… where the heart is
“Adagio?”
Aria tilted her head, sloping her shoulders and frowning at her big sister. Moments before, Adagio Dazzle had been standing in front of the portal, stroking the surface while seemingly lost in thought. Now, she was staring at her younger siblings with intense puzzlement.
Seconds dripped past while the girls stared at each other in silence. Eventually, Aria grew uncomfortable with Adagio's gaze, and had to speak up.
“You wanna stop staring at me? Portal's right there. Equestria. Your frickin' obsession for the last eighteen centuries.”
Adagio continued to stare.
“What!?” moaned Aria, “I have something on my face? You've changed your frickin' mind? What's wrong now?”
Adagio's gaze fell for a moment, then shifted back up to her Sisters.
“What…” Adagio began, hesitating, “what about you?”
“We'll be right behind you, of course.”
“No, I mean, what do you want?”
Adagio glanced from Aria to Sonata and back again. Sonata's expression was blank; As usual, it was unclear how much of the conversation she was following. Aria, meanwhile, stood dumbfounded, for several seconds, until Adagio continued:
“I mean, if it was just you two — if I said I didn't care — would you want to go back to Equestria?”
Aria's face twitched. Her mouth moved silently. It took her several more seconds to form actual words. When she did, it was with a cry of exasperation.
“You decided to ask us this now!?”
Adagio hesitated again; For just a moment, Aria wondered if her elder sibling was about to freak out, or break down, all over again. Then the moment passed — Adagio's expression hardened, and she began glaring back imperiously.
“Yes,” she answered, “I just now decided to ask you. So?”
Aria shifted her weight uncomfortably. “I'm fine with it. Whatever.”
“That's not what I asked.”
At this point, Sonata spoke up:
“Um, 'Dagi? It's just… we only just became not-un-sisters again, I don't wanna not go somewhere you two are going without me.”
Adagio rolled her eyes at this. “I'm not talking about splitting up, Sonata. I just want to know if we're going back to Equestria because we all want to, or just because I want to.”
“What does it matter?” grumbled Aria, “we're going either way, right?”
“Just answer the damn question!” snapped Adagio.
Aria struck a rebellious pose, but quickly wilted under Adagio's glare.
“Well… honestly, I don't really care, either way — it's not like we're gonna get our magic back wherever we are, so…”
Sonata nodded, smiling until Adagio turned a wild-eyed stare her way.
“Uh, well,” the youngest siren faltered, “I mean, this place… it sucks, right?” She offered Adagio an uneasy grin, which faded, as Sonata's gaze drifted off to the side, to something no-one else could see. When she continued, her voice was… different, somehow — softer, and more subdued. “But… if we go back now, is it… is it gonna be like before, before…” she raised one hand to her chest, making a grasping motion in the air where her pendant had once hung, “… before we got our magic?” she re-focussed on Adagio, a worried expression filling her face.
“No,” Adagio replied, her voice low and hoarse, “not like that, ever again, I promise.” She sighed. “But it won't be the same as when we had our magic, either. We'll — we'll have to get jobs, earn money, live like… like 'normal' ponies.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Sonata, her voice and expression immediately bouncing back. “Then no, I don't really care either way, so long as we're all together.” She grinned.
Adagio's stare passed back and forth, from Sonata's cheerful grin, to Aria's uncomfortable squirming.
“But…” she began, weakly, “you… you were gonna 'make friends' with the Rainbooms, just so we could go back. You were ready to do just about anything they asked, just so we could go back… weren't you?”
Aria looked, if anything, more uncomfortable than before. “Well, yeah…” she muttered.
“'Cause we knew you wanted to go back,” Sonata grinned.
The sounds of distant traffic followed this proclamation for over a minute, while Adagio stood in silence. Then, as the other girls watched, she began to… shudder. At first, Aria thought it was a coughing fit. Adagio was making strange snuffling noises, and raised one hand to cover her mouth. She leaned back against the side of the statue's base, and her shoulders began to shake. Then Aria noticed the way Adagio's eyes were watering, tears welling up and threatening to spill.
“Oi, 'Dagi,” at her sister's odd behavior, Aria was starting to panic. Was Adagio really crying? “It's no big deal, OK? I know, we're useless, we should be all worked up about getting back, I'm sure we're such a disappointment, just yell at us already and get it over with, will ya?”
Adagio pulled her hand away, steadying herself enough to speak.
At first, Aria was certain she'd misheard, or misunderstood her sister's words, but then Adagio repeated herself, grinning insanely.
“I don't care either! Equestria sucked!”
“But… then why… ?”
“Because I thought you wanted to!!” exclaimed Adagio, howls of laughter bursting from her chest as she sank to the floor, while her sisters stared in astonishment.
Looking down at her sister, Aria thought back on all the years — no, centuries — that Adagio had worked them to exhaustion, driving them to pursue any hope, however faint, of getting home. And now, she was saying she didn't even want to get back? It had all just been a misunderstanding!? All that hard work, just because…
Because Adagio had believed that her sisters wanted to go home.
As angry as it made her, Aria couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. And once she started, she found she couldn't stop.
Moments later, all three Sirens were in hysterics, Aria managing to brace herself against the base of the statue, while Sonata simply rolled around on the floor, clutching her sides.
The Rainbooms watched in bewilderment for several minutes until, clutching her journal, Sunset Shimmer ventured forward.
“Um… so… should I tell Princess Twilight… ?”
Gasping for air, Adagio waved a hand in Sunset's direction, “T-tell her… never mind… we're staying.”
While Sunset hurried off to write an explanatory note to the Princess, Adagio lay gasping, while her sisters continued their howling.
Eventually, their laughter died down, and the three of them lay, exhausted, staring up at the clouds.
“Hey…” said Sonata, “so… now what do we do?”
Neither of her sisters answered, right away, but Aria turned her head to look at Adagio.
And after a few more moments, Adagio smiled.
“Let's…” she said, “let's go home.”
The Rainbooms (and Twilight) stood around the base of the statue, watching the three former Sirens walk away, luggage in tow. As the three of them moved beyond earshot, Pinkie Pie was the first to speak.
“So, this counts as a happy ending, right?”
“I guess so,” replied Sunset. “I mean, they did promise to behave themselves. I don't know if they'll keep to that now that they aren't going back, but…”
“Well,” opined Fluttershy, “I think it's wonderful, that they worked out their differences.”
The other girls nodded.
“Oh, indeed,” said Rarity, frowning slightly, “but I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of them from now on.”
“Yeah,” chuckled Rainbow Dash, “I totally think Adagio's gonna wanna see more of Fluttershy!”
“Yeah…” smiled Sunset, while Fluttershy blushed furiously, “A happy ending.”
And they watched, as the sisters continued to walk, talking cheerfully amongst themselves.
As Adagio stopped, abruptly, while the other two continued walking.
As Sonata and Aria turned back to face their sister, dropping their luggage, and walking slowly backwards away from her, hands raised placatingly.
Adagio wasn't moving much, but was she clenching her fists?
Sonata and Aria exchanged a glance, then broke out into a run. Adagio's enraged scream echoed down the entire length of the street, easily loud enough for the Rainbooms (and Twilight) to hear.
“YOU DID IT ON MY BED!?!?”
— The End
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Happy ending, with a caveat of two sirens that might be sore for a while.
I don't know if there'll ever be more of this, but that centuries-long misunderstanding is a twisted kind of sweet.
That was a lovely ending. In the end, home really is where you want to be and where you find the things you love. For Adagio... for all three Dazzlings, that's where they can find their sisters.
Sweet, hope they eventually visit Equestria again in a sequel or something.
7319087 ruined, or improved?
7320470 I say improved.
That was cool.
That was nice and sometimes very funny fic.
I'm sorry to say, but I don't have a sequel planned (then again, I didn't exactly "plan" this story — it was originally going to be about three chapters long).
7324742
I was talking about what we saw not what could happen. Sirens, after disarming Twilight and girls, didn't attack them but were waiting what will happen. From such behaviour we could expect the same action against Sunset Shimmer.
7325712 OK, but you do realise most fan-fics don't limit themselves to what has been unambiguously, canonically shown on-screen, right? And little moments like that are pretty open to interpretation.
I'm not saying you're wrong, just that it seems a bit pointless to argue about it.
*blinks a few times*
hehehehehehehehe. I Liked this one. this interpretation of the Sirens is quite welcome to me. the story flowed well, i got some Arinata and even some flutterdagio out of the deal (I LOVE THAT. YAY! NOT ENOUGH A EITHER), and for me it wound up both heavy and "where did i leave my popcorn?"
Awesome!
7437840
Glad you liked it
I liked it!
While its true the central plot point made me go 
, you established the premise, but then moved on to how the characters dealt with it instead of repeatedly rehashing it for the sake of 
, allowing the excellent characterization, dialogue & pacing to carry the story. Two hooves up! 
Howevs, I do wonder about:
Is this alluding to something we should know (that i just cant remember), or is this a vague and mYsTeRiOuS reference to hidden backstory?
And dat turnaround ending! It brought to my mind:
Homer: "Marge, I'm confused. Is this a happy ending or a sad ending?"
Marge: "It's an ending, that's enough."
7563165 Thanks. I have to admit, when I started, the central plot point was really all I had. It was going to be a short (2 or 3 chapter) joke story, but then it just kinda… grew, in my head.
To your first question: It's the mysterious backstory thing. To be honest, I haven't worked one out in detail, I just wanted to hint at the general idea. I felt it would help develop the characters a little more.
As for the ending, I felt that them going home was never the major focus of the story. For me at least, the story was mainly about Adagio's relationship with her sisters, and to a lesser extent the beginnings of her reformation, and friendship with The Rainbooms. I felt that this ending resolved those points nicely, and that taking it in the more obvious direction would have thrown off the pacing, turning what was always meant to be a short story into the start of a much longer saga.
(I just had to throw in a joke at the end, though)
oooooooo, mystery! Well, depth and development are two key ingredients to writing appealing characters that in turn can carry an engaging story. Plus its always a good idea to leave your readers wanting more by saving a little something for next time, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight???
Cuz a sequel would be quite awesome 
...but, um, only if that would be ok with you of course 
A sequel would also allow exploration of the other side of the coin from this ending, which i would think the sirens would want to do at some point (even if only for temporary visits). Whereas Adagio did say that Equestria sucked, Sonata pointed out that Earth also sucks, so theres arguments that go either way.
Not that it needs to be the beginnings of a saga necessarily... maybe something a bit shorter, like an epic 
in any event, thanks again for the enjoyable read. Even if i cant put my hoof on it exactly, the quality & manner of both story & characters was awesome. There are some writers that, while prolific, just leave me feeling "meh", and trying to rush thru the story just to be done with it (cuz i
not finishing a story once i start it), but this was a page turner to be sure. A virtual, electronical page-turner, but still... 
And the joke at the end was well played!
Cue the Benny Hill music... 
7570046 Can I just re-iterate how much I love getting praise like this?
! to everyone who's commented on my stories .
I want to send a big THANK YOU
As for writing a sequel, I'd love to, but…
When I wrote this story, I was feeling inspired. This random idea had just popped into my head, but the more I thought about it, the more it just kinda… grew, and unfolded. I could imagine exactly what each character would say, and how they would say it. My brain was overflowing, I knew exactly what story I wanted to tell. I had to edit my own stream-of-conciousness a little, but mostly I was just trying to get all the ideas out of my head and into the story, because it felt like I'd go crazy if I didn't.
But for a sequel, right now, I got nuthin'. I need to find a way to kick-start my creative process, find my muse, or something to that effect. I'm worried that if I try to force it, I won't be able to re-capture that feeling, or the quality that came with it. I need to somehow get myself back "in the zone".
That, and I'm already trying to juggle too many other projects
why does real life make me spend so much time working, and sleeping?
Huh. I honestly don't know what I was anticipating from the description and such, but that turned out to be quite the emotional journey you took me on. There's some pretty good writing for all the characters involved, with Aria in particular getting some pretty funny lines.
I've always loved the stories where Sonata and Aria have good relationships, so that was probably the highlight of the story, borderline abusive though it may have been. All of the sirens had their cute moments amidst the drama and bickering, though.
All in all, a most excellent story that I would not have been fortunate enough to stumble across had you not read one of mine, so thank you very much for bringing it to my attention!
7645566 Thanks.
You are quite welcome, as it is well deserved
And whereas a sequel would be 120% awesome
it should only happen if you feel the inclination to do so. But I have clicked the "follow" button, so I will know when/if that happens! 
ps- sorry for the much-delayed reply, been kinda off-radar and got way behind on my horse messages
7950799 No, but from what I recall of the character, I guess I can see the parallel. It just seemed like the sort of gesture a person might subconsciously make while awkwardly talking about lesbian sex.
So, the portal's open ... and rather than step through for a minute to tell Princess Twi in person ... Sunset runs off with the book to write it down instead.
7950920 Uh…
Force of habit?
Or, respect for interdimensional portals as a powerful magical force that should not be used frivolously?
Or an author who just didn't think of that.I'm sure there's a decent explanation why Sunset didn't think of that.
7951054 "Fluttershy, we're supposed to be robbing this bank. Hold the gun up and point it at the teller!" "Oh no, I couldn't do that! What if it went off accidentally?" "See, Adagio? This is why I said the pony girl should be the getaway driver, and I should get the death ray!"
Liked this ending a lot. I never believed from the canon they really wanted to get back to Equestria, so to see the homecoming cliche subverted here was lovely. And them therefore not being tied to their word not to be evil is the happiest ending I could have asked for. And yes, it was a very touching sentiment that Adagio went to such lengths just because she assumed her sisters wanted it, when she didn't herself.
Also, given how long Aria and Sonata are implied to have been knocking boots for, and given that Adagio has some kind of work schedule, I'd have thought that time near the start of the story would be far from the first time they'd snuck into her bed when she was out.
Anyway, very engaging story, unusual but convincing interpretations of some of the characters, still not quite sure about the group apology scene or Pinkie's interfering, but good job
8187297 Maybe they avoided her bed because they were trying to not get caught, and once the secret's out, it emboldened them to take things further. Just a thought.
In any case, thank you! Getting feedback really means a lot to me, even on stories I wrote over a year ago.
Coming back to it, there's a couple of things I'd maybe do differently, if I was writing it again, but I guess every author's gonna have that.
8188191 Actually yeah, that would make a lot of sense
No problem, thanks for writing it!
I love your display picture, by the way, if you hadn't guessed - you mentioned not being much of a siren fan, is the picture a suggestion that that's changed a bit in the year since?
8188222 They might have grown on me a bit, but honestly I just really liked how this picture came out (I drew it for one of my blogs, https://midnight-and-daydream.tumblr.com/)
8188268 Ah, cool, well it looks great!
8322512
Thanks for the feedback.
I just worry that even a fantasy can influence how people think, and end up causing indirect harm. If someone reads enough fics where incest is presented as normal and acceptable (especially if they've never come across good arguments for the opposing view), they might start to believe it.
Hence the disclaimer.
8342836 Thank you. I'm still playing around with sequel ideas now and then, but so far nothing's grabbed me. I'm also not 100% sure how I would handle the Aria/Sonata relationship going forward. I do hope I come up with something one of these days, but as I've said before, I don't want to force it.
8424101
i.pinimg.com/736x/9b/c0/4c/9bc04ca0d8a1b0b9c7e1b78b9b77c994.jpg
9933898
Thanks, I knew my unpopular opinion would earn me some internet points, I guess.
Don't know why I thought to write that in the first place, ehn
This might honestly be my new favorite siren fic. There’s so much fantastic stuff here, between the excellently presented and incredibly weird Sonaria relationship (again, definitely my favorite version of it I’ve seen), Adagio learning to be more open with her feelings and accepting of herself and others, and Fluttershy getting some great characterization. I can tell that we have fairly similar ethical views, so that helped me get invested, silly as it is.
Thank you so much for this! I had a wonderful time