Hey, got a longer chapter out this time! Enjoy!
Aria let herself mostly sink relaxingly to the ocean floor, allowing her body to go limp as she descended. She closed her eyes, enjoying the calm peacefulness of the slow-moving water. She was always appalled at how the waves could be thrashing about on the surface, but underneath, it was calm as always. Finally, after a bit, she felt herself hit the sandy floor, and she opened her eyes, moving her body to regain her steadiness and composure in the water. She looked and saw that Sonata was already there, lying next to her. And then she heard Adagio come up behind them.
"All good?" She asked. Aria and Sonata nodded. "Great. You two stay here. I'm going to go hunting. At a time like this, the storm will scare the prey and make them panic, making them easy targets. But I'll have to be quick about it, or else the storm will scare them all away before I have a chance to catch them." Adagio said, a bit of humor in her voice. Aria nodded.
"Ooo, ooo, can I come with you?!" Sonata asked enthusiastically. "I love to hunt!" Adagio cocked an eyebrow.
"I thought you were tired."
"Not anymore!"
"Hmm…I don't see a problem with that. What about you, Aria? How about all three of us go hunting together like old times?" Aria huffed. She really didn't feel like doing anything, but for old time's sake and Sonata's puppy dog eyes, she nodded in agreement.
"Ugh, okay, fine…" She said.
"Yay!" Sonata yelped happily.
~o~
The three large sea creatures swam slowly and quietly through the water, their eyes scanning their surroundings. The slight scent of fish drew them in the direction they were going, and it grew alarmingly strong quite fast. The tasty scent, at first, had led them hungrily towards it. But, as they drew nearer to the source, the scent had become…repugnant. It almost smelled like newly rotting flesh, and it sickened Adagio to her core.
She wondered if the other two had noticed. She almost wanted to turn around, but sirens were naturally curious, so she swam onward, determined to find what was giving off such a smell. No sooner had she thought that did she see a little fish hovering alone in the water. Strange that it wasn't with others. And strange that is was…so still. She moved towards it carefully, the other two in tow. But when it didn't suddenly dart away as she'd expected it to, she swam right up to it. Her eyes widened when she realized it was…already dead. The other two sirens noticed this, but thought nothing of it as they began fanning out, now knowing that they were in tasty fish territory. Adagio looked at it for a moment. Honestly, she didn't really think much of it until, suddenly, she heard Aria call out.
"Uh, guys…? You…uh…might wanna come see this…" She said, nervousness evident in her voice. Adagio cocked her eyebrow again before swimming over in Aria's direction. She swam to the edge of a reef that Aria was looking over the top of. When she got to it, she looked over it as well, and she gasped. She felt Sonata come up next to her.
"Oh my…holy sweet Celestia, what happened?!" The blue siren yelped. Before them lay a large expanse of continuous water. And, as far as the eye could see, there were dead fish crowding nearly everywhere. It was hard to see through the huge mass of limply floating bodies. Adagio's jaw hung slightly open as she tried to find something to say. Honestly, in all her many years of life, she'd never witnessed something like this. Lifeless fish by the thousands floating around in the water.
"What…what could've done this…?" Aria breathed. Finally, Adagio was able to find words, but they weren't of much use.
"I don't…I really don't know…"
"Could it have been the storm?" Sonata inquired. Adagio shook her head.
"No, sweetheart. The storm isn't even upon us, yet."
"A predator?" Aria asked. Again, Adagio shook her head gravely.
"There's no predator I know that kills in such masses without even puncturing them. There's no blood, see? They weren't attacked…"
"Then what the hell happened?!" Aria asked. Adagio began to get frustrated, not being able to pinpoint what exactly could've done this.
"I don't fucking know, Aria!" She yelled, losing her composure. She then let out a sigh, releasing her animosity. She looked forward and swam out a bit, looking closely at the bodies for any type of sign to tell her how they died. It couldn't have been poison in the water. If there was, it would've affected the three sirens. But there was nothing. Nothing! Adagio shook her head in disbelief as she swam between the bodies. None of their faces showed hints of fear before they died, confirming that they hadn't been attacked. It must have happened suddenly. Unexpectedly. She let out a sigh of defeat, returning to her fellow sirens.
"I just…I have no idea. I-" Adagio cut herself off when something else caught her senses. It wasn't a scent. It was more of…an impending sense of dread. Her pupils dilated, and she whipped her head around, trying to find out why. Then…that's when she saw it. A dark shadow in the distance that had an all-too-familiar shape. Shark… Adagio thought. She looked around more, because they normally weren't alone. But she saw nothing. She looked back to the creature that was coming ever closer. "Sirens, we have company…" She muttered as the other two saw the danger. In all honesty, it was no real danger. It was only one shark against three sirens. But with what happened to Aria's fin a while back, they saw the extent of what a desperate shark could and would do. Aria growled, but Sonata whimpered. She was still shaken up about sharks when she'd nearly been killed by a group of them when she'd been trying to get Aria to safety a bit more than a week ago, give or take. "It's okay, Sonata. There are three of us, and one of them. It can't touch us." Adagio said reassuringly.
The creature swam ever closer, now close enough to see clearly and make out nearly every detail. Normally, a shark would hightail it out of there at the sight of three sirens, but this one kept coming closer, and it uneased Adagio. What's wrong with this thing? Hmm…It might be able to sense Sonata's fear. That would give it some provocation. She watched it warily as it indeed began to go around to the side Sonata was cowering at. Perhaps it still won't have the nerve to attack. Adagio hoped. But as it picked up speed once it had its sights set on Sonata, Adagio's protective, matriarchal-like instincts kicked in, and she quickly swam between the two in time before it could reach her. Adagio faced the shark, which had currently stopped its assault. She then bared her fangs, took a deep breath, and let out an ear-splitting shriek. The shark immediately recoiled, quickly turning and swimming away. Adagio watched it to make sure it went a good distance. When it was out of sight, she turned her attention back to Sonata.
"You okay?" She asked. Sonata nodded slowly. Adagio then turned her attention back to the direction the shark had swum off in. "Huh…that was almost too easy. I expected to put up some sort of fight…"
"Hey, be thankful it didn't." Aria said, motioning to her permanently scarred back fin. Adagio gave her an apologetic look. "Though…" Aria continued. "…I do wonder why it was even attempting to have a go at us. It should've known it didn't stand a chance." Adagio shrugged.
"It must've been really desperate. It was probably looking for food like us, but it couldn't because all the food in this area appears to be dead…" She said solemnly. Adagio took one last look at the mass fish grave. With a sigh, she turned back to the other two. "And I'm sorry, girls, but it looks like we won't be able to eat tonight either…" Sonata pouted, and Aria sighed. They were all hungry, but what can one do? They couldn't breach the surface to turn into ponies and go into town to get some food. Not in this storm that would surely be upon them in no time. So, they had no choice but to return to their makeshift resting spot until the storm passed.
