Rarity felt the blood drain from her face. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. There really, truly wasn’t a way out? Well, technically there was, but it would destroy the world. The barrier keeping the islands hidden from even Princess Luna and keeping them all trapped within had been designed to contain the nightmarish abomination her and the other survivors had accidentally released. Taking down that barrier would allow it to escape the islands whenever it finally broke out of the tomb.
But that couldn’t be all she wrote, could it? If Rarity had learned anything from all her dangerous adventures with Twilight, even the most hopeless situations had a way out. There was always some angle, some unexplored idea that could get her and her friends out of a mess like this. The problem was, she just wasn’t seeing it.
Melody had gone from happy and cheerful to somber and quiet after the discussion, choosing to eat her lunch in silence. Perhaps it was the siren’s silence that unnerved Rarity most of all, but she just couldn’t get comfortable and work on her own lunch. Sirens were creatures of song, and for one to be enveloped in a sullen silence like now just made Rarity feel wrong. Now that she knew she’d gotten Melody’s hopes up for nothing, even if only accidentally, Rarity wanted to find some way to make it up to the siren and help her get back to her mother.
Which again brought her back to the same problem: there was no safe way out of the islands. If there had been another way to get around the barrier without breaking it down, Melody surely would have found it by now. The only possible option Rarity could think of to let Equestria know what was happening was through Melody’s mom. The other siren, being on the opposite side of the barrier, could easily relay a message back to civilization, but Melody had made it sound like her mom only came around once in a blue moon. If she was out on the migration, then she likely wouldn’t return before the next full moon.
Rarity shuddered; the moon was still waning, but it wouldn’t be that long before it became full again. They had less than a month before it was up again… but did that even matter? She realized she had no idea what fate befell her friends. There was just so much to take in since she woke up that she didn’t know what to focus on first. But now that she’d quizzed Melody about their chances of escaping the islands, worry about the safety of her friends, about Rainbow’s safety, came crashing back to her mind.
Clearing her throat, Rarity waited until she saw Melody glance in her direction. “So, um, Melody… you haven’t seen anything about any other ponies on these islands?”
Melody slowly shook her head. “Only you,” she said. “I mean, I figured there had to be more of you when I found you lying on the beach. I left a sign pointing toward the atoll so anypony that might have come looking for you would have an idea of where to go.”
Rarity blinked. So there was a real chance that Rainbow and the others knew what happened to her? “Well, have they come for me, yet?” she asked. “Knowing my friends, they wouldn’t wait very long to go after me.”
To that, Melody could only shrug. “I… didn’t see any ponies on the atoll when I was out and about earlier.” She rubbed the translucent fin on the back of her neck. “But I mean… I didn’t exactly look very hard. I was just trying to get food for lunch, since you were asking.”
“Oh, well, that’s quite alright, darling,” Rarity assured her. “And the lunch was good. I definitely needed the food. And I don’t want to be a bother on you, especially given all your hospitality, but…”
Melody smiled at her. “Oh, it’s fine. I don’t usually like to stay in the caves all that long, anyway. I prefer to stay above the surface, where I can let the sun warm my scales.” She lightly chuckled and added, “I guess that’s one benefit of being isolated here. I don’t have to join the migrations to the colder polar waters to chase food. There’s enough around these islands for one siren.”
“It certainly would have its perks… were I to visit these islands of my own volition and not be cut off from civilization while having to contend with murderous pirates and an ancient, dark abomination.” Rarity’s smile faltered, and she shrugged. “But, all joking aside, I would very much appreciate it if you could find my friends and at least let them know I’m alright.”
“If you wanted, I could take you back to the surface,” Melody said. “You’d get a little wet, but it wouldn’t be too bad.”
Rarity would’ve liked that quite a lot—she would’ve given practically anything to see Rainbow and her friends again, to know they were alright. But then she’d be leaving without the figurine Melody had dropped into the water, along with the rest of her supplies. If Melody dumped her back on the surface, there was no way she’d be able to get to it again. Her eyes drifted to the water around Melody’s scaly body. She was a unicorn, after all, and she had telekinesis…
“I think I’ll stay here for the time being,” Rarity said. “At least until you know for sure where my friends are. I still feel exhausted after recovering from my ordeal, and I wouldn’t want to stress myself out too much yet. Besides, your company is simply so wonderful that I feel it’d be rude to leave now.”
Rarity wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw Melody blush; her green cheeks made it difficult to tell. “I’m enjoying your company, too,” the siren said. “It’s nice to have somebody to talk to. The minotaurs just threw spears at me. They couldn’t get through my armor, but…” She shrugged and laughed. “I’ll go and take a look, okay? I need to sun myself. Sirens aren’t warm-blooded, you know.”
“I didn’t, actually, but now I do. I imagine I’ll be learning quite a lot about sirens from you.” Rarity flashed her a smile, and then shifted some away from what was left of Melody’s pile of seafood. The smell was starting to bother her. “I will eagerly await your return.”
“Hopefully I’ll have good news.” Melody slid back into the water until only her head and neck remained above it. “If you need some rest, use the bed. It’s probably not comfy by pony standards, but I sleep on rocks, so I wouldn’t know.” Once more, she bared her sword-like teeth in a smile, and then her green fins dipped beneath the surface of the water, out of sight.
Rarity sighed and looked around at the walls of the cave. She hoped Melody would find her friends, but Rarity already knew she was going to have to have a discussion with the siren later. Come the next full moon, the tomb might open again. In that case, it didn’t matter if there was a barrier around the island. Something told her that this dark spirit would find a way past it, and it would simply kill them all in the process—Melody included. There was no sense sitting around and doing nothing, pretending that everything would be alright.
Of course, that was Rarity’s bitter irony right now. Sitting around, doing nothing, and hoping her friends were alright was all she could do, at least until Melody returned.