Mistress (Adagio's Big Comeback)

“Finally,” Adagio bellows in triumph. “Revenge for those years of humiliation!”

“Sunset!” you say as you skid to a stop near her prone form. “Sunset!”

She whimpers and coughs. Red flecks speckle the pure white snow. A turquoise eye peaks open and she clenches her teeth as she tries to stand, but she's barely able to move. The saddle and pad you gave her are broken and torn, hanging on by the tattered belt, and you imagine they might have cushioned the blow. Rarity's gift keeps on giving.

You're furious as you are concerned. She just saved your life, yet doomed you. Both, you suppose. “Why the hell didn't you run?” It's rhetorical. There's no winning moves here. There never was as soon as you betrayed Twilight. You don't understand enough of this world to have made a functioning plan. It's just the old hatred throwing blame when plenty of it rests on your shoulders.

Sunset doesn't answer. She just grits her teeth, her eyes closed.

“What did I tell you? It's futile!” Adagio cackles.

You watch as Adagio floats towards you with a smug sneer. It's over. You don't have it in you to fight back, and even if you could, what could you possibly do?

You've lost. You slump and let your head bow.

All the same, your mind spins and drifts, like the final random thoughts before a long sleep. This beast has been on the tip of Adagio's tongue for almost as long as you've met her. The side of her that just does as it pleases for the easiest benefit for itself. You should have seen it coming; ever since arriving in Equestria, the beast has been edging its way in, manipulating your Addy, making her bubbly one second yet cruel and forceful the next. Hiding in Adagio's natural dark yet loving manner, waiting to strike like...

Well, a beast. This is a siren. Intelligent beasts, but beasts nonetheless.

This is what Addy tried to conquer. Back home, she seemed so in control, but in Equestria? It's like Sunset and Twilight have made abundantly clear, you know magic from a telescopic view, one perspective, but magic is so intertwined with everything here. The sirens are so completely steeped in it, you're not even sure if the Addy you know, the one who had become so human by the time you met her, is even the real Adagio.

A thousand experiments float in the depths of your mind, but it's all for nothing. You'll never know the truth because, even if you could escape, you've lost Adagio to her inner beast and Sunset's probably not going to survive this night.

You sigh, and the powdery snow inches from your muzzle flutters up and away as you realise you're all but flat on your belly.

“Yes,” Adagio says with a sneer. “I, alone, shall rule, adored and never to be felled again!” Her bravado shatters, her eyes flicker pink as she mumbles, “I... alone..?”

The uncertainty on her face is immense even as her eyes return to their golden sheen. You can see your Adagio's expression take hold, a glimmer of the worst memories she had as a human laid bare and piercing the beast from within. That pit of despair she pulled herself from, with your help, and learned how to become truly strong.

She's still in there, Radian! Damn it, man, fight for her!

Adagio shakes her head, breaking from her confusion. “... perhaps I was hasty in my attempts to squash you like a bug. Bow to me, my pet, and I shall spare you. I need acolytes!”

“Forget about this and come back to me,” you plead. “You don't have to be alone.”

Adagio's stone crackles and she winces in pain. She then growls, defiant, “I won't be. I'll have you as my loyal, subservient plaything.”

“It won't be me, though, will it?” You stand tall as you can. “I'll just be your puppet. Is that what you really want?”

She laughs, as if completely confident, but her certainty still seems forced. “As if there's any other way for you tiny things to live! Human or pony, it doesn't matter. You had the privilege of restoring me to power, and that alone should be reward enough. This world is waiting to adore me the way they rightly should! They have been deprived of a true ruler for too long.”

You shake your head, indignant. “They'll stop you, you know. Twilight and her friends. You're just going to follow the same path you did before, so filled with hatred that you can't see the idiocy of what you're doing. So filled with pride that you won't see them strike until it's too late. You're nothing compared to the Addy I helped! She had real strength. Fortitude! Beauty and brilliance! The real her is worth more adoration than you ever will be!”

Adagio roars, “I am the real Adagio Dazzle, you pathetic worm! That pathetic side of me you're fawning over ran on survivors instinct. Nothing more. Pathetic grovelling and snivelling just to get by! Bedding a whelp like you? I feel sullied! Your only purpose now is to grant me more power, and be satisfied you're still of any worth to me!”

“But you were so much more than that,” you plead. “You had hopes and dreams! New goals! A new life, and your sisters cared about you!”

“Sisters?” she snarls. “Hah! They had their chance! Those weaklings deserve to remain human! I now have all the power!”

This monster is nothing to your Addy, but for all your defiance, she's still a gigantic, armoured, magic wielding goddess. You still have nothing on you that can help.

“R... Ray...” a faint voice beside you.

“Sunset?”

She lifts her foreleg and gasps in pain. “Don't give up... you have to remind her she has a real heart...” Her eyes flicker white. A memory?

You hesitate for a second, then touch her foreleg.

*-**-*

We all sit back, releasing each other's hooves, and I laugh, which makes the group of princesses give me a funny look. The memory Twilight just shared through me was the first time I had linked minds with four other ponies, and alicorns at that. I never knew I could do that. I'd be proud if what we'd seen wasn't so just... out there.

Adagio Dazzle, singing a love song to a human. I'll scratch that up to things I never thought I'd ever see, and I've seen some seriously weird stuff. I've seen inside Pinkie Pie's mind, for Celestia's sake! This somehow trumps that!

Well, maybe.

I scoff. “I'm sorry, but... seriously? Adagio sung that? It's so sappy!”

Twilight pouts. “Don't be like that, Sunset. It was incredible! I never figured someone like Adagio could feel such a deep connection. And everything I've learned talking to Radian today tells me all I need to know as well; he's well meaning, but he's been dealt a bad hoof in life. Which is why I'm changing the plan.”

Cadence grins. “Love comes in all forms. I hope you're right, Twilight. Not that I don't trust your assessment, I just want to make sure you've thought this through.”

“I, for one, believe in both Twilight and Adagio whole-heartedly,” Celestia says as she sips her levitating cup of tea. “If everything is as you've witnessed, then you should as well, my old student.” She gives me a wide grin. “Is it so much of a shock that a siren can change? When even an entity as singular in his ways as Discord can be redeemed? Or that somepony as self-assured as you can learn and champion friendship?”

I rub my forelegs together and say, of myself, “you mean an overly proud, short-sighted moron.”

“You shouldn't be so unkind to yourself, Sunset,” Celestia says and smiles. “We all make mistakes, and you both learned the error of your ways and apologised.”

Twilight shakes her head. “How can we claim she's the same when, as you've even shown me, she's not only romantically involved with a human, but even you witnessed those feelings first hoof. They love each other. He wants what's best for her, and I respect that. I consider this a calculated risk, but we must believe that her feelings for him can give her the power to overcome whatever negative emotions might be stored within her stone.”

Cadance nods. “It's true. It takes a truly open heart to show her feelings that clearly and brightly. One capable of love of that nature is also quite capable of changing for the better. A wellspring of sharing her spirit that sparks a light inside her that will flourish, if we nurture it. This Radian Wave has achieved something truly admirable, even if it's unlikely he understands the magnitude of it all.”

“I am in agreement,” Luna says, “for I have witnessed both sides; the light and the dark. While it's easy to assume that one who has followed the darker path of one's own selfish and vulgar desires is forever tainted, when my sister accepted my apology, and we spent time rekindling that which had been so tragically lost with my fall, the fulfilment was a reward unlike any other.”

The two sisters smile at each other warmly, and Celestia says, “It is as my sister posits, Sunset. That Adagio Dazzle has both felt and indulged in her her love is a critical step. This most certainly will steer her on the right path if guided the right way. We should support her however we can, whilst being cautious, of course.”

“But what about this plan of theirs?” I ask.

Twilight teleports in a scroll and places it on the table. “This was my plan for Adagio and Radian's visit. Guard cycles, room searches, escorts, observations, et-cetera.”

She lifts the page, and with a purple flash, it disintegrates. Celestia just smiles, Luna tilts her head, quizzically and Cadence nods.

“I don't know, Twilight,” I say and sigh. “I'm worried that what you've learned about Radian might be coloured by Adagio's influence. He hates me. I can't help but shake the feeling that Adagio's just using his hatred as a mask. I wish I could do the right thing here, but I just can't figure out how to help him.”

Twilight nods. “I don't blame you for doubting him, because grudges like this work both ways; just as he can't see the good in you openly, you will struggle to trust him to overcome his deep seated grief. I've offered our help, and he at least seems to be thinking about it. Beyond that, we simply must trust that Radian and Adagio's wishes for the good in one another will be enough. To stifle and doubt them might drive them away from us and our desire to allow them a place here in Equestria.”

I bite my lip. I know I should trust Twi, but I have to tell her. “I'm not trying to be stubborn, I'm just worried he's too in deep with Adagio. Maybe they are in love, sure, that's great. But what if Adagio's really just leaning on him that hard? What if he's just a willing servant?”

Twilight rises on her chair, placing her hooves on the table. “I am adamant that Radian Wave must have agency in their relationship. I think the only reason for his grievances is because he's been so lonely for so long. I can empathise with him in that regard, and I understand why he's so taken with Adagio. He's had nopony else, and will fight to the death for what he's found in the sirens. He just needs kindness, and I think by the end of all this, we'll all come away friends, richer in spirit and stronger together if we just guide, rather than direct, order or confine Radian. He may stumble, he may make mistakes, as we all have, but we've all pulled through.” She rears up, then slams her hooves down on the table with a resounding thud. “If I'm wrong, then on my head be it! If Radian asks for our help, I shall offer everything I can in return.”

Luna smirks and gives Celestia a look. “It almost feels as if postponing her succession was a pointless endeavour, sister. Twilight's already a force to be reckoned with.”

The other princesses giggle as Twilight purses her lips, blushing at her outburst, then Celestia says, “so it seems! But it's fine. What's a few more years? We've already seen such amazing changes since our original succession plans went awry. And who would have thought the sirens would potentially return to Equestria, and that their fate hangs in the balance because of just one song? My mentor may have sent them away, but I feel it would be a suitable end to my reign if I can welcome them back.”

It seems ridiculous. Just one tender love song and everyone's willing to look past a thousand year old threat?

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I even said to Radian about the power of emotions, made even greater by just investing time in others, have power. A power that that has destroyed threats, turned ancient spirits of chaos to stone, restored the corrupted... so many things.

I also should have trusted my first instinct; the thing that kept my anger in check when she slapped the shit out of me after I stole a glance into Adagio's mind. I just didn't believe how she saw Radian. I thought I was fooling myself. I kept remembering the way she addressed the 'human scum' she used to hate so much. Just this one human, who chose to worship her, and she began to feel a joy inside her like she hadn't felt before.

Love, which in all its forms, is as much a strength as it can be a vulnerability. Just as well, because sometimes it's all we have...

*-**-*

Sunset's eyes close as she slumps. You don't even know how badly hurt she is, but for the first time in your life, you know you have to help her. Shit, you have to save them both. Yet you have no plan, no theories, no tech, nor power. All you have is a goal, and what your old nemesis just showed you.

Love. Something you'd only felt once, prior to meeting Addy. Your mom's unwavering support. Something you were so starved of otherwise in the base cruelties of life. Something so glorious to feel, with that sense of belonging that you had with Adagio, Aria and Sonata, however brief.

The feel of Adagio's heartbeat. The warmth and softness of her skin and the thickness of her hair. The scent of her, the taste. The dark grin and promises of untold pleasure. The laugh of genuine mirth and the sinister giggle of her scheming. That moment when you held her with Sonata when she needed comfort at her most vulnerable.

None of these needed much thought, just action. Just... do it, Radian Wave. Save them. Save her. The way to pull your Addy free from her beast, the moments where she shone brightest. Her strongest and weakest.

Two moments spring to mind, as she sang for you. How broken she was as she sang her lullaby about the cycle of her dreary life, but also her shining soul as she serenaded you; songs she's only ever revealed to you, and you alone, interruptions besides.

You're overthinking this. This isn't about logic, it's about emotion.

So you stop thinking, and walk towards Adagio as she grins at you, and seek the way to tap into your heart.

Her chuckle echoes through the forest. “Oh? Is this your final stand, or your first sensible act of supplication to your mistress? Make these words count, Radian, because they will be your last as a free spirit. You belong to me! So bow!”

You stand taller. Your muscles are bruised. Your bones ache. Your mind fogs from fatigue and the growing despair.

Your heart is all you have left. If friendship is magic, then love better be some powerful stuff. So you give into it.

And it makes you take a deep breath. And you sing;

“For so very long you had a heart of stone,

Just carried on, soulless and all alone,

lost the way ahead, and lost your will~!

Life just blurred together, just as bleak,

Every day drained you, left you weak,

That was your life; the final, bitter pill~!

There was no way out, but then, oh, what you saw!

Oh, what you saw!

What you saw was somepony that your heart's worth beating for!”

You feel it. The influence of this world. The light, the power. Love, untamed. You feel it surge within you, and you just go with the flow.

“I’d given my all, with nothing left,

behind, dull skies, grey and bereft,

my hopes and dreams now rested upon you~!

A soul, calculations cannot not predict,

A beauty, my designs could not depict,

With you by my side, the sky would be perfect blue~!

And no matter what, you’d make my spirit soar!

Make my spirit soar!

As I dreamed to be somepony that your heart’s worth beating for!”

Adagio's eyes soften and lid, and the gold colour in them melts away to a familiar, loving raspberry shade. Her stone likewise loses its eerie, unbalanced glow, almost blending with the the trickle of blood around the misshapen and still healing wound.

And as you take a breath for a third verse, she joins in. A duet.

“We feel our souls ignite and grow,

No walls or places we can't go,

The world is now ours to explore and find~!

You gave me back my strength, a family,

And a gold horizon we can't wait to see!

With you and me, we're two of a kind~!

And now we're together, forever-ever more!

Forever-ever more.

You're truly somepony that my heart's worth beating for!”

She sings on, as if in a trance. It's the most beautiful sound you've ever heard.

“I can think of nowhere else I'd rather be,

than beside you, the one who set me free!

“To whom my heart belongs, forever true,

Oh, my Ray of sunshine, I love you.”

She then blinks and shakes her head, her eyes as lucid as they are horrified. “R- Ray? Oh shit, Ray! What have I done!?” She drops to the ground, but you keep on your hooves as the impact shakes the earth.

“Shh! Easy, Addy! It's alright.”

“No it's not!” She says and bows her head, resting it on the snowy ground and covering it in shame with her massive hooves. “I lost control again! And the pain...” She growls and writhes from another arc of red magic dances across her damaged gem as a flicker of gold runs through her eyes. “It's driving me crazy! I don't know if I can hold on.”

You rush up to her. You don't even hesitate, despite how terrifyingly big she is this close, and press your body against her cheek. The scales are unyielding, but warm. Just the fact you know your Adagio's back makes it the most comfortable thing you've ever felt.

You don't know if she can even feel you, but you say, “you can! You're so damn strong, Addy. You've fought through worse, and I'm here now. I'll never abandon you. Together, we can achieve anything.”

“But the carnage I've caused! And...” she gasps as she looks across to the distance. Just the small turn of her head pushes you into a stumble. “Sunset! Is she alright?”

You look over at Sunset's still form, and you force yourself to stand to reach her. She's still warm, but her breathing is shallow and weak. You take a deep breath and conjure your unicorn signal. You feel the tingle, but you're so tired at this point, you doubt it's going to have much of an effect.

It surprises you when Sunset opens an eye. She looks across at Adagio, and smiles. “You did it,” she whispers, “I'm so glad.”

“I'm sorry, Sunset,” Adagio says and shakes her head. “It shouldn't have gone this far.”

“I've had... worse...” Sunset goes to stand, but as she tries to get purchase with a hoof and rise, she collapses and screams in pain. “Oh, fuck, my ribs... and everything. Okay... scratch that. I don't think I can move...”

“Save your strength,” you whisper. “We've got to get you out of here... shit, but how?”

Adagio asks, “can't you carry her? She's not that big.”

“Maybe not to you, but that's beside the point.”

The recent absence of logic gives way as your mind sparks. The scientist is restored as you try and reason out of the problem. You pace back and forth, and Adagio just watches with concern as you rant.

“First, I don't know how to pick up a whole pony. I haven't tried it, and I don't know if I can risk it on her now. What if she's got internal injuries!? The only way I could carry her is by draping her over my back. I'd be putting pressure on her body. And I'd be adjusting her position all the way with my magic. I need to try and maintain the positive signal to help her endure the pain. You'd have an easier time carrying her. You can fly! That transformation has to be good for something.”

Adagio looks herself over, but shakes her head. “There's no way I can be careful enough to pick her up with these hooves. You might be able to climb on me, but these scales are just too smooth and hard.”

“And your fins don't exactly look grippy either.” You continue to pace about, but you're no closer to a solution.

Adagio's gem stings her again, and she grumbles, “stupid siren body. All this strength, all this power, and all of it it's situated with my mo-” She stops and her eyes go wide. She gulps.

You ask “what's wrong?”

“Ray? Could you... uh...” she mutters and gestures in a circle with her hoof a bit. “Like, wrap yourself around her? Carefully?”

“Like I'm cuddling her? Seriously?”

She frowns and pouts, or as much as she can with her draconic muzzle. “Really, Ray? Now's not the time.” It's still terrifying seeing her frown in disapproval, despite how she's still in control. “Just fucking do it.”

“Fine, but I don't see what this is going to achieve.” You crouch down beside Sunset, and say to her, “I'm going to move you a little. Brace yourself.”

“Uh huh...” Sunset manages back, and gasps as you lift her from the ground. It's tricky, as you'd expected, but thankfully you're not picking her whole body up so it's not too taxing. You then put your legs under her, like you're spooning.

“There,” you say, “now what?”

Adagio grimaces and awkwardly looks off to the side. “Just... try to stay calm and don't squirm. And, for fuck's sake, don't start screaming! I'm anxious enough already.” She licks her muzzle and takes a deep breath, then begins to lean down towards you.

“Screaming? Just what are you- oh my goaaaAAHH!!”

Adagio's vast maw blocks the sky as she licks the ground, scooping you into her mouth, and closes her jaws around you.

“Eech,” Adagio utters, and takes flight into the night sky.

* * *