//------------------------------// // It Takes Two to Tango // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// “It’s… not exactly the most straightforward thing,” Melody said. Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I mean, the whole place is underwater. Of course it’s not gonna be super easy. But since you’ve apparently been here a long time, you’ve probably got it all mapped out and everything. You probably know where all the important things are. Heck, if you’ve seen the figurine sitting on a table or something somewhere, you could just go and fetch that and bring it back to us! Easy peasy!” “I have not seen any small figurines or statuettes in the ruins of this temple,” Melody said. “There are a lot of rooms I can’t get to. They’re all sealed off, and I can’t open them by myself.” “But, like, do you at least know which one’s likely to have the thingy behind it? Or maybe just how to open the doors, even if you can’t do it yourself?” Rainbow fidgeted in place; she was already anxious to get started. Even if they had weeks until the next full moon, every minute spent sitting around felt like another minute wasted, another missed opportunity to get home safe and sound. “I have my suspicions,” Melody said. “Deep in the bottom of the temple, there’s an enormous door that’s sealed shut. I’ve tried breaking it down before, but it’s enchanted and warded so it’s impervious to damage. It’s sealed by two big mechanisms that have to be undone at the same time to get it to open. At least, that’s what I think, but I can’t open both at once. They’re too far apart, and I might be big, but I’m not that big.” “What kind of mechanisms are they?” Rarity asked. “Enormous latches? They aren’t magical, are they?” “I don’t think they are,” Melody said. “They don’t feel magical, and they don’t resonate with my voice. If they did, I could manipulate them into opening from afar.” “So you’re saying you can’t reshape the stone like you did earlier?” Rarity asked, her eyes noting the stone bowl still jutting out of the floor a few feet away. Melody shook her head. “The stones deeper inside the temple are very well warded. I can’t affect them at all. Believe me, I’ve tried. The only way to get through that door is by opening the latches at the same time, and I can’t do that by myself.” “Is there a way we can help?” Rainbow asked. “Maybe if we work together, we can get to it!” “And just how would we do that?” Rarity asked her. “It’s underwater, darling. We can’t breathe underwater.” “Well… yeah, that’s a problem. But there’s gotta be a way around it!” Ruby eyes swiveled to slitted emerald, and Rainbow fluttered over to Melody until she was practically standing on the siren’s nose. “Can’t you like, do some magic or something with your voice? Sing us a song and turn us into seaponies or something! That was a fun adventure, wasn’t it, Rares?” “It certainly was an adventure,” Rarity half-heartedly agreed. “Though I could have done without all the near brushes with death we encountered. At least we met plenty of nice creatures along the way.” Melody’s scaly brow furrowed, and she rubbed her beak with a cleft hoof. “I… don’t think I could pull that off,” she said. “That’s very powerful magic. Maybe older sirens might be able to pull it off, but I’m barely more than a juvenile. And I haven’t exactly had a lot of time to practice my songs with the pack.” “Maybe you can just like… I don’t know, make a big bubble of air or something for us.” Rainbow scratched her chin. “There’s gotta be something you can do, right? We can’t be entirely stonewalled on options here, there’s always something!” The pegasus glanced back at Rarity, who seemed to be deep in thought and staring at something. Frowning, Rainbow fluttered back down to Rarity and tilted her head to the side. “What’re you thinking about, Rares? Got any good ideas?” “One, maybe,” Rarity said. “I just think it might be too much of a stretch to work.” “It’s better than nothing, I can guarantee you that,” Rainbow said. “Let’s hear it!” “Very well…” Rarity shifted her attention to Melody, though Rainbow noted her eyes were on the gem in the siren’s chest rather than her face. “Melody, darling, what happened to the emerald that I had with me when you found me?” Melody blinked. “You… you mean the heartstone?” “Heartstone?” Rainbow asked. “What’s a heartstone?” “This is a heartstone,” Melody said, tapping the gem in her chest. “It’s what makes a siren. It allows us to feed off of the emotions we inspire in creatures when we sing. It’s the source of all our magic. It’s… it’s basically a siren’s soul. Legend has it that when the first siren was born from the First Song, she entered the world through a gemstone, which became her link—our link—between the real world and the realm of the Eternal Chorus. Losing your heartstone condemns you to death, both in spirit and in body.” Rainbow winced. “Eeesh. That’s… that’s a thing, I guess.” Her attention shifted back to Rarity. “And you found one of these? How? Where?” “When I was escaping the tomb,” Rarity said. “I found a skeleton higher up on the mountain where the caverns opened up to the surface. It was cradling the heartstone. I don’t know why or how it got there, but I decided to take it with me just in case.” “Huh.” Rainbow blinked, piecing together a plan—though it was less of a plan and more of a blind hope. Turning to Melody, she raised an eyebrow. “So, Melody… you have that, right?” Melody hesitantly nodded after a few seconds. “I buried it here when I realized what it was. It was so old that it had lost its luster. Whoever’s heartstone it was, her spirit is already gone from it.” Rarity nodded. “Now, this is going to sound crazy,” she said. “But… do you think you could use that heartstone and whatever magic might still be inside of it to turn one of us into a siren?” “I…” the siren’s voice trailed off, and her eyes fell downwards as she started to think. “I… I don’t know. It’s… possible, I think. Maybe. It depends on how much magic is still left inside of the stone, but it would give me something to focus my songs through regardless. It would let me bypass the specifics of the song I’d need to turn you into one without it. It might work.” “It’s worth a shot, right?” Rainbow asked. “Because I mean, let’s face it: we’re not getting that statuette without another person who can breathe underwater.” “Then if it’s the only chance we have, we must try.” Rarity nodded to Melody. “Would you please fetch the heartstone for us, Melody dear? We might as well see if this works.” “Are you sure?” Melody asked, tapping her hooves together. “This… might not be the best idea.” “Girl, the only way we get anywhere is with stupid ideas,” Rainbow said, grinning. “It’s got us this far; who’s to say it won’t carry us any further?” At Melody’s skeptical look, Rarity chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t mind her, Melody. She can just be like that. First, let’s at least give this a shot. We have no other alternatives, as far as I can tell.” “If you insist.” Melody backed away from the pool’s edge and positioned herself above the deep drop into the temple. “In the meanwhile, you two should figure out who’s going to join me. There’s… no guarantee I’ll be able to undo it, even if it works.” Rainbow and Rarity shot each other worried looks, but by the time they’d turned back, Melody had already begun to dive deeper into the temple. Clearing her throat, Rainbow raised an eyebrow at Rarity. “So… who wants to be a fish?”