//------------------------------//
// Blameless 
// Story: Birds of a Feather 
// by Doritato 
//------------------------------//

Powerless.

It was a word Adagio Dazzle had never thought to be associated with her and her two followers, not even when they were banished to the realm of humans. Throughout the years she could remember, she carried herself to be an unstoppable force of nature. That much had been proven when she and her fellow Sirens caused so much chaos and destruction in Equestria. It had been proven when even the mighty Star Swirl, despite all of his magical knowledge, could only send them to another realm instead of destroying them. It had been reinforced when they made their climb back up to ascendance, coming across what would've been the realm's own Elements of Harmony and assimilating their magic. Their strength had been at their peak, and they had even fought back their rivals' attempts to stop their progress. In the heat of the moment, nothing could come close to touching them.

But within the time span of a few minutes, the illusion of invincibility was broken. To this very moment, Adagio simply could not figure out where they had went wrong. They had turned enemy against enemy, crushed the magic that had attempted to stop their uprising and had backed the only thing capable of stopping them into a corner. And yet, it was the voice of one lone girl - one Sunset Shimmer, to be exact - that had turned the tide. When she started singing, and when the chorus of nemeses joined in, the grip became fragile and withered until the last of the clenching fingers had disintegrated. All of her work, her planning and her power had been ripped away from her in an instant. Not even her former status as the otherworldly Siren was spared. When it was all over, she was left with the frail and decaying form that was only known as "human" - a human with the singing voice of a dying cat.

Seven mortal teenage girls managed to perform what the mighty unicorn magician couldn't - the killing of an immortal.

That fact alone was much more mortifying than the food that stained her stage outfit, much colder than the brick wall against her forehead as she leaned against it. Even as dimmed eyes stared at the hard material, her mind was a maelstrom of emotions. There was confusion. There was grief and sorrow. There was horror, and there was fear. But most importantly, there was anger. There was anger at those girls for reducing them to such a state. There was anger at the students of Canterlot High for falling prey to that poison of a song. Worst of all, there was anger at herself. She was the leader, the one Aria and Sonata expected to lead the way. She had pulled them in with promises she was confident to keep, keeping them in with the natural charisma she had been born with. But now? She had failed them. She had dragged them to a fate worse than death, dropping them from gods ripping through the skies to ants scavenging the ground. Even though she didn't understand how it happened, she did realize that it was her fault. The promises were broken, their image of her shattered like fine china against concrete and she was certain her bonds with them would shatter as well.

If that was apparent, then the two ex-Sirens in question weren't showing it - at least, not right away.

Aria, as expected, was the one to openly voice her complaints about the situation. "Great." She hissed, scowling at the edible contents that stained her form. She hastily brushed off what she could with her hands, only to stick her tongue out in disgust when the residue melded on her hands. She quickly flung them out, ignoring the yelp from Sonata as the blue girl jumped back. "Just great! Not only did we get stomped by those stupid Rainbottoms, but we lost our powers! We can't absorb any more negative energy, can't carry a tune to save our life, and to top it off, we're not even Sirens anymore! We're just three teenage girls now!" She clenched her teeth, punctuating her rant with a vicious kick to a nearby trash can.

The sound of metal clattering with the ground of the alleyway, the garbage spilling out and the rats scurrying away did nothing to phase the nigh-comatose Adagio. It did cause Sonata to recoil, jerking one leg up in the air and maintaining a comedic pose of stiffness until the last rodent went past her. As she put her foot down, she placed her hands on her hips and gave Aria a glare. "Hey! The mice have homes, too!" She exclaimed.

She almost regretted her statement when Aria spun that glare onto her, readily firing back. "You're seriously more concerned about a bunch of furry pests than what just happened to us?!" She demanded, causing Sonata to gain a more scared look. She took a step forward, causing her verbal target to take a few steps back.

"N-No, I didn't--"

"I bet it was your fault we lost!" Aria cut her off, lifting an accusatory finger at her.

"M-me?!" Was Sonata's response, her visage and voice shocked that the twin-tailed Siren would even say such a thing. "What did I do?!"

"It's not that hard to figure out." Aria smirked. "You've been behaving like the little five-year-old tag along all this time; stupid, clueless and annoying. I'd bet even a gold fish has an even bigger attention span than you do." The smirk grew when she saw Sonata regard her with indignation and clench her fists. "You probably weren't even trying to put those teenage punks under our spell, were you? What, was one of them waving a taco and you thought it had your name on it?"

A furious blush came over Sonata's face, the shock giving way to her own anger. "You do not talk about the greatest creation to have ever come from Mehico that way, you overgrown, anorexic plum!!" She shrieked.

Her comeback wiped the grin right off Aria's face, exchanging it for her more traditional scowl. "Better anorexia than binge, fat girl!"

"Adagio!!" Sonata was quick to change her tune, snapping her head in the direction of their leader and letting out her wail. "Aria's being mean to me again!"

With a flash of alarm across her face, Aria swung her own gaze to Adagio. "She deserves it, Adagio!" She began to defend herself. "Stay out of--"

However, she cut herself off when she saw that Adagio hadn't registered any of it. Despite the fact that they were being rather rowdy and loud, it was as if the Siren had gone deaf. She was still leaned up against the brick wall, staring for what would've been an eternity if not for the fact that she had to blink. The entirety of her figure had gone limp, almost as if she was a marionette propped against something rather than a living being. The sight terribly unnerved both of the other ex-Sirens, and whatever desire to continue the argument abruptly subsided. While Sonata looked on in a mixture of worry and fear, Aria held wary concern as she took a few steps toward the deathly silent girl. "Um... Adagio?" She questioned.

The only response was Adagio's eyes slowly shutting tight, her lips pursing together. It was short and sweet, but more than enough to unnerve the other two Dazzlings members. This was not standard behavior for the normally composed and confident leader. They were expecting her to rally them up, to formulate a plan of recovery and allow time to heal their wounds. They weren't expect to see her, of all people, slumped against a wall as if they had lost all hope. Even Aria, who had openly voiced her desire to be the leader more than a few times, had acknowledged that it had always been Adagio that knew what they were supposed to do. But as they looked on silently at her, there was only one question running through both of their heads. Was this it? Was there no recovering from this defeat? Were they really going to spend the rest of their lives as the humans they had learned to scorn? Was everything truly lost?

Sonata let out a small whimper, catching Aria's attention and snapping her away briefly from the morbid thoughts. "Aria?"

Aria furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"Dagi's not moving... is she dead?"

The almost-innocent statement caused the purple Dazzling to scoff. "Of course not, you idiot! She's..." But as she regarded the still Adagio, the question suddenly became more and more realistic. It was ridiculous, she knew, but it looked as if Adagio had suddenly died standing up. Her expression of annoyance quickly became one of wariness, and she bit her bottom lip tighter than she intended. After a few more seconds of silence, she hesitantly stepped over and redirected her voice to the afflicted. "Adagio, come on. If playing dead's your idea of a joke, it's not a funny one. Knock it off already."

There was still no response, other than the flickering of Adagio's eyes when Aria stepped close enough. The refusal to answer was bringing back the annoyance within Aria once again, and she reached over to grab Adagio's shoulder.

"Seriously. You're starting to--"

Imagine her surprise when Adagio abruptly turned and threw herself at her, earning a slight gasp from Sonata.

For the briefest of moments, Aria thought she was attacked. She thought that Adagio was furious, and that taking it out on the nearest living target would be the best solution to that particular problem. Reflexively, she attempted to bring her arms up in defense. But within the proximity that they were at, there was no way she could bring up a guard that her assailant wouldn't break. So she shut her eyes, bracing herself for whatever blows Adagio was ready to reign on her. But they never came. Instead, a pair of arms wrapped tightly around Aria's form and brought it close to their owner, who proceeded to bury her face in the other girl's shoulders. Shock overcame Aria, especially when she heard the heavy sound of sobbing.

Adagio Dazzle was crying.

Once again, the morbid thoughts sunk in. At this moment, their leader had fallen victim to their defeat. If recovery was even possible, it was farther from reach than a few simple steps. The thought caused Aria's shock to fall back to helplessness, and she looked over to Sonata for assistance. But instead, she saw Sonata was as upset as she was. In looking back at the one who had her in this emotional hold, she shifted to a countenance of bitter resignation. She slowly slid her arms around Adagio's back, returning the embrace. "Judas Priest, Adagio..." She mumbled, trying to mask her emotions with a facade of annoyance. But the voice crack was all too clear. "Isn't my outfit soiled enough as it is?"

This was an invitation for Sonata, who hesitantly moved over to their side. With gingerly raised arms, she wrapped around Adagio's midsection and gave her own face a new home in the girl's shoulder. If Adagio even noticed, she clearly didn't care, as she was more focused on letting her own emotions out on Aria. They spent a good minute or two like this, clinging to one another as if they were about to disappear at any second. They didn't care who passed by the alleyway and saw them. Even if a Rainboom happened to be scouring the area, it wouldn't have made a difference. All they knew and wanted to know at that moment was each other - something that was reinforced when Adagio eventually mustered up the strength to speak.

"You two have to be the best thing that's happened to me..."

They were words that surprised both of her underlings. As they looked at her, she gently pulled herself away from Aria's embrace. In turn, this prompted Sonata to release her own grasp. "Even knowing how much I messed things up this time," Her voice sounded as frail as she looked right now. "You're still right by my side. Either you've both gotten incredibly naive over the years, or I never learned to appreciate how loyal you could really be."

"What are you talking about?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow. "This wasn't your fault."

"Yeah!" Sonata piped in. "It was those stupid Rainboobs! They're the ones that took our magic away!"

Adagio laughed hollowly, stepping a distance back away from them so that she could at both of them evenly. "Of course it was my fault. I'm the leader of this little ragtag group, remember? All the decisions, the planning and the execution fell on my shoulders. I told you where to go, what to do, when to do it and whatever else. I directed this play right from the get-go, thinking that there was no possible way for it to fall apart. Yet, because of some little thing I still can't see, it did anyway. All of it's gone now, because I was too blind to see." She hung her head down, staring at the ground for a minute and taking in a deep breath.

"I promised you two everything and more. I promised to give you the keys to the kingdom, the ticket that led straight to the top of the world. I said that we'd have it all, with these lowly mortals eating out of the palms of our hands. I promised all of that, and I just..." She balled up her fists and raised them up briefly, her teeth clenching and her eyes squinting in rage. "I blew it! I have no idea how I did it, but I botched everything that I worked for! Everything that we worked for! I made you two follow me straight to the depths of Tartarus, and I go on and...!"

But after that tirade, she found herself unable to speak anymore. She fell to her hands and knees, her eyes shut and her head hung in shame. "I don't deserve you two." She said, her voice once again becoming hoarse and cracking. "I don't deserve anything."

After that was a silence. While Sonata looked on with a sadness of her own, Aria was more conflicted. The latter Dazzling had her lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed as she stared at her kneeling superior. On one hand, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic considering just how badly things had turned out for them. But the harsher side of her couldn't help but feel as if a pity party was taking place, that Adagio was being a bit too overdramatic about the situation. Part of her wanted to comfort the girl, and the other part wanted to scold her for acting like this. She weighed the two responses in her head, and finally decided that if she couldn't pick one, she would simply compromise. So she looked at Adagio and spoke her mind.

"Shut up, Adagio."

Naturally, that caused Adagio to jerk her head back up in surprise. As the words were completely registered, a bit of fire came back within her expression. She gave a slight glare to Aria, who didn't so much as flinch at the scrutiny. "Excuse me--"

"I mean it." Aria cut her off, walking to stand in front of Adagio before kneeling down to her level. "I've been listening to your big mouth for who knows how long. It's time you started listening to me for a change."

It was the first time in a while Aria had acted insolently in the face of their leader. But even as Adagio curled her lip in an annoyed snarl, she couldn't find the words to actually bite back with. So she settled with scoffing and shifting herself to a sitting position, folding her arms across her chest and looking at the purple girl expectantly. "All right, then. What's so important that you've actually got the stones to stand up to me for once?"

After smirking briefly, Aria quickly got to business. "First off, nothing about this was your fault." She immediately raised a finger up to stop Adagio when she opened her mouth to protest. "It's not. I know that I was getting on your nerves about it, but this was a good plan. The only reason that we lost is because we just couldn't predict everything happened. No one could've expected those stupid Rainbazookas to get out of the trap we put them in. No one could've expected little miss Shimmer to be the tide turner in the Battle of the Bands. And I can guarantee that not one of us would've expected to lose our powers in that. Things just got too out of hand. Quit beating yourself up for not being a psychic."

Adagio's annoyance gave way to solemn thoughtfulness at these words, and she remained silent even as Aria took up a sitting spot beside her. "Besides, we may have lost our powers and our ability to sing right." She continued. "But we're still here, aren't we? That blast of magic could've just as easily killed us. But we're still alive, and--" She paused for a moment, looking a bit hesitant to keep speaking. However, it was only for a few seconds before she finally relented, reaching over to wrap an arm around Adagio's shoulders. "And we've still got each other..." She grimaced. "As cheesy as that sounds."

This show of kindness prompted Sonata to smile widely, and she was quick to take up the other spot beside Adagio. "Miku is right, Adagio!" She chirped, ignoring the eye twitch coming from Aria. "No matter what happens, we still love you, your big mouth and even that bird's nest you call hair!"

Silence. Sonata continued to smile obliviously for several seconds before she realized she was being glared at by both of her compatriots. When she noticed, she looked very confused - almost as if she didn't register her own jabs. "...what? Did I do it wrong?"

Another few seconds of silence.

Then, Adagio giggled.

Then, she started snorting.

And as Aria and Sonata regarded her with their own brands of confusion and even a little bit of wariness, she began to laugh. She had her head hung down, laughing as if the blue girl had just told the funniest joke in the world. Her arms wrapped around the shoulders of both flankers, pulling them in for another hug. The sounds of mirth proved to be infectious, and it wasn't long before the other two were starting to follow suit. One would've assumed that from this display, they had grown too delirious or even lost their minds a little thanks to the stress of their situation. But that would be disproved when they finally got themselves together, with Adagio giving Sonata's shoulder a few pats. "No, Sonata." She said with an amused grin. "You got it just right... for once."

Snaking her arms in a link around their nearest ones, she stood up and gently pulled them up with her. They watched her as she dusted herself off, regarding her soiled outfit with annoyance. "Let's go home." She grumbled, walking out of the alleyway. "The sooner we can get out of these clothes, the better."

Aria smirked, following Adagio with Sonata tagging along close behind. "For once, we agree."