//------------------------------// // Could You Give It a Better Name, Please? // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash returned to Rarity several minutes later with the two stallions in tow. She’d forced them to hustle as quick as they could, not wanting to waste precious moonlight, and as a result they were practically drenched by the time they made it to the complete other side of the cavern. But the important thing was that they made it, even if they looked like drowned rats by the time they made it. “We’re back!” Rainbow exclaimed, fluttering to a stop and hovering next to Rarity above the water. “Ball Bearings got a little wet, but that’s his fault for not being a pegasus.” “I could drench you in water right now, but I don’t think your marefriend would appreciate it,” Bearings said. Rarity shook her head and giggled. “Oh, no, be my guest. Rainbow could use a good dunking every now and then.” “Heh heh… yeah, anyways…” Rainbow quickly darted further away from Ball Bearings, not wanting to get drenched and get her feathers soaked in case she needed them. She ultimately perched on one of the huge stone mechanisms locking the doors and slapped it with her hoof. “So Rares and I found this big door thingy with these big stone things that we probably need to figure out how to open because I’m willing to bet that what we’re looking for is on the other side of this door.” “We figured it would be best to bring you here before we attempted to open it,” Rarity said. “We don’t know what could be waiting for us on the other side.” Stargazer nodded, his body bobbing slightly as he too hovered in the air. “Probably a good idea, I’d say. We wouldn’t want to unleash something horrible without us all being present for it.” Rainbow snickered. “My thoughts exactly.” “But in all seriousness…” Rarity began, frowning at Rainbow. “It’s obvious these two large stone mechanisms here are locks of some kind. This door is locked from our side. I’m not sure I want to know exactly why the Ponynesians decided to do that or what they might be trying to keep inside.” “All I know is that this place gives me the creeps,” Ball Bearings said. “There’s something just not right about any of it. And a big door like that just makes me even more certain that we shouldn’t be messing around with it.” “We don’t really have much of a choice,” Rainbow said. “You guys didn’t see anything on your end of the cavern, right?” Both stallions shook their heads. “Just catacombs and shrines,” Stargazer said. “Seemingly going on forever.” “It must’ve taken a funeral procession an entire day to reach the end halls,” Bearings quipped. “I can’t tell if this place was somewhere to bury the dead with respect or a prison to keep control evil spirits,” Rarity said. “Many of the catacombs we’ve seen down here look like they were places of worship and honor, but then there are all these menacing statues and carvings of their moon god, along with mummified soldiers and other warnings not to go further. Not to mention this wonderful carving.” She slapped her hoof against the door, pointing to the depiction of the unicorn losing his horn. Ball Bearings immediately winced and rubbed at his own horn. “Looks like fun for the whole family,” he said. “Now I really don’t want to mess around with this door if there’s a chance I’m going to lose my horn.” “I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Rainbow shook her head. “It looks like it was just their moon god who had his horn chopped off. And I guess his head, too, from what Rarity said about the shrine earlier.” “I wonder if they cut off all his legs too just because they could, too,” Stargazer said. “Anyways, we should probably start trying to open this door,” Rainbow said. “We probably shouldn’t be wasting so much time down here.” “Have you at least figured out how these work?” Bearings asked. Rarity shrugged and shook her head. “I spent some time studying them,” she said. “They’re very large stone weights slotted into grooves along the door that lock it in place with the walls and the floor. If we found some way to lift them up and move them out of the grooves, then we can probably get the door open.” “Any ideas on how to do that?” Stargazer asked, eyeing the locks. “Not exactly,” Rarity said. “Rainbow and I encountered a door in a sun temple on the minotaurs’ home island that only opened when sunlight was shined on it.” She turned around and regarded the door carefully. “I’m not really sure because I can’t sense anything, but I think this door might operate under a similar principle, much like how moonlight opened the doors of the temple earlier.” “How are we gonna get moonlight all the way in here?” Rainbow asked. “We’re so far underground it’s impossible!” “Actually, it wouldn’t be too difficult,” Rarity said. “There’s a straight line down this cavern from this door here to the stairs we descended, and there’s another straight line from those stairs to the open temple doors outside. We’d only need three reflective surfaces if we wanted to get moonlight all the way down here.” “I’m not sure how you’re going to do that,” Stargazer said. “Even direct moonlight isn’t that bright. Unless you had absolutely perfect mirrors, it’d be far too faint to reach the door after being reflected three times.” “I’m sure the Ponynesians had something down here,” Rarity said. “Maybe we just need to search the shrines some more.” “Have you tried lifting the locks?” Ball Bearings asked. “You know, with your magic?” Rarity blinked and regarded the locks again. “…No, I have not.” Smirking, Bearings let mana build on his horn until he materialized a strong glow around one of the mechanisms holding the door shut. Then, with a grunt of exertion, he strained on the lock, and was rewarded with the sound of stone grinding against stone. The lock lifted a few inches out of the ground before the engineer’s magic faded away and it struck the ground with a booming thud. Bearings chuckled at the stupid expressions on the other ponies’ faces. “Always try the simplest solution first,” he said. “That’s the first thing they teach you when you become an engineer. Overthinking things makes them way too overcomplicated.” “I see,” Rarity said. “Well then. I guess that means we don’t need to find three utterly perfect mirrors to get this plan to work.” “Nope,” Rainbow said, dropping into the water. “Actually I like this plan more. Stargazer, help me push from down here. Rarity and BB, work together to lift this stupid thing. Let’s see what’s behind the Door of Unicorn Horn Castration!”