Stories I'll (Probably) Never Write, #1! · 8:39pm Jul 16th, 2015
I get more ideas for story than I have time in which to write them. Here's one.
While working on Sucker For a Cute Face, It occurred to me that I don't think I've ever seen Twilight Sparkle (the pony one) paired with Adagio Dazzle. While there are likely many good reasons for this (like that both are much cuter with Sunset Shimmer, I think), I thought of the flirty seductress interpretation of Adagio flustering an awkward, adorkable bookworm and naturally came up with Twilight.
The premise is that Twilight has freed up a bit of free time and delves into research about ancient evils. Why shouldn't she? She fights the damn things a few times a year. Of note in her reading is the sirens, in that while their rampage is reasonably well-documented (though they could have stood to cite their sources, thank you very much!), nobody knows where they came from and cross referencing all the written accounts in the Crystal Empire library with the fall of Coltlantis, she finds there's no match. Then she remembers that the sirens are not only still alive, but harmless! Going back home, she packs a little bag and skips through the portal to give her human friends a surprise visit!
Long story short, she eventually finds the Dazzlings and learns they're in dire straits, not quite starving to death or ragged hobos, but definitely short on cash, and all three of them hate her guts, most of all for costing them their singing ability. Twilight says she's sorry for that, but asks if they'd mind answering some questions anyway. Adagio scoffs, saying that unless she can restore what the trio have lost, she'd like to show Twilight where she can shove her research notes. Noting aloud that none of them are sensible storage spaces, Twilight smiles, saying she can probably fix their voices, if nothing else. Adagio is furious, thinking that Twilight, after taking everything from them, means to add insult to injury by scamming them while they're powerless, mockingly saying that if Twilight can grant them their singing ability back, she'll answer whatever questions Twilight can throw at her.
Three guesses what happens by the end of the Gilligan cut.
Baffled, but not believing it'll last, Adagio grumbles through gritted teeth that she never breaks her deals, leaving her trapped in her bargain with Twilight. She goes with her, either to the school (closed for the summer, for the time frame in which Twilight arrives?) or back to Equestria (with a spell to make her a pony, for plot convenience? No pun intended?) until Twilight's research is complete, but as she refuses to believe this isn't all a trick, Adagio makes her fight for every modicum of information, openly distrustful and waiting to find a sign that Twilight really has completely screwed her (And Aria and Sonata, who would probably get their own limelight for silly shenanigans as they adapt to life without their leader, but are at least able to sing again) over.
Twilight, however, accepts this challenge, both because she's a dedicated scholar with a mission, she has the opportunity to fill in the dark, ambiguous holes of history... and her subject of study proves oddly alluring. Twilight notes it as some kind of residual siren magic, thinking she should run tests of some sort on that later.
From there, we'd probably get Twilight's rampant enthusiasm for what was previously unavailable knowledge mostly drowning out Adagio's efforts to be unhelpful, which turns her toward teasing Twilight after a few stray comments leave Twilight red in the face and visibly uncomfortable. They'd go back and forth, Twilight offering thoughts and theories based on what she's gotten out of Adagio so far, Adagio teasing her whenever possible, Twilight riddling something out from maybe her word choice and either getting another nugget of solid information (maybe there's a condition, Adagio swore she wouldn't lie about the info back when they made the deal, so she can't say it's wrong when Twilight guesses something right?) or she comes to the wrong conclusion and Adagio uses it to mess with her head, or otherwise tick her off.
One such instance may go like this.
---
"Why are you so stingy with this information?! You'll be here until you've told me everything you know anyway, so what do you have to lose by telling me?!"
"It's not what I have to lose so much as what you have to gain; nothing."
"Nothing but knowledge, you mean?"
"Same thing."
"WHAT?!"
Adagio smiled coyly. "Think about it, Princess. You've read books on so many subjects that you're undoubtably in possession of more knowledge than most living beings, right?"
It wasn't arrogant if the statement was true, Twilight told herself. "Right."
"And you know there's a considerable difference between researching something and actually knowing how to do it, correct?"
"Of course!"
"And how many of the things that you've read about have you actually done? Outside just magic?"
"I've done all kinds of things in my life!"
"In proportion to the things you've read about doing? What's the scale, read versus done? Have you actually enacted everything you've ever researched?"
"W-well, no, but-"
"What about half? A quarter? A tenth?"
Twilight was silent. Adagio chuckled.
"That in mind, how much do you really know, Princess?"
(May lead to an aneurysm or Twilight chasing her around with a broom.)
---
That kind of thing, Adagio working in whatever twisted (but never outright false) logical gymnastics she can to warp Twilight's mind and make her doubt herself, her occupation, and her entire way of life, Twilight doing more or less the same thing to get Adagio to see the friendship lessons she spits on from angles she'd never considered, forcing her to admit that being kind for its own sake is not entirely a bad idea.
---
"Giving people things and not getting something right back can lead to them returning the favor at a later date. Think of it as a delayed, open-ended trade!"
"Or it can lead to them taking what you offer and ditching town with it!"
"Maybe, but who's to say you'll never see them years later, possibly grateful for what you did for them at a time when you really need help?"
"It's equally possible they'll shaft you then, too."
"Then you admit the chance of someone being nice in response to you being nice does exist!"
"Well... Y-yes, but-"
Twilight rested a hand(hoof?) on her shoulder, her face and tone gentle. "I know it can be scary to take a chance at getting hurt, but there are those who'll honor every bargain, who'll always settle their debts, and who'll always keep their word, even when they know for a fact that there's nothing forcing them to, physically or magically." Twilight smiled wider. "Sound like anyone you know?"
Adagio could only stare back in silence, the lack of forthcoming retorts not making the heat in her face any more bearable.
---
I'm thinking the full truth is that the sirens were initially just Aria and Sonata, two outcast kelpies that made a deal with a red monster from the abyssal trenches. The monster offered them power in exchange for freedom from whatever crystal prison at the bottom of the sea (or something like that) it's trapped in. The way they worded the deal, Aria and Sonata wound up working for the monster as its underlings, but it was okay, because it actually knew how to use the power it granted them to lead them further than they'd have gotten on their own. The body it took on wasn't even hard to live with; a red hippocampus.
From that, Twilight realizes that the ancient evil the sirens got their power from was Adagio herself, that while the third siren in the books is depicted as red, Adagio is yellow because Starswirl greatly weakened her (or when they were trapped in the other world, she had to expend a LOT of power to give them human bodies), that turning yellow is her equivalent to being deathly pale.
There'd probably be a bit of drama from this, as it becomes clear the reason Adagio made her deal with Twilight in the first place was to hold up the one she made with Aria and Sonata so long ago, even if she hasn't seen them in weeks by this point. (Note that the exact words of the deal would have to allow for only granting them their voices back, or for more drama, have Adagio secretly harboring massive guilt for not being able to keep her deal the way it was intended, maybe loosening her up a little on just telling Twilight everything she wants to know.)
EDIT: Things I forgot to mention.
-The main attraction on both ends might start with shallow reasons, Twilight being cute and Adagio being almost supernaturally attractive, but I figure Twilight would start to like Adagio's mind-games, specifically how they challenge her assertions (and grip on reality) and force her to really think about things generally taken for granted, Adagio growing to like her for showing she cares about her for more than what she can offer, more than for her research, which is something she might not have ever really gotten even from Aria and Sonata.
-At some point, Adagio witnesses Twilight's dancing. What she sees cannot stand, so she makes it her mission to correct this disgusting travesty, leading to her tricking, persuading, or outright forcing Twilight into a variety of dance lessons, through which the two grow closer.
I will not write this because:
-Their interactions might end up essentially just being a re-hash of SFaCF.
-The whole thing reminds me a LOT of Learning-ABCs---Adorable-Bothersome-Chaotic, right down to the creature of chaos that delights in teasing/flustering/annoying Twilight while she's trying to learn more about them and both gradually developing feelings for the other. Or at least, I'd like this interpretation to be less ambiguous about it.
-I have no idea what to do with Aria and Sonata on the side, and it would feel criminal to just completely put them on a bus when there's so much they could get up to, even just the odd chapter of random shenanigans every now and then.
-Not much clue how the thing would end, either.
So yes, there's a story that popped into my head, and I invite it to pop back out now. If you'd like to use any details here for your own writing, godspeed.
holy crap, that sounds epic. at this point, I almost don't mind you not writing this because you put the primary plot right here. that said... I'd still read it if you wrote it because I'm sure there'll be gems you didn't even know you were making
Iiiii am stalking your old blog posts I am so sorry but
sirens were initially just Aria and Sonata, two outcast kelpies that made a deal with a red monster from the abyssal trenches. The monster offered them power in exchange for freedom from whatever crystal prison at the bottom of the sea (or something like that) it's trapped in. The way they worded the deal, Aria and Sonata wound up working for the monster as its underlings, but it was okay, because it actually knew how to use the power it granted them to lead them further than they'd have gotten on their own.
This is one of the best ideas about the Sirens I have ever read. Are you using this/can I borrow it? (Its okay if no, this is a fking fantastic idea and I would probably be greedy with it omfg)
3498436
Answered in this very blogpost!
...Which is a 'yes,' feel free, because I have no plans to use the idea myself. I try to come up with something new every time anyway.
3498467 Oop sorry I got so excited I just skimmed over the last part xD
But yesss this will fit in perfectly with one of my planned stories omg. Also I love ideas about the sirens' background.