>"Bitch and moan all you want," Adagio sneered. "It's not going to save you, little sister."
>She flicked her wrist, the end of the whip scything through the air with a flesh rending snap.
>Aria screamed as the braided leather burned an angry red welt across her naked back.
"AAAH!"
>"Thirty five."
"Fuck... you... Dagi."
>Adagio's face curdled into a snarl.
>"Don't use pet names, you little whore."
>She lashed the whip again, scoring another mark against her little sister's pinkish skin.
>She pointedly didn't add it to Aria's total. Officially, she was 35 strokes into her sentence.
>Unofficially, she had passed 50 twenty minutes ago.
>"After all these years you still dare to talk back to me," Adagio spat.
>"Mother should have eaten you the day you hatched."
>Aria shook in her chains. 
"Take that back."
>"Why?" Adagio laughed. "No one cares about a runt like you."
>She paced forward, sharp heels clicking on the concrete floor. 
>Admiring her sister's body.
>"Do you think that's why you look like this? So scrawny and weak?" 
>She ran her fingers down her sister's body, filed nails scratching the taut skin. 
>Aria flinched, swaying by her wrists as her bare toes scrabbled at the cold floor.
>Adagio stepped forward, locking eyes with the purple haired siren as she flattened her palm against her toned stomach.
>Aria was heaving, straining for breath as her own weight constricted her lungs.
>Adagio drew her hand up, counting individual ribs as her finger traveled over Aria's strained body.
>"I wonder if that's why you lack the beauty Sonata and I gained. You have none of the curves, none of the volume of a proper woman."
>"It's a wonder anyone gives you a second look."
>Adagio stared into Aria's eyes, the crimson light of her gem throwing the younger siren's glare into sharo relief. 
>She reached up, drawing her finger down Aria's own bare neck.
>Something thrummed in Adagio's pocket, the missing gem, begging to be returned, to ease its owner's pain.
>Adagio sneered.
>"Turn around. I'm not finished."
>Aria spat. 
>Her head snapped to the side as Adagio's knuckles connected with her cheek.
>"You are not the alpha," Adagio snarled. "You never will be. Challenge me again, and I. Will. Kill you. Now TURN AROUND."
>A spike of fear flickered behind Aria's glare, and she kicked out weakly, fighting the tangled chains to comoly with Adagio's demand.
>She managed only a partial turn before gravity and tension sent her twisting back to face Adagio.
>A cruel smirk graced the elder siren's lips.
>"Well then, I suppose I'll have to start over. I think another fifty to this side should even things out."
>Aria's eyes widened as Adagio raised the whip, cutting it across her unprotected stomach.
"AH!" 
>She grunted as the blow drove the air from her lungs. She would have retched if not for her starving belly.
"You whore..." she rasped.
>Adagio laughed.
>"At least someone wants me. You're nothing but garbage, disgusting refuse I had to dig out of the ocean."
>Aria's face twisted in pain, hot, angry tears threatening to escape her eyes.
"Go to- to Tartarus, hag."
>Adagio snarled in rage. 
>"Who brought you up from nothing!? Who kept you alive in this wretched world when anyone else would have left you to die!? To who do you owe your life!?"
>Adagio punctuated each question with another lash, not even bothering to count. She just kept striking and striking, turning Aria's chest and abs to a matted nest of cuts and welts.
>Adagio stumbled, panting with exertion. 
>She stared at Aria's limp body, stonefaced even as beads of sweat ran down her back.
>She exhaled with a huff, straightened her back, and coiled the whip around her waist.
>Wordlessly, she turned to the door.
>Sonata was outside, as she expected. Curled on the floor, red faced and puffy eyes. 
>Adagio kicked her. 
>"Get up," she hissed.
>Sonata scrambled to her feet. She stood at attention, arms at her back and head down, refusing to meet Adagio's eyes.
>Adagio shoved something into her hand, a red, glowing gem.
>"She's passed out. Get her down, clean her wounds. We have a Battle of the Bands to win." 
>She said it coldly, without emotion.
>Sonata nodded, small, afraid. She clutched the gem in her hand and rushed into the room, out of sight.
>Adagio's frown dissolved into a blank mask.
>She turned, heading toward her room.
>Privacy.
>She closed the door, engaged the triple locks.
>Bolt, latch, and chain.
>No one else was allowed in there but her.
>She strode forward, to a little desk, a mirror, an uncomfortable wooden stool.
>She dropped the whip onto the cold wood, and sat.
>Her reflection stared back, cold and merciless. A sadist. A monster.
>She twitched, and the mask fell.
>She bit her finger, curling in on herself as tears ran down her cheeks, her chest ripping itself apart from the inside.
>93.
>66 on the back.
>27 on the front.
>Anything to keep them fed.
>She reached into her pocket, pulled out a red gem. It pulsed weakly, starving for energy.
>It had been easy enough to pull the switch.
>Sonata wasn't even looking.
>She placed it on the desk in front of her.
>So weak, so little light.
>So close.
>Adagio bit her lip, reached down, grabbed the hem of her shirt.
>She pulled it off with a grimace, dropped it to the floor. 
>She stared at her breasts, bare, unprotected in the cold room.
>Her shoulders slumped. 
>One more day. One more battle. It would all be over then.
>The Equestrian magic.
>It was all they needed. They would never go hungry again.
>She grabbed her whip, turning it over in her hands.
>One more day, and she would never have to hurt them again.
>They would be taken care of. 
>Until then.
>"One," she said, swinging the whip, wincing as the leather bit into her flesh.

End.