The most difficult day of Adagio Dazzle's life was the day that Starswirl the Bearded and his so-called 'Pillars of Equestria' banished her and her sisters to this wretched world, which was a yawning chasm empty of magic and filled to the brim with barbarism.

The most difficult day of the century was the day that the Dazzlings were soundly defeated by a loose collection of teenagers with magical powers, who by all accounts should have been squabbling and murdering each other under a hollow stage instead of rallying against them.

The most difficult day of the decade was when the Dazzlings split; not as their typical break from each other between stretches of time, but in an angry, heart-rippingly painful breakup that tore Adagio Dazzle's family apart.

No pain in Adagio's life could compare and none had before; not getting stabbed or impaled on the battlefield, not getting burned as a witch, not being made to starve in an oubliette, nothing had ever or could ever hurt her as much as those times when her very life's purpose was challenged, or when her sisters abandoned her.

And yet, now, somehow, as Adagio prepared herself for her date, she felt that she was about to embark on the most perilous performance of her career. She had blustered to Buck in the alleyway next to his workplace, doing everything she could to stay on top of the situation and keep him from running away, but now it seemed the day's goal was the opposite.

As she carefully plaited her orange mane, lit by the morning glow of her bathroom's skylight, she went over every angle of what she wanted to accomplish today. It was a surprisingly complex performance, and though she would never admit it, she was genuinely terrified of flubbing her lines.

Buck, the wonderful idiot, had finally cracked and challenged her outright. He was tired of Adagio's misdirection and distraction, and he had boldly cut right into her, demanding that she finally tell him about herself instead of pulling him along on a string.

This was going to be much more difficult than she thought it would be, and in retrospect, while she had no shame in her life up to a certain point, there was no way to spin herself as anything less than what she was.

Adagio Dazzle was a blackhearted scourge of Equestria, and her reign of terror alongside her sisters was the stuff of legends. How could she twist this to her own ends and not have Buck run screaming from her in the process?

The answer was that she couldn't. And so, today was going to be not simply a test of her own composure, but a test of Buck's will. She had never gone so far nor put so much effort into a man before, and she wanted to know if Buck was actually worth the trouble.

Would he run from her after finally knowing what she was--what she is?

Or would he foolishly try to brave the force of nature that is Adagio Dazzle and allow her to dash him against the rocks on the shore?

Who was to say?

He adored her; she knew that much, the man was absolutely crazy about her.

Or perhaps he was mad in general. A normal man would know better than to court a monster.

But then, Buck was not a normal man, was he?

And therein lay the rub; Adagio needed him even more than she simply wanted him. With Buck in her arms, she would not have to go hungry, nor be alone with herself.

With Buck, Adagio was safe and secure, and the thought that those feelings came from lusting after a human man was acid in her veins.

She hated him, and she loved everything about him, and she despised that she needed him and she was happy to want him because Buck very genuinely and very sweetly wanted to understand her, and no one understood Adagio Dazzle, not truly, not even her own sisters.

Adagio wondered sadly if Buck would be the first man to survive more than a year with her.

A quiet, lonely, wretched little piece of foundation in her heart desperately wanted this to be the case.

As Adagio tied her lashing french braid with a rich purple ribbon, she also wanted sweet little Scootaloo to be here with her. Scootaloo had said she would meet them at the Boardwalk after gathering her clothes and effects for the date. This was a shame because she was sure that having a willing slave lapping tenderly at her labia as she planned for the day would make everything easier.

In Adagio's mind, Scootaloo's tongue turned to Buck's, and then his length, then his girth stretching her and his warm, firm hands and the roll of his voice in her ear and the feeling of him grunting and pounding into her and she slapped at her own cheeks.

Buck liked to slap her other cheeks.

Another slap to the ones on her face. She needed to focus.

It was very likely that Buck would give up on her today.

But there was also a small percentage of a percentile that Buck would hear her tale and see the wicked bitch of the deep and choose to dive into her instead of shrinking away. What a wonderful world it would be, for a simple, narrow-minded human to simply leap into her jaws instead of having to be chased.

What was today going to be, really?

Today was going to be a duel.

A fight between Buck and herself and possibly the rest of the world. She was peeling off another mask in front of this poor man, and there was a monster beneath it, and he had to know that, and yet she knew he would be there waiting for her, wit at the ready, because Buck was right.

The two of them were both just as stubborn as the other. The thought plucked a cackle out of Adagio's throat.

Buck was stubborn enough to throw himself on Adagio's blade, and he would have smiled at her while he bled out and apologized for the flecks of red on her boots. He thought he was in love with her.

He was wrong.

No human could ever truly love a thing like Adagio Dazzle.

There was also another matter. His neighbor had seduced him, and Adagio was distantly upset at herself for allowing this to happen. If Buck ran from her, it was very likely that Ditzy Doo would run with him, child in tow. And then she would win. Unacceptable.

As Adagio slipped on her undergarments for the day, she realized with a startle that her hand was fondling the bridge of her collarbone. It was the spot where her precious amulet had sat.

With it, Adagio could have drunk Buck's very essence down and fed on it for centuries; his magic was that potent, but without it, all she could do was choke and try to learn to acclimate to his pressure.

He was like an ape with a rocket launcher; that is to say, Buck was immensely powerful in a sense, and completely incognizant of it, and therefore monstrously dangerous. If Adagio didn't claim him, it was only a matter of time before someone else did, and used him to his full extent. That was another unacceptable possibility.

It was better to keep him close and placated than to let him wander.

How's that working out for you, Sis?

It was Sonata's voice, in her head. Sonata would have laughed at her for even catching such feelings for a 'dumb boy' and Aria would have offered to hobble him so he couldn't run away. They would try to help and likely rip him apart like a rag doll in the process.

The bitterness in Adagio Dazzle was happy that her sisters couldn't see her now, working so hard to keep a man that was clearly beneath her.

She wished he was right beneath her just this moment. Adagio wanted to be holding Buck right now, and she wanted it so badly that it stung her eyes and ached in her belly. Or perhaps she was just hungry.

In all honesty, dreading about it was pointless. Adagio Dazzle was the most talented schemer on this wretched plane, certainly, but at the end of everything else, she always had one singular plan.

She donned her battle armor for today; a saccharine, spitefully appropriate outfit that would surely tickle Buck's fancy, and she looked at herself in the mirror and checked her waistline, and raised her chin.

Adagio Dazzle would do whatever it took to stay on top, and she would look gorgeous while doing it.

She was ready.

She hoped that Buck was ready for her.

When Buck awoke on Saturday morning, the first thing he did was psyche himself up in the mirror.

Well, that's not true; what Buck actually did first was what he always did when he had to get up early, which was to quietly curse every single thing about the sun and the fact that he was awake, and wonder what he had done to deserve it.

Buck had stuck his dick in an isekai villain is what he'd done, and now he was taking her out to a nice afternoon on the boardwalk, and that wasn't even the weird part.

The weird part was that he was so deeply invested in this woman, and this was technically only their third date.

His Dad would have found that hilarious. Dad would have navigated this better; he could navigate Mom without directions or a map, and that was a feat he used to perform every day, somehow.

Buck was terrified of today, but his Dad would've known what to say to him. He imagined his father's strong, certain hands applying oil to his hair and steadily pulling at him with a detangler brush.

Buck's father had a mantra he would speak when he knew that the day would be difficult. Buck had forgotten it from time to time as he was forgetting himself under the pressures of the world, but he would always find his way back to it.

The words were like magnetic north on a compass.

"No matter what goes wrong, the best thing that you can choose to be is a Man, son." The words marched out of Buck's mouth line by line like a military parade.

"A man is kind." Buck combed his hair. Even strokes, straight down. No ponytail, today.

"A man listens before he speaks." Buck washed his face and shaved. No eye-boogers. No dirt. No stubble. Not today.

"A man is honest." Buck applied his foundation. Not even a single blemish.

"A man trusts his people." Buck applied his leave-in. How many times had his mother told him to let it air dry? The air around the boardwalk would do fine, he thought.

"A man gives freely of himself." Buck put on his eye shadow. He was going to be fierce today. His sister would've been proud.

"A man laughs loud, and often." Buck put on his undershirt. It was a black tank top, his usual under armor. Tried and true; a support beam for his outfit.

"A man stands his ground." Buck belted his pants. The belt was red. It was going to match. There was a certain word coming up, one he had been terrified to utter in relation to Adagio.

"A man loves." Buck looked around. Right. The jacket. Ditzy Doo had said she would fix the sleeve for him, and when Buck stepped into the living room, to his shock, he found it hanging on the coat rack next to the closet. The sleeve had been mended with pink string. Ditzy Doo knew that Buck liked pink. Even when things were strange between them, she was still in his corner.

"A man believes a woman." Buck was going to see Adagio today. He knew she didn't want to show herself, but he had pushed and insisted and called her out. He was scared that she would hide from him as a cat hides under the bed when it's time for a flea bath. Buck wondered how many scratches he would get for reaching out today.

"A man is a pillar that holds up a piece of the sky." Buck would not let himself crumble. He needed to show Adagio that she could trust him and lean on him instead of hiding behind all the nastiness. He just knew that if he dug in deep, he would get to see that incredible, beautiful, vulnerable woman that had been peeking at him from just below the surf.

He was sure that if he just stood firm and held out his arms, Adagio would come to him.

And then maybe things would change.

One more piece to the puzzle; Buck put on his sister's old bracers back from her punk phase. They were spiky on top and had narrow clasps on the inward side. They were both stylish and functional, and Buck was sure that his sister had used them to defend herself before.

She'd passed them down to Buck after she'd come back, after everything that had happened, because for some reason, she had remembered that he thought they were cool.

Buck's sister was so much stronger than him. He really should have talked to her about all of this. Putting on her bracelets made Buck feel like she was right behind him. It made him feel like he really could do this.

As Buck stretched and did his last check in the mirror, he told himself that no matter what happened, he was going to survive, and he was going to figure it out.

He owed it to himself and to Adagio to give it his best today. He owed it to his father, too.

Today was going to be hard, definitely, but no matter what, Buck would do what he always did; make it through, have a laugh, and maybe, just maybe have a round of applause at the end.

What's the worst that could happen?

Scootaloo didn't have even the foggiest idea of what in the hell was going on today, but what she did have was a pocket knife, and that meant that at the very least she could stab her problems if they got especially grody. Today was the day of a date between Adagio and Buck, and Scootaloo, after being railed by the both of them, and managed to crowbar her way into it as a third wheel.

She never understood why people used that term as an insult. Who doesn't like a nice, sturdy tricycle? Whatever; at least the day wouldn't be boring. Adagio had been acting weird about it last night; while Scootaloo was dusting her shelves, she'd caught glimpses of Adagio reading from what she called her journals and twirling a wine glass like Dracula waiting to start a boss fight.

Her diaries were these weird, thick little books bound in something that Scootaloo didn't want to guess at, and Adagio had gone through a bunch of different emotions reading through them. That was last night.

This morning, Scootaloo had showered and shaved and actually combed her hair, which was a pretty rare thing. It's not like she didn't like combing her hair, it's just that she played this deadly game in the morning where she would groan and plant her face back into the pillow when she knew she had classes soon, and would then have to run like a magical girl with toast in her mouth to make it on time. Coincidentally, there was no time in this routine for brushing and combing; she could do that in the shower when she got back from practice.

It seemed like everyone was tense about tonight; Buck, Sunburst, Adagio, probably Starlight for some reason, and even Ditzy Doo. Ditzy had gone real quiet after Buck went out to do the trash, and that was probably because she was spying on him. Scootaloo had gone out into the parking lot just after closing a few minutes later, and Adagio had also seemed antsy.

Scootaloo didn't get it; what was the point of all this pomp and circumstance? Buck liked Adagio and Ditzy Doo liked Buck and Adagio hated Ditzy Doo, probably and they couldn't, like, snap Buck in half to share him, so why not just have a night together to settle their differences. It had worked on herself just the other night, right?

I mean, yeah, Scootaloo was now Adagio's maid for two weeks, but the night before, she had cum her brains out the back of her head, and doing the sub servant thing with Adagio was actually really hot, so everything had worked out. Something was weird about today, though, like talking about Adagio's childhood was going to be this whole big deal, but Buck was a sweet guy, and he would listen to her, and he had a big dick. Why was Adagio so unsure about this? Why was Buck? Why was everyone in Scootaloo's life so weirdly withdrawn about this stuff, besides Sunburst, she guessed.

Maybe she'd have to be Sunburst today like he was on game nights; she'd have to mediate and keep things fun and moving.

Whatever. Didn't matter; it was gonna be a fun day, and no matter what happened, she could take comfort in knowing that she did, in fact, have a pocket knife, and she was gonna look bomb as hell.

To Buck's genuine surprise, the forecast today was sitting at a warm 75 degrees with moderate wind. A perfect day to be wandering around on the boardwalk with the ocean breeze in your hair. Even this far north, it seemed that spring was code for summer and summer was code for fire season, but Buck didn't have time to ponder any looming environmental catastrophes.

He instead pondered what sort of ice cream Adagio would like. Buck bet it was something textured and complicated, like a rocky road that she could chew on. He was on the far end of the Boardwalk, where the shops gave way to the massive wall belonging to the Canterlot Aquarium's big habitat tank. It was a grand mural of whales and octopuses and rays and other sea life, with a massive shutter that would be opened at set times of the day to let passersby gawk at the actual sea life inside. It was closed at the moment, which was a shame because Buck always liked to catch a peek at the octopus in the small pool. He liked octopus. Octopi? 'He liked octopi' didn't sound right in his head. Buck shook his head, trying to erase his brain fog like lines on an Etch n' Sketch. He needed to focus.

The plan for today was a little roundabout; Buck would meet Adagio and Scoots here at the aquarium, then they would walk along the boardwalk and look at all the cool carny stuff and arcades and food stalls, and they'd hit this restaurant that Buck knew on the other side for lunch.

Buck looked out past the sea wall and saw all the folks having a good time out on the beach. Man, if things worked out, he had to get everyone out to the beach on a day in the summertime. Funny how it was called a sea wall when this wasn't the sea. It was Lake Michigan, but then, not everybody could grow up with seawater a short drive away.

As he watched the water sparkle, Buck took a deep breath of the lakeside air, and he felt like he could actually do it today. The beach always made him feel at home, no matter where it was.

He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of fun out in the water. No hurricanes up here, either, though there was a cyclone apparently back when Buck was a baby. Old folks around here still talked about that. Buck wondered if a cyclone was something you prepared for or ran from. Was there warning, like a hurricane, or did it sneak up like a tornado? Buck didn't know, he'd have to look it up.

When Buck opened his eyes, he saw the cyclone that had recently blown into his life standing before him. She was impossibly beautiful and dangerous, and beneath the brim of her hat, Buck saw a vicious curve of the lip.

Adagio was wearing a wide-brimmed beach hat with a pink band that ribboned in the breeze behind her. There was a corsage of anemone flowers and hydrangeas on it, fastened by a wickedly sharp hat pin. Buck cursed himself for not being up on his flower symbolism. Beneath was a lavender-colored maxi dress, the flowery embroidered points swishing around her knees. Her waist was tied with a golden-colored belt, and a transparent white shawl was draped around her shoulders. She was wearing some surprisingly sensible dark purple shoes with yellow ribbons, and god damn it, she had on a set of striped monochrome kneesocks that teased Buck with a flash of her thighs on every step. She'd styled her hair into a gorgeous trailing french braid that fishtailed at the end behind a dark purple ribbon.

Adagio looked like a beach witch come to survey her territory after a thousand-year slumber; like she owned this fucking place and everyone ought to stop and kiss her feet as thanks.

Buck could tell that Adagio was going to make today hard because she was making him hard and she hadn't even done anything yet.

Buck pushed off the shutter behind him as it stirred to life. With a clinking, rattling racket, a portion of the mural lifted up to reveal a myriad of sea life inside of the tank. The water shimmered in the spring sunlight, dappling Buck with a shifting, waving dazzle.

As Adagio's head cocked in Buck's direction, the man smirked as the woman froze in place. There was shock in her eyes. Maybe it was because she didn't expect Buck to clean up nice, but he knew this expression by now. It steadied him. Adagio's pretty lashes fluttered and her lips pursed and then she quickly hid under a cocky grin. Adagio had been pleasantly surprised, and she didn't want to show it.

Adagio didn't know what she was expecting from Buck, but it wasn't this. How in the world did this man keep surprising her?

Adagio hadn't yet seen Buck wear any shoes aside from beaten-up sneakers, yet here were a pair of shined red dress shoes with black laces, one lazily supporting Buck while the other sat up against the tank wall he was leaning against. Black jeans that hugged his clydesdale calves and suggested a certain tightness in the front just beneath a red belt. On Buck's broad shoulders was a jacket of weather-beaten red leather, the hem dangling around his midriff. Underneath was Buck's signature casual black tank top. And then there was his face.

Buck had let his hair hang down for the first time in Adagio's recollection; a thick, plush curtain of curly mulberry waterfalls that dangled nearly to his collarbone. His shock of light blue trailed down, covering his left eye, and above his right, Adagio could see that Buck had taken care to paint a dramatic orange egyptian shadow. With that orange swish framing it, Buck's golden pupil looked like the feather of a phoenix.

Was that intentional symbolism, like the flowers in her hat? A little arrow of intention, burning from the corner of his gaze? Adagio guessed it had to be; burn me down and I'll rise again. Can you handle my flames? Buck looked dangerous, but not as dangerous as his bracers.

They were dark purple and spiked and looked exactly like the kind of thing Adagio could find in her own accessory drawers. Another message. Buck had gone ahead and shackled himself for Adagio, but those bracelets looked plush and comfortable and mean. They suited her better than they suited him, and of course, it made sense, because who else would be hanging off his arm today? Buck's sharp grin told Adagio everything she needed to know.

Buck looked like something dastardly and man-shaped that had strolled right through the gates of Tartarus while no one was looking. He was vicious and soft and blazingly tempting. It seemed that if Adagio wasn't careful, Buck would take her by the hand and drag her, giggling and cooing, straight back down into the underworld and she would close the gates behind them without even needing to be asked.

This was a show of force.

Adagio was not so foolish as to underestimate this man, but she would also not be daunted by petty threats. She maintained eye contact as she approached him, hands behind her back. She watched his eyes trail all over her form and saw his grin grow more vicious by the second before she took the initiative and touched his chin with her fingertips. They trailed up and slid through his hair. It was monstrously, horribly soft. She grinned in Buck's face and delivered the first blow, touching his cheek.

"My...what a handsome seat. Is it taken~?" Adagio felt the heat wash through Buck. His devious smirk broke into a wide, bashful chuckle. He took Adagio's hand, kissed the knuckles, and then refused to let go.

"That's it. That's gotta be the strongest pick up line you've thrown at me. You been savin' that one?" Buck laughed. He didn't look away. He hadn't even stopped leaning on the wall.

"Yes. I like to keep it in reserve for when I want to smudge a boy's makeup with my thighs, Buck. You look positively ravaging."

"Uh, d'ya mean 'ravishing'?"

"Did I stutter?" Adagio tried to pull her hand away from Buck, but he held it gently and firmly. Embers were falling into Adagio right off the bat. Her other hand rose and touched his chest.

"Mm, compliments. I'm not used to that from you. Are you trying to distract me?" Buck said.

"Whatever do you mean, Buck? Distract you from what?" His heartbeat was slow and his breathing was even. He wasn't even shaken!

"From the obvious thought, o'course."

"Oh? And what's so obvious to you?" Buck let her hand go, and a fragment of her mind told Adagio to run, run now before it's too late. Buck's hands slid to her cheeks, and he leaned down under the shade of her hat's brim.

"It's obvious that you dressed absolutely fuckin' incredible for me, and I'm not sure if I can wait until we get you home to spoil you properly." It was sweet and honest, and Adagio could feel her heart flutter when Buck slowly kissed the tip of her nose. The flame of Buck's lust was a tiny pilot light, but his love was a fuel that made it blast into Adagio like a backdraft.
Adagio had to grab Buck's shoulders to hold herself up.

"Woah...um, did you know that your eyes could glow pink? I've never seen that before..." Buck said it with disgusting concern.

"You...! You're seeing things, Buck!" Adagio turned away in defeat. Buck's hand caught hers again, just her ring and pinky fingers in his. She tasted his disgusting exuberance; like he'd just unwrapped a surprise gift.

"There were hearts in there." Buck said. A flat statement of fact. That didn't make sense to Adagio. It couldn't be true, but he tasted of truth and her heart was trying to break out of her rib cage with a sledgehammer and perhaps it was just a bit too hot out here?

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Buck." Adagio said. The gulls on the lake seemed to be laughing right on the edge of her execution ground.

"You always say that." Buck said. He was off the wall, his lips by Adagio's ear. His arm around her waist. "I noticed, you say that whenever you get flustered. It's fuckin' adorable." Buck murmured. How could he do this to her? Adagio had come in with a powerful opening move, and Buck had effortlessly parried and thrown her to the floor. Now his fingers were sneaking between hers and he tasted like an ocean of caramelizing sugar. His smooth cheek nuzzled against hers.

"I am not flustered by you, Purple Prose." The icy venom in her veins melted under the searing heat of Buck's affectionate chuckle.

"If you insist. Hey, I wanna ask you somethin'..." Adagio reached out to keep her hat from falling off as Buck turned her chin toward him. Under the tiny bit of shade, she could see the pink glow bouncing off Buck's gold eyes. The imploring, open curve of her bottom lip. The burning blood in her cheeks. No. Please, no. Not already. We've just started, Adagio thought as Buck smiled down through her.

"What?" Don't. This isn't fair! Adagio's soul screamed as Buck's heat surrounded her. If he did this now, his love would char her bones into black ash.

"Can I kiss you?" Adagio's lips were already puckered. Her eyelids were falling. She was falling.

"Hey guys! There you are!" As Buck pulled away to wave Scootaloo over, Adagio thanked the gods and their capricious little mercies for saving her. The short orange sprinter came running up to them in a tight black sleeveless crop top with a matching pair of running shorts, crocs on her feet, and a blue transparent visor over her eyes.

"Hey hey, Scoots! You're lookin' butch!" Buck smiled. Scootaloo gladly accepted the high five he offered.

"Yeah, and you look like some kinda project runway finalist! What the hell happened?" Scootaloo laughed.

"How dare. Buck looks absolutely delicious!" Finally, an excuse to get irate. Adagio would have to reward Scootaloo for this later on. She had saved her again.

"Nah babe, I think that was supposed to be a compliment?"

"Eh, column A, column B." Scoots waggled her hand.

"Nice. Well, uh, we've got a whole boardwalk to check out before we go into the Aquarium. I just wanted us to meet here so y'all know the buildin'. That way if we get separated or split into groups, we can meet up here around 3ish."

"Oh, we're not splitting up, Buck." Adagio said, crossing her arms.

"No, I mean, like spatially."

"Like I said. We won't be splitting up."

"Uh-" Scoots started.

"Because you won't be able to keep your eyes off me." Adagio said, summoning her best demonic grin. Buck gave that horribly genuine smile in return, then squeezed Adagio's fingers in his.

"Why limit it to just my eyes, Princess?" Buck growled. The bastard was good at this! She wasn't going to rattle him with flirtation alone. Good. No, this is good. Today is a test of his will, after all, and so far, he's passing fine at the art of the verbal skirmish. Let's test his range, shall we?

"Oh, gag! Are you guys gonna be like this all day?" Scoots said, sticking out her tongue.

"Well, yeah. This's a date, Scoots, and look who I'm with! Any man'd shower her with praise, and I got a pretty big-ass tank for that." Buck shrugged. "You're also lookin' good, if I wasn't bein' clear before."

"Hey, thanks! What're we gonna do first?" Scoots said.

"Well, the big deal today is Adagio telling her story, so mainly, my plan is to listen. We'll take breaks when she wants. Sound good, babe?"

Adagio, who had lowered her head to conceal her blush, simply nodded.

"Well, you guys can have fun with that, I think I'm gonna be, like, around, you know?"

"Gonna wander some before we do lunch?"

"Yeah...long stories tend to get me all 'dozey' you know? No offense. You okay, Adagio?" Scoots stepped forward to look up at Adagio's face, but Adagio refused to be seen like this. Damn him. Damn him for making her feel this way!

"It's a bit warm. Could we find a shady bench to sit on?" Adagio said, quietly.

"Yeah, that's a good plan. Anyone up for ice cream?"

"Ooh! I'll get it!" Scoots said and immediately started jogging away. She doubled back around, running in place. "Uh...does anybody have cash? I think the stand is cash only."

"Here. We'll be right over there." Adagio handed Scootaloo a twenty-dollar bill, then gestured at a shade cooled bench overlooking the beach.

"Get me a mint chocolate chip, yeah? Tell them no nuts; that stand goes a little crazy on the nuts." Buck said.

"Sure! What about you, Adagio?"

"...I'll have a rocky road, thank you."

"Hah!" Buck tossed his head back and let fly a cackle.

"What's so funny?" Scoots said, looking back.

"Ah, nothin'."

As Adagio led Buck by the hand to the bench, neither they nor Scootaloo noticed a slight rippling through the water behind them, nor the bizarre sight of one of the rocks in the tank suddenly shattering apart as if hit by a slow-moving explosion.

Starlight Glimmer slurped her coffee with all the grace of a med student cramming for mid-terms. Sunburst, without saying a word, reached out and dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

"And you're sure you're up to this?" Sunburst said. He was wide awake, wearing a pair of sunshades and loose-fitting sleeveless sort of scruffy thing that said 'Jersey Devils' on it.

"I'm fine. I didn't stay up that late, stop worrying." Starlight snapped. Starlight Glimmer was somehow able to be cold during a warm spring day at the boardwalk, and therefore was wearing a nondescript blue hoodie and a pair of grey jean shorts. She was blinking slowly through a pair of binoculars, observing Buck and Adagio from down the boardwalk at a nice little cafe.

"How late is 'not that late', Starlight?"

"About three in the morning." Starlight yawned. As she squinted at Buck and Adagio, she could tell there was some tension. Adagio was staring at the ground like Buck had said something unexpectedly mean, and Buck was just sort of looking straight ahead. Then he pointed at something, and Adagio sat up at attention.

"You still haven't told me what you found out there, or why it's so important you follow them today. You do realize that spying on people isn't okay? We've talked about this?" Sunburst said, between sips of a smoothie.

"Adagio doesn't count as people, first of all. Second, it's important for a number of reasons, but they sort of tie into what I looked at last night. Do you want the cliffnotes?"

"Sure. What were you looking for, last night?"

"Mothman." Starlight said with absolute seriousness. Sunburst coughed into his straw, which stabbed at the roof of his mouth, seemingly taking offense.

"What!?"

"Well, probably not Mothman, but that's what people online are saying it is. I'm not convinced."

"What do you think it is?"

"Testimonials say that some kind of creepy, somewhat humanoid thing crawled out of a sinkhole across from Sugar Cube Corner. No one got a good look at it, but there was a polaroid photo that someone recovered." Starlight pulled out her phone without lowering her binoculars, then tapped it a couple of times.

"Wow...that's...that's pretty compelling." Sunburst said. What he was looking at was a blurry jpeg of a dark, emaciated figure. It had glowing eyes and a thin neck, but because of the distance from the camera, the top of its head and below its arms weren't visible. It didn't actually look like it had arms, it looked like it had a spindly limb inside of a very large wing of some sort. It was hard to tell.

"A person claiming to be an eye witness said that this thing swooped up a college kid, then flew off into the night without even making a sound. Freaky stuff. But that's not what's weird about this."

"How is that not weird!?"

"What's weird is what was at the scene. If there's another monster loose in Canterlot, it's my job to track it down. Except there were no tracks, I guess because they were on the sidewalk when it happened, and using a sensing talisman gave me a signature I didn't exactly recognize, but it led me back to the sinkhole. What do you think I found in there, Sunburst?"

"I don't know. What was down there?"

"Equestrian magic. A big reading of depleted equestrian magic was down in that hole. It was like...like that metallic oxygen smell that comes after a lightning bolt hits. So here's my theory; this thing came from equestria, because a rift to equestria opened in that sink hole. And do you want to know something else? I know what caused it."

"Oh, well that's good news!"

"It's not. It's really, really not." Starlight shook her head and raised the binoculars once more. It looked like Buck and Adagio were having some sort of disagreement. What were they arguing about?

"Look, you don't have to get all up in arms about it!" Buck said. His hands were up in defense.

"What exactly are you trying to say, Buck?" Adagio hissed.

"I'm sayin' that poofy sleeves are god damn atrocious on anythin' other than like a princess gown, and even that, I think is pushin' it. No swimsuit should have built in floaties!" Buck said.

"You have absolutely no taste, Buck."

"Oh yeah? Is that why I'm out here sittin' next to your pretty ass?" Buck spat. Adagio blinked as if she'd just been slapped in the face with a trout. That question tasted like fresh lemonade; the way Buck had tasted for most of game night.

"What did you just say to me?"

"Oh nothin'. Just provin' a point." Buck was reclining on the bench with his arm back behind Adagio's shoulders. He had one leg over the other.

"Fine then. Prove your point; how do you feel about the shoes on that one?" Adagio pointed to a lovely couple of girls who were strolling arm and arm down the walk.

"Which one?" Buck said, squinting.

"The one with the minty skin. Cyan and white hair."

"Next to the blue and pink haired one?"

"Yes, Buck. It's nice to find out you're not entirely blind, just a bit tasteless."

"Oh please. Who in the hell wears kitten heeled pumps to the boardwalk!?"

"Someone with a modicum of style, perhaps?"

"Fuck off."

"And what would you know?"

"'bout fashion? I know enough. Enough to guess that the tags of them shoes prolly say 'tacky' instead'a 'gucci'."

"Oh, you sassy bitch. Honestly, you're one to talk! Who wears a black tank top in spring?" Adagio smirked.

"Black's always in season, 'dagio." Buck growled.

"Certainly, but I think you might want to take a leaf out of little Scootaloo's book and attempt a crop top." Adagio baited.

"You really think I could pull that off?" Buck bit.

"No, but it would be fun to watch you try. And fail." Adagio patted Buck's knee in a manner she hoped came off as patronizing as possible. This was much more manageable. Buck made her burn up like dry kindling when he was romantic, but sassy Buck was something that Adagio could understand.

"Oh wow, that's rich, comin' from you."

"Pardon?"

"It's just I've only ever seen you try and fail at one pattern, but you do it almost every Saturday. Tell me, what the fuck is your deal with leopard print tights?" Buck jabbed.

"They're meant to look fierce, Buck." Her hand returned to her lap, curling into a fist.

"Naw, my eyeshadow is fierce. Them kneesocks you're wearin'? Fierce. Leopard print was fierce when people saw them in pornos back in the 80's, and barely even then." Buck chuckled. His scorn was sharp and sour and delectable.

"Who do you think you are, giving me fashion advice? If I let you dress me, I'd look disgusting!"

"At least then, your outfit'd match your personality." Buck said. Adagio's head snapped over the glare at him.

"Fuck. You." It came out like the warning of a rattlesnake.

"Well, fuck you too!" Buck turned to Adagio and leaned forward.

"Fuck you, Buck!" Adagio's teeth were showing sharp, but Buck wouldn't back down, despite the dare in her eyes.

"Fuck you!"

"Now they're yelling at each other. Wow. People are looking. Guys, you're in public." Starlight said, below her binoculars. Sunburst was leaning over the table, head in his hands. He was trying to process what Starlight had told him about his best friend a sentence ago.

"FUCK YOU!" Adagio screeched. She was in Buck's face, now. She was smiling viciously.

"No, FUCK YOU!" Buck yelled. Adagio's sight was filled with his blazing gold eyes.

"Fuck you."

"Fuck. You." Buck hissed.

"Fuck you..." Adagio smirked. Her hand had found Buck's chest.

"Fuck you." Their foreheads touched.

"...fuck you~" She purred, pulling at his collar.

"fuck..." Buck's insult petered off as his lips found Adagio's. And then her tongue. He reached down and stitched his fingers in hers as she kissed him greedily and furiously,

"ICE CREAM!!!" A suddenly arriving Scootaloo snapped Buck and Adagio away from each other. She had a little travel tray of ice cream cups.

"You have got to be kidding me." Starlight groaned.

Sunburst stood and made to stride in Buck's direction. Starlight couldn't tell if he was angry or just determined, but she caught him by the wrist.

"I'm going to tell him."

"No! Not now! Not when she's there!"

"Why not!?"

"Sunburst, think. It all makes sense, doesn't it? Adagio isn't after Buck for his looks or his dick and definitely not his smarts. She's after his magic! That's why she's been chasing him so hard! But Buck obviously doesn't know that!"

"Which is why we should tell him."

"No, Sunburst. Sit down. Hear me out." Starlight let go of him and patted the seat. Begrudgingly, after a glance over his shoulder at Buck and Adagio, he sat. "Adagio has been drinking Buck, but she's leaking magic. She can't keep his magic inside her, so she's been tapping him over and over again. Not enough to drain him completely, but not too little that she starves. Why is that, Sunburst?"

"...it's because she can't contain all of his magic."

"Yes! She can't drain him all the way, so she's chosen to groom him instead. She's been leading him around, petting him up and keeping him interested in her, all the while, trying to worm her way into his life, because he's probably the best food source she could find in Canterlot! So what do you think will happen when Buck finds out that she's only after him for his magic?"

"...he'll be heartbroken."

"Yes. And what else?"

"He'll leave her."

"Right. And if that happens, Adagio will have lost her meal ticket permanently, and all thanks to us. Now, she may not be able to keep all of Buck's magic in at once..."

"...but she can hold enough to be a huge threat to us or anyone."

"Exactly. Now listen, Sunburst. I love you. And because I love you, I want to support you in caring for Buck. He's not a bad guy, and he deserves better than this. We both agree on that, right?"

"He's...yes. He's my best friend, Starlight."

"I know. So we have to play this careful and cool. The only way we're going to finish this is to weaken Adagio enough that Buck can get away safely, okay?"

"But wait, hold on. Adagio wouldn't attack Buck just because he broke up with her!" Sunburst said. Starlight raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, fair, but when do we tell him? If he's so full of magic that he can open rifts to equestria, he needs to know, otherwise everyone around him is in danger!"

"We'll have to get him somewhere safe, protected from Adagio, so we can teach him about magic proper. Then we can figure out how to suppress his magic reserves to a safer level. Think about what he could do with all that power, Sunburst. Buck's a good guy, right?"

"Of course!"

"Well, imagine if he was on our side, as Canterlot's protector. Monsters like Adagio would never even try to come near us!" Starlight said. For the first time in a long time, Sunburst saw her smile.

"That's...let's just focus on watching out for him."

"Why do you think I brought the binoculars?" Starlight looked through them just in time to see Adagio's glare snap over in her direction.

"Babe, it's alright. I don't wanna make a whole thing outta this. It's not a big deal."

"Nonsense! They wronged you! They didn't listen, and they're ruining our date."

"I dunno, Adagio. I think he's right; you're overreacting."

"No, I'm setting the record straight. They're not going to get away with this!"

"Adagio, chill out, they mean well-"

"EXCUSE ME!? He very specifically sent an order that asked for No Nuts on his ice cream! He would like another, this time made correctly, thank you!"

Adagio said it in her best impression of the royal canterlot voice. The nondescript individual behind the register at the ice cream stand nodded frantically and put together another cup, this time with two scoops for the trouble. Buck, who was covering his face with one hand, and being dragged along by Adagio's death grip in the other, just shook his head.

"Sorry, Norman." He said, taking the cup from the man's shaking hand. Scootaloo snickered as the trio walked back to the bench.

"See, I thought you were just gonna bitch at Me today. You didn't have to do my mans like that, 'dagio." Buck said. He was licking at his mint chocolate chip ice cream in a measured if undignified way.

"Hmph. You deserve to be treated with respect, Buck. You had better start demanding proper treatment if you want me to let you keep hanging around." Adagio was scooping daintily at her rocky road with a little plastic spoon.

"Oh yeah? Is that what you've been showin' me? Respect?"

"I'm showing you who I am, Buck. That's what you asked of me, isn't it?"

"Fair enough. So is it storytime, then?"

"Hold my visor. And, uh, my phone. And my wallet!" Scootaloo said, having just finished inhaling her tutti frutti.

"Where're you goin?" Buck said. Adagio took the things that Scoots had dropped into Buck's lap and placed them in her purse.

"I'm gonna go jump in the lake!" She was already a few yards away.

"...does she know that water's colder'n a witches tit?" Buck said, looking at Adagio. She grinned as he heard a distant splash, then a sound like a cat being thrown in an ice bath.

"She does, now." It was funny, how nostalgia can creep up on a person, Adagio thought. The day was feeling terribly familiar; traveling around with a brash idiot on one side and a jocular idiot on the other. This was the right feeling for talking about her past. It would help her to stay in the tale. Adagio flipped open a little notebook from her purse.

"You took notes? Oh, wow." Buck mused. Adagio unscrewed the lid of a vial of some strange pink-orange liquid, sprinkled a bit on her wrist, then put it away. Her downcast eyes slid over to Buck.

"Being long lived...has a deleterious effect on the memory. You can't fit everything you've ever experienced in your head, not even when you're a short-spanned wretch, like humans are."

"Rude."

"Hush. It's considered a point of honor not to meddle with the diaries of magical creatures, because they contain their lives, even when their minds fail to do the same. If I'm to tell you my story from the start, I'll need to go there, first. We all have our little ways of triggering memories. This is mine." Buck sniffed at the wrist that Adagio proffered, then gagged and turned his head away, earning a giggle from her.

"What is that stuff!?" Buck wheezed.

"Oh, a few things. Seaweed essence, ocean salt, ambergris. Nostalgic scents."

"Please don't ever wear that around me. I feel like you just singed off some'a my nose hairs!"

"As I said; no taste."

"What, no taste for whale vomit!? Yeah, naw, you can miss me with that." Buck said.

"Are you going to let me finish?"

"I thought you were getting started."

"Stop talking, Buck. It makes you sound stupid. May I continue?" Adagio said, smiling sweetly. Buck's eyes narrowed in a fashion that indicated he would remember that crack and likely pay it forward in the near future. Adagio ignored his scent and took a deep sniff of the perfume. She closed her eyes.

She remembered.

The scents contained in the perfume were a deliberate choice. They smelled both of the shallows and of the deep, for it is to both worlds that Adagio was born. In that hazy, misty-eyed place between stories and dreams, Adagio remembered her very first moments.

The world was pain, and salt and heat and cold, all wrapped into one. The world was the screaming despair of an infant with no mother to lift her.

The world was others, it was shouted commands and wide-eyed shocks. It was nets and ropes, and the pulling of sure fins and gentle murmurs.

The world was the foam of the surface, the thrashing of the weak, and the feeling of water flowing through gills.

The world above was filled with stark, blinding light, and as the newborn was saved from a miserable existence in captivity, she looked up and saw the brutality of the surface dancing away as she was taken down down down into the cold, safe embrace of Home.

The earliest memories of a child are always the most ethereal of all life experience. Adagio found this funny, considering how foundational they were. In retrospect, one can take lessons from earlier times, but what of infanthood? What possible advantage could be gained from staring back into the unsteady wiggling that came with first learning to swim, or the sounds of the village singing, or the ache of an unknown parent?

What Adagio remembered most clearly was this; it had been the one overseeing the nursery who had answered her first and most pressing question.

Adagio's mother had broken the rules.

Hippocampus, the masters of the deep, neither pony nor seahorse but something in between were known to wander beneath the waves and the bravest of them in ages long past wandered atop them, but in Adagio's time, the Kingdom of Seaquestria was but the daydream of a later ruler. In her days, in the nameless nation of the Hippocampus, her people had no borders save for the one above. Beyond the shimmering surface was a world of barbarism, hatred, and foul magics. It was a world of monstrous aberrations, a choking, breathless realm with a sort of infectious heat known as Flame that would obliterate all in its path to sate its hunger.

Her motives could only ever be guessed at, but in her darker moments, the little fry that would become Adagio Dazzle had to assume that her mother wanted to try raising her daughter in the shallows so that she might taste the wonders of either side of the surf. But something had happened, no one knew what, and when the lonely yellow hippocampus arrived screaming and singing into the world, her mother had already departed to the next.

In theory, this mattered little. After all, hippocampus have no name save for the one they are given by the regent when they came of age, and no families save for the village as a whole. Those without mothers and fathers were in good company, or so the little fry was told.

Learning the rules was difficult for the little yellow fry. It was all so overwhelming for her. The power of the hippocampus comes from their voice, and so all little frys are taught first to sing their emotions. There was a song for 'Food' and a song for 'Frustration' and a song for 'Lost' and every other feeling, and it was known that should a little fry sing loud enough, there would surely be another hippocampus to hear them and fly to their aid, for that was their way.

The first song that the little yellow fry ever sang was the song of 'Fear', and in the days that followed, that same song would in turn follow her every move.

The little yellow fry didn't have much in the way of voice; for those lacking in magical power would always be deficient in the art of Song, but it seemed she gained a keen awareness in exchange. She could sense the songs of others before they were ever sung, and hear them from leagues away, and taste even the best-concealed intentions. The other young frys could never sneak up on her for tag, nor escape her at hide and seek, for the excitement in their hearts was like a drumbeat that led the yellow fry straight to them. In time, their bemusement turned to fear, and then to a cold, distant hatred, for even though the little yellow fry's song was faint, she was far too aware and far too clever to be bested in any other category.

It didn't matter. She didn't need them, and she didn't need a powerful song, either. She was content to wander and discover without the whistling and caterwauling of others to slow her down. Even the adults feared her, and it wasn't long before the intoxicating taste of fear became too much for the gifted fry, who would retreat from the bustle to find a darker corner of Home. There, she could find peace.

Or so she thought.

It is a fact commonly known but rarely articulated that when an introverted individual seeks solitude, there will inevitably be an extrovert or two that will grab them by the ankle and drag them screaming into a social situation, all while asking why the introvert is so quiet so often.

This disturbance came in the form of a bubbly, bumbling blue idiot of a fry, Her song was joyous and warbling and high and irritating. The bumbling blue fry had apparently seen the clever yellow fry slink away after lessons, and decided that the best course of action would be to assert herself by swimming in circles and singing a tune that Adagio would later compare to a mockingbird with the runs. It was adorable underneath how profoundly annoying it was, but no matter how far the little yellow fry swam into the darkness, the whistling of the bumbling blue fry would follow.

The clever yellow fry would first try evasion, then stealth then traps to get the bumbling blue one off her trail, but the blue one simply couldn't take a hint, and eventually, the clever yellow fry accepted that the blue one would stick to her like coral on a rock despite her protests. Strangest of all was that the blue one never feared her, not even once. Instead, the bumbling blue fry was nothing but amusement and curiosity, back and forth. The yellow one's leering was a source of endless amusement for her.

A day came wherein the duo were following a swarm of jellyfish that the clever yellow fry sensed a quivering, irritating presence following her. She knew not to what creature it belonged, but it was intelligent enough to radiate fear and envy, yet foolish enough to tail the clever yellow fry. A whispered song between yellow and blue, a clever trap, and suddenly between them was a purple fry that did naught but scream in absolute terror until a swift slap from blue's curly tail turned her fear into fury.

The fight was infantile and cruel in the way that only fights between children can be, and the clever yellow fry watched it go from annoying to funny to sad to annoying again. Once she grew bored of this bickering, yellow swam between the two ingrates and sang them a song of Calm that quelled their anger. Well, blue calmed and then embraced the other two, while purple simply grumbled.

It was the first time the clever yellow fry had been embraced by fellow children. She didn't know how to feel. It was overwhelming and so desperately welcome, she wondered how she managed to go so long without it, but then it all went wrong.

The fighting and singing had roused some antediluvian hunger of the deep, and the embrace of the three hippocampus grew far too tight in an instant. A suckering, biting tendril wrapped around the three of them, and as it dragged them down, the clever yellow fry could see rings of fangs gnashing and burbling below.

It is said that in desperate times, one's true nature is revealed. Adagio never believed that. Desperate times force a decision, and how one reacts may seem prescient, but all it truly reveals is their level of preparation.

The clever yellow fry, constricted against her fellows, was indeed prepared. The blue one wept and the purple one thrashed, but the yellow one knew what to do. She sang.

She knew that her song would not carry far, but she also knew that she was beside two others with voices that would, and so she chose a song that called for desperate aid, and the other two joined her.

It seemed that all was lost, but then a distant voice answered in harmony. Then another, and another, until a chorus of magical power surrounded the three frys. The beast buckled under the voice of the village, laughing and howling back to the crushing depths from which it crawled, and suddenly the three frys were home once again.

The blue one cheered and the purple one pouted, but the clever yellow fry's magenta eyes wandered slowly into the distance, considering what had just happened. She learned a valuable lesson that day.

"Oh, I get it. This is the part where you say that you learned about leaning on your community and the value of friendship and all that good stuff!" Buck had finished his ice cream. Adagio sat up from her leaning position at Buck's shoulder and squinted at him. "That...uh, that is what you were gonna say, right?"

"Oh, heavens, no! What I learned that day is that while one may be deficient in personal power or magic, there is always magic to be found between people. If I could learn to harness it, I would finally have the power I was lacking! That's the lesson." Adagio said. Buck tilted his head and seemed to ponder this.

"...isn't that the same thing, just meaner?"

"It's entirely different, Buck, as you'll soon see."

"Eh, you say tomato, I say potato." Buck shrugged.

"I'm going to continue now."

The Hippocampus had no song for the concept of time. Without the shifting light of the sun or even the swaying of the tides, the only way to tell that time was truly passing was to look upon the forms of your neighbors. The three frys grew to the vibrant edge of adulthood and showed greater promise together than any singular hippocampus could claim.

The fear surrounding the clever yellow one only grew with her, but all whispered songs ceased at the sneering of the purple one, and all envious eyes trailed away at the cajoling of the blue one. Yellow would never be lonely again, and that was almost a suitable payment for the headaches that she gained from having to look after her clingy companions.

The day finally came that all young frys fear and look forward to. When a hippocampus came of age, it was their duty to report to the acting regent and show their worth to the village. They would have to present an original composition and display their magical aptitude, and they would then be given names and a role to perform, They could even ask a boon of the regent if their performance happened to merit it.

The song of fear tapped a staccato rhythm in the yellow ones' heart. She knew that each member of the trio would be judged individually, and without harmonizing with the other two, her own song would be woefully deficient.

The blue one took the stage, and her natural soprano spoke for itself. The bubbles around her sparkled and shimmered as she sang, then deepened into a dark, yawning beauty that seemed to silence the world. Her song carried across the reaches of home, and hippocampus all around were enchanted into a stampede of cheers and adulation.

The purple one fared far worse, at first. She first tried a song like the blue one, but her voice cracked as it tried to rise. In frustration, she screamed a furious chorus that earned fear from the audience and respect from the queen. Her howling was answered by the booming of ancient vents, which spat jets of steaming hot bubbles up toward the surface.

The yellow one was at a loss. All alone, she could do nothing but pose and gesture and whisper. After the youngest frys in the audience began to laugh, the sitting regent raised a fin. The clever yellow one could sense the fear and scorn from her village slowly boil into silent mockery and disdain. She was worthless to them, undeserving of even a name.

The queen put her fins together, and a glowing bubble of force inflated into being. The queen waved the bubble at the clever yellow one, and as it broke against her, she felt but a fraction of the regent's power. It was filled with compassion and care and pride. And pity. The queen bade the yellow one to sing.

Now lacking in any restraint, the gifted yellow hippocampus belted out a rhapsody more beautiful than any heard before or since beneath the waves. The water around her coiled and danced and spun into the shapes of all the wondrous things she had observed in the dark; a dazzling display of light and sound. Here was a pod of whales and there a garden of coral springing up and here the dance of mating mandarin fish and there the elegant sweeping flight of a manta ray. It was slow and swaying and gorgeously sad. The brilliant yellow hippocampus shone in the light of her creation, unparalleled by any around her, and for the first time, she sensed the wonder and adulation of her village. For one splintering second, she knew her villages' warmth, but as they applauded her, she tasted their enthusiasm sour into bitter jealousy, and once again fear.

Worse yet, the brilliant yellow one had needed charity from the highest power in the ocean just to compete. She was mortified, but that would not stop her from claiming the prize she knew she had earned.

The queen rose. The sea quieted.

"For the darkly beautiful melody you have presented to us this day, I name thee Sonata Dusk." The sea cheered and the blue one bowed her head in sheer reverence, perhaps for the last time in her life.

"For the gorgeous, glowing fury you have displayed, I name thee Aria Blaze." The purple one would never, not in thousands of years admit it, but her eyes welled up that day, the tears bubbling up and off to break at the surface.

"And for you. You have shown an aptitude unlike any before witnessed. The glorious, waltzing gift you have given us today is nothing short of dazzling. Therefore, I name thee Adagio Dazzle for your grand achievement. Speak your boons, and I shall bend all powers to realize them!"

"Your majesty, there is but one wish in my heart. I want to travel to the surface world, just like my mother before me." A trembling gasp ripped through the village. What she spoke of was forbidden. She was an apostate, born to curse their village! And aberration! The queen's glare demanded a silence that fell instantly.

"Dear child, know ye not the perils of that dastardly plane? There is naught but rampaging griffons, flame belching dragons, mountain shaking yaks, and worst of all, ponies up on the surface. It is a nightmare realm of cold unfeeling light! What could possibly compel you to seek it out?"

"Curiosity, my liege. For what is a hippocampus if not curious?"

"If you go there you can never return. You will be cursed as a blasphemer like your mother before, and you may be struck down the moment you breach the waves. I beg of you, is this truly the fate you desire?"

"I am stronger than my mother.

"You don't know that, child."

"I will find out. The village already despises me; there is nothing for me here but petty envy and fear. I should choose damnation if only to end their fool whispering behind my back fin." The village hemmed and hawed, but none disagreed. It was a good feeling, to rise above it all.

"...go then, and may Mother Faust and Father Grogar have pity on your poor young soul. Be gone from my sight!" The queen then turned to regard Sonata and Aria, but they were already traveling upward in the wake of Adagio Dazzle. The length of the journey was impossible to know, but each fathom that passed the trio by brought ease, then warmth, and finally light. The surface was bright and warm and as endless as Home. It was pastel and strange and filled with colors and sounds and motion that the trio had never before seen.

Here was a beauty unlike any that Adagio had ever imagined, and in an instant, she fell in love.

It was only too bad that the surface had no love for the three hippocampus.

Adagio blinked. When had Buck's hand found hers? He wasn't looking at her. He was looking up at the clouds again.

"A child that is not embraced by the village will burn it to the ground to feel its warmth." It came out in a slow drawl. He tasted not of pity, but of nostalgia and understanding.

"What are you talking about?" Adagio said. Buck looked back at her and smiled.

"Just an old proverb my Dad used to say. It's from the Motherland."

"Wow, Buck! I didn't know you were Russian!" Scootaloo said, behind them. She stank of freshwater and dripped of it as well. Buck put a couple of fingers to his temples.

"Not...not that Motherland, Scoots."

"I think it's time for a break. Buck, didn't you say there was a restaurant you wanted to take me to?"

"Oh yeah! How'd you like to try the actual best curry in town? My treat." Buck rose, smiling. He tugged gently on Adagio's hand until she rose as well.

"I thought I told you that today was my treat, Buck." Adagio hissed.

"Oh, it is. But can you find it in your crusty heart to make an exception? For me?" Buck made a show of fluttering his eyelashes. Scoots stifled a laugh. Adagio frowned.

"You are...extraordinarily lucky that you're cute, Buck." Adagio said.

"Hey, wait for me you guys!" Scoots ran after them, but Buck held out a hand.

"Hold on! You're not goin' in there like that!"

"Why what's wrong?"

"Scoots, you smell like you just climbed out of a fuckin' fish tank."

"In a way, she did." Adagio snickered. "He's right. Go rinse off at one of those horrible little shower stations! I'll get you a souvenir towel and a change of clothes"

"Alright, but don't you leave without me!" Scoots said, running off. Adagio was certain that if she didn't get that crop top off soon, the water would shrink it so much that they'd need scissors to remove it.

"...let's have another one." Buck laughed.

"Honestly! You're so obnoxious today!" Adagio giggled.

"What? You'd be a great mom!"

"In your dreams, Buck. It's not even possible for you to impregnate me."

"Ah well, there's some dressin' rooms over there."

"Yes? And what's your point?" Buck slid behind Adagio, and his lust tingled on the tip of her tongue. He pressed up against her.

"We should go over there and try, just to make sure."

"...later, Buck. Later." Adagio said through a sudden rosy heat.

"Welcome to Svaadisht, the most exotic food in all of Canterlot!" Said a cheery woman from behind a short counter. The restaurant was filled with plush purple cushions and finely grained wood.

The flickering flowery lamplight cast a dim and homey glow on the hanging rugs and tapestries, and everywhere Adagio looked she saw vibrant yellows and purples and oranges. The mystical tales of the far east she had heard returned to her as Buck led her by the arm past paintings of romantic landscapes and majestic tusked beasts up to the counter.

"Well, this is a change of pace! Buck, when exactly did you become a man of culture?" Adagio said. Buck bit his lip and tried not to laugh. What was it about that term that tickled him so? Adagio looked at Scootaloo, who just shook her head in a disapproving manner. Adagio wasn't sure if that was the remark or the T-shirt they had given her. It had come with the towel, and it said 'Canterlot Wet T-Shirt Contest' on the front.

"Well, normally fancy digs like this are way above my paygrade, but this ones' an exception. Hey there! I'd like some orders of the curry lunch special!" Buck smiled and held up three fingers. The other diners looked over in the direction of his warm voice, looked the group up and down, and began to mutter their distaste.

"Oh, excellent, sir! And how will you be paying?" Said the woman. She was wearing a uniform, not unlike the concierge of the towering hotel that Adagio called her base of operations.

"No need. Just go run and tell Saff in the back that it's Buck, and he's with friends. She knows me." Buck smiled.

"Err...that's a bit odd, sir." The cashier hesitated under the pressure of the murmuring restaurant. Adagio rolled her eyes.

"Yes, well, you heard the man. Run along now, while we find our seats." Adagio said, tugging Buck over to a table. Scootaloo sat in a chair while Buck and Adagio lounged on the plush couch across the table from her.

"And three mango lassis, please! Somethin' tells me we're gonna need 'em!" Buck chuckled. The woman uprooted herself from the spot and then scrambled back behind a velvet curtain. "No, but seriously, you guys, the curry here is hot, so pace yourselves, okay?"

"C'mon, Buck! If you can handle it, so can we!" Scoots said, tapping her chest with a fist.

"Naw, this isn't like a underestimatin' you sorta deal. This is a 'keep the fuckin' bathroom key on lock because it's gonna be a ride' kinda deal. I'm just sayin'." Buck said.

"It's going to be fine, Buck. Tell me, how did you come to have a contact in a place like this?" Adagio said. Buck took a moment, much like when he was at the game night table, looking for the right words, and he came up with a trailing taste of shame.

"Well, I did a buncha gig work here. It was hard times, but I put in a lot of effort and they fed me and treated me like family. Well, sorta." Buck said. Adagio was about to press further when their three dishes arrived in the arms of a waiter.

After they began to tuck into their spicy, flavorful meal properly, Adagio's eyes caught the sight of a beautiful woman emerging from the back of the building.

She had brilliant orange skin and long, wavy prune-colored hair and dark purple eyes. She was tall and curvy and she was carrying a ravishing smile as she straightened her bright patterned scarf. Adagio looked incredulously over Buck's shoulder at the gorgeous woman.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Buck said. Adagio pointed behind him, and right as Buck turned, the woman leaned down and pulled his face directly into her chest and laughed.

"Oooh Buck, my big tasty treat! It's so wonderful to see you!" She said with glee. Her accent trilled and danced across the restaurant, earning looks of shock from the patrons. Well, there was certainly something on his face now, Adagio thought as she crossed her arms. The woman pet Buck's hair and leaned back to let him breathe.

"Hey, Saff! It's uh, it's good to see ya too!" She sat right next to him, practically in his lap.

"Buck, it's been so many moons since I've seen you! I thought Papa's warnings had finally scared you away! How have you been, Buck?" The woman doted. She was tall and obviously mature, but when she sat next to Buck, they looked to be of similar age, at least in Adagio's opinion. She looked to Scootaloo for help, and found none, as she was shoveling spoonfuls of orange curry into her mouth.

"Oh, hah, well, I'd be lyin' if I said it was all good, but I'm in a better place since ya last saw me! Mostly." Buck said. "Uh, hey, Adagio, this is Saffron Masala! She runs this place, and is probably the best damn cook in Canterlot." Adagio frowned as she saw him blushing, but it lessened somewhat as she tasted a profound embarrassment coming off him.

"Oh, you flirt! Honestly, you never change, Buck!" Saffron tittered. Adagio didn't like the way she was feeling his shoulder and fluttering her eyelashes at him. She wasn't the jealous type, truly she wasn't, but anyone would be annoyed at someone drooling over a piece of jewelry that they were currently wearing. Adagio cleared her throat.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry! Is this your wife, Buck?" Saffron said, putting her hands up and away. Buck was midway through a generous bite of curry and had to beat on his chest fight off the coughing fit that came.

"Adagio Dazzle. Charmed." Buck gave her a smile that was flailing for a middle ground between apologetic and indignant.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Dazzle. How long have the two of you known each other, if you don't mind me asking? Buck is a withdrawn thing, so I'm surprised that you managed to connect with him so well!" Saffron said. She reached up and stroked Buck's chin as if he was a lapdog, but he gently swatted her hand away, mumbling something about 'people looking' through a mouthful of curry.

"I've known him long enough to know when he's being polite. Is it necessary for you to fondle him while we talk?" Adagio warned.

"Oh, Buck doesn't mind! We're well acquainted, after all. You know, Buck really helped my restaurant through a rough patch. He did just about every job besides cooking for us for a time! You're truly lucky to have snagged such a versatile man, who is so good with his hands! Has he been treating you well?" Saffron Masala's smile shined like a half-drawn dagger.

"Yes. While he does tend to be a little on the helpless side, overall I'd say he's a delightful man with a shocking number of esoteric talents, and I'm glad to have his arm." Adagio smiled in a way that was supposed to come off as polite and instead caused the restaurant patrons to look away all at once.

"Hey, Saff? How's Coriander? I was half expecting him to come charging outta the kitchen with that wooden spoon, yelling 'stay away from my daughter!' when I walked in." Buck said in a slightly offensive mock accent.

"...Papa passed away last spring, Buck. Cancer of the lungs." Saffron said.

"Oh...oh man, I'm so, so sorry Saff. I didn't know, I didn't mean to bring that up!" Buck backpedaled. Saffron Masala's smile was gentle. Her hand came to his shoulder again.

"It's fine, Buck. Papa was surrounded by his loving family, and he got to have our favorite curry before he passed. He was happy, and I was there with him, even at the very end." She dabbed at the corner of her eye with a handkerchief and smiled at Buck.

Buck's discomfort once more dived into a bath of acrid shame. Buck's hand, which hadn't left Adagio's under the table, seemed to squeeze reflexively. Adagio quenched the seasoned fire in her mouth with a sip from her drink.

"We're aren't married, by the way. This is only our third date." Adagio said. Her own fire had cooled.

"Oh. Well. Does that mean you're single, Buck?" Saffron said. The fire in Adagio instantly reignited, but she didn't have to stand, because Buck did it for her.

"Check please!" Buck said, finger in the air. Scootaloo waddled out of the bathroom, looking red-faced and horrified in a way that is saved for embarrassing photographs and existential crises. Adagio assumed that meant she couldn't handle the curry.

As they left the restaurant, Adagio looked down at her hand, which was still holding Buck's. He hadn't stopped squeezing, and it was beginning to ache just the slightest bit.

"Buck? Are you alright? Why were you so flummoxed by that woman?" Adagio gave a half-hearted verbal feint.

"Hey, hey! How 'bout we hit the arcade, next! They got a Marvel 2 machine in there, and a ping-pong room, Scoots!" Buck leaped out of the verbal fencing field and rolled into a ditch in response.

"Yeah, bet! Let's get hype!" Scoots declared, to Adagio's befuddlement, and then the three were off.

Across the street, an old-fashioned polaroid camera clicked; capturing Adagio's confused expression.

It could have been hours or days or weeks that Adagio, Aria, and Sonata splashed and frolicked in the waves of the surface, ducking down and away beneath the surf whenever something unfamiliar came near. Everything was unfamiliar on the surface. The hateful heated glare of the blinding orb in the sky, the curious creatures in the shallows, the foam, and the rocking waves, everything was bright and new and strange.

They watched the rise and fall of the glowing circle, which they assumed was the consuming god known as Flame, they saw great strange shapes with tall arms and sturdy bodies gliding effortlessly across the surface, filled with yelling, laughing, singing voices.

Every moment was an equally exciting discovery, and while they lucked out in finding some crustaceans that looked similar enough to the ones in Home to fill their bellies, Adagio was naturally the first to broach the question of what to do next.

Sonata spoke without thinking, hardly the first in a lifetime of such instances, saying that they should swim around this big stretch of water and look around for a while.

Aria grumbled that it was too hot up here and the sand scratching them through the waves was getting annoying.

Adagio, ever the forward thinker, spoke reason.

"This world is completely new for us, but my own goal hasn't changed. I want to learn more about magic, gain greater power and see everything there is to see up here. To that end, my plan is to find what passes for an educational facility in this place, gain admittance, and continue my studies. Neither of you have to come along." Adagio said, turning to swim away. Sonata blocked her path, once again.

"Uhhh...but we're gonna do it anyway? C'mon, uh..."

"Adagio. I was appropriately named Adagio Dazzle."

"Come on Adagio! We've stuck together this long, why stop now? We need each other!" Sonata said.

"I don't need anyone, but if you once again insist on trailing after me, I won't turn you away. You'd both be helpless without me." Adagio huffed.

"Yeah, sure, just leave us behind, it's not like you need us or anything. Some plan." Aria said.

"We have been on the surface for a minuscule amount of time, and you are already raking at my nerves. If you both insist on coming along, be quick about it and keep low." Adagio said, not even glancing in Aria's direction. She could taste Aria's sour disposition, which contrasted deliciously with Sonata's cheer-filled sweetness."Now, let's see. What's the fastest way we can get our hands on some information? Who or what would we ask?"

"Maybe that nice lady over on the beach?" Sonata pointed.

Aria ducked down, then Adagio grabbed Sonata by the head and ducked her down as well.

The passerby was wearing a wide-brimmed hat, carrying a saddlebag, and wearing a cloak. They trotted along on four stubby phalanges, then came to a sit on the edge of the water. Adagio watched as the hat and bags were enveloped in a strange green light, lifted and placed gingerly to the side, revealing a head very similar to Adagio's own, save for the addition of a spiraling horn. On its backside was an odd eight-pointed mark that seemed to have symbols at the extremes of each tip.

"What's that?" Aria bubbled, glaring from the surface.

"I'm very certain that is one of the 'ponies' we were warned about. According to legend, they are uppity control freaks, and there are three factions of them that are constantly at war. If I'm not mistaken, that creature is the species known as a 'Magicorn', and they are easily the most dangerous of the lot. They can make your brains melt out of your ears with nothing more than a thought!" Adagio whispered.

"Well, you might wanna tell that to Sonata." Aria pointed. Adagio looked to her left and saw that Sonata had slithered out of her grasp, and was currently swimming toward the reclining monster with an idiotic smile on her face.

"Well, having a liquified brain might be a genuine improvement for her. Let's observe for now." Adagio sunk below the surface and followed behind Sonata with Aria at her side.

"Helloooo! Hi! Hi! Hi new friend!" Sonata yipped, stopping just short of her tail touching the sand under the surf. The pony startled and looked as if it might flee or perhaps fire off a sizzling bolt of magic, but then it tilted its head and raised a tentative hoof.

"Hello? I didn't think I would find anypony swimming around out here!" The voice was airy and pleasant, and surprisingly understandable.

"Anypony? That's a silly word! My name's Sonata! Are you a pony!?" Sonata laughed.

"...I am. Aren't you?" The pony tilted its head. Before Sonata could blow this any further, Adagio rose from the water, dunked her companion's head back down, and then reclined her arms atop it like a shelf.

"We are. We just happened to fall off a...vessel that was passing by, and as luck would have it, we were able to swim to shore!" Adagio lied. It came to her swiftly and easily and tasted raw on her tongue.

"Oh, mercy me! I had heard that the HMS. Griffonstone shipwrecked somewhere off the coast! Terrible business, that! I suppose it serves the brutes right for all of their pillaging and...hunting, or whatever it is that griffons do, but a sad affair altogether." The pony rambled. She produced a notepad from her bag and began scribbling with a quill.

"Uh, what's a griffon?" Said Aria, emerging halfway from the waves.

"Oh! Well, they're something like this..." The pony's quill, which seemed to move on its own, flew about the notebook, and then the leaf ripped itself out to present a caricature of a snarling thing with a curled squid beak and big, thin fins on either side and sharp raking points on the ends of its limbs. An absolute terror to be sure, but the hippocampus looked on with awe, analytical attention, and fear. "Nasty creatures, but you need not fear from them under these skies! The Holy Pony Empire is the safest place in all of Equestria!"

"Yes, yes of course! How fortunate that we were able to wash up on safer tides! We happen to be scholars, not unlike yourself, hoping to study up on the wider mysteries of magic! Tell me, do you happen to know of any institutions nearby that might assist us in that pursuit?" Adagio ventured. They had to tread as carefully as possible, but this small talk was getting them nowhere.

"...well, the best place to go for advanced studies would be Gusty the Greats Academy of the Arcane, which is in the capital city of Canterlot! You three have washed up near the settlement of Baltimare, which is where I live, so if you'd like, I could take you to my home so you can dry off and rest up for your trip!" The pony pointed down the beach as she spoke. "Oh, where are my manners, you poor dears must be freezing! Come on out of the water; I have a tarp that you can wipe off the salt with!" The mare fussed, opening her saddlebag once more. Aria and Sonata looked helplessly at Adagio, who lightly shook her head at them.

"No, that's quite alright, we rather enjoy a good swim! Could you possibly tell us how to get to Canterlot? Is it much of a paddle from here?" Adagio said.

"Oh, my! It's a bit more than a paddle, dears! You really are turned around, but not to worry, Cartographer Northbreeze is at your service!" The pony exclaimed as she produced a scrap of parchment. Her quill danced across it as she spoke. "Now, if one were to get their hands on a boat, they could shove off from the port in Horseshoe Bay--that's attached to Baltimare, dears--and paddle up the Neighagra River to the west and north, and they would certainly arrive at Canterlot in a matter of perhaps a week and a half. Alternatively, you could charter a caravan overland, which would be more expensive, but definitely safer than braving the rapids. Er...wait, if you were in the shipwreck of the Griffonstone, how do you not know what a griffon is?" The pony halted her ramblings to squint at the three hippocampus.

"Hm? Oh, we weren't-" Aria dunked Sonata back down as she began to speak.

"That is, well, we were...kidnapped! Yes, we were kidnapped and blindfolded for much of the journey, I'm afraid! That's how we got so turned around!" Adagio said.

"Oh, you poor dears! To see three vulnerable siblings taken captive by those beasts is almost too much for my heart to bear! I suppose the shipwreck was a blessed thing, if it means that you three precious sisters managed to get free! You might have been forced into labor or sold to a Saddle Arabian harem; perish the thought! I'll tell you what, if you all are in a hurry, I can build us a fire and give you some bits to get along the road. I wouldn't want to halt young curious minds just as they've begun to wander! How do you all feel about hay fries over a griddle? If we eat now, and get going, we can be in Baltimare by dusk!" The pony said.

"Hay fries? What's that? Does it taste anything like bass?" Sonata emerged, rubbing her chin with a fin. The pony's eyes widened in horrible fascination.

"What, what, what are you!?" She stammered, making to run. She didn't get a chance, for Aria shot through the water like a sturgeon, launching from the surf and headbutting the hapless mapper with a sickening crack to the side of the head. The pony fell to the sand, twitching once, then went still. Aria flopped briefly without any water to grab, then sighed in relief as Adagio sang a small wave to carry her back into the sea.

"That could've gone better." Aria grumbled.

"It also could have gone much worse. Excellent form on that attack, Aria. You may have just saved us a heap of trouble." Adagio said. A rare smile flickered on Aria's face, then snapped its neck on the stairs as Sonata reclined on top of her bobbing head.

"Yeah, but, you know, that pony wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. She was sorta nice, actually!"

"She was overbearing, but it matters not. Now we have a lead and a direction to swim." Adagio said.

"Wait, are we just gonna leave her there? What if some other ponies come by?" Sonata said.

"That's a fine point. I think it's safe to assume that Canterlot is not going to be hippocampus accessible. We'll need to blend in. Did you see how she was moving?"

"Yeah, so what?" Aria said.

"So what? So, you'd better get used to it." Adagio said. She took the fins of her companions and began to sing. The surf rose and bubbled around them, shrouding them in a shimmering wave of energy, and as the tide receded, so too did their natural forms. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata rose from the waves in the guise of ponies. It was strange; Adagio had cast a simple disguise song, but it appeared her talent at manipulation had unseen effects. She had used the magicorn as a base, but it was only herself that possessed a horn. Sonata was granted a pair of oddly flimsy, flexile fins on her back, and Aria's form grew sturdier and a bit stumpier.

"Wow, Adagio! This is amazing, how'd you know how to do that!?" Sonata said, prancing in place.

"It was a simple matter for me." Adagio shook the shock from her face and flipped her hair.

"I hate everything about this!" Aria shouted, stumbling out of the waves.

It took Adagio only a short while to learn to canter properly in her new form, and Sonata seemed to be granted the gift of swimming effortlessly through the thin air above. Aria spent that time stumbling around and stamping at the beach in frustration. It seemed her lower center of gravity was more a hindrance than a help. She would simply have to acclimate in time, for there was none to waste.

The three stripped the pony of her earthly possessions and trotted off in the direction she had pointed.

"Well girls, it appears that a whole new world of wonders and possibility is stretching out before us. Are you both certain that you still wish to follow me?"

"You're stuck with us, Adagio. Get used to it." Aria huffed as she tripped over a fallen log.

"Yeah, on for all and all that stuff! But something has been bothering me..." Sonata said, flitting under a hanging vine.

"What's that, Sonata?" Adagio said as Aria refused her helping hoof. Sonata's face crumbled in concentration.

"What's a 'Dusk'?"

"Wait, holy shit, did you murder that poor lady?" Buck said. They were leaning on the wall beneath an awning beside a wide threshold with the words 'Button Mash Arcade' in neon overhead. Scootaloo was a few paces away, slamming on the buttons of a blinkering cabinet that was titled 'Them's Fightin' Herds' in bright letters on the side.

"Of course not, Buck! Probably. I recall that she was breathing when I relieved her of her hat. That was a very nice hat." Adagio sighed.

"...okay, then." Buck said. He reached into his pocket and placed a quarter on the side of Scootaloo's opponent, who looked to be having a hard time. Buck sook a sip of his soda and seemed to relax.

"However, we definitely killed the next group of ponies to cross our path." Adagio smiled. Buck spit out his drink as a bunch of flashing lights illuminated Scootaloo's face.

"Yeah, get wrecked! Hahaha!"

Adagio, had wisely chosen to hover around the small port of Baltimare to soak in the local buzz and nomenclature. Apparently, the griffons across the sea were at war with the dragons and at war with the yaks and at war with the ponies in a cold sense, as the ponies never allowed their forces to reach their shores. There was casual mention of pegasi creating something called a water spout, earth ponies kicking boulders into ships, and unicorns doing...something called a 'want it-need it' to a boat anchor, which caused entire crews to throw themselves into the ocean. It seemed that the tales of the horror and brutality of ponies were not entirely unfounded, but much more concerning was that they were apparently all working together now, and the result was that they were the dominant military force on the surface.

"We have to stay on guard, girls. It seems that these ponies will stop at nothing to maintain their colonial status quo, up to and including the slaughter of their neighbors at the slightest provocation." Adagio said. The trio had taken to the road now, with the river on their left. They were heading in the direction written 'west' on the map they had plundered, so they were on course for Canterlot.

The shade of the trees and the darkened wood on either side of the path and the burbling of the river all worked together to calm Adagio. The darkness here would never be Home, but it felt right.

"Does that mean we have to stay like this all the time? This is gonna suck." Aria whined.

"Aw, come on, Aria! Think about all the weirdo new people we're gonna meet! And the food we're gonna eat! And the, uh, trail, we're gonna...beat?"

"Are you writing a song, Sonata?" Adagio said.

"It's a work in progress!"

"Yes, well, I understand your excitement, but we need to tread carefully. We shouldn't draw so much attention to ourselves until we find a safe place to make our base. That means no beating anyone senseless unless I say so. Is that clear, Aria?"

"Whatever, Adagio. I'll knock around whoever I want." Aria grumbled. Adagio turned then, stopping dead.

"What did you just say to me?" Aria had spoken without thinking, but as she looked ahead and saw Adagio in the form of the monsters she'd been warned about since she was a fry, her blood ran cold and she began to think very quickly.

"Uh, uhm, well, uh..."

"Oooooh! You're in trouble, now!" Sonata teased from her perch upon a branch.

"I know you, Aria. You aren't half the fool that Sonata is, and yet you somehow manage to say the most moronic things. Do you understand what's at stake? There are three of us, and a nation of them. If you want a swarm of weather-controlling, boulder tossing, brain melting monsters to hunt you down for sport, you are welcome to do it."

"That's not what-"

"But mark me, Aria. If you drag myself and Sonata into a death by inches, I will make sure that you die last, and more painfully than either of us. You want to go wild? Go ahead. You are more than welcome to go off and die alone." Adagio's words were a rumble of thunder over the ocean. A singular warning. Adagio said nothing more, turning to head back down the road, and after a bit of hemming and hawing, Aria ran after her. There was nothing but a sullen silence between the trio for leagues ahead until their peace was broken by a rustling in the brush.

Greed, Cruelty, and Lust surrounded them on all sides, then a group of what Adagio recognized as earth ponies, wielding rusted farming equipment in their teeth. A smarmy smile atop a wiry frame stepped from the foliage at the edge of the path and spoke in a voice that was obnoxiously loud and over-enunciated.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't a couple of hapless young mares on the road to Canterlot! Didn't anyone tell you that there's a toll to be paid coming this way, loves?"

"Ah, well we certainly weren't told of this tithe. Tell me, how much must we spare for you to allow us passage?" Said Adagio without a moment's hesitation.

"Well! An educated young unicorn mare out in these 'ere parts is a rare sight indeed! I think a stay of service in our camp will be more than enough payment, on top of whatever it is you've got in that bag, there." Said the brigand. His fellows laughed and spat.

"I regret to inform you that I'm not for sale, kind sir." Adagio said.

"I wasn't askin', little poppet." The brigand growled through the gaps in his teeth. Adagio sighed.

"Of course not. I suppose then a payment is in order. I'll have you pay us for the inconvenience in an object lesson. Sonata, how about a little song? Something that will properly enrapture our audience?" Adagio said.

Sonata flapped to the center of the path and began to sing and dance in the air. Her enchanting melody carried into the ears of the other bandits, and they stood in slack-jawed awe at her performance.

"Aria? Could you take care of his legs?" Adagio said, gesturing broadly at the bandit leader. A subtle beating of the hooves on the ground became a song of speed and strength. Aria dashed forward and swept the legs out from the hapless colt, then brought her hooves down and hobbled him. His awe at Sonata's display became a cry of pain and terror as Adagio strode up to him. Her face was impassive as if she were in the midst of doing laundry or reading her mail.

"I want you both to watch, now. This is what happens when you are caught alone up on the surface." Sonata stopped dancing and singing. Her enchantment ended, but the other bandits stopped in their tracks as they saw Adagio's hoof press onto the colt's neck. He wheezed out pleas for help and for mercy, but half his men were already running off into the bush, and the others were backing away.

"If we don't work together, this is what will become of us." It began as a gentle pressure, then grew firmer as Adagio leaned forward until there was a soft crack, and where a vicious little stallion lay, there was nothing but a dead body. "There. Now, do you both understand?" Sonata was shaking, but Aria was firm. They both nodded. "Good. Let's be along then, shall we?"

"But Adagio, what about the other ones?" Sonata said.

"That's a fair point. Girls? I'll wait here. Why don't the two of you go entertain yourselves with whichever ones you happen to catch. Be back before the setting of the sun." Adagio said. She began to pick through the belongings of the body beneath her as Aria and Sonata chased the remaining bandits into the woods.

"...how many people have you killed, Adagio?" Buck spoke through Adagio's misty nostalgia. She tasted him and found not scorn, but a bit of distant fear, and a disconcerting sort of sympathy.

"I never bothered to tally up such a trivial detail, Buck. We do what we must in self-defense. Go on." Adagio said, refusing to look at him.

"What?"

"Go on and ask me. You wanted to ask me; how many of them weren't self defense?" Adagio said.

"I wasn't gonna ask that. It doesn't matter. Those men were bastards, and they would've done ya dirty." Buck said. He didn't understand, then. He was too focused on that one instant. This was another teachable moment.

"Well, that's not incorrect, Buck, but you're missing the point. It doesn't matter how many I've killed because they no longer matter. Because they are dead, and I'm alive. To be frank, the dazzlings have rarely killed. Well, I specifically haven't; Aria is a tally all on her own. It's a wise policy to only think of killing when your options are scarce, but I posit this to you, Buck."

"Yeah?" Buck said. Adagio squeezed his hand and turned to him. In Adagio's eyes, Buck saw the blackness of the tide at night.

"In a word of magic and limitless ways to cause harm, do you really think that killing is the worst thing I can do to you?" Adagio smirked in the shaken silence that fell over Buck. He was a creative sort; surely he could conceive of a few terrible ways by which one could be treated with magic.

"I think that using water magic to make someone drown on land is probably one of the worst ones I can think of off the top of my head. Drowning is super painful, and a normal person couldn't do anything about, say, like a bubble of water that's wrapped around their head. They'd just claw uselessly at their face and probably try to beg for their life, but that would only make it worse. I seen you basically dump a bucket of whatever on me from outta nowhere, but if what you said about your test before is accurate, it's prolly true that your specialty is transmutation, which is a whole horrifyin' can o' worms, but drowning on land is about the worst one I can think of right now. That, or like, turning a person's blood into acid in their veins. Yikes." Buck finished his ramble, then turned to look at the horror in Adagio's eyes. She had a hand clasped over her mouth. It hid the tiniest, cruelest of smiles.

"...you would have made an excellent Siren, Buck." Adagio said, finally.

"What, Me? Naw, I don't think so. I'm too much of a softie for that freakshit, and I ain't got no magic, besides. I'm more a lover than a fighter." Buck shrugged. Adagio had nearly forgotten that Buck was a man of ideas. She would need to ask him more about his own past because if even a single piece had gone awry, it was possible that Buck could have been the greatest nightmare of his age. How could he not know the power he wielded? How long could Adagio hide it from him?

"Hey. Adagio? Hey, you in there?" Buck said. He was holding out the straw of his drink to her. "You look a lil' thirsty."

"I'm not thirsty for soda, Buck." Adagio said, between sips. "Speaking about my past is a bit taxing on me, as you can imagine."

"Okay, well, we can take a break if you want? I wouldn't mind finding a little shade and uh...toppin' you off." Buck said. He tasted unsure, and his voice quavered a little bit. He wanted to keep going, very obviously, which caught Adagio by surprise.

"No, I don't think so. The next bit is important. Gusty the Great's Academy of the Arcane was the perfect space for my sisters and I to come into our own, and what happened there would set the stage for the rest of our lives."

"Oh, sick, you've got school stories? I bet you guys were a huge mess of trouble for the dean!"

"Yes we were Buck, and yes I do, but you're getting the abridged version. If you want more stories from my academy days, you'll simply have to ask me when I'm in the right mood." Adagio smiled.

"That sounds like a whole night, and I'm totally in!" Scootaloo said, leaning back from the arcade cabinet. Buck had forgotten to jump in the line, and now there were people going around the corner lining up to take on Scootaloo at Them's Fightin' Herds. It was mostly children.

Adagio cleared her throat, took another sip of Buck's drink, and continued.

What was most striking about Canterlot was the glare. It was a fortress of marble and stone, built right into the side of a mountain by unicorn magic, and when the sun came up, its alabaster streets gleamed and sparkled in the light. The first time she saw it, Adagio was blown away by the majesty of it all. The tenth time she saw it, she wished she had alicorn magic just so that she could make the sun shift permanently behind a cloud.

Alicorns. That was what the Princesses of Equestria; the absolute authority of the most powerful empire on the surface were. Alicorns were creatures with the features of all three pony species, and an immense amount of magical power. A Princess was the living embodiment of the fundamental philosophy of the Holy Pony Empire; that when all kinds of ponies unite as one, they can become the greatest power in all the world. Or, at least, that's what the brochure said.

The day that Adagio, Aria, and Sonata arrived in Canterlot was the coronation of the new alicorn monarch; Princess Glitter Punch. She was allegedly too young to take the throne, or so said her viziers, but the Princess was also spunky and freewheeling and refused to take 'No' for an answer. Adagio's kind of pony, in other words. Sonata wanted to go out and see the parade, but there was no time. Aria's hooves were aching from all the travel, and more importantly, Adagio's nerves were frazzled. They had been given directions to the G.G.A.A. when they entered Canterlot but were also told that the entrance examination was rigorous. The world was once again demanding that Adagio display her power; power she did not have alone. But then, she was hardly alone now.

The great archway of the G.G.A.A. stood in contrast to every other structure in Canterlot. Whereas the city was all marble columns and gold plating, this structure was bursting with a rainbow of colored stones. There were carvings of every creature on the face of the earth, monsters that Adagio had never before seen, and the three species of pony were battling them all together. In the direct center above the gate was a bust of a great blue creature with sweeping, curling horns leering down at a unicorn with white fur and green and pink mane. Beneath that was a shimmering banner of emerald that read in runes; 'Power Through Unity'.

"Ah, so you wish to master the arcane arts?" From a small booth built into the towering wall surrounding the school came a withering voice. An aged, mint-colored mare smiled tenderly at the three hippocampus in disguise. "There's no use hiding it, dearies! I can see the thirst for knowledge in your eyes!" She said.

"Now, now, you know the rules! None may pass without the vouch of an accredited teacher! Look at this rabble! They just wandered in off the street; I bet they haven't even a family name between them!" Grumbled an equally wizened donkey in a booth on the other side of the gate. "State your business or go, I don't care which!"

"The mare has the right of it, noble gatekeepers. We have come seeking the sort of enrichment that only this institution can offer; proper study into advanced magic. We were told that there is no better place in Equestria to make study of the arcane, and so we have traveled for days and leagues to join this school. We will not be turned away." Adagio said. She took care to bow and pulled Aria and Sonata down with her.

"Do you have proper accreditation?" Asked the donkey.

"Well, no, we do not." Said Adagio.

"Then why are you wasting our time?" He said, down his nose. Adagio seethed but felt an even greater fury coming off Aria, and that helped her to relax.

"We were told that those who passed a challenging entrance examination would find a home here. Is that not true?" Adagio said.

"Yes, it is. With proper accreditation." The donkey said.

"Now, now, there is a test that can be taken without a powerful pony to vouch for them, it will simply be more rigorous than the exam!" Said the kindly mare. She smiled at the trio. "All you need do is present a show of force before the arch, and if it deems you worthy, the gates will open!"

"That's just an old ponies' tale! The gate hasn't opened on it's own in thousands of years! You're better off trying to bottle sunshine!" The old donkey grumbled.

"The strictures are quite exact on this. All prospective students are permitted to try the arch! Let's give them a chance!" With the old mare's blessing, the trio huddled together. After a brief argument and a sneer from Adagio, a circular pass of a waterskin and a brief vocal warm-up, the three stood and strutted up to the gate as one. It seemed this situation called for a simple approach.

The greatest of songs always contain a simple truth from their composers. Such was the case with this tune, one they had not needed to rehearse, for it snaked from their hearts and reared up with a vicious, simple candor. A haunting, enchanting expression of their triplet souls; an ode to their power and their beauty and what was in store.

"Welcome to the show...

We're here to let you know

Our time is now

Your time is running out."

The trio's voices rose, and their hooves left the ground. They were surrounded by the rippling of their song through air and space and reality. The whole of Canterlot silenced beneath their majesty, and it is still spoken of in Equestria; the strange day in which the coronation of an alicorn princess was briefly halted in its tracks as every available ear twitched and turned to listen to a three-part harmony coming from the other edge of the great city.

The enormous arch of gem and stone quivered, and the ruby eyes within the great blue ram's head glowed with a profane light. It can never be proven, as the arch is now but dust beneath the firmament of Canterlot as it stands today, but the donkey gatekeeper would go to his grave swearing that this was a mistake, a horrible mistake, for as the verse echoed among the marble and tore up the mountainside and into the clouds, a thin, hairline fracture appeared upon the visage of Gusty the Great herself just beneath the visage of foul Grogar in the arch, and this surely spelled the beginning of a new age; an age of coiling, stampeding beasts, ripping through all that was good and devouring all that was powerful in their path.

At that moment, however, there was naught but awe from the gatekeepers, and the students inside the Academy who watched from their high dormitory windows, and any hapless ponies who happened to be passing by across the street and down the block and around the corner.

"What...did you say that your names were?" Croaked the sweet old mare. The trio's hooves had touched the ground again, and they stood triumphant together as a great rumbling in the walls shook the ground.

"Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. As for our family name, you may refer to us as...The Dazzlings. Will there be any further inquiries as to our 'accreditation'?" Adagio said. Her smile was the edge of a falling claymore.

The great arch trembled and glowed with arcane energy, and with a tremendous amount of effort, the massive gates of G.G.A.A. rumbled open. There was naught but silence from the gatekeepers as another set of doors across the courtyard scrambled open as if in panic.

"I didn't think so." With a shared smirk, the Dazzlings made their way onto the campus of Gusty the Great's Academy of the Arcane, and into the best years of their lives.

"That's badass." Buck said. At some point, he had gotten out of Adagio's grasp and was currently engaged in a spirited match with Scootaloo at the arcade machine she had been loitering at. A small group of children had gathered to watch them. Buck and Scootaloo's hands were dancing over the controls at a rapid pace.

"Shut up Buck! You don't get to compliment me while you're winning!" Scootaloo shouted. On the screen, a draconic figure with a blazing mane and tail was getting bounced back and forth by the ice crystals formed by a regal deer.

"No, no, I mean that was a good linker! You would'a had me if you hadn't dropped it!"

"Shut up, Buck!" Scootaloo said. Adagio had never seen her so focused.

"Buck. were you even listening?" Adagio said. She pushed past the children hovering around and stood beside Buck, her sharp nails digging gently into his shoulder. She knew he couldn't taste her fury, but she hoped he could feel it.

"Huh? Oh yeah, hol' up." Buck said. He tapped some buttons and rolled his hand over the stick, and in turn, the doe on-screen stabbed the dragon back with a standing shard of ice, then pirouetted and unleashed a spinning pillar of frost that brought the beast to the ground.

"K.O.!" Said the cabinet. Scootaloo's head slapped onto the buttons as a timer counted down on the screen.

"C'mon, Scoots! You were bustin' my ass for like forty percent of that match!"

"But I still lost...It's not fair that you switched to Velvet!"

"What? You mean my main? Scoots, you gotta learn how to deal with a bad matchup, that's just part'a the game." Buck patted Scootaloo's back. "Besides, you could'a switched, too."

"No way! Tianhuo is the sickest!"

"Well then Velvet's gonna keep bein' your worst nightmare."

"Ughhh...hey Adagio, why don't you play a round with me?"

"Really? I betcha she plays Oleander."

"Aw man! You're right; she is SUCH an Oleander!" Scootaloo said, frowning.

"Buck." Adagio said, seething.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Buck, what was the last thing I said?"

"Huh?"

"My story, Buck. The story you were so keen on hearing today. What was the last thing I said?" Adagio was leaning forward, her nails drumming on the arcade cabinet. She was entertaining the thought of tearing this machine in twain, but Buck blinked and smiled at her.

"You were saying that you made history by being the first group of students in thousands of years to get the arch to open. You cast a spell, or, I guess you sang it, and it let y'all through. Hey, does that mean that you're a Bard? 'cause that's rad." Buck said.

Adagio's anger slipped on a banana peel and was instantly replaced with red-faced embarrassment. She had underestimated the man again. She saw Scootaloo stifling a laugh over Buck's shoulder, but Adagio's glare put an end to it.

"Heheh...hah...uh...who's for ping pong?" Scootaloo said, shrinking away.

Across the way, the camera clicked in rapid succession, catching Adagio's look of contempt, then her sigh, then her devious smirk.

"In a bit. I need to borrow Buck for just a little while." Adagio said. She took Buck's hand and began leading him toward the beach at a quick trot.

"Where're we goin'?" Buck said. Adagio could taste his excitement, but he clearly wanted her to say it, so she indulged him.

"The dressing rooms." She said.

"Are they seriously about to--oh, yep, they sure are." Now it was Sunburst looking through the binoculars. He chuckled and looked over at Starlight, who was scribbling notes. Many of the notes were crossed out.

"It just doesn't make any sense, Sunburst. Without her stupid amulet, she shouldn't be able to take in the ambient emotions around her, so she has to be getting Buck's power through some other means. She hasn't drained him today, at least not obviously, but she still looks like she's full of power. I mean, she's practically glowing! What is going on?"

"Maybe you're not looking at it the right way? This isn't like traditional magic draining; she's not like a changeling, which suck magic out through the mouth, right?"

"We don't know that. When I scryed on them, I didn't see a transfer of power. They just..."

"Had a lot of freaky sex?"

"...yes. And then Buck's aura flared up and that was the last thing I saw. In theory, that would have shaken the room or caused some kind of damage, but he would have talked to you about it if that had happened, right?"

"Right. But that's what I mean. This isn't traditional magic. Buck's a special case, and the way that Sirens really work is kind of a mystery, too. There are only three of them in Equestrian history, and Adagio is one of them."

"But what does sex have to do with it?" Starlight tore out and tossed the page, starting on a new one. "This is so frustrating! Why can't they just be normal!?"

"Normal, as in something other than magical?"

"Normal like a bugbear! Or a cragadile! Something we could beat up and send back! I am so tired of following her around!" Sunburst peered through the lenses once more and saw that Scootaloo seemed to be standing guard in front of one of the little dressing room huts that were posted against the sea wall. Her face was red.

"Well...I have a theory. Maybe Adagio feeds on Buck through intimacy."

"What?"

"Think about it, Starlight. Every time we've seen them together, Adagio has been clinging to Buck. She won't let him go, and they tease each other, sure, but when they're together, Adagio is on top of the world. You said you looked in on her coming and going to work; what did she look like then?"

"Like a typical office worker. Dead inside." Starlight grunted.

"Exactly. But you said she also goes into Sugar Cube Corner for snacks." Sunburst said. He was smiling at her.

"Yes. And to see Buck."

"What does she do when she sees Buck?"

"Well, when the boss wasn't around, she molested him."

"And when the boss is around?"

"...even then, she touches him when she pays. She always pays in cash...probably as an excuse to touch him. And just recently, she came after him in the alleyway. They had an argument, I think, but they kissed.

"Did their auras flare, then?" Sunburst said. Starlight's eyebrows flew up.

"They did!"

"Well, I can tell you this; Buck is...very particular and even cagey about sex, but physical intimacy is extremely important to him. Magic is always connected to emotion, so it stands to reason that the catharsis and emotional rush that comes from intimacy would spike his aura. Which means...?"

"Which means that when Adagio has sex with him, she's able to drink her fill! That's why she acts like a thirsty skank around Buck; she gets the most power from him during sex! It all makes sense!"

"Glad you thought of it, Starlight." Sunburst smiled.

"Okay, then, the question is; how do we get Buck to stop having sex with Adagio?" Starlight said, scribbling quick notes to the tune of 'Magic power through sex addiction' and 'Transfer through intimacy'. Sunburst laughed out loud at that.

"Oh, oh, no, Starlight, that's not going to happen!"

"What do you mean!? Buck is a little dumb, but he's not suicidal! She's just wants him so she can leech off him, and once he realizes that, he'll get wise!"

"Starlight."

"She may be pretty and she might seem special to him, but she's a menace who's obviously using him, so if we just get him away from her, he'll be fine! We can't rule out that she's been subtly bewitching him, and we can't afford to just leave them together."

"Starlight?"

"She's evil! He has to know that, at least!?"

"Starlight! I know you're worried and I know you want to protect Buck, and the city and everything else, but listen. I don't think Adagio is pushing for anything nefarious, here. I think she's just lonely without the other sirens, and she needs someone to care for her and feed her magic, which I'll remind you, she needs to live! Buck isn't going to give up being intimate with her; that's not even an option." Sunburst had gotten up and wrapped his arms around Starlight's shoulders. She was grinding her teeth again.

"Well, why not!?"

"Because he loves her. He won't say it, because he's scared, and he's scared for a multitude of reasons. But he loves her. He's my best friend; I can tell."

"He just thinks he loves her. She's just tricking him."

"I don't think so."

"Why?"

"Because everything you just said are things that my Mom said when I told her that you and I were dating. I know you have his best interests at heart, but we have to trust him."

"...but what if you're wrong?"

"Well...then we'll just have to be ready to take Adagio down."

Adagio was caught in the coils of a python. A python that liked to play with its food. She had pulled Buck into the dressing room, and the second the door was locked, Buck had turned her around before the mirror to torture her. Her panties were off and her skirt was hiked up. Buck's pants were around his ankles, and his hot, thick cock was between Adagio's thighs. One of his meaty arms was wrapped around her waist, his hand holding Adagio's, while his other hand was between Adagio's legs, fondling and squeezing and stroking and teasing her. Adagio stood helplessly quivering and squeaking into her free hand while Buck played with her, grinding his cock between her thighs and peppering her neck with tender kisses.

She was mortified seeing the blush on her face, the trembling of her knees, and the flickering heat in Buck's eyes. His lust was all around, but wouldn't touch her. He was so hot and hard between her legs, and all he had to do was angle up and give her what she needed, but Adagio couldn't speak, because if her hand stopped covering her mouth, she would moan out loud and alert anyone passing by.

"Mm...look at you...look at how pretty you are like this..." Buck murmured in her ear with that delicious, horrible roll in his voice. Buck planted a sugary kiss on Adagio's cheek, and she saw her eyes threaten to roll back. Just a tiny taste of his love was like a tickle at her clitoris. She would not beg. She refused, even as her hips wiggled desperately against Buck's.

"Why don't you tell me what you want, Princess? You're the one that brought me here, I know you want something...so tell me." Buck whispered from the depths of the earth and over Adagio's shoulder.

She could swear she saw him sprouting horns in the mirror. Adagio shut her eyes and whimpered. Her traitorous snatch squelched around his digging fingers. She knew that Buck could and would tease her all day; he would forget about the aquarium and her story and just keep her trapped here, dancing right on the edge until she finally buckled. He was a cruel, relentless thing, and Adagio hated how much this turned her on.

"I....want you...to stop teasing me!" Adagio gasped through her fingers as Buck's hand let go. Suddenly, both sets of pointer and middle fingers were fondling her, massaging and rubbing at her vulva from both sides, the index fingers working her clitoris in tandem. Adagio shook and clasped her mouth with both of her hands.

"And what should I do instead of teasing you, Princess? Do you want me to do something with this..?" A rough hitch of Buck's hips rubbed his cock against Adagio, sending another tingling shock through her nerves. He pressed in with his fingers and started to thrust lightly between her thighs.

Adagio nodded so frantically in answer that her hat nearly fell from her head.

"Hmm...I don't know, Princess. Something tells me it's not just a good hard fucking that you want...I think you want something more. A little bit of cream on top." Buck nipped at Adagio's necK. She could feel his cock head sliding with a deliberate slowness against her drooling lips. It was a red hot poker that threatened to set her aflame, and she needed it so badly! Buck pulled on her hips, taking a step back, and without thinking, Adagio leaned forward and pressed her ass against him.

*SLAP*

Adagio could see her ass wobbling over her shoulder in the mirror and the burning lust in Buck's painted eye.

"What is it about creampies that you love so much? Can you tell me that?" Buck said, his hands wandering and rolling over Adagio's cheeks. The absence of his fingers playing between her lips made Adagio feel itchy and hollow.

"That's...! It's a treat...it's something that's intense and sweet and...satisfying. It's something only you can give me, something I refuse to share. It's a little piece of you that you pour inside me and it makes me feel..." Adagio trailed off as Buck nudged her ankle with his foot, spreading her legs.

"Full?" And then Adagio's face pressed against the mirror as Buck pushed roughly inside her. "Is that all, Princess?" His hips slid back slowly, and before Adagio could brace herself, he slammed back in all the way. "Or could it also be that you're a masochist that likes bein' manhandled? You want me to use you, Adagio? Is that it? You want me to empty myself inside you? Are you sure you can handle that?" Buck's voice was a steaming rain around her. He was still, even hilted fully inside her, teasing Adagio, his hips rolling and grinding in little circles.

"H-How dare you! You think I can't handle you!?" Adagio wouldn't, couldn't open her eyes. If she did, she would see how disheveled she was, and she would see Buck's smile, and then she would burn down.

She yelped as Buck grabbed her french braid and yanked her head back. His hand came back around to brush at her clitoris with just the barest tips of his fingers, earning a moan and a shuddering of the knees.

She hated him. She loved him. She tried to bury the thought, but it burst from the ground in a geyser of flame and spelled itself in the sky. She wanted him, and she needed him to stop teasing her and just fucking break her already!

"You didn't believe me when I said your eyes glowed pink. I'm not gonna let you hide, now. Look." Buck commanded. Adagio's chin was grabbed and tilted up by Buck's fingers. Her eyes snapped open. Buck rolled his hips into her in slow, long strokes. She could hear herself squelching around him, gripping him tightly. She bit her lip and tried not to moan, but a quick hard thrust pushed her closer to the edge.

Buck got to work, then, thrusting with a steady pace into Adagio, making her watch her face contort with pleasure in the mirror as his cock drove into her over and over again. He kept going just hard enough to keep her quivering and squealing, but not nearly enough to push her over the edge.

He would stop briefly, and Adagio would whine and throw her hips back against him, hoping he would let her finish like this, but he'd yank her ponytail and savagely slam his cock into her before resuming his torturously even rhythm.

"Look at how beautiful you are, Adagio. I've seen you act cruel, and I've seen you act sweet...But do you know which Adagio I like the most?" His searing lust melted and dripped into a sweet, hot caramel. She tried to dip her head so she wouldn't have to look, but Buck held her ponytail fast.

"The Adagio I like the most is honest about what she wants." Buck said. "Do you like me, Adagio?" His hips bucked once, twice, and a third. He felt like he was about to build up again, but he stopped short and rubbed light, delicate circles on her clitoris.

"I...tolerate you!" Adagio hissed between gasps. Distant disappointment beneath his lust. Adagio felt her stomach drop as she realized she hated to disappoint him. Buck's fingers slipped away from Adagio's wet lips, and his cock slid back slowly.

"You are such a liar." Buck said. His hand came down on her rear.

*SLAP*

His cock slid out until just his head remained inside her. Adagio felt like an abandoned ship.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I like you, I like you, Buck!" Adagio squealed, then stifled a small scream as Buck hilted in her once again. She felt so fundamentally incomplete without him inside her, floating in his sugary, spicy affection. He was poison for her, and he was a shameful midnight snack.

"What do you want me to do to you, Adagio?" Buck hissed in her ear. His fingers pressed down on her clit while his cock pushed up at the root. Adagio's gasps and moans were light and airy and girlish. He wasn't afraid of her. He wanted her, even though she was a killer.

"I want you, Buck. I want...mnnghh!" Buck's slow and grinding thrusts were leaving her short on breath. Her eyelids fluttered open and she saw a flash of pink in the mirror. He was going to run. Surely, once she told the rest of her story, he would run, and he would leave her more hollow than ever before. That's what the desperate voice in Adagio's head said. It was the cruel, reasonable sense that had kept her alive all these years.

"What do you want, Princess?" Buck said. She saw her pink, glowing gaze, and she saw the tender longing in Buck's eye behind her and she felt his heart standing on the edge of a cliff, and then came another voice in the back of Adagio's heart. 'Don't you want to keep him?' it whispered. He just told you how. Tell him the truth, you silly little fry.

Adagio's eyes opened. Buck had told the truth, but of course he had. Buck didn't seem to have the capacity to lie to her. She saw, for the first time, her eyes glowing a bright, sugary pink, and a single slim tear creeped out of the corner of one.

"I...I want you to love me, Buck. " She had meant it to be a whisper, but she looked at him in the mirror and caught his eye and she spoke it boldly and without fear or compromise. Her hands rose to cover her mouth again, but Buck...he slid out of her and put his hands on her shoulders and he turned her around.

She wouldn't look at him now, but she felt Buck's steady hand slide up and push her hat back. His lips touched her forehead and it was like melting into a puddle.

His love was her whole world for that moment. She wondered how she could live without it now, and the thought made another tear escape her eye. She took his hand and backed up against the wall across from the mirror. Her hand slid down and squeezed his cock. Her eyes met his again.

Here she saw fear buried beneath an ocean of love.

"Please." She whispered.

It was not a sweet, tender thing. Buck reached down and lined himself and filled her properly in one grunting thrust. Her leg came up and hooked around his waist and her nails dug into his back. Locked together like this, Buck's hand scooped down to squeeze Adagio's ass cheek, and then all there was to do was hold on as he broke her. She covered her mouth, but as she bounced helplessly against the wall, she watched her pupils turn to hearts in the mirror and the squeals coming from between her fingers drop into low, husky moans.

This time there was no pacing or ordered breathing or careful, tender ministration. Buck grunted and growled and pounded up into her like she was the last woman on earth, and all the while she drowned in his overflowing lust and rode the lightheaded high of his pure, primal desire.

Power. So much power!

She saw a pair of equine ears sparkle into existence at the top of her head, her fins slowly unfurling as Back savaged her with his cock.

"Give it to me, Buck!" Adagio begged in his ear as she squeezed him. The sloppy sounds of his hips slapping into her sopping wet pussy built up to a frantic beat. Adagio struggled to cling to her senses as Buck's passion flooded her.

She came, groaning and wringing and shaking against him, and then Buck flooded her in an entirely different way. She saw his cheeks tensing in the mirror as he slammed his cock home and coated her insides with his love.

Buck gasped and came and leaned into a few more brutal, greedy thrusts and he came again and Adagio could taste the world settling into a euphoric pink haze.

Buck held on to Adagio, kept her pressed against the wall until his breath evened out. Every twitch of his cock within her sensitive insides made Adagio quiver.

She wiped the joyful tears on Buck's shoulder and glared at herself in the mirror until her eyes and form shifted back to normal. She felt a sugar rush and a stomach ache coming on, but she hadn't fainted this time. This was a victory.

Buck let Adagio's leg drop back down, and he was kissing her again before she could even say a word.

The kiss was light and nearly apologetic, but Adagio pulled him in and let her tongue wander into his mouth.

Buck didn't understand. Adagio had warned him, and he had pressed forward, and now it was too late.

She would never let him go, now.

Adagio hadn't understood precisely what a college of the arcane was when she strode through the gates. In time, she would understand that it was a place where ponies came to posture and bicker amongst themselves and scramble for as much arcane knowledge as they could get between their hooves. While unicorns in this time were high in magical potency, sorcery could be practiced by all creatures when they possessed the right knowledge and components.

She also learned that the true primary characteristic of all ponykind was that of pettiness.

The social structure of Canterlot was such that unicorns believed themselves second only to their alicorn monarch, pegasi believed that turning a blind eye was the same as rising above a circumstance, and earth ponies quietly despised everything else on four hooves.

This was fortuitous because the Dazzlings had taken the guise of each of the three species, and that meant catching heat from every type of student that crossed their path. Even some teachers disliked them for daring to call each other family. In this arena of scholastic drama, the Dazzlings found their niches in the arcane arts.

Sonata was a perfect fit for the school of Enchantment; changing minds and feelings, beguiling her detractors, and charming all around her with little effort. Of the three Dazzlings, she was the most popular and the least feared. This would prove a fool's perception, as Sonata found a secondary talent in Healing. This seemed innocuous at first.

Aria struggled at first, but as she found purchase in the remedial courses filled with Earth Ponies, the physical magic of the earth itself called to her. She learned War magic, and what that meant was bolstering her physical abilities to an obscene degree. It didn't take long for the slender siren to start shattering boulders with a buck, heat a bucket of water to a boil and launch it out as a scalding geyser and win the National Equestrian College Polo Championship for the G.G.A.A.

Adagio faced greater challenges than either of her cohorts, for while she had the proper mind for the study of magic, she had little in the way of aptitude. Without a great store of magical power to tap, her hours of reading and notes and testing resulted in nothing more than theory. This meant that she succeeded at all of her assignments, no matter how advanced the calculations, but when it came to the practice of actual spellcasting, she would need to rely on somatic components to have any chance of passing. This was maddening to Adagio, as was watching Sonata and Aria succeed where she had no choice but to fail. Something had to be done.

Adagio learned much of the propaganda that the ponies taught to their younglings as well; tales of heroic ponies vanquishing monsters in all the lands that they traveled, which was surely code for colonization. By cutting through the drivel found in their history books, a deep-seated xenophobia could be found at the heart of the Holy Pony Empire.

Whatever the ponies couldn't control they would slaughter. Whatever they could not slaughter, they would drive out, and whatever could not be driven out would be locked deep beneath the earth.

This was halfway the case for their most powerful magics, which to Adagio's reckoning were by and large sealed within relics and left to collect dust in old libraries or secret dungeons. The use of artifacts and magically charged components was largely frowned upon, especially by the pompous unicorns at G.G.A.A.

To learn about things outside of the pony's imperialistic perspective, Adagio had to take measures into her own hands. Every once in a while, Adagio would sneak out of her dorm in search of a repository of knowledge spoken of only in school rumors.

The campus was enormous on the outside and maddening to navigate on the inside. Apparently, the halls would subtly shift to accommodate the young minds within, but what would happen should one of those minds seek to find a space they had no business going?

In Adagio's case, the twisting halls of the academy led her down a few descending turns on a stairwell before spitting her out into the courtyard in the middle of the night. She wanted to scream, but then she heard a rustling in the hedge.

"I suggest you state your business now before I transmute your guts into snakes!" Adagio said to the darkness. The darkness let loose a laugh like sandpaper rattling around in a rock tumbler.

"Kehkehkehhh...mine and your business are the sssaaaaame, young student! Our business is our oooown!" Came the voice. A wretched little pile of skin and bones with great pointed ears came hobbling out of the bush on one leg that was shorter than the other. Its stumpy tail scratched at the dirt just behind it.

Ah, Adagio thought as the tension left her body. She had studied these before.

"And what manner of troglodyte are you, then?"

"Borky the groundskeeper, dear miiiissss!" Said the creature. Myyyy people are known as the Ghul, but the simpering dullarrrrds you call classmates would refer to us as Diamond Dooooogs..." The shivering creature bowed low, brandishing a rake with a haft that looked as if it had recently lost a fight with an upturned knee. "Geomancy is our magicaaaal contribution to thiiissss....glorious empire, or so they ssssay. Kehehehee..." Borky laughed like the uneven raking of dead leaves. Adagio knew for a fact that the Holy Pony Empire was in a cold war with the Diamond Dogs like they were with every other non-pony species, but the Diamond Dogs were especially difficult to eradicate due to their elemental understanding of the earth.

"Ourssss is a world of galloping thundeeer and precious gifts from the spiritsssss of dirt and stooone!" Borky said, placing his hands on the ground in reverence. " But poor Borky cannot d-d-diiiig with stumpy leg and dragging tail, and Borky cannot commune with spirits with such little magic. Borky exiled to surface to, to, to languish in servitude to thiiis....esteemed institutiooooon...!" He hissed.

"If I wanted a lesson on the history of your wretched people I would do more than a single book report about them. I ask again; what is it that you want?" Adagio rolled her eyes.

"Aaahhhh...but is it not h-h-history that you seeeeek? The history that the goodly pony folk would prefer to sssstay buried?"

"...and what would you know of such matters, Borky was it?"

"Aaahhh...now your ears quirk up. A good student you mussst be..."

"Save your flattery. I am missing my beauty sleep, and this errand is becoming less worth my effort by the second."

"I see...the ponies believe that they can hide the truth beneath the dirt, buuuut the Ghul are frieeeends with the dirt! Nothing can sssstay buried beneath the p-p-paws of the Ghul! Borky has found what you seek! Borky can help to tutor young strangeling, lead you t-t-to lost knowledge!" Borky said. In the pale moonlight, his eyes were like tiny silver flames.

"Lead on, creature, and I will follow." Adagio said. Borky made a big show of looking around, then scampered off to a hole in the earth hidden beneath a shrubbery beside the western wall. Adagio was loathe to soil her hooves or hair, but she found ample stretching room as the tunnel was wide and welcoming. The whispering darkness beneath the earth reminded Adagio of Home.

"I must correct you, Borky. You call me strangeling, but I am very clearly of unicorn descent." The cackle of the canine creature just ahead of her rattled in Adagio's ears like a screeching whistle made of bone.

"Borky may be wretched, but Borky isssss no foool..! You s-s-s-stink of the seeeeaaaa! Jussst as Borky smells of the earth."

"You smell like you take the concept of bathing as a suggestion, but despite that, your nose is surprisingly keen. What do you intend to do with this information, Borky?" Adagio carried a canteen of water with her in all circumstances, and it always proved useful when she needed to slash through something lengthwise or penetrate it widthwise, or simply to wet her hair when she needed to on the road. She hummed a gentle tune that silently unscrewed the cap.

"What will Borky do? N-n-nothing! Borky hates ponies; hates hates haaaates them! Borky laughs because yellow one's disguise is is so flimsy! Whooo could imagiiine a unicorn whooose horn does not glow? Fools! This school is made of naught but foolish, foolish fools!" Borky declared. Adagio tutted to herself. She had spent months learning illusion spells and had still somehow forgotten an essential element of her disguise, and worse yet this hideous little trog had looked directly through it.

Perfection required so many tiny micro-adjustments, Adagio wondered how she managed to pull it off each and every day.

The cavern twisted and bent in odd angles, and for each step she cantered down into the earth, Adagio wondered if this was some dastardly trap that she would have to charm or tear her way out of. The gleeful chittering of the creature leading her didn't help, but eventually, the two of them found flagstones and smooth-hewn walls, and finally the comforting presence of iron bars and chains and locks. Ponies were always the most honest in their architecture it seemed; when they weren't building great phallic edifices, they were taking up real estate in the depths of the earth so that they may hide all things that could offend by not fitting their narrow worldview.

The limping beast dragged its tail around a corner, and Adagio suddenly found herself passing through a creaking wooden door that seemed designed for something much taller than a pony. Inside was a treasure trove; books stacked high and haphazardly. Many were bound in flesh, and many more were locked in a variety of ways. Adagio heard a raking cough and exhale, then Borky the Diamond Dog was beside her, pushing forward a lectern upon which sat a book with edges of stone and the visage of a creature that she didn't recognize. It was carved out of thin slate and showed a flat face with a sharp chin and equally sharp cheeks beneath a vacant, stony gaze. A pair of pouty lips sat beneath, with a familiar curl at the corner.

"What manner of horrible creature is this?" Adagio said. She saw Borky spit into his paw and then make some kind of religious gesture over his chest. He seemed to gather himself for a second before he spoke the profane word in hushed tones.

"Heeewmaaan...vile demons that come from a blighteeed realm bereft of all magics or whiiimsy. Dastardly, parasitic scourges who only tread this reeealm in sssearch of power or profaaaane delightssss..."

"I've never heard mention of these hewmahns. Are they rare?"

"Rarer than a breezie buuut moooore dangerous than a centaur. The owner of thaaaat tome was a human knooown as Somnambula. Sssssheeee wasss a creature of sssssuch profound vanity, that sheeee drained the verrrry essence from the creaturessss around her to maintaaaaain eternal youth."

"Is that so? How fascinating...and am I to assume that this is her book of spells?"

"Yeeeesss...and a recooooord of the beingssss that inspired her in her massstery of the daaark artssss...Tell me, abyss walkeeeer, what do you know of the Loooords of Darknessss?"

Of this topic, Adagio knew just about nothing, but in the coming weeks of study, she would learn a great deal indeed. Somnambula proved to be adept at the very schools of magic that Adagio excelled at; that and much more. She was a historian of the most vicious scourges of Equestria's past.

There was the centaur Tirek, who could strengthen his body and sorcerous powers by stealing the magic of powerful creatures, King Sombra, something between a unicorn and living darkness that pioneered both shadow and Illusion spells, powered by the fear of his victims, and Hydia; another more ancient human witch who released a living magical pollutant called The Smooze which ravaged Equestria nearly to its complete destruction.

Through these accounts, Adagio noticed a theme; while many creatures in Equestria possessed magic, the wiliest and darkest of them all learned to steal the magic from others to become orders of magnitude more powerful. In exchange, however, it seemed that the process of taking foreign magics into one's body would cause irrevocable changes. In the case of some, like Tirek, it caused more rapid aging, but in beings with less magic, to begin with, it would corrode their minds until they were driven by naught by their basest urges.
Adagio posited that this was the reason all changeling queens went mad with time.
Even the brilliant Somnambula was not immune to this; as the tome went on, her writings became more erratic and rambling, to the point that her final spell, a grand evocation that could transform massive arcane illusions into permanent conjurations was lost in the schizophrenic chicken scratch of the last few pages.

Through all the madness of the tome, Adagio found a kindred spirit in the ancient human witch. Adagio was naturally gifted at the art of Transmutation, and so she could fill the gaps in Somnambula's knowledge. She could not just change the way that the world was perceived, but change the very nature of the elements around her, albeit temporarily. Unfortunately, she depended on Sonata and Aria's magic when she wanted to accomplish more than the most basic of spells.

Once Adagio gained a grasp on the spells of Somnambula, she began to truly excel. Despite her handicap, Adagio continued along her relentless academic pace but there was always the nagging thought in the back of her head that she could never truly compete without gaining a power of her own. She learned the changeling trick to drawing magic from emotion, and it came in handy once in a while, but she dared not use it as a crutch, lest her own mind begin to corrode.

Adagio was far too clever to let foul pony magics corrupt her.

All of the particularly lecherous tomes she found buried beneath the history and spells, however, she would tuck into with great interest. But that is another story.

Because they shared everything, Adagio was more than happy to spread her new bounty of esoterica with Aria and Sonata, and so each of them was able to learn things that the other students simply could not, and this was an advantage that they would all ride to the top of their classes. Well, two of them did, anyway.

A day came when Adagio asked Borky a simple question.

"What exactly do you seek to gain by sharing this knowledge? More power of your own? Blackmail material?" Adagio had wheeled on Borky suddenly, and he had yipped and stumbled into a pile of forbidden texts before dragging himself to an uneven stance.

"No, no, no abyss walker! Borky issss not in the business of dastardly deedssss! What Borky wishes simply issss for an outsideeeer to come and put those judgementaaaaal, smarmy poniessss in their placeeee! If the abyss walker can do thissss, Borky isss satisfied, hehehehee!"

"Come now, Borky. As satisfying as it is to see and taste the salty seething of these pathetic creatures, there must be something that you want. A little quid pro quo? I hate to leave a debt unpaid." At that, the diamond dog searched the dusty floor for an answer, then began to pace, and scratch at the stones. His paws grabbed onto the sides of his head and pressed in as if he feared it may split wide open until he finally seemed to have a cogent thought.

"Borky issss exiled from the treasuressss of the earth...but the treasuressss of the sea, the mysteriesss of the plaaaace that the abyss walker callssss 'Home', now these are thingssss that Borky should like to diiiig into. When youuuu groooow too big for thissss wretched preschool...would you takeeee Borky to this 'Home' and let him explooooore...?"

"...that could very well be arranged, Borky." Adagio said with a genuine smile. Borky tried to hide his enthusiasm, but Adagio could taste the gleeful dance he was doing in his mind.

"A gift! A gift for the kindly abyss walkeeeer! Borky will obtain for you and yours a gift befitting your majesssssty and yoooour magnanimity! Ssssomething that wiiiill help you in your quessst for power!" For a moment, Adagio heard Borky's yellowed nails clacking against the cobblestones behind her and around a corner, but then he came back, presenting a box of dark wood and clear marks in the dust where a chain would have wrapped around it.

"Biiiig ssssstroooong magic! Jusssst what you neeed! Taaake care with thiiiis..." Borky said. Adagio opened the case and her eyes lit up. She recognized what was inside.

For the remainder of her terms at the G.G.A.A., Adagio Dazzle didn't so much rise through the ranks as created a rank of her own that the unicorns of the school tried and failed constantly to enter. She wasn't the queen bee of the school, but she was very uncontestedly the queen bitch, and she honestly preferred it that way.

Some ponies glared with jealousy and others with undeniable attraction, but it was all a far cry from the silent fear of her old village. And yet, in Adagio's weakest of moments, she would go to the bath in her dorm and fill it near to the brim before diving under and closing her eyes. This was the closest she could come to Home, which she missed every single day.

Sonata was a social butterfly in this time, learning all the sinful little secrets of the student body and some of the staff. She trusted Adagio with everything, and so she couldn't seem to help but blab at her about the melody she was trying to perfect, or the hot gossip of the week, or her recent conquests, and once, twice, or perhaps ten times, her bunk squeaked and mewled well into the night, or until Aria bucked a hole in it. Sonata could turn the head of anyone at the G.G.A.A. and get precisely what she wanted without needing to lift a hoof. In the rare circumstances that she did need to try, she solved her impasses with affection and failing that, with some of the most spine-rattling cruelty that Adagio had yet seen.

Aria's time was an up and down affair. She was a dark horse jock of the school; constantly skipping classes and getting into trouble, but coddled by the alumni for her excellent performance on the field. If Sonata was a shield that turned the most vicious and perverse eyes away from Adagio, Aria was like a warhammer in a sword sheath. Whenever she'd be accosted by less savory students for favors of a licentious variety, Aria always managed to crack a rib or two before the sentence could be finished. All Aria needed was some help with her advanced magic studies, and perhaps some cheat answers for upcoming exams, and she was perfectly content in spite of her grumbling.

Time marched on in that lumbering, sneaky way it does, and Adagio finally found herself at a task that none of her cleverness could surmount. Her junior year was nearing its end, and that meant finals. At the G.G.A.A., 'Final Exams' was code for 'Obey the whims of the (predominantly unicorn) head instructors or risk expulsion'.

In the first semester, this had come in the form of a Marathon Quiz of Equestrian 'History' that had to be filled out using marks written in magic. This was difficult for most besides the unicorns, and just about impossible for Earth Ponies, yet the Dazzlings managed to cheat their way through. The second year featured a lengthy game of Simon Says, but with magic, and Simon was an instructor displaying high-level evocations. This was harder to fake, but with the clever use of somatic components, and a bit of emotion draining magic as a backup, the Dazzlings had pulled through.

This time around, the instructors truly had it out for Adagio and her cohorts, and she knew this well. As the Dazzlings sat in the main hall waiting, the air was abuzz with speculation.

"What kinda game are they gonna throw at us this time, 'dagi?" Sonata hummed. She held up a hoof as someone tried to pass her a little written note with a heart on it.

"It doesn't matter. We'll dance our way through it with panache and grace, just like we always have." Adagio said. She happened to be combing her hair while scanning through the answers of her last test. She had fallen just a bit below the curve, and this was a crime against the world.

"Whatever it is, I wish these pompous asses would just get on with it so I can get to practice." Aria snapped.

"No, Aria, they're ponies! The cafeteria lady is a donkey, remember?" Sonata chided.

"Go back to sleep, Sonata." Aria said. "I just want them to hurry it up."

"Yeah! I wanna go to the mess hall already! It's Taco Tue--" Sonata started excitedly, but Adagio clapped a hoof over her mouth.

"We know what day it is, now hush. They're starting."

The sconces dimmed and the chatter in the main hall came to a ponderous stop as Headmistress Starshine; a tyrannical unicorn crone with a faded multicolored mane took the podium. She was flanked by a parade of teachers and staff, each of which Adagio had learned to despise in their own special ways.

"Welcome, my little ponies, to the end of the semester! We know that you all have much study and gallivanting about to get back to, so we shall make this announcement quickly. The collegiate instructors and I have finished our deliberation over your final exam. You are all to create your own unique spells to display before the alumni and student body alike, or present an improvement upon an existing one! You must present on your own, you may not rely on any powerful artifacts! You must use your own magical aptitude for this task. I hear you all grumbling, but I assure you, this is the only fair and equal way to judge your advancement as sorcerers!"

"Oh, bullshit! Anybody with half a brain can see this is rigged for the unicorns!" Aria said.

"And whaddya mean we can't perform together!? That's super unfair!" Sonata said. Adagio stared at her lap and felt the dread creeping up her back.

"We look forward to all of your presentations at the end of the term! For those of you that somehow still manage to come late to classes, that's one month from today! Good luck everypony, and may you find the magic in you!" The applause was limp-wristed from all but the unicorns on campus. The alumni disappeared in a swirl of glittering rainbow lights, save for groundskeeper Borky who waddled off stage, hopped deftly over the outstretched hoof of a student, and then got back to work. Borky passed the Dazzlings by with a knowing smile to Adagio.

Adagio straightened her back and saw Aria and Sonata looking to her for a plan. They both shrank back a bit as Adagio's face split in one of the most sadistic grins of her life. They had their ace in the hole; all they needed was to figure out their spells, and Adagio could do the rest.

For all its lush gardens, towering art installations, and impeccably gaudy architecture, Canterlot was in no way the utopia that the ponies pretended it was. Every collection of people has its unsavory underbelly, and Adagio had little trouble finding Canterlot's more seedy locales. She, Aria, and Sonata scouted around to find the dingy holes of Canterlot; hidden bordellos, and secluded smoking rooms and taverns on the edges of town. They found the most quarrelsome and wicked of ponies in these places, giving their bits over to quell their cravings. It was a bubbling stew of greed, anger, envy, and sweet, delicious fear.

The gift that Borky had given to Adagio was glittering and beautiful and came in a set of three. In an age long past, Tirek had attempted to rise from the bowels of Tartarus by sending phantasmal messages to the weak-minded ponies above, and a cult had started in his name. Apparently, his plan was to gift boons to mortal ponies in exchange for them draining the magical powers of other creatures to send down to him, and therefore afford him the strength to break free of his cage. This hadn't worked, because magical creatures are prone to the corrupting effects of dark magic, and so when they put on the artifacts that Tirek had created to collect this power, the ponies instead went mad with it and toured on a brief and calamitous run across Equestria before being taken down.

The amulets that the Dazzlings now wore were the very same that had driven those ponies mad. They were rubies of considerable size on jet black leather chokers, and they contained Tirek's ability to siphon magic from creatures of arcane origin. Even better, they served as a massive repository of that magic, with each morsel of power contributing toward the greater pool. When Adagio and the other two put them on, they found that their personal magic stores were suddenly connected, and they could share their power amongst each other.

As Borky said, these artifacts were the perfect tool. Adagio had spent much of her off time figuring out how to ward herself and Aria and Sonata from the mania that could come with wearing them. Now was the time to put them to use.

For every night left in the semester, the Dazzlings visited the spiciest cesspools of scum and villainy that Equestria had to offer, sat in a secluded place, and subtly drank of the ponies there. They would come back over and over again, taking a tiny bit each time so as not to be noticed, but building up a store of arcane might that they would tap during the finals.

This was exhausting work, but they each really put their heads together and their backs into the effort of creating their own original thesis for finals, and by the time the day of the presentation came, they were beyond prepared. Before they headed out, Adagio brought them in for a huddle in their dorm.

"Girls, I'm not going to lie to you; this is going to be the most difficult day we've faced in this circus of a school. In spite of that, I know that we're all going to succeed with flying colors, because we have something that the other students simply don't; something I have brought you and that you two have built up over time."

"Access to a bunch of forbidden spells that our teachers would banish us to the moon for having if they knew?" Aria snarked.

"A big pile of really old, reeeeally weird porno in a box in your closet?" Sonata wondered.

"No! Well, yes, but not the point, very far away from the point! What we have, girls, is unity. For all the bragging and the posturing, it seems that most of the student body here never bothered to read the runes on the arch at the gates. 'Power Through Unity.', is what they say, by the way, Sonata. I knew you were going to ask. That unity is what truly sets us above all the rabble. We move as one. We strike as one. We win as one. Ponies have mistaken us for sisters since the day we arrived, and you know what? They're right. If we've proved anything over the course of three semesters, it's that The Dazzlings truly are siblings, and nothing in this dry, miserable plane could ever break us apart. And so, even though I know incontrovertibly that we will succeed today, I just want you to know that I'm proud of us for all we've achieved, and the power that we have siphoned from these needlessly confusing halls." The Dazzling's foreheads touched and they felt their connection through the amulet. A low hum, a practiced glow of the horn, and Adagio caused the amulets to vanish from sight both normal and arcane.

"Now, let's go and show this miserable little school house what we're made of!" Adagio said. Sonata and Aria cheered and even hugged each other before Aria pushed her affectionate sibling off.

The Dazzlings strutted down the halls in formation as they had done countless times before, and came to the main hall just in time for the exams to start. A panel of judges led by Starshine herself presided over the test, and one by one, the student body showed off what they had learned. It was clear that many struggled with this assignment.

The pegasi displayed feats of fine elemental manipulation, creating localized weather patterns; startling gouts of flame, swirling winds, and buffeting hail in various shapes. The judges were harsh but fair-ish on them.

The earth ponies had it the hardest, of course. Many of them came bedecked with various somatic components, which when taken together could emulate an approximation of a unicorn's power. Great blooming acts of nature magic wowed the assembly, and feats of magically enhanced, boulder-crushing strength and great speed were all displayed. The judges were far crueler to the earth ponies, and in the face of their rising magical power, even the staunchest of unicorns began to buckle under their own prejudice.

The unicorns all essentially boiled down to shows of force. Many of their works were especially flamboyant displays of magical fireworks, but there was also a show of telekinesis that involved manipulating a round of a polo game with mannequins. There was also some trite transmutation, one spectacularly failed gender-swap, and quite a few variations on the gold standard arcane bolts spell, better known as magic missile. Almost all of them passed with flying colors.

In the midst of this arcane chaos, the Dazzlings were brought up, one by one.

Aria was first to take the stage, and for all the strength in her posture as an earth pony, it was clear that her legs were shaking by the soft clattering of her horseshoes on the floor. She had a boulder balanced atop her flanks as she took the stage, and a bucket of water.

"M-M-Mares and colts of the G.G.A.A.! I...I present to you, my very own composition! A c-c-combination of transmutation and war magic!" Aria said, reading from the cue card in her hoof. "Without...further ado? Th-This is 'Aria's Slaughtering Spiral'!" Aria then drew on the power of the amulet. She gave her legs enough of a boost to buck the boulder, which was slightly taller than she was, up to the ridiculously high vaulted ceiling of the main hall, and as it fell, she took to standing on her back hooves. The crowd watched in horror as the boulder descended, surely aiming to crush a few students once it hit the bleachers, but Aria channeled magic into her front hooves, and the water in her bucket formed a tight, swirling orb that began to roar like a miniature whirlpool. Steam floated off the orb as Aria pushed in on it, spinning it faster and faster. Then, when the boulder hit terminal velocity, Aria gave a mighty leap off the stage and outstretched the hoof that was holding the orb. There were gasps and screams as a sound like a mountain detonating shook the hall. A great hideous hissing filled the room, along with a bank of fog, but as it was ushered away by a breezy spell, Aria was seen trotting back to the stage, and the boulder was nothing but a few wet pebbles bouncing harmlessly at the hooves of the students.

Aria looked around nervously, saw Adagio's bouncing head in the audience, and bowed her own head. The applause was immediate and thunderous. The main hall filled with the stamping hooves and cheers of the student body, and literally shook as the earth ponies got rowdier than anycreature else.

The judges were harsh of course, but Aria achieved a slightly above average grade, especially since it was common knowledge that evocations like that were nowhere near the domain of earth ponies.

The hug between Aria and Sonata went on long because Aria was sobbing silently into Sonata's neck, but she had to be pulled away by Adagio as Sonata was called up.

The whole main hall opened up with hoots and wolf whistles and stamping the second Sonata started strutting her way up the center aisle. A few roses flew her way, but Sonata was focused. Since she had been graced with the most magical power out of the three dazzlings, she didn't really need the amulet to succeed here, but despite all the rumors, Sonata was no fool. Given the means to maximize her power, Sonata could perform miracles.

Sonata took the edge of the stage and clapped her hooves. A pair of admirers wheeled a large and covered box onto the stage with great difficulty, then a smaller barrel that also had a tarp over it. Sonata opened her mouth to speak, but the crowd roared louder, so she waited. The cheering only went on, and so Sonata shrugged and stepped over to the box.

The box reacted with a roar so fearsome that the whole of the hall silenced. Sonata giggled and pulled the tarp. Beneath, shackled in an iron cage was a fearsome beast with the body of a feral lion, the wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion. It snarled its fury at the audience, but could not move enough to swipe at its captor as she pulled up the tarp on the stout barrel, revealing the hilts of various tools of war.

Sonata sang a light and airy tune, and the Manticore paused like a child that had been told firmly to sit quietly. Sonata clapped, and her admirers, with shaking knees, undid the bolts holding the cage together. Gasps tore through the audience as the walls came down, but the beast was still. There was a smattering of uncomfortable applause.

"Well, Miss Sonata Dusk, that is a rather impressive enchantment, but I don't see how this is an improvement on an old formula." Said a snide unicorn teacher. Sonata's smile dropped, and she turned to the panel of judges with incredulity for a moment, before smiling again, even sweeter.

"Oh, for realsies? You think this is my spell? Don't be silly~!" Sonata said. Adagio had only seen her smile like that a few times before. It was the cold smile of someone who is used to being underestimated.

During this interruption, Sonata's cohorts had obscured the manticore with a wide canvas tent, then scuttled off the stage as swiftly as possible. Sonata rolled her shoulders, then perused the collection of weapons as if she were choosing a favorite spatula for flipping eggs. After a moment, she shrugged and dragged the barrel across the floor and into the tent.

For an eternity of nervous looks in the audience, there was nothing. And then a horrendous squishing crack, followed by the howl of a desperate beast, which ceased abruptly. The student body was left to quietly speculate as they heard the sounds of breaking bones and tearing flesh against the jaunty tune that Sonata was humming. A pool of blood seeped slowly from beneath the tent, and Adagio found it truly, wickedly hilarious that none of this was against the rules of the campus. As a matter of fact, experimentation on animals was welcome as long as a janitor or groundskeeper signed off on it, and Borky was already at the base of the stage with a mop and bucket.

"Miss...Miss Sonata, this is very unorthodox!" said Headmistress Starshine, panic barely concealed beneath her audacity.

"Just a secooooond~!" Sonata sang. There were a few more torturous noises of metal destroying flesh, and finally, Sonata strolled out of the tent, wiping blood from her face with a handkerchief. That didn't account for the blood on the rest of her outfit, but she cared little. Sonata clapped, and her cohorts, both female unicorns, lit their horns and cast a minor barrier over the front row.

"Fillies and Gentlecoats, It's like a total honor to present to you; Sonata's Barbarous Ballet! Music!" A quartet from the Bard's Hall, where Sonata spent most of her time, began a stirring, elegant waltz. Sonata struck the first position of remedial ballet, then the tent collapsed backward to unveil a sight that would continue to haunt Adagio's nightmares until her final days.

The manticore had been mangled to such a severe degree that it was hardly recognizable anymore. Through the oozing blood and the shattered limbs, Adagio could see that Sonata had torn into the beast with care and near surgical precision. The show was just beginning.

Sonata began to dance with grace and salacious style to the music, and the mutilated manticore followed her every move with a quivering, pained gait. Adagio could see from where she sat that its eyes were rolling and wincing in agony as it posed and spun and pranced, but it could not cry out, nor could it stop. Worse yet, with every kick, spin, and gesture, a bloodied piece of flesh slipped free from the beast and splattered somewhere else.

Many students and some faculty fainted in horror, and many more had to excuse themselves to go be sick in the hall as the dance wore on and on with Sonata's sparkling smile and beautiful curves cantering and cavorting before the quivering beast.

By the final pose, the top layer of skin and muscle had peeled off, revealing a veiny skeleton with blood still pumping through it. Its exposed lungs fluttered with agonized breaths, its heart shaking like a hanging apple tugged by the wind as it stood stock still.

Blood and tossed gore slid down the merciful barricade put up by Sonata's goons as she held that pose, then clapped her hooves. A sound like falling rain filled the room, and every drop of gore, gristle, and blood took on a bright blue glow, then flew through the air and back to the living cadaver. The manticore reassembled in an instant then slumped to the floor.

Sonata went to the beast then, as if to stroke its mane, but it ran yowling away from her in absolute terror and hid, quivering in a corner of the hall.

"Uhm...ta-daaaa~?" Sonata said, putting up jazz hooves. What remained of the audience clapped in slow astonishment.

Sonata was given an overwhelmingly positive grade, and then a brief recess was called so that everyone could collect themselves and recover.

Sonata sat back down and then braced her leg for a bro-hoof, but Aria was too caught up staring at her in horror.

"Sonata...what the fuck was that!?" Aria said, finally.

"What? I wanted my spell to be original!"

"Oh, well, you definitely accomplished that." Adagio said, trying to manicure her hoof with a shaking file. Sonata looked around at the ponies scooching away from her on the bleachers.

"What? ...What? I thought it was pretty impressive!"

"Yes, that is definitely a word to describe it. Please never do that in front of me again, Sonata." Adagio said.

"Well I thought it was good..." Sonata pouted, crossing her arms.

Adagio could feel the tension crackling through the air as she took the stage. It still smelled a bit like carnage, but that was covered up by the taste of envy and fear coming from the audience. She would show them all. Adagio needed no props or preparation. She had everything she needed. Well, almost.

"Well, Miss Adagio? We're all waiting." The headmistress smirked.

"Yes, yes, no need to rush perfection." Adagio waved a hoof at the old mare. The student body murmured and many chuckled. The headmistress levitated a stamp with a large 'F' on it in preparation. The horrible crone genuinely thought that Adagio would fail simply because she had little in the way of magic. Borky was right. "First, I'll need a volunteer! Could I request the presence of our beloved groundskeeper on the stage~?" Adagio said.

Adagio's tutor and only friend on this horrid campus outside the Dazzlings limped quickly to stand beside her. He looked up to her with a nervous curiosity in his eyes, but Adagio simply smiled, and to even her own surprise; it was genuine.

"You're not gonna torture him too, are ya?"

"Bah, who cares, he's just a diamond dog!" The student body mocked and laughed and sneered. A teacher caught a tossed tomato in a magical field before it could land.

Adagio moved to stand behind Borky, and she made sure to let her horn glow with a bright purple light.

"Adagio's DazzleVision." The sound of a tinkling piano and a thumping beat crept into the hall from nowhere at all. Adagio raised a hoof to the back of Borky's head, then raised the other to the ceiling. A shimmering, shuddering spectacle leaked into the main hall from parts unknown. The stone walls buckled inward and thickened and grew rougher, then diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and every possible gem in the world blossomed from the stone like spring flowers blooming to the beat of the drums. The main hall seemed to have been transported far beneath the earth to a place filled with pillars of precious stones. The glowing silhouettes of diamond dogs wandered about, unaware.

Adagio saw tears rolling down her tutor's face. "Boooorky'ssss....home...!" He whimpered.
The gems pulled free of the phantasmal terrain, then rained over the audience in a slow and glittering shower. The students plucked them from the air, turned them over...and found that they were real.

As the audience gasped and scrambled to catch as many precious gems as possible, Adagio stepped around Borky and gestured for him to crouch down. That was the signal. The other two Dazzlings scooted out of the audience and stood on either side of the stage; out of dodge.

Adagio closed her eyes, and as the music swelled and the spectacle enraptured the audience, Adagio began to Drink. The students and faculty bickered amongst themselves over the conjured gems. Their greed and hatred and envy were a savory buffet of sin. The connection between the Dazzlings' amulets spread the magical power between them evenly as Adagio fed. She had never felt such enchanting potency in her life. Her eyes rolled back. It was intoxicating.

Adagio caught herself, and focusing outward, she brought to life a vision of Home. The main hall turned cold and stygian, but it was soon lit by glowing coral, floating jellyfish, and the glittering of treasures within a sunken ship. Adagio had begun to float now, and she saw Borky's eyes illuminated by the display.

"This is my home, Borky. At least, the Home that I know. Dazzling, isn't it?" Adagio said. Her voice was melodic and echoing and almost unfamiliar. Borky's crooked, exuberant grin was his only answer. There were no words. How could there be?

"Alright, we're all very impressed, Adagio. Now could you please turn off your enchantment before the student body tears itself apart!?" The headmistress swiped some golden coins and gems from the judges' table and gestured at the crowd. Blows were being thrown over the bounty of conjured treasure, ponies were arguing and pushing and scrambling. Chaos was beginning to take the main hall.

Their fury filled Adagio's mouth and surged down her throat as a geyser. The Dazzlings lifted higher into the air and began to glow.

"And why should I do that? Isn't this a bit more honest than the airs you have them put on? Is this not simply what you ponies do when all the privilege and the pomp is stripped away? Scrambling for every little ounce of money and power you can get your grimy little hooves on!? You're all pathetic!" Adagio declared. The main hall was becoming a riot.

Power. More and more power surged into the amulet.

The Dazzlings were shrouded in a blinding purple light, then their forms unfolded through an abyssal curtain of stars against the night sky. Their eyes glowed red, and their bodies twisted and shifted.

The music grew louder. Adagio began to overflow.

A long equine snout appeared, filled with shark teeth. Hooves changed to fins and back legs became trailing, elegant fish tails with glittering fins. Their scales returned with a lustrous shine, and from their heads to their backs rose resplendent dorsal fins.

The reins of the spell slipped from Adagio's grasp. As the music swelled further, dreams were blinking into existence in the audience. Adagio saw dark jungles teeming with exotic life, she saw a lifetime collection of books and an equally vast spread of gourmet desserts, wizard towers, observatories, and cozy cottages all materializing and mashing together.

Adagio's DazzleVision was granting the wishes and vices of the whole staff and student body, and as the beat played on she saw ever more salacious sites. She saw apparitions of perfect mare and coltfriends appear cooing in laps. She saw interracial concubines from across Equestria dance and flirt. She saw torture, and murder and worse sights than that. The riot tried to shift into a stampede, but everyone in the hall was spellbound. The G.G.A.A. was helpless before Adagio's power.

"SHUT IT DOWN!" Screamed the headmistress, with every once of magic and authority still within her withered bones, and Adagio snapped free of her own spell. The phantasmagoria twitched and evaporated into a shower of purple sparks, leaving Adagio, Aria and Sonata to float in the air above the main hall, resplendent in their new forms. Adagio touched her collarbone and found that the amulet had embedded itself within her flesh. There was no going back, now.

The rest was a blur of panic and fury. Dozens of directions and shouted orders carried through the hall, and then a figurative rainstorm of offensive spells came for the Dazzlings. The only thing Adagio could focus on besides keeping herself and her sisters alive was the raspy screams of Borky down below on the stage. The wretched ponies had gotten him in their grip, and they were wielding spell and weapon to try and hold him down. In his final moments, Borky was shouting at Adagio.

"Go, abyss walkeeeer! You aaaaare too biiig for thisssss place noooow! Go and take the staaaaage of the woooorld! GOOOO!" Borky wailed. Those were his very last words before the mob silenced him forever.

Adagio had never felt a rage quite like this before or since. Aria bulldozed through the ceiling while Sonata swiftly charmed any ponies who came near to turn on their fellows. Escape would never be enough thanks for this institution.

Adagio turned, and the Dazzlings turned with her.

As one, they released a melodic banshee screech that shook the firmament beneath Gusty the Great's Arcane Academy, a song that vibrated the air so swiftly and fiercely for so long that by the time they finished, the school and all of its alumni were naught but a pulverized disk of ground gravel at the edge of Canterlot.

Now was the time for escape, as Adagio spied and tasted a black and pink-haired powerhouse surging toward her through the air. Princess Glitter Punch, the current empress of Equestria was many things; brash, arrogant, and disobedient to her viziers, but Adagio knew that she would defend Canterlot with greater potency and ferocity than the army of the empire, and so the Dazzlings fled to the sea. Beneath the waves was the only place they could be safe.

There were precious few survivors of that performance, but those that did come crying from the rubble would call it an abomination of dark magic. A cursed trio of never before seen terrors had corrupted a school full of the greatest minds in Equestria and gobbled up their power like the dark Lord Tirek had ages ago. A group of nightmares made flesh.

Adagio would note in later years as this event passed into legend that no mention was made of the behavior of those students before and during the spell, nor their dark desires made manifest. It's funny how ponies always find a way to absolve themselves of sin in retrospect.

Old ponish is a convoluted and ridiculous language, but the term that was coined in it for the Dazzlings was terribly accurate.

"Si-Ruh-En." Was the name. Si translated to 'Sing or Scream', Ruh meant 'Abyss', and En meant 'Death' or 'Consume' when used as a verb. Put together, the words spelled "Siren." Or; "The Singing Abyss that Devours".

To the cold, comforting waters of Home the Dazzlings fled. While they could not return to their village, the sea was ever their ally, and no ponies could ever travel deep enough to catch them. Once the heat died down, all that was left was for the Dazzlings to experiment and find the extent of their power. The following generations would be an age of growth for the Dazzlings and one of chaos for Equestria.

Scootaloo and Buck were shaking hands in a very sportsmanlike way. Scootaloo had spent the last several minutes dipping and dancing nimbly around one side of the ping pong table, and Buck had made a valiant effort of flailing about in a form similar to a drunken music festival-goer with a paddle instead of a glowstick. He had scored three points to Scootaloo's seven, and now he was chuckling and laughing while Scootaloo trashed talked him.

"Dude, you suck and ping-pong. Why're you smiling?" Scoots said, wiping her brow.

"Because it was fun!" Buck panted. "Who's got next? 'dagio?"

"You're being awfully nonchalant considering what I just told you." Adagio said.

"No I wasn't, because I wasn't paying attention!" Scoots bragged, hooking a thumb at herself. Buck was doing some rudimentary stretches after the exertion.

"What I mostly heard was the fact that your school didn't have a counselor; one, also, what in the holy fucking mother of hell was going on with Sonata? Like, holy shit, that was grisly!" Buck said.

"That's...yes, well, that was very disturbing, certainly, but I was talking about what happened after that?" Adagio said from the corner she was leaning in. She honestly wondered what was going through Buck's head, and why he hadn't decided to run yet.

"Oh, well, your spell sounded impossible, even for magic, so kudos for that. It also sounded a little like what you were doing at the Battle of the Bands. Were you going to cast that spell on us? Was that the plan?" Buck said. Now Adagio tasted fear, but it was under the flagging adrenaline of the game, and Buck's bubbling curiosity.

"Hm? Oh no, there wasn't nearly enough magic among all of you for something like that. We were just collecting as much power as possible for what would come next, but we were foiled."

"I see, I see. Well I'm glad for that." Buck said. He leaned next to Adagio and smiled.

"You're glad that we were thwarted by those horrible Rainbooms? What for?" Adagio snarled. Buck took her hand and laid his head on her shoulder. She shuddered. His eyes were closed.

"Because I'd probably be brain dead right now, or worse. And then I'd never have met you in person." Buck sighed. He kissed her shoulder and Adagio felt like she was burning on a cross.

"Oooooh~! Blushy blushy! Lookit her, Buck, lookit her!" Scoots teased, but Buck didn't stir. He tasted of contentment and affection. Adagio wanted to put down roots in this spot and never leave it, but then she remembered to be offended.

"Hush. I'm taking the next round. I'll restore your honor, Buck! No need to thank me." Adagio sprung off the wall, causing Buck to nearly fall over as her hand left his. She snatched his paddle while she was at it, swapping it with her hat in his hands. Adagio took a practiced stance on her end of the table, and Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

"Uh...are you sure about that? You don't seem like the sporty type, Adagio. In fact I'm pretty sure I've never seen you run, like ever!" Scootaloo said. Adagio ignored her and lifted the ball.

"I'll take the first serve." With a bit of the magic that Buck had fucked into her earlier, Adagio effortlessly filled the ball with glowing pink energy. It floated off her hand and chimed softly in mid-air like a hanging bell.

"Wooooahh..." Scoots watched in awe.

"Uh...'dagio? What're you doin' there?" Buck said.

"You may want to take a seat, Buck." Adagio said. She reared back and smacked the ball, making it smash down against the board, rebound and whiz just far off enough to not shoot through Scoot's head. It instead bounced off the wall and then came to a stop in the floor corner. Adagio scooped it up and returned to her side of the field.

"That's one." Adagio laughed and primed another serve.

Buck was genuinely shocked. Adagio was having fun. Good, mostly honest fun, and he hadn't expected that. He had expected to be a nervous wreck and ruin the whole date with his stammering, but that hadn't happened either. Instead, he was sitting in an arcade watching a surprisingly close ping pong match between Scoots and Adagio, and Adagio was laughing and rallying and looking to all the world like a normal if shockingly beautiful woman having a day on the boardwalk.

Every time Adagio lunged and her ass wiggled, Buck felt himself wondering if she'd let him take her to the dressing rooms a second time. There'd be time for that later; Buck had promised to spoil her after the date, and he had some very specific plans for his performance. She was going to fall to fucking pieces, he was sure of it, and he would savor every second of it. He subtly placed Adagio's hat over his crotch to cover his embarrassment. He hoped he was hiding his fear well.

Buck had expected some dark and sympathetic story from Adagio about how she had been betrayed or abused or dragged through the mud or some other villain origin story, but that's not what he heard. What Buck heard was the story of a brilliant, ambitious woman who wanted only to excel, only to find the world putting every possible obstacle in her way.

Buck could understand that--not the brilliant part, but the want to be greater, and the knowledge that the world would rather you didn't succeed. It was frightening, sure, but understandable. And if it was understandable, Buck didn't need to be afraid. Under all the dark magic, Adagio was just a person who'd had it rough, just like him.

She hadn't meant to kill those ponies, he could tell. She also wasn't sorry about it.

The final score was six on four. Adagio's win. Both of the women had heaving chests and flushed faces and Buck thought idly that it would be nice if there were blinds in this ping pong room, but he let it pass.

Buck saw Adagio turn to him with a wanting look, and so he clapped, then stood and placed her hat back on her head.

"There now, I've defended your honor against this knave!" Adagio smiled and curtsied.

"Oh, my hero." Buck said, kissing her hand. "Where to next?"

"I think I'd like us to make our way to the main event. Is the Aquarium far from this spot?"

"I mean, it's on the other side of the Boardwalk, but we can take a back path so we don't get caught in the foot traffic."

"Hey, I almost won! Where's my attention!?" Scoots pouted, shoving her ping pong paddle in her pocket so she could cross her arms. Adagio and Buck shared a glance, then they both kissed Scoots on either side of her head.

"Shall we?" Buck said. He offered Adagio his arm.

"Oh, we shall." Adagio took his arm and they wandered off, and after coming out of her blush, Scoots followed along.

The Dazzlings knew that destroying the G.G.A.A. meant there would be bounties on their heads, and so they would have to further disguise themselves if they wished to walk among ponies again. Luckily for the land dwellers of Equestria, the sirens had just about taken in their fill of ponies during their academy days and were now content to terrorize what would later become the Celestial Sea.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata had transformed into mighty new creatures with incredible powers, and so naturally they decided to test the extent of those powers.

They knew the properties of their amulets and how they could store a great reservoir of power, but there were drawbacks as well. For one, they were always thirsty.

If the Dazzlings failed to feed on magic for a scant number of days, they would begin to wither up like an unwatered ficus. Worse, they could not separate and maintain their powers. The Dazzlings would have to keep surfacing to drink any creature that happened to be unlucky enough to be on a ship or by the shoreline nearby.

A day came when a ship from the royal equestrian navy attempted to hunt them down, and this had come at a time when they were weakened from other battles, so the sirens fled in three different directions.

Without her sisters nearby, Adagio's magic would leak out of her at three times the rate of a normal magical creature, and that left her even thirstier than normal. She had to resort to terrorizing hapless sailors and leaving them to thoughtlessly drift into strange tides.

The trade-off, naturally was that Adagio could have a competitive amount of magic in her at any given time, especially when flanked by her sisters, and they therefore became a monstrous force of destruction over the ocean. Seafaring adventurers and pirates and plunderers would track them down to claim their bounty, and each of them washed back up on shore with their ship reduced to flinders and their minds reduced to gibbering vegetation. The spoils of these battles were great, and so the Dazzlings would rotate from hideout to hideout in order to store away the gains.

It was about this time that the siren's reputation began to really pick up speed, but Adagio knew that nothing in or over the sea could challenge them, and even if it could, nothing could chase them if they ran. They were the scourge of the eastern seas, and all of Equestria and beyond knew their names.

One day the Dazzlings were lounging in the shallows of one of their hideouts when Adagio sensed emotion near the underwater entrance. It was sweet, delectable fear, naturally, but also hope and determination. An odd taste for a random fish to have, certainly, so Adagio investigated and found a small, near starving member of her own species; a hippocampus named Novo.

Novo claimed that the hippocampus were dying. The world had moved on without them as they hid in the sweet embrace of Home, and now due to inbreeding and stagnancy, the kingdom was falling to ruin. If something wasn't done, their people would be no more.

Aria rebuked the young Novo, claiming that the hippocampus had banished them, and would banish her as well for leaving, so they could all wither away.

Sonata put a meal together for Novo of kelp and crustacean and fish. There was no reason that she herself should starve.

Adagio came to a snap decision.

"We're going to help them." Adagio commanded.

"What!? But why? Those superstitious idiots threw us out! They don't care about us, so why should we care about them?" Aria grumbled.

"Our species has come to a point in its history where it has to adapt or die, and I would frankly prefer it if we didn't allow them to kill themselves if there's a choice in the matter."

"Wow, Adagio! That's...uh..." Sonata said.

"Kind?" Novo tried.

"Who asked you!? They're all weak and pathetic. Why not let them die?" Aria said.

"Because, Aria, we get to save them. And if we save them, they will have to admit that their old ways were wrong, and that we were right, as was my mother. We will prove that they need to change if they want to live."

"Who cares?" Aria said.

"I do. The decision is made. I know precisely how we're going to do it, and Aria, it involves beating up on unicorns. How does that sound?"

"...I'm listening."

And so the plan was hatched. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata split up to drain the magic from as many unicorns as would fill their amulets, then present it as a transfusion to the people of their old village. As they went about the task, Novo stuck to Adagio's side, looking up at her and tasting of adoration and gratefulness. And kelp.

"Why do you keep staring at me, child?"

"It's just, when our people talk about you three, it's always about how you were cursed creatures that were driven out for your wicked fascination with the surface world. But the minute I found you, you offered to help me, and this surface world is...pretty. I mean, it's dry and smelly, but it's not the cursed realm I was told about at bedtime!"

"Yes, well, stories only contain a little smidgen of truth to them. It can be difficult to find that truth at times. This would is as dangerous and cruel as they say, little fry. But that is not all that it is, not even close."

"I should very much like to see the rest of it."

"Perhaps you will in time. But focus on the task at hand, otherwise you'll have no one at home to tell your stories to." Adagio said, and the ghost of a smile snagged in her fanged maw.

After much terrorizing and drinking and violence and yet more of those things, the Dazzlings came back together, brimming with power. Adagio hated the taste of unicorn energy. It was the so-called magic of "Order" and it was like wine without the fruity flavor. It was boring and bland, but it was what her people needed, and so Adagio led the Dazzlings down a familiar journey of leagues until they finally returned to their nameless old village. Much had changed, but less than one might hope.

There was a new regent that Adagio didn't recognize. The stone huts had been replaced with shell and coral, and there were far fewer hippocampus than when the Dazzlings had left.

"You will not touch Our subjects, you foul demons!" Shrieked the regent. No sooner than Novo had introduced the Dazzlings to the descendants of their people had her mother, the regent begun to scream as if she had seen a windigo doing the backstroke.

"We come in peace and with a solution to your problem. The fry has appraised us of the situation, and we have come to cure it. Your people--OUR people are magical creatures that are losing their magic. In a few generations there will be none left. If you want to stand a chance of weathering the test of time, you need the magic that we have brought for you. It is the arcane might of over a thousand unicorns. Let us save you!"

"Lies! They were banished for a reason! They are nothing but monsters come to corrupt us! Don't listen to this witch!" Shouted the townspeople. Their cries came between weak coughing fits.

"We're trying to save you!" Sonata said.

"You see? This is what you get for sticking your neck out for idiots. Aria snarled.

"Your highness, you must see reason. Your kingdom is falling to pieces before your very eyes, and it's because you all refuse to move forward! Let us help you!" Adagio pleaded. She reached deep down and realized she didn't want her people extinct, even if she had to swim to the bottomless pool of her own pride to save them.

"All We see is a heathen beast seeking to corrupt my subjects with demonic magic, likely to make her own wretched existence a bit less lonely." The queen huffed. It took every ounce of self-control in Adagio not to scream in the regents' face, and even more control for her and Sonata to hold Aria back from caving her face in.

"We will find our own solution without the need for dark magic, thank you very much. It is obvious that the tales of the corrupting influence of the surface were true. Return to your exile, foul creatures, and may you never darken our door again." The queen departed on those words. Adagio would not be so easily defeated.

Adagio had never attempted her next feat, but if unicorns could do it, then so could she. The Dazzlings focused all their effort on expelling the magic of the unicorns from their amulets, but then Adagio cast a barrier around it of her own, which tightened and crushed and purified the arcane power into a singular point; one perfect pearl. The salvation of her people.

The young fry Novo would find a gift wrapped in seaweed with some instructions enchanted to it through song. If Novo wished to succeed in saving her people, all she needed to do was hold the pearl aloft and wish it so.

The Dazzlings made back for the shallows, and while Adagio never found out if her people survived, she knew at least one of them could see sense. There was a sliver of hope, and that would have to be enough.

The next challenge to the Dazzlings' power would be the greatest one yet. Adagio was in the middle of making a grave mistake; entertaining a house guest. At this time they had made a long-standing fortress of a ship graveyard off the coast of Griffonstone.

To be entirely fair, the God of Chaos was rather entertaining on the outset, but the company of a primordial being grew tiresome with each hideous alteration of interior decorating. Chocolate milk rain is fine enough until someone has to clean up the curdled mess left over. That is to say, Aria did not appreciate cleaning up so much random paraphernalia, and the constant japery was beginning to wear on even Sonata's nerves. Adagio was looking for a spell by which to banish this creature now that the welcome had worn out, or perhaps create a transmutation spell that could change an ageless primordial into a glass statue that could then be thrown out a five-story window. This was not the challenge, really. The challenge was the one that came looking.

It was about six in the morning and Adagio was trying to remove cotton candy from her dorsal fin when the coral comb she was using suddenly transformed into a screaming skull with six eyes.

Aria came wheeling out of her room, clattering down the swollen wooden stairs, covered in...chattering teeth that were made out of candy cane. Which were biting her in all sorts of uncomfortable ways.

"Aria? Aria, are you alright? Aria, calm down." Adagio droned. Aria was at that moment too preoccupied with crashing through ship walls, rolling about on the floor and screaming to do much listening, and so Adagio very calmly pulled a lashing tongue of seawater up through the floor and gargled Aria around in it until the candy teeth melted.

"What...what...WHAT!? What in the-"

"Before you ask, no, these are not my transmutations." Adagio said, crushing what was once her favorite comb beneath her tail.

"Eeeee!!!" Sonata squealed from her kitchen. Adagio and Aria ran through makeshift corridors and creaking decks to find Sonata squeezing some hideous demonic creature like a teddy bear. It looked like it used to be a steak, but was at that moment, simply made out of steak and wood and teeth and wishing desperately that it could get out of Sonata's grip. "It's soooo cute! Can we keep it?" Sonata said.

"No." Adagio and Aria reduced it to red ash.

"Where are you!? I know you're behind all this!" Aria screeched as she charged through walls and floors in search of the God of Chaos.

Following the splinters in her wake, Adagio and Sonata found Aria with her jaws around a reptilian tail that was trying very earnestly to escape.

"Aria, what are you doing?" Adagio asked.

"I'm going to rip this tail off and eat it for what this bitch did to my toilet!" Aria snarled.

"Is that what smells like bacon?" Sonata asked.

"Now now, there's no need to fight over me! I won't be a problem for you any longer, dear Dazzlings! As a matter of fact, I was just leaving!" Said the god of chaos, bedecked in a sun hat, bathing suit, and overly large suitcase. One hoof was in a rift in space that seemed to lead to a wasteland of scrolling checkerboard.

"Excuse me!? What about the string theory transmutation lessons you promised me?" Adagio said.

"Pillow talk, my dear, pillow talk! Now I know I've been nothing short of a perfect house guest..." A roasted pig with a toilet tank and seat on its back ran across the deck, then unfurled a pair of wings, soared into the sky and very likely the stratosphere. "but I really must be going! You see, my dearest darling has just realized that the charming god of chaos that she has been carousing with for the last week is, in a manner of speaking, a blowup doll with a voice box in it, and she won't happy to discover that I've been crashing on the couch of a trio of co-ed water witches, no siree! So I'm just going to go ahead annnnnd..." The scaly tail that Aria had clamped down on suddenly shifted into a bunch of foam, which then coalesced into a bar of soap that scrubbed her teeth, rendering them squeaky clean.

"...make like a bubble and blow~!" The rift closed with the god of chaos inside it, zippering with a sound like the earth quaked and disturbed a small warehouse of whoopee cushions.

"Huh. Well, that was fun." Sonata said.

"Nothing about that was fun!" Aria stamped her tail and shattered a few boards.

"...wait a minute. You were SEEING SOMEONE ELSE!?" Adagio shrieked into the sky.

The ship groaned and twisted and undulated like a worm's back, then a thousand mouths opened along the deck and laughed and screamed in a ghastly chorus. The ocean turned to blood and boiled and reeked of copper.

All the winds bowed and held their breaths as the sky rent open and bled like a scratched scab. Something was coming through. Adagio had read about Tambelon, the realm of darkness and nightmares from which all earthly magic was said to drip forth, but she never believed the theories until she saw a sky of all-consuming shadows behind a beast that could only be described as terror made flesh. The clouds wept and laughed as it stretched chest up from the wound in reality.

Its claws were larger than the ship upon which the Dazzlings stood. It had the face and horns of a goat, but the ears of a bat, the hood of a cobra, and eyes of sheer, unending malice which trained upon the three sirens and narrowed.

As one of its colossal claws reached down to find purpose on a trench shelf, the creatures of the ocean swam to it and were consumed by the lashing tendrils that had been the beasts' fur just a moment before. The claw became a tentacle with many more claws at the tips.

When the beast spoke, it howled in the voice of every dark and hungry thing to come charging from the dark of the jungle or screeching from the sky on a murderous wing or snapping and ripping from beneath the ground. It was a chorus of murder that rumbled across the darkening skies.

"I AM COSMOS! I AM THE MALICE THAT RIPS AT THE THROAT OF REALITY, FIRST CHILD OF THE FATHER OF BEASTS, THE VENOM IN THE VEINS OF ALL PEACE AND HARMONY! AND I. HAVE COME. FOR MY BELOVED!"

Buck and Scoots stood, clutching each other's shoulders in shuddering fear as Adagio loomed over them. She had curled her hands into claws. She had used some kind of magic to alter her voice, and her eyes had gone all serpentine and yellow and the result was the scariest fucking thing Buck had seen outside of Serbian cinematography.

They had been strolling along the back wall of the boardwalk, no sidewalk beneath them, blacktop next to them, shaded from the sun. The aquarium's glass-covered roof shined in the afternoon light just a city block down the road.

In a parked car at a nearby corner, Starlight lowered her binoculars and gestured broadly at Adagio while looking at Sunburst. Sunburst shrugged.

"Adagio, what the fuck are you talkin' about?" Buck said, straightening up.

"What do you mean, Buck?" Adagio said, smiling innocently.

"Ooooh I get it! You're just making things up, now!" Scootaloo said, already starting to walk down the road.

"I am not! That actually happened! It was the most irritating day of the decade, I'll have you know!"

"Most irritating??" Buck said.

"Well, yes, it certainly was! It was the most horrific performance of my career! We had to beat that thing back into the rift to be sealed up, the girls and I! Even the then current empress of the Holy Pony Empire got involved; it was a whole production, I assure you!"

"What." Scoots said.

"You teamed up with a pony princess." Buck said, squinting.

"Yes, Buck."

"You. With a pony. And the other dazzlings, too."

"Yes, Buck. Survival before pride, haven't we discussed this?"

"Just...man."

"If it makes you feel any better, the cleanup took literal years to complete. We didn't hang around for that bit, of course."

"Of course. Are you sure you're not making this up?"

"Have I ever lied to you, Buck?"

"I have no idea."

"That's a fine point, but you're missing the main one, Buck?" Adagio said, taking his hand.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's the point, babe?" Buck said, walking in lockstep with Adagio.

"The point is that at the height of our power, The Dazzlings not only contested the might of the god of madness and carnage, but we beat her back. You need to understand the sheer strength of our magic before you can understand how devastating our fall from grace truly was. The princess didn't even try to apprehend us after the crisis was averted. She was frightened of us."

"...wow."

"Wow? Is that what you have to say? 'Wow'. The greatest institution of arcane learning reduced to a sand trap; 'Wow'. A whole shrine and temple dedicated to 'Wow'. The last words on the faces of our aggressors and countless victims; 'Wow'! The very fear of the ultimate power on terrestrial Equestria!"

"Wow." said Scootaloo.

"You are being the opposite of helpful!" Adagio hissed.

"No, I understand, Adagio."

"You very clearly do not, Buck."

"I'm tryin' to! It's just all the magic I've seen has been kinda the splash zone of big crazy events like that! Hanging with the Rainbooms was like that'n even that ain't close to what you're describing!" What you're talking about is 'once in a generation' type events."

"Try 'Once in an epoch.'" Adagio mumbled.

"Yes, I get it, and wow, for someone of that kind of age, you are absolutely killin' it, like holy moley." Buck said.

"Better." Adagio smiled.

"I guess my perspective just ain't wide enough to...to even imagine shit like that! How many crazy stories like that do ya have?" Buck said.

"Oh, countless instances, Buck." Adagio smirked.

"Okay, do I have to pay you to get you to tell me some more of those?" Buck said. 'cause this is some insane stuff."

"Well, I might tell you more over wine and cuddles if the rest of this date goes well." Adagio winked.

"Sweet." Buck pumped his fist. Scoots jogged backwards to catch the two, as she'd been walking ahead of them.

There was a flash of lights and the brief report of a klaxon and then Adagio felt Buck spike with fear, followed by a low, sizzling anxiety.

A white sedan with a blue stripe down the middle pulled up behind the trio. The hood of the car raised ever so slightly, which relaxed Adagio a bit. Perhaps the vehicle was simply malfunctioning and the officer needed to do a quick inspection. Adagio tasted that the hood raising had the opposite effect on Buck; he squeezed her hand just a bit without seeming to realize it. The siren had barked only once, but the lights were still flashing and spinning.

Before Adagio turned to face the individual who had gotten out of the car, she saw a flash of recognition in Buck's eyes and the taste of disgust that can only come from familiar, unpleasant company. Are we ever going to make it to the aquarium? Adagio wondered as she turned.

Before her was a woman wearing a dark uniform, a pair of black sunglasses, a well-polished badge, and in a manner that reminded Adagio of older days in this country; a truncheon at her side. Her skin was turquoise, her hair an amber color, and she moved with all the swagger of a woman who doesn't have to care that she's letting herself go.

"Buck. I thought I recognized that ass. Do you know why I pulled you over?" She said. Her voice sounded like it should have been layered over a low-budget procedural crime drama.

"Ya cain't pull me over, 'cause I'm not in a car. And no, I don't." Buck said. The woman smiled and pulled out a notepad. Adagio rolled her eyes. Buck's hand was shaking just the slightest bit.

"Jaywalking, Buck. There's no sidewalk here, so this is a road shoulder, and you're endangering the lives of yourself, every driver that passes, and these two women. That's going to be a fine."

"Lightning Dust, this is a 30 mile an hour zone. Why don't you go over there and ticket some of those double-parked SUVs?" Buck said, gesturing across the street, where unbeknownst to him, Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer ducked down.

"That's Officer Lightning Dust to you if you don't want it to be a big fine." The smarmy cop said, scribbling in her notepad. Adagio squinted and saw through the reflection on her glasses that she wasn't writing anything.

"Hey, you can't--" Scoots started, from behind Buck's back, but he held a hand out and shook his head.

"Well, I should probably tell you that I can fight that fine in court, because this stretch is about nine feet wide, which means where we're standin' isn't technically road shoulder." Buck's accent retreated for emphasis.

"Hmph. Tell it to the judge." Lightning Dust grumbled.

"I will. That's what I'm sayin'." Buck deadpanned. Adagio very patiently chose not to melt the face off this woman while Buck attempted to handle the situation.

The cop, Lightning Dust tasted like cold, bitter tea and thinly veiled sadism.

"Well, maybe I oughta just book you for public indecency, then." She smiled. Adagio froze, and from the taste, she surmised that Buck and her were thinking the same thing. This bitch had been following them, and she saw them exiting the dressing room together.

"Based on what proof?" Buck tried. Good, Buck. Let's get our blades out so that we can measure properly. Adagio's eyes darted around. It didn't seem like anyone was watching. At worst she could sharpen the blacktop beneath this bitches' car and give her tires just the right kind of slash to look like an accident. Perhaps she would simply seal the tailpipe shut. That would be both spiteful and artful.

"Well, word in the precinct is that a certain bum that works in a shitty sweet shop has a new sugar momma, and they've been sucking face in the side alley." Lightning Dust said, with the casual tone of those water cooler small talks that Adagio had to suffer through at work.

"Why's who I'm datin' the business of the CPD?" Buck said. Adagio was relieved that the cop didn't actually have anything on them, but from Buck's shaking hand in hers, he likely didn't think that it mattered.

"Oh, it's not, not officially. It just, you know, word gets around. Small town." Lightning Dust made a sound that was more like the yipping of a small dog than a laugh. The cop stepped toward Buck, and Adagio decided that this distance was quite enough. She stepped before Buck and stared at her reflection in the sun shades.

"You are aware that you can't arrest someone for kissing, right? I know that a passionate kiss can seem like a crime to the uninitiated, but it's quite legal." Adagio said. Lightning Dust stepped forward again and got into her face, frowning. Adagio didn't flinch. Please, Adagio thought. Give me an excuse. She figured that Lightning Dust was thinking the same.

"Well, Buck's got plenty on his record already. If I took him down to the precinct, I'm sure we could find something in his file if we just look." Lightning Dust snorted.

"Say, Lightning Dust, how's the marriage goin'?" Buck said, over Adagio's shoulder. She tasted a dab of righteous fury from Buck, and a cold audacity from Lightning Dust.

"The marriage's done, no thanks to you." Lightning Dust said.

"Aw, man, I'm sorry to hear that. It's just I haven't seen you casually since the bachelorette party; only on duty. That was a crazy night, huh? Say, uh, how much of it did you say you remember, again?" Buck said, holding a hand up to his ear.

"Listen here, you self-righteous, cowardly little cuck, I'm about a second away from--"

"Hey! Hi, hello! Did you know that you're being recorded right now? Because we have the right to record you, and we're exercising it right now!" Sunburst huffed. He had just crossed the street, Starlight behind him, and they were both holding camera phones up. They stood on the other side of Lightning Dust, near her car.

"Hey, why's your hood up? Is it to cover the camera in there?" Scootaloo said, scrambling to get her phone out as well.
Lightning Dust paused, then bared her teeth.

"And this is also an excellent time to ask if we're being detained, and if so, on what charges, exactly?" Adagio said.

"You're a little pussy, Buck. Lettin' girls fight your battles for you." Lightning Dust said, under her breath.

"We done here?" Buck said. Lightning Dust crossed her arms, and bald sadism shone proudly from her smile like her badge had before she covered it.

"You know you're ridin' the town bicycle right now? Did he tell you about his little side gigs? Huh? Oh wait, no, let me guess, you're paying him for today. How much is he running these days?" Lightning Dust said to Adagio.

"The man asked if we're done here." Adagio said, simply. Lightning Dust tasted like she very definitely wanted to say more, but then she looked around at the cameras pointed at her.

"Alright, you're off with a warning, but don't let me catch you making trouble around here again!" Lightning Dust said loudly and dramatically, turning around. She smiled at Sunburst and Starlight and headed for her car.

"Oh, officer? Do we have your permission to finish walking down this half mile stretch of road? It's a bit too late to turn around, since there is no crosswalk." Adagio said. Lightning Dust slammed her hood shut and looked over her shoulder.

"Yes, you have my permission to walk down this dirt road, bitch, I really couldn't care less." Lightning Dust snarled, then slammed her door and made a U-turn that was very probably illegal before driving off.
Buck's shoulders dropped and he let out a slightly rattling breath. Scootaloo reemerged from where she had been hiding in his shadow.

"Whew. What an ass. Hey, Adagio, why'd you ask her if we could keep walkin'?"

"Because, little birdie, had I not she would have ticketed us for jaywalking. We had to first get her to confirm that walking this stretch is, in fact, entirely legal." Adagio said, checking her nails.

"It's a good thing we showed up when we did! That could have gotten nasty." Sunburst said, putting his phone away. "Are you alright, Buck?" Before Sunburst could get his arms out, Buck was hugging him tight. Sunburst patted his back.

"Yes, quite a coincidence that you happened to be nearby." Adagio said, looking at Starlight. She tasted of anger and disgust as usual, but also of pity and surprise.

"We're on an aquarium date, and we just now found a place to park." Starlight said without hesitation.

"Oh, wow! That's where we're going! Why don't you come along?" Scootaloo said before Adagio could interject.

"Oh yeah, Sunburst, 'dagio's been tellin' us her life story today. It's pretty epic stuff; right up your alley, like if Discworld was narrated by Cruella Deville." Buck said, brightening. Somehow, to Adagio, that sounded vaguely like an insult, but she was too busy glaring at Scootaloo to care. Sunburst's eyes lit up.

"Really? That sounds extremely personal, uh, Adagio, would you be alright if Starlight and I listened in?"

"No, I wouldn't mind, so long as the two of you behave. I won't stand for any back talk, or any insults." Adagio said, once again catching Starlight's eyes. She didn't blink.

"Starlight? What do you think?" Sunburst said.

"...I don't see why not. We're heading the same way." Starlight said.

"Yes, wonderful, now can we get on with it? It's beginning to got hot out here." Adagio said, taking Buck's hand. She kept eye contact with Starlight as she and Sunburst began walking down the road, Scootaloo right behind them, already starting up the annoying small talk.

Adagio pulled Buck along. She tasted him sinking into a familiar black pool of self-loathing and profound shame.

"Buck? What exactly was all that about?" Adagio offered.

"...No."

"No?" Buck's hand was trembling again.

"No, as in, I'm not having this conversation with you right now. Please understand."

"Understood, Buck. Not a single word."

"Thank you, Adagio." Buck sniffed.

The battle with Cosmos had cost Equestria dearly, but more importantly, it had cost the majority of the magic that the Dazzlings had been painstakingly storing. By the end of the conflict, they were just about tapped, and no less notorious even after having technically saved the surface world.

After much deliberation, Adagio decided that the best course of action was simply to start over. The Dazzlings would take some time to hibernate in a secure location, and when they awoke, it's likely that no creature would even remember their names. It's not as if ponies would ever admit in their history books that they owed their lives to three heartless beasts of the deep.

And so the Dazzlings slept, and when they awoke, they found that Equestria was right where they had left it. Generations had passed, by the state of the vessels crossing the seas and the buildings along the shore, but things were still simple if a bit quieter.

The plan was simplicity itself; the Dazzlings would swim down the coast until they came upon a small and isolated community. Then they would have that isolated community for brunch. Perhaps they would get cozy for a bit and let the villagers laud them as sea goddesses and shower them with sacrifices for a while before moving on. That sounded good to Adagio, but this was just a small pit stop before their grand comeback tour, and so she simply decided that the Dazzlings would take what they could of the ponies' magic, then move on to bigger prey.

Perhaps they would explore the surface world in proper disguises this time.

After a brief swim, Adagio spied a gangly little slip of a unicorn stallion combing the beach for shells. She called out to him and found that he did not recognize the name of the Dazzlings. He tasted of inquisitiveness and fear. Perfect.

After Adagio asked if the young stallion knew of any nearby villages where she and her sisters might put on a bit of a concert, he ran off, likely intimidated by their majesty. Easy come easy go. They would simply have to find another patsy.

The thing about so-called 'heroes' is that you can never see them coming. Heroes can spring up from any desperate circumstance and try to force a change. Often times they would fail, but they were usually remembered well for the attempt. In this regard, being remembered as a hero was like history's participation trophy. They often appeared from destroyed villages or destroyed families or destroyed breakfasts, who was to say, but they always had one thing in common.

Heroes always had this tiny, obnoxious little glint in their eye. This spark that urged them to die trying something. That little spark was the most dangerous thing of all, so it's easy to imagine Adagio's shock when she saw seven instances of that very spark come to the top of the hill overlooking the little village that they had taken over.

The young unicorn that Adagio had bothered seemed to have run to the corners of the earth to gather pony reinforcements. They all attacked as one.

See the Dazzlings now as they fight defensively, trying to conserve what little magic they had drained from the village as the ponies strike at them with a mixed assault. One tumbles and rockets through the air while another hurls potions, still another cackling as it buzzes around their heads. The sturdy strike of an earth pony's shovel, illusions wrought by a unicorn's horn, defensive barriers conjured to box the dazzlings in as they desperately lash out with song and spell and teeth. They had just woken up, and already they were fighting for their lives against the wretched ponies once more.

See them now as they realize that they are floating back to back; surrounded. See Aria howl curses and Sonata try in vain to flee. See Adagio lock eyes with the young unicorn stallion and swear on all the stars that he would suffer the most for this insult. His eyes are hollow. Not like the others. Not a hero.

The ponies came together with artifacts of immeasurable power, and with a surge of magic unlike any seen on Equestria before, the world around the Dazzlings went white.

When they awoke again, they awoke in Hell.

"And that was our world." Sunburst said. He had been taking notes, naturally, but he seemed to take no joy as Adagio spoke the story of her greatest defeat. The Aquarium had turned out to be a wonderful distraction at first. It was a dark, cool building with soft music; an atmosphere that soothed Adagio and gave her an excuse to cling to Buck. Scootaloo ran off immediately, but always looped back around, while Sunburst and Buck chatted about interesting oceanic factoids. Starlight, as seemed her predilection, kept watching Adagio as if she were a badly behaved child on a leash.

At the moment they were sitting around a table, enjoying some snacks and a drink. Well, three of them were. Scootaloo was off petting a stingray in a little open tank.

"Naturally. We had done some terrible things. Frankly, if we were to be punished, it's not as if it wouldn't be well deserved. But the Dazzlings did not deserve to be sent here; nothing we ever did could warrant something as harsh as this."

"Oh please." Starlight said. "You make it sound so miserable." A roll of the eye made Adagio think that Starlight was being snide, but the purple-haired bitch's stare shifted straight back to Adagio. A challenge.

"...you joke, but only because you don't understand. This world is the nightmare of any magical creature, because there is no ambient magic. The only magic to be found is in the emotions and intentions of others, and what that meant was that we sirens could never fill our bellies here. Every day we starved until we found a way to feed. Luckily, the worst feature of this realm was also an advantage for us."

"The worst feature? What's that?" Buck said, somewhere to the left. Adagio's hand had drifted away from his. She was lightly stroking at the spot where her amulet had been. Adagio would not turn away from Starlight's judgemental stare.

"Humans."

For every pathetic, disgusting quality that ponies had, humans were a cracked and darkened mirror. The Dazzlings had faced monsters, they had become monsters, but there were no monsters in Equestria that could measure up to the savagery of humans. They were everything that Adagio had learned to fear during her academy days.

The world of humans was bleak and twisted. It was filled with metal and fire and greed. There were no other races to contest the human's crushing grip on the world, and there was no magic to sweeten the breeze or warm the heart.

The only magic to be found was within the beating hearts of living things, and so the only hope the Dazzlings had lay within the monsters that surrounded them each day.

They were the perfect prey.

At the G.G.A.A. the Dazzlings had gained immense power by feeding on the vices of ponies. Adagio believed that the best way to regain their powers and find a means by which to rip themselves back into their home dimension was to do the same with humans. After all, there seemed to be no end to the vices of humans.

The first attempts came out as a trickle. The pettiness of humans rivaled even the ponies, and they were extremely good at suppressing their emotions. The Dazzlings would sneak into human dens of sin and quietly feed, but their vice was like a bucket of absinthe down their throats. Adagio thought in that time that she had seen the worst things a human could do to another, but she was naive. The Dazzlings could not feed like this, not without becoming darker and more corrupted with time if the madness didn't take them first.
It was not until the Dazzlings found their way to the battlefield that they could feast.

Humans are violent by nature, and so finding a conflict to hover around was easy. For the first few generations, the Dazzlings were content to live life out on the seas. They could not change back to their true forms and find Home in this world, but they could rule the waves atop it. Cannon fire and clashing metal and screams swallowed by the deep followed in the wake of their black flag, but eventually, the age of piracy came to an end. From there, the Dazzlings wandered from conflict to conflict. They were burned as witches in a little village in the new world, and when that didn't work, they laughed and danced in the bay they had made where the village had been. They participated in a few bloody revolutions, and as time wore on, they continued to starve.

Now they had the opposite problem; drinking from the worst of humanity would poison them, but drinking the confused essence of battlefields would dilute the magic so much it was like drinking water when one was aching for bread. They experimented.

The Dazzlings became the stuff of legends; stalking dark corners of the earth in search of victims to wring the fear out of. They followed bankers and supped on their greed, and they crept through crowded music halls to sample envy and lust and excitement. They captured lovers and drank of their affection, but the magic turned to ash in their mouths. Nothing could ever satisfy their thirst.

"So you all ruined lives and killed and stole because you were, what, hungry?" Starlight said.

"Yes, naturally. Ambition alone can drive one to commit abhorrent acts, Starlight Glimmer. Do you have any idea the kinds of things people will do when they're caged in? When they're hungry? You sit there and judge me all you want, but you can't possibly know what it is to live for centuries with a rumbling stomach." Warmth. Adagio blinked and shifted her thigh under Buck's hand. She covered it with her own. She took a breath.

"What happened next?" Sunburst said.

"Just feeding on humans wasn't working. Their magic was diluted to the point of being near worthless, and their emotions were erratic at best; poisonous at worst. Drinking them was disgusting, but even through the hunger pangs, I refused to stop looking for a way out. My sisters depended on me to point the way forward, you see. This was my responsibility." Adagio said.

There were times when the Dazzlings needed to simply take a break from one another. They would go off and build their own bases and plunder their own spoils and find their own humans to snack on. It was perhaps the second or third time--no, the second time was when Adagio spent a few decades as a bog witch, it had to be the third--that Adagio finally found a lead. An artifact from her dimension. It was filled with old ponish words that only she could decipher, and it was bound in black leather. It was in a museum full of stolen things, so Adagio felt no remorse in taking it for herself. It was from her home, and therefore in this world. It belonged in her hands.

As it turned out, it was the spellbook of the young unicorn stallion that had spelled the siren's doom. Stygian was his name, and within his pages, he wrote wondrous theories and spellcraft based on his fellow 'Pillars of Equestria'. The book was useless in practicality. There would never be enough magic to cast these spells. But what it represented was far more valuable.

Like the Dazzlings, this spellbook had come from the other side. Other things must have as well.

And so Adagio bent every effort toward finding other links to Equestria.

"Legends and tall tales and bits of mythology. Stories about animals and people and combinations of those things...and ponies. Is that why so much human mythology has ponies in it?" Buck mused. Adagio smiled and looked at him, finally.

"You're catching on quick, Buck. How unexpected. That's correct; many of the legends of your world are the result of magic that was smuggled over from mine. That was my theory, anyway. In truth, nothing I ever uncovered could lead me home. Without sufficient magic to cast a proper ritual, the Dazzlings and I were stuck. I would go back and forth between hating every moment here and finding little dalliances to spend my time on, but I would always come back to searching for a solution until, finally, it found us."

Hope arrived in the form of an explosion on the horizon. The Dazzlings were in Canterlot at the time by coincidence, but they saw a mushroom cloud of rainbow hues rising over the skyline from one of their usual haunts. Imagine for a moment the smell of your favorite flower. Now imagine that you lived a long and miserable life, never again tasting that scent, save for the lightest of essences. One day you're wandering about aimlessly when someone comes and shoves a whole bouquet of those very flowers in your face. Wouldn't you take the bouquet?

"You know the rest." Adagio said.

"You failed, and you lost your artifacts, and you ran off to go find others to leech." Starlight said.

"Starlight, stop." Sunburst warned.

"Sunset said that you all were on the road to reformation." Starlight said.

"How do you know Sunset Shimmer?" Adagio hissed.

"Everybody knows Sunset Shimmer." Buck shrugged.

"You're not going to win." Starlight said.

"Excuse me?" Adagio said.

"Whatever you're planning this time; you're not going to win." Starlight said.

"Ooh, hoh, hoh. I don't need to 'win' anything, little girl. But I'm more than happy to humble you, like I was humbled, since you seem so intent on hounding me." Adagio growled.

"Bring it, bitch. I'm not scared of you." Starlight rose from her seat.

"Starlight!" Sunburst said.

"Yes. Because you're a fool." Adagio said.

"Alright, alright, that's enough! Adagio? Can I talk to you for a lil' bit? Alone?" Buck said, pointing across the room.

"There's a show starting in the main tank if you guys want to check it out." Sunburst offered.

"Maybe, man. Maybe." Buck said, pulling Adagio along. Starlight and Sunburst were at the beginning of a quiet argument when the two left.

The main tank of the Canterlot aquarium seemed all at once vast to the life inside and disgustingly small to Adagio. The circumference of it stretched out of the west wall of the aquarium and into a ring of bleachers outside. People were starting to gather out there. From the map that Adagio had seen, the main tank was divided into different sections based on the creatures that could cohabitate.

Adagio saw a manta ray elegantly soaring through the water high above and shoals of fish swimming about on their errands. There was a bed of coral hosting a variety of colorful shy creatures, and the eye of an octopus peeked out from beneath the lid of a colorful clay pot.

Adagio couldn't think of a more apt metaphor. A tank that seemed large to its ignorant tenants. An ornate but tiny isolated container with a clever creature inside. It could change its skin and it could put on airs, but eventually, it would always return to the safety of the pot.

From where Buck and Adagio sat, the main tank's wall stretched up to the ceiling. There were stairs on either side. The afternoon light filtered down through the water and onto the two of them.

"Look at this. Another bench." Adagio said. She was sitting, turned away from Buck. She noticed Scootaloo poking at the glass of a clownfish enclosure. Adagio had never known a careless life, and she envied that in Scootaloo.

"Yeah, deja vu, ain't it." Buck said, joylessly. Adagio took a small sample of his taste and nearly gagged. Despair. She had been right about him. She had broken his will.

Over in Buck's head, he was wondering just what in the hell to say. He had heard Adagio's story. All she wanted was to get out of this world and into a better one. A better one that didn't have him in it.

She had said that drinking humans never satisfied. That must be why she kept coming back to Buck; he wasn't enough for her.

He was trying, though. He had tried so hard, but it was obvious to him now that he couldn't make her happy, not even on a sunny day like this, and now he was lost. Eventually, she would leave him, because he would never be enough. He'd found a girl that liked him, that really seemed to want him, but now it looked like all he was good for was a snack and a fuck. She was so far out of his league, she was literally out of this world, and Buck was out of his depth.

She was going to leave him, and they hadn't even really gotten started. Buck thought maybe that was a good thing. Short and sweet was better than long and painful.

Anything would have been better than Her.

Stop it! Stop fucking thinking about it, you idiot! Look! There's a girl in front of you, and she's hurting. Make yourself useful and try to cheer her up. Don't fuck this up. The least you can do is not make a scene when she breaks it off with you.

"Say, Adagio? Could I ask you somethin'?" Buck said, hands at his sides.

"Yes, Buck. What is it now?" Adagio groaned.

"What did the ocean say to the beach?" Adagio sat up and looked over at him. She looked so hurt at first, then confused.

"What?"

"Nothing. It just waved!" Buck pointed a finger gun at Adagio. She put her hands over her mouth and her eyes started to well up. A million apologies were trying to push through the threshold of Buck's mouth at once, but Adagio's shoulders shook, and tears rolled down her face, and then she threw her head back and let fly a horse laugh that made nearby parents and kids take pause.

"Hahahahah! What is wrong with you, Buck!?" Adagio laughed.

"Uh...lotta things. Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine! Thank you! Just...why do you do that? How do you do that?"

"What, Dad jokes?"

"You just...swoop in and distract me when I'm trying to stew in my own misery! It's almost annoying." Adagio said, smiling.

"I dunno, I guess that's what I'm good for, huh? A distraction." Buck mumbled. He looked away and saw an expression of disgust on Adagio's face like she'd just bit down on a black tea bag. That's right, he probably tasted disgusting right now.

"That's not what I said, Buck."

"S'what you meant. I guess I should be flattered. I'm about the best you can get out of a human, right? A good distraction?" Buck said. He rose.

"Sit down, Buck. Stay." Adagio said. It sounded like a command, but when Buck turned to her, her eyes were soft. "Please." Adagio said. She held out her hand.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to make this about me. I came here to listen." Buck said. He plopped back down and let Adagio's small, cool hand slide into his.

"Well, you know the rest, Buck. I put a base together over in Tenpony Tower. I made rooms for myself and Sonata and Aria, for when they finally came back. But they never did."

"You still never told me why that is?"

"Buck, use your head. I've already said why. Our amulets were destroyed in the fight. They were our only hope of collecting enough power to go home. There was nothing left for us, so we just drifted around, touring, making a few fans, certainly, but always starving. We argued about what to do, because there was nothing we could do."

"And that's when they left you." Buck finished.

"Yes. And so now I'm alone on this hell world, and two thirds of my heart are missing, and I'm weaker than I've ever been."

"Well...there's gotta be others, right? Other loves, other families. Humans ain't so bad that you couldn't find new people, right?"

"Hah! Why would I do that? No human could understand what I am. I don't need them, anyway. I don't need anyone."

"You're a livin' thing, and livin' things need two things; to be fed and to be loved. Simple as that." Buck said. His cold despair was bubbling and boiling away.

"I am the blackhearted scourge of the equestrian seas. I am a beast that devours the hearts of men, and thrives on the fear I create in my witnesses. No one could love a thing like Adagio Dazzle."

"...do you want to stay as the thing that you were, Adagio?" Adagio's head snapped around at Buck. She was suddenly furious, then confused as his gold eyes caught her straight on.

"What did you say? What exactly does that mean, Buck?" Adagio challenged him. She scooted closer and glared.

"Well, I've been listenin' to you all day, and you keep painting yourself like this fucking whirlpool that sucks in everything around you, an' I just don't see it." Buck said.

"What would you know, Buck?" Adagio spat. She tried to pull her hand out of his, but it was like being caught in a steel trap. One that was warming up.

"Not much. But I can look just fine. And the Adagio Dazzle I've seen is sweet. She sees value in people--somehow she saw value in me--and she protects it. She gives weird and thoughtful gifts, and she knows how to have fun. Adagio Dazzle cares."

"And when exactly did I say that I care about you, Buck?" Adagio huffed. The man genuinely looked like he was fighting back tears for a moment. Finally, a solid blow.

"Don't get me wrong. Adagio Dazzle is also mean as hell. And she's full of spite, and she's jealous even though she don't admit it."

"How dare."

"And for some reason she thinks that poofy sleeves are okay, but that ain't the point. Adagio Dazzle is a lot of incredible things, and she don't have to be a monster."

"You just listed a lot of reasons why you don't like Adagio Dazzle, and Adagio Dazzle is about one word away from getting up and leaving you here."

"Adagio, all that stuff is things that I love about you." Buck said. Adagio shuddered.

Love. Buck had never said that word in relation to her before.

"Love. Oh, love, here it comes. You can't just fix everything with the 'Power of Love', Buck. You're living in a fantasy."

"I don't want to fix you, Adagio."

"You can't change me, Buck. I am precisely what I've always been."

"Not tryna do that either. People don't really change." Buck said. He looked away, and Adagio was glad because she was afraid she might combust under his eyes. He tasted like anger. She had upset him. But he also tasted like deep infatuation.

"That's right, Buck." Adagio said. The shoal of fish swam to the other edge of the tank.

"They grow." And then he looked through her again. His thumb was stroking the back of her hand.

Across the room, a camera shutter clicked.

"What are you talking about, now?"

"Adagio, think about a seed and think about a tree. You put them side by side, and you wouldn't think that one came from the other unless you were told. It's like magic."

"It's nature, Buck." Adagio snapped. He was so warm, and he was leaning forward. She thought he would pounce on her, but instead, he put his forehead against hers. He smelled of sweat and lavender and he tasted of burning.

"Trees don't change either. Like people, they grow, but they've got it figured out. The whole world could change around an old sequoia, and it would just keep on growin'." Adagio could see her eyes begin to glow pink in her reflection. The water rippled.

Across the room, Starlight Glimmer stuck a hand in her pocket and rose from her seat.

"What's your point, Buck?" Adagio hissed. She would not let him change her. She would not let his stupidly high magic reserves corrupt her. She was stronger than this and she was stronger than him, but he was warm. He was so warm.

"If you would just stop pushing me away. Adagio, if you would just let me in, I could help you grow. I know I'm not enough for you, I know that, but if you just give me a chance, I really think I could help you grow into the person that you want to be. Just trust me."

What was this drivel? It was the opposite; Buck was far too much. Adagio's face was turning red, and he was staring through her and he was close. It was like dipping her fingers into a steaming bath.

Sunburst was making for the stairs. Scootaloo was looking at the starfish in another tank across the room.

"And how exactly are you going to do that, Buck?" Adagio said. Buck's fingers were trailing up her arm.

"You already told me how. In the dressing room." Buck whispered. His fingers stroked Adagio's shoulder.

A stone broke apart in the tank. The thinnest of lines formed on the glass wall; right between their lips. Adagio was standing on a cliff overlooking a burning ocean of passion.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Adagio sighed. Her cheek was cupped in his palm. She stuck her foot out over the edge of the cliff, while in the tank the shy things hid in their coral.

"Let me love you, Adagio." Buck said. His breath was hot against her lips.

The crack in the glass spread and splintered. The pot shook.

Starlight Glimmer pulled a piece of chalk from her pocket and started running at the two. Adagio's eyelids were dropping low. She fell over the cliff.

"Fuck you~"

They kissed.

The pot shattered.

All hell broke loose.

Author's Note

Whew. Longest chapter yet, by a country mile!
We're getting elbow-deep in the puckering depths of Equestrian lore in this one.
There's a lot of moving pieces in this chapter and a big wheelbarrow of setup for the coming third act, so I hope it wasn't all too overwhelming.
Just a query; would any of you readers be interested in some side stories about the Dazzling's Academy Days?
I had a lot more ideas for scenarios that could take place in their time at the G.G.A.A. and just after but I obviously couldn't squeeze it all in here.
Honestly, that could be a mini-series on its own, if folks are interested.

Song Review: Ever since I first heard Do It All The Time, I knew immediately that it had to be the title of the Dazzling's rise to power. The song itself is about the rise of heavily processed pop music as the genre marches heedlessly, automatically across the music industry. It's catchy, it's sexy and it is without remorse or conscience. In Rainbow Rocks, the Dazzlings are provocative pop divas that stand as the antithesis of the Rainboom's wholesome girl band aesthetic, so I thought Do It All the Time was a perfect match for their ethos.