Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Music by the Water

In a few minutes, everypony began to move from the beach to the lagoon on the south end of the island. Melody had specifically requested that they all move to that spot because the acoustics were better there; she simply wouldn’t perform someplace inferior to that, where the crooked lines of trees would create tiny, distorted echoes of her voice. Though Rarity didn’t see what the big deal was, she decided to trust the siren’s authority on those matters. Music was her domain, after all, and far be it from her to question it.

As the two sirens swam around to the lagoon, Rarity nervously cleared her throat. “So, um, pardon me for asking, Melody, but… how am I supposed to sing with you if I don’t know the words?”

“There are no words,” Melody replied. “Only notes.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Yes, okay, if you want to be technical. But then how am I supposed to sing with you if I don’t know the notes?”

“You know the notes,” Melody assured her. She grinned at Rarity, twisting her shoulders slightly to slice through a swell making its way to shore. “Every siren does. Even you.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Rarity felt her tail brush against the sand beneath them; the water was still shallow here, and if she kept slapping her tail into the sandy floor on accident. “I didn’t grow up hearing these songs. I don’t know what they sound like, except the two I heard from you.”

Melody just chuckled and rounded the rocky ridge sheltering the lagoon from the ocean beyond. “Just listen to the music inside of you,” she said, “and let it out. That’s all you need to do.”

Rarity sighed and followed Melody into the lagoon. “Well, if this is anything like spontaneous musical numbers back home, then it shouldn’t be too bad…”

Both sirens pulled themselves into the shallow waters of the lagoon, resting on their stomachs about halfway between the rocks sheltering it and where the water’s edge lapped at the sand. Rainbow Dash was the first one to meet them there, as Rarity expected. While they waited for the rest of the survivors to show up, Rainbow flew over to Rarity and perched herself on her nose like a colorful blue sparrow. “So, I’ll get to hear your beautiful singing voice again, eh?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and ended up looking past Rainbow; it was hard to focus on the pegasus standing on her nose without her eyes going cross. “I’m glad you think my voice sounds good, darling.”

“You’ve got the best one out of our friends,” Rainbow said. “I’m definitely not that good at singing, and Applejack’s talents lie elsewhere, to be honest. But you probably could have been a music star if you wanted to with your voice.”

“Thank you for the flattery,” Rarity said. She shook her head, remember too late that Rainbow was standing on her beak. When the pegasus squawked in alarm and fluttered backwards to avoid falling to the ground, Rarity sheepishly smiled at her. “Perhaps you shouldn’t do that.”

“Eh, it was fun. I do like riding my marefriend,” she said with a wink.

Rarity chuckled back. “I don’t think you’d be able to reciprocate very easily.”

Rainbow’s flirty grin dropped for a moment. “Yeah, that’d… probably be very bad,” she said, looking Rarity over. “Forget I said that.”

It wasn’t too much longer before everypony else started to make their way down to the lagoon as well. They arranged themselves in a small circle around Coals and Gyro, who’d managed to cross the island with the help of the others so they could listen to the sirens’ music as well. Within a few minutes, everypony was settled down and ready to begin, and Rainbow flew back to join them on the beach.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Ruse announced, claiming a front row seat to the show. “Should we expect anything odd?”

Melody shrugged. “I don’t know what it’s like to listen to a siren’s music when she’s drawing emotions from you. I’ve always been on the other end.”

“We’ve heard you sing before,” Rainbow said, “but you didn’t know it at the time. It’s hypnotizing, almost.”

Melody nodded. “Then I’ll try to keep my songs clean of those scales. I didn’t know I had listeners recently, so I ran through my usual favorite songs without thinking. But I’ll just try to let you enjoy the music and maybe pull a little magic for Rarity’s sake. She could use it.”

Rarity brushed the gemstone sticking out of her chest. “I wouldn’t say I need it, I’m sure I’ll be fine without it…”

“You’ll feel a lot better when you have some magic in you.” Melody lightly grasped Rarity’s shoulder and smiled. “Trust me.”

“If you say so…”

Melody then turned back to the ponies assembled on the beach. “I’m ready to begin. Rarity, just follow along. You’ll know what to do as it happens.”

Then Melody closed her eyes, almost like she was meditating. After a moment to watch her, Rarity attempted to do the same. Squeezing her eyes shut, she lit her ears twitch listening to the very breaths of the ponies gathered in front of her. She could feel the sand shifting beneath her chest as she drew in a deep breath, her lungs filling with air that she’d soon turn into beautiful music.

And then Melody began to sing, and Rarity felt the siren’s voice begin to resonate within her. But instead of compelling her to act or simply sit and listen, it made her want to sing. It built in her chest and her throat like a pressure, a geyser trying to burst through her vocal chords. Gritting her teeth, Rarity resisted the alien pressure on her core until she couldn’t anymore. So she opened her mouth…

…and music began to flow.

It wasn’t even a simple of assorted musical notes; it was a song in its own right. While Melody obviously led the song, her voice quickly ascending and descending the scales, changing its rhythm as she pleased, Rarity’s notes were slower, lower, more supportive. Rarity felt like a background singer to Melody’s breathtaking performance, but she didn’t complain about that. If anything, she was glad that Melody could effortlessly lead the way, and her body knew how to react.

And then she felt a tingle between her lungs. Slowly, a trickle of magic entered the heartstone in her chest, like a small stream of water pouring into an enormous basin. It tasted bittersweet for as much as it had a taste, but that was the only way Rarity could describe it. The sad and lonely music her and Melody sang harvested sad and lonely emotions from the ponies listening, and when Rarity cracked one of her eyes open, she song the excited looks on the survivors’ faces had turned to something more introspective and mellow.

When the song finally reached its conclusion, a feeling of guilt took hold of Rarity’s gut. Her music had made her friends sad and long for home. She felt horrible for twisting their emotions in such a way, and she didn’t know if the revitalizing and energizing spark of magic in her stone was worth it.

Melody also seemed similarly concerned, which surprised Rarity. But then again, how often did the siren feed on the emotions of ponies she was friendly with? Most of the time, her magic had been harvested from minotaurs that she never knew or met personally. But this was different.

Her eyes fell, along with her fin. “I’m sorry for that,” she said to them all. “I’m so sorry. I should have warned you more.”

“Warned us about your beautiful music?” Ruse looked up at her and wiped his eyes. “It’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Melody blinked. “But… it makes you sad.”

“A lot of beautiful things make us sad,” Ruse said. “We’re sad because they’re so beautiful and perfect. Much like your songs. The world doesn’t deserve to hear something like that. It’s not worthy.”

The green siren didn’t know how to react. “I don’t…”

Rarity found the strength in her to smile and hug Melody. “I guess sometimes, feeling sad is a good thing. It certainly beats being angry and frustrated.”

“It reminds us of what we have to go back to,” Ratchet said. “It’s good to have reminders like that. When we remember all we have to live for, we can do anything.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “Your music is awesome. You two should keep singing!”

“Really?” Melody asked. “I-I don’t want you to suffer…”

“Who says we’re suffering?” Gyro said, a little moisture clinging to her eyelashes. “I think after all we’ve been through, we need this.”

Melody looked at Rarity as if to question what she was hearing, and Rarity slowly nodded in agreement. “I suppose the audience has spoken,” she said. She softly smiled and winked at the green sea creature. “They want an encore.”

Comments

[Eroraf86]

Beautiful. That made me smile.

[ry_fluttershy]

Well...damn. Now I’m caught up. Been reading this since early March, and now I have to wait a whole day between chapters? Uggh! Seriously though, great work

[Snowdrifter]

Shoo be doo!
Shoo shoo be doo!