Adagio still hated this city, but she had to admit, it had its perks. Like the lavish, marvelous penthouse suite. The former sea seductress laid comfortably within the large bed, on either side of her lay her fellow Sirens.
For all her gripes and complaints about Aria and Sonata, she really did adore them. Even now, the two of them had unconsciously snuggled closer to her, and Adagio all too eagerly welcomed their closeness, opening her arms to cradle them to her body.
The lead Siren scanned their living arrangements, having used their Siren Song to manipulate the owner of the high-rise to give them this place. It was furnished with rather expensive decor, the sheets of the bed were made of silk, and the bed itself was ridiculously big.
Either the owner had a fear of falling out of the bed, or some rather saucy activities were performed in here and the need for extra sleeping space was a required must. Either way, Adagio could care less, for she and the girls had been lost in the feeling of the bed. The soft silk caressed their skin gently, reminding them of the soothing waters from whence they came.
The three of them, well, let us just say that many articles of clothing were strewn about the room, including undergarments. Hundreds of years together had done away with any awkwardness, shame, or shyness when they were intimate, heck, intimacy was something they had come to relish.
In this cruel world where they had to scrounge on the vestiges of the humans’ negativity, only to barely satiate their hunger and sustain their life force, their togetherness is what saved them from giving up.
Oh yes, they fought like cats and dogs sometimes, and sometimes they did say something hurtful or spiteful at the other. But in the end, it was forgiven. In the undersea world, it was eat or be eaten, and the hippocampi people were very strict and hard headed about their ways.
Friends though they became, they realized they had something more, and in so doing, abandoned their people in order to find a place to call their own, whether it was their own little slice of the ocean or on the surface, either way, so long as they were together, and stood above those who would seek to dissolve their band, that’s all that mattered.
Adagio had been the one to keep the girls calm when they were first thrown into this world, she remembered it like it was yesterday…
HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO…
A massive portal had been punched in space-time as three beings came tumbling through the tunnel of light. Their forms were that of the mythical hippocampus, half horse, half fish creatures that only existed in legend. However, as those legendary creatures began to get closer to the exit of the portal, a change was occurring.
Their bodies began to shrink in size, their mermaid like tails transformed into long slender legs, with feet and toes. Their upper halves weren’t spared either.
The bones in their forelegs shifted about, changing into human arms. Hardened hooves, hooves that had become solid as rock from years of striking coral and hardened sediment on the ocean floor, were now small hands with nimble fingers.
Their massive and beastly chests had changed as well, matching that of a female human’s body. Their ruby jewels that had been imbedded into their bodies since the days of their births, had now dislodged itself from their bodies and floated before them.
Their long necks were gone, along with their muzzles as their faces became flat. Soon the scales and fins that covered their bodies were gone, replaced by soft and supple skin, and long hair.
The Sirens didn’t know what was happening to them, but the moment they saw their jewels float away from them, they, out of pure instinct, reached out and caught their gemstones, clasping them in both hands and keeping them close to their bodies as they continued to be hurled through the portal.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the three hippocampi had exited the portal, falling straight into water. The three of them spiraled about in the abyss of the water for a few moments before they managed to figure out which way was up. All three watched as the portal shut behind them with a great “BOOM” as if to tell them that they were never to come back, and that this was their final destination.
The panic didn’t set in right away, they were in their element, water. Although, it was different, it tasted nothing of the sea, if they had to guess it was more along the lines of fresh water, a possible river or lake, but that wasn’t a problem since hippocampi were able to survive in either salt or fresh water.
However, what did make them start panicking was that they were finding it extremely hard to breathe. The moment they inhaled to take in the oxygen that was in the water, the three girls began to choke. This was a new experience for them, since they had never known what it felt like to be choking to breathe.
Adagio had to keep her wits about her, so she immediately held her breath. Her head darted back and forth, she then looked up, spotting the pale moonlight that shined up above. Adagio began swimming to her friends, but suddenly she realized that her flipper and tail were gone. Her heart began to race even faster as she stared at these two…things. Her brain tried to process how to work them, only ever used to moving the lower part of her body in fluid undulations, now she had two legs, and not even equine legs either.
The yellow Siren hurriedly looked to her fellow changed hippocampi, her vision was not as good underwater, and it was dulled slightly, which was starting to scare her since she could always see clearly underwater or above it.
Star Swirl didn’t banish us, he merely sent us to a place to kill us slowly! I’m not going to give him the satisfaction!
Using her anger and willpower, Adagio managed to get her two new appendages to start kicking. It took but mere seconds to figure out that she needed to kick one leg and then the other in order to propel herself forward.
Quick as she could, Adagio managed to reach Aria. She was still clutching her gemstone, but other than that, working the new digits was something that was alien and an activity she had not the time to figure out. So Adagio hooked her arm around Aria, pantomiming to her not to breathe in the water anymore.
Once that was established, Aria and Adagio kicked in unison, doubling their speed and reaching Sonata. The panicked Siren couldn’t really recognize her friends, but their colors matched that of Adagio and Aria, and once Adagio hooked her arm around her own, a familiar and comforting feeling overtook Sonata, pushing away the panic. Together, the three of them kicked for dear life, heading straight up for the one source of light, the moon.
The moon was their beacon, it was the way to the surface. Harder and faster the three of them kicked, frantically swimming to reach someplace they could breathe. Their lungs burned and their new leg muscles ached, but the constant tugging from Adagio spurred Aria and Sonata onward.
With one final push the three girls breached the surface, the upper half of their bodies breaking the water’s calm as they took in a deep gasping breath. When they settled, only their heads were sticking up as they treaded water. Adagio blinked a few times, her vision becoming clearer now. She looked up to the sky, noticing that it was indeed night, and that the full moon was above them.
Their breaths were labored after being deprived of oxygen, and a few coughs could be heard, mostly hacking up the water they had swallowed when they tried to breathe underwater. Adagio didn’t waste time, she scanned the area for any visible land, and thankfully shore wasn’t far away.
“Girls, listen to me! There’s a beach just ahead, we need to swim there now!” Adagio ordered.
“Hold on Adagio! What the kelp happened to us?! Where’s my frickin’ tail?!” Aria cried out in shock.
“A-And my scales?! And my fins, too?! And how come we couldn’t breathe underwater?!” Sonata asked worriedly.
Adagio, managing some control of her free arm, splashed both girls a few times to make them concentrate on their current situation. “That’s enough! We can panic about what we are when we’re on land, but so help me, if you two don’t get a grip I’ll dunk your heads back in the water and keep you there until the bubbles stop! Do you understand?!”
Sonata gulped and quickly shook her head in compliance, Aria wasn’t one to scare easily, but considering their situation, along with the amount of authoritarian fury that dripped from Adagio’s words, it was hard not to feel a little scared. With that settled, the three of them kicked towards land.
It took several minutes but they made it, thankfully there was a dock, and just some ways away, a cabin. It should be noted that all three of them had entered this world as much like a newborn baby would, with nothing. So, when they exited the water, and the adrenaline of their near death experience was over, the heat in their bodies felt as if someone had stolen it away, leaving them to look like three shivering, drowned rats.
Luckily for them, there was a cabin. The Sirens, awkwardly, made their way to the cabin, stumbling and falling many times as they did. It was just getting better by the minute for them, not only were they not hippocampi anymore, but they couldn’t levitate either. At one point they just crawled along the sand and dirt until they made it to the front porch.
Staggering to their feet, and with a little worry, they looked inside. There was no light on inside, but it appeared that no one was home. Most likely the occupants had kept this cabin as a rustic retreat and did not visit often. Bearing that in mind, Adagio got Aria and Sonata to help her break the door down. After a few hits the door gave and swung wide open, the Sirens rubbed their throbbing shoulders and entered the cabin.
The slight chill in the air made Aria close the door behind them, she found what appeared to be a cabinet and got the others to help her move it in front of the door, both to keep it shut, and as a precaution should the owners, or something else, find them.
After a couple of hours figuring out how to work a fireplace and how to light a match, the three Sirens found themselves huddling in front of the glowing flame. Adagio had found a large and thick blanket, she then draped it over their bare bodies, bringing her sister Sirens in close. Huddled together under the blanket and in front of the fire chased away the chill that had numbed their bodies.
Only now that the numbness gone did the aches and pains of the long swim and crawling on the ground make themselves known. Their arms, stomachs, and legs were covered in small scratches from the shells and rocks, some an angry red, others were bleeding slightly, and a few bruises made themselves known as well. The added pain just made them huddle closer to each other for comfort. It was only after some time had passed did one of them find the strength speak again.
“What…What are we?” Aria asked.
Adagio held out her…well, it wasn’t a hoof anymore. She flexed the digits, curling them into a fist and then relaxed them. They appeared similar to what minotaurs had, and if she remembered correctly they were called “hands”.
But they weren’t minotaurs, neither of them had horns, and their lower extremities weren’t furry nor did they have hooves. Adagio ran her hand over her body, feeling smooth, tender skin, with just a faint feeling of hair along her arms. Her head, on the other hand, that was a different story.
During the time they were getting warm, Adagio’s hair became puffy and curly. It was a strange feeling to have something that voluminous on her head, hair only served to cause unnecessary drag underwater, so hippocampi never had manes or fine haired tails like the land dwelling equines.
“I’m not sure…As best as I can figure we’re something close to minotaurs, but then again, we’re not…”
“Well whatever we are, I don’t like it! I want my tail back! And my scales!”
“Why couldn’t we breathe underwater Dagi? We were born in the water, so – OH MY GOSH! Your gills are gone!” Sonata gasped.
Adagio and Aria quickly felt their necks, and indeed it was true, they no longer had gills. Each of them checked the other, making sure that their gills weren’t just simply relocated to a different part of their new bodies, but sadly it seemed, they were gone.
“That certainly explains why we were suffocating underwater, whatever we are now requires constant oxygen. If we plan on going into the water again, we’ll need to hold our breaths,” said Adagio.
“Yeah, not happening anytime soon, that water was too damn cold! It’s like it chilled me all the way to my core! I’ve never felt that before!”
Another true fact, hippocampi scales kept them quite insulated against extreme temperatures. It allowed them to get close to lava vents without being burned, and what allowed them to brave icy waters with no fear of hypothermia. On the surface they were either hot or cold to the touch, but internally, their temperature was regulated to the optimal setting of their current environment. However, that wasn’t the case now. They had bare skin like a pony without its fur coat, leaving them exposed to the elements of nature.
“I wanna go home Dagi!”
Adagio had a sullen look on her face, she wrapped her left arm around Sonata and held her close. “We can’t go back, Sona, we can never go back…”
“That’s bullshit! That portal that Star Swirl used, we can just –!”
“It closed when it dumped us here, Aria, we saw it! And you know as well as I do, we don’t have the kind of magic to do things like that!”
“How do you know unless we try?! I don’t want to be this…thing! I want to be me again, where this was still a part of me!” Aria vented as she showed her ruby gemstone.
Adagio watched as Aria was about to slam the jewel into her chest in a desperate attempt at trying to fuse it back to her body. The yellow Siren quickly grabbed Aria’s hand and held it tight.
“Don’t do that! You don’t know how fragile this body is! Our gemstones are as strong as diamonds, if these bodies are anything like pony bodies, then slamming that into your chest will break your bones! You’ll only hurt yourself!”
“My own jewel won’t hurt me! It was part of my body and now I’m frickin’ holding it in my ‘hand’! I just want…! I just want…” Aria clutched the jewel with both hands as she curled in on herself, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to make her break down into a crying fit.
Adagio knew her girls well. Aria was the toughest female Siren she knew, to feel so powerless and weak, to feel this helpless, it was overwhelming. Sonata was always a sensitive one as well, even if she was ditzy, the blue Siren often displayed instances of intelligence that could be considered downright scary.
And herself, she felt like Aria and Sonata did, weak, longing for home, and trapped in a body that neither of them new anything about. The yellow Siren looked across Sonata, to her clenched hand. She opened it and saw her own jewel, glimmering slightly. There was power still in it, and she knew the others could feel it too. Their magic hadn’t completely left them, but it was weak, barely half of what they had in Equestria.
“I’m sorry…” Adagio admitted.
“What?” Sonata asked.
“This…This is all my fault…If I hadn’t met you, either of you, then you’d still be back home! I should’ve known that messing around with the surface would call down the wrath of somepony, but I thought we were strong enough to ensure that we could defeat anything that came at us! In my arrogance we challenged Star Swirl instead of retreating…I’ll understand if you girls never want to speak to me again…I’d even allow you to exact your penance on me.”
Aria suddenly figured out how to use her knew hands for violent means, giving Adagio a swift slap across her face, causing Sonata to gasp in shock while Adagio just looked at the purple Siren in stunned silence.
“Don’t you dare pull that ‘Oh whoa was me, I’m a horrible leader,’ bullcrap on us now! I chose to fight Star Swirl with you! You didn’t force me! I chose to…to…to be with you, Adagio! So don’t go saying you want us to kill you for a mistake, that’s what they did in the army guard back home! Or did you forget that that’s how my father died!”
Adagio’s eyes grew wide with realization. Aria’s father was a border guard for the hippocampi, it was his job to defend that sliver of the border, to which he did valiantly. But in the end, he was overrun and a school of sharks barreled through and killed seven hippocampi in a surprise attack.
The penalty was death, despite his efforts to keep them out and his numerous scars from the fight. Their reasoning was, “You failed because you are alive, if you truly fought them to the death, then both you and the sharks would be dead”.
“I’m sorry, Aria, I didn’t mean to –!”
“Save it!” Suddenly Aria embraced Adagio, making the yellow Siren let out a small gasp in surprise. “You’re still alive, we all are! Sonata and I panicked down there, if you weren’t there we would’ve drowned and we’d both be dead! You pulled us together, and you got us to shore! Don’t you get it…?” Adagio felt warm tears on her shoulder. “I need you…!”
Adagio suddenly felt another body embrace her, causing the three of them to fall backwards. When she looked down herself, she saw Sonata hugging her too. “It’s the same for me! Everyone thought I was just an idiot! They didn’t care about me, they left me to be shark bait! But you and Ari came to me, and gave me a place to belong! I need you too, Dagi!”
The yellow Siren was starting to feel a lump form in her throat, she managed to wrench her arms free and hug the two girls before her the best she could. “I promise you, I won’t ever leave you two! We’ll find a way to get back home!”
Sonata lifted her head a bit and looked up at Adagio. “But, Dagi, what if we never find a way to get back to Equestria?”
A long silence fell over them, but in the end, Adagio’s face solidified into a serious and yet sinister grin. “Then we’ll make this world ours. Star Swirl may’ve banished us from Equestria to keep us from causing trouble there, but who says that that was a good thing. You two can still feel it can’t you? The power in our gems is still there.”
Aria and Sonata concentrated on the rubies in their clutches, indeed the magic was still there. Faint, but it was noticeable. The feeling of their magic gave Sonata and Aria a glimmer of hope that they weren’t completely screwed.
“If we can’t go back home, if there is no way back, then we’ll make this world ours!”
From that point onward, that’s all they tried to do. Luckily the cabin belonged to a doctor and was littered with medical dictionaries and textbooks, allowing them to quickly study up on their new bodies. The Sirens learned how to read Equish a long time ago, and surprisingly enough, this “English” was very similar to Equish, so they caught a lucky break.
Of course, during their study of their new anatomy, Aria apparently studied up on where all the naughty bits were. Being transformed into a “human” didn’t do her libido any favors, her quick study of the erogenous zones of the human female’s body allowed her to torture her fellow Sirens.
At least until Adagio and Sonata learned about them as well, and paid Aria back in spades.
Once knowledge of their bodies was down, they figured out how to use what power they had. Their voices still had their hypnotic, yet beautiful tone. Sonata had found a book on mythological creatures, and found out that there were once creatures that went by the same name in this world, however, instead of half equine they were half-human, obviously. They were called “mermaids”, often associated with Sirens, laying seductively on rocks at sea, luring sailors to crash their ships against the rocks.
It seemed a bit extreme, they weren’t sure what the purpose was for those mythological Sirens, but the concept was similar to their own tactics. They tested their powers on a passing by boat, a man who had a handlebar mustache. They laid on the pier dock in seductive poses, in their birthday suits, and used their voices to call him over. It worked, and they found out that they could control him. Thanks to him they secured clothing and currency and went on exploring this new world.
They quickly found out that magic was scarce in this world. It was there, but it was so faint and weak it might as well have been nonexistent, as opposed to Equestria, where magic practically oozed out of every blade of grass and drop of water. The Sirens had become nomads for a bit, moving around where sources of negativity and strife were abundant.
It took energy to cause trouble and feed from it, so it negated the purpose to induce the negativity and then feed, because it would only bring them back to square one, but often times they had to, getting back a little was better than nothing.
As the months turned into years, the Sirens realized that time was not against them. Despite the many years that flew by, they never aged. On the outside, they looked like your average teenage girls, but that wasn’t the case on the inside. They had lived for many years, since hippocampi lifespans were very long, the girls were in their mid-twenties when they were banished, but mid-twenties to a Siren was like a hundred plus years of living.
They were basically adults trapped in the bodies of teenage girls. But that was fine, they found out that no one suspected them of wrongdoing, and that it was easier to go unnoticed.
Of course, there wasn’t any shortage of men who sought to court them, and sleep with them. Even if they were interested in males, they certainly weren’t about to start procreating with this world’s inhabitants. Neither of them wanted to spawn a creature that was half Siren and half human, no telling what kind of monstrosity that would be.
Still, charming the unsuspecting men was easy enough, and with their hypnotic melodies, they had total control of every situation. Disease never touched them thanks to their magic, so even when the worst cases of viral outbreak occurred, they merely walked through it, untouched and unfazed.
Ages past, wars fought, tragedies befalling nations and peoples, innovations in technology and medicine, the Sirens witnessed it all. At one point they got bored and decided to pretend to be a normal trio of girls, attending various high schools across the board, creating drama amongst the students and turning the heads of many boys, and secretly, some of the girls as well.
Their love for each other was always strong, and only got stronger over the years. All they had was each other, everyone around them would wither and die in some years, but they wouldn’t.
Their bond evolved from sisterhood into romantic love for each other, but that was nothing new, they had that back in Equestria, but here, it was all they had. As was said before, things like shame, shyness, and awkwardness about their physical forms was long gone after the first fifty years or so. So intimacy was never lacking.
It was after some time that they were found out by Dusk Shine, at first they thought about controlling the young man, but he promised to offer them something that he knew they wanted, power. And so they joined him, watching the brilliant, and yet dangerous young man as he worked for the Organization, fulfilling various missions for him.
In the end he kept his promise, the three of them had Firestorm Protocols, even now, as Adagio lied there in bed, she could feel it inside of herself, a mass of power, swirling at the very core of her being. The power of the Protocol had served to keep the girls’ hunger satiated, but still, it could be stronger, and when they fed from negativity, the power they had as Firestorms was only made stronger thanks to their magic.
Adagio looked to her two girls, watching their sleeping faces nuzzle against her body. She used her right hand to brush Aria’s cheek, and with her left, she moved a lock of obstructing hair from Sonata’s face. Both girls smiled contently, even deep in sleep, they knew the touch of their friend and lover.
I made a promise to you two, and I intend to keep it, one way or another, thought Adagio.
Suddenly Aria began to stir, yawning as she blinked her eyes into adjusting. When she looked up at Adagio she gave her usual cocky smile. “Mornin’, Adagio.”
“Mmm, good morning Aria, it seems Sona is still tuckered out.”
Aria glanced over to a still sleeping Sonata and smirked. “After what we did last night, I’m not surprised.”
Adagio and Aria had decided to show Sonata some extra affection and attention during their night activities, helping to cleanse her of the bad feeling of having her ruby held by Dusk Shine. Adagio thanked whatever deities this world had that Dusk Shine let go when he did, another second longer and she was about to transform and punch him off the ledge before Aria got the chance.
Speaking of Sonata, it seemed as the blue Siren was starting to wake. That happy-go-lucky grin appeared as she snuggled closer into Adagio, staring up at her with blushing cheeks.
“Morning, Dagi!”
“And good morning to you too, my little Sona.”
*Beep, beep*
*Beep, beep*
*Beep, beep*
Adagio looked over towards the nightstand on her right. Aria, reluctantly, rolled away from Adagio and checked the Caller ID. She grimaced when she saw the name. “It’s Dusk Shine.”
“Ugh, not him,” whined Sonata.
“Give it here, Aria,” said Adagio.
“Ah screw ‘em, let ‘em leave a voicemail! Besides, I’m kind of in the mood again,” said Aria as she gave Adagio a half-lidded glance.
“Aaaaaand, I wouldn’t mind ‘breakfast’ in bed~” said Sonata wiggling her eyebrow.
Adagio chuckled as she shook her head. “I swear, you girls are going to run me ragged.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Oh good heavens, no. But I need to take the call, if it’s something to do with his research then we might be able to start on our own plans.”
Aria rolled back towards Adagio, cellphone in hand. She then handed it to Adagio and added, “Tell him he needs to get laid while you’re at it.”
Adagio playfully rolled her eyes and swiped the “answer” icon, she then lifted her arm enough for Aria to snuggle back up to her before speaking. “This is Adagio Dazzle.”
Aria and Sonata seemed to be having a silent conversation between them, eyeing Adagio’s body as if deciding where to strike first the moment she got off the phone. Suddenly, Adagio went stark still, she then bolted upright with her back to the two Sirens.
“You can’t be serious?! When? That soon! Understood…” Adagio ended the call and then whispered, “Those bastards…!”