Even though Rainbow Dash had promised herself nothing but sleep, sleep, and more sleep once her immediate business upon returning to the island had been taken care of, she at first tried to push it off even longer. She didn’t think there was any way she could fall asleep until she knew that Rarity was safely back on the island with her and not trapped under the water in the sunken temple, held hostage by unforeseen complications. But once she was lying in one place, unable to even summon the energy or willpower to pace, it hardly took the Sandmare more than five minutes to usher Rainbow away to a peaceful sleep, entirely devoid of dreams. Her mind was simply too tired to form any.

And it felt like it had hardly been a full minute between closing her eyes and somepony gently shaking her awake with a hoof on her shoulder. Moaning, Rainbow tried to rub away some of the drool on her chin with her fetlock, and her wings batted the pony ruining her sleep away from her. “Go away,” she groaned, trying in vain to roll away from the offending pony. “I haven’t slept in friggin’ days. I’m gonna be a moon zombie at this rate.”

She heard a masculine chuckle, smooth and sweet. “Well, Miss Dash, I’m merely doing what you asked us to do,” Clever Ruse said.

“I’m pretty sure that was ‘don’t bother me because I need some friggin’ sleep.’”

“Ah, yes, but the second part was to wake you up when Rarity and Melody arrived at our island, am I correct?”

Rainbow Dash sat bolt upright, her momentarily flailing limbs releasing a torrent of sand around her. Clever Ruse took a step back and shielded himself with his pale magic, deflecting the worst of the surprised mare’s sudden awakening. Rainbow hardly wasted any time before she was trying to reorient herself around the island, to remember what direction on the compass rose she’d fallen asleep in. “Really? Are they here? I don’t see them!”

“That’s because they’re still approaching the island,” Ruse said. He took a step back and gestured off to the side, helpfully orienting Rainbow to the shore. “Stargazer spotted them from his perch up in the clouds. They should be here in a few minutes, judging by the speed they’re moving.”

Rainbow scrambled to her hooves and set off at a gallop to the beach with hardly an acknowledgement for Ruse. “Awesome! I gotta see them! Catch ya in a bit!”

And then she was off, her wings swirling the sands as her feathers briefly brushed the ground. With a few strong flaps, she quickly darted up above the trees, even passing a startled squawk from Chirp as she blurred through the fronds. Whether or not the other survivors in the camp noticed her sudden and abrupt departure, she didn’t know, nor did she care. She only had her sights set on one thing: that beautiful white siren that was her marefriend. Somehow.

She briefly hesitated in midair. That would make one very confusing and strange story to try to explain to her parents when she finally got back home. ‘Yeah, hey mom and dad, I’m dating a fish who’s not really a fish!’ Shaking her head, Rainbow rolled her eyes and put those thoughts aside for now. She had more important things to think about.

Like welcoming Rarity and Melody back home. As soon as she got some altitude, Rainbow was able to spy the two sirens moving through the water, mostly by their large fins sticking out of the waves. A deep emerald green and a rich royal purple moved side by side like oversized and colorful shark fins, and Rarity in particular seemed to glow from beneath the waves with her shiny opalescent scales. They’d be at the beach in a few minutes, and even though Rainbow wanted to do nothing but fly right out to them and meet them halfway, she ultimately decided to touch down on the sand and wait for the two to pull themselves to the shore. After all, it would probably be better for everyone involved if she could mediate between the curious and/or fearful ponies on the island and the powerful and mythical sea creatures coming in from the shore.

Of course, Gyro and Hot Coals were still down by the water’s edge, so Rainbow went to them to wait for Rarity and Melody to arrive. The two grease monkeys both had their attention focused on the swelling water gradually making its way to them, and they only spared Rainbow a momentary glance before they went back to watching the water. Rainbow sat down next to them, but she couldn’t still her fidgeting wings. “They’re finally here,” Rainbow said, excitedly swaying back and forth. “If they’re coming here, they must’ve found what they were looking for!”

“You really think so?” Gyro asked. “You really think they found the last statuette and we can finally go home?”

“I doubt it’s going to be that simple,” Hot Coals said. “There’s going to be some catch. I know it.”

“I can’t expect anything anymore, honestly,” Rainbow said. “Things I thought for sure would happen haven’t happened, and things I never thought could possibly happen, have. There’s really no way to predict anything anymore.” But, nevertheless, she sighed and added, “But I’m looking forward for this to be done and over with. It’s gone on for long enough.”

“It would certainly be a really fucking long story,” Gyro said. “Might as well wrap it up now, right?”

“Good luck with that,” Coals said once more. “There’s still another act left to this. I can feel it.”

Nevertheless, a small crowd began to gather at the edges of the water, word having gotten out that the sirens were coming. Soon, Rainbow, Gyro, and Coals found themselves holding front row tickets to the arrival as the sirens’ fins got closer and closer. Excited murmuring made its way up and down the beach, and it seemed like everypony was ready just to catch a glimpse of the sirens. Yet even Rainbow knew they would be getting much more than that—it would be a spectacle none of them could ever forget.

And soon enough, the shallows of the waters around the islands finally forced the two sirens to breach the surface. Melody broke it first, followed by Rarity, and the two of them forcefully blew water out of their noses and squinted through the rivulets running off their scaly eyebrows. All the ponies on the beach craned their necks back as the sirens rose up to their full height, and soon they were all smiling at the grandeur in front of them.

“Amazing…”

“I never thought I’d see anything like this…

“They’re so beautiful up close…”

Rainbow could only grin as her eyes met with Rarity’s slitted sapphires, and she quickly took to the air to rise up to eye level with her marefriend. There, she flew forward and hugged Rarity’s hardened beak, grinning as she did so. “Did you get it?” she asked.

Rarity proudly held up a cleft hoof, within which rested a tiny earth pony figurine. “I did,” she said, smiling at Rainbow. The two of them regarded it for a moment before Rarity added, “We can finally go home.”