FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Taking on a New Life

Part Sixteen

---

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Kittenrose232

_ _

_ _

Adagio sighed, pinching her fingers to the spot between her eyes. As usual, Olivia and Aria were squabbling, but that was nothing unusual, considering that Olivia, to be fair to her, was quite a bit more talented than Aria gave her credit for. Sitting in their little rented recording studio, Adagio crossed one leg over the other, lips pursed, waiting for the opportune moment to interject. There was no sense, after all, in wasting words: something that she had been able to teach the siren, tempering the temper that was almost becoming second nature to her.

But both sides of Adagio, as she was, and the siren could exist in peace, if the two of them learned how to take good from each other, to learn and work together. It may not have always gone to plan, but she had her comrades there with her, Aria and Sonata - and, of course, Olivia too. Olivia, however, remained something of a protégé rather than a comrade, someone who would never quite be on the same level as the sirens.

That did not mean, however, that her singing ability was not something they could use, the bond and relationship between her and the other two sirens something that could have done with a little nurturing. Perhaps even something to be fostered...

"You're not ready to do a gig like that yet," Aria said, shaking her head, fingers rapping on the sound mixer as if it was a done deal. "You barely even got the gig at the bar on Sixth street the other week."

Olivia's lips twisted, though, somehow, with her red hair as fiery as Adagio's, she managed to still look pretty. There was something softer in her, despite her mimicry of Adagio, that Adagio would never have for herself. But that was alright: Adagio wasn't trying to be anyone, honestly, other than herself. It was merely an observation that she had picked up on.

"And I've had three more offers just because of that gig," Olivia shot back defiantly, eyes flashing. "It's as if you think I can't do it."

"Well..." Aria made a face, though she was a little softer than usual, waving her hand in the air as if she didn't quite want to get to the point. "It's not that, only... Well, you don't want to get out of your depth that quickly. There's still more to be done on your voice, of course, more training..."

Olivia scoffed, leaning back, crossing her arms.

"Oh, please," she said with a roll of her eyes that was reminiscent of Adagio. "You can't honestly think that. What, if you're so good why don't you go up there and sing yourself?"

That wasn't something that Aria could impart, quite honestly, for a siren's voice, of course, was so much more powerful than anything a human could encapsulate. There may not have been a desire to always sow chaos and strife in her voice, a desire to captivate and to control, to draw in a hungry crowd, but sometimes even their voices could slip out of their control.

And that wasn't the purpose of a recording, especially when they, ultimately, wanted Olivia to be the face of it, stepping forward, taking the spotlight. The sirens, at the very least, had learned already that they were not best placed in the spotlight, even though they had taken quite a firm hold on control that last time they had been together...

But, that was another time. And Adagio, as their leader, would not let them make the same mistake twice.

"Aria and I can guide you, but it is you that is the star and the first voice, Olivia," Adagio said smoothly, the siren guiding her, though it was as if both were at the mental wheel of control at the same time. "Aria, she's ready. You can't hold her back forever."

Aria frowned, shaking her head, the small studio a little cramped for all of them. Sonata didn't have much of a view on the performing side of it, preferring to design and do outfits, though they were sometimes a little...questionable. And that was at best.

Aria is worried about her, the siren said, reading her old friend a little better than even Adagio could, after all the time that they had spent together. She was like this, once, with Sonata.

_ _

Adagio nodded minutely, Olivia considering what had been said, though both her and Aria appeared a little contemplative.

That's interesting... It's almost like she's acting as a big sister to her.

_ _

Yes. She does worry that Olivia won't live up to our skill, of course, for it was our performances that started it all here, but she doesn't want her to fail.

_ _

Aria nipped at the inside of her cheek and Adagio smiled softly. It was so unlike Aria to show a little more vulnerability that sometimes it did not come across in the "right" way. She was not trying to put Olivia down at all, even if there was a little disbelief that she could be that good. With a little guidance, Olivia would be the face that they needed, the singer that would take them places.

The bar, after all, could not sustain them forever, even though everyone had their own jobs.

"Look, I'm just saying that, perhaps, you should take a few tips from yours truly," Aria said, the cockiness back, back in her element as she gave a tiny smirk and pointed at her chest. "Look at me! Look at how far I've come, how far I've gone. You could follow in my footsteps and learn a thing or two."

Olivia scoffed, though there was a lightness to it through the huffiness.

"Oh, come on, then what places have you sung at?" Olivia shot back, grinning minutely, as if she was trying to hide her smile. "I bet you didn't even get to sing at a coffee shop - but I'm happy to be your voice if you don't have one of your own."

Aria sucked in a breath.

"Why, you little mare!"

Only the sirens would understand what an insult that was, or why the insult, as it stood, worked as well as it did. Inwardly, the siren laughed within Adagio and Adagio too allowed herself a chuckle, shaking her head.

"You really do act like siblings," she said, offering them a connection, for she was still there to look after all of them, all of them together. "But, Aria, you can lead Olivia more than you are. Look at her talent! It's only going to take a little shaping..."

And the fact of the matter was that Adagio did not have to do everything herself. She did not, as their leader, need to micromanage everything, not always in control of every minute little detail.

She'll come around, the siren reassured her. She's always been like this. But I think even she might be changing and maturing more.

_ _

Adagio smiled, offering something back to the siren.

I think we all are. Maybe this changing, this merging of souls, it was something that we all needed, one way or another. Even if they took their human counterparts, those that could have been their partners, in different ways. There's a lot there still for us to take forward.

_ _

That side, however, would only come to be seen in time.

"Look," Aria said with a heavy sigh, as if what she was about to say was the biggest, weightiest task that she could ever have taken on, pulling her down, a real burden. "If you'd like, I can take some time out of my very busy schedule...and we can sit down to work on your high notes. It would give you an edge."

Olivia blinked at her, though Sonata rolled her eyes, as if she knew what was going on between them but didn't want to interfere. It was nice to see that she had relaxed a little and really "chilled out", so to speak, with the influence of her human partner. Before, Sonata might have interrupted the moment and ruined everything, even if she would never, of course, have meant to do that.

"You..." Olivia cocked her head. "You would do that? Like, to help me?"

"Well, I don't want you to be an embarrassment to us or anything," Aria said, though the smile on her lips lightened it. "After all, you're going to be a star with us pushing you forward, as far as you can go. Isn't that what you want, little sister?"

Olivia blushed and half-shrugged, though the answer had already been given.

"Yeah, I guess, that would be cool."

Showing that she cared and how much that meant to her would have, of course, been too much for her. Sometimes humans were funny like that, showing that they cared a lot by "not caring" rather hard. It was not something that the siren understood, though she did understand that emotions were complicated, twisted back and forth in a way that made them easy to manipulate.

Yet they did not want to manipulate Olivia, not when she had come forward so boldly. They would have considered her a part of their group if they had been in Equestria, the siren was sure of it, as if she had a magic of her own. Sometimes, the pendant that they had shared with Olivia glowed as if with magic, but that was something that could only be investigated as their powers grew and grew.

Together, they set up another schedule of gigs, ensuring that there was no overlap and that Olivia had plenty of time to rest her voice, though all that they made went back into the business for the time being. That was a point of contention, but Olivia was not an employee, not like that, but one of them. Without understanding what a siren truly was, it was hard for Adagio to envision.

So, the siren showed her a picture, of the sirens relaxing together by the lake, the flow of chaotic energy between them drawn from the nearby pony town. That was at such a time when they had not even needed to be close for their voice to affect their victims, though they never harmed anyone.

Well, whatever happened in the wake of their songs, however, was not their concern... But they sang and sang, an engaging shriek that clawed at the hearts of those listening, even though their bodies were soft and relaxed, muscles not held in a state of contraction. They had nothing to fear and it was their power that bound them to each other, all in a way that said they could never be separated, not ever. For they had always been meant to be together.

I think I understand now...

_ _

Or maybe, she would, all in good time. For the siren and Adagio were one being, their minds joined for the rest of their lives.

And only time would tell what would come of their coven and where they would take their lives forward from there.

*

Even though Adagio was more often in even control with the siren, there were times, however, that the siren had to take the wheel fully. Not because Adagio was tired, but, in a way, she liked to sit back, she liked to allow the siren agency. They needed to learn, even more than they had already, to trust one another. Especially if they were going to get into difficult situations, as they had with the gang...

The siren, however, had a pocket full of money and agency to spend it, as dubious as Adagio was.

Where are you going? She probed, a little worried. You're...not heading to the mall?

_ _

With Adagio's lips, the siren grinned.

Oh... I heard there was a street nearby that had lots of little food stalls, street carts... I vaguely remember something like that in Equestria, once when we were invading the capital of Canterlot. I did not get the chance to sample the foods that I wanted to then. The infiltration did not go as well as it could...

_ _

That was not something that Adagio, however, was going to press. After all, she was going to see what the siren had in mind soon enough and the street carts were not something that she had enjoyed before.

She had simple tastes, to be fair to her, though the siren could go all out on whatever it was that she wanted, Adagio gulping and holding back as she headed straight to a fish soup stand.

What? Really? This one?

_ _

The siren didn't answer her, in control, grinning all the while.

"One, please!" She chirped, more polite than she may have otherwise been, considering that she could be snappier and more upfront, never with any real reason to be polite.

The stall holder was a man who would be a passing fancy to them, but Adagio still reeled as the steaming fish soup - which could have been delicious to some - was passed to them.

Ugh! She couldn't stop the exclamation. Oh... Unnff... No, you're not really going to eat that, are you?

_ _

What? Other people like it too, not just sirens.

_ _

But Adagio could not help but be revolted when the siren slurped it all down with great relish, as if the soup was the best thing in the world. It was salty and it was fishy, all in a way that she had never thought would be possible in a soupy, fishy concoction like that.

Of course, that was not all that the siren wanted to sample. The street carts were a veritable buffet to her and her stomach a yawning hole, though Adagio's queasiness, feeling the salty slickness on her tongue even then, was not yet due to fade. How could flavours and sensations, the texture of it, last so long? It was gone! It should not have even factored for her anymore!

Oh! That looks interesting!

Really, must you? This... Eugh!

_ _

Adagio recoiled, though what was on the stand should not have been that bad. It was a Japanese stall, or more geared towards Asian fusion (they liked doing that in the Western countries, for some reason, becoming more and more popular), but what the siren had her eyes on made her stomach churn.

Ugh... Adagio tried to pull back, tried not to think about it too much, not even as the siren ordered the pickles and fermented beans. No... Come on... You can't possibly think that's going to taste nice together? It can't!

_ _

It smells delicious!

_ _

The siren was not to be dissuaded from her chosen course of action, after all, and Adagio was forced to gag, even though she only got a faint impression of the taste and the smell, though that was more than enough for her. Even the slimy texture of the fermented beans sliding over her tongue had her shaking her head and trying to block it all out, keener and keener to take a backseat. If she could have shut off her ability to look out her own eyes and feel what her body felt for a little while, she would have done so. But to not be able to work with the siren at all, perhaps, would be more terrifying than even her disgust.

Mmmm...

_ _

The siren openly made sounds of pleasure, though Adagio could only be grateful that her weird mixes of food were at least somewhat nutritious, in a way. No one looked and the siren carried on, her stomach grumbling, though Adagio could not imagine eating any more.

That's enough, surely? She feebly tried to coax the siren to another course of action, even if it was useless in the end. We don't need to eat any more for lunch than that, not unless you're going to take the body to the gym afterwards... Running bores me.

_ _

Brushing Adagio's mind with hers, the siren grinned.

Oh, but I swim! Can this body swim too? It doesn't have a tail, not like me, but I think I could make something work...

_ _

Telling the siren, in a sense, that excess eating could be rendered neutral by exercise was perhaps the worst thing that Adagio could do, choosing instead to shrug and let it happen. If the siren made herself sick, then she wasn't going to be the one at the front of her mind when she was bending over the toilet hurling.

And yet as disgusted as she was by the laverbread and cockles, some kind of seaweed paste with shellfish and bread, she was mildly impressed by the siren's resilience. There was a vitality to her that Adagio could never have embodied as Knight, but could, as long as she allowed the siren to infiltrate her nature, more and more. Or, not so much infiltrate, but allow their personalities to blend, both separate beings and one singular one at the same time. There was no definite answer as to what "they" were, but that was the beauty of their arrangement.

Still, the siren mixed jerk chicken with fiery peppers, so hot that her eyes should have been streaming, sampling chicken's feet (fried and battered, of course) straight after and moving on to the worst of all. Tuna eyeballs - a type of fish and something that had Adagio retching, flailing mentally, trying to get the siren to see sense.

But you said I could eat whatever I wanted! The siren argued, though she would have put her hands on her hips, surely, if they had been face to face out there. I don't want to miss out on that - even when we used to fish and hunt, to fill our bellies as well as our need for bringing forth chaos and strife to feed on, the eyeballs were the best part!

_ _

Thus, Adagio couldn't justly turn her down as she slurped down the gooey eyeball, the sensation of the slimy, slick ball teasing over her tongue enough to bring the memory of bile to the back of Adagio's throat. And yet she did not throw up, not even then, not with the siren in control. Her obvious delight flooded through Adagio and she leaned as heavily into that as she could, trying to savour it, trying to feel the feelings that the siren fed her so readily.

Still, she couldn't quite quell the lingering queasiness of her stomach afterwards, the heaviness resting solidly in the pit of it. It was not a manner of eating that Adagio was all that keen to try out again, even though nothing bad, to be fair, had actually happened. All in all, it was an experience that she thought she would have to get used to, considering the differing tastes of the sirens.

But things were quieter and calmer around them, which was much needed after a more hectic time. They prepared to launch their music label properly, Olivia going to more bars and coffee shops and even a small music festival to sing, her "agents" doing the work in the background. They could have let Olivia's voice carry them through, but the way forward was eased by their control, a soft tone here and a pull of power in their voice there. They did not only have to cause fighting and chaos to feed, but they could control and manipulate, their powers growing increasingly in a range of subtlety.

And, just like that, further gigs were booked, bigger gigs, though they could only take the small, sure steps that they had been doing. Adagio's pendant glowed red as she stroked it lightly with a finger, smiling faintly. It was not easy, but, in a way, it would not have been as entertaining to her if it was easy.

Heading down to Sonata's pizza parlour, even though she was not working that evening, was a time that Adagio sorely needed, even if she had not realised it. Aria and Olivia had spent the day working together at the studio, training her voice, though everything was coming along just as they wanted it to. Even Donnie was there, sitting with his arm around her shoulders, however loose it was. Still, it was there, as if he wanted everyone else to know that she was his. And Adagio could not say that she minded it one bit.

She even leaned into his gentle hold too as they chatted back and forth, taking slices of pizza, Sonata slapping her hands down on the table, blue hair bobbing around her face.

"You have to try the new pizza I got going!" She all but squeaked, causing Aria to raise an eyebrow at her. "It's going to blow your mind!"

Aria sighed.

"Do we even want to know?" She probed. "You put more than enough weird things on pizzas as it is, I don't know how your specials sell!"

Donnie laughed as Sonata disappeared into the back, clearly to make a special request with the pizza chef that she had manning the ovens for that day.

"It's because people always want to try the new big thing," he said confidently, giving Adagio's shoulders a little squeeze with his arm, her heart doing weird, fluttery things that she was entirely unprepared for. "They want to see if it's as weird as everyone says, or as good as the rest of them say. Sonata's a genius at selling!"

Aria scoffed and exchanged a look with Olivia, who was clearly on the same page as Aria when it came to what she thought about Sonata's crazy concoctions. They smirked at each other, but swiftly wiped the grins off their faces when Sonata spun back with two plates of...

"Pizza tacos! I know they're going to be a hit!"

They laughed, but, to be fair to her, they might have been a bit weird, but they weren't the weirdest thing that she had come up with so far. The fillings were tasteful, not spilling over, kind of reminding Olivia of the meatball marina sub sandwiches that had been popular around there at one time, though pizza tacos really were something else.

"Just don't put pineapple in them, alright?" Aria said, demanding and pointing with a taco, though she squidged out some of the fillings with the grip of her hand. "That stuff's disgusting, eugh! Who wants to eat a fruit that eats your tongue while you're trying to eat it? It's messed up!"

"That's not how it works!" Sonata said, hands on her hips, cheeks puffed out. "You should know that, Aria, didn't you start something on nutrition or something?"

Aria shook her head.

"Yeah... But that doesn't mean I have to like pineapple," she shot back. "Besides, I need to make sure I've got something while things are going forward and office work was getting boring, all the same, all accounting, ugh..."

Even though Aria clearly had an affinity for that side of things, from the human counterpart that she had taken over and shunned into a deep, dark corner of her mind, the siren part deviated from what would have been the norm before.

"That sounds like it would suit you," Adagio offered, delicately biting into a taco while the siren curiously sampled the flavours for herself too, both in control. "I know your co-workers, ah...perhaps were not the best?"

Aria wrinkled her nose and leaned back, hand flipped in the air.

"Oh, they were the worst! I mean, the pranks, it's like working with a bunch of children! James even put a cup of paper clips upside down on my desk the other day - just so I would make a mess! What a waste of time!"

Olivia laughed.

"You wouldn't care so much if it was you wasting someone else's time," she chipped in cheekily, jabbing Aria in the ribcage. "Come on, you know you like causing trouble."

Aria squawked, but it was all par for the course between them, bickering like sisters, the relationship between them growing closer and closer in a way that none of the sirens could ever have honestly anticipated. And yet it was what they needed, Adagio smiling and sitting back a little more into Donnie's arm, glancing at him.

"We should go on a trip," she mused, the siren voicing thoughts of travels, of being in different places, of exploring. "What do you think? Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

Donnie grinned, as if he had just been waiting to be asked.

"Absolutely! There's a cabin up by the lake that I used to hire with my family, it'd be great to go there with you too! And there's always heading into the city, you know, where they have all the shows, the theatre... That could be cool too."

Adagio grinned, though the siren showed more enthusiasm for that than her. Honestly, she'd never liked theatre shows before, up on the stage, but it was a time for new experiences at the very least.

"We'll sort something," she said decisively, though she took a moment to slide her gaze away, still not wanting to look too interested in it. "It could be interesting, you know, to be somewhere new..."

Yet the siren was all aflutter with plans, wanting to know if they could swim in the lake, where they could go, for spring was coming and, slowly but surely, the weather was warming up again. It wouldn't be a long, hot summer, like it was for some when it came, but the softer, lighter months of new life in the countryside and the city becoming more habitable would be appreciated by many. And then Sonata could bring out a new spring line of pizza taco abominations - and everyone would be happy.

Smiling, Adagio sat back, enjoying her life, the little world she'd built for herself out of the shambles of something else. It didn't seem all that important, her life before, not then.

With her, everything was right in her world.

*

Of course, despite everything in life ticking along as nicely as it could (even with the fuss between Aria and Olivia, which was an ongoing thing that Adagio still had to manage day to day), it could not last forever. For there was one thing that she had been putting off and that was the visit from her parents. The parents that still, at that time, knew her as Donnie and didn't know that she was Adagio...

Arriving home late, she yawned, the siren tired within her too, giving Adagio a sense that she was floating within her. She tapped her landline phone as she passed it, still liking to have it there, though it was kind of something that reminded her of another time. The siren had told her too that they had them in Equestria, though she had not used them herself back there, before she had been banished to the human world. Maybe that was one reason too that they kept it around, despite most calls being made on their shared mobile phone. Even then, they considered everything that they had shared between them, equal partners working together to better their tied lives.

She tapped it and paused when a voicemail played. Usually, it just said that there were no new messages.

"Hello, Knight, this is your mother," a warm female voice came through, stopping Adagio in her tracks, eyes wide, muscles locked up. "We're sorry we missed you again, but it was lovely to read your letter the other week - sending them again just like when you were little! But, oh, I shouldn't ramble on. We're planning to come to you next month, to let you know - could you see what dates work for you too? I don't want to interrupt your work, I know you had that new job. Anyway, love you, and looking forward to seeing you very soon!"

The message cut off, though Adagio did not move, the red light blinking on the landline, the phone on the holder, set in the cradle. The siren flickered back and forth in her mind, restless, as anxious as Adagio was.

So, the siren said, curious to press forward. You're not looking forward to this meeting, clearly. Will they not understand you looking different now, or is that a taboo thing between humans?

_ _

Wincing, Adagio nodded. The siren sent her an image of magic in Equestria, back when Discord had been running wild, though Adagio only knew a little of him, a crazy spirit of chaos. Notably, in the memory that the siren shared with her, she saw his magic transforming a stallion pony into a mare pony, their shock palatable as they leapt and freaked out. Turned from one thing into another... She shook her head. That was normal, in another world. Yet not in her world, for her change was a magical one and magic, quite honestly, had no place in that world.

In a way, yes... Changes like this, my whole body, don't tend to happen in this world, in the human world... Not that quickly, at least. I'm not transgender, yet that is what they will think. I'm not sure what to do about it.

_ _

She didn't know what she felt about her gender. In a way, Knight and the siren had become one. She was not male in her body, but her gender... It was something that she held in her mind, perhaps something that would need to be worked out later. As far as her presentation outwardly, however, that was quite clear that she was female, that she was a woman in the world that she was used to. That was what her pronouns were, after all.

Yet how was she supposed to explain that to her parents? Did she find a way to look like Knight, at least for a while, or did she go in all guns blazing, as Adagio?

Well, if experience had taught her anything so far, there was only one way to do it, and there wasn't much subtle about either Adagio or the siren. What would come would come

Adagio sighed.

We'll work it out, she said to the siren. But we need to sit down, to come up with a plan. We can't just keep putting it off.

_ _

The siren agreed with her.

Indeed, it sounds like your parents are coming and that cannot be changed. The sooner it is faced, the sooner we can move forward from it.

_ _

That was true, even if it was not something that would make anything at all any easier for Adagio to face, her life, her past, her parents, the family that she loved, but was distant from. Things were not simple. In the worst of ways, they were complicated.

But, together, they would work something out.

They had to.