Adagio scoffed as some random hippogriff servant stood in the throne room, holding what looked to be a piece of mail in his claws. She had already forgotten her name, eventhough she probably introduced herself briefly just prior. She was a thrall, nothing more to her than that.
"Yes, yes, that's all well and good-" the girl appeared to pause and settle down as Adagio finally spoke up, seemingly interrupting her as she was talking... not that the siren had been listening, "-but can you please, please, get to the point?"
The hippogriff raised a talon to speak but was silenced before having a chance to speak up. "Alternatively, I could turn your sorry mind to mush if that's what you would prefer my loyal thrall? Hm?" Adagio faked a smile, though even then it was crooked, and her likewise feigned 'nice' tone of voice carried a deadly venom with it.
The hippogriff quickly tore open the envelope she was carrying, almost carelessly so as she hurried, before unfurling the contents. Namely, a short letter.
To the foolish, false claimant,
Adagio's eyes widened at the insult the very first line of the message carried as the girl in front of her read aloud. Her large, vaguely fish-like form squirmed around somewhat within her throne as the girl continued on.
your proposal for correspondence, if it can even be called as such, has served as a grim reminder to me, the future and rightful King of Warzena and Zamal of all North Zebrica, that no one ruler can be trusted to be of use to me in my just reconquest of-
Adagio huffed, rolled her eyes and tried her best to ignore the remainder of the letter's reading. Obviously this 'Baragzen' zebra had declined her generous, rare offer. What she hadn't expected was him, a lowly warlord and basically now a nopony, to talk down on her. A different her, at a different time of day, may have grown furious instead of disinterested at this fact. The hippogriff girl reading to her was lucky, to that end.
Honourable as I am, I shall keep this request of yours a secret and seek to keep it confidential - at least for as long as it suits me.
The siren scoffed as the reading continued for some time. Keeping a secret, but only so long as it served your goals. Wow, how honourable, indeed. Not that Adagio herself was very honourable - she wasn't exactly a chivalric symbol of virtue - but she knew about honour and what it meant to many ponies and, apparently, creatures otherwise, too. This was yet another distorted view of the same. Mortals liked to get all high and mighty about themselves and then ascribe stupid traits they didn't actually live to themselves. Tyrannical monarchs told themselves they were righteous and noble, while violent revolutionaries claimed to be peacekeepers. How fun. At least she was being honest and upfront about her intentions.
I do not seek further correspondence with you, nor do I want you anywhere near the lands that belong to me by right of birth. I hope you will at least rid my lands of the accursed thestral menace, so that I may then liberate the crownlands of mine. Perhaps I shall reserve a spot in my royal court for you, my future vassal.
The hippogriff had finished, and lowered the letter, just in time for her to watch a furious lead siren visibly seething with anger. The audacity. The audacity of that zebra! Ohh, how she would enjoy breaking him in due time.
She banged a hoof against an armrest of the throne, sending a loud echo through the room, before her gaze fell upon the comparatively small and young avian.
"What a disappointment, to say the least. I suppose times don't change, and royals will remain royals... which is to say, inbred, undignified, bumbling idiots."
The girl did not respond, appearing to simply stand at attention as the siren spoke.
"Oh well. What about the other one? That... Alex... Alexia, was it?"
Adagio's voice was one of continued disinterest and boredom, the fury from moments ago fading as she realised the comeuppance of that zebra fool would still be months away from now. A frustrating thought, so she had decided to forget about him.
"Alesia," the girl meakly responded, correcting her overlord. "Yes, she responded also. One moment."
The siren watched the hippogriff toss aside Baragzen's letter and take out a new envelope. She again tore it open with the tip of a talon of hers, and retrieved the letter inside to read. Adagio raised an eyebrow as the girl began to read aloud for her once more.
Addressing Adagio Dazzle and her fellow accomplices in Mount Aris.
The lead singer felt her mouth twitch a little. Accomplices made it sound like they were a bunch of criminal thugs running amok, did it not?
I will start off by being upfront and honest with you. When your message reached me, and I was told it was from you, I could not quite believe what I was hearing. I had heard filly tales of your kind back when I was small, back in Severyana, but figured you were a myth and legend. Moreover, what I heard was happening in Zumidia and Aris did little to reassure me about your intentions.
The siren tapped a hoof against the armrest of her throne as she listened keenly. So far this was at least sounding more bearable than that zebra's response had.
Truth be told, I do not share much sentiment for you or your kind. However, I share even less sentiment for the thestrals and lunarists who are actively pursuing and hunting me and my soldiers, and are looking to execute us.
Ah, the enemy of my enemy, was it?
Given the current predicament, I am leaning towards accepting your support and to work with you, though I am no fool and certainly aware of the possibility of being a simple means to an end for your goals. I wish to meet with you in person off the coast of Tobuck so that I may paint a better picture of you for myself. There, I will make my final judgement call and we can iron out a proper agreement should I accept.
Part of Adagio was mad that she was being accused to using the pony, while another felt a little relieved, in a sense. She was meaning to use Alesia, of course. What other reason would she have to contact a literal mercenary? However, the pony seemed smart enough to deduce that falling prey to her and her schemes was probably the last thing she would agree to. That was bad, in a way, but also good in another. She was making a good impression on Adagio. At least she seemed observant and intelligent, something that Baragzen fellow was severely lacking.
I shall be waiting for you at the disclosed location at the mentioned date and time. Respectfully, Alesia Snezhnaya.
"Well, well, well," sounded Adagio as the young hippogriff lowered the letter, "I think we have a winner. Leave the letter here, I think I'll read it once more myself before beginning preparations to go and meet a new friend, as it were."
Knock, knock, knock
"May I come in?"
Sonata was about to knock again, giddy as she was, when the door was opened for her, revealing the adolescent King Zamni.
"You really don't have to ask, you know? It's not like I have appointments these days, and definitely not in here anyway."
He laughed, even if his words stung Sonata a little bit. It was true, he had been kept isolated from... well, everycreature, really. No one knew where he even was exactly, only that the King was 'alive and well'. That's all Sonata had told her own underlings and troops to tell the zumidians, because not even she knew how to describe his current predicament. And she didn't know how to untangle it in a way that made her not want to throw up, either.
"Heh!" Sonata giggled, cheerful as ever on the outside. "Sorry, matter of habit. Adagio would always get super mad at me for rushing into her room unannounced. Not to mention Aria."
She heard her young friend chuckle at the comment before he gestured for her to enter, stepping aside.
"Oooh, what's that?" the colt wondered as he shut the door behind Sonata as the latter swam through the air and into the room, floating over to the king's bed where she placed down a box of sorts.
"It's a game!" the cheerful siren gave out, much to the young teen's delight. "A friend of mine came up with it, actually. Or, well, I guess it was his company, technically. But he gets credit!"
Zamni crept up close to the sea creature, and jumped onto his bed, prancing around on the soft blanket on which the box rested.
"I wanna see!"
Sonata chuckled and smiled, gladly taking off the lid to reveal a folded game board, a separate compartment for two sets of dice, as well as one for player figurines.
"Ooooh! I haven't seen something like this before! Zumidia's never made this type of stuff!"
Indulging in the boy's childful glee, the siren removed the game board from the box, revealing a whole other set of game pieces. Namely, fake money bills in various colours with varying values. Additionally, there were small cards that seemed to denote 'ownership of property', with rent prices listed on each of them.
"Wanna give it a try?" The siren beamed a wide smile, already knowing the answer.
"Obviously!"
Zamni wagged his tail as his friend began to unpack and prepare the game for play. The game board appeared to be a single 'path' or road on the outside, with various tiles that each had an ascribed name. He quickly realised it was some sort of property, similar to the cards he had seen. All of them were hippogriff cities and towns of note.
"Oh, uh, Sonata?" he spoke up as the sea creature began sorting the property ownership cards in accordance to their colour coding.
"Hm? What's up, Zamni?"
"I've been meaning to ask, and kiiinda forgot last time," Sonata kept on doing what she was doing as she listened, though she raised a curious eyebrow, "you aren't a hippogriff, right?"
The siren chuckled. "I mean, duh. Wait, I told you I was a siren, didn't I?" She paused at her own question. Had she seriously not told him the first time she'd visited? She honestly couldn't tell.
"Nono, you did. But... well, I don't know what a siren is, you know? I've seen more than enough hippogriffs, and obviously I'm a zebra myself," the King clarified, "but I never heard of a siren before. What actually, err, are you, in that sense?"
Sonata smiled on the outside, continuing to prepare the game now, but she was starting to sweat on the inside. They hadn't even started their game and already with these questions.
"I err... how do I say this..."
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's just that sirens are... special, you know?"
Zamni chuckled at his friend. "Well yeah, if you are any indication I bet they are." Sonata laughed along.
"We're uh, friends of the hippogriffs, in a sort of way."
"Oh. Huh. I never heard Silverstream mention you and your kind before when she visited. How come?"
Zamni's head recoiled a tiny bit as Sonata dropped two silver figurines out of her hooves and onto the game board.
"Are you alright?"
Sonata gave him a sheepish smile. "Oh I'm fine, no worries. Sorry if I startled you there."
The siren picked up the two player figures as her mind raced. She had almost forgotten that both Silverstream and Skystar used to visit the king on several occasions before they came in and took over in Hippogriffia. Skystar was with them now, a beacon of music and everything, but Silverstream was on the loose, still. She wondered just how those two had influenced the young colt back then. She was usually open and friendly, but not so much towards those creatures who had called for her death or renewed banishment, like those two had.
"A-Anyways, I think I'll take this one," Sonata spoke up further, placing her chosen player icon on the 'Start' field. A silver guitar. "What about you?"
"Oh, ummm... hmm..." The king pondered for a moment longer before moving closer and reaching for a silver crown figurine. "This one!"
Sonata chuckled, a sigh of relief echoing through her mind at having successfully distracted the little one for now. "Really? A crown?" She held a hoof in front of her snout as she snickered. "I suppose I should have seen that one coming."
"Oh shush!" the young zebra jokingly barked back at her, giving her a light jab to the side. "So how does it work?"
"Aw, come on! Again!?"
Sonata's sigh was drowned out by a heartful chuckle from Zamni as the two dice landed on the game board. A total of 8 eyes. She grumbled as she moved her guitar figure across the board 8 tiles, landing on the field she was already dreading.
"Time to pay up, Sona!"
"You're crueeel!" the siren yelped.
"Young businesscolts have to make money somehow, don't you think?"
She wore a frown on her face as she removed several high-value money bills from her side of the board, picking them up and handing them to the colt on the other end.
"Thaaank you very much! Do visit again!" he joked as he counted the money.
"Meeean!" Sonata complained again. Even at a glance, it was clear the king was leading by a long shot. Twice as many properties to his name and at least thrice the amount of money. In fact, with that last payment, Sonata was close to bankruptcy.
The zebra finished counting with a smirk, and picked up the set of dice. And yet, he waited, turning his attention to Sonata once again. "Hey, uh, by the way, you never did tell," he wondered, "what actually is a siren? I mean you are obviously from the sea, that much I can predict, but... well?"
"O-Oh, did I forget to answer? Sorry! I guess I got carried away by the game just then!"
"No worries. It's been fun so far, for sure!"
"Yeah, for you! You're winning!" Sonata pouted and crossed her hooves, a brief glare at her side of the board enough to make her realise just how terrible she had performed.
"Hah, no worries. It's all with a side of luck, in the end, right?" the king comforted. "But really, I'm curious."
"Well... we sirens, we... uh... well, we sing a lot, you see?"
Zamni blinked. "Uh... huh. You mean like, everyone likes to sing?"
"Kiiinda? We're all reeeally good at it. It's kind of a big deal, and uh, we do it a lot. It's how we get creatures to- err..." she paused, then waved a hoof dismissively. "Nevermind that."
"Huh. I never did think that was what you would be good at. When you see a large creature like yourself - no offense - you don't really start to think of singing, exactly."
Sonata did her best to try and generate a hearty chuckle. "Yeeeeah, we get that a lot."
"What's more?"
"Well we're uhhh... friends of the hippogriffs, as I said and-"
"How come Silverstream and Skystar never told me? They were my friends and always kept me informed."
The teal siren gulped, holding back a variety of emotions within her at that time. "Zamni, I uh... I don't know how to tell you this... but..."
The young zebra cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"
"Silverstream and the princess are kiiinda douchebags, actually."
She was unsure just what to say or think when Zamni sat there motionlessly, perhaps as clueless as her. "Uh, what? They're my friends, Sona. They were the only ones regularly visiting me back during the mandate, when the hippogriffs governed us. Skystar was always trying to cheer me up and Silverstream was..." he paused, and chuckled briefly, "she uh, did a lot of crazy things. Got good laughs out of it, at least."
Sonata was eerily quiet, seemingly trying to avoid eye contact as she looked at the board, her cards and money, or just around the room in general.
"Sonata, what's wrong? What did those two do to wrong you? I swear they're good-"
"They're not!" Sonata exclaimed, startling the colt. "They really tried to hurt me! Me and my best friends, actually! And... and I don't wanna see them ever again, ok!?"
"I-I think you're thinking of the wrong-"
"Zamni, just... don't go there, alright?" Sonata pleaded. "I know who I'm talking about. And I know, with certainty, what they wanted to do to me and my friends. All we've ever wanted is to be free and do our thing, but those two... they..."
Zamni's face fell as he saw the otherwise so cheerful siren began to tear up.
"Sonata, I..."
"Do you know how long we had to wait!? How much all this means for us!? And they just try to... to undo all of it!" the teal creature wailed. "Why can't we be happy like them!? Why can't I have a friend like them!?"
"Sonata, I never meant to-"
Zamni began to move around the board in an attempt to reach for Sonata to comfort her, but the siren moved away from the bedside in an instant, like a frightened cat.
"No. I... I'm sorry, Zamni."
"Sorry about what? I mean obviously I would have wanted you to like my friends also but I don't mind! Really!"
Sonata shook her head as her hooves covered her tearful eyes.
"I don't know what to do or say anymore. One side thinks I'm evil and the other thinks I'm stupid... but I don't know where the good side to all of this lies..."
"What do you-"
"I-I got to go. Sorry."
"Sonata-" he watched Sonata quickly swim towards the door, swinging it open to leave at a moment's notice. "Sonata!" he called again, jumping off his bed.
He heard several more subtle calls of 'sorry' before the door was slammed shut. He swore he could hear sobbing and crying from the other end of the door for some time before that, too, abandoned him and died off.