The Huntress and The Siren

AppleTank

AppleTank #1 · Mar 12th, 2022 · · ·

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ayo, Artemis.
Great fun to return to the blending of Greek and Pony again

NorrisThePony

NorrisThePony #2 · Mar 12th, 2022 · · ·

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This was great fun. Luna and Adagio have some great chemistry and the repeated Greek Mythos references were a treat, too.

Frazikar

Frazikar #3 · Mar 12th, 2022 · · ·

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Ya know, that puts some 'stories' in a very different light ...

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #4 · Mar 12th, 2022 · 8 · ·

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Lovely stuff throughout. You've left some fascinating questions unanswered, but even what you've given us is a delight from start to finish.

That said, I can't imagine Sonata and Aria will be pleased to learn only Adagio got magical healing makeouts...

In any case, thank you for this and best of luck in the judging.

UrsaMajor

UrsaMajor #5 · Mar 13th, 2022 · · ·

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Ooh, very nice. I especially appreciate the inclusion of the Epitaph of Seikilos. For anyone curious, here's a Youtube link to a rendition.

Booster Spice

Booster Spice #6 · Mar 13th, 2022 · · ·

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So many myths and legends.

Would all the mythological beasts be due to associates, or just because they were spoke of, and at least the sirens and the princesses were visible points of reference?

Nightflight406

Nightflight406 #7 · Mar 14th, 2022 · · ·

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Might I recommend to you: The Mythology Guy. He's a YouTuber who does funny little bits as various mythical beings.

Neece

Neece #8 · Mar 14th, 2022 · · ·

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Loved their interplay, would adore a kinda-sequel comedy where they reminisce about the past and all the shenanigans the "divines" got up to through the millennia.

Sequel or not a favorite well earned

stag the story teller

stag the story teller #9 · Mar 14th, 2022 · 2 · ·

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Omg she was Caligula's horse in this Au? Kinda fits her tough

SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX #10 · Mar 17th, 2022 · 2 · ·

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As always, your "princesses have connections to human mythology" stories are a lot of fun and have tons of neat tidbits. Luna and Adagio's interactions are a lot of fun, along with their views of modern times.

redandready45

redandready45 #11 · Mar 18th, 2022 · · ·

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This was a stirring read, all right!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #12 · May 13th, 2022 · 2 · ·

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"Yes, I am very much looking forward to having a vacation here. Though I am retired of my courtly duties in Equestria, ponies still see me as an alicorn princess." Luna shook her head sadly. "I hope to enjoy the peace of anonymity here."

that is definitely one way to get away from it all!

"Will this do?" she asked, adjusting the spell to allow it to draw from the surrounding consciousnesses in order to determine its exact form, especially with respect to clothing.

i do like this as an explanation for how the ponies are dressed in culturally appropriate clothing once they step through the portal to the human world. drawing from the surrounding consciousnesses to "translate" an outfit is an elegant solution that i love

Luna gave them a coy smirk. "Knowledge and power are two very different things. Twilight possesses both in great measure, but I have knowledge of that which is lost to time."

so true and wise

The lights, the sounds, the motion. When Luna had returned to Equestria, she had already found the new world she inhabited to be more stimulating than the one she'd been banished from. With all the advances made in the interim, ponies had learned to live together in larger numbers, to work and play more efficiently, to transport themselves more conveniently, and to illuminate even the darkest nights so that they could the streets safely.

augh, always love exploring the consequences of Luna's temporal displacement in finding herself in such a radically changed Equestria!

Luna looked at their destination. It was completely encased in glass, allowing her to see what looked to be a domed forest, with trees and shrubberies and flowers of all shapes and colours. Like everything else in this world, it was also very much, but it looked like it was sealed off from the cacophony of the mall, and the hedges provided some modicum of privacy as well for her to rest away from prying eyes.

aww, yes, Luna finding refuge from the unfamiliar sights and sounds of the world in a garden! perfect!

Part of her had come here hoping to find familiar comforts. Some hunting, perhaps, with a bow and arrow, or a feast in some great hall of marble, with local fruits and bread aplenty and a bard plying their trade in the corner. What a fool she'd been, to think that a world without immortals ruling it wouldn't evolve even faster than one guided by somepony as old as her sister.

ah, such an interesting thing to think about! that Equestria only retains bits of its medieval Europe-inspired culture due to the inertia of its immortal ruler.

Luna froze, her heart stopping as she listened to the next few bars, played expertly on some stringed instrument. "Impossible," she whispered to herself. Perhaps she was mistaken? Or maybe the song had lived on after all this time, passed down from generation to generation. Yet, for it to have never changed...

it must be a lot more surprising to see such continuity in this human world than in Equestria!

"Thanks," the other woman replied. "Always nice to meet a fan. I would sing the words for it too, but my voice isn't what it used to be." A hint of bitterness in that sentence, a bite that Luna was all too familiar with.

oof, love it

"Considering no one's spoken that language in a thousand years and scholars just call it Linear Something-Or-Other, I'm not surprised." She paused, and Luna had the distinct feeling of a hunter moving in for the kill. "The Equestrian accent caught me off-guard, though."

O_O

The Siren smiled, and oh, how familiar that smile was! "Now that's a name I haven't heard since the good old days. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, though. Should I flip a coin to try to guess which one you are, or do you want to get rid of that glamour?"

haha, nice! the description did remind me of Adagio, though this character comes across as actually bearing her thousand years of age

Peisinoe raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me you need a few hours to get your friends together so that you can blast me with another friendship laser?" She stood up, swaying her hips hypnotically as walked towards Luna. "Or are you proposing another, older form of friendship?" She waggled her eyebrows at Luna, making her intentions perfectly clear.

hahaha gottem

"Your warnings were correct, Peisinoe," Luna admitted. "I could not control the power of The Nightmare, and I paid dearly for it."

and this is a neat way to deal with the whole are-Luna-and-Nightmare-Moon-the-same-pony question-thing!

"Please, call me Adagio," Peisinoe — Adagio — said. "We must change with the times, after all. I'm no longer an immortal siren bent on world domination, and you're not looking to the Oneiroi for life coaching."

oh, it is Adagio, nice! i am absolutely loving this version of her!

"Actually, he still lives. He sealed himself and the others in Limbo in order to contain a shard of Erebus' power, and we were only able to free him a scant few years ago."

dang, they really twisted the MLP lore in on itself! it's funny to think that the Sirens and the Pillars are all contemporaries again

"Chrysalis is imprisoned in stone," Luna said. "And Eris goes by Discord now, and has been reformed."

loving this blend of human and pony mythologies! and augh, why haven't i thought of the idea of DIscord literally being Eris earlier in his life before?

"Eh, survival of the strongest." Despite Adagio's casual tone, Luna could still hear the bitterness in her voice. "We were too weak to conquer this world, took too long to amass power, and now we're paying the price for it."

at the very least, i can respect the begrudging consistency of Adagio's worldview on power

... I should tell you about some of the stuff the Shepherd got up after you left."

nice

"You're thinking about that night right now, aren't you?" Adagio winked at her. "C'mon, you have to admit that the attempted mind control was worth it."

ah, the Goddesses are on a different plane than us mortals!

"Do I look like I care what happens to me anymore?" There was a crack in the seductive mask as Adagio nearly snarled the words out, bitterness suffusing her tone. "I'm dying, Luna. More than that, I'm weak." The words were hissed out, and she gripped Luna's arm hard. "I want to remember what it was like to be strong again, to be able to drive emperors mad with music and make them watch as their city burns."

ooh, i love this. really feel for Adagio here, somehow!

She'd wanted to return to a world that was familiar to her, and she'd been a fool to think that all she wanted was to hunt some stags in the forests. No, Luna had been and always would be a predator, and right now, all she could see was her prey offering herself up to her.

well, that's an interesting take on Luna! does explain the predator eyes on Nightmare Moon, though

Adagio shook her head. "Not physically, but when Harmony took away my magic, it left a wound in my soul. Specifically, it took away my singing voice." She let out a bitter chuckle as she lifted up her violin. "Hence why I'm stuck with this thing these days."

oof!

"And in the process, took away my greatest joy." Determination burned in Adagio's eyes as she spoke. "The mortals think that your sister's domain was music, but we know that it was as much Artemis' as it was Apollo's. I've never been much of a physical fighter, but if you give me back the ability to sing, I promise you I can still give you a run for your money in a battle of song. Besides, I don't have the magic to compel people anymore even if I did get it back."

oh this is definitely a trap

"That you are," Adagio breathed, her voice husky with desire. "But I've fought gods before, and won. You would do well to remember what we did to Demeter after she tried to curse us."

i just love the epic feel of these lines, and not just for the references to mythology. it places Sirens and Alicorns in their proper place as beings that transcend the mortal everyday, whose stories are tales to be passed down through the generations, and not mere musical numbers in a children's TV show.

"Such hubris. I will enjoy watching your fall, Muse of Death." And with that, the time for words had passed. The challenge had been presented, and so both women moved together, locking lips in a battle for dominance as passion flared between them.

and yes, making out in a suburban mall's terrarium in order to properly harness and transfer magical energies of untold strength through a soul connection, there is something in that that is just sublime

"Let us not speak of debts," Luna replied kindly. "As you once tried to save my soul, now I shall save yours." Her lips twitched upwards into a wry smile. "Though, I recall you mocking Seikilos for his epitaph at the time."

had to look this up, and learned something today that is just so beautiful to me. for this alone, thank you for this story

Adagio chuckled. "Yeah, we've got a thousand years worth of stories to share." She turned to Luna. "Remind me later to tell you about the time your sister pretended to be some peasant girl in some backwater village and led an army during this one war that was like a hundred years long." She smiled fondly, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "We fed well that century. Anyways, she ended up getting canonized as a saint after they tried to burn her at the stake. Celestia just couldn't resist making a spectacle of herself."

hehehe, nice

Adagio snickered. "Well, you know that one emperor who made his horse a consul?"

pfft

But for now, she could reminisce fondly on the past, and look forward to a future filled with excitement.

aww! what a sweet ending

the dip into the predator/prey dynamics toward the end was interesting, and not just because it flips the usual way that is depicted, with Sirens being the monstrous predators preying on ponies. while the narration dives deep into the primal dominance and fear to the point of being sensual, the actual events that come to pass are an expression of passion between lovers that heals the wounds in them and between them. hmm, i wonder if there's a name for this concept!

and the zoom-out at the end, going back into the perspective of the human Celestia and Luna—perfection! in there, we see Luna and Adagio as mortals would see them: two ancient souls who are adorable together, for all their dignity. and between the two perspectives we see the synthesis of their relationship and see their connection in its full sincerity. two beings who were once Goddesses among mortals, cast from their perches after an act of tragic hubris. both accepting that they have retired from that state, one from her loss of magic, and the other from having truly accepted that the world has come into a new age. both finding a place in this new world together, with their memories of the old behind them.

all in all, a wonderful piece that has been an honor to read, much less judge. thank you for it!

Moproblems Moharmoney

Moproblems Moharmoney #13 · Jul 14th, 2022 · · ·

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One great thing about this is Luna having a bit of bite to her, she's dangerous and threatening, with only an immortals sense of power to her. I'm reminded of Galadrials "Dark Queen" speech.

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