She forced herself to swim as fast as she'd ever done in her entire life. Her tail ached immensely from the strain she was putting into each flap. And yet still, Adagio kept on going. She moved fast in the now-calm waters of the ocean, pleading with whatever power that could hear her that she would get home and everything would be okay. The moment she realised where that tsunami had come from, she'd felt nothing but dread, and now, here she was, with her sisters hot on her tail, racing towards their home. They didn't care that they were still hurt from their ordeal, or that they were exhausted. All that mattered to them was getting back and finding that nothing had changed, that there was no disaster and that their people were safe. But in their heart of hearts, they knew that they were telling themselves a lie.

On and on they swam, until eventually, they came across a familiar rocky ridge on the seabed, the outermost border of their city. Aria and Sonata nervously glanced at one another, but Adagio kept her gaze straight ahead. So they powered through the water, the ridge coming closer and closer. Soon enough, they managed to swim over it. And when they did, they froze. The colour drained from their faces is if they'd seen a ghost, and their expressions were ones of horror. For their lay their city, or rather, what was left of it. As Adagio had predicted, the disaster that caused the tsunami had indeed come from here. It was as if the seabed had been sundered in two, with half of their city now far higher than the other. A massive underwater crack now lay right down the middle of the place, and all around there were broken homes.

The great spire that made their home was no more, having collapsed and fallen upon a large portion of the city. This was a tectonic shift, a rupture in the very earth that had caused this. A random freak accident of nature, but one that nevertheless held devastating consequences. But worse than the sight of all this was the sheer silence of it all. With a cataclysm like this, Adagio and her sisters had expected the place to be teeming with screams of terror, or alarms blaring all around. But no. There were no screams, no calls for help, not even the moans of the wounded. There was simply silence. Dread tugged at Adagio's heart as she finally shook herself out of the trance-like state this sight had caused in her. She flapped her tail hard, thrusting herself downwards past the ridge they'd been hovering over, heading straight down to the city. Her sisters were not far behind her, for they knew exactly what they needed to do.

They soon arrived at the city, and managed to get a closer look at the place as they passed through the lonely streets. Just as they suspected, the place was crumbling and broken all throughout. Homes collapsed wherever they looked, a scene of utter devastation. What caught their hearts most though was when they eventually saw glimpses of their people. Through the windows of the houses, they gasped and stared as they saw the unmoving bodies of both males and females alike. Thinking themselves safe and comfortable in their own homes, they'd been unable to react fast enough when those homes caved in on themselves, crushing them. Looking upwards, they would sometimes see the floating, yet still no more living, bodies of those who had not been indoors at the time. While not crushed by stone, the sheer force of the water as it had been displaced had clearly been enough to do irreparable damage to them. No matter how they went, death had claimed them all.

However, in their hearts, they prayed that there was one who had escaped this, and so they swam as fast as they could through the deserted streets, and towards the ruins of their palace. Eventually, they reached it, and began scouring the place. It didn't take them long to find an opening, as there were many large cracks in it's surface thanks to the quake. Once inside, they searched every room they could, but often found little more than the remains of the royal guard. Sonata especially was taking this hard, shaking with fear with every corpse they came across. Aria sometimes went to her, trying to embrace her and keep her calm. But, in stark contrast to how she normally was, Sonata just pushed her away, the stress of the ordeal getting to her in a big way. Adagio was still on track though, never stopping in her relentless search to find the one person here who truly mattered to them. And so it was that she led her sisters to the one room they had not yet searched; their own.

The door was blocked, but with all of them pushing together, it took only a minute to force the thing open. But when they got inside, their eyes widened with horror. For they had found her. Queen Pacifica, their Mother, the ruler of all Sirens. But she was not well, for a large section of the ceiling had caved in, having landed on top of her, right where her torso met her tail, and pinning her to the floor. The sisters rushed over to her immediately, Sonata and Aria watching with horror as Adagio swam right next to Pacifica's head. She was afraid to check, but felt that she had to, and so lowered her head closer. There was a sound, a pained breathing. She still lives, Adagio thought. So, in reaction to this, Adagio gently placed a hoof on the side of her Mother's face, her voice now a hushed whisper.

"M...Mother?"

There was a moment of utter silence as the Queen failed to respond. Adagio looked on fearfully, worried that she might have been too late, a fear shared by her sisters. But, to the shock of all of them, they watched as their Mother's eyes lowly opened. She said nothing at first, her eyes simply passing from Adagio to the others. But eventually, a small smile formed on her face as she spoke softly.

"My...my children. Are...are you...?"

Tears formed in Adagio's eyes as she slowly nodded her head.

"Yes...we're alright."

Relief washed over Pacifica's face upon hearing that, a deep sigh escaping her. However, that was soon followed by her coughing heavily, at which point the three sisters looked on with shock to see that blood had crept out of her mouth after doing so. They looked at each other, their faces dominated by fear and worry, before turning to their Mother once more as she spoke.

"Ad...Adagio. Please...hear me."

The eldest sister moved closer, wanting to hear her Mother better. But her Mother's words were becoming noticeably more quiet with every passing moment.

"You three...are the last of us. You must...you must...look after your sisters. Live on...live happily."

The tears were streaming from Adagio's eyes at this point, mixing in with the salty ocean water around them.

"Mother...we'll help you. We'll live on together, I promise!"

But Pacifica merely smiled softly at her eldest after hearing that, weakly raising a hoof and gently placing it upon the side of her daughter's face.

"I'm sorry, my little Princesses...but the end has come for me...as it comes for all of us...in the end."

Both Aria and Sonata had gathered around her at this point, shedding tears just as much as Adagio. They watched as she took a deep, yet pained breath before speaking what they now knew would be her final words.

"From the sea...we came. And to the sea...we return."

The sisters knew the words of their people well, but never in their entire lived did they think, or want to hear them coming from their Mother. They watched, holding her hooves with their own, as Pacifica forced another breath, and another, and another. But finally, the time came, and she exhaled deeply. It was her final breath, and her face, looking upon her beloved daughters, was one of contentment. But to the sisters themselves, all that was upon their faces was utter devastation. They knew without a word, that their Mother was gone. The most important person in their lives had been taken from them, along with everything else. Sonata finally broke down, burying her face in her now-gone Mother's chest as she wept, Aria placing her hooves upon the former's shoulders as the tears kept on coming for her. The impact of Sonata upon Pacifica had moved the latter enough so that the Queen's crown now fell upon the ground, it's three red jewels glistening brightly, even after everything that had happened.

All the while, Adagio just kept staring. Her tears had already been spent, and now she looked on with nothing but loss in her heart. Everything and everypony she'd known, save for her sisters, was gone. They were the last of their kind, and for the first time in her life, she didn't know what to do.

And thus, in a single day and night of misfortune, the Kingdom of the Sirens had been claimed by the very ocean they called home.