At last reaching home, the girls each dropped their bags by the front door. Adagio walked over to their artificial fireplace, flipping a switch on the wall before hanging her sweatshirt on a rack nearby. The fake fire ignited instantly, lighting the room slightly before Aria turned on the lights.
The other girls hung their clothes near the fire, glad to be out of the soaked jackets. Aria and Sonata sat on the couch, having agreed to play a few matches of video games before dinner.
Adagio stayed quiet, for the most part, her mind elsewhere. She instinctively made her way through the kitchen, pulling out ingredients to start cooking. As she lit the stove, and began frying the food, she found herself stuck back at Sugar Cube Corner, hearing Sunset’s words echo in her mind.
“I can tell you girls are in pain”
“I realized you might be... Lost.”
Those words repeated themselves over and over, and she couldn't get rid of them, despite trying to think of something else.
Adagio wondered why this was affecting her so much. She had already come to terms with it, acknowledging the loss of her power. She knew she was lost, not knowing where to go from here, and that upset her greatly already. How was it that she, of all Sirens, could not know? She didn’t need Sunset telling her this.
“But why does it still hurt?” she asked herself quietly.
She felt her breathing slowly grow more difficult, and the back of her eyes began to feel sore. Adagio sighed, knowing what was coming. No matter how hard she tried to contain herself, emotions always had a way of forming to the surface.
Adagio scooped two bowls of stir fry, and set them on the table. She called the girls over to eat, and explained that she wasn’t hungry, making her way to her bedroom while they continued arguing about some stats on their game.
She closed the door behind her, and found herself looking to her nightstand, where a small jar of red jewels sat alone. Adagio walked over to the desk, picking up the jar, and stared at it intently, feeling her heart drop the longer she did.
The remains of her former life rested in that jar; the fragments of her Siren jewel. Just a short while ago, she had tasted true power, admiration, and held the will of hundreds in her hands. Those shards glimmered with the radiant shine of their former lives, that which was no longer able to be achieved. A broken gem meant the loss of a Siren’s strength, and, under normal circumstances, their death.
With the gemstone separate from her human body, there was no fear of dying without it, but there was no difference. Adagio had asked herself this question before: Why go on? She knew that there wasn’t any more hope in this world of retrieving what was stolen from her, of becoming the adored goddess she was promised to become.
The longer she looked at the jar, the more the realization sank in. In a fit of panic, she felt she could no longer hold on to it, and threw it away from herself as hard as she could. She shut her eyes as the sound of crashing glass filled the quiet room, and clenched her hands against her head.
When she finally looked to where she threw the jar, Adagio saw the gem shards scattered on the floor, broken glass surrounding them. She looked up from them to see her full-length mirror now covered in cracks, some shards of glass having fallen from the frame.
Inside the mirror stood an Adagio that she couldn’t recognize. Her body was shaking, eyes filled with terror, and the cracks of the mirror running through her body. This was her reflection, of what she had become: A shell of her former self.
Adagio couldn’t bear to look at the reflection any longer. She walked away from the mirror, until she backed into her wall. She held her head in her hands as she slid against the wall to fall to the floor.
Her thoughts now extended past her to Aria and Sonata. She was the older sister, and it was her responsibility to take care of them. If she was unable to look upon herself now, how was she expected to be able to lead them?
But what would she say to her sisters about this? She was afraid? She was giving up? Adagio believed it was their faith in her that continued to give them hope. She didn’t want to imagine what they would do if she told them she just gave up. That was the reason for putting on a bold face every day. To say: “I’m thinking, don’t worry,” to put their minds at ease. Aria liked to argue about her saying that so often, but it was clearly working on her.
Adagio had thought of ideas, possible solutions to their problem, but each one was crippled by doubt and the fear that she would just fail them again, like every time before. A new plan, if she could think of one, would probably only lead to another disaster that left them in an even worse predicament than previous. That seemed to be a trend with her plans, she recalled.
After all, she decided to go to the surface, which got them banished here. It was her who led them to try and conquer the humans multiple times, which almost got them executed or burned at the stake with each attempt. After all of those years, barely scraping off of the scraps of human disharmony to sustain their power, and finally got a glimpse and taste of Equestrian magic again, she formed the plan to get their power restored. But in the end, her ambition and overconfidence blinded her to the possibility of failure, and she failed them again.
After saying how much better they were than the other Sirens, Adagio found herself starting to look no different than them.
She felt herself unable to hold back from crying, and buried her face in her hands.
As she wept, her mind reminded her of all of her failures: The things she could have prevented, the plans she didn’t think all of the way through, all came back to her. Adagio noticed not how much time had passed, only focusing on how far she had fallen.
Ever since the Battle of the Bands, she had been lying to herself, saying it was going to be alright. But for the first time in her long memory, she didn’t know what to do.
Sealed away in her room, Aria sat at her desk, typing furiously away and clicking forcefully on her mouse as she scoured the internet for something to distract her from her frustrations.
“Stupid video games. Stupid Sonata. Stupid Adagio,” were some of the complaints she mumbled as she tried fruitlessly to calm her mood.
Aria herself wasn’t completely sure why she was angry at some of the things she listed, but she was. Ever since they ran into the Rainbooms earlier that day, she just felt short tempered, Adagio was acting distant, like as if she was scared of something, and Sonata was just pretending to be excited and playful so she would distract her from arguing anything with Adagio. Aria could easily tell when Sonata was like that; it was the only reason she wouldn’t stop talking to her tonight.
And speaking of Adagio, she was really upset that she locked herself in her room right after dinner. Aria wanted to confront her about what had happened at the cafe, but it was obvious Adagio didn’t want her only sisters to know if anything was wrong. She clearly wasn’t hiding anything, and it’s not like Adagio ever has any problems anyway, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to her.
But it was.
Adagio was known for scheming, that was how they accomplished everything in the past, but this kind of scheming just didn’t set right with Aria. It was as if she didn’t trust them anymore, now that they lost their magic.
Does she really believe that it was me or Sonata that led us here, she asked herself, almost getting more upset for needing to ask the question. She knows that neither of us would do anything to hurt each other. We’re not like that. At least, she hesitated for a moment, me and Sonata aren’t like that.
She felt her temper drop finally, striking a thought she didn’t like. “Stop thinking like that, Aria,” she spoke to herself aloud. “You have enough worries right now as it is.” She turned back to focus on her computer monitor, letting the subject drop.
Her mind was already occupied with trying to understand the concept of being normal. After centuries of living as an immortal, magic hungry Siren, switching to the average life of a human was too large of an adjustment to make in what was but a passing moment in comparison. She didn’t like it, and not understanding only made it worse.
Worrying about things like this was usually Adagio’s job, and that’s what Adagio had been telling them anyway. She would always go off on how she was working on a new lead, or still thinking another plan through, only to tell them she scrapped the idea because it didn’t work. Aria and Sonata never got a chance to say what they wanted to do, and the first time she even mentioned it, Adagio turned it on her to make Aria look like she didn’t care about them at all.
Then what would frustrate her is that Sonata would just go along with whatever Adagio said, just because she was the big sister. She never had a backbone of her own, always just going with whatever the plan was so she didn’t cause any animosity between them; that was always her plan, Aria realized not too long after being banished. Sonata would try to keep tension low whenever a conflict would come up, by directing the anger on her with a well timed stupid thought.
Aria hated that about her.
She asked herself many times over the years why she still stayed with these two, instead of trying something different. Adagio was a control freak, needing to do everything according to master plan, and Sonata was by far the most idiotic person that has existed through history. How one can manage that after so many years of exposure to the world was beyond her.
The unmoving computer screen in front of her finally snapped her out of her train of thought. Aria had subconsciously been navigating the web, not really sure what she was looking at half of the time, but she realized that she was clicking the same spot on a page over and over.
She shook her head as she let out a sigh. “I was getting bored anyway,” she mumbled to herself as she shut her computer down. Aria leaned back in her chair, spinning it around so her feet were resting on the bed nearby.
It was too late for her to be thinking about this still; she had been brooding since dinner was over. Aria didn’t even bother with getting into bed; she closed her eyes and went to sleep, finally feeling how tired she was.
Sonata loved the feeling of the wind past her face. She was merrily skipping her way through town, humming a familiar tune to herself, even though she couldn’t remember what the words to the song were.
That never bothered her, though. She would just ask Adagio what the song was when she got home. If she forgot by the time she got home, it obviously wasn’t important. She always made sure to remember the important things. If she couldn’t remember, Sonata would always reassure herself that she didn’t need to remember right away. She was immortal, she had time to think about things later.
For now, though, she was on a mission. She carried a bag in her hand as she pranced through the crowded sidewalk, gracefully passing each person as though she was water running through a stream. In her bag, a big, tasty cake, custom made for her by the nice people from Sugar Cube Corner.
After going there last night, Sonata found out that they make a bunch of sweets other than just milkshakes, and decided she needed to visit right away. So, first thing in the morning, she gathered her pocket money and arrived just as they opened to get a tasty treat.
She knew Adagio liked the strawberry, but Aria liked chocolate more. Sonata didn’t mind either flavor, so she got one mixed with both for all of them to enjoy. They hadn’t had cake in a long time, so she caught herself licking her lips in anticipation as she continued to think about how good it was going to taste.
Her merry skipping was halted suddenly by a song coming from a nearby TV. She turned sharply to stare at an electronics store, with a couple of monitors all broadcasting a repeat of a show from last night: “So you think you can Sing?”
She never got the chance to watch what she wanted very often, but that was always a show she loved to keep up with, much to the disgust of her sisters after recent events. Sonata guessed the name of the show was a little bit offensive to them at this point.
“Yes! Show Stopper made it!” She exclaimed after seeing the results, causing all nearby people to turn at her, bewildered. Oblivious to the looks, she giggled to herself before resuming her skipping.
Sonata took a moment to congratulate the singer in her head, then that made her think about her singing voice. She pouted at the thought again, but remembered that Adagio said she had a plan, and that everything was going to be okay, making her smile again. As long as her sister was going to be confident about it, she was going to as well. They need to be strong for each other now.
Without realizing, she began to hum the song Show Stopper had sung on the TV, matching her steps to the beat.
Now she imagined walking home, revealing the cake to a surprised Adagio and Aria:
“Ta-da! I got us a cake!” She saw herself throwing her arms in the air.
“Wow, Sonata!” Aria would say, excited, putting her hands against her cheeks.
“This is the best gift, ever!” Adagio would gasp, giving her a warm hug.
Then the three of them would eat it quickly, laughing and smiling all the while.
The picture was an exciting thought, and her anticipation only grew with every skip down the street.
As she reached the door at the third floor of their condo complex, Sonata took a deep breath to prepare herself. She opened the door to her home, putting a big smile on her face, and walked in calmly as she announced “I’m home!”
She saw Aria and Adagio in the kitchen, each making themselves some form of breakfast. They were still in their sleep attire, and looking at her with disdain. “Where were you so early in the morning?” Adagio asked grumpily, sounding as she had just woken up.
“Oh, I just went out,” Sonata replied slyly, holding her bag behind her back as if trying to hide it.
“What’s in the bag?” Aria asked, not sounding as interested as Sonata would like.
“It’s just a little treat for all of us,” she said in the same tone. The girls looked emotionless as she placed the bag on the table, pulling it down to reveal the marvelous perfection that was her cake.
“Ta-da! I got us a cake!” Sonata exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and grinning wide, just like she imagined earlier.
Her sisters stared at her, eyebrows raised for a few moments, before Adagio returned to pouring her coffee, and Aria munching on a toaster pastry.
“Do you girls love it?” she asked, not sure why they weren’t jumping all over it, like she pictured.
“Sonata, why did you get a cake?” Adagio asked, her tone a bit more irritated. “It’s 8 in the morning. Who would want to eat cake at 8 in the morning?”
--Meanwhile, at Pinkie Pie’s house---
An alarm rang suddenly, causing Pinkie to reach over and smack it off when her hand. Excitedly, she sat up from bed, and opened the drawer next to her bed.
“Oh boy, 8am!” She reached in, and pulled out a full cake. Carefully setting it on her bed, Pinkie then planted her face directly into the center, sending frosting everywhere.
“Well, I hoped that you girls would like getting a surprise... You know, after all that’s happened lately,” she muttered, her voice losing enthusiasm as she went on. She decided it was a terrible idea, after all. Hanging her head in defeat, she started to wrap the bag back over the cake.
Aria’s hand suddenly placed itself on top of the container. “We never said we don’t like it, it’s just way too early to eat sweets, you idiot.” She looked up to see her sister smirking.
“You’re the idiot, idiot,” she replied, laughing a little. Sonata never realized that. Then again, she did find it strange how it was still dark outside when she arrived at the bakery.
She supposed she was a little excited this morning, and Adagio had her put the dessert in the refrigerator, so they would eat it later. They enjoyed the sentiment, though, which made it just as good for Sonata.
Now that they seemed a little less grumpy than their usual morning selves, Sonata felt confident enough to ask them to do something with her.
“Hey Aria, wanna play Super Brawler-”
“I’m working on a project right now,” she interrupted, hurrying past to her room. As she shut the door, Sonata turned, looking at Adagio with a slight smile.
“Do you wanna play a few rounds, Dagi’?”
“Sonata, I need to drink my coffee, and take a shower, then start the laundry,” she counted on her fingers, continuing on with a list of things that needed to be done.
As Adagio listed more chores, Sonata’s hope diminished more and more, to the point where she hung her head again, feeling rejected.
Her chin was pulled back up by Adagio’s hand, making her look her sister in the eye. She was smiling, and looked to be holding back a laugh. “But, if you help me do all that, yes. I don’t need you moping around the house all day like a neglected puppy.”
Yes! Sonata beamed with excitement, and did a victory jump. She scooted past her to start her own breakfast while she waited for Adagio to start her chores.
“Operation: Cheer up Sisters is underway,” she thought to herself, making a smirk in secret.