With a gasp, Aria opened her eyes. They darted about wildly, but her breathing slowed as she recognized where she was.
Having lived as long as she had, there were many, many memories that had faded over the years, and even ones that had disappeared entirely – hundreds of thousands of meals she didn’t remember eating, steps she didn’t remember taking, and clothes she would never recall she’d worn. But there were some things that she would never, ever forget, even if she lived to the end of the earth itself – the feeling of teeth sinking into her flesh, the terrible strength that whipped her about like a ragdoll, and the way a knife felt when plunged into living tissue again and again. Most of all, she would never forget how the cold air burned her lungs while she ran.
She looked down at her arm. Time heals all wounds, and a thousand years was a long time for healing. The scars had long faded into nothing, but the flesh couldn’t forget any more than the mind could; sometimes, when it was very cold, it ached in remembrance. Shivering, she pulled the blanket around herself as tightly as she could. It was a bit of an odd thing to do, she realized, as she certainly hadn’t fallen asleep with a blanket over her.
Sonata, she thought, allowing herself a small, fond smile.
Despite the hangover, waking up had been easy enough. Standing up, Aria found, was another matter entirely. She’d spent the entire night crumpled against the banister, and the moment she tried to do anything more demanding than turn her head, her back protested violently. The bruising around her ribs did not help the situation in any way. She briefly contemplated just going back to sleep and dealing with this later, but then considered what might happen if Adagio woke up and found her still lying here. Slowly and with much groaning, grunting, and the popping and cracking of joints, she worked herself into an upright position, using the wall for support. Then she noticed something sufficiently interesting to make her admit to herself that she was just being lazy and melodramatic. Cracking her neck and shrugging off the stiffness in her back, she took a second look and confirmed that the door to Adagio’s room was, in fact, slightly ajar. Cautiously, she shuffled over and peered through the crack. The eldest siren was nowhere to be seen, nor was the bathroom across the hall occupied.
Even back in better times, the idea of Adagio being up this early was unheard of. Since the Canterlot High debacle, she was rarely vertical before noon, if she was going to be at all, which often wasn’t the case. Ever so cautiously, Aria pushed the door open, fully expecting to find a poofy mass of orange hair passed out in a corner or behind the bed…but she didn’t. When she realized that Adagio really wasn’t there, she felt a twinge of what she knew to be the very dangerous sensation of curiosity picking at the back of her mind. There was indeed a laptop on the desk that stood against the far wall, but it was shut off and closed. However, that wasn’t what interested her. Next to it were two items – one was a heavily-bound book, its cover adorned in gold leafing and a language that she didn’t recognize. The other was a photograph, whose subject she was very familiar with; the image of those red and gold locks – wreathed by triumphant light – was another thing that would forever be etched into her psyche. As much as she wanted to poke around a little more, she had no idea how to operate a computer and decided not to press her luck.
When Aria made her way down the stairs the ground floor was deserted as well. The new day had just begun to dawn, and it appeared that even Sonata was still asleep. Blearily, she staggered into the kitchen, her brain crying out for coffee, only to find a pot of it already sitting on the counter. There were dishes in the sink as well, the aftermath of what looked to be fairly Spartan breakfast preparations.
Adagio had actually gotten up and gone somewhere, and it wasn’t the liquor store.
Aria poured herself a cup of coffee and took a small sip, rolling it across her palette, both to determine if it had been brewed properly and to screen for any detectable poisons. The flavor was decent, and if it was laced with any lethal substances, they were tasteless and odorless. All in all, it was a surprisingly competent affair, something she’d nearly forgotten Adagio was capable of in recent months. Satisfied, she retrieved her jacket and stepped out onto the back porch.
Today was the second day in at least as many years she’d watched the sunrise. Yesterday, she’d been a bit too preoccupied to pay it much mind. Now, while there were certainly a few things bothering her – the most notable being how disappointed Sonata would be in her failure to have so much as a civil conversation with their “sister” – she couldn’t help but lose herself in the striking halo of red and gold that now crested horizon. It reminded her of something that made her feel a twinge of anxiety, but it was too early, and her mind was far too foggy to think of what. Whatever it was, it lit a fire in her chest, and she knew exactly what she was going to do today. Her fingers had not touched a keyboard in far too long, and they ached with the same restless imperative as her heart:
I’ve got the music in me.
-----
“Stop,” Aria said sharply, holding up a hand. The guitar strings rang to a halt as she penned a last set of notes.
The morning hadn’t worn on long before she’d crossed paths with Sonata, and after a simple breakfast, they’d finally resumed the composition that the past few days’ tumult had caused them to abandon. And now it was done...or nearly so. Flipping back to the first page, Aria began to scan it line by line with practiced ease, the notes ringing in her head as fast as she could manage them without sacrificing precision and clarity. She made a few corrections and then went over it again, and then again. When at last she was able to run through the song without having to change anything, she knew it was finished. Satisfied, she picked up another music book and began scribbling down a second copy of the piece, taking enough care to ensure that Sonata would find it legible.
“Alright,” she said when she was done, handing the book to her sister siren, “let’s run through this.”
“Um, Ari…” Sonata interjected awkwardly.
“What?”
“I have no idea how to read this.”
Aria paused. One of her eyes began to twitch.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded, “I know you can read music! How else did you recognize that song on my wall?”
“Well, yeah, I can a little,” Sonata shrugged, “but it was mostly because you had the words written under the notes.”
“I need a drink,” Aria said in a high-pitched voice, standing abruptly. She lowered the cover over her keys and made a beeline for the kitchen.
“Ari, c’mon…It’s not even noon, don’t…why are you so upset?”
“Upset?” Aria shrilled, “I’m not upset, I’m confused. What was the point of us writing a song together if you can’t even read what we’ve written?”
“I do want to learn,” Sonata said, shifting in her seat, “but for now, can’t you just tell me which parts we play when? I know how they all go, I’m just not sure how you put them together…”
“I did tell you,” Aria moaned, smacking her forehead, “I wrote it all down right there.” She jabbed her finger toward the freshly-scrawled sheet music. “That’s how music works, Sonata.”
“But what about all those songs that you, me, and Adagio sang?” Sonata countered, hand tightening around the neck of her guitar, “there weren’t any notes or papers, we just did it.”
“Don’t be intentionally dense!” Aria snapped, “that was magic, Sonata. That was something much greater and more powerful than any of us can be on our own.”
“But isn’t this kind of the same thing?” the blue girl wondered. “I mean, we don’t need notes on a page to play together…we already know that.”
“Well then why the hell did I go to all the trouble of writing them?” Aria shouted. She had a few more choice words to say, but instead turned on her heel and marched into the kitchen, attempting to end the conversation before she said something she’d regret.
If there was one thing that was difficult to keep in the sirens’ household, it was liquor. Adagio seemed to have some kind of homing device built into her skull that told her precisely where any beverage containing any amount of alcohol was hiding. Aria had tried keeping her stash in her own room for a time, but that had resulted in too many days where she’d never made it out of bed. Eventually, she’d resorted to taping a bottle of whiskey to the underside of the kitchen sink, which she was relieved to discover had remained unmolested.
“Ari, wait,” Sonata said, having followed her from the living room.
“Sonata,” Aria hissed through gritted teeth, hands planted firmly on the counter, “I am trying very, very hard to not completely lose it right now, so you need to give me a minute.” Already she could feel the whiskey dulling the edges of her ire. After the previous evening’s abuse, her stomach did not exactly welcome it, but this was the only surefire way she knew of calming her nerves. A little nausea was an acceptable price to pay for not chewing out her only friend. Her body jerked involuntarily when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“How about,” Sonata began gently, “instead of getting mad or getting drunk, you talk to me.”
“And what’s supposed to happen then?” the elder siren snapped, “are you going to understand me? Am I going to ‘let it all go’ and have a good cry? Do we spend the rest of the day in our pajamas eating ice cream and making trite conjectures about the meaning of life, or watching romantic comedies?”
“Ari,” the blue girl said, brow creased with confusion, “how would any of that be bad?”
“Because that’s not how life works,” Aria replied sharply. “That kind of stuff happens in books and movies.”
“You mean…being happy?”
“Yes.”
“Look,” Sonata said, attempting a different angle, “just tell me what I said that made you mad so I don’t do it again. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
Aria eyed her skeptically, remaining still for a few moments. After a minute, she took another drink and sat down at the small table where they usually dined.
“I guess you just hit a nerve,” she sighed, burying her face in her hands.
“What do you mean?”
“Sonata, I’ve been writing music for so long, I can’t remember doing anything else. I can’t remember liking anything else, and I don’t think I ever did. But you’re right – at the end of the day, it’s all just notes on a page, and who needs that? What purpose does it serve?”
“I thought you said you’ve had stuff in movies and TV though, right?” Sonata offered.
“Yeah,” Aria laughed bitterly, “and it’s good money…we’re both lucky for that, but nobody knows who I am. I don’t get to see people’s reactions to it. I don’t even know if they liked it. All I am to them is a credit or a footnote. I hate this – I hate it so much – but I want to know. I want to know that they liked it, because that’s what makes it worth something.” She felt like she was about to burst with frustration, but she couldn’t stop talking; just the act of speaking seemed to be quieting the restlessness that had been squirming in her chest for far too long. “I’ve always wanted to be known; it’s what brought me into this horrible mess in the first place. I keep telling myself that art should be for art’s sake, but it’s a lie. I’ve watched more generations than I can count pass by, and their lives are so short, but with each one, there are great musicians, ones who shine. They break out and write their own names in the history books, but I never do. It’s a foolish, shallow, trivial thing to want, but I still want it.”
“Wanting to be liked isn’t shallow, Ari,” Sonata said earnestly, taking a seat across from her friend, “it’s what I want, too. Maybe I don’t want it for the same reasons you do, but I still know what you mean.”
We will be adored
Tell us that you want us
Aria exhaled slowly, mopping at the corners of her eyes with a napkin. Despite dredging up all the pesky emotions that had been chewing on the back of her mind for many years now, she didn’t feel as awful as she thought she would. In fact, she felt better. They hadn’t gone away, but it almost felt as though the burden weighed less heavily on her because someone else was helping her carry it now. From an objective standpoint, that notion seemed very wrong to her.
“Look, I’m sorry,” she said tiredly, “none of this is your problem, and you shouldn’t have to feel bad about it. I’m just complaining about my dumb angst.”
“No,” Sonata smiled, shaking her head, “it’s not complaining, it’s sharing.”
“Oh god,” Aria cringed, rolling her eyes, “please stop. You’re gonna make me hurl.”
“Just seeing how far I could take it,” Sonata snickered.
“Yeah? Well that’s far enough.”
-----
“I’ve got an idea,” Sonata said, breaking the silence.
Well, it wasn’t quite silence. The two girls sat on the couch that Adagio normally occupied, and the living room was filled with smacking and crunching as Aria vigorously jammed potato chips into her face. Sonata had convinced her to put the bottle away – at least until evening rolled around – and in her current state of unrest, she’d needed something else comforting to ingest.
“Mmm?” she prompted, stuffing another I-don’t-give-a-fuck-sized handful into her mouth.
“We should perform,” Sonata said simply.
Aria had begun to notice that her friend had a habit of saying the most ridiculous things when she was right in the middle of a large mouthful of something, and so was necessarily becoming increasingly adept at chewing and swallowing very quickly.
“What?” she coughed, slightly out of breath.
“You heard me,” Sonata yawned, leaning back over the arm of the couch and stretching, “we should perform music…you know, for people.”
“Why in the blackest hells of Tartarus would I want to do that?” Aria demanded.
“Didn’t you used to?”
“What are you on about?”
“You know,” the blue girl said, cracking her neck, “when you were young, back in Equestria.”
“How…how do you know about that?” Aria countered incredulously.
“I guess you don’t remember that, huh?” Sonata said thoughtfully. “Back when we first moved into this house, there was this one night where you and Adagio had way too much wine. You guys went upstairs, and then you came back down by yourself looking really angry, but you ended up talking to me for like, a while.”
Aria stared at some point roughly a thousand yards behind Sonata’s head. She was completely still, but her mind was a warzone as she desperately fought to expunge the memories that had suddenly been dragged into it.
“What is your point?” she growled finally, shaking off her thoughts.
“My point is that you’ve got all this music, so you should play it for people,” the younger siren concluded.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because…Sonata…no!”
“Ari,” Sonata half-whispered, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “why not?”
“Because!” Aria agonized, pulling at her own hair and squirming with anxiety, “I just don’t want to.”
“Can’t you try it once?” Sonata wondered. “You spend so much time alone, Ari. You say you want people to like your music, but how will that ever happen if you don’t share it with them? Why do you even care what they think if you can’t stand to be around them?”
“Don’t you dare!” the elder siren fumed with sudden ire, jabbing a finger into her companion’s chest, “don’t you dare twist my words around on me! I will not do it, and that is the end of this discussion!”
“Okay, okay,” Sonata relented, holding up her hands as a gesture of surrender, “I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.” Her tone wasn’t hurt, it was decidedly disappointed.
This only sent Aria’s anger from a simmer to a full on, frothing boil.
“Oh, I intend to,” she said icily, grabbing her chips, making a short detour to the kitchen for her liquor, and heading straight to her room.
“Get fucked, Sonata!” she shouted down the hall before slamming her door.
-----
“You were a pony?” Sonata mused incredulously, stunned by the revelation.
“Indeed,” Aria confirmed, taking another large draught of wine in a desperate bid to forget recent events. She wanted to drink until she forgot Adagio existed at all.
“What kind?” the blue girl asked, her curiosity palpable enough to chew on. “I’m betting you were a unicorn.”
“No,” Aria frowned, shaking her head, “earth pony.”
“Really?” Sonata said with honest surprise, “I never met an earth pony who played music.”
“Yeah,” Aria laughed mirthlessly, “there’s a reason for that.”
“Wasn’t it really hard?” the younger siren asked. It was a dumb question, but it was asked candidly and with rapt attention.
“Yes,” Aria growled, taking another drink. She hated the world even more than usual, as she felt discomfort on every level of her being. Tonight had been a small celebration of sorts. The sirens’ stay at their previous residence had recently become untenable for a variety of reasons, prompting them to flee the city and seek out a new place to live. Just under a month on the road had seen them to this little town, and it had only taken a few days to charm the house’s previous owner out of all his earthly possessions and send him on his way. The prospect of a hearth to sit by and soft beds to sleep in had seemed worthy of a toast, and when Adagio had discovered a rather impressive wine collection in the pantry, all pretenses had been cast into the aether and the girls – with the exception of Sonata – had resolved to get roaring drunk. Unfortunately, their inhibitions had been obliterated a bit too thoroughly.
And so Aria felt uncomfortable in almost every way. She was embarrassed, and hoped that the flush in her cheeks could be passed off as the doing of wine. She was far, far too intoxicated – the world was beginning to dip and spin, and she knew from a great deal of experience that tomorrow would be a very unpleasant affair. She was disoriented – this place that was supposedly now her home was alien, and without her wits about her, she could make no attempt to center herself and adjust. Most of all, she was just irritated. She’d made the drunken mistake of talking to Sonata, and now she was inundated by a barrage of questions.
“What was your family like?” Sonata wondered, interrupting her sister siren’s thoughts.
“Be quiet,” Aria snapped. Undesirable memories were attempting to force themselves into her psyche, so she doused them with more wine.
“Ari,” Sonata whined, an almost desperate edge in her voice, “why can’t you tell me? We’ve been friends for such a long time, but…I hardly know anything about you. What’s the harm in it?”
“We are not friends,” Aria snarled, “and don’t ever call me that.”
Sonata didn’t speak, her shoulders slumping visibly. There was a long silence between them, punctuated only by the ticking of a clock that came from somewhere in the vicinity behind the chair where Aria sat. It grated on her consciousness, and she resolved that when she was sober, she’d find it and break it.
“I didn’t have much of a family,” she blurted, simply to drown out the infernal ticking. “My parents died when I was a filly, and my sister had to find work, so she couldn’t stick around.”
“I’m so sorry,” Sonata said with such sincerity that it was all Aria could do not to squirm.
“My auntie and uncle took me in,” she continued; “they were good people, but they had their own kids to raise, so I couldn’t expect much from them. It was fine, though…it’s not like I ever went hungry. What about you?” The question escaped her lips before she realized what she was doing, and she cursed internally.
“I didn’t have it nearly as bad as you did,” Sonata admitted, “but my family wasn’t very happy either.”
“Why’s that?” Aria asked, once again unconsciously and to her great frustration.
“My parents were unicorns,” the blue girl explained, “and, well…I wasn’t. I was an earth pony like you.”
“That’s unusual,” Aria commented.
“Yeah,” Sonata agreed with a forlorn smile. “They didn’t treat me badly or anything like that, they were really, really nice, and they loved me…but I always knew they were disappointed. My mother, she was an enchanter. She would cast spells on gems and other things to create talismans and charms, and that’s what her father had done, and his father before him, going back for generations. I was her only daughter, so I couldn’t continue the family business because I was born the wrong type of pony.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” Aria snapped, her restless mood suddenly feeling as though it could blossom into full-on rage.
“It was nobody…er, nopony’s fault,” Sonata reasoned with a small shrug, “it was just sad that it had to be that way. Still, I learned to sing, and I was pretty good at it. I wanted to show them that I could still do something worthwhile…that’s why…well, you know the rest.”
“Yeah,” Aria croaked bitterly. She’d really thought that there was no way she could hate Adagio more than she had a few moments ago, but as another wave of realization dawned on her hazy mind, she realized she’d been wrong. Adagio was – in every sense – a predator. She hadn’t just picked them because they might be useful, she picked them because they were easy – two neglected, disheartened souls who’d been almost effortlessly lured by promises of love and attention. Aria suddenly felt a strange sense of kinship with Sonata – they’d both fallen into the exact same trap, and had paid the exact same price.
“I miss them,” the youngest siren said regretfully, “I never really said goodbye.”
“Neither did I,” Aria sighed, a profound sense of loss suddenly threatening to overwhelm her. She’d said it herself: her aunt and uncle couldn’t give her everything she’d wanted – they had mouths to feed, and she was lucky they’d been able to take her in at all – but they were good people – or ponies, rather – and she’d left them without so much as a note. She forcibly shut the thought in the stone box in the back of her mind where she kept all emotions except anger and contempt. The stone rattled, but didn’t crack, and when she took another drink, it quieted.
“I guess we both traded our weird families for a new one,” Sonata chuckled.
A bark of laughter, harsh and shrill, involuntarily escaped Aria’s throat.
“This is not a family, Sonata,” she hissed, gesturing around herself, “this is an arrangement if I’m feeling charitable, and if I’m not, I usually go with something more along the lines of hell. The only reason I’m not a thousand miles away from her is this.” She clutched the blood-red gem that hung around her neck for emphasis.
“You know what they say,” Sonata smiled, undaunted; “you can’t choose your family.”
“But Adagio did choose us,” Aria countered, “very deliberately. We were foolish enough to accept her offer. We’re not a family; we’re a bad idea carried to its worst logical conclusion.”
“But,” Sonata began serenely, holding up a finger, “that all changed when we got banished to this place, don’t you think? We’re the only Equestrians here, so we have to stick together, right? We aren’t blood, but we’re more related to each other than we are to any of these people,” she waved her hand to indicate the general populace of their current dimension of residence, “so, to me, it’s almost like we’re sisters.”
“Yeah?” Aria scoffed – she did not want to think of herself as related to Adagio for a plethora of reasons that started a few hours prior, and stretched a thousand years into the past – “then this really is hell.”
Without another word, she rose from her seat, staggering with as much dignity as she could manage toward the room she’d claimed as her own, leaving Sonata alone once more.
-----
There are relatively few souls privy to the special kind of sick, hellish confusion one feels when waking up drunk – not with a hangover, but still very much drunk. The small bout of amnesia one experiences when roused from slumber is multiplied to the point that remembering who, where, and even when one is can become a vain effort.
She was Aria; she knew that much…but which Aria? There had been many. She had to do something; she knew that too…but what was it, and why was it so terrifyingly urgent? She didn’t have much time to consider it, as her stomach began to heave and her mouth watered. She rolled off the frameless mattress and fought to stand, stumbling out the door of her room. Her shoulder crashed painfully against the wall as she battled her uncooperative body over the short distance to the bathroom at the end of the hall. Reaching her destination just in time, she retched, exorcising what little poison hadn’t already made its way into her bloodstream. A short, ragged breath was all she had time for before she heaved again, expelling the last of her stomach contents and sending her into a violent coughing fit.
The cool tile floor was welcoming when she slumped down upon it. The cold soothed her throbbing skull and the burning in her cheeks. She clutched her stomach, which now felt very empty – not in the sense that she was hungry, it was just a cavernous space in her gut. Besides a little injury to her pride, she had no qualms about spending the rest of the day here, and closed her eyes.
Sonata
Aria’s eyes snapped open, their nebulous focus sharpening. The last time she’d lost her temper like that, Sonata had nearly left. It was true they’d come to a bit more of an understanding over the past few days, but what if it wasn’t enough? For all Aria knew, she might already be gone.
When Aria stood – with much difficulty – her eyes rolled into the back of her head, desperately trying to escape the light and the nauseating dizziness. As she staggered down the hall, she realized that the dull light of an overcast sky was still streaming through the windows; it couldn’t’ve been later than three or four in the afternoon, which made her realize just how squarely in the middle of that stage of drunkenness that one normally slept off she was.
Squinting, she panned her gaze around the living room, and what she could see of the kitchen, but even in the blinding daylight she could tell there was nobody there; the entire ground floor was silent and deserted. This left only two possibilities: either Sonata was upstairs in her room, or she’d gone out, possibly permanently. If the latter was true, there was nothing Aria could do. By the time she sobered up enough to pursue, her friend would be long gone, and – barring a note or fortuitous clue – she would have no idea where. In her current state, she could only operate on the assumption that Sonata was upstairs, in which case her most logical course of action would be to go back to sleep until such a time as she was fit to traverse said stairs.
The only problem was, she couldn’t seem to do that…or at least she didn’t want to. When Aria attempted to shift her mental gears and focus on returning to her room, she felt an ache. She felt bad, and in a way that was far and away much more unsettling than the obvious physical anguish that she was currently experiencing. She recognized it, because she’d felt it the previous morning on the porch. She’d snapped at Sonata and felt this feeling. Now it was a thousand times more intense.
Aria looked toward the staircase, wincing and leaning against the wall as the act of turning her head brought on a fresh wave of illness and made the world jerk and spin. This was not going to be pleasant. The rational part of her mind reasoned that the only way she was going to make it up there unbruised would be to crawl, but the much larger, louder part of her mind that housed her pride asserted that that was simply not an option.
Steeling herself, she shuffled toward the stairs, nearly falling forward but catching the railing at the last moment and remaining upright. Her head swam with vertigo as she took the first step, the fact that her stomach had already been emptied being the only assurance that she wouldn’t vomit. With as much caution as she could manage through the murky visual blur and slight euphoria, she attempted to establish a rhythm, putting one foot in front of the other and slowly ascending. It worked five times – nearly enough to bring her to the landing – before she stumbled. Her left hand clamped on the railing while the other attempted to break her fall, but she still slammed heavily into the unforgiving hardwood edges. Her feet completely abandoned her, turning skyward, and her forehead and chest took the brunt of the impact. She slid back down a few steps before she twisted her body and caught herself, settling into a seated position on the stairs and clutching at her hurts.
Aria had experienced many worse pains, but their memories didn’t dull the ones she was currently feeling. Her head felt rattled and her breast ached, and as pathetic as it was, she felt like crying; her mind was muddled and her thoughts chaotic, her body was achy and uncooperative, but worst of all she felt that sensation of bad, and it made all the other hurts so much worse. She folded in on herself, resting her head on her knees and wrapping her arms around them. She knew she should get up and try again – she had to know if Sonata had left her or not, and if she made it up the stairs she would at least know, regardless of whether she liked the answer or not.
But she was tired, and she wanted to go to sleep. She wanted to escape. Over the past few days, she’d felt more new emotions than she had in as many centuries, and in her weakened state, it was suddenly overwhelming. She just wanted it all to go away, and she slumped against the wall, eyes closing. This, she decided, was a beautifully and suitably anticlimactic reason for Aria Blaze to finally give up – not a phenomenally powerful unicorn wizard, not a freezing new world, and not a hungry killer, but a one-story staircase and too much whiskey. It was perfect, and she managed a small smile in spite of the tears that were now rolling down her cheeks.
“Ari?” a concerned voice called from above her. She looked up to see Sonata peering down over the banister.
Aria said nothing, keeping her gaze cast down so that the other girl would not see her eyes.
“Did you fall down the stairs?” Sonata asked anxiously, leaning so far over the railing that her long ponytail dangled just a few feet above Aria’s head.
“Yeah,” Aria croaked without any sarcasm. She felt profoundly stupid as she sniffled and tried to dry her eyes with the collar of her shirt.
“Are you okay?” Sonata fretted, rushing down to comfort her.
“No,” she choked, not daring to shake her pounding head even slightly.
“Are you hurt?” the blue girl asked, sitting down next to her.
Aria nodded gently, knowing that if she spoke any more she would slur like an idiot, cry, or more likely both. She felt Sonata’s arms wrap around her and give her a gentle squeeze.
“What were you even trying to get up there for?” Sonata asked with an edge of sternness to her voice which made it plain she could smell the reek of booze that permeated her friend.
Aria attempted to explain herself, but the words kept dying on her lips.
I was afraid you were going to leave.
Her addled mind was able to put the sentence together, but every time she tried to actually say it, she stammered and slurred. That one normally authoritative corner of her psyche tried to get angry about it, but she was numb, and the effort was met by complete and utter apathy from both her body and mind.
“I’m sorry,” she said finally, voice cracking with the effort.
“It’s okay,” Sonata replied, squeezing her shoulders again, “let’s just get you back to bed.”
“I can’t move,” Aria groaned, fighting with her own tongue to form each syllable. She felt two arms hook under her own and slowly raise her to her feet. The world swam and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. One arm found the wall and she steadied herself; the other wrapped over her sister siren’s shoulders.
“Just lean on me,” Sonata said simply. “I won’t let you fall.”
-----
Sunset Shimmer lived alone. During her tenure at Canterlot High, she’d done her best to conceal this fact; it was a bit suspicious for an ostensibly teenaged girl, and she had no interest in anyone but her closest friends suspecting what she actually was. Then again, turning into a flaming succubus and attempting to mentally enslave the entire student body may have compromised her secret somewhat.
Creating an identity for herself in this world had been no easy task, and it was only through some very well-thought-out trickery in the form correspondence and document forging that she’d been able to acquire a social security number. Compared to all that, her current living situation had been an easy thing to arrange.
On her first trip through the Mirror, she’d stuffed her saddlebags with as many bits and gems as she could fit, hoping they’d have some value in this world – she’d reasoned that at the very least the raw materials might net her some capital. What she hadn’t anticipated was just how right she’d been.
Gold and jewels were ubiquitous in Equestria to the point that they formed the basis of the kingdom’s currency. This world was an entirely different story. Suffice it to say she’d had no difficulty in purchasing her home outright, with enough left over that she wouldn’t have to worry about money for a very long time, if ever. So Sunset lived alone in a lovely but rather empty house that sat on the very outskirts of town.
But she was never lonely.
“Watcha makin’? Is it cake?” Pinkie asked, jumping up and down excitedly. The entire image shook and then tumbled, giving Sunset a view of a floor of low-pile carpet that was a decidedly ugly shade of green.
“Pinkie, cut it out!” a raspy voice – distant and tinny – shouted. Sunset paused in her work and watched with amusement and a slight sense of vertigo as the view on her screen whipped wildly about and righted itself, pointing directly into a set of very tired-looking magenta eyes, framed by disheveled rainbow locks.
“Hey, Dash,” she chuckled, turning the stove down and stirring the contents of the pan that sat atop it, “good to see you. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Rainbow Dash apologized with a grimace, “things have been crazy around here, as in literally, completely f– Pinkie stop jumping! If we get another noise complaint, they’re gonna toss us out on the street!”
“I can’t help it!” Pinkie shouted gleefully in the background, “I’m caffeinated!”
“She took all the quarters we had for laundry this month and emptied the vending machine,” Dash moaned, eyes bulging as she stared into the camera. “You gotta help me, Sunset,” she breathed desperately, “I can’t take another seven months of this. This place is like a tin can, we’re packed in like sardines, and instead of olive oil it’s full of crazy!”
“I’d rather be packed in a tin can with you guys than cooking breakfast by myself on a Friday night,” Sunset smiled, reaching for a pair of tongs and lifting a few pieces of freshly-crisped bacon from the skillet that sizzled on the backburner.
“B-Breakfast?” Dash stammered forlornly.
“Yeah,” Sunset said, scratching her chin, “I got up really late today, so I thought, hey – how about breakfast for dinner.”
“What are you h-having?”
“Just bacon, eggs, and maybe some waffles if I’m not too lazy.”
When she looked back at the screen, Dash actually looked like she was going to cry.
“Can I just drop out and come live with you?” Rainbow begged, “I can’t even remember the last time I ate something that didn’t come from a can.”
“What about the donuts?” Pinkie prompted, popping into the top of the frame without warning and disappearing just as quickly.
“Oh, right,” Dash rolled her eyes, “there’s donuts. We’re not even allowed to have a toaster because it’s a ‘fire hazard,’ but somehow Pinkie got a deep fryer in here.”
“Dash, I don’t think your parents would see breakfast as a legitimate reason for giving up your scholarship. Just stick it out for a few more weeks,” Sunset encouraged. “When you guys come home for break, you can all stay the night, and I’ll make you whatever you want.”
“I’m holding you to that,” Dash said severely, her brow furrowing as she jabbed a finger toward the camera. “Anyway,” she continued, her mood lifted considerably, “have you heard from Rarity lately? I’ve been texting her, but every time I try to actually talk to her, we end up playing telephone tag.”
“I caught her for like, five minutes on Wednesday,” Sunset said, shaking her head, “she’s crazy busy, but she said she’d have some free time this weekend, and I know Fluttershy’s gonna be free as well. I was thinking we could all get on a call.”
“Sounds good,” Rainbow nodded, “I’ll try to get all this stupid homework done ASAP. I’ve got soccer tryouts tomorrow, but on Sunday we can all hang out. I’ve got a wicked new idea for a song, and I need my rhythm guitarist and pianist to give me some advice on it.”
“What about your bassist?”
“What kind of amateur do you think I am?” Dash demanded, “me and AJ already have that all worked out.”
“Just checking,” Sunset grinned.
“So,” Rainbow began after a short pause, “heard anything from the Princess?”
“Oh man,” Sunset snickered, “you won’t believe wh–”
She was interrupted by a rapid, forceful rapping coming from the front of the house.
“One sec,” she said, turning off the stove, “someone’s at the door.”
When Sunset drifted back into view, there was an unexpected and troubling hardness in her features.
“Dash, I have to go,” she said curtly, “I’ll call you back.”
She didn’t give Rainbow a chance to protest, shutting off the webcam and closing her laptop. Her eyes scanned the room until she found it – the black leather jacket that was draped over the back of a chair. Donning it with no small amount of ceremony, Sunset returned to the front door, peering through the peephole one more time to confirm what she’d seen. Taking a deep breath, she opened it.
“Hi,” Adagio said with a melodious voice and a saccharine smile, her head tilted with exaggerated geniality and her hands clasped by her chest, “how are you?”
Sunset simply raised an eyebrow.
“Oh come now,” Adagio intoned with plastic dejection, placing one hand on her waist and waving the other with lazy panache, “don’t you remember me, Sunset Shimmer?”
“You know I do,” Sunset retorted icily.
“Could’ve fooled me,” the siren pouted, “you don’t look happy to see me.”
“I’m not.”
“Well, you don’t even look surprised…”
“I’m not. The only thing that surprises me is that you didn’t show up sooner.”
“Well,” Adagio grinned, clapping her hands together, “I’ll admit I’ve been a bit…indisposed for the past few months, but now that I have, why don’t we catch up a bit?” With flamboyant authority, she strode into the house, giving its owner a pat on the shoulder that contained the barest hint of a shove. “Oh my,” she said sweetly, “whatever you’re making just smells delicious; it’s like you knew I was coming to see you!”
“Why are you here?” Sunset growled, feeling no small amount of irritation at this flippant violation of her personal sanctum.
“Whatever do you mean, my child?” Adagio queried innocently, “I only wanted to see how the lovely young lady who ruined my life was doing for herself. Is that unreasonable?”
“I’m not about to believe it took you half a year to decide you wanted to barge into my home and take passive-aggressive jabs at me,” Sunset said, crossing her arms, “so just tell me what the deal is.”
“I’m so sorry it took me this long to pay you a visit,” the siren apologized, “but as I said, I’ve been a bit down of late…that is until I had a thought the other night.”
“You see,” Adagio began, stepping behind the kitchen counter and nonchalantly snapping up the bottle of red wine that sat at its edge, “I got to thinking about you, and I wondered: why would that smart, ambitious girl Sunset Shimmer try and kick off her plot for revenge in this silly little town? I mean, I’ve been around this world more than once, and if I were trying to raise an army to march on Equestria…well, I can’t exactly say I’d choose this place as my starting point.” She rummaged through the cupboards while she spoke, eventually finding a suitable glass and filling it nearly to the brim. “Then I thought about something else,” the orange-haired girl continued, twirling one of her ample locks as she took a sip, “specifically your friend, Twilight Sparkle. I’ve been around here for quite a while, Sunset, and I’ve never seen hide nor hair of her. I’ve never even heard of her. I mean, how could such a spirited, charismatic and – dare I say – powerful person just materialize out of thin air like that?”
“Get to the point,” Sunset commanded.
“It’s here, isn’t it?” Adagio snarled, dropping her wineglass and all pretenses, the question punctuated by the sound of lead crystal shattering on tile, “the gateway back home.” Her gloved hands gripped the edges of the counter and her eyes narrowed. “All this time it’s been right under my nose, and you know where it is, don’t you?”
“Even if I did, why would I tell you anything about it?” Celestia’s former student wondered casually, examining her fingernails.
“I don’t know,” the siren admitted, stalking around the countertop to face her adversary unobstructed, “I really don’t know. But I do know some things,” she continued thoughtfully, “things about your friends; specifically, I know that most of them are just a few days’ trip from here. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, Sunset Shimmer, then one of them w–”
Adagio Dazzle, the world’s oldest being, was suddenly silenced. All the air was stolen from her lungs as she was lifted by the collar of her shirt and slammed into the nearby wall. A pair of pale, bluish-green eyes stared defiantly into her own.
“You’d better remember who you’re talking to,” Sunset hissed, holding the siren a good few inches off the ground. “I’ve changed, but I have not forgotten. If you threaten my friends, you’ll see just how fast I can go back to being exactly like you.”
“Now, now,” Adagio tutted, regaining her composure and shoving the other girl off of her, “violence is not our way, is it?”
“Speak for yourself,” Sunset countered. “Ever wonder why that front entrance at CHS looks so new?”
“I actually heard about that little stunt,” Adagio grinned, tucking a few upset curls behind her ear, “quite the intimidation tactic…I wish I’d been there to see them cower.”
“Listen,” Sunset began, her tone softening, “you need to stop this, now. I know what you’re going to try to do, and it’s not going to work out for you. It never works out for anyone.”
“You really must stop projecting your own inadequacies onto others,” Adagio admonished lazily; “your failure does not guarantee mine.”
“True,” Sunset conceded with a nod, “but yours does. You already took on Twilight Sparkle with ancient magic on your own turf, and you got rainbow-nuked just as hard as I did. What do you think’s gonna happen if you try to bring the fight to her with nothing but your own two hooves?”
“It all makes sense now,” the siren sneered, a derisive smirk twisting her elegant features. “You didn’t have a ‘change of heart’, did you Sunset Shimmer? You just realized you couldn’t win and you took the easy way out. ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,’ as the old adage goes.”
“No, I never had a change of heart,” Sunset admitted, her confrontational posture folding ever-so-slightly, “because I never believed what I was doing was right in the first place.” She looked back up, peering into the other girl’s eyes with a searching gaze. “I don’t think you do either.”
“Oh, look at that,” Adagio tittered, patting her on the shoulder, “it’s so cute how you think you know something about me. Well, you don’t,” she spat suddenly, prodding Sunset in the chest with a finger, which was smacked away quickly. “Look,” the siren laughed, “all this petty bickering is getting us nowhere, so let me tell you exactly why I came here.” She sat down on the nearby couch, crossing her legs primly. Sunset cautiously took the chair across from her. “You know where the gateway is,” Adagio stated as though it were an obvious and absolute fact, “and – more importantly – you know how to open it…or at least you have the ability to contact someone who does.”
“You’re assuming a lot, don’t you think?” Sunset countered.
“No, I don’t,” the siren replied. “Now, one way or another, I am going to find out where it is, and I am going to find out how it works; these are givens. So, I have a proposition for you: tell me what you know, help me get back home, and in return, I will help you get your revenge on Twilight Sparkle.”
“W-What?” Sunset laughed. Adagio frowned and crossed her arms. “That’s your offer?” she continued with genuine amusement, “well, I’m gonna go with no. I don’t want revenge on Twilight Sparkle; she’s one of my best friends.”
“Drop the act,” Adagio shouted, slamming her hands onto the coffee table that stood between them. “Why do you pretend when I – more than any other creature on this wretched planet – know exactly how you feel? She took everything from you, and then you turned around and helped her do it to me! What is your angle here? What is your plan?”
“I don’t have one,” Sunset shrugged.
“Lies!” the siren shrieked, pointing a damning finger. “You were robbed of everything you loved, just like I was. You were humiliated, just like I was. I know how it feels, and that feeling does not just evaporate; it builds, and it grows, and it tortures you, but it makes you strong. It makes you do things you never thought you could do. It becomes you. You cannot just walk away from it.”
“I used to think that, too,” Sunset Shimmer said, her brow creasing as she stared into the other girl’s eyes, “but I found something better, and I let it go. Please, just stop this. I promise, when you stop living for your own bitterness, the whole world suddenly opens up, and it’s so much better than revenge or power could ever be. Just give it a chance, and I can help you. I can show you.”
“They truly did break you, then,” Adagio breathed, a hint of both awe and fear in her voice. “Is this really how it ends for the great Sunset Shimmer? Beaten into submission, a willing and grateful slave to those who struck her down? I truly pity you.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Sunset retorted with a sigh. “Now,” she continued, her face hardening as she stood, “I think it’s time for you to get the hell out of my house.”
-----
“How ya doin’?” Sonata asked gently.
Aria groaned and rolled over, burying her face in the mattress.
“I feel like I’ve been hit by a train,” she mumbled, head throbbing with every syllable, “sans the privilege of being dead.” A few hours of unconsciousness had restored her to coherence, but it came at the price of a miserable hangover, with the added bonus of being able to fully feel the bruising on her chest and ribs, as well as the lump that had formed on her forehead.
“Well, I brought you an ice pack and some tea,” Sonata said cheerily.
“What?” Aria barked, whipping her head up to glare at her friend. A moment later she regretted it, feeling dizzy and nauseous.
“Just kidding,” the blue girl snickered, “it’s coffee.”
Aria flopped back down on the mattress, something which she also quickly regretted doing.
“I’ll just take some cyanide and a shotgun blast to the face, if you don’t mind,” she moaned.
“What were you even doing earlier?” Sonata queried, sitting down on the bed, “you, alcohol, and stairs don’t mix; we’ve learned that at pretty much every hotel we’ve ever stayed in.”
“What am I supposed to do, take the elevator?” Aria demanded. “I don’t trust those things. And anyway, just forget about it, I was being stupid.”
“Why were you crying?” the younger siren wondered.
“Because I fell over and it fucking hurt!” Aria snapped.
“Ari, c’mon,” Sonata said in a sing-song voice, “don’t bottle it up.” She prodded her friend in the shoulder a few times.
“So, what, I don’t get to have private emotions now?” the elder siren growled.
“Nope,” Sonata beamed, shaking her head.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Aria lamented, thumping her fist on the mattress.
“What?” the blue girl asked, “caring about you?”
“Yes,” Aria grimaced, “please stop.”
“I already know you don’t mean that,” Sonata countered with a knowing smile.
“Look,” Aria sighed, “I was afraid I hurt your feelings again and you’d bailed on me.”
“Maybe a little,” Sonata admitted, “but I’m not gonna ditch you over something dumb like that.”
“I thought about something,” Aria said, taking a sip of her coffee and steering the conversation away from impending sentimentality, “what you said…you know, about performing.”
“Yeah?” Sonata grinned, clasping her hands anxiously.
Aria paused for a moment and took another sip, her exhausted mind attempting to consider the ramifications of her next words. That didn’t work particularly well, so she decided to let the chips fall where they may, and spoke:
“I’m in.”
Alright, I can dig this.
I especially enjoy how you've characterized Adagio here.
5375784
I tried to make her as histrionic as possible.
5375791 Well, you've succeeded. She certainly had presence in her scene.
5375784
Your icon is soooo perfect for you comment~
Me in a nutshell.
Okay, I've been reading this since the first chapter was posted, but didn't have an account to comment with, so I finally made one. I am absolutely in love with this narrative you have been so carefully weaving; the characters feel real, the jokes make me laugh (out loud!), the emotions hit hard (and I'm normally emotionally distant when reading)... I can't even put it into words how much I enjoy reading this story. Especially since you've got me so invested in the characters that I want them all to pull through. Normally I don't care too much what happens as long as it is well written, but you've built up these three so well I am actually rooting for them to be victorious.
I think my favorite scenes so far are when Aria stopped Sonata from leaving, and the whole scene with Aria on the staircase. The first one especially stuck with me for days after reading it, and this one probably will too. Though I also love Sunset and Adagio... and the flashbacks... and the video game scene...
(sorry for the block of text. I wanted to express how much I enjoyed your work. ^^; )
yay a new chapter ^^ and i gotta say it was well worth the wait XD took some turns that i did not see coming (in a good way) and that has in turn opened the story to a whole new selection of possibilities. It's good to see Adagio hasn't lost her way COMPLETELY although im very interested to see where her story leads, and Aria and Sonata are brilliant as always X3 and i gotta be honest i'm pretty curious to know what happened after in the wolf flashback stuff, was wondering how Adagio and Sonata would react to the wolves but meh whatever as long as the story is progressing ^^ All in all i loved it X3
p.s might be making some more fanart, depends on how creative i can get and if i can actually learn how to draw people XD Dx
Shouldn't that be 'trip'?
As for Aria...yikes. I can sympathize with her, at least for wanting to be noticed. Looking forward to where she's going, and wondering what the future holds for all three sirens.
5376288
Thanks for catching that!
That is the Adagio I know :D *claps hands*
Ooh, violently protective Sunset Shimmer is my favorite. ^_^
Peace,
~C
You keep on making wonders out of characters I already like! Some heretic part of me wants to out and declare Aria best pony on this fanfic alone! ...but I killed that part of my brain for insubordination! (Dash Gods be PRAISED!) ...and the rest of my brain was sad.
That said, I can only echo this comment's jist: 5376150, Because it pretty much sums up my thoughts, commentary on favorite scenes aside. Great job! Seriously, I say that a lot, but this case is one of my most genuine and understated... My vocabulary is stuck on it!
5376150
Wow, thank you for all your kind words. And don't apologize for long comments, they're my favorite kind.
5376732
You're welcome. You deserve them!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That was a lovely chapter. Just the right combination of bitter, sweet, and sour with a dash of salt.
This has been stated many times already, but I just adore the way you've characterized the sirens here. It feels perfect in so many ways.
Yooooo
All aboard the hype train?
I really like this story.
I mean, I reeeaaallly like this story.
I mean, I reeeeaaaalllly, reeeeeaaaaallllly like this story. :P
5375791
A wise decision, considering canonically she can't resist being melodramatic long enough to avoid alerting random people (Sunset Shimmer) to her evil plans. And she comes off well here, trying to make a recovery (for herself? For all three sirens?) by turning to what she sees, rightly perhaps, as a kindred soul. Sadly, she took the wrong tack.
I've had two bottles of wine and more than a few extremely strong ales. I cannot fumble about in my folders well enough to find a suitable gif to express how much I am enjoying this fic, so please have the following as a near approximation of my appreciation.
i.imgur.com/pWPyY.gif
Wow, this story just keeps getting better-- and OOOOOH what's this, plot? (Adagio figures out there's a portal.)
I'd be happy just to have this awesome character drama, but plot too?!
Sonata is too nice in this story (it's necessary though, for the story to work), but Adagio and Aria are almost perfect. I can see an "arrangement" of 3 bitter souls who hate each other, to lash outwards and take solace in havoc and plunder. It makes their personal hells more bearable, to make lives miserable for everyone else.
This chapter does raise a good point: By the end of RR, the girls are almost graduating from high school. If we do get that movie #3 and TV series, wouldn't the girls be in college? I certainly won't mind that, but Hasbro would throw a fit at DHX wouldn't it?
whoa. that triggered way too many flashbacks. it was like a sledgehammer to the feels.
Adagio does not yet comprehend friendship and letting go. Hm. I wonder when Sunset will extend her hand once more?
Stalling,
the inevitable break occurring slightly,
with the grieving past's embrace through the night,
something warmer strives to soften.
The fall of uncaring countenance,
the blindness to earnest smile
and unfeeling to all but this cold.
Only the greatest determination,
and the honest wish shall save you;
only the light you feel is cursed
can save you from the blackness
and bring your warmth in the black and cold despair.
Awaiting further releases.
about the thing with Sunset and Adagio there, well....sometimes i like to think, there is no good or evil, only the things which the people want or believe and such stuff. So i think if i would think about it i maybe could even find something bad about it what Twilight did to them, but i don´t want to right now.
I like the story, i think it is maybe because it feels a bit more mature in some way ( if i am wrong don´t mind me, it is late again and i think different if it is to late, even know i think to much about what i am writing)
I would like it if you don´t change Aria to much, i know you probably want to give them a life, and maybe want to show how they change a bit, but i think that don´t means you would have to change every little bit of her grumpy personality. I just really start to like how you write them, and want to let you know that.
I do have to wonder though... is this a purely instrumental band Sonata and Aria are forming? Or are they working on their vocals...?
I can wait to see what happens in the next chapter though. :P (Actually, no, I can't wait for the next chapter in the sense that I'm super excited. XD But I'll be patient anyway. I'm pretty sure you don't have a magical amulet that writes the chapters for you. :P) Just thinking aloud.
Chapter five and I finally decided to leave a comment. I have been frequently in this website for a couple of years now but had lost some interest in the last months. The Rainbow Rocks movie gave me a reason to come back, because I loved The Dazzlings and wanted to read about them. Luckily there have been quite a good number of stories on them, but this is by far the best; I had not been so captured by a fanfic in a long long time. The characterization and development are amazing, and I love how you can combine both humour and drama in perfect doses. Besides, it's one of the few stories that centers on Aria, the less popular of the trio but my personal favourite.
I really hope in the end all works out for the Sirens, including Adagio, I feel like she is the one suffering the most. Her scene with Sunset Shimmer was amazing.
Anyway, congratulations and thank you for writing this story. I'll be expectant for another update.
Leaving us hanging with the wolves and Adagio's first sisters I see. Good pacing though, feels right for Aria to keep moving herself forward, no matter how much she both wants to and doesn't want to. (That was the most absolutly relatable part of the story so far. Way too often we really want something, but we're scared, apprehensive, or just find a reason not to. Getting over that hump is the hardest thing in the world) I have to agree with one of the others, Sonata is coming off a bit too perfect. She sees right into the hearts of her sister Dazzlings, and she has every answer they need, even if only Aria is going along with it. I miss the clueless ditz we fell in love with in Rainbow Rocks. Perhaps she's good at matters of the heart and nothing else, but this incarnation doesn't feel much like Sonata anymore. (Every single other character is perfect though)
That scene with Adagio and Sunset was intense. They're practically twins in who they are and what they did, but Sunset was pulled out of the hell she was lost in. Adagio's still stuck, has has been for more than 1001 years. (A thousand is just cliche at this point. XD) I hope the Rainbooms stay in touch, there is no more effective friendship killer than distance. It doesn't tear people apart, is slowly starves their memories and bonds. They could very well grow apart forever if they aren't careful.
I get the feeling that Adagio is heading for a fall. Everything she's tried to do in her life has failed. Her family was murdered, she tried to get revenge. She worked for ages, grooming two new ponies and consolidating her power. It all came to a head, she was so close to victory, and her family's murderer swatted her down like a fly and banished her to a frozen wasteland where she would never taste true power again. She worked for a millemium to keep herself, and her dream together. She watched over Aria and Sonata and made sure they didn't break or get hurt. Physically anyways, she and Aria must've built up a lot of grief over that millennia. A glimmer of hope comes, a chance to find solice in the empty world she hated, it too is snatched away. Everything is spiraling out of control, and she can't see a way out. She's fighting, fighting with all her might to get back where she was. But there is no way back to the life she once had. And she's trying so hard she can't see Sonata's hand, reaching down into the black pit, trying to pull her out.
Aria's on the road to recover, and at least she and Sonata will someday be fine. But Adagio... If she loses her sisters, she has nothing. No hope, no plan, nowhere to go, no reason to go on. She'll swim in that circle of pain and despair like a 737 spiraling to Earth in a fatal dive. And when she hits rock bottom, she'll try to end it all. Only Aria and Sonata can save her from that fate, but it will take both of them to do it. If even one fails, they lose their eldest "sister" forever. Maybe Aria thinks that wouldn't be so bad right now, but I'm not sure that's how she will feel down the line.
Update soon! I'm chomping at the bit to see who Adagio's elder sisters were, and how they raised her to be such an intelligent, scheming, tragic girl. ^_^
I absolutely love this story.
Usually, Sonata is the one who is picked up to lead the tale (she's like the Silver Spoon of the Dazzlings) and it is so refreshing to have an insight on whom is perhaps the one that less focus is poured into.
The characterization and development is one of the best I've found in this place. I congratulate you on your excellent work and hope to see more of it.
Thank you.
5381565
5377402
I'll admit that both of your comments regarding Sonata's characterization caused me something of a crisis of faith - which is good; if you aren't questioning your work constantly, you're probably fucking up badly. This is just my interpretation of her...and I wasn't sure for a minute, but I like her like this. We have so little to go on with these three, that in order to write a character-focused story like this, I had to basically just make shit up. Adagio's megalomania became a painful past and a quest for revenge. Aria's grouchyness became extreme introversion, deep-seated bitterness, and a dedication to art at the expense of social skills. Sonata was the most difficult...she's a ditz, she's a little bit goofy, and she seems much more carefree and a lot less focused than Adagio and Aria. We don't really get more than that. That's not to say we have more for the other two, but their defining features lend themselves much better to potential depth.
So I ultimately decided that Sonata would be an empath. She's no intellectual, but she's completely and wholly in touch with her feelings on every level, and so by proxy very good at understanding and interpreting those of others. She puts so much effort into her relationships with Aria and Adagio both because she cares for them deeply, and because she desperately wants that kind of affection in return. What I didn't really think about until you guys spoke up was this: in a story that is essentially all emotions, a character whose greatest strength is understanding and responding positively to emotions is going to come off as borderline-angelic. It's hard to put ditzy, snarky Sonata into these scenes between her and Aria, because just by virtue of the way I've interpreted the character and the current emotional climate of the story, Sonata is taking all these events with the utmost seriousness, as well as being very squarely in her element. She understands what's at stake here in terms of her relationships, and isn't taking even the smallest of chances.
I realize that a story should stand on its own without me to explain it, but I'm explaining it to myself as much as I am to you. At the very least, I hope this reply was interesting.
5384683
This reply is train-of-thought, so don't take it as my gospel.
I'm fine with Adagio being driven by vengeance, Aria being a bitter artist, and Sonata being in touch with feelings. However, Sonata's a ditz and that's what she is. She can be very understanding towards Aria, but it's a hard sell to say that she knows when to be serious and what to say at all times. You should allow her room to mess up from her own canon flaw.
I have no idea how that would work, since both Adagio and Aria are very frail atm. Just sayin'.
5384683
Just to throw in my two cents about Sonata, you should take note of the fact that, in most of Sonata's scenes in the movie, she's fighting with Aria. No matter how good Sonata is at understanding other people's emotions, there's still going to be times when she loudly disagrees with Aria, or her ditziness causes an unintentional problem. She still has a lot of room to be imperfect and well-rounded.
Also, as a first-time reviewer, I'd like to say I really love this story. You have made Aria into my favorite siren for realsies, and this chapter had some great stuff between Adagio and Sunset. You make the characters really interesting, and I can't wait to see what's next.
5399005
shh...you're predicting the plot.
5399730
Oh, sorry
5400591
Bro, I was kidding, you didn't have to delete your comment.
5403326
A little late now.
Oh well.
I love this fic so much! When's the next chapter gonna come??
I absolutely love this story. I was craving for some more Aria attention, and this delivers it all for me. I can't wait to see it progress when it does.
I noticed this when I reread the chapter. You done did goof.
Now that right there is hilarious...especially since I've been feeling the same way quite a lot recently.
I have to say, I am loving this story so far. My feelings are best summed up by this comment by 5380268 , but I fel I just had to share my appreciation as well.
I think that Aria is finally opening up enough for change to occur. She's been faced with an emotional crisis twice now, so if there was ever any doubt that she's not committed to changing herself, that should be no more. And now, she's open to the idea of playing for a crowd.
Also, I did not expect Sunset to show up in this story, but I think that having her really stands to show Adagio in a negative light, highlighting what she needs to change for herself. She's desperate now, I can tell. But if Sunset can't get through to her, and her "sisters" can't, then who can?
Okay, I was not expecting Sunset in this story, or at least in this manner. However, her limited appearance here was awesome. Sunset may have reformed, but that doesn't mean she lost a spine in the process. Won't lie that I'm also a bit curious as to Sunset's long term plans; it appears her other friends have already left for college, but she's kind of limited in this dimension. I understand not wanting to abandon her friends, but at the same time she's cut off from the magic she had lived and breathed in Equestria. (Sorry: I know this isn't a Sunset fic, but my inner fan is taking control).
Also, the characterization here of Adagio was pretty awesome. She's clearly getting desperate to approach Sunset at this juncture, but I wonder what just how far she'll go.
And here I thought the Rainbooms would have to be kept out so they couldn't just show up and fix everything.
Instead, Sunset gets to show off her inner fire and hint at her not-so-forgotten martial ability!
Poor Adagio! Like many people of her mindset, ultimately she can't imagine anyone else not being like her or wanting to be like her. Maybe Sunset will have given her some food for thought. More likely, she's going to assume that Sunset is better at hiding her plans than she expected and that she needs to dig deeper.
400th like button is mine
5403326 Ah Fuck! Now we'll never know the truth!
Oh so that's where Dagi went.
I'm loving Aria's irrational hatred of technology.
[laughs in Octavia]
5399730
Sunset ain't shit. I'd kill her in a fight, and I'd actually kill her if she were to try and get me into any sort of trouble. I'd be making the world a better place.