Mistress (Adagio's Big Comeback)

Act 2: Sirens are doin' it for themselves

There're a lot of things you've seen in adult, titillating media where everyday scenarios quickly turn sexy: meeting girls at the gym and performing violations of health codes with the equipment, having deeply unprofessional interactions with your a hot secretary, mature women with pool boys performing routine maintenance (both on the pool and the... older lady, you guess, depending on the wear and tear), and shared, non-prison showers. Especially that one. Getting naked with a girl you just spent the night with? Wet skin? Intimate cleaning? Absolutely the greatest thing ever. On paper.

You've been sold on a pack of lies. Truthfully, that may have more to do with the economy shower in Adagio's apartment, which is designed for one user, than the actual concept.

Lots of elbows and hip bumps, even more fighting over the water. You awkwardly wash and shampoo each other, but the water's already becoming cold before you can even get halfway finished with Adagio's mass of glorious hair. All the same you get the job done, with no grace or comfort, but you're both clean.

You dry off, but when you relocate and put on your underwear, Adagio approaches you with her hands behind her back, buried in her still wet, straight hair. “I think it's time you returned the favour for last night.”

“Anything for you, Addy.”

She smirks and hands you a wide toothed comb and a thickly bristled brush. “I hope you're not going to be busy for the next couple of hours. Hair this fantastic needs a lot of work.”

Well, you offered. “Sure. It only seems fair.”

Like the scientific method, you settle into the same principle but with changed variables. Namely, Adagio instructs and you obey. Brushing and untangling and brushing some more. It's... therapeutic, actually. Maybe it's the continuous closeness, or the bonding or...

Wait... Adagio's humming? That's new. You recognise the track as Find the Magic, one of the songs the Dazzlings made after they lost their powers. You let it guide your tempo of brushing for a while before she sighs, contented. You can even see her eyes are closed as she just enjoys the sensations, and her shoulders go slack.

It takes a while, but you eventually start treating her hair with some fancily named oil for curly styles and run it through the strands with the bristled brush. It's very involved. Finally, you're done, and her hair has a fantastic bounce and volume befitting your mistress.

Adagio fluffs her hair a bit and winks at you. “Thanks, Ray. It's been a while since I've had someone else do that. Me and my sisters used to handle each other's hair all the time, and... well, you know.” Adagio smiles for a short moment, but sighs.

You nod and pat her on the shoulder. “Hey, we're in this together, right? If there's anything you need, you just tell me and I'll do it.”

“Now that you mention it, I've been thinking of a couple of things,” Adagio says and retrieves her necklace again. “First, I want you to scan this, because like I said, I don't know if getting my powers back will be possible without it. I need to know your opinion on it, as scientific and empirical as you can be.”

You reach for it, but she suddenly closes her fingers around the broken gem and she uses a finger to direct your gaze into her killer stare.

“Be. Careful. If you damage this then, whether I like you or not, there'll be hell to pay.”

You hold your hand near your chest, “Like it's my very own heart of stone.”

She hesitates, but relents and nods, placing it in your palm. After her talk about the Dazzlings reacting with violence as kids when someone tried to take their gems, you feel a profound sense of trust.

Adagio continues, “good. Secondly, this shrinking thing. Any idea if you can make it stable? Like, longer lasting and less 'echoey?'” She air-quotes with her fingers.

“I have some ideas, sure. I was thinking that, once I've diffused the energy from you like last night, it could be maintained by even a very weak signal.”

“How weak?”

You scratch your neck. “Magic doesn't like going into people without some sort of resonator, like the device our world's Twilight used and accidentally corrupted herself due to how inexperience she was with Equestrian magic. You have a natural resonance with your siren-converted-earth signal exposure, which keeps drawing in small amounts to sustain your enhanced strength and size. If course, we've found that way to disperse it, but only temporarily. Once it's out of your body, it's only a matter of time before it's drawn back in by that core resonance. That being said, once it is outside of you, I suspect a subliminal frequency would be enough, like a sound file.”

Adagio smirks. “A sound file, eh? I happen to still own a licence for some music editing software I used back when the Dazzlings were together. And doesn't the large device have a cheap laptop as a controller? If you tell me how to add a frequency, I can make that.”

That's crafty! You get excited with her as Adagio's smirk increases into evil grin territory. Which just spurs you to ask, “I like where this is going, Addy, but... what are you planning?”

Adagio's expression goes flat. “Do you trust me, Ray?”

“After last night, and what we talked about this morning? Yes. I do.”

She strokes your cheek. “Then follow my lead and don't ask questions. The less you know, the better, and I want you to keep focused on what I tell you to do.”

That's less give and take than you were hoping for by this point. “You can trust me as well, Addy. I won't tell anyone.”

Adagio shakes her head. “No. End of discussion. Besides, I'll be the first to admit it involves a lot of improvisation. Now, help me get shrunk and stable, because I'm going out and I need to be inconspicuous.”

“No offence, Adagio,” you say and snicker, “but you and inconspicuous don't exactly go hand in hand. The hair, the clothes. I could go on. They're beautiful and eye-catching, but that's my point.”

She gives you the stink-eye. “Stop being a smart-ass, Ray. Save that brainpower for getting my magic back back. Now, go get the device ready and install Reincloud Audio Editor. I'll be with you in a moment.”

You gather your clothes, and Adagio seems to plan an outfit as she also changes the bedding after your night together. You head outside and use the laptop, with your phone as its internet connection, and download the software as Adagio joins you. She logs in and it unlocks the full features, complete with the full library of Dazzlings songs: rough cuts, early drafts, instrumental and vocal only versions and all sorts of things that make your eyes go wide. It's a Dazzlings fan gold-mine.

You have to ask, “can I check some of these out? I'd love to hear your alt-takes. Like that!” You point at the screen; a song called Siren's Sorrow, dated from... a month ago! “Did you record that on your phone or something? And I thought you said you said you didn't sing any more.”

Adagio collapses the program and gives you a bone-chilling stare. “No. Shut up and follow my instructions!” She re-opens the program and the editor. ”How do we incorporate that signal?”

You go over the fundamentals and Adagio picks up on it rapidly. It's a blank, ten second sound file that won't register in the human ear, but will push back the energy. When she tries to save it, the laptop crashes and reboots.

“Tsk, stupid thing,” Adagio grumbles.

“It's a cheap, refurbished model, give it a break. It wasn't really designed to run more than the software coupled with the sensors, emitters and power readouts, let alone actually making music.”

Adagio tries again and again, but the damn thing keeps crashing.

“Yet it loads your music just fine,” you say and tap the side of your head, “what if we edited a song instead?

Adagio opens a Dazzlings classic, Battle, then adds the subliminal signal, and wonder of wonders, it saves just fine. She cusses under her breath, then downloads a copy on her phone.

“Tsk, why would that work, but not the sound file by itself!?” Adagio snaps.

“Tech gremlins! No rhyme or reason to them,” you chuckle, remembering your old lab computer. It crashed precisely 22.8% of the time when you emptied the recycle bin. Fortunately this laptop's been just fine running your programs so far, but you note it'll need replacing if any deeper strain might compromise your device.

After an hour of fine tuning and listening to Battle on repeat to the point even you're getting tired of it, you prepare to test it by shrinking her the same way as last night. One strong dose of siren energy, followed by the anti-earth signal. Once more, Adagio's dwindled back to her original height.

She stands up and huffs. “If you can also work out a way to make that not suck, that would be great. So what now, do I just play the music?”

You turn on the handheld and scan her. Sure enough, the echo is forming. You nod, and she plays the track, starting with the Dazzlings harmonious voices leading in before the lyrics start proper.

“We heard you want to get together.
We heard you want to rock this school.”

It works like a charm! The signal disperses.

Adagio asks, “should I stop it?”

“For the moment,” you reply and she pauses the track

You stare at the spectrograph. The energy is slower to build, but it's definitely gathering. You snap your fingers and Adagio gives you a surprised glance as a revelation strikes you.

Of course! You blasting the anti-signal makes a vacuum of energy so strong, the ambient power will seek to fill it in a sudden rush. The subliminal signal is far more gentle. So much so, it makes what can be best described as a bubble, free of magic.

“Play it again,” you say.

“We've thought of something that is better.
Something that changes all the rules.
Why pretend we're all the same.
When some of us shine brighter? (Shine brighter).
Here's a chance to find your flame.
Are you a loser or a fighter?”

The energy build up is slowed even further and, from what you can gather, it's instead gathering in frequencies that won't interfere with Adagio's earth signal for... well, hours.

“Pause it, it's not going to get any stronger by the looks of things. This is a tremendous success!”

“Well, I did work on it,” Adagio says and inspects her nails. “It's only natural.”

She may be fishing for complements, but screw it, she's been so down on the whole, why not let her enjoy a victory of her own? “I couldn't have done it better. Now, there's good news and some bad news.”

“Bad.”

“When the effect of the song ends, it's going to hit like the first time you grew; all at once.”

Adagio puts a hand on her hip. “In that case, I hope you're prepared to pull your weight clearing that up next time. And the good?”

“That won't be for a number of hours. I can't be certain how many, but it's looking like... between four to five? It's difficult without more time to see it in action. Even then, odds are, you can likely extend it if you kept listening to it. It won't be as effective as when the energy is getting near; so no, you can't just listen to it for a few hours and not regrow for days, it's always going to be a few hours each time.”

“Good enough. Thanks, Ray, I'll leave you your work.”

Adagio heads into her bedroom as you tune up the handlheld device, prepare a list for any findings under several categories, recover your old notes notes and more. It takes a while, and the same could be said about Adagio, but just as you sit down to begin working she re-emerges.

You can't help but stare.

She's dressed in her usual black, purple and pink colours and that signature punkish, spiky and evocative style, but you realise that even when you first met her in the bar, she had simple, subdued makeup while you've known her personally. Now, she's gone all out: gold eyeshadow, well applied and blended blush and clean, glossy lipstick, stunning lashes and plucked eyebrows. Adagio's hot, and there's another layer to her confidence now.

You don't know if it's the fact she's clearly planning something and back in her element or, as doubtful as you are, she's reciprocating how alive you've felt today after spending the night together, but she gives you a wink when she catches you gawping then heads out without a word.

You wish you'd taken a picture, but never mind. Time for science.

Preliminary scans reveal it's got a very similar resonance to Adagio's siren signal herself, but it's distinct enough with a precise scan. It also doesn't respond to the siren signal.

Tsk, you're being stupid; it's not how she projected her powers, it's how she absorbed the energy of others. You set up a rotation of earth, pegasi and unicorn signals.

Nothing. Then you try anti-signals. Also nothing. For something so clearly potent in magic, it's frustrating.

Hmm... conflict? You try to set up a rapid alternation between the positive and anti-signals and earn a faint, green wisp of something, but it fades in moments.

It's hardly conclusive or informative, but... well, it's an extracted piece of Equestrian fauna, you suppose. A part of a living, breathing siren. Something from a world you've yet to see and truly understand.

Wait. “Fauna?” You scoff at yourself. “Did you just classify the first girl who's given two shit about you, and gave you your first lay, as the subject of a goddamn biology paper? What the hell is wrong with you?”

And stop talking to yourself, Radian, before you put the mad into mad scientist.

You bounce between testing theories on the siren stone (which is still frustrating you) and building the main machine as a means to reformulate ideas when you finally hear the jingle of keys and the door opens.

“Welcome back, Adagio, I've-”

A different woman enters. Leather jacket, pale blue short-dress underneath it, leggings, mini-heeled boots.

Red and yellow hair. Turquoise eyes.

Sunset Shimmer. She walks in, spots you, and freezes.

Adagio's there, right behind her, with the biggest, shit-eating grin on her face as she sees your expression bounce between slack-jawed shock and fear. She thewn walks into the apartment, turns serious, and says, “it's not much, but it's home, and this is my boyfriend-” she looks between the two of you. “Oh, is something wrong? Do you know each other or something?”

Sunset also performs a double-take, wide-eyed. “Wait, Radian Wave's your boyfriend? Seriously?”

Adagio huffs and pouts. “Wow, judgmental much? I can't help it if I like smart guys.”

You manage, “what the-” but can't complete it, and just internalise the rest.

But seriously, what the actual fuck?

* * *