Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

A Parting Gift

Rarity yawned and swayed in place as her lack of sleep through the night slowly caught up with her. Sure, the sun was bright and shining as it rose through the sky, but she didn’t care about that. She’d been awake for almost a full twenty-four hours now, or at least was getting awfully close to it. It wouldn’t be long before she simply keeled over from exhaustion.

But at least with Rainbow dozing on her snout, she had an incentive to stay awake and alert. The pegasus had more than earned her rest after everything she’d done that night to save all their lives. Rarity didn’t want to force her to move so that she could rest or accidentally send her falling if she happened to zone out for a few seconds. Even if the urge to lay down and close her eyes was so tempting…

A magic glow surrounded Rainbow’s snoozing figure, and Rarity blinked in surprise as something lifted her off her snout. Looking around, she spotted Ruse sitting by the shore, his horn aglow as he gently lowered Rainbow down to the beach. He set the pegasus someplace dry and away from the gently rippling shore and smirked at Rarity. “I figured you didn’t want to do a balancing act forever.”

Rarity smiled at him and sighed, letting out the tension in her shoulders and neck as she lowered her body toward the beach. “Not particularly, no. Thank you for that.” She cast a loving glance at Rainbow, who had already rolled onto her side and had started to drool on the sand. “She’s earned her rest, however undignified it may be.”

“Indeed.” Ruse shook his head as he watched her, but Rarity could tell by the way he fidgeted and the way his tail flicked that he had something more he wanted to say.

“What is it, darling?” she asked him, arching her back in the meanwhile. After being awake and active all night, her muscles had started to seize up. Sleep couldn’t come soon enough, but she didn’t want to rest while others still had their own problems.

Ruse hung his head. “I’m just… just upset by everypony we lost,” he said, averting his gaze. “Ratchet, Gauze, Soft…”

“…Melody,” Rarity finished when he couldn’t bring himself to say the siren’s name.

The ventriloquist winced and his shoulders sagged. “So… it’s true, then?” he asked her. “She’s really…?”

Rarity could only slowly nod her head. “She died fighting Soft Step,” she said. “Rainbow said she was shot through the heart. I… I found this near her body. Take it.”

Digging one of her cleft hooves into the sand, Rarity pulled out the chunk of Melody’s heartstone she’d recovered and kept close for safekeeping. She set it down in front of Ruse, who could only look at it with pained awe. “Melody told me all about heartstones before she turned me into a siren like her,” Rarity said. “She said that they’re the seat of a siren’s soul and where she draws her magic from. She said that when the first siren was born from the First Song, she entered the world through a gemstone, and it became her bridge between the real world and the realm of the Eternal Chorus.” Swallowing hard, she pushed the heartstone toward the stallion. “I’m… I’m very sorry, Ruse.”

“What… What is there to be sorry for?” the stallion said. He drew the stone closer and lifted it with his magic, his eyes watching the way the gem sparkled in the light of the rising sun.

“I know how you felt towards her,” Rarity said. The corners of her mouth twitched for barely a moment before sadness once more overtook them. “Sirens can feel these things.”

“Then you must know how… how stupid it all was,” Ruse bitterly remarked. “I let my fascination with a mythical creature get the better of me. That’s it.”

“She liked you, too.”

The simple statement was enough to make Ruse stop and freeze. Blinking in disbelief, he tilted his head back toward Rarity. “You’re serious?”

This time, Rarity could offer him a genuine smile. “You’re a real charmer, Ruse,” she said. “She really liked you. I had to talk some confidence into her. She was too nervous to talk about it, too afraid that it would never work. But I could feel the connection.” Her smile faded as the pain of her loss once again made itself clear in a new and tragic way. “I just wish you could have told each other that.”

Ruse dropped the heartstone from his magic so he could hold it with his hooves. “I… I wish we could have, too.” He sighed and ran a hoof over the faintly glowing stone, feeling the cracks and notches in the surface where Soft’s spell had shattered it from the siren’s chest. “What happened to her body?”

“It’s… it’s still on the seafloor,” Rarity said. “I didn’t have time to do anything with it, but I don’t want to just leave it there. I want to give her a proper burial somehow. We shouldn’t leave her for crabs and scavengers to tear apart.”

“Yeah… a burial would be nice.” Ruse clutched the heartstone close and gave Rarity a sad smile. “Thank you for this, though,” he said. “I can at least have something to remember her by.”

“Hold it close to your heart and imagine that she’s still there,” Rarity said. “If there’s any bit of her left in this world, it would be in her heartstone. If you keep it with you, she’ll always stay with us.”

Ruse closed his eyes and nodded. “I will,” he said. After a few seconds, he lowered the stone and looked over his shoulder, further up the beach. “We need to bury the others, too,” he said. “Ratchet, Gauze, and even Soft. She may have been twisted and turned, but she was still our friend. I just wish it didn’t have to end this way.”

“A sentiment I agree with completely.” Rarity sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “Let’s give everypony some time to rest before we do that,” she said. “I think we all just need a break and a reprieve from this mess. Some time to unwind and catch up on some sleep.” With an exhausted chuckle, she couldn’t help but add, “It’s been a wild night.”

“That it has,” Ruse agreed. He yawned and flopped onto his back, letting the sun warm his coat. “That it has.”

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

M3ledoy may not be fully dead if that stone is glowing.

[Eroraf86]

I know this won’t happen, but I really wish there was a way to bring Melody back. #SaveTheSiren

[PonyDragon]

9039488
And the others too, while we are at it.

That reminds me: What happened to the original body of the moon god?
Is it still around somewhere?

[ayh]

Know this is crazy but now I can't help but think time travel will some how be involved in that the heart stone and pony skeleton Rarity first found when exiting the moon God shrine are some how a displaced Ruse carrying Melodies partially regenerated heart stone.

Be crazy if instead of winding down we're about to enter a new arc where everyone is transported to the distant past to witness the first battle between the gods and the end of the Ponysian civilization.

[Merula]

...shes not dead isn't she?