Princess Twilight wasn't really sure now that this was a good idea, now that she thought about it, and wasn't even sure what she had expected when she had agreed to do this.
It wasn't the fact that she was changing species. She had done that quite a bit at this point in her life, and this one wasn't permanent like one had been.
For which she was very thankful if she was being honest.
Then again, love made ponies do strange things sometimes. Or in her case, agree to one. More than once, Cadance had told her that when she was growing up, and several more times since. Though Twilight doubted her sister in law had this in mind when she had told her that.
Maybe. She'd have to ask her the next time she was in the Crystal Empire.
Then again, Twilight was not doing this for fun, as much as the idea intrigued her. She was doing this for someone special, someone she still found hard to believe she was with now.
And speaking of whom.
"Well. Not bad for your first time. Not perfect yet. But we can work on it," came a voice. One that made Twilight smile as she turned around to face it.
At one time, the creature before her would have frightened and worried her, but no longer. Even if she had only seen it once before, at the Battle of the Bands. "Adagio. Is that you?" She asked.
Adagio smiled as she posed a little. "Yes. This is me. Well, the real me anyway." She stretched her fins for all they were worth. "You have no idea of how good it feels to be like this again."
Twilight giggled as she looked at her own body. "I bet." As she took herself in, she noticed that she looked quite different now, and not just in species. While her upper body carried much the same lavender color as her coat did, it was her wings and tail that stood out the most.
Instead of their usual lavender or even navy blue, she now looked more like how Midnight Sparkle had during the Friendship Games. But that didn't make any sense. While she and her counterpart hadn't spent a lot of time together, the princess knew enough to know that she shouldn't. Should she?
Then something else caught her attention. Or rather, the lack of something. She placed a hoof on her chest. "I don't have a Soul Gem?" She asked, looking at Adagio, who only shook her head as she came closer.
"I'm not too surprised. You're not a full siren yet," the former Dazzling said.
Twilight gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
Adagio placed a hoof under Twilight's chin. "Twilight. I was born like this. You weren't. You're a Hippocampus. A halfway point if you will."
Twilight tilted her head in confusion. "So what does that mean?"
Adagio's smile softened. "If you do this long enough, then you should become a full siren at some point. Or be able to transform into one at least."
Twilight thought about that for a moment. It did sound possible. Ever since she and Adagio had become a couple, she had wondered what it would be like to be a siren. She knew that she wanted to do it for Adagio's sake. Adagio put up with being a pony for Twilight's sake, no matter how much she didn't like it.
It was only fair.
At that moment though, Twilight felt her body begin to shiver uncontrollably, and her throat begins to dry up. She gave Adagio a horrified look.
The siren noticed it as well, and her look became worried. "Let's get you into the water. You shouldn't be out of it like this for long."
"How come you can though?" Twilight wheezed, trying to remain calm, but it wasn't working.
Adagio shrugged. "Perks of being a siren I guess. We used to spend a lot of time out of the water back in the day. It never seemed to hurt us."
Twilight could only nod. It was still a sore subject to bring up to any of the Dazzlings, even though so much had changed since then for them. It still hurt, and Twilight wasn't one to bring it up.
Bringing up the Battle of the Bands was an even worse idea. Though it was more so only for Aria now. Sonata didn't seem to mind. Then again, she didn't seem to mind about a lot of things.
Adagio's smile softened as she took Twilight's hooves in her own and began to lead her down to the Ponyville Lake, where they had agreed to do all of this at.
Right now, it looked like absolute heaven to Twilight.
***
This, Twilight thought with a contented sigh, was something she could get used to. No matter how much she'd promised herself not too, and she'd only been in this form for a little while now.
She and Adagio lay together on the bottom of the lake, looking at the surface of the water far above, just enjoying the beauty all around them. Equestria was beautiful no doubt.
But this? This was something else altogether. Twilight only wished Fluttershy could see it. Her friend would love it for sure.
Of course, seeing it with one who she loved made it all the more special, as she wiggled closer to Adagio, who only smiled as she wrapped a fin around her.
If it was possible, she was even more beautiful down here than when they were on the surface. But this was her natural element of course. Not that Twilight cared for the details.
She wondered briefly if this was how Shining had felt when he and Cadance had been dating. He'd never talked about it at least. Or Twilight hadn't been paying attention at the time, and with how scatterbrained she could be sometimes, it was just as likely.
That got her giggling, causing Adagio to give her a look. "What's so funny?" She asked.
Twilight shook her head. "Nothing. Just thinking about how I'm the luckiest mare in Equestria at the moment."
Adagio grinned as she kissed her on the forehead, causing Twilight to blush. "And don't you forget it, princess."
Twilight just rolled her eyes. If she had a bit for every time she'd heard that... Well, she would have more bits than she would know what to do with. Not that she complained about it much. She only heard it, what? Once a week? More if they were feeling husky.
But that also brought up something that needed to be addressed, and soon if at all possible.
Adagio seemed to guess what she was thinking, for her brows came together. "How long is this meant to last exactly?"
Twilight sighed. "You can stay like this forever since this is your natural form. Me? I'll have to renew the spell past a certain point to stay like this."
Adagio was surprised by this admission. "I thought it lasted long the last time you used it?"
Twilight nodded. "It did. But I looked back at it later, and found that I'd been unconsciously keeping it going longer than it normally lasts."
Adagio chuckled. "Only you could make nerd talk sound so cute."
Twilight stuck her tongue out at her. "Yes, well. Starlight and I have been working on it. We've gotten to where I don't need to worry about it ending. It'll end when I want it too."
Adagio felt there was more to it than that, that Twilight wasn't telling her, and she hated being kept out of the loop. "But?"
Twilight tapped her hooves together. "There is also a chance that I will never want to change back to being a pony, and that I will make this my permanent form."
Adagio's brows rose in surprise, but soon she was smiling seductively as she traced her fins along Twilight's body. "Would that be so bad? You're even more beautiful now than you are as a pony. A girl could get used to this."
Twilight blushed furiously. "No, it wouldn't. For you, I would. But what about Equestria? What about my friends and family?"
Adagio bit her lip. This was a sore subject for Twilight, but it needed to be said anyway. "You know you will outlive them. You've always known that. You can't hide from it forever."
Twilight sighed, her ears drooping. "I know, and I know there's nothing I can do to change that. As much as I love them, anypony who thinks the girls should be alicorns is an idiot. Equestria would never survive them."
That got a giggle out of them both at least, but Twilight soon gave her love a look. "How did you do it Adagio? How did you never go crazy after living for so long?"
Adagio grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "Evil overlord, remember? We never cared about anypony or anyone else. Sometimes, we didn't even have to do anything ourselves. Ponies, and especially humans, are destructive without our prodding plenty by themselves. Sonata did care more than the rest of us. Aria still doesn't, but she's working on it."
Twilight rolled her eyes, not happy at the reminder. "Touché. But I don't want to be like that. I'd like to stay sane, thank you very much."
Adagio chuckled as she wrapped her fins around Twilight and pulled the hippocampus close. "You'll always have the other princesses and me to keep you sane. And knock the sense back into you if needed."
Twilight pouted for a moment, before relenting and leaned into the embrace, smiling.
Author's Note
I admit that this is a bit bare bones for a romance story, and there is a reason for that. It's not just how bad I am at writing Romance in general.
This is a total reboot of a dead idea I had a few years ago. This was going to be the prologue, and the rest of the story would show how Princess Twilight and Adagio came to this point. But it never got written down.
And to be clear. That is in fact Sci Twi in the cover art. It was for another story, but the artist let me use it for this one.
Cover art done by FeroxUltrus.
