• Published 3rd May 2019
  • 1,129 Views, 22 Comments

Aria's Archives - Shorts - SamRose



A series of short stories based on the Tumblr Ask Blog Aria's Archives

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The First Move

Author's Note:

<1032 AD>

Reliving the first time the humans noticed the Sirens didn't age.

“I see your crops grew in well this year Leaf, they'll go well with our fish tonight.” Adagio mused as she browsed the market. She was already planning dinner for the week and picking out the best food on display to bring home with her.

Leaf Brace, the elderly man who ran the stall, stared at Adagio with concern written on his face. It hadn't completely escaped Adagio that the man was giving her funny looks, but she had rather hoped that she would be able to get through her shopping without being distracted with whatever his problems were.

“Adagio...” Leaf finally spoke up, his brow knitting further. “There is something bothering me.”

Adagio let out a sigh, fearing this was coming. She really didn't care for the man's issues, she just wanted to get her shopping done. But she had come to find that it was easier to just deal with whatever problems the humans brought up if her and her sisters wanted to enjoy their lives in peace. She plastered on her best fake smile and engaged the shopkeeper in pleasant conversation.

“Why, whatever is the matter?” She said with fake kindness to her voice.

“It's... Well... Not to be too crass about this, but I've known you ever since you and your sisters moved into town. Been here from day one when you came to market to buy my crops...” The man paused, as if scrutinizing her deeply, looking her up and down with an eye that Adagio did not like. “...And you don't look a day older than the day I first met you.”

“Oh, well, thank you.” Adagio said, faking interest in the compliment as she gave her hair a flick. “I do like to keep up with my beauty, so thank you for noticing.”

“No, that's not what I mean.” He said with a grunt and a shake of his head. “I mean I've known you for almost thirty years. I've watched you and your sisters have children, those children grow up, and start to have children of their own. Your eldest daughter is about to have her third child... And you...

“You don't look like her mother anymore. You look like her younger sister.”

Adagio did not like where this conversation was going.

“Leaf. What are you trying to say?” Adagio's kindness was dropping, her smile slowly turning into a scowl.

“Whatever is going on... It's not natural.” He said, his eyes furrowing with frustration. “A human is supposed to grow old, pass the world on to the next generation. But you... You look like you're going to outlive your kids.”

Adagio had just about had it with this conversation. She just wanted to pay for her food and go home, but if this was leading to trouble she couldn't just leave it at that.

“And tell me Leaf, if you really thought something unnatural was going on, what exactly would you do about it?”

“...I would rather it not come to that.” He grunted. “For your family's sake, I hope nothing is unusual and you just hold your age really well. Otherwise... I fear things may get ugly.”

“Is that a threat?” Adagio growled, her patience now gone.

“Not from me, I'm too old for that.” He shook his head, before leveling a glare at her. “But I'd be careful about showing your face around town anymore.”

Adagio wanted to speak up, but suddenly felt the eyes on the back of her head. A quick glance around her showed that the whole market had practically ground to a halt as everyone was staring at her.

She grit her teeth and turned her attention back to Leaf, realizing if things really did turn ugly she did not have the kind of magic to deal with everyone there at once. Even if they were giving off plenty of negative emotions for her to feed off of, it would take far too long to use it against them.

With more force than intended, she jammed her hand into her bag and pulled out the coins for her purchase before shoving them at the old man.

“Very well, then I will buy your goods and be on my way.” Her voice was terse as she loaded her bag with the vegetables she had already been planning to buy. “I doubt you will be seeing me again.”

Leaf simply gave Adagio a curt nod in return, and the two parted ways. Adagio was storming off from the market, her temper flaring as her teeth ground in her skull. She could hear it now, every single whisper from the humans around her as they walked, all gossiping about her and her sisters no doubt.

And judging by the faint green mist she could see forming on the ground from their whispers, it wasn't at all friendly conversation. All of her plans were now thrown out the window, as dealing with this became priority number one.


“It seems the humans have finally started taking notice of the fact that we don't age.”

Once Adagio had gotten home she'd dragged Sonata and Aria into their bedroom and locked the door behind her. She sat on the edge of one bed, arms crossed, her finger tapping against her arm as she went through the situation in her head.

“So?” Aria said dismissively, “What do they care if we don't age? It's not like it effects them.”

Apparently, it matters a whole lot to them, Aria!” Adagio snapped back. “You didn't see the negative energy everyone in the market was radiating. It was more than we normally collect when we go out and feed just from the sheer mass of people. And they weren't even fully angry!”

“Whoa...” Sonata's eyes went wide at that.

“But why? They don't know that we piss them off to feed, we've been careful about that for years. So why would THIS be what turns them against us?”

“I don't KNOW, Aria!” Adagio roared, suddenly standing up. “Leaf said my beauty was 'unnatural' and that Humans were MEANT to grow old! Then he threatened not just me, but our ENTIRE family if something didn't change! And apparently, the whole town feels the same way!”

Adagio let out a cry of anger before walking over to the wall and slamming it with the side of her fist in frustration.

“This wouldn't be so difficult to deal with if it wasn't for the fact that all of our kids apparently are just normal humans themselves.” Adagio grunted, pushing away from the wall. “I thought we were increasing the size of our pack, but no. Even Leaf noticed that Dew looks older than I am, so we're still the only Sirens in this world.”

Adagio began to pace around the room as the frustration and anger got to her. Aria held her chin against her fist as she thought about this, Sonata just tilting her head in thought.

“This would be a lot easier if we were still in Equestria.” Sonata sighed, kicking her feet against the bed.

“Everything would be better if we were still in Equestria.” Aria said, rolling her eyes. “But that's not exactly an option now is it? We're not getting back any time soon.”

“What we NEED to be thinking about is how to deal with this!” Adagio snapped, glaring at her pack. “Thinking about Equestria isn't useful right now! What do we do about the townsfolk?”

“Why don't we just hypnotize them? It'd get them off our backs and they'd go back to adoring us.” Aria shrugged.

“Oh, and are you personally going to provide the magic we need to hypnotize literally thousands of people?” Adagio sarcastically asked, placing a hand on her hip. “Or did you forget that we only have the kind of magic to hypnotize a small handful of people at a time before we start to literally die from over exerting ourselves.”

“Okay, I get it, bad idea.” Aria growled, rolling her eyes. “I don't hear better answers coming from you.

“That's because I THINK about them before I SAY them!” Adagio growled back. “It's obvious we can't just talk our way out of this, the humans are superstitious to a fault as it is! And apparently even the hint that we're immortal means they want us dead!”

“...Well, if they don't want us here, why don't we leave?” Sonata asked.

“...What?” Adagio blinked in confusion.

“I mean, that's an option right? We don't have to live here if no one wants us here. We could just go to another town, or even another country where no one knows us!” Sonata said with a smile.

Adagio and Aria just stared at the youngest siren for several moments, before Adagio brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit her nail.

“But... Our kids...” She murmured.

“...Are all old enough to take care of themselves.” Aria said. “The only one still living at home is Noble, and she's already sixteen. She can more than easily live with her brother or one of her cousins and find a husband.”

Adagio didn't have a response for that, because it was all true. Golden Dew, Harp Note, Olive Branch, and Golden Knight had all moved out years ago to either start families of their own or to further their own careers. Melody had run away from home and none of them had heard from her since. Noble Lass really was the only one who was still living with them, and she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

“...How long will it take to get all of our things together?” Adagio asked quietly, crossing her arms.

“If we leave the furniture, maybe a couple hours?” Aria said thinking it over. “We've got the cart and it wouldn't be hard to get horses at all.”

“...Then we should get started and leave once night falls.” Adagio said making the plan. “We're not going to stick around long enough for this situation to boil over. We've seen what the humans do when they form an angry mob. Even with our magic we won't be able to deal with that.”

“Whooo! Road trip!” Sonata bounced up with glee, quickly heading out of the room. Adagio shook her head at that, but let the girl go.

“So, any regrets?” Aria asked with a raised eyebrow. Adagio didn't know how to respond to that, thinking it over.

“...I think I'm going to go see my kids first.” She said with a shake of her head. “If I'm leaving them behind, I want to see them one last time.”

“That's not a bad idea honestly. I should probably go see Knight before we head out myself.”

Adagio walked up and placed a hand on Aria's shoulder, which she just shrugged at. Adagio walked out of the room next, causing Aria to sigh. She stood up and stretched, before turning to exit the room herself, but stopped when she saw Noble standing in the door frame.

“...So... That's it then? You guys are leaving?” Noble asked quietly, her voice fairly neutral despite the news.

“And how long have you been listening in on us?”

“...There's a spot in the house where it's really easy to listen in on your room.” Noble shook her head. “I think I'm the only one who knew about it though...”

“That's an awful lot of eavesdropping.” Aria said with a raised eyebrow almost impressed. “But you haven't said anything about it.”

Nobel was silent for a moment longer, taking a moment to grip one arm with the other before looking up at her mother.

“What are you?”

“I'm a siren.” Aria said flatly.

“And you come from Equestria?”

“That's right.”

“...Where is that?”

“That's a hard question to answer.” Aria looked away, furrowing her brow. “It's like... You know how the Gods on Mount Olympus are supposedly in a place so far away and so high up that you'll never ever be able to reach them no matter how much you travel or climb? Equestria's a lot like that.”

“Are... Are you Gods?”

Aria had to laugh at that.

“Oh I'm sure Adagio likes to think of herself as one, but hardly. We may not grow old, but we sure as Tartarus aren't Gods. You stab me with a dagger and I'll bleed, same as you.”

“And I'm not a siren. I'm just... A normal human?”

“Seems that way kiddo.” Aria walked over to Noble, placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. “Though I guess 'normal' is relative. You're a lot better than a lot of the jerks out there ever will be.”

Noble shook her head, brushing her mother's hand off her head before looking up, the emotion finally starting to show on her face.

“And after today... I'll never see you again? I can't... Come with you?”

Aria paused at that, mulling it over before shaking her head.

“That's probably a bad idea. Not only will it be obvious we don't age faster if you're with us, we can feed ourselves a lot easier than it would be to keep you fed. We don't actually need food like you do, after all.”

“Y-You don't?” Noble asked surprised, her eyes growing wide.

“Nope, so traveling for us will be easy. But you? You have a lot of family in the city still, and once we're out of here I'm sure everyone will stop caring about us and let you live a normal life.” Aria said with a nod.

“What about letters!?” Noble said more intensely, her emotions welling up. “You could write to me! We can stay in contact and no one has to know!”

“Well uh... I guess that'd be more possible?” Aria said scratching the back of her head. “We'd have to get where we're living first, and I'd likely have to use a fake name, but if you really do go live with your brother, I could send letters your way...”

Noble's face scrunched up, before she closed her eyes and lunged forward, wrapping her arms around her mother and burying her face against her. Aria's eyes widened at that, but she could feel her daughter shaking and gently wrapped her arms around her in return.

“Yeah, sorry kiddo... I know this is sudden.” Aria spoke softly, petting Noble's head as the younger girl began to sob. “But hey, at least you got to know the truth, right? And I'll try to stay in contact, though I can't promise anything. So you just grow up to be amazing for me, okay?”

Noble simply nodded her head, unable to speak for the moment as the two shared a moment.

Aria sighed softly and squeezed Noble a little closer.

Aria suddenly had a feeling that this scene was going to be a lot more common than she would've originally guessed. She'd never tell Adagio, but having children had actually been a lot more rewarding than she thought it would have been. She wouldn't mind doing it again once they were settled somewhere safe again, though who knew when that would be.

For the moment though, she just hugged her daughter and mentally prepared herself for later.

The first of many moves.

Such would be the life of immortals.

Comments ( 13 )

Congrats! You get a like.

Ri2

Well, that's pretty sad.

Oh this is gonna be a fun read i can already tell

And that people... is why Immortality is a fucking curse.

This is really interesting so far.

And reading the children of Aria bios. I find it interesting that since Witching Hour is this world’s Mary Shelley. It would be cool if there is a short chapter from Witching’s POV reading her novel to either friends/family and then she sees a hooded figure outside her house in a dark stormy night only for the figure to run away. The figure being Aria seeing her now grown up Daughter she abandoned.

Man, that's gotta suck!

9603850
half right its not full immortality as they can be killed but yeah even this form sucks

9603850

To me, it is only a curse if only YOU enjoy it, while you watch everyone else die.

Still, this was pretty moving.

Wait, complete?

9865200
I don't know when/if I'll update with more short stories, been kind of swamped with other stories and works. So I went ahead and marked it complete, but if I do write more down the road (which is a strong possibility), then I'll just toss them on here anyway.

But as is, all the stories are stand alone anyway, so they should be able to be enjoyed as they are heh

Such is liberation.

Finally got around to reading this. And I'm for sure keeping it in my Tracking; even if it's "Completed". There's always a chance more will be on the way. :raritywink:

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