//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: The Charmed Ones 
// by ninjintonic 
//------------------------------//


Prologue


Three hours had passed since the battle of the bands came to a close. Seated by the dining table kindled by a lonely chandelier that hung right above us. Still in our soiled outfits, quietness devoured the room whole, pondering what to say, what to do, and what will come of us. I'm the oldest sister. I'm supposed to be the brain of this whole mess. But even for me, this terrifies me to my very soul. So what now? Sonata was always the high-spirited sister betwixt the three of us, but this major turn of event had consumed her greatly. Aria, on the other hand, always had a knack for teasing Sonata, but her strong, grumpy personality had been compromised to a degree which she now shows the true anxiety of the crisis. What have I done. We all exchanged glances in hopes to break the silence for quite awhile now, but they seem to turn their eyes on me. Of course... I'm the oldest sister, I have all the answers, what else is new. After all of the mess I've put them through, why should they still trust me? I'm nothing short of a good-for-nothing leader who led them on to an end result for failure. Because of me, we're further from home than we've ever been. If mother was still alive, I know she'd give me hell. I'm so ashamed of myself.

"Ehem... Ummm... Is anyone hungry?"

Aria and I derisively turned our heads to a surprisingly, cheerful voice. Sonata. How much worse can things get, it only took Sonata to be the tip of that iceberg to blurt out something so stupid and unexpected at this time of the 11th hour. You would think that you'd get used to it by now after living with them thousands of years, but she still gets on my last nerve.

"Hungry??. . ." I snipped, I wasn't sure whether to be doleful or agonized at the current situation, but the conflicts of my emotions were starting to rip my insides, "Hungry?????" expressing my tone a little louder the second time, hopefully to knock a bit of sense into her. "Sonata, are you always this stupid or is tonight a special occasion for you..." 

Sonata frowned, cowering her head in a heedful state, making sure never to say anything so senseless again. But she made one last attempt in a low voice, "...Ummm... I just thought I could help, Dagi.."

I guess I can give her a little bit of credit as an effort, but feeding a siren sister who has a stomach of a cow isn't going to help our situation at all. Nice try, but I'm still all ears for a better idea. "Ria?"

Raising my eyebrow at Aria, who displays such a brute and irritable facial expression, which I kind of find reassuring to be a perfect separation from Sonata's bubbly ways. Perhaps a better idea can come out of her than just food, ". . . I'm going to bed. . ." was all Aria had said in response.

"S'cuse me??" My eyes widened with dissatisfaction.

"I said I'm going to bed. . ." Aria nonchalantly stood up from her chair, showing lack of interest and was about ready to walk away from further discussion.

"So is that all? You're just going to walk and act like this whole thing never happened? Don't you wanna get your powers back?" I questioned the middle-sister siren.

"You wanna talk about power?!" Aria snapped back, "This whole thing was a joke, Adagio. You led me and Nata to believe that you can finally take us back to Equestria. We stuck up to your self-proclaimed prophecy for thousands of years only to reach a goal to nothingness." Her tone then shifted somewhere in between sarcasm and annoyance,"Sure, I'll act like nothing happened; Sure, I'll dance along with your plan to take over the world; What else do you want me to do, huh? Lets hear it!"

Those words hit deep. I said nothing in return with the exception of throwing a disdained look. Seeing this, she turned away with heavy footsteps towards her bedroom, and slammed the door forcefully behind her. She was obviously speaking the truth without any fillers, but all I ever wanted was to do something right. At least for once. But I guess I was trapped in my own ambition, not realizing the potential of losing the bond of our powers, and possibly my sisters. I can only take one deep sigh for one problem at a time and you know what, food doesn't sound so bad after all. Sonata observing this, she placed an assuring hand over my shoulder, "Dagi... Don't let Ria get to you like that. You and I know she's not at the right mindset right now."

I turned to Sonata with brooding eyes, "... You know Sonata, she's right. You girls don't need me. All I've ever done was let you down. If you want to run away from here, I don't blame you..."

Sonata chuckled lightly, "I'm not going anywhere. Even though we lost our powers, we're still sirens, and we're destined to stick together forever."

I faintly shook my head, "I wouldn't say forever."

"You don't know that." Sonata ensured, "You thought we we're going to excel our powers after losing to the Rainbooms."

"...Thanks, Sonata. I feel better now..." I said in a dead, sarcasm tone. I was already feeling expressionless at this point.

"What I'm trying to say is... We don't know what would happen in the future. Maybe we lost for a reason. A reason that can perhaps reach us closer to our goal."

"What the hell are you saying, Nata?.."
"What I'm saying is we keep trying..." Sonata confirmed as softly placing her other hand on my palm, "We've already lost a whole part of who we are... I can't stand another thought of losing you and Ria... This is not a fight or flight."

I looked at her, and slowly formed a faint grin, "Wow" I thought to myself. She surprise me sometimes, I guess when tough times come in dyer need of patching up, she would be the level-headed one. Albeit, I can't really agree on anything she say will work, but I do give her props as a pep talker. "Don't worry... I'll never leave you girls alone... I promise." I gave her hand several reassuring pats, "I'll be right back." I slowly got up from my chair, and made my way towards Aria's bedroom door to knock.

*Knock Knock*

"Aria, may I come in?.." I waited several seconds for her to verbally respond, but there was only silence. I made another attempt, only this time with firm knocks. I then heard some faint sounds of whimpering and sobbing behind the door. With that, I had to just open the door and there she was sitting by the vanity table, no other words to describe what she's feeling, but sadness. Bawling her eyes out to avail. My heart dropped seeing Aria like this, it had reached her boiling point because I haven't seen her cry in ages. I walked behind her and gently gave her a comforting hug. A hug that remain intact for a long while. Here I thought Sonata would be the first one to break, but I was so wrong. It was Aria.

"... I really miss mom..." Aria sniffled in a low voice.

"... I miss her too..." I replied in the same tone.

Seconds later, the youngest siren sister then appeared by Aria's bedroom door. As she sees me still hugging Aria tightly, her eyes began to gloss with tears of sadness. She then approached between us, and gently joined herself in for a sisterly hug as well. This was a ray of light in the darkness, a shade between sadness and despair. Would we be able to live our lives normally from this point on forward? I don't know. But what I do know is, my sisters mean the world to me. I'll never trade them for anything.