“I will never, ever, take an art history class again.” Adagio huffed, resting against the wall in the hallway. The halls in the college were not as full as they used to be. The semester was nearly over, and most students were beginning to wrap up class.

It had been a month since Adagio and Sunset came back from their spring camp. Since then, most of their time had been spent studying and preparing for final exams before the end of the semester.

“It wasn’t so bad.” Sunset smiled, hooking her arm onto Adagio’s. “If it weren’t for that class, we wouldn’t have met each other.”

“That’s one way to look at it.” Adagio shrugged. “But you’d think that something covering so many years of history would have a little pizzazz; I was there for most of it, and it was much more exciting than dates and locations.”

"Wait,” Sunset shook her head. “I thought you said your memory was very limited?"

Adagio nodded.

"It is, but when the instructor was mentioning certain people and events, a part of my past does come back into my memory.”

“You never told me about this.” Sunset said.

“I figured you would've known since it happened when we ran into each other and talked in that coffee shop.” Adagio placed her hand over her chin. “Remember when you mentioned talking magical ponies?”

“Yeah?”

“You were the only reason why I remembered them existing.” Adagio sighed. “Unfortunately, most of my memory that does come back is in tiny slivers. A person has to mention certain key details before it all starts coming back.”

“So, if I mention something like…” Sunset snapped her fingers. “When humans first landed on the moon, where were you here in Equestria?”

Adagio shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s how it works, also that was less than fifty years ago, Sunny; try to think of something older and be more exact, I could’ve been anywhere during that time.”

“Um…” Sunset scratched her head. Compared to her peers, she had a limited knowledge of history. “Where were you during the war here?”

“Which one?” Adagio asked.

“There was more than one?” Sunset tilted her head.

Adagio slammed the palm of her hand into her face at Sunset’s comment, but then thought back to when Equestria was in one of its major wars. The first thing that came to mind were the troops that served during the war. She wasn’t exactly sure where, or what she did, but she remembered a small dark place where they cheered for her.

“I do remember something back then...” Adagio closed her eyes, she tried to salvage her memories, but nothing was clicking in her mind just yet.

“What did you do?” Sunset asked. “Sing?”

That was it! Singing.

She sang to troops, but where? She wasn’t going to be able to point out the exact details, but she remembered what first came to mind. Somewhere small and dark, a bar? No…

She was sweating and picking up a fever. The memory felt so familiar, yet far away at the same time. A dark place, troops gathered, cheering for her singing…

“A club,” Adagio uttered. “That’s what I did back during the last big war, I sang in a local club in the middle of the night somewhere outside of Equestria, nearby where the troops were stationed. Not sure why, but I remember that at least.”

“Wow,” Sunset said, “You remember it just like that, huh?”

“I still had to think very hard.” Adagio placed her hand over her aching head. “Maybe a bit too hard.”

Sunset was ready to say something else, but then was taken by surprise by her entire backpack vibrating.

"What did I say about bringing your toys to school?" Adagio snickered.

Sunset raised her eyebrow, unamused, and opened her book bag to withdraw the enchanted book she used to communicate with Twilight in the pony world. Sitting up against the wall, she opened up to the most recent page.

Adagio immediately took interest, reading over Sunset’s shoulder.

Dear Sunset,

I just finalized my research regarding Adagio. It will take an hour or two to publish, but I am copying my findings in the back of your book.
Hope you two are doing well, feel free to reach me if you have any questions.

—Princess Twilight Sparkle

“About time.” Adagio said, holding out her fingers to count the weeks “It’s been about a month since we got back from that camp, she said she was going to get it done soon.”

Sunset lifted her finger.

“Considering she most likely had to go through the castle archives, she probably dug through centuries, maybe even millennia worth of history material.” Sunset said.

“Then she shouldn’t have said soon,” Adagio huffed, crossing her arms. “Regardless, what classes do you have left? I am already done with this semester.”

“Wait,” Sunset blinked. “You’re already done?”

“That’s right.” Adagio sprung forward, placing her hands over her hips, standing confidently “I got straight A’s in all my business classes, therefore…” she turned around, grinning at Sunset. “I am exempt from final exams.”

Sunset clapped.

“Lucky you.”

“Wasn’t luck,” Adagio shook her head. “I was studying my ass off when I didn’t spend my days and nights with you.”

“Fair enough,” Sunset shrugged “I still have one more class today. How about I meet you at your place afterwards?”

“Don’t you mean our place?” Adagio said, wrapping her arms around Sunset’s back.

“Yes, dear. When I move in later.” Sunset smiled.

“Hopefully sooner than later.” Adagio pulled her in closer.

“Of course.” Sunset pressed her lips to Adagio’s and they exchanged a few kisses. “Nothing will ever separate me from you,” she said.

Adagio smiled and let go of Sunset, allowing her to get to class. “You have the key to my place. If I don’t respond, then I am probably taking a nap.”

“See you, Adagio.” Sunset waved. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Sunny.”

Adagio turned away from Sunset, walking down the hall and waving to her from behind.

Screaming, so much screaming.

Everything in front of Adagio was nothing but a blur. The only things she could make out were the sounds of rushing water and screams. She kept blinking her eyes, hoping to see what was in front of her.

Then, she was introduced to the darkness of her bedroom. Looking around, she could feel her bed beneath her, covered in sweat. Slowly waking up, she was still able to hear the constant screaming, albeit faintly. She clamped her hands over her ears, but it continued unimpeded.

Where is this screaming coming from? Just, get out of my head!

She heard a small series of taps inside her room, the screams immediately went away. Turning her head to the doorway from the source of the noise, she saw Sunset standing there, lightly knocking her hand against the wall.

"Are you okay? You look like you had a bad dream.” she said.

"You could say that,” Adagio sat up, rubbing her temples. “I tend to have a hard time falling asleep, whether it’s thinking too much about something or bad dreams."

“Really?” Sunset crossed her arms, looking down at the ground. “I’m sorry to hear that, I could never really tell.” She said.

“It’s easier when you are sleeping next to me.” Adagio smiled.

Sunset returned a smile, walking inside she went over to the single window and opened the blinds, allowing sunlight to pour in.

Adagio raised her hand over her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light. Sunset sat next to her on the bed, resting herself up against her.

“On the way here, I was wondering…” Sunset twirled her finger in the sheets. “Do we really need to know the details of your past? You already know it’s bad. What are you hoping to find?”

Adagio looked out her bedroom window and thought back on it. Did she really need to know about a part herself that wasn’t her anymore? She already built a new life with Sunset, did she want to risk that?

No, she deserved to know about herself.

Adagio sighed. “I just want to know about my past. Wouldn’t you if you had forgotten about your entire life?”

Sunset nodded.

“I guess I would,” she sighed. “You were banished for a reason, though. I can’t recall anyone else in history that’s been banished, not only from Equestria, but from the entire world.” She looked up at Adagio. “Most ponies that break major laws only get banished to the Gryphon lands.”

“Last we checked, I wasn’t a pony.” Adagio said.

“That’s not the point.”

Adagio kept her eyes on Sunset for a brief moment, then looked back out the window.

“I guess whatever I did must have been really bad, huh?”

“Yeah,” Sunset rubbed her arm. “I’m just worried of what we will find out, you know?”

Adagio scooted over to Sunset from behind and wrapped her arms around her.

“Just know it’s my past, nothing more.” She rested her head on Sunset’s shoulder. “It doesn’t change who I am now.”

“We’ll look at it together.” Sunset said, resting her head along Adagio. “Whatever we find, it will never separate me from you.”

“Thanks,” Adagio rested her head along Sunset’s. “Sunny.”

The two remained on the bed for a few minutes in silence, wrapped around one another. Adagio was ready to look at the book, but she could feel Sunset trembling beside her.

“Before that though,” Adagio said, knocking Sunset back into attention. “Do you want some lunch?”

“You didn’t eat?” Sunset muttered.

“No,” Adagio shook her head. “Just came straight here and passed out on the bed.”

Sunset laid there silent, thinking for a moment on what she could prepare for the both of them.

“Do you still have those packages of ramen in the cabinet?” she asked.

“Of course,” Adagio beamed. “It’s about the only thing I can cook that’s not in the microwave.”

“Why don’t we have some before we read over Twilight’s research?” Sunset proposed.

“Sounds good.” Adagio replied.

Adagio slipped her arm out from under Sunset and got up from the bed. She stretched her back and yawned loudly. Sunset got up from the other side of the bed, going over to the kitchen and preparing a late lunch for the two of them.

After having a late lunch, Adagio and Sunset went into the living room and sat next to each other on the sofa. Withdrawing the book from her bag, Sunset sat it between the both of them, and opened to the last page where they left off.

Turning to the back of the book, she stopped when she reached a synopsis page.

“Are we ready?” Sunset asked.

Adagio was trembling. This was it. She’d wanted this for some time now, hadn’t she? At this point, there was no turning back. She needed to know the truth.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” she replied.

They both read the first passage.

‘By the request of long banished siren, Adagio Dazzle, and under the strict permission of Princess Celestia, I, Twilight Sparkle, have been granted permission for writing a detailed analysis on The Sirens. The information gathered and formed into this report come strictly from the Royal Canterlot archives, as ordered by Princess Celestia, this report is only to be released by authorized parties and is hereby prohibited to be distributed by—’

“Boring,” Adagio rolled her eyes pointedly and flipped the page over. “Who did she think would be reading this, her English teacher? I wanted to know about myself, not all this legal jargon.”

“Considering how much time she put into this, I wouldn’t be surprised if she submitted it into an scientific journal,” Sunset shrugged.

Looking at the next page was a detailed drawing of a sea serpent, titled: ‘Siren, young adult stage.’

‘While there are not many recorded findings of the species, from what was gathered of the last Sirens in Equestria, they were well over several thousand years old and were in their young adult stage. It is unknown where the origins of the Siren came from, much less what happened to the rest of the species.’

Adagio looked at the illustration of the Siren. The creature itself looked like a combination of a serpent and a sea horse, sporting a long tail, fins, front hooves, and very sharp teeth.

“You sure didn’t smile much, did you?” Sunset said, observing the illustration. “I wouldn’t lie that I was a bit terrified when I saw your true form.”

Adagio nodded.

“The details in the drawing give you a different perspective though,” she said, pointing at certain parts of the illustration. “What would you do if both of us suddenly went back to our original forms?”

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

“Well, if you were a talking magical pony, and I were a giant sea serpent, would you still date me?”

“Umm…” Sunset tilted her head. “Wouldn’t we need to be near the ocean? or—”

Adagio raised her hand.

“Ignore all the other facts and details. I’m just talking about us being different species.”

“It would be… different.” Sunset rubbed her chin. “However, I think we could make it work.”

Adagio smiled in response and went back to the book.

“I appreciate Twilight’s detailed research, but I wanted to read this thing about my past, not learn about my species biology.”

She turned past a few pages and stopped when she came upon history, mainly the crimes of the last sirens before their banishment. She kept silent to herself as she began reading.

‘With the Sirens requiring energy from unconventional sources, they relied mainly on pony-kind to sustain themselves. Utilizing their natural singing talent, the Sirens managed to not just gain energy from ponies, but they were even said to manipulate entire populations. Under their manipulation, ponies were forced to commit certain crimes like theft, fraud, and assault.’

“Can see why I was called a criminal by your worlds standard,” Adagio said. “These seem like pretty common crimes though, I would figure most individuals would just be put into a cell.”

“There’s more.” Sunset said, pointing to the next paragraph.

‘With their crimes towards pony-kind, they were marked as threats to Equestria, and soon ponies found a way to avoid manipulation by The Sirens, leading to the Cambraya massacre.’

“M-massacre?” Sunset blinked, “Adagio?”

Adagio ignored Sunset, she was getting closer to the truth. The implications word massacre were clear, and Adagio knew that she should leave off there, but she couldn’t stop herself from reading on.

‘Thousands of years ago, Cambraya was known as one of the largest coastal cities in Equestria, located next to the Celestial Sea. It connected Equestria with vessels from other nations, becoming the largest trading and economy hub in Equestria. When The Sirens were unable to control the population, they retaliated by using their voices to control the sea and brought a large tidal wave down onto the population.’

‘Many ponies immediately perished from the violent waves, either drowning or crushed under the collapsing buildings. Shortly after the attack, Princess Celestia named The Sirens enemies of Equestria. Due to their immense power, Princess Celestia enlisted the aid of legendary wizard Starswirl the Bearded to permanently banish them to another reality.’

‘While the history of the Cambraya massacre is not kept secret, many ponies today are not familiar with the city or its destruction at the hands of The Sirens. All knowledge of it and them was allowed to fade into legend, and then into obscurity.’

Adagio, not wanting to read anymore placed the book to the side.

It all came back to her, the screams from earlier, they weren’t just from a bad dream. They were from those she’d… murdered.

The memories of Cambraya rushed through her mind: Adagio was looking down at the city, with Aria and Sonata next to her. They sang a loud melody that brought the waves of the Celestial Sea toward them. Waves crashed over the barriers, and the city flooded. Some perished instantly as the waves crashed into them, those farther into the city screamed and ran for their lives. Looking behind them to only see the Sirens and the waves that were about to take them away.

Her heart thundered in her chest. All of her crashed over her at once like waves, becoming too much to take in. She looked over at Sunset for support, but her girlfriend was staring blankly ahead, her hand over her mouth. A low whine escaped her, which soon gave way to a whimper.

“Adagio,” she sniffled in-between her sentences. “You didn’t do these things, did you? This isn’t you, right?”

“S-Sunny…” Adagio pleaded.

Sunset shook her head. “It can’t be true, that’s… That’s not you!”

Adagio wanted to say no, but she knew this wasn’t the truth. She wasn’t just a petty criminal banished from Equestria; she was a psychotic murderer.

“It’s true.” Adagio paused, her heart began to beat more rapidly. “Some of it is still faint, but I remember the flood, the screaming… my past.”

Sunset stared coldly at Adagio, tears continued to streak down her cheeks. She looked down at the book between the both of them, springing up off the sofa, she snatched it from Adagio.

“Then we don’t need this anymore,” she began to tear out the pages. “You know your past and that’s it; we don’t need to know any more.” She got to the end of the book, but not before she screamed, throwing the book across the apartment and falling onto her knees, sobbing.

“You are still you, right?” she sniffled in-between sentences. “You’re still same old witty and fun Adagio, r-right?”

Adagio couldn’t answer, what could she say? She wanted to make a witty comeback, but nothing came. She flinched. Her chest burned like it did at the camp a month ago.

“Adagio, please, say something.” Sunset crawled over to Adagio, placing her hands on her shoulders. “What was in that book... it’s not who you are now.”

Adagio looked at Sunset. She wanted to say so many things at once, but none of them were the right thing. How that siren in that book wasn’t her, how she now regretted learning about her past, how much she just wanted to hug Sunset and say everything was going to be okay.

She was beginning to sweat, her breathing was becoming irregular.

“H-hey,” Sunset said, noticing Adagio’s sudden change. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Adagio uttered, she clenched her chest, it felt like it was on fire. “Sunny…”

“Yeah?” she said.

Her heart was beating faster with every passing moment. Her burning chest was not settling, and only getting worse. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t even do that and could only muster the strength to say,

“I’m sorry.”

She fell onto her side.

“Oh goddesses, Adagio!?” Sunset placed her hands along her, shaking her lightly, no response. She quickly retrieved her phone from her back pocket, frantically typing in the number for emergency services.

Adagio wasn’t able to say anything. She looked up at Sunset, she was frantically yelling into her phone. She could barely see her due to her vision blurring, nor could she hear her. Sunset looked down at Adagio, tears were flowing down her cheeks as she was visibly shaking.

She slowly closed her eyes as the world around her turned black.