Chapter 5:

"From bad to worse"

Telling her story had moved Adagio. The proud siren's face was now covered in tears, while her soft cheeks had turned red. She would seldom sob, as she tried to dry her teardrops. Before her stood Sunset Shimmer who had listened to the other girl's tale without uttering a single word. The red-haired youngster looked like she had been saddened by Adagio's story, as she looked at the siren in the eyes with pitiful affection.

Whereas for me, I had no intention of showing my feelings to the one who had once been, and clearly still was, a dangerous enemy. I had in fact learned over the years that emotions can often be seen as points of weakness and that it was best to hide them at least most of the time.

We spent the following minutes in a particularly tense atmosphere, which did nothing but cause me to get more and more worried. Previously the red-haired youngster had done all in her power to keep Adagio from unleashing her full wrath upon me, but during those empty moments I began to fear that, after hearing the siren's story, she would not do the same twice. I had put on a brave face until then, yet I did not believe at that time that I would be able to go on like that for much longer. Terrorised, I gulped in my powerlessness.

“Do you understand now?” The siren said, as she began to speak once more. “Do you finally realise that he was the only cause of my and my sisters' damnation? If you have, then tell me how in the world I am supposed to put my past behind me? How can you expect me let the only chance I have to take my revenge on him slide?”

As she heard those words, Sunset lowered her head discouraged: either she had understood that trying to convince Adagio not to hurt me was impossible, or she agreed with her viewpoint.

“You stand silent, I see.” Adagio went on saying, seeing that her interlocutor would not budge. “I suppose that we won't need to put up a fight over this then”. After saying these things, the siren turned toward me; her smirk had disappeared, yet on her face I could still very well read the signs of her hatred. “I suppose it's better this way though. After all, I wouldn't want to waste energy, since it'll take long for me to get satisfied with hurting you, very long.”

As I saw the siren raising her fist, I closed my eyes, ready to do my best not to let a single scream of pain escape my mouth, yet Adagio did not manage to deliver her punch before being interrupted by a sound, coming from the outside.

“Was that the door?” Adagio questioned, since her fun had obviously been spoiled.

Sunset nodded in response. “You did say that your sisters would arrive here soon.”

Immediately Adagio, shook her head. “Right, I did say that. Keep an eye on him, I'll go open the door.”
“And you...” She then added, gazing into my eyes. “...Don't think you're safe, in fact your situation has just gotten even worse.”

In the moments that followed both Sunset and I remained silent. Hers was an awkward behaviour though, for it looked like that she had something to say to me, yet she refused to; as if something were holding her back. Truth be told, she was mystery to me. At first I had thought of her as an enemy, for the simple fact that she was coopering with Adagio. Yet, unlike the other girl, she had shown kindness and concern for me.

It was clear to me now that her heart was pure, but I did not understand why she would choose to trust in some creature like Adagio, who obviously despised her as well as me.

Who knows? Perhaps I had used the wrong approach with her after all. Maybe I should have tried to explain my situation better than I had done at the time of our first meeting. Furthermore if I had scared her so much, it would have made sense that she had decided to trust any creature who could protect her from the danger I represented, the siren, Adagio, included.

For the fist time that night I wished to talk to her, to apologise for what I had done to her and to ask, to beg for her help, yet I could not do that before the siren came back.

As the distinctive sound of her footsteps stopped, I heard an unfamiliar sound.

“So you weren't kidding: he is really here!” The feminine voice exclaimed, stunned.

“Why would I be kidding about something so serious?” Adagio replied, approaching me.

“It's him, it's him!” Another voice spoke from the shadows. “Let's grab him!”

“Wait for your turn, I want to be the first one to give him a a good lesson.” The voice from before added.

“No fair! Why do you have to be first at everything?!”

“Oh c'mon! Do you really want to argue right now?!”

“Why wouldn't I if it's necessary?”

“Look, let's do this. We hit him together the first time, then we switch turns, okay?”

“Sounds go to me.”

“Then let's get to it. I've been waiting too long for this moment.”

Suddenly two individuals stepped out of the corner of the room. Both of them were girls, one slightly younger than the other. They differed in everything from their skin tone to the clothes they were wearing. There was one thing they shared though and it was their wicked grin. A grin that made the blood in my veins freeze. It was only by intuition that I understood that those two must have been Adagio's younger sisters. The same ones that had been banished along with her.

The oldest of the sirens had been right about one thing: from the very start I had been in trouble, but now it was a completely different matter. If handling only one siren without the use of magic and with my new pair of “paws” tied up had been impossible, having three of them before me meant it was time for me to meet my faite.

At that moment Adagio shouted her command: “Have at him, girls!”

After hearing it, I closed my eyes, ready for the worst or so I thought...

Author's Note

What will happen to poor Starswirl now? Will he fall pray to the sirens or will he somehow manage to escape their lair and retrieve his magic and his companions?

If you're anxious to know that, please do not miss our next chapter.
"Allies"