• Member Since 5th Jan, 2015
  • offline last seen Yesterday

NaiadSagaIotaOar


do not throw souls

T
Source

All her life, Adagio has presented herself as the very image of perfection. She had it all: beauty, charisma, a formidable mind and the power to bend minds to her whims. One fateful night, she finds herself toppled from her position of power, struck down by a force even greater than her own. Now, she must confront her failure and admit that she may not be as perfect as she claims.


Set in the same continuity as two other stories, Requiem and Repose, but knowledge of neither is required.


Cover art by the ridiculously amazing Wubcake. Check out her stuff and shower her with praise.


Many thanks to SpiritOfDancingFlames for proofreading.

Chapters (7)
Comments ( 192 )

Because she wouldn’t cry, no matter what happened. She couldn’t cry. Not in front of them.

She will if the foreshadowing in those other stories has anything to say about it. On that note, is this a continuation of the previous two? :rainbowhuh:

Sonata's dopey nature is well-handled here. She seems childish, but not bratty, a little naive, but not incongruously innocent. I hope Aria's up to something productive.

7583182

Sonata's dopey nature is well-handled here.

Mission accomplished. :pinkiehappy:

I hope Aria's up to something productive.

:raritywink:

And yes, this is a continuation. I don't know how much I'm going to reference my other stories, if at all, so I didn't tag it as a sequel.

Jeebus; hope Dagi's sneaking out at night to get something to eat or has her own well-stocked minifridge; the end there makes it seem like this went on for weeks, :twilightoops:

s6.postimg.org/5ul2jmext/continue_Monkey.jpg

Woo! Finally, the third story is out! That means I can add you to my Best Authors page~

7583548 Adagio can be pretty crafty, you know. :raritywink:

And now I'm thinking she needs a minifridge.

I'm not crying shut up you're the ones who's crying!

I do not really like the sad moments,
but the story is very good.
I hope things improve
I will give an opportunity to the fanfic

7588629 Just to clarify, when you say you don't like the sad moments, do you mean that they are poorly written or that sad stuff just isn't your cup of tea? Because I do respect that everybody has different tastes, but if there's something I'm doing wrong, I'd like to know what it is.

7588730 Oh no! nothing is misspelled, it's perfect.
I mean, I get sad reading moments of sadness.
I respect the tastes and differences.
You're not doing anything wrong.
I did not explain well

Liking this a lot so far :twilightsmile:

7590780 Glad to hear it! :heart:

I hope what's coming doesn't disappoint.

7591672 I know you can't hear it, but I'm squealing with delight right now. :pinkiehappy:

7591680
I'm very happy to have made your day. It's not often anymore I get to do that for somepony. :twilightsmile:

wow. that's geting to me. I want to see more of this, because. I have to know where this goes.

im feeling particularly bad for Adagio, but... Sonata. and what the hecks Aria doin'...

7597507 Don't worry, there's plenty more to come.

what the hecks Aria doin'...

Vehicular manslaughter via incendiary segway.
Or not. Y'know, Aria things.
:trollestia:

This is a lot more serious than the time I wrote Adagio crying in her room and refusing to come out!
Helps that I didn't depict Adagio's side of those scenes for exactly that reason...

I was going to hope things got better for them soon, but if Adagio is doing what Aria just said she was sure she wouldn't, Sonata's going to be even more upset at the very least. :fluttershysad:

...Also, going by the Sex tag, would I be wrong to think there's some amount of incoming Sundagio, or should the shipping goggles be left off for this story?

7602085 When did you write that? It's a scene I'm sure I've read before, but I'm pretty certain I'm not thinking of one of your stories.

And there is no shipping here. None. Not even a little. Perish the thought.
:raritywink:
Okay, maybe a little bit, but there's a reason there's no romance tag.

7602106
There are brief scenes of Aria Blaze vs. Adagio's Bedroom Door (also much sillier than Sonata's battle here) throughout the first several chapters of I Can Smile (written last year), kept in Aria's POV so the tone wouldn't shift too much.

There wasn't a romance tag in that story either, but... :raritywink:

Congrats on the feature. :pinkiehappy:

7602211 :rainbowhuh::rainbowderp::pinkiegasp::pinkiehappy::raritystarry::pinkiecrazy::heart:
Ohmygoshyou'rerightit'sactuallyupthere!
Yay!
Thanks for telling me!

oww, butttt.. the plot. it thickens! Sunset soon to enter the picture? I honestly quite like the interactions and thoughts at work here. how often has adagio kept record of her life in general? that would be quite the diary series i love to read. please keep this going. i can't wait to see what comes next!

7602348 Hmm...

To be honest, I never really thought about writing the contents of Adagio's diary in much detail, but now that you mention it, that might be a fun little side series to start. I'll think about it. :coolphoto:

But I've always imagined Adagio in particular being extremely sentimental, so I would think she's kept extensive records of her lengthy life.

I love it :heart:
good work :pinkiehappy:

Sonata is so good...Aria chill the fuck out and yo Dagi suck it up girl!

7602440 It's pretty hard to chill when you're always a Blaze.

7602455 -slow clapping- Touche...

For the first time ever, the Dazzlings now know what failure and disappointment feels like.

Strange, i didn't find it in unread favorites.

7604151 Well, you're here now, so I assume you found it in the end. What do you think so far?

7604153
When i was browsing Dazzlings group i clicked on it and found out that it has new chapter. I was surprised because i didn't see it in favourits, but when i selected "View by last updated" it was there. Strange.

About the story. I like it so far. The Dazzlings seems to be in character and story is interesting.

7604370 You might double-check that your favorites bookshelf is set to email you updates, or put it into your tracking bookshelf.

And I'm glad to hear that they're in character. That was one of the parts of this chapter I was really concerned about.

I'll be a hundred percent honest, I'm significantly underread when it comes to the sirens. I like the concept, but as a whole, I just don't enjoy the EQG setting, so I tend not to read these stories. :twilightsheepish: As it stands, though, this is enjoyable so far. I do feel for the characters, given how you present them, and the loving sibling bond does feel quite real (as the oldest of four, I can vouch for the feeling).

One thing I do think could be handled better is the description. While the mindset and atmosphere is pretty well set, the setting is not. There's a lack of description, making it so that the setting feels somewhat like a black and white house with standard beds and living rooms. This might have been what you were going for, but otherwise, it feels very bland. The best advice I've got regarding that is just to inject a bit more color. The odd color or how they interact with their scenery would probably present a far more vivid picture.

So far, this looks rather interesting. I'll take a look at the next chapter soon. :rainbowdetermined2:

7608176

I just don't enjoy the EQG setting, so I tend not to read these stories.

Fair enough. I'm quite the opposite, but I respect your tastes and I'm glad you're still interested.

As for the scenery descriptions, that's mostly something that I've kind of put off because it never struck me as particularly critical, especially since most of the scenes feature the sirens inside their own home. It is a perfectly valid criticism, though, and one which I will try to correct in later installments.

I do have one question, mostly because someone brought this up on your story: Is the POV changing too much here? I do admit that it jumps around a lot, especially in the third chapter, so please let me know if it's too jarring.

7608545 As far as POV goes, I don't think it jumps around too much, although I'm still on chapter one, so my opinion might change. I think that, so long as the scene fulfills its purpose, it doesn't really matter how long or short it is, seeing as it's done its job. I'd prefer a short scene that gets all the details across than a five thousand word scene in which nothing important happens.

As for why the lack of description struck me as off is simply because I have no idea of what it implies. The phrase 'their cramped livingroom' or 'faded gray walls' would provide insanely different visuals than 'their somewhat spacey livingroom'. Hence why the lack of it makes me feel like there's a lack of context. Anyway, I'll try to get to the next chapter soon. Sorry for being so slow. :twilightblush:

7610245 Thanks for the clarification, it really helps. :twilightsmile:
But don't feel like you have to rush on my behalf. I'm finishing off the next chapter right now, so it'll be a little while before I think about revisiting old ones and giving them a little more polish.

“I don’t see either of them cutting themselves.”

Don't tempt fate, Aria. :fluttershysad:

I really like how everyone is portrayed here, though I don't have time for elaborate thoughts (and probably shouldn't be reading fanfics right now as it is, but darnit, this is one of very few siren stories that isn't just more of the same!) at the moment.

7611855

this is one of very few siren stories that isn't just more of the same!

You have made me very happy. :pinkiehappy:
I'd love to hear more elaborate thoughts when you have time, if there are things you'd like to share.

7611862
Elaboration!

Aria is nicely rough, but without being a destructive brute (give or take her treatment of walls), and even if she's almost afraid to show that she has feelings other than malice, she shows them in ways that feel very appropriate for her. Sonata is a bit dim, but definitely knows her strengths in 'cuteness' and getting people to feel sorry for her if she needs something, clever in her own way and manipulative without being a secret genius out of nowhere or somehow totally innocent, as is even lampshaded in the chapter. Then there's Adagio, who doesn't seem to have wrangled her feelings into control over the last two weeks in isolation, much like a human being. Her pain and difficulty with the situation are clear without making her a whiny, selfish drama-queen portrayed as throwing a fit over nothing, more like an actual person that's reached the end of their rope and doesn't have much more going on than that storm of hurt feelings, to which Sunset seems to have added bitterness, hatred, and seething rage in greater quantity.

I don't see her actually getting revenge, of course, not on any level (though I've been wrong before!), but if she's already decided that Aria and Sonata don't need her anymore, it's not like she has much to lose, as far as she's concerned. ...The existence of the sex tag puts images in my head for how Sunset might wind up convincing her to let go. :trixieshiftright:

Sunset being patient and comforting was nice too, as opposed to doing something 'awesome' (read: senseless and violent) the moment Aria got in her face, or just shouting at Adagio until everything was right somehow. I'll admit that a lot of what I like about this story is the things that don't happen, but they're such common pitfalls that it's become rare that I can actually enjoy stories about my favorite characters, to the point that I don't even mind the slightly dark inclusion of Aria's... experiments.

I have the feeling that this whole thing is going to get worse before it gets better, but hopefully everyone can smile again by the end. Even if they can't, I suspect that it'll at least be well-handled. :twilightsmile:

7612145 And here I was, thinking that I'm so late to the show all the good ideas are already taken. :twilightsmile: They probably still are, (I'm pretty sure there's not a single idea I had for this story that someone else hasn't already done at least some variation of) but at least I'm staying clear of the stuff that's been done to death, especially since most of those pitfalls never made much sense to begin with. So if nothing else, I'm at least subverting some expectations. :twilightsmile:

Regarding Sonata, I've always thought that if she's thousands of years old, as is the case here, it's simply not plausible that she's legitamately as stupid as she sometimes acts. I think it's more that she lacks the focus and drive to really push herself. However, when it comes to things like her image, which she's actually put a lot of thought into, she's much more competent, even if she doesn't quite have the foresight for elaborate plans like Adagio does. Similarly, the notion that she was somehow the innocent one falls flat when you realize that she had centuries to figure out how bad the other two were and still stuck around for some reason.

And as much as I like the stories where Sunset's some kind of action hero, the latest movie pretty much states that that's not at all what makes her special. Her empathy, especially with someone like Adagio with whom she shares more than a fleeting similarity, and her capacities for compassion and forgiveness seem to be the points to emphasize.

There's probably a lot more that I have to say regarding the characterizations of the Sirens, but I think it's probably best that I hold off on that until the story's complete. If nothing else, there are still a few dangling plot threads to resolve. An experiment's no good without a conclusion, right? And two weeks is a long time to spend cutting yourself. Aria's still got some stuff to say.

I have the feeling that this whole thing is going to get worse before it gets better, but hopefully everyone can smile again by the end

I make no promises, but someone will be smiling.

7612228
I'm not sure Sonata being really dumb or innocent makes sense even in interpretations in which they aren't that old. I generally imagine that they've only been in the human world for a few years, or I figure they'd have given in to despair or be running their own nation (though it sort of depends on whether it's imagined that they want to rule rather than just be adored by enthralled subjects) after a millennium, to say nothing of the massive coincidence needed that they be in Canterlot the night of the Fall Formal or how they could still be going over how the energy in this world isn't the same as in Equestria so much later. Nothing to say they couldn't hold on that long, but it definitely makes their situation that much more painful. :fluttershyouch:

In the movie, she's every bit as vicious as the other two, grins evilly during their songs and is happy to rub salt in Sunset's wounds, even if she may have genuinely lucked into pushing Trixie a little further along by thinking out loud (judging by Aria and Adagio's annoyed, then pleased expressions in that scene, which suggested to me that they were expecting her to say something compromising again and were pleasantly surprised). She's not bright, but her comments like "it's how we get people to do what we want" makes me think she has to be aware of what she's involved with, and just doesn't care.

Whether they'd been in the human world for a few years or a thousand, being thrown into another dimension with no hope of return isn't going to do any favors for one's empathy, no matter how cheerful they might normally be. That, and hanging around Aria and Adagio must have given her time to at least pick up a trick or two, if only knowing what her strengths are.

With a forlorn sigh, she crept over to one corner of her room, where there stood a small, squat minifridge, carefully concealed under a lilac blanket so as not to infuriate her with its scandalously lackluster boxiness.

Minifridge FTW!

7604370 7604740
The 'new chapter with no update notification' thing is a Fimfic glitch that happens sometimes... I forget exactly what causes it; something to do with new chapters existing but not being published when another chapter is published? Something along those lines. As it happens, I didn't get notification for this chapter either; I only found it when the newest one came out.

7612369 Huh. That's weird. This is the first time I've heard of this glitch. The way you describe it implies that it might have something to do with the way I published the chapters, so if that's the case I'll try not to do it again.

But you're here now, so I hope you enjoy!

7612275 I will admit that the interpretation of them being really, really old is a little bit far-fetched. Like, really far-fetched, with some of the points you raise. To be honest, if it weren't for other Sirens fanfics that I really liked using that same interpretation, I probably wouldn't have used it myself, just because your reasoning makes for less handwaving and contrivances.

In any case, I completely agree with the rest of what you said. I like to think of Sonata as being the most outwardly friendly of the three, even if she's still callous, fickle and cruel underneath. Hopefully, that's how she came out in this chapter.

7612433

I probably wouldn't have used it myself, just because your reasoning makes for less handwaving and contrivances.

The thousand-years-banished thing used to be a bugbear of mine too, but really, Handwave and Contrivance might as well be Elements of Harmony at this point, so I usually try to just roll with that backstory these days. :pinkiesmile:

Just recently, (LoE spoiler!) that crystal cave in Camp Everfree. At absolute best, I could see it as an attempt by the sirens to re-grow their gems (all the 'how' in that instance being handwaved as 'because magic' and contrivance of why they happened to do it in that particular spot as 'because destiny') and they either thought it failed and left or were driven away before they saw results. Not sure that meshes with Sunset's 'always meant to have them' bit, but it's that or something else planting magic, buggering off, and no one ever coming across that cave before Gloriosa, who didn't think to SELL ALL THOSE GEMS, make a FORTUNE, and pay off Filthy forever.

...That got ranty, sorry. :facehoof:

I like to think of Sonata as being the most outwardly friendly of the three, even if she's still callous, fickle and cruel underneath. Hopefully, that's how she came out in this chapter.

She came across as a bit childish, but not stupid, well-meaning (as far as her and hers goes), but manipulative, which is right where I like to see Sonata. :pinkiehappy:

Oooooh, Cheesehair is piiiiiissed, :pinkiegasp:

7612473

...That got ranty, sorry. :facehoof:

Maybe, but it's a perfectly justified rant. I could kind of accept how the EG group spontaneously acquired the Elements of Harmony powers despite never coming into contact with any of them and there only being one present to begin with, and even SciTwi building the magic gadget made a little bit of sense since MLP magic has been shown to act in very quantifiable manners.

But this time? Feels like they didn't even try. The Sirens only got a couple sentences of backstory, but the magic crystal geode thingies didn't even get that.

Although, I'm kind of liking the notion that the Sirens made them. Or maybe King Sombra got his hooves on a portal mirror and dropped some magic crystals through it.

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