“Oh- oh! Look, Adagio! Isn’t it pretty?” Sonata skipped and bound from one glass enclosure to the next, Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze trailing behind her at a more appropriate pace.
“Yes, Sonata, it’s lovely,” the elder female inspected her nails, her other hand gripping onto her purse lightly to keep it from sliding off her shoulder. Aria on the other hand was too preoccupied with her phone to really pay much attention to the aquatic animals that surrounded the trio, and Adagio made sure to pull at her sleeve whenever the purple-haired teen threatened to crash into another visitor as they followed behind the exuberant bluenette.
Sonata pouted and folded her arms, brows furrowing in frustration. She let out a huff, “You’re not even looking! C’mon,” she frowned, “you guys said I could pick where we went this month. I thought this could be fun.”
“And how, exactly, did you think looking at a bunch of bug-eyed amphibians would be fun?” Aria rolled her eyes, finally looking up from her screen to fix Sonata with a look.
“They’re not amphibians. They’re fish.”
“Same thing.”
“Well, not really,” Adagio piped up after seeing the younger girl’s crestfallen expression spread into a deep frown. “Fish belong to their own sub-species.”
Aria wrinkled her brow and slipped her phone into her back pocket, only to cross her own arms and shift her weight onto her back leg. “And how exactly would you know that?”
The elder gave a shrug and paced over to hook her arm with Sonata’s. “I read it in the pamphlet Sonata gave us last night. There’s also a shark feeding exhibit at 2 o’clock.”
Aria drew her lips into a thin line and tapped her foot. “Do we get to feed the sharks?”
“You can pay to feed them, yes.”
She gave another hum. “Can we—”
“Yes, Aria, we can feed the sharks.”
The younger siren puckered her cheek and raised her brows for a moment before wandering over to one of the glass panels to the side. “Okay. Maybe this could be fun.”
Sonata perked up and bounced on the balls of her feet for a moment before leaning up and giving Adagio a peck on the cheek. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” the older girl smiled and patted the back of her hand, the two then wandering over to look at the stingrays that swam overhead. “I like these the best.”
“Why’s that?”
“They look like pancakes.”
Adagio chuckled in amusement. “That checks out.”
“Oh!” She bounced in place once more, slipping her arm from Adagio’s in order to pull her over to an enclosure near the far wall. “These ones remind me of you.”
The elder girl narrowed her eyes and held a hand to her brow in order to block out the luminescent light from above in order to get a better look at the fish inside. Behind the glass swam a red and white colored creature, with many long spines and fluttering fins. “And why’s that?”
“These are called Lionfish! Or fire fish— or, uhm, zebra fish—”
“A creature of many names, I see.”
Sonata nodded and clasped her hands behind her back to teeter on her heels. “They’re venomous!”
Adagio piqued a brow. “I’ll take that as a compliment?”
“Good! So— they don’t actually have any natural enemies and are super adaptable. And, because they’re poisonous they can easily eliminate any competition for food.”
“So what you’re saying is: no one messes with them?”
“Uh huh!”
Adagio purred with a smirk. “I like them.”
The elder girl pulled her head back from the glass and folded her arms before turning her head to call Aria over. However, seeing the girl nowhere to be found, she frowned and furrowed her brow. “Aria?” She called out, garnering the attention of Sonata who also began peeking through the other visitors to spot the missing siren.
With a grumble under her breath, Adagio took Sonata’s hand firmly, so as to ensure the younger girl didn’t get separated, too. “We can’t take her anywhere, honestly,” Adagio rubbed at her temple, exasperated.
“Mmmh,” Sonata hummed, “I’m sure we’ll find her.”
“She better hope we don’t.”
The younger girl gave a small laugh and kept up Adagio’s pace to intertwine their fingers more comfortably, the taller of the two then giving a small sigh. “She knows I worry.”
“Aria can handle herself.”
Adagio’s lips pressed against her teeth as she gave a small wince. “No, she used to be able to handle herself.” The elder siren frowned and slowed her pace a bit as they came to a more crowded corridor, “without our gems we can’t protect ourselves as well as we once could. We’re human now.”
“I know that—”
“Then why do you both insist on getting lost whenever we have these little dates?” She fixed Sonata with a pointed glare, frowning only when she realized how tightly she was gripping the younger girl’s hand. “Sorry.”
Sonata shook her head and gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s okay. But… we’re not afraid Adagio. We know after what happened with…” she looked down sadly and kicked at the ground, “after we lost our magic, we know we can’t just sing our way out of trouble anymore. But— we don’t need to be as careful as you think we do. We aren’t scared.”
“I’m not scared—”
“No, Dagi, that isn’t—…” Sonata sighed and pulled the taller girl into a clearing at the side of one of the glass enclosures and rested her hands on Adagio’s shoulders. “We know you’re not scared. That’s why we know there isn’t anything to be afraid of. We know you’re going to be there if anything happens. Just like we’ll be here for you, too.”
The elder siren swallowed the lump in her throat and dropped her eyes to avoid the younger girl’s affectionate stare, a warm blush spreading through her face. “Well… good. I’m happy to know you both know that.”
Sonata giggled and took Adagio’s hand once more. “We love you, too.”
The younger girl leaned in to press another kiss to Adagio’s cheek, causing the other girl’s small pout to rise in a ginger smile. “Let’s go find Aria.”
“Yes, right.” Adagio nodded, allowing Sonata to lead the way with gusto.
They managed to weave through the thin crowd and rounded a corner before the surrounding tanks died away, becoming carpet and concrete. Instead, the large room before them housed skeletons, from underwater creatures of all kinds, each exhibit partnered with a plaque of information. Adagio paused to take them all into consideration, mouth opening slightly in awe at the large cage of bones that decorated the far wall, the large print of ‘Blue Whale’ above the exhibit answering the most daunting question of “What in Equestria could ever be that big?”
She gave only a little bit of resistance as Sonata pulled her forward, eyes only leaving the colossal skeleton once Sonata let out a click of her tongue.
“There you are! Dagi’s been worried sick.”
“Glad to know you care, too, Sonata.”
The bluenette waved her off, letting go of Adagio’s hand once the three girls were all standing together. The eldest siren examined what Aria had been looking at and grimaced, drawing her lips into a fine line. “What is that?”
It was a monster of a thing. Blank, white eyes that harbored nothing but evil intent and the desire to kill. It’s jaws protruded from its face like rows of spikes, and all in all it seemed like a swollen, grotesque caricature of a goldfish.
“It’s you,” Aria smirked.
Adagio punched her arm with an unamused huff.
“It’s called an Angler fish,” Sonata pointed at the plaque, “they live thousands of meters below sea level, in the darkest parts of the ocean, and lure prey in with this little light that sticks out of there head!” She leaned in, over the bar that surrounded the statue to point at the dorsal spine.
“Sonata,” Aria folded her arms, “if I cared, I would’ve read the information that is literally right there.”
The bluenette furrowed her brow with a frown. “Well-- maybe I wasn’t talking to you. Adagio cares.” She hesitated, all malice draining from her face as she looked toward the other siren desperately, “R-right?”
Adagio nodded and stepped forward to hold Sonata’s hand again before fixing Aria with a glare. “Stop acting like you’re too “cool”,” she punctuated with air-quotes, “to be here. This is a date. You didn’t have to come.” She then turned to Sonata to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and out of her face, “I’m sure Sonata and I would have had a wonderful time without you anyway.”
“Adagio,” Sonata interjected before Aria could retort, giving the eldest girl another small frown. “I picked the aquarium because I thought we’d all have fun.” She dropped her eyes to her feet and gave Adagio’s hand a weak squeeze. “If you guys didn’t want to come I could’ve picked somewhere else… I didn’t know you’d hate it this much, Aria…”
Adagio clenched her jaw and glared at the other girl before motioning towards Sonata with her head silently, to urge Aria to speak.
She dropped her crossed arms and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans kicking at the ground as she pursed her lips, mulling over what to say. “I don’t hate it. It’s… better than I thought it would be. I’m…” she trailed off, and another pair of daggers from Adagio forced her to swallow the bile in her throat. Aria rolled her eyes and mumbled.
“What was that?” Adagio piqued a brow, “we didn’t quite hear you.”
“I said I was sorry, okay?”
The eldest siren glanced to Sonata, who pulled her hand from Adagio’s in order to take Aria’s, and gave them a squeeze. “We can go look at the Sharks if nothing else is all that interesting for you?”
Aria blushed sheepishly and averted her gaze to pucker her cheek. “I didn’t--... I never said that. I mean, I never said it wasn’t interesting.”
Sonata beamed, “You like the Angler fish, don’t you, Aria?”
“I just think it’s cool--”
“Not cooler than the Lionfish,” Adagio raised a finger and began pacing toward the exit, the two younger girls following behind her as she led the way. Sonata kept a tight grip on Aria’s hand, who did her best to stand as close to Sonata as possible to hide the fact-- blush keeping her face warm in a red hue.
Adagio held a hand over her mouth to hide her amused snicker as the blunette began swinging their arms in tandem, Aria desperately trying to fight her off as they once again entered a corridor lined with Plexiglas, the buzzing orange-toned lights overhead now replaced with dimmer, luminescent blues and whites. Although tacky, the eldest siren had to admit that the black-lighted painting of a giant squid that stretched across the length of the hallway, was a nice touch. The vibrant, neon colors quirked the corners of her mouth upward.
“Woah-- check this out!” Sonata exclaimed, pulling Adagio’s attention from the passages of deep sea information that were scrawled around the squid, to a tank that sat at the far wall down a set of steps. A crowd had gathered-- young and old alike-- and so the three sirens held their position at the top of the stairs to look down at just what had garnered so much attention.
Beyond the glass swam a lone Manatee, Adagio and Aria exchanging glances with one another before rolling their eyes. However, just as Aria opened her mouth to shut Sonata down, a large, brightly colored fin flicked into view from the bottom of the glass. Adagio furrowed her brow and leaned closer to get a better look, Aria narrowing her eyes and folding her arms.
A few moments later, the fin flicked into view again before disappearing, and this was enough to excite the ever-growing crowd of Aquarium goers.
Then, a woman swam up into view. No, not a woman. Women had legs.
“What the--” Aria sputtered, “what’s--”
The lady waved and smiled at the rows of children who let out cries of amazement and rushed to press their hands against the glass, waving vigorously back at her. The lady then flicked her tail fin and swam into a loop before coming back up to rest her fingers against the glass, the crowd of children going wild with applause, chasing the woman along the length of the glass wherever she went.
“The pamphlet didn’t say anything about this-- but the Aquarium's website said they had real live mermaids! Isn’t that amazing?”
The two other girls’ mouths hung open in disbelief and Aria blinked for a moment before shaking her head. “But-- but mermaids aren’t real.”
A few parents near the back of the crowd glared at her over their shoulder.
Aria shrunk away and pulled the other two sirens close together to whisper. “Mermaid’s aren’t-- shouldn’t-- be real. This world doesn’t have magic like that.”
Sonata shrugged, “I guessed that it was super unlikely that it was the real deal, but seeing the videos on the site made me really want to show you guys! Isn’t she pretty?”
The three turned their attention back to the woman who was silently chuckling at the antics of the children, bubbles of air escaping from her mouth and nose.
Adagio drew her lips into a line and furrowed her brow lightly before giving a frown. “Do you girls think…” She raised a hand to her mouth and looked down at the floor for a beat. Aria raised a brow and exchanged a glance with Sonata. “Do you think that, perhaps… Mermaids could be real? In this world?”
Aria frowned and let out a sigh, rubbing the back of their neck and resting the other on her hip. “Adagio you know that isn’t possible.”
“But what about the possibility that they could be creatures also banished here from Equestria? What if Starswirl banished other--”
“Adagio,” Sonata frowned and rested a hand on the older girl’s shoulder before giving it a light squeeze. Red-hued eyes searched Sonata’s gaze, desperately, for some kind of affirmation. Maybe she could be right. Maybe, just maybe there could be others like them in this pitiful little world.
“It’s okay. We know you miss Equestria. We miss it too,” Sonata took Aria’s hand and slipped her other from Adagio’s shoulder to hold hers, also. “I didn’t bring you girls here to make you feel bad…” she shrugged with a weak smile, “I wanted you to know that just because we’re far from home, doesn’t mean we need to leave everything behind.”
Aria nodded and gave Adagio a smile of her own. “She’s right for once. We still have each other, too. I guess that has to count for something.”
“Mh,” Adagio hummed, glanced at their feet for a moment, and looked back up with a small smile of her own. “I suppose you’re right. I suppose this world isn’t so bad, so long as we have each other.”
The three girls held each others stare for a moment, relishing in the warmth that swirled in the pits of their stomachs. The gentle feeling of joined hands. The cooled air of home on their skin.
“So…” Aria finally piped up. “Shark feeding time?”
Adagio chuckled. “Shark feeding time.”
Author's Note
This was so much fun to write, and I just wanted to thank my good friend Illenia for commissioning me!
I absolutely love the Dazzlings, especially them being soft for each other. Poly Dazzlings are the best
