“Melody?”
The green siren’s scaly ears perked. “Hmm? What is it?”
Rarity paddled in place, water running off of her face as she lifted it from the water. “Do you think it was a good idea to leave Rainbow Dash and the others on their own in the water?”
Melody frowned and grinded her beak in thought. “It’s probably the best idea we have,” she said. “We’re too noticeable from a distance. If we stayed with them, then the avatar could swoop in, pluck one or two off the raft, and disappear before we could even do anything. Their best bet is to remain hidden, far from the island, where she can’t find them.”
Rarity hummed and looked down at the faintly glowing stone in her chest. “I suppose you’re right. It just feels awful to leave them there, entirely alone, and hope that Soft Step finds us first instead of them… or that we can even capture her interest when she only needs pegasi, not us.”
“At the very least, we have the advantage in knowing where the pegasi went,” Melody said. “If she wants to figure out what happened to them, she can spend the rest of the night trying to comb over the islands, or she can come to us and try to force an answer from us directly. And I don’t think she has the time to spend on the former.” As she said that, Melody cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders. “Be vigilant. I bet we’re going to see her before this is all said and done.”
“And if we do get into a fight with her?” Rarity asked. “What is our plan?”
“We sing and fight dirty if we have to,” Melody said. “We can do many terrible things to her with our songs. Not even an alicorn should be able to resist them. If that fails, we use our teeth.”
Rarity frowned. “I don’t even know how to fight with song,” she said. “How do you do it? Are there any specific melodies you can teach me?”
Melody shook her head. “Not exactly,” she said. “Remember that you’re a siren, okay? Not a pony. Ponies mimic music. Sirens are music.” She smirked and bared her teeth a little. “All you have to do is open your mouth and sing. You’ll find the notes for whatever it is you’re trying to do, so long as it’s simple enough.”
“Maybe I should just stick to using my beak and hooves,” Rarity said. “That might be easier for all of us involved.”
“Regardless, if you see her begin to cast magic, shout it down with a high note,” Melody said. “The higher octaves snuff out spells fairly easily. I’m not sure if they’ll work against an alicorn, but it’s worth a try. More complicated spells might be too much to counter, though, so be careful.”
“And if we can’t win?”
“Then we lead her away from the raft,” Melody said. “It’s all we can do at that point.”
Rarity’s antennae suddenly began to pulse, and she clutched at their roots in her forehead. It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced yet as a siren, and it left her confused and disoriented. “What… what is that?” she managed to growl out through clenched teeth. A look to the side saw Melody wearing a similar pained frown on her face. “What’s happening?”
“Magic,” was Melody’s answer. “Powerful magic. And it came from behind us.”
“Behind us?” Rarity had to resist the urge to put pressure on her sensitive antennae in the vain hope of trying to squash out the unpleasant phenomenon. Thankfully, it passed in a few seconds, leaving her somewhat sick to her stomach, but at least allowing her to think again. Spinning about, she looked back at the archipelago, half-expecting it to simply not be there anymore, but very little had changed. Perhaps the moon was a little bit brighter, or maybe the shadows coating the island had darkened, but Rarity couldn’t spot any drastic changes. Yet she had felt the magic, and Melody had confirmed it as much.
“She must have gotten behind us,” Melody said. “I don’t know how. It must have been by magic.”
“Then I’m surprised we didn’t feel anything when she got past us,” Rarity said.
“It doesn’t matter now.” Melody began to swim back to the archipelago, and Rarity followed in right behind. “What matters now is that we have to deal with her.”
Rarity swallowed hard. “Right. This should be fun.” Sighing she added, “Just once, can I go on a vacation that doesn’t involve fighting a powerful threat to the world as we know it?”
“Are you kidding me? That sounds great.” Melody’s smirk was short-lived, however, and a frown of focus and concern instead took root on her face. “Though if I had some more experience and practice runs before this, however…”
They stopped at the edge of the island, staying safely in water deep enough for them to comfortably use their full range of motion. Rarity wondered if they should maybe work their way around the island or fly above it, but she wasn’t too keen on doing so, anyway. Besides, if they moved either closer to or away from the raft drifting out to sea, then that could put Rainbow and the others in even more danger. It was better if they stayed where they were, at least until they figured out what was happening.
They didn’t have to wait all that long for Soft Step to appear. The alicorn casually emerged from the trees, slit eyes practically glowing in the night, her fangs loosely exposed between parted lips. Rarity shrunk back in horror; she really did look like a Nightmare Moon facsimile, save for her naked, green coat and fiendishly curved horn. It didn’t take her all that long to realize the horn on her head was the one she had accidentally given blood to. And as Soft Step approached, Rarity felt a familiar dark presence hanging around the shadows, idling at the edges of her vision, prying through the cramped windows of her heart.
But not even Soft Step could do what the figure limping by her side could. Squall shuffled across the sand, dragging her wounded leg, yet easily keeping pace with Soft Step’s longer strides. The pirate captain looked even worse than how Rarity had left her so many days ago, with her coat turning thin and patchy, her skin and flesh slowly shriveling away, and her bloodied wounds turned brown and black. But Rarity knew for a fact that she’d killed Squall, and if she was here and at Soft Step’s side, the alicorn had obviously found a good reason to raise her from the dead.
“There you are,” Soft Step purred, stopping on the beach in front of the two sirens. “It was very rude of you to hide your pegasi. My master has need of them.”
“You’re not going to have them,” Melody said, frowning at the two ponies and baring her teeth. “This ritual of yours is going to fail.”
“You’re merely delaying the inevitable,” Soft Step said. “All I have to do is pry out of your minds where you sent the pegasi off to, and then I’ll have them. That’s how I knew they were here. Ratchet was very helpful in that regard.”
Rarity began to bristle. “If you’ve hurt them—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Squall cut in, her voice coarse and harsh. Rarity recoiled at the glare she gave her, and the pirate’s horn lit as she twirled a knife in her grasp. “So, you think you’re a big fish now after you killed me, huh? Don’t give me that look. I know a killer when I see one, no matter what mask she hides behind. I’m going to have fun cutting your new scales off.” She grinned at Soft Step. “Does your stupid god mind, or are you just going to let me work?”
Rarity saw the irritation on the alicorn’s face at the disrespect for her master, but she nodded anyway. “Slice her to ribbons for all I care,” she said, her eyes settling on Melody. “I know who’s really the mastermind behind this all.”
Melody arched her neck back like a cobra ready to strike. “Then let’s settle this, avatar. We’ll end this tonight, once and for all.”
“Spare me the dramatics. But yes,” Soft Step said, spreading her wings and taking flight. “Let’s.”