//------------------------------// // ...Or Not // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Gyro was amazed at how quickly the day had passed. Between her excitement at finally reuniting with Coals and the whirlwind of events that culminated with all of the figurines finally making their way back to the island, she felt like the day had blurred by. Now, the sun was beginning to set, and her stomach began to remind her that it was about dinnertime. But she knew they weren’t going to eat anything soon; the other survivors and Melody had fallen into casual conversation as their mutual anxiety over each other’s presence began to melt away. While Gyro was amazed to see a living siren up close, just like everypony else was, the fact that one of those sirens was merely her friend in a different body blunted some of the awe for her. And, of course, she couldn’t actually walk across the beach and talk to Melody, what with her legs being how they were and everything. So instead, she and Coals lay on the beach while Rarity pulled herself onto the sand next to them. It felt awkward to have a pony she was normally taller than tower over her in a draconic form, but underneath the scales and fangs and fins, the creature was still Rarity. And Gyro figured that Rarity was already having a difficult enough time as it was to adjust to her new body, so she didn’t want to make it any more awkward by acting differently to her. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to have her curiosity sated in the meanwhile, however. After a moment to admire the beauty in Rarity’s body, she smirked up at the pony-turned-siren. “So, how’s it feel?” Rarity chuckled and slowly shook her head from side to side. “I’ve had that question asked of me so many times today.” “Well, humor me, then,” Gyro said. “I wanna know.” “Well, in that case, different.” “Different? That’s it? C’mon, there’s gotta be more to it than that.” Gyro tried to imagine what it would be like to be as large as Rarity was now, to have huge teeth and scale-covered flesh, to have a large and powerful tail and fins instead of hind legs. “I would’ve thought it’d be awesome and stuff.” “Oh, I think I’ve quite enjoyed this little sample of it so far,” Rarity said. “All of my senses feel heightened. My vision feels sharper, my hearing seems clearer, and I can smell so much more of the island, even though my nose is merely two holes drilled through my hard beak. It makes me feel like I’ve lived all of my life until this moment inside a box, and only now am I finally able to experience the world without some barrier dampening my senses.” “Better be careful,” Hot Coals said. “At this rate, you’re never going to want to change back.” “Well, it certainly has its limitations,” Rarity said. “Even though I can breathe in both water and air, I don’t think I can stray too far from the sea, or at least a body of water. I’ll dehydrate if I do. For things like that, the equine form is quite superior.” “And it’d be difficult to make and wear dresses like that,” Gyro said. “Yes, my passion would be hampered to quite an extent,” Rarity admitted. “I don’t have access to my simple telekinesis anymore, or any other basic unicorn spells I used to design my dresses or run my shows. But I’m sure I could find the replacements for those in song, since that’s where my magic comes from now.” “Have you tried it out much?” Gyro leaned a little bit closer. “Doing magic with your voice sounds awesome. I wish I could do that.” “Your voice already is like magic to me,” Coals quipped. Gyro giggled and nuzzled against his side. “You’re such a flatterer.” “Only if it’s deserved.” “Heee…” Rarity smiled as the two had their moment, but she answered after a few seconds anyway. “I’ve tried, but I don’t have a lot of magic in me,” she said. She tapped the green stone in her chest. “Melody used this to turn me into a siren. It was actually the heartstone of another siren; I don’t know what happened to her, but I found it on the archipelago. I’d need to sing and collect magic before I can use that magic in song.” “Seems a little counterintuitive to me,” Coals said. “You need to sing to get magic, but you need magic to sing?” “You’re asking the wrong person,” Rarity said. “Melody would be able to explain it better. She’s the actual siren, I’m just an imposter. A pony in siren’s scales.” “But you can sing though, right?” Gyro asked. Rarity proudly nodded, and she opened her mouth and let a few notes of a scale escape through her beak. They were all clear, perfect, and exquisitely tuned. It was sound in its purest form, completely devoid of any of the imperfections other living things forced on it in their imitations. Noting their awestruck looks, Rarity laughed lightly and idly swished her tail. “I feel like I just know how music works now,” she said. “I don’t know what we call them in our musical parlance, but I know every scale and every rhythmic pattern in all of music, plus a few that are unique to sirens. I’ve certainly never heard them used before in our music. But according to Melody, sirens were born from the first song to ever be sung, so it likely has something to do with that.” “Sirens are very musical creatures,” Gyro said. “It just makes sense.” “I’ll likely sing with Melody later tonight,” Rarity said. “I need to replenish my magic if I’m going to stay in siren form much longer.” “Are you going to stay like that for a while?” Gyro asked. “I doubt Rainbow would be very happy about that. You’re probably a lot harder to bang as a big fish dragon, I would imagine.” “I’ll likely have Melody change me back soon,” Rarity said. “Once it’s clear that I no longer need to be a siren to help her with anything around these waters. And, assuming, of course, that she can even change me back in the first place.” “She might not be able to?” Coals asked. He frowned in concern. “That doesn’t sound all that reassuring.” “It’s not, trust me. She warned me that she might not be able to undo this on her own once she transformed me, but it was the only way to get the final figurine. And, in all honesty, it’s not that bad.” Still, Rarity’s shoulders sagged slightly in worry. “I don’t know what I would do if I were to spend the rest of my life as a siren, though. Especially considering they live for a thousand years…” Rarity’s slitted eyes darted further up the beach, and she straightened her considerable neck and smiled. “Rainbow, darling!” she exclaimed, grinning and standing up on her forelegs. “Did you do it? Is it over?” Gyro and Coals looked behind them to see Rainbow and Champagne trudging toward the water. The fact that they were trudging instead of galloping or flying told Gyro that not all had went according to plan. Suddenly worried, she tried in vain to make eye contact with Rainbow, to glean something from her demeanor. “What happened?” she asked the pegasi as they joined them down by the water’s edge. “What’s going on?” “We placed the statuettes,” Rainbow said. Rarity blinked. “And? That’s a good thing, right? It should be over now.” “But it isn’t,” Rainbow said. “Did you feel anything change?” Rarity frowned, and the antennae sprouting from her forehead drooped slightly. “I didn’t sense anything change around the islands…” “Exactly.” Rainbow sighed in defeat and plopped down on the sand. “We’re not done yet. The barrier isn’t down, and I’m all out of ideas.” “There’s something more we need to do,” Champagne said, “but we don’t know what it is.” “And until we figure that out, we’re stuck here,” Rainbow said. Her eyes swiveled right to Gyro as she added, “There’s no way home.”