Western Equestria, 1500 years ago.
That morning, when the roosters first shrieked, the farmers of the small rural village of Trottingham woke up like every other day with a smile upon their faces and eager to get to work the fields.
You see, dear readers, back in the day Equestrian families were numerous, so everypony had to do their own part in order to feed their fillies and foals. Slacking off was not really an option, not even for the little ones who were brought out in the fresh country air to learn what farming meant since their first years of life.
So off they went, each one carrying their wagons, hoping to fill them with hay and oats by down. Little did they know that evening, nopony would come back home.
“It seems awfully small, Adagio”. Aria Blaze, commented once she and her fellow sirens were close enough to have a clear sight of what would be their next target. “Are you sure it's worth the effort?”.
“Every bit of energy counts, Aria”. Her older sister, Adagio Dazzle, the siren whose scales shone of the golden color of the rays of the sun, replied. “Besides, it's always fun to submit powerless ponies such as them”. The sea creature added, while an evil grin appeared on her face, slowly revealing her pointy, predatory teeth.
“Take a good look at them, sis. They are simple farm ponies, they won't have enough strength to resist our singing for even a single minute. They will fall under our spell, before they notice us coming. Plus there are youngsters among them and I know for a fact how much you love their taste”.
As soon as the sound of those words reached Aria's ears, a small light glimmered in the depth of the purple siren's cat-like eyes. At that moment Aria licked her upper lips with her long tongue, already savouring the taste of the sweet energy she and her sister would drain from those innocent little foals.
“So?”. Adagio intervened, seeing that the younger siren was lost in her thoughts. “Did I manage to convince you or what?”.
“Remind me when your birthday is, Adagio”. Aria asked in response, leaving her fellow siren quite surprised.
“Next month...But what kind of answer is that?”.
“Oh, y'know...I just thought I'd thank you with a nice present for knowing me so well”. Adagio found her sister's reply a bit too mushy for her tastes. However she had enough cold blood, running in her veins, to avoid making an expression of disgust that would without a doubt offend Aria.
“Your help in submitting this village will be enough to please me”.
“You're no fun, when you act like this, Adagio”. The younger siren went on saying, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “But I guess that we all have our own flaws and not everyone can have a good sense of humour”. This time it was Adagio who rolled her eyes, annoyed.
“Good one, Aria”. She said, faking a brief smile. “Now why don't we get started, so we finish sooner rather than later?”.
“We can't”. The younger sea creature answered, placing a hoof on her sister's shoulder to prevent her from flying away.
“Why is that?”. Adagio questioned, now visibly bothered.
“I'm surprised that you haven't noticed it, yet. Our group is missing somebody”. Hearing those words, the older siren quickly turned around and began to move her head, as if she were looking for someone.
“Where is she?”. Adagio asked, as her previously calm attitude turned into a strong sense of anxiety. “Where is she?”. The sea creature repeated, this time yelling.
“Why do you ask me?” Aria shouted herself. “I thought she was with you”.
“Well, she isn't obviously here any more”.
“It's not my fault, if you let her out of your sight”. Aria kept yelling in her defense.
“I was leading the pack and she was right behind me. How was I supposed to keep an eye on her? Meanwhile you were in the back, you should have been more careful. You know how fragile she still is!”.
“She is a grown up siren, she doesn't need you, constantly looking over her. Anyway if you're so concerned about her why didn't you pay any attention to her?”.
“I told you I was leading our group here, I couldn't get distracted!”.
“Well, why don't you go looking for her then?”.
“I will, but first let me tell you something...”. Right before Adagio could blow off of all her steam on her fellow siren, a shrieking voice came from behind a nearby hill. In an instant a shadowy figure appeared.
“Ada...gio, Ari...a!”. The two sirens heard shouting, as they noticed that the creature was getting closer and closer.
“Here she comes”. Aria thought to herself, recognizing to whom the voice she had heard belonged.
“Sonata!”. Adagio, exclaimed, rushing toward her sister, while the other siren preferred to wait for the two of them behind. “Where were you? You know better than to get away from the rest of the pack.
“I...know...it's...it's just...that I...”.
“Sonata what happened to you? You look exhausted!”. Adagio questioned, noticing that her sister was gasping for air.
“She must have run a marathon!”. Aria, who could hear just fine what the other sirens were saying from where she was, suggested. However her sisters did not seem to be effected by her teasing, as they went on talking, ignoring her.
“It's just...that...you guys were...so fast”. The youngest of the sirens said, struggling. “I could not keep...up”.
“I get it”. Adagio interrupted her. “Now we are going to take a short break, so you can catch your breath. You'll need it”.
Since she had been given some time to rest, the youngest of the sirens sat on a bolder big enough to sustain the weight of a large creature such as her and waited to regain her strength. In the meantime Adagio went back to gaze upon the village she and her sisters would soon attack. Not that she planned to submit its inhabitants in a different way than her pack usually did, but still, one could never be too careful.
Aria herself decided to remain isolated and rest on a bolder on her own. She would seldom turn her eyes toward her older sister, but never bothered to make sure that the other one was alright.
Sonata was, as we already mentioned the youngest of the three sirens. The legendary creatures who ruled over the western Equestrian sea. The marine organisms showed them complete and total respect, as they feared them and the mysterious power of their voices, yet their existence remained for a long period of time unknown to pony kinds. Even the neighbours of those beautiful, but dangerous creatures knew very little about them.
Among the seas of Equestria it was said that they were the daughters of Phorcys, the primordial god of the ocean, who lived chained at the bottom of the dark Abyss.
There were also other rumours about their origins, though. According to them the Sirens had once been mere ponies, before some unknown, powerful magic would turn them into sea serpents. This particular rumour had been spread by those who, after taking a better look at them, had noticed that they had front hooves.
However they might have been born one thing was sure: the three sisters were very old and powerful. The nature of their dark power had remained a forbidden secret to all those who inhabited the sea. Until one day an old starfish swore to have seen the sirens emerge from the bottom of the ocean, crawl over the rocky shore of its island and start luring ponies' boats to wreck on the nearby sea stacks thanks to their beautiful singing. The starfish also said to have seen a weird, greenish aura, coming from the boat and being absorbed by the gems that the sisters had on their chests, yet no creature had believed that part of the story.
Since that time the sea creatures had called the three sisters: “Sirens” a word that, according to their elder speech, meant the ones who bind through magic song. (The word siren comes precisely from the noun σειρά [seirá], which means rope, and the verb εἴρω [eiro], which instead means to tie. The combination of this two words led to the creation of the idiom siren).
The area where the three sisters had chosen to live was vast and, since they had claimed it as their own, they had simply given it the name of Siren Sea. The northern edge of their territory was marked by the island of Aeaea, while the southern by the Rocks of Scylla.
All of these details remained for centuries unknown to ponies who later gave the area the name of Luna Bay. The reason for such thing was that on one hoof the three tribes of equines who moved to Equestria came much later than when the Sirens had arrived in those regions; on the other, as we said before, the ones who ventured into those waters met their doom. However, some ponies decided to build their villages close to the edge of that cursed place, thinking that as long as they left it in peace, whatever lurked in the sea, would leave them be. Unfortunately they were wrong.
The sirens, seeing that their equine neighbours did not dare come close to them any more, quickly adapted to breathing the oxygen, contained in the air, and left their home to feed on the negative energy of the ponies, inhabiting Equestria.
During their long adventure on land the three sisters had not come across any obstacle to their plan of submitting ponies. No one had enough power or guts to stand in their way. No one but each other.
Despite all the time they had been living together, the sirens were still sisters and, like any other, they would often fight, especially Aria and Sonata.
The cause of this was probably that, as the youngest of the trio, Sonata received more attention from Adagio than Aria. Something that the purple sea creature would never accept and caused her to feel great jealousy toward Sonata. Their constant arguing would most of the time drive Adagio crazy, but right at that moment the oldest of the sirens was too focused on her objective to notice that her sisters refused to talk to one anther.
“Okay, I believe we are ready”. Adagio exclaimed, when she thought that Sonata had enough rest.
“Sure...”. Aria murmured, as she left her seat and levitated toward her sister. Only now did Adagio realize that something very awkward was going on. Sonata looked like a child who has just lost her favourite toy, while Aria seemed an erupting volcano. Being pretty sure about what had caused her sisters to be so upset, Adagio placed her hoof on her forehead and sighed heavily.
“Not again...”. She thought to herself, as her fellow sirens, who even refused to look at each other, approached. “Please don't tell me you had one of your fights...”.
No answer came from her sisters who instead turned their gazes as far from one another as possible.
“Great”. Adagio whined, wondering just how much time she would need to handle the torment that the two younger sirens caused her. “Will you two tell me how are we supposed to conquer this land, if you can't even keep yourselves from arguing over every, insignificant thing that bothers you?!”.
“Well, it's not my fault if Sonata can't spend two minutes without getting lost”. The purple siren shouted in her defense.
“Adagio”. Sonata said at that point, scowling. “Tell Aria that I am not talking to her, until she decides to show me some respect and apologizes”.
“No, tell Sonata that I am the one who is not talking to her, until the beginning of the next century”.
“Oh, yeah? If that's so, how are we supposed to seize power?”.
“I don't need to talk to you in order to become the ruler of Equestria. I'll just sing”.
“But we need to sing together to be powerful enough to control all the ponies in this land”. Sonata objected, trying to make a point that would force her older sister to admit that she needed her.
“That doesn't mean I'll have to talk to you”.
“Then I won't sing, until you decide to apologize”.
“You little!”. The purple siren roared, almost lunching at her younger sister.
“Will you two cut it out!”. Adagio suddenly yelled furiously, unable to handle any more of that ridiculous display. “Just cut it out!”
“But she started it!”. The other two sirens went on saying, accusing one another.
“I don't want to know who started. I just need you to stop bickering, so we can go on with our plan and reinforce our gems with the negative energy we are going to spread among the ponies of Trottingham and take one more step toward the conquer of this land. Do you think you can avoid fighting enough time for us to do that?!”. Instead of giving a clear response, the two younger sirens turned their gazes away from each other once more. Adagio was lost for words.
“Now we really need a miracle”.
In the meantime the farmers, inhabiting the village of Trottingham had noticed nothing. Surely they were too busy with their daily activities to notice the three giant, shadowy figures at the top of a hill just outside their little town.
The first to see the sea creatures, flying high up in the sky, was a white furred filly, walking in the market square next to her mother.
“Mom”. The little one exclaimed, as soon as she noticed the three mysterious figures, levitating above her head. “What kind of bizarre hoofed creature can fly and has a long fish tail?”.
“What are you saying, my dear?”. The filly's mother questioned distractedly, while negotiating the price of a sack of potatoes with a shopkeeper. “There are no such creatures”.
“But mommy, these ones have sharp teeth. They are scary!”.
“Listen, sweetheart”. The mare objected, trying not to loose her patience in front of her daughter. “This really isn't the time for playing. Mommy's busy; can't you see?”.
“But mom, I am not playing, I am serious. Look!”. The youngster went on saying, raising her hoof.
“What in Equestria are those?!”. The filly's mother shrieked, as she laid her eyes on the three, dark figures, flying above her head. Their size was incomparable to everything anypony in Trottingham had ever laid their eyes upon, a long fin run along their backs and their bodies were covered in shiny scales. Their long tails moved, following the rhythm of the blowing wind, gills were visible on both sides of their necks and their front legs were bulkier than those of the strongest stallions.
Yet what caught everypony's eyes the most were the large, luminescent, red gems, glistening on the creatures' chests.
The village ponies remained speechless: there were no words to describe the might and at the same time the fear that those visitors conveyed. None of the villagers could imagine the reason why those incredible creatures had chosen to come to their town, which was often not even shown on maps, but one thing was sure: they did not look friendly.
At that precise moment most of the ponies wished to run and hide cowardly in their cottages, yet they stood motionless in their position, witnessing that jaw-dropping sight. Although their legs refused to move, their hearts were filled with fright, as Adagio and her sisters put on a wicked grin.
“Greetings, ponies of Trottingam!”. The golden sea creature exclaimed, before she and her sisters started their show. “We are the sirens. My sisters and I have come from far away to visit the wonderful land of Equestria, seeking fame and glory. Our journey has brought us to your cosy town and we wish to grant you the same gift as all the other ponies we have come across during our travel. Prepare, folks, and behold the spectacle of a lifetime. We guarantee that afterwards you will be so in love with the sound of our voices that you'll be begging for more and more!”.
As Adagio spoke those words, the ponies of Trottingham did not understand anything of what they were hearing. Some of them were even more frightened than before and struggled to run away. But once more they found themselves unable to move their legs, as an evil spell prevented them from doing so.
Being sure that every inhabitant of the village was present, Adagio gave her sisters a wink, right before closing her eyes. At that point the the sirens' voices covered every other sound, as their spread their tune in a powerful wave.
Their melody was indeed beautiful, the most beautiful the ponies of Trottingam had ever heard; what the villagers didn't know though is that it was also a dark, powerful means of incantation.
Suddenly the village ponies' eyes began to shine in a deep green color and their minds slowly began to break. Soon they would be completely consumed by the sirens' evil magic and their will would be forever at the sisters' command: that was the gift Adagio had mentioned. The worst part of it all was that they could do nothing in their defense. The moment those mares and stallions had first hard the sirens' voices they fell under their spell, against which nothing could stand. Exactly as the oldest of the sea creatures had said, the more the inhabitants of Trottingham heard of that enchanting singing, the more they wanted, the more they demanded.
As their minds went blank, everypony felt a strong desire of fighting, growing inside them and filling every corner of their souls.
Without warning, a stallion launched at the fellow next to him who responded with a powerful kick. Other two ponies soon joined the riot, then others and so on, until the market square became a real battle field.
What just a few hours before looked the calmest and most peaceful village in all the wide land of Equestria, was now the most dreadful. There was nopony amongst the crowd who was not involved in a physical fight with the ones next to them. It did no matter how many or how big the enemies were, the inhabitants of Trottingham just wanted to fight and they did it with all their strengths, as if their lives depended on it.
Soon their small rural village was burning, as the ponies began to set fire to each other's houses. The buildings burned fast, since they were made of simple wood and hay. It was clear that the town would in the end become a handful of ashes.
Pleased with what they had accomplished the siren sisters, smiled to one another and silently flew away, carefully so that the ponies could continue to blow off their steam.
The gem stones on their chests were now brighter than before, having been charged by all the sorrow and anger of the ponies of Trottingham. The negative energy that the sirens had unleashed upon their victims had spread like a cloud of glimmering smoke and had been absorbed by the sisters' gems in order to increment their power. A power that was now nearly at its maximum level and would soon be enough to submit all of Equestria and the lands beyond its borders.
That was the sisters' plan and, if everything kept going as smoothly as it had until that moment, they would have surely accomplished it.
“I feel refreshed”. Adagio commented, smirking, as she and her sisters stopped to retrieve the energies that they had used to cast their spell upon their victims. “What about you girls?”.
“I feel like I could do a thousand air loops”. Sonata exclaimed frenetically.
“I'll give you this one, Adagio”. Aria added, doing her best not to loose her composure. “Trottingham was fun”.
“I told you it would!”. Her older sister went on saying, hoof bumping her.
“What's next? What's next?!”. Sonata asked, impatient to use all the energy she had absorbed. “Where do we go now? I need to do something, otherwise I 'll explode”.
“Contain yourself”. Adagio replied, indicating the road ahead of them with her hoof. “There's a sign post over there on the path. Let's go see what it says”.
Fast as lightening the sisters reached the spot where the sign post was. “Mmm...”. Adagio mumbled to herself, examining their options.
“So?”. Sonata went on saying, unable to hold on to her hooves. “What city shall we drain next?”.
“What about this...Alexandraya?”. Aria suggested, placing her hoof on the sign post. “Gotta admit the name's awful, but it could be worth the shot”.
“Nay”. Her older sister quickly replied. “Our performance in Trottingham was way too good to waste our energies on such a worthless place.
“If you say so...”. The purple siren commented, probably getting tired of waiting as well as her sister, Sonata. “Then, where will we go?”.
Adagio stood silent for another moment, before turning toward her sisters. Quickly her fellow sirens caught her wicked grin, something that they curiously both feared.
“Ladies”. The golden siren exclaimed, as she began her speech. “I believe that after our last incredible performance,we can all agree that the time has finally come for us to find ourselves a greater stage”. Hearing those words her sisters instinctively looked at each other for the first time in hours, as they gulped in unison.
“What do you mean?”. Aria questioned suspiciously. “I mean that I think it's time to take our craft to the very top, Canterlot!”.
“Canterlot?!”. Adagio's sisters shrieked at the same time.
“The city where stars are made, the city where stars are born, the very heart of Equestria”.
“The Agora, the Panathenaic stadium!”. Sonata exclaimed, eagerly counting the many places she would visit in the big city.
“...And the Royal Guard...”. Aria added visibly worried. “Adagio, are you sure this is wise? If we're caught, using mind-control magic in the capital, it'll mean our banishment or worse!”.
“If we're caught” Adagio pointed out proudly.
“But...”.
“No buts. Our songs are too subtle, our magic too musical. Nopony will see through our cunning spells. Soon we'll have all of Equestria at our command and it all begins...In Canterlot”.