Turning In
In an unlit room in a castle made of crystal, a mirror flashed, and a figure emerged from it. Not human, but equine, yet still walking on its back hooves.
Not for long, though. Adagio, windmilling her arms—forelegs—fell forward, landing in a heap on her chest with her posterior in the air.
The room lit with a flash a second time, and Sunset emerged, dropping easily onto all fours. She looked at Adagio, who was groaning.
“Yeah, the first time’s rough. It’ll get easier.”
Adagio’s eyes widened, and she quickly tried to get to her feet—hooves—and—
Wait.
That was wrong.
She wasn’t supposed to have four.
Awkwardly, she stood, on uncertain and unfamiliar legs, and her eye caught her reflection in the mirror she’d emerged from.
Parts of her figure were familiar; the colours were right, for instance, and she had two forehooves—but that was about where it ended. For one thing, her tail was missing—or, no, not missing, just wrong. Instead of the long, shark-like tail ending in fins she remembered (from so, so long ago), this one was merely pony hair, orange and yellow, like her mane. Mane—that was another thing she wasn’t supposed to have, and yet there it was, resembling closely the hair she had in her more human form. A set of gills adorned either side of her neck.
She looked down at her hooves. Little fins trailed off their backs.
The good news was she wasn’t a pony, not entirely.
The bad news was she wasn’t a siren, either. Instead, she looked like… something in between.
Sunset looked her up and down, concern on her muzzle.
“You look… different than I remember.”
Adagio grit her teeth so hard they might have broken. She whipped her head away. “Come on. Before someone sees us.”
No one could know. That was the condition Adagio had set, after Sunset had insisted on tagging along on this little journey. Not Aria and Sonata; not any of Sunset’s friends; and especially not Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Hey now,” Sunset said, concern—concern!—now in her voice, as well. “Are you sure you’re okay? This doesn’t seem—”
“I said,” Adagio hissed, “let’s go.”
Sunset looked like she wanted to say something more, but Adagio didn’t give her the chance, heading towards the room’s exit. Sunset shrugged and followed after her.
“So this thing you wanted to get back,” Sunset said, once they were in the hall (her leading the way, now; she was the only one who knew how to get out of Twilight’s castle). “You feel like telling me what it is yet?”
“No.”
That was the sob story she’d given Sunset: that she’d left something behind in Equestria when she’d been banished all those years ago, and she wanted it back. It was a total—well, Adagio supposed, it wasn’t a total lie; she was here to get something back, something very important. It just wasn’t a trinket.
“Is that a problem?” she half asked, half growled.
“No,” Sunset said. “But, like, I’m going to find out what it is eventually.”
“Then you don’t need to ask, do you.”
“I guess I don’t.”
The dawn was just breaking when they emerged from the front of the castle, the first of the sun’s rays peeking over the mountains to the east.
“Welcome to Ponyville,” Sunset said, with a smile on her face.
Adagio ignored the comment. Instead, she turned her head one way… then the other. And there it was, to the east. The connection was still there. It was faint, but she was still siren enough to feel it… feel her. Like a lighthouse, far in the distance, sounding a foghorn that called out to her. Come home, it said. Come home to me.
She turned, towards that distant voice.
“This way.”
She began walking, towards the hills off in the distance. Sunset quickly circled around in front of her.
“Whoa, whoa! Hold on, there. Where are we going, exactly?”
Adagio pointed. “That way. Duh.”
“Right, yeah, I understood that part,” Sunset said. “I mean, what’s over that way that we’re going to?”
Adagio sighed.
“We need to get to the, what was it the ponies called it… the Celestial Sea. The thing I’m looking for is… at the bottom of it.”
“What the ponies called it? Why, what do you call it?”
Adagio gave her a look. “Home.”
“Duly noted,” Sunset said. “It’d be a lot faster to take the train to the coast. Beats walking, anyway. We can maybe take a boat from there.”
Adagio looked at her, surprised. “Equestria has trains?”
“Uh… yeah? For the last couple decades or so.”
“Huh.” The thought had never occurred to her. Some things had to have changed in her absence, sure, but she didn’t think ponies were clever enough for mass transit.
Oh well. It had been a long time, after all.
“I guess we’ll take the train then. Lead the way.”
Sunset did so, taking them in the opposite direction; towards town.
The streets were mostly barren, the key word being mostly. The few ponies that were wandering the streets at that Celestia-forsaken hour gave Sunset (as an outsider) welcoming looks and Adagio (as a strange, half-pony, half-siren) slightly less welcoming ones. Adagio ignored them; who cared if they stared? Ponies were beneath her, anyway.
Which is why she kept her head down and glared back at anyone who so much as looked her way.
“Come on,” Sunset said, nudging her with a forehoof. “Be nice.”
“Don’t touch me.”
“Right.”
After what seemed like far too long, they arrived at the train station. The line, it being early, was nonexistent, but the train was there, ready for its morning run.
Sunset approached the ticket booth; a mare (who looked far too energized for this hour, Adagio thought) sat behind the glass. Adagio herself decided to wait for her on a bench at the station.
She surveyed the train. It was decked out in pastels and looked altogether too friendly. Typical pony design, just in a new shape for her. She did note that it was just a steam train; ponies evidently hadn’t moved on to electricity… yet. Not like humans had.
Humans. Adagio looked down at her hoof, but in her mind’s eye it was a hand there, five long, slender fingers jutting out from her palm. Even after all these years, the shape felt alien to her… but not as alien as it had used to.
Adagio’s stomach turned. She grit her teeth, put her hoof down. Now was not the time—
“Hey, miss!”
Adagio started, looked down to her left where the little voice had come from. It was a colt; Adagio didn’t know how to tell how old it was, but from the voice, no more than ten years of age. It was small, though, especially next to her.
She raised an eyebrow at it. “Yes?”
“Are you a seapony?”
“Do I look like a seapony?”
“Yeah, kinda!”
Adagio looked him in the eyes. She smiled wide, showing her teeth, razor sharp and thin like needles, and suddenly the colt looked very small indeed.
“Too bad for you,” she said. “I’m not a seapony. I’m a si—”
“Yes!” Sunset cut in, coming from seemingly out of nowhere. “Yes, she’s a seapony.” She glared at Adagio. “A very grumpy seapony.”
“O-okay,” the colt stammered.
“Is that your mom over there?” Sunset asked, pointing at a mare across the platform. The colt nodded. “Why don’t you go over there and tell her all about your new seapony friend, okay?”
The colt nodded again, and scampered off, just a little too quickly. Sunset let out a breath she’d been holding and sat down next to Adagio.
“You’re no fun,” Adagio said.
“You looked like you were going to eat him.”
“He called me a seapony,” Adagio said, indignant. “Maybe I would have.”
“And things like this are exactly why you needed a chaperone.”
“And here I thought it was because you were afraid I’d try and take over the world again.”
Some time passed before their train came in. They took it to Baltimare, mostly in silence. Sunset tried to strike up a conversation a few times, but eventually she gave up trying. Or perhaps she just got sick of Adagio’s glares. Either way.
Once in Baltimare, they headed straight for the bay. Sunset arranged their passage on a ship bound for Griffonstone. It was a cargo ship, not a passenger one (not many passenger ships out to Griffonstone, it seemed), but once some bits changed hands (courtesy of Princess Twilight’s treasury), they were good to go. It wasn’t as if they intended to actually reach their destination, after all.
Adagio seemed to grow even less talkative the closer they got to the water. The voice echoed in her head, louder now. Come home. Come home to me.
Whether that was a good sign or a bad one, she couldn’t tell.
The door to their cabin squeaked slightly as Adagio closed it. She tensed. This was the second time in as many days that she’d tried to sneak past someone at night, but it didn’t seem to be getting any less nerve-wracking.
The boat sailed smoothly through calm seawater. The moon, big and bright, reflected in shimmering splendor off the waves. She leaned over the railing. How she wished she could just leap off, into the waters… but no. Now wasn’t the time. Besides, it was risky to swim at night; she didn’t know how her vision would adjust in her… present state, and she couldn’t afford to lose the boat. No; she needed to conserve her energy for the days ahead.
Still, the waters were so…
Come home.
…Inviting…
Come home to me.
“I hope you weren’t thinking of leaving without me.”
Adagio grimaced. The voice was Sunset’s, and it snapped her out of her reverie like a hoof snaps a twig.
“No,” she said, flatly. “I wasn’t. As much as I would love to.”
Sunset walked up behind her; she could hear her hoofsteps, trotting along the deck.
“It’s been a while since I was last out at sea,” Sunset said. “This sea, anyway. Celestia took me on a trip to the Dragonlands, once, when I was younger. That boat was a lot nicer than this one, though.”
She turned to look at Adagio. “Did you know I used to be a pony? Originally, I mean. I come from Equestria, the same as you.”
Adagio snorted. “What, is this supposed to be some big bonding moment? Of course I knew you were from Equestria. You smell like pony.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “I… smell? Like pony.”
“Yes. You reek of it.”
“Even in the human world?”
“Of course.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Sunset said. “Why would I smell like a pony if I’m in human form? And what does that mean, smelling like pony?”
“Sirens have stronger senses than ponies and humans do,” Adagio explained, a tinge of superiority in her voice. “Magical senses, too. And why would being in human form make a difference? You don’t actually turn into a human.”
“What?”
Adagio turned towards the other mare, incredulity on her face. “I never stop being a siren, and you never stop being a pony. Even though our shape changes, we don’t ‘turn human’ in the human world. Not normally.” Her voice turned smug. “What, did you never realize it? You could still sense Equestrian magic as a human, couldn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“It’s the same with us. We still retained some of our powers on the other side of the portal. We were still—I was still a siren. Just in a different shape.”
They continued in silence for a few moments.
“…Was?”
“What?”
“You said ‘was’,” Sunset said. “You said, ‘I was still a siren’.”
Adagio opened her mouth… closed it. Opened it again, and said:
“I’m turning human.”
Sunset blinked. “You’re what?”
Adagio rolled her eyes, though she was still turned away from Sunset, so the other girl didn’t see it. “I’m. Turning. Human. Do I need to spell it out for you?”
“No, I, I heard you, I just… What does that mean? What do you mean, ‘I’m turning human’?”
“It means I’m turning into a human,” Adagio growled. “I don’t smell things… I don’t sense things the way a siren does anymore. Everything feels… wrong. That’s not all—did you know I used to be able to breathe underwater in the human world? I almost drowned the last time I tried. I was half afraid I wouldn’t even have gills when I came back here.”
“Is that why you look…” Sunset gestured towards Adagio. “Like that?”
“Probably.”
Silence, for a time.
“What’s so bad about being human?” Sunset asked, her voice a little quieter. Adagio’s response was not.
“What isn’t?” she said. “Duller senses, no magic, weak body, tiny lifespan…”
“Okay, fair,” Sunset said. “What I meant is that being human isn’t the worst thing.”
“It might as well be.” Adagio turned and looked back out over the moonlit sea. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re just a pony.”
The last word was stated with contempt… and a little bit of sadness. Sunset approached the railing.
“Try me.”
Adagio was silent for a few moments.
“Do you know where the sirens came from?”
“No,” Sunset said. “Just that you emerged from the sea one day and started enslaving ponies.”
Adagio snorted. “You don’t know much, do you? Typical.”
She took a deep breath.
“We, the sirens, are the creations of the Siren-Mother. The Siren-Mother is the source of all magic under the sea, the unquestionable empress of the waters. She is the most powerful being beneath the waves.”
“So like Celestia and Luna, but underwater,” Sunset said. Adagio snorted again.
“That comparison is an insult to the Siren-Mother. Your poor pony princesses may be stewards of the sun and the moon, but the Siren-Mother is a god. Their power pales in comparison.”
“And the sirens,” she continued, “are her daughters. That makes us the queens of the sea, Sunset. Apex predators. Our songs stir the heart and control the mind, and any who oppose us fall before our hooves.”
“Aside from Starswirl the Bearded, that is,” Sunset interjected. Adagio’s lips curled at the name.
“Yes,” she hissed. “Except for him. And you.”
“Oh yeah. I guess so.”
“You will never know how much of a humiliation you are to me, Sunset Shimmer. To be defeated by a pony, twice…”
“Sorry,” Sunset said, smiling a little. “You were kinda trying to take over the world, though.”
Adagio murmured something.
“What?”
She spun around, eyes narrowed in fury. “Don’t you dare apologize. I don’t want to hear it from you.”
Sunset took a half step back, the grin wiped from her face. “I—”
Adagio took a step towards her. Her needle-teeth glinted in the light of the moon.
“Whose fault do you think it is that any of this is happening to me, Sunset Shimmer? I started turning human as soon as you and your little friends pulled that stunt at the Battle of the Bands. We all did. This is your fault.”
“I—” Sunset stammered. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know it would—”
“Don’t. Apologize.”
With that said, Adagio whipped around, her long orange hair whipping around with her, and went back to the railing. She put her forehooves over it and closed her eyes.
“As a siren, I am powerful,” she said, quieter. “If I’m a human, I’m… I’m nothing.”
“I—”
“Leave me alone, Sunset. I can’t stand hearing your voice anymore.”
Sunset raised a hoof, opened her mouth… and then seemed to think better of it.
She turned and walked away, her hooves making clacking sounds on the deck, leaving Adagio alone to look out over the railing once more.
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Yeah, I don't feel bad for Adagio. She's the bad guy, lol.
Sunset, in thoughts: "Not like I already do"
Also Adagio: Touches high school students suggestively
Love how you portray Adagio here, showing that despite seeming "like others", she's still a predator seeing others as preys
Interesting take I personally haven't really seen done before—not even talking about turning into a human
Celestia and Luna are staring at each other. After a moment, both nod in union and their horns begin to glow.
Suddenly, the moon and sun appear over the ocean. The sun burned on the water, boiling and evaporating it in big masses, while the moon pulled the remaining water like a tide to reveal the Siren-Mother, who could only gasp from the lack of water around her