agreeing on something. The ones who were once so distracted that they sung off key, causing our spell to fail and force us to run away from Vanhoover, while the inhabitants were pursuing us!”. As Adagio brought that memory up, her two sisters gulped in unison. “It was pure luck that we managed to get away. You hear me?! Pure luck!”.
“Adagio...”.Sonata intervened, while Aria remained silent. “We apologized for that mistake a million times, yet you still refuse to put it behind you”.
“That's because you clearly didn't learn your lesson. I...”. While still speaking, Adagio noticed that Aria had been strangely silent. The purple siren had in fact decided to stay hidden behind her younger sister's back. He eyes, staring the ground ad her face frowning; the oldest of the sirens knew Aria too we for not guessing what she was thinking about.
Right at that moment the guilt was devouring Aria's soul. The purple siren had felt responsible for the incident of Vanhoover from the very first day. Even if Adagio had always blamed both her and Sonata, Aria knew that who had caused the sirens to fail that day was her.
Witnessing that sight made Adagio's heart cry. The golden siren might have been the most authoritarian of the trio, but deep down she cared about her younger sisters and knew that all too well.
“Fine...”. Adagio finally sighed. “You are right, Sonata. There's no point in discussing this now, what has been done cannot be fixed”.
Aria did not like those words: they made her feel even worse. Adagio noticed that from the expression on her face. “Right now we need to worry about something else”. At that point the golden siren turned around and pointed out the main entrance to the theatre.
“C'mon, ladies. The show is about to start”.
Once the trio had entered the theatre they found themselves before a long line, which was not surprising at all, considering that they were taking part in the biggest event in Canterlot.
Many musical artists performed before them: some played instruments like lyres and cytharas, others preferred trusting their voices instead. The sisters' turn to perform came much earlier than they had expected, yet, after their previous argument, none of them had showed sign of being worried.
“It's finally time!”. Adagio said, turning to her sisters, when the judges asked them to step forward. “Everything we ever dreamed of: the fame, the glory; we'll have it here and now in Canterolt. With a smirk on her face the golden siren, approached the judges, waiting for her and her sisters.
“Are you the S-Sirens?”. The judge in the middle, a black maned thin stallion, asked from his seat.
“Yes, yes we are”. Adagio replied proudly.
“You may start your performance”. Without waiting a second invitation the sirens levitated high up in the sky. As soon as Adagio gave the other two her secret wink, they closed their eyes and began to sin in unison.
The melody of their voices spread in a powerful wave, loud and clear thanks to the excellent acoustic of the theatre. Their gems glistened in an intense red light, as their spirits soured. Now all of the ponies in the capital would be under their total control, a life spent hiding under the water of the sea, luring ponies to shipwreck, spreading negative energies amongst the folks of Equestria would finally pay off.
Everything they had dreamed of would now be theirs forever.
When the sirens opened their eyes, a dead silence had fallen upon the audience, giving the sisters the impression of being in graveyard. Witnessing that sight, Adagio, Aria and Sonata grinned to one another in satisfaction.
“It was true pleasure to sing for you all”. The oldest of the sirens giggled, eager to order her new puppets around. “You may now cheer for us”. But instead of a standing ovation what the sirens received from the crowd was only whistles and hisses of disgust.
“What in Equestria was that?”. The judge from before yelled from behind the sirens.
“But...”. Adagio mumbled out, confused.
“What's happening, Adagio?”. Sonata questioned,freaking out.
“I don't know. This was unexpected”.
“It wasn't me this time, I swear!”. Aria intervened. “I wasn't off key”.
“I know, you were perfect”. Adagio replied, reassuring her. “We were as bit as amazing as always”.
“Not in their opinion”. Sonata gulped.
“And you call that music?”. The judge went on saying. “I've heard better from my ten years old niece. Next!”.
And so it was the three most powerful creatures in all the Equestrian Sea flew away from the Theatre of the Bearded with a devastated mood and their eyes, facing the ground. The other musical artist, who had heard them performing, had fun teasing them.
A single fellow found particular interest in them and carefully followed them with their eye, until they were completely out of sight. Nopony noticed though that the individual in question looked a lot like the statue of Starswhirl the Bearded in front of the theatre.
The long journey to the capital had tired the sisters up, so for that night they decided that it would be best for them to take some rest there, luckily they found a nice tavern, close enough to downtown, to spend the night.
“Unbelievable!”. Adagio shouted repeatedly in the room she and her sister had been given for the night. “How dare does insects not recognize our brilliance?! They should have been eating out of our hooves!”.
“They kind of have a point, Adagio”. Aria intervened from the comfiness of her bead. “We've been using the same song for forever”.
“And it has always worked. Why change what works?!”. Adagio went on saying nervously.
“Canterlot is more sophisticated. If we wanna dominate this city, then we need to modernize our repertoire”.
“Meaning?”. Sonata asked, confused by her sisters vocabulary.
“We need to come up with new songs!”.
“I suppose you're right”. Adagio replied, stroking her chin. “But how?”.
“Maybe we could try out some of those instruments we saw today at the theatre. Those lyres looked pretty popular!”.
“No”. Adagio said, shaking her head. “We should stick to our strengths”.
“Maybe then we could write some poetry...”.
Instead of replying, Aria's sister looked at her deeply in the eyes. The purple siren knew what that meant.
“...You're right. None of us can write poetry. Even I can't tell an ode from an elegy”.
“We will never get popular, just copying what's in style. We need to come up with something new, something with pizzazz!”. At point Adagio was interrupted in her speech by a popping sound. Aria turned around immediately only to see Sonata chewing something in her mouth, something pink.
“What are you eating?”. The purple siren asked her younger sister curiously.
“It's this stuff, called gum”. Sonata quickly replied. “It's like food you don't eat”.
“Pop...pop...pop”.
Adagio repeated to herself in her thoughts, while her sisters were discussing.
“Pop...pop...pop”.
At that point an idea flashed in her mind, and idea that made the siren shrieked in happiness. “Pop. That's it!”. Hearing those words, her sisters turned toward her confused.
“What did you say?”. The two younger siren asked in unison.
“Our new music shall be pop!”.
“Pop music?”. Aria asked with a confused tone of voice.
“Sounds dangerous”. Sonata intervened.
“Nay' tis the solution to our dilemma”. Adagio replied, floating proudly to an isolated corner of the room. “I must work now. This will be my finest magical music”.
The following morning the trio flew straight back to the Theatre of the Bearded. Luckily for the sirens, Canterlot annual music festival lasted a few days, so all they needed to do in order to put their new plain in motion was convince the judges to give them a second chance.
Having reached their destination, the sisters signed up again for the competition with no problem, all they needed to do now was endure the waiting line.
When the sirens' turn finally arrived, judge from the previous day could not believe his eyes.
“You three again”. He sighed desperately. “Didn't you get enough yesterday?”.
“Oh, please, et us compete again”. The oldest of the sisters asked, trying her best to impress the judge with her begging. “I think that you'll find that we've improved our act”. Sighing, the judge nodded in response.
Without wasting any time the sirens levitated above the ground and with an evil grin on their faces they began their performance.
“It's all about the pop!”
“Pop!”
“It's what will take us to the top!”
“It's what's new, it's what's hot, it's what can't be stopped”.
Contrarily to what the judges expected, the melody of the sirens was quite the hit and everepony, themselves included, seemed to enjoy it.
“Pop is the word! It can't be captured, only heard!”.
The sound of the sirens' voices soon penetrated the spectators' minds. Suddenly everypony fond themselves unable to move their bodies and with their eyes fixed on the amazing singing trio.
“Pop Burns! It's what makes the word turn!”.
A thick greenish smoke arose from the ground. A smoke filled with all the negative energy and hatred the hypnotized audience felt within.
“It'll make your legs hop!”
“Hop!”
“Your hooves clop!”
“Clop!”
Soon the gems on the sisters' chests started shining and absorbing the greenish smoke cloud. When the was no more the ponies of Canterlot's minds had gone completely blank.
“It's the pop!”
Nopony in the audience managed to escape the sirens'curse, nopony but the old fellow who had curiously observed the sirens during their previous performance at the theatre.
“That was amazing, Adagio!”. Sonata shouted, as soon as she and her sisters had gotten away from the screaming audience.
“And here I thought for a second that we would have failed”. Aria teased, giggling.
“I knew you two had little faith in me...”Adagio said in response. “Yet we succeeded nonetheless”.
“So?”. Sonata asked curiously. “What's next?”.
“Next?”. The oldest of the sirens repeated with a malicious smile. “Next we submit all of Equestria! Think about it, girls! Soon our fame will reach out to all the regions of this land and everypony will want to see us on stage. We'll have a better chance to submit all of Equestria, if we remain here in Canterlot.”.
Naturally Adagio was right and in nothing but a few hours the news of the amazing singing trio that had rocked the annual musical competition spread like wildfire among the folks of Canterlot.
The following morning every theatre in the city had invited the three sirens to perform; requests that the sisters were more than happy to satisfy. What they did not expect was to find competition...well sort of.
Strarswhirl the Bearded had in fact decided to fight the sirens back with their own strength and constantly interrupted their night performances with his musical acts. Unlikely for him, Starswhirl quickly realized that he was not as good with music as he was with magic.
The sirens and him fought roughly night after night, making the Canterlot theatre shine with the colors of new types of music,the likes of which nopony had heard before. Salsa, barbershop, EDM,funk, metal were all invented by the sirens or Starswhirl, competing.
Despite his countless effort, the great magician did not manage to defeat the sisters, playing their game, so in the end he had to change the rules in order to save Equestria.
So it came the fateful night. Starswhirl prepared his spell, believing that, as the sirens' power required magic, sending them to a world without it would solve things. Deep down he might have known that he was doing things the wrong way, but of all the great magic he possessed, he lacked the most powerful of all; the one that could have redeemed the sisters.
The sirens had after all given Equestria a grate gift, a gift to remember them by forever. They had shown the ponies the power of music. Starswhirl could have indeed used their magic for good instead of evil, but it was not to be. It was perhaps his greatest failure ever.
“My head...it hurts...”. Adagio mumbled out to herself, opening her eyes. “What happened?”.
“Adagio”. A familiar voice came from behind her back. “Is that you?”.
“Aria? It's me! Hep me up”. As soon as she stood up on her new legs, Adagio set her eyes on her younger sister, noticing that something about her was odd. “You look different”. The oldest of the sirens slowly said, studying Aria's new features.
“You too”. The other girl replied briefly.
“Ah, what are these?!”. The two sisters turned around, recognizing that familiar voice. “Where's my tail and the rest of my body?”.
“That old fool!”. Adagio hissed, furiously. “He must have sent us to another world!”.
“And a pretty weird one too, I should say”. Aria added, examining her clothing. “Can someone tell me why I am wearing this stuff?”.
“All I know for sure is that the bearded mule sent us here to stop us from reaching our final goal. We had all of Equestria at our command”.
“Almost all of Equestria”. Sonata specified.
“But he'll see. Look!”. The oldest of the trio exclaimed, grabbing the pendent around her neck between two fingers. “We've still go our gems, which means that we can still collect the energy of chaos, we can get stronger and maybe...Just maybe one day go back home”.
Author's Note
And that was it. I hope you enjoyed this little story. Next week I'll start working on something new.
As always, yours
Sunsetsjournal
