Rarity tried not to think too much about the fish she carved into with her beak and teeth. While the rest of the survivors had gone just inside the trees to go and have their own dinners, Rarity remained on the beach with Gyro while Melody hunted some dinner for them. After all, she needed to consume a lot more as a siren than she did as a pony, and she seriously doubted that the survivors would be able to scrape enough food together to adequately sate her needs. And, on top of that, she was pretty sure her body was exclusively carnivorous. Oats and fruits wouldn’t get her the nutrients she needed, not like fish did, and it’d probably make her very sick to her stomach.
Not that fish was any better, but that was mostly a result of her mentality, not her body.
It wasn’t too long before ponies started trickling their way back to the beach, their bellies full of simple stew and fruit. Once more, the lively conversation returned, though it was tempered here and there with idle brainstorming about ways to finally lower the barrier. Most of the ideas thrown around were simply guesses and hopes without any evidence to back them up, but that was mostly where they were at, now. They needed to try everything if they were going to find some way to get back home.
As soon as Rainbow Dash stepped back onto the beach, however, Rarity knew merely from the way she carried herself that the pegasus had come up with some new daring plan. Whether it was merely a foolhardy attempt to get home or an actual, cohesive plan remained to be seen, but Rarity knew one was just as likely as the other with her. She certainly prayed to Celestia that it was the latter and not the former.
“Alright, everypony, listen up,” Rainbow said, naturally assuming the mantle of leadership like she had become so used to since ending up on the islands. “We’ve got twenty-seven days or something until the next full moon, so we’ve got plenty of time to figure something out. And I’m gonna give us even more time. If this works, we’ll have all the time in the world.”
“If what works?” Gyro asked. The gray mare lifted her front half off the sand and cocked an eyebrow at Rainbow. “What sort of crazy idea did you come up with now?”
“Actually, it was Ruse’s idea,” Rainbow said, sparing the ventriloquist a glance. “I want to take our pegasi and fly back to the archipelago, then cover up the tomb with something so the moonlight can’t hit it. If we go and do that, then we might be able to keep the doors shut forever!”
“Wasn’t there supernatural weather that kept the tomb concealed from the moonlight?” Stargazer asked. “We weren’t able to manipulate it on our own, and it was summoned specifically to protect the tomb. Why bother trying to block the tomb ourselves when we can just let whatever the Ponynesians did do it for us?”
“Because we don’t know if that still works,” Rainbow said. “I kinda did a number on it when I used a Sonic Rainboom to destroy the clouds. I wouldn’t be surprised if I just busted the enchantment entirely.”
“Do you think it will actually work?” Ratchet asked her. “Flying back to the tomb and covering it yourself, I mean.”
“No idea, but it’s worth a shot,” Rainbow said. “Maybe we can find some more clues about what we need to do while we’re there as well. There are a lot of ruins around these islands, and one of them has to give us an answer.”
Rarity nodded. “There were some shrines above the tomb that no doubt the rest of you are very familiar with,” she said. “I saw some carvings inside one that depicted an abbreviated version of what happened on these islands. Presumably there are more that might tell us something important.”
“If there are, we wouldn’t really know,” Ratchet said. “While we did look at them some, our efforts were more focused on tracking down other survivors and trying to withstand the onslaught of death Squall threw at us nearly constantly.”
“So it’s totally worth checking out.” Rainbow fluttered her wings some. “I figure, if we go there and do all that stuff, we’ll at least buy ourselves some more time, and maybe figure out what to do next. Speaking of which, anypony have any ideas on that front?”
“Nothing particularly helpful,” Melody muttered, her fin drooping slightly as she hung her head. “I’ve tried remembering everything I’ve studied over the years, and I’m still drawing blanks. There has to be something I saw somewhere!”
Rainbow fluttered up to the siren and placed her hoof on her beak. “Hey, don’t worry about it, girl,” she said, trying to calm her before she could get too worked up. “Nopony expects you to remember everything. You already know so much more about this place than any of us do.”
“I just wish it was something helpful,” Melody said. “I haven’t been able to help you out with something you haven’t already figured out for yourselves.”
“You warned us about the dark spirit and why this barrier is up in the first place,” Rarity said. “It might not seem like much, but that knowledge can at least temper our decisions and help us figure out what to do next.”
“So what do we do next?” Ratchet asked. “We should start trying to do things tomorrow at the earliest.”
“I’d say, get a team down into the shrine beneath the island to look around and stuff,” Rainbow said. “Bring some torches and stuff, and head in there as soon as the tide goes out. Just take a look around and gather notes on the place. Maybe we’ll find what we need to do there.”
“In the meanwhile, I can swim back to the sunken ruins at the atoll and investigate those,” Melody said. “Rarity can help me, if she wants.”
“Well, two sets of eyes down there would certainly be better than one,” Rarity said. “I’ll help.”
“And what should the rest of us do?” Doctor Gauze asked. “It doesn’t sound like everypony will need to go beneath this island to look things over.”
“Maybe we can go looking for clues up here,” Gyro said. “If there were ponies that ended up stranded here before, like that explorer Rainbow mentioned, then maybe they found something that we’re missing. We’ve just gotta comb the place over.” She turned her attention to Rainbow. “If you can get me that guy’s journal, I’ll look through it, cover to cover. Maybe I’ll find something you missed.”
Rainbow shrugged. “It’s worth a try, at least.”
“Then that’s settled.” Rarity smiled some now that they actually had a plan of action. There was nothing worse than sitting about with idle hooves when there was work to be done. “Rainbow will take a team to the archipelago, Melody and I will go to the atoll, and some of the rest of you will go beneath the island. I think that’s something we can work with.”
“Yeah it is,” Rainbow heartily agreed. “So for tonight, let’s just rest up and everything. I figure if we head out tomorrow before lunchtime, we can cover stuff up at the archipelago, maybe spend the night there, and head back the next day. Melody and Rares, you two can figure out your own schedule.”
“Sounds good to me,” Ruse said. Then, smiling at Melody, he casually meandered down the beach to sit by the siren’s side. “Now, I believe we were promised a performance tonight from our lovely siren ladies, weren’t we?”
Melody blinked, and the corners of her lips pulled back into a smile. “Why… I suppose I did promise you that, didn’t I?”
“Oh, please don’t feel pressured into it,” Ruse said. “I wouldn’t want to force that on you.”
“Oh, no, it’s no pressure at all!” Melody flashed her teeth for a fraction of a second, but closed her lips again before she could possibly frighten any of the ponies sitting around her. “I’d love to. And it would be good for Rarity; some magic might be good for her, too.”
“It would certainly help plug the hole in my chest,” Rarity said, rubbing at the heartstone sticking out of her scales. “And having some magic might be useful in the future. But I don’t know any songs.”
Melody chuckled and shook her head. “You don’t need to know any songs. They’re already inside of you. All you have to do is let them out.”
Gyro snickered. “In other words, ‘believe in yourself’.”
“Well, that’s the long and short of it, really. Don’t worry about the notes; you’ll know what to do.” Melody briefly rubbed one of Rarity’s shoulders with a cleft hoof, and then she turned her attention back to the ponies around her. “I do feel like I should warn you… we won’t sing any happy songs. That’s not what we draw our magic from.”
“The song surely won’t matter when it comes from a creature as beautiful as you,” Ruse said. “It’ll be perfect no matter what.”
Rainbow Dash snorted and laughed. “Better be careful there, Mel, I think he’s getting sweet on you.”
Melody blushed some and stammered slightly. “O-Oh. Well, uh…” She coughed and smiled. “Right! Song time. If you’ll just give us some space…”