Adagio's eyes slowly opened up to be approached with a warm flickering light, a firelight chandlier hanging from the ceiling. The last images she remembered were that bearded unicorn grinning maliciously at her as she vanished into that portal with her sisters. No more, no less. Looking down, she found her body covered by a sheet, on what she thought was a bed.
Her gaze leered to her right, there she found what appeared to be a red tapestry hanging from the wall. A well lit torch helped light up the room, and a wooden desk was against a gray brick wall holding a book and quill in ink. Was she in one of the ponies homes? Could she be she was only imagining what she had witnessed?
She moaned as she felt the top of her head.
Oh my head... wait. My head feels weird.
She slowly moved what she thought was her hoof but... it wasn't her hoof. There was no hoof! Her left arm had now grown smaller and more skinny, and instead of hooves she had.. phalanges!
"W-W-Wha... wha... I... wha..." Adagio's voice started to hyperventilate. What were those!? She nearly fell off the bed and looked down at herself. Wait. Her tail... her tail was gone too! This wasn't right! Nothing was right!
Attempting to pull herself up as best as she could, she stumbled to get up on her own two feet, but wound up fall back down, hitting her head on the side of the bed. She glanced over on the side of the bed and found something shiny and reflective. A small bowl.
Dragging her own body, she looked at her reflection inside. Her face, her head... it was all completely different. Whatever fins or muzzle she had was no longer there! Her face was more small and round with its shape, attached to the rest of her body. Her fins had been replaced with auburn beautiful hair.
A snap broke inside her heart, when the reality of the situation hit her. A panic filled her body, and she let out her cries of terror in one giant scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
The sound was so loud that the entire castle she was in shook and echoed. Glass shattered all over, the other people that were working in the castle almost fell and let out gasps from the scream, and everyone's attention turned up to the top of the castle. They knew where that sound came from.
Adagio gasped and wheezed, just trying to comprehend the situation.
"I... wha... where..."
"Adagio! Are you okay?"
Adagio looked around, she knew that voice!
"Aria? Where are you!?"
She turned her gaze to the door that opened up, and walking in were two girls. Both of them shared exact similarities to Aria and Sonata. Both of their skin colors were the same, their eyes were the same, and even their voices were the same. But she did notice that Aria's hair was braided into pigtails, while Sonata's had brushed hers into a pony-tail.
"G-G-Girls?"
"Adagio, you uh.. might want to cover yourself..." Sonata blushed.
"Why?"
"You're... you're nude. Right now."
Adagio didn't quite understand, but she grabbed the blanket from the bed nonetheless, covering herself.
"What... what happened to us? We're all... we're all--"
"--Humans."
Adagio blinked. "What?"
"Humans. That's what we've become. Evolved for several years from apes!" Sonata grinned.
"I don't even understand anymore... Where are we?" Adagio held her head.
"I think I can explain that, my fair lady."
All three of them turned their heads to see a new figure enter the door. A man in royal robes, a golden crown, a fuzzy beard, with an imprint of the shining sun on his armor.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Arthur. King Arthur to be precise. And you girls are in Camelot!"
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Amethyst raised her hand up. "So... let me see if I can comprehend this. You three, seaponies, was it? You three were attacked by a random wizard and five other ponies... doing nothing at all, and you three were banished from Equestria over to the Middle Ages?"
All three of them nodded.
Amethyst scowled and stood up. "Give me a moment, would you please?"
"Of course."
Amethyst rushed off to the side of the beach where the boat was washed up onto the sand. She climbed onto the ladder and got inside. The girls didn't see what she was doing, they only heard the sound of clattering and things being thrown around.
Eventually Amethyst came running back out, this time with a sledgehammer in her hand. Out of rage, she screamed violently and started running around in a circle, flailing her sledgehammer like an angry ape. None of the girls wanted to step in, not that they could, given that Amethyst was waving her arms around with blunt object.
After 30 seconds of her screaming, she ran up to the side of the boat and started to smack the side of it with the sledgehammer. She screamed as loud as she could, and with every swing, she kept making dent after dent after dent! And she wouldn't let up!
"CURSE. YOU. BEARDED. UNICORN. FREAKS!!!"
Amethyst stopped swinging the hammer around and she dropped it onto the sand, panting heavily. She was tuckered out from all of the running around and the anger. Her face was red from the rage,
With her head hung low, she slowly walked back to the campfire, where everyone was just looking at her in silence. No word, no sound. Amethyst sat back in her chair, and took a deep breath.
"Sorry about that. Anyways, please, continue."
"Right. So anyways, we--"
"Adagio?"
Adagio was starting to grow impatient. "Yes, Amethyst?"
"Perhaps you could speed this up a bit? I'm not sure how much night we'll have to be on this beach and we've got school tomorrow so..."
Adagio rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll see about speeding things along."
"After meeting King Arthur, and being given the whereabouts of our location, Aria and Sonata caught me up. Apparently I had been knocked out for an entire week, and they had woken up long before me. They told me what happened, and about the world that we had been banished to. In addition, we learned that the jewels within our hearts were now on a new form. They remained as pendents around our necks, but we were thankful to still have our singing voices either way. I still didn't know who banished us, but I swore from that day we would find out who he is and stop him before he does anything else that was just cruel and unjustified, I mean--sorry, sorry, we're getting off track here. Lets try to stay on point."
"As months passed by, we quickly started to catch on to figuring out how our bodies worked and even learned about the powers that still stayed with us. We also met some of the other knights in Camelot, and with some encouragement, they taught us how to fight and defend ourselves with the new bodies. I'm not proud of this, but we had to play around with their heads and act as if we were just oh so helpless and afraid, oh... but in return, we were taught how to defend ourselves with weapons. We met many illustrious knights along the way. Including; Sir Lancelot, the Brave..."
Aria Blaze stood with one of the knights, holding a sword in her hand. Backing up, the knight came charging towards her with a raised sword, about to strike. Aria didn't stand down, but instead she raised her sword up just in time, blocking his attack.
"Sir Galahad, the Pure..."
Adagio was looking directly into the eyes of one of the horses that they had resting in the stables. Adagio however felt a bit uncomfortable trying to face the horse. It was so different and so strange compared to the ones she knew from Equestria. Not talkative, no magic, no wings, no horns... just plain old horses.
The knight patted the top of the horse's head, and nudged Adagio to do the same. She slowly raised her hand up, and her hand met with the top of the horse's head. She slowly pat him, and she wasn't feeling so scared anymore. She actually found the horse to be kind of cute, and smiled as she patted its head some more.
"And Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Lancelot."
"Okay, now you're just making things up," Octavia said.
"Hey, I needed to say something to keep Aria awake."
"Hey!"
"Anyways... we adjusted to our new lifestyle and made some friends along the way. But, just like our life in Equestria... it all went away. The day that King Arthur battled against the Saxons..."
Adagio and her sisters sat up from a big tree, watching as the battle unhurled before them. Knights in shining armor were yelling, swords were clashing, and the dogs of war were unleashed. Every corner, every sector, every tiny patch of land was covered by their fight, and it was almost impossible to make out the truly beautiful land that was once there.
"Look at it girls. Every one of them, fighting in a field with cold blood... all for their own differences. Its almost too painful to watch."
"Then why are we doing JACK--"
"Aria! Language!"
Aria groaned. "Why are we sitting here and doing nothing!?"
"Yeah, lets go in there and kick some butt!" Sonata cheered.
"Girls, what if we show off our powers? What if they don't like us?"
"I'm sure they'll be thankful that we'll be saving their butts. Come on!"
Adagio looked back down into the battlegrounds. The echoes of the men filled the air, and the screams of pain and eminent death were seen by their own eyes. They were dying out there, and they needed help.
"Alright. I suppose we should help them. Come on, lets do it."
All three girls held onto their pendents. Closing their eyes, they allowed their minds to go deep and think heavily. All of their bodies began to glow brightly, and a bright flash hit the skies.
The knights continued to battle, but no one saw the bright flashes. They were too busy trying to kill each other that they could barely notice a thing around them. But just then, the entire battlefield went silent.
A ferocious roar howled into the sky. Everyone slowly turned their gaze around, and looked up at the sky. Three gigantic forms came whirling through the wind, landing on the ground. Their hooves dug into the ground, and their teeth were as sharp as daggers. All of them let out a snarl, screaming.
Adagio carefully lingered her eyes at the Saxons on the other side, all of which were slowly stomping away from the beasts that had landed in the middle of the battle. With flaming eyes and growls that could master that of a lion, the three of them roared at the Saxons with the biggest roar they could muster.
"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!"
The Saxons took their weapons and gear, and started to make their retreat. Even those who were still fighting immediately dropped their fight and ran as far as possible. They didn't want to face the fury of those raging monsters.
The three Sirens panted heavily, coughing from the intense roaring and yelling that they had to muster up. But it was all worth it! They were out, and they claimed victory. Were the knights going to be happy? Were they going to be glad to see that they had three giant sea-creatures who defended them?
Their heads gazed at the rest of the knights, hoping for cheers or maybe some praise. But they never got that. They didn't praise them or applaud them. No cheering, no smiles. No, the knights were looking at them with rage. Hate. Anger.
No, please... please...
"KILL THE BEASTS!"
All of the knights let out a battle cry and they charged at the three beasts. All three of them backed away, trying to flee from the knights who fired arrows at their skin. Some of the arrows managed to hit them, penetrating their skin and making them cry out in pain.
With no other choice, the Sirens flew up and flew out of the land, trying to make their way to the water where they would be safe. As soon as they left the knights vision, the knights stopped charging and throwing their weapons at them.
"Foul beasts, I swear if they come back we'll tear them apart..." King Arthur muttered.
The Sirens flew high above the dark and gloomy clouds, the wind rushing past their bodies. And while they flew, Adagio just kept her gaze forward. She didn't dare look back at the lands that were opened up to them, or even her own sisters! She just looked ahead, while tears pushed out of her eyes.
"We never returned that day. We knew if we came back, King Arthur and his knights would kill all of us. So we flew as far away as we could, and found refugee on a seaside, and cleaned up our wounds. With no other place for home, we immediately went traveling once again... But the pain never stopped."
"As the years went on and the time continued to pass... we just kept on running. We traveled everywhere around the world, countless journey after countless journey..."
The desert winds blew hard, blowing dust and sand into the faces of everyone who wandered the Egyptian lands. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all held clothes to their faces and tried to cup their eyes as much as they could, trying to walk through the hot desert.
"Occasionally we make a new friend, or maybe collect some treasures along the way."
In a small cave, with the sunshine shining bright into the crystal clear water, Adagio popped up from the water. A eyepatch covered her left eye, and she wore a white shirt that stuck to her body like glue; her skin visibly seen through the clothes. She threw a small wooden chest up on some rocks, and opened it up. Her sisters gathered close, and all three of them grinned. Shiny gold coins and jewelry were the contents of the chest, and they had struck gold.
"But in the end... everywhere we went..."
All three of the girls ran through muddy terrain, the sounds of gunshots and war in the air. They ran forward with amazing speed, charging at the Germans on the other side. No-Man's-Land was a dangerous environment, but it was not something they were going to let stand in the way of freedom.
"Every place that we wandered into, and every person who found out our secret..."
Adagio and Sonata stood with dresses worn on their clothes, munching on some food as they watched Aria sit at a table with a man right across from her. The two of them were arm wrestling, and Aria was pushing hard to win.
"You can try all you want, there's no way you're going to win!"
"Ay senorita, you can try. But you don't understand the power that I, Pancho Villa, hold!"
Sonata just munched on a piece of a taco. "How long til she wins?"
"I give her a few seconds."
"They didn't see anything in us. All they saw were..."
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all cowered back as tons of angry villages with torches and pitchforks surrounded them.
"Witch! We got witches! Burn them all!"
"Monsters."
A gunslinger swung his weapons around, pointing twin pistols at the three girls in front of him.
"I've been itchin' to kill something. And you three are the perfect game."
The sound of a gun shooting its bullet; the last memory Adagio witnessed before she stopped talking. Adagio's face was streamed with pain, frowning, and tears. Her lips quivered and she whimpered, the horrible memories resurfacing back in her head as she told them all. Her hands held her face, and they could hear quiet whimpering escape her breath.
"Oh Adagio..." Trixie moved over and embraced her in a hug. She rubbed her back, and allowed Adagio to sob quietly on her shoulder. She could feel Adagio's pain, hinted by her shaking and heavy voice.
She cried for a good few minutes, unrelenting. Trixie didn't move, and she continued to stay with her, and hug her. She had never seen Adagio so distressed before. Then again, the girls never saw her show that emotion to begin with. Until tonight.
Vinyl and the rest of the girls were at a pause. None of them knew how to handle this situation, now knowing everything from the Dazzling's side of the story.
Adagio pulled away from the hug, her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks red.
"Adagio, I am so, so, so, so, soooo sorry..." Trixie said, wiping her tears away. "We shouldn't have screamed at all of you like that, we... I wish we listened to you from the start."
Adagio whimpered some more and wiped another tear from her face.
"I understand if you're mad. You and your sisters have every right to be." Vinyl said, standing up and offering Adagio a tissue. Adagio accepted it, and she blew her nose, clearing her air tubes.
"Are you okay now, luv?" Octavia asked.
Adagio sighed heavily, trying to calm herself down.
"I-I... I am. Really, I am. Are... Are you..."
"Yes?" Lyra asked.
"Are you girls mad?" Adagio asked quickly, her head hanging in defeat.
"No, we're not! If anything, I think we're glad to hear things from your side." Bon Bon replied.
Adagio looked up at the group.
"Really?"
"Yeah really?" Sonata titled her head.
"We are. We promise. Right girls?" Vinyl asked.
"Yeah."
"Yep!"
Adagio sighed again, slowly calming herself down.
"So... can we make things up now?"
"I don't know... its not that we don't hate you its just, well..." Sonata said, tapping her foot.
"We can't just forgive you right away, not after you all said you never wanted to see us again." Aria finished.
"Yeah, that!"
The girls slumped in their chairs, feeling sad again. But Adagio looked up at them, and for once, a sympathetic smile came on her face.
"But I suppose for the time being, we can make amends." Adagio said. "I'm not saying we're forgiving you completely, but--"
"We understand. And its good enough for me." Trixie smiled.
"Me too." Amethyst added.
"Three down!"
"Four added on."
"We promise you girls, we'll do whatever we can to make things up to you." Vinyl said.
For a moment, the girls were at a pause. What started out as a fearful night turned into perhaps one of the better nights that they had in years. Sure they probably had tons of apologies to owe to the Dazzlings, but it was a start.
"Just... wow. I just can't believe you three are... Sirens. That's... that's the coolest thing I've ever heard! I mean, how many people can say my best friends are Sirens from a parallel dimension?" Octavia grinned.
"I wouldn't go around saying the parallel dimension stuff though," Aria chuckled.
"Maybe."
Bon Bon snapped her fingers. "You know girls, since they are Sirens after all... maybe we could--"
"No Bonnie! That's out of the question!"
"Not happening, Bon Bon." Vinyl deadpanned.
"But they have magic, don't they?"
"Just because they do doesn't mean the three of them are going to be more powerful than Sunset or the Rainbooms. We don't know what they have!"
The Dazzlings were now all looking at them with complete investment.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Oh, uh, its, its nothing!" Vinyl said, trying to brush it off.
"That's not nothing. Tell us, what do the Rainbooms have that you think will be stronger than us?"
Trixie sighed. "I guess the cat's out of the bag. I think its time we told you a story."
"We have all night. We're here to listen."
The Dazzlings sat back down in the beach chairs, Adagio crossing her legs and brushing the hair out of her eyes.
"Alright Adagio. What we're about to tell you is... we wanted to tell you at the start but, we didn't think any of you would believe us. But now that we know you three have magic... then maybe you all should know."
"We're listening." Sonata replied.
"Alright, here goes nothing..."