Without having to worry about angry minotaurs finding and catching her, Rarity could actually take the time to admire the architecture of the temple as her and Rainbow crossed the terrace. Judging by the way the columns were placed and the distances between the statues, Rarity figured that the terrace could’ve once held ten thousand ponies without much trouble. Given the size of the island and the scarcity of other ruins and markers of ancient civilization that she and Rainbow had come across in their limited time there, that had to amount to the entire population of the island in its prime. It was both a mystery and a tragedy how an island of ten thousand ponies could seemingly vanish to be replaced by a tribe of violent minotaurs.
“Did they level off half of the mountaintop to make this?” Rarity asked. Her hooves crushed springs of scraggly grass growing out of cracks in the smooth block of stone, fighting for space to survive on bare rock. “I can’t possibly imagine how much effort that would’ve taken!”
“They probably worked on it for years,” Rainbow said. She walked over to one statue that was mostly intact and pointed to its base. “They carved these out of the mountain stone, too. They didn’t quarry the stone and erect the statues later; they just carved it from the meat of the mountain as they were clearing out this terrace place.”
Rarity ran her critical eye over the statue. It was pony shaped, yes, if a bit lacking in detail and proportion. But she couldn’t find a single seam in the stone, from the statue’s horn all the way down to where the square base met the stone below. The mineral grain moved along the statue in one smooth direction, with nothing to indicate that separate stones had been shaped and rearranged later with impossibly tight measurements.
“This level of craftsmareship would certainly rival some of the classical masters,” Rarity mused. Her eyes wandered over the graveyard of other smashed and toppled statues, and a sad sigh escaped her lips. “A shame that such beauty had to be destroyed. Can’t even savages appreciate true art and beauty?”
“They don’t seem like the artsy fartsy type, Rares,” Rainbow said. “They only really seem interested in being angry and covering themselves in tattoos and eating ponies from what I could tell.”
“And I trust we won’t have to interact with them.” Rarity swished her tail and approached the large doors set into the stone wall of the mountain. A pale blue glow manifested over them for a moment, and Rarity widened her stance as she grunted in frustration. After a few seconds, her field disappeared. “It would have been so thoughtful of them if they could have just left the doors unlocked for us!”
Rainbow shook her head and trotted up next to Rarity. “Yeah, I tried to push them open, too, but they didn’t budge. They’re locked up good.”
“Which is why we’ll need that medallion the one minotaur had.” Once more, Rarity’s horn flickered, and the crack between the doors glowed blue as she searched it. Her pink tongue darted out one side of her mouth and her brow furrowed further and further. Eventually, with sweat beginning to bead on her forehead, Rarity let the spell fizzle from her horn. “The latch inside is too complicated for me to turn with my magic. Too many moving parts.” She regarded the door with a new sense of appreciation. “A lot of skill went into designing the lock on this door. This place must’ve been very sacred to them if they kept it this secure.”
“Then we’re on the right track.” Rainbow stepped back so she could eye the symbols covering the door more clearly. “I tried to make sense of all these runes and stuff last night in the dark, but that didn’t happen. Got any ideas?”
Rarity shifted her gaze from the star-shaped mark in the door to the decorations around it. There were all sorts of little squiggly lines trimming the edges of the doors; runes, most likely. She immediately gave up on trying to make sense of those and instead shifted her focus towards the larger pictures carved into the stone. At least there were things here she recognized: a sun, an island, a group of ponies kneeling before a pegasus decorated in tattoos. Scattered around the pegasus were baskets of food and jugs filled with some kind of liquid—offerings, perhaps? Given that this was a place of worship, she tried to put the pieces together in the most logical combination.
“I think it’s dedicated to a sun deity of some sort,” Rarity said. “A pegasus covered in tattoos.”
“They forgot Celestia’s horn,” Rainbow quipped. “And gave her a dick.”
“Rainbow!”
“Hey, if blaspheming our royal sun goddess sends her attention this way, then I’ll happily burn a few effigies of her.” The pegasus snickered and added, “At least somepony would know where we were.”
“We’ll at least try it before performing blood magic and dark rituals,” Rarity said. “It can’t hurt.”
Rainbow shook her head. “Right. But if there’s a pegasus on this door, then how much you want to bet that there’s a little pegasus statue sitting right inside?”
Rarity tapped a hoof to her chin. “I suppose that’s the best guess we have to go on,” she said. “If that’s the case, then we need to snatch it and bring it back to our island.”
“Well we’re not gonna do that until we get this door open.” Rainbow kicked the door in frustration, wincing slightly when she realized she’d just kicked a big stone monolith. Rarity could tell she was trying to hide the pain, so she didn’t bring it up. After sucking down a deep breath, Rainbow pointedly turned away from the door and looked back out over the terrace. “All those minotaurs that were here last night just walked on in like it was nopony’s business. You think they’ll be back tonight?”
“No, that would just be absurd.” Rarity shook her head. “I couldn’t imagine making this hike from the shoreline every night. It must’ve been a special occasion; that would explain all the fanfare and goods they brought up here to feast on last night.”
“Then I guess we should be safe to set up camp here,” Rainbow said. “So long as we’re somewhere in the middle of the ruins away from the road, I don’t think any minotaurs will bother us. We’ll just have to make sure that we’re back here before sundown every night so we don’t run into them if they’re on the prowl when we can’t see.”
“Agreed.” Casting one last look at the door, Rarity started for the stairs. “Let’s get our supplies moved someplace more tenable for the time being. After that, I think it’s time we got a look at this village. What do you think?”
Rainbow smiled and bobbed her head. “Couldn’t agree more, Rares.”