Dusk had turned to evening, and by now everyone in Ponyville was at home, having finished their jobs for the evening and were getting started on making dinner, maybe eating with friends and family if anyone was invited. For the Dazzlings, it meant waddling back inside Princess Trixie's home and stumbling to the guest rooms that Trixie had made up for them. Adagio wanted to say something to her sisters, but they weren't ready to talk to her right now. Not after the anger inside of her was released.
Her anger slowly began to dwindle, and she mostly felt guilt inside. Bad enough she almost killed someone who wasn't even worth it anymore, but she scared her own family in the process. Not exactly something she was hoping to achieve, but now she had. Adagio slowly waddled into her room, ears still flopping and whimpering, thinking about their states. All these years of being banned, all those years wanting revenge... and it was all for naught. She slowly curled up on the guest bed like a cat, head slowly slumping down, whimpering more. A soft year leaked from her face as her eyes just close. Right now she just wanted the day to be over already.
She contemplated going to sleep until she felt a soft wetness hit her face. Her nose twitched a bit, and she opened her eyes to the sight of an adorable little fluffy dog looking at her, tail wagging and panting with some excitement. Adagio's head slowly raised up and she couldn't help but smile at the little dog.
"Well hello there little one," Adagio cooed, using her tail fin to wipe a tear away. "Where'd you come from?"
"Fluffernutter! Come on!" Princess Trixie galloped down the hall until she saw the open bedroom where her dog had gone into. "Oh hey, you're back! Sorry about that; Fluffernutter, come on..."
Adagio couldn't help but smile at the little fluffy canine's attempt to make her smile. "Is this your dog?"
"Yeah, he is. I adopted him, actually. You're not allergic, are you?"
"Oh heavens no. I love dogs," she used her tail fin to lightly pat the dog's head, "you named him Fluffernutter?"
"--yes, I named him Fluffernutter, I gave him a name and a backstory!"
Adagio giggled. Even as princess, Trixie was still a bit geeky and silly. But she managed to wipe away another tear from her face.
"Adagio? Are you okay?"
"Hmm? O-Oh, I'm," Adagio wiped another tear from her face, "I-I'm fine, really."
The dog whimpered a bit, sensing the sadness. But immediately cuddled up next to her, rubbing his head against her to give some affection.
"You know, if you have any problems, you can talk to me, alright?" Princess Trixie said, reassuringly.
Adagio sighed, and her ears flopped. "Okay. I'm not alright. Do you mind if I vent my frustrations?"
"Not at all," Trixie nodded, pulling up a chair and perching herself on it to listen.
Adagio flopped onto her back and groaned. "I had been banished from Equestria for over one thousand years. And in that time, my sisters and I have constantly been on the run. We never knew when we could finally settle, or when our next meal would come from. We had been running and hiding for all of our life, because we were always seen as... monsters. And when we found out Starswirl was still alive, we went to confront him. But just seeing him, it's just... ugh!"
Adagio knocked her head into the wall. "I want to be furious, I should be furious, I got banished into an alternate dimension because some wizard thought we were monsters just because we're part fish! Then I come back and I see he's... he's this washed out, tired old man! I... I am at my wit's end, I don't know what I should do! I should be snorting fire, blasting intense energy at him to get back for so much, but... I can't! Attacking this shell of an old man won't make me feel better, and even if I did, I would only prove his past words right! On top of that, I now scared my own family who no doubt do not wish to talk to me ever again! It makes me so furious, I just want to destroy something!"
Adagio's eyes were glowing harshly and the fins on her back began to glow intensely.
"Um, Adagio, your fins, they're uh..."
Adagio stopped for a moment. "Excuse me for a moment."
She quickly hovered over to the nearby window and pushed the flaps open. She pushed her head outside, and she let out the biggest roar of anger she had built up inside.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Trixie put a soft shield bubble over herself and her dog for safety, all the while the castle grounds and everything around them shook and wobbled. The sound was so loud it carried all throughout Ponyville and scared everypony to death! Ponies were sent falling to the ground fearing for a heart attack, and glass in the windows and doors shattered all through the town!
But like clockwork, it slowly began... and her roar of anger slowly died. Adagio slowly pulled her head back in, revealing some smoke puffing from her nose like a dragon.
"I needed that," and Adagio slumped back into the bed.
"Feel better now?"
"A little bit," Adagio snorted fire. She raised her head up and perched herself up like a cat. "But it doesn't matter. It's over. I spent over a thousand years desiring revenge for nothing. And I don't know what to do now."
Trixie climbed off the chair and walked over to her, looking at her softly.
"Well... I'm not a revenge seeker, but, I think there's something else you're forgetting. You made friends with the other versions of my friends in the other dimension, right? It can't all be bad."
Adagio thought about it. She was right.
"I suppose you're right. I am happy to have friends again. And even though living for over a thousand years was a long time... we did do a lot of significant things," Adagio softly smiled. "And no one can ever take away some of the things we pulled off."
Trixie smiled. "Like what?"
"Well... we survived multiple wars, most of which I'm not proud of, but some I am proud to have been a part of for noble causes," Adagio said. "I did meet some wonderful men and women along the way. And even though I haven't told my friends in the present..." She looked around for anyone who could be listening, (not that anyone could). "They have no idea I've had children before," she whispered.
Princess Trixie was expressionless.
"Though to be honest... I wish I could have seen how they've grown up. I've done so much running and hiding, I... I couldn't let new life brought in this world have to deal with what we did."
"That has to be really hard," Trixie frowned.
"It is," Adagio nodded. But when she raised her head, she looked back at Trixie with a soft smile. "It's nice having someone who I can vent to."
Trixie smiled. "Well, I can't say I can relate to everything you've been through, but I am happy to help."
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the side of the door.
"Hey mate," Octavia called. "Bon Bon's almost done with making dinner."
"I'll be right there," Trixie answered. "Adagio, do you want to join us?"
Adagio raised her head up. "I wouldn't be intruding?"
"No. I said you weren't intruding on anything, and I'd like you to come," Trixie said, tilting her head to come follow.
Adagio smiled. "I'll be right there."
Adagio waddled down the hallway, following after the princess. Even though she was still feeling a bit sour, the thought of having dinner with Trixie and her friends made her smile. With her magic, Trixie opened up the doors to the dining room and the two of them waddled inside. There they could see Aria, Sonata, Amethyst, Vinyl, and Octavia already sitting at the table. Adagio's ears flopped, seeing them. Sonata scooted a few feet back in her chair, while Aria glared at her.
"Oh. Joy. You're still alive," Aria deadpanned.
"Aria..." Sonata pleaded, pawing at her shoulder with her hoof.
"Oh, there you are!" Vinyl smiled. "I wondered where you girls went. Trixie said you just up and left when she told you where to find Starswirl."
"We did," Adagio nodded, planting her behind on the stool provided for her.
"So what happened?" Amethyst asked, standing up on her hind legs.
"I'm afraid our meeting with him didn't go as well as we would have liked," Adagio shook her head. "I would have loved to let all of that anger and rage out on him after all these years, but seeing that broken man..."
Trixie raised her head with confusion. "What is that word you keep using? ... 'man'," she repeated, finding it weird.
"The point is, it wouldn't have been fun to release all that anger on him, and even if I did, I would still feel miserable because he's clearly miserable and I would only have proven his words right," her head slumped down on the table, landing on the plate.
Aria snorted with some frustration mixed with disappointment. "I wanted to stomp him into a paste, but after seeing him - and hearing all of that - I don't need to. He's torturing himself worse than anything I could ever do."
Sonata was the only one who had amount of sympathy to share. "I never thought I could see something so sad... he was just so miserable, he had all that pride and anger inside of him. And it just destroyed him. It ate him up from the inside."
Trixie sighed. "I was afraid of that. He was like that since we defeated the Pony of Shadows."
"He has?" Adagio asked.
"Mmmhmm. I want to say he shouldn't be continuing to blame himself, but I do understand that making a mistake as massive as that would put someone in a rather... ahem. Less than pleasant disposition."
"That's one way of putting it," Aria snarked.
"Aria. Do not talk to the princess that way," Adagio glared.
"She's not your girlfriend, Adagio! And I don't want to talk to you after you almost went crazy back there," Aria shook her head.
"I don't care, that's not how you talk to people, ergh, ponies that way!" Adagio barked.
"I'm just in my room, I'm just in my room," Sonata whimpered, holding her hooves over her ears.
"Oh really? You were about to kill someone who didn't even matter to us anymore," Aria stomped her hooves on the table
"You're defending a monster who we just learned helped a tyrant kill his own brother and take over his kingdom!?" Adagio growled.
"How could he have known!? You say one word, you could sway anyone's mind!" Aria argued.
"It's fine, everything's fine, it's just a bad dream," Sonata whimpered, sinking into her seat, shaking in fear. Vinyl and Octavia felt their hearts tug at the sight.
"Okay, mates, maybe you both should--"
They still ignored her.
"He banished us from our home, forcing us to fight for our lives every single day," Adagio got up closer, snarling.
"He's a sad sack now, it doesn't give you the right to go and attack him," Aria growled.
"Girls, you know, maybe we should--"
"You wanted to take him down with me, haven't you?" Adagio asked.
"I did. But not anymore," Aria barked.
"Alright both of you, STOP!"
A massive aura of magic exploded in the room like a bomb. No one was hit, but Aria and Adagio were now being held in place by Trixie's magic. The two of them struggled to move, until they looked down and saw the very unhappy princess glaring at them.
"Can I have a talk with both of you, outside?" Trixie snorted.
The two didn't have any control over the situation, until Trixie levitated them both to come with her outside of the dining hall. The doors closed behind them, leaving everyone else to just sit and wait.
"Well then," Amethyst said, awkwardly.
"It's not happening, not happening," Sonata kept shaking, holding her head.
"Um, Sonata, it's okay, they're out in the hall now," Vinyl nudged her shoulder.
Sonata raised her head up, but her eyes were watery, and her lips were quivering. She whimpered as she covered her head, making Vinyl frown.
"Oh, Sonata, hey," she got off her stood and onto the floor with her. "Hey, don't cry, it's okay..." She pulled the youngest seapony close, holding her in a hug. "There, there. Shhhh..." Sonata wrapped her arms around her and cried on her back. "Shhhh... Shhhh... it's okay..."
Princess Trixie set Adagio and Aria down who had given the princess their full undivided attention.
"Princess, it's not--"
"--I don't care whose fault it is!" Trixie interrupted. "You're both getting out of control, you're scaring your youngest sister, and my friends, and you're driving me crazy!"
The two of them were hunched back, ears flinching at her yelling. They had never seen this side before; then again, the two of them were still imagining it was Trixie from their world yelling at them.
"Look, I know you two just got back here and you're upset because you couldn't get back, but you know something? Revenge is completely pointless! And another thing, if you hadn't left like that, I would have told you that he secluded himself in the woods because he refuses to forgive himself for what he's done! You Sirens included!"
Trixie's body jumped in the air, all fours flailing and waving to express her frustration.
"Adagio! Did you not just vent to me and tell me how upset you were when you yelled at your family?"
Adagio sighed. "I did."
Trixie nodded her head over to Aria. Adagio was confused, but the message got through.
"Adagio, what is she talking about?"
Adagio looked at her sister, shamefully. "Aria, I... I'm sorry." Aria was going to speak up, but Adagio still going. "I'm sorry I went all psycho in the cabin, I'm sorry I yelled and scared you two... I'm sorry I even thought we would get revenge in the first place. We shouldn't have spent half of that time vowing revenge. So... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to lead you two on with that thought."
The middle Siren had wanted to trample Adagio down, but she didn't anymore. She could hear Adagio's words sting as she spoke, as if her sad face wasn't enough.
"... I forgive you," Aria said. "And, as long as we're apologizing, I'm sorry for snapping at you."
"You had every right to snap at me. And I do appreciate you trying to be the voice of reason for me when I was going crazy," Adagio softly sniffled. "I swear, I wish I had more common sense just like you."
"I'm pretty ragey, Adagio. I don't see how you could find any common sense in me," Aria raised a brow.
Adagio giggled a bit. "You have moments, Aria."
She opened up her hooves, welcoming a hug. Aria was a bit hesitant, but she gave her older sister a hug anyway. The Princess who had stayed silent and watched as they resolved their issues, smiled proudly.
"Now then. Perhaps we should both apologize to our youngest sister too?"
"Agreed," Aria nodded.
The two of them waddled back into dining area, where poor Sonata was still being held by Vinyl who was trying not to collapse under the weight of the stronger seapony.
The oldest Siren cleared her throat, trying to catch her attention. "Sonata?"
Sonata looked up for one second. And then went back to wailing her eyes out. Adagio and Aria cringed; this was going to be hard.
"Sonata? Sweetie, can we talk?"
"No, just leave me alone," Sonata cried. "You two are just going to fight and yell again."
"Sonata, we're done fighting--"
"--No you're not! You two always fight, and I'm stuck in the middle of it! And then when I try and stop you two, you two just yell at meeeee! And it all it does is make me wish we had a mommy and daddy!"
Aria and Adagio both frowned at that.
"And then the truth always comes back to me that I'm never going to have a mommmmmy," Sonata wailed some more, tears now falling like waterfalls.
Adagio winced, hearing more and more whimpers come from the sad seapony. She looked at Vinyl with a worried look. "Has she--"
"--The entire time since Trixie took you two outside to talk," Vinyl said, shook her head. "I can't help her, nothing I've done has helped."
"Let us," Adagio said, stepping in. "Sonata, please. Listen to me," Adagio said in a soft voice. She lifted her chin up to look at her. "I'm not going to yell at you. I wanted to say I'm sorry."
Sonata's crying halted in between, and she finally opened up her eyes. Those sad, leaking eyes which were bloodshot red finally looked back at her.
"Sweetie, I never wanted to upset you. I am so sorry for scaring you. I was angry, I lost control, I couldn't stop myself. And I know our fighting always scares you, but we're a family. Occasionally, we're going to fight, these things are going to happen. You understand, right? Just because we fight, doesn't mean we're never going to speak to each other."
Aria chipped in as well. "We still love you Sonata, okay? We're gonna spat every now and then, but we still love each other, alright? No matter how much we get on each other's nerves, we're still family. Alright?"
Sonata sniffled. "O-Okay..."
"Hey, come here..." Adagio brought her youngest close to her, hugging her properly. Sonata wrapped her hooves around her and hugged her back, finally calming down. "It's okay. It's okay."
Aria moved in as well, holding Sonata in a nice cuddly hug as well. Sonata purred softly as she hugged them both, finally removing that frown and smiling once again.
"You're a good sister, you know that?" Aria said.
"Mmmhmm," Sonata replied.
The three Sirens pulled from the hug, and Aria affectionately petted Sonata's ears with her hoof, making her giggle.
"Feel better now?"
"Y-Yeah. I do," Sonata said, clearing the last of her tears.
All of Trixie's friends smiled, seeing the sight of the family finally coming back together. It was a nice feeling that brought warmth to their hearts.
"Now come on, let's sit at the table like mature adults," Adagio smiled. The three sirens platned themselves back on the stools they were sitting on, now officially joining the others again.
"So where are Lyra and Bon Bon?"
The doors swung open. "Right here!"
The two of them were pushing two carts to the table, covered in trays of food.
"We got plenty of food prepped and set up, and everything for everybody. For the birthday mare," Bon Bon grinned, sliding her tray down. "Your favorite," She lifted up the lid that was covering the food up. "Special bale covered in spaghetti sauce which I got all the way from Ponypei."
Trixie's eyes lit up like diamonds. "Oooh."
"Octavia, Vinyl. Your regulars; hayburgers made with imported oats from Appleloosa."
The two mares nodded.
"Thanks, mate," Octavia smiled.
Bon Bon squeed with a happy face. "For Amy, I got you your usual favorite; Hot and ready, your grilled cheese sandwich."
Amethyst's mouth watered, looking down at the sandwich. The hot burning cheese that melted into the bread, mmm, mmm, mmm.
"And I know you girls didn't tell us what you wanted, but judging from your demeanors, your size, and from what I heard from your past..." Bon Bon started. She pushed a few trays towards them, and Lyra used her magic to levitate them off the plates revealing grilled fish.
All three sirens looked down at the plates and their faces instantly lit up.
"How'd you know?" Sonata asked, her tail swishing side to side.
"You're marine animals, aren't you? Also Trixie might have told us a few things about you three when Adagio messages her," Bon Bon shrugged.
By now, everyone was digging into their food, Lyra and Bon Bon included, having gotten their seats and food prepped.
"Very delicious, Bon Bon," Aria complimented.
"Thank you!" Bon Bon grinned with a sparkling smile.
"Master of culinary arts, just like our human friend back on Earth," Adagio winked.
The earth pony giggled. Until a thought crossed Adagio's mind. "Okay, I'm curious. What exactly do you girls do here? If you're not doing these quests this 'Friendship Map' calls you to do, or fighting evil, what do you usually do?" Adagio asked.
"Well, we usually try to keep on top of things, but most of the time we just hang around Ponyville, go traveling, meet new ponies, that kind of thing," Trixie replied. "Though I do like performing from time to time!"
"Magician?"
"Mmmhmm! How'd you know--oh wait. My counterpart's a magician too, isn't she?"
"She is. Though the poor thing is too shy to perform in front of a live audience. I keep telling her things will be okay, but she always backs off from it, or tries changing the subject."
The princess had a soft blush on her face. She remembered back when she was in a similar state; she wasn't always the most confident of ponies after all.
"Well, how about you tell her that she has her friends and family to support her no matter what--"
"--Tried that," Adagio pouted. "I even suggested an old trick that always works in the human world, imagine the entire audience naked; but that just makes her blush even harder than you are right now."
"Well... hmm. Have you considered maybe providing her a hand in her magic shows? I think she would appreciate having some help. I mean, I didn't get back on stage performing on my own. It was because of my friends who helped me get my confidence back again."
"Hmm... I suppose I could try that. Maybe I could offer her a hand as an assistant?"
"That could work," the princess nodded.
"You sure you're not just looking for an excuse to hang out with her?" Sonata teased.
"Absolutely not, I want to offer a hand because she is my partner, and I want to help her," Adagio said, straightforwardly.
"... You dated Al Capone, what happened to you?" Aria shook her head, still trying to figure out Adagio's choices in previous partners.
"Anyways!" Sonata said, stopping that part of the conversation. "Well, what do the rest of you girls do?" Sonata asked, curiously.
"I'm a fitness/dance instructor. Bustin' a beat, get those bodies movin', make some ponies smile," Amethyst grinned with pride.
"You own a dance studio?" Sonata asked.
"Mmmhmm!"
"Wait... how old are you?" Aria asked.
Amethyst raised a brow. "I'm 25."
Aria's jaw dropped. "You're 25? But how is it you're in your 20s here, and Amy in our world is 17?"
"Parallel dimension logic Aria. Parallel dimension," Sonata shook her head. "Still, that's pretty cool!"
Amethyst giggled. "Oh it is. You should have seen the day I first met Trixie, She had nooooo idea how to react when she saw the retro garb on me."
"And people say millennials have weird tastes in style," Aria muttered.
"I wish we could see what our counterparts look like though..." Amethyst pouted.
"Well..." Adagio said with a grin. "I could send a photograph of our human counterparts to you ponies when we get back home."
"Oh could you?" Octavia said with excitement. "I want to see how our hoo-man counterparts rock!"
"I promise," Adagio winked.
"Now Octavia, I gotta ask... what do you do here?" Aria asked.
"Well mate, I share a house with Vinyl," Octavia smiled, looking over at her friend. "The two of us both run a music store, and from time to time, we give some music lessons to young colts and fillies looking to dabble in music."
Aria was elated. "Really?"
"Yep!" Octavia grinned, raising her hooves into the air.
"I'm a martial arts instructor," Lyra grinned.
"Hence the... what's the dress called again?" Sonata asked.
"Kimono," Lyra giggled.
"But wait, I saw your cutie mark earlier, what exactly does that represent?"
"Oh, I do play the lyre," she poofed the musical instrument before them. "But I spent a lot of time on the flute!"
"And you already know I'm a baker," Bon Bon finished.
"Oh we're definitely tellin' our friends back home. Hehe, maybe we should get their counterparts to all interact with each other?" Sonata asked with adorable innocence. And Adagio just petted her ears.
"Maybe one day, Sonata. One day."
After a period of time, everypony was done with their food and just sat in their chairs, content with what they had eaten. Octava admittedly blushed after softly burping.
"So, what now?" Aria asked.
"Oh I know what we should do now," Vinyl smiled. "Trixie, now that we're done with dinner... you ready to open your gifts?"
Trixie's eyes lit up and she squeed like a little girl. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"
The girls shared a collective giggle.
"Alright, alright. I'll go fetch your gifts, I hid them in another room, I'll be right back. And after that... cake time!" Bon Bon announced.
"If I knew it was your birthday, I would have made sure to bring a gift over. My apologies," Adagio's ears flopped.
"Oh, it's alright. None of you knew, no harm, no foul," Princess Trixie smiled.
"Come on everypony, gather round!"
And so for the rest of the evening, it was nothing short of happiness, smiles, laughter, and all around fun. Even the Dazzlings had to admit, they were having a fun time with their new pony friends. What started out as a really nice day, turned into a horrid afternoon, and back into a really nice evening. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were all reflecting back on their entire day; even though there was some things they could not fix or repair... they were still happy to be here, in the present, with Trixie and her friends.