Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Did You Hear That?

Rainbow Dash’s ears twitched in the echoing darkness of the cavern beneath the temple. Between the constant dripping of water and the occasional splashing of blind fish in the stagnant pond, she thought she heard something that sounded like a pair of thunderclaps, very faint and very far away. Frowning, she looked back the direction she’d come, but the noise didn’t repeat itself, no matter how hard she listened.

A few paces in front of her, Rarity stopped and turned around, her legs splashing the water around her body. “Rainbow, darling?” the seamstress asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Thought I heard something,” Rainbow said. “Not sure what, though.”

“Was it a monster or vile sea vermin?” Rarity shuddered. “The stones under the water are already slippery and slimy enough. About the only way this could be worse would be if there was some aberration or nightmare hiding in these caves with us… and goodness me, I am doing myself no favors by thinking aloud about this.”

“There’s not gonna be any of that stuff, Rares,” Rainbow assured her. “There’s like, no big game down here for a sea monster to hunt. Just these little fishes.” To emphasize her point, she quickly sliced her wing into the water and flipped a pale, blind fish a couple of inches long out of the liquid and towards Rarity.

Rarity caught the fish with her magic, regarded it for a few moments, then grimaced and flung it back into the water. “I suppose you are right,” she said. “It would take a lot of these fish to sustain something big enough to eat a pony.”

They continued on to the next hallway branching off from the cavern. They’d already checked two of them, one on each side of the cavern, just to make sure that they didn’t lead anywhere else. Rainbow worried that the dark reaches of the cavern could go on forever in labyrinthine twists and turns like a never-ending maze, but both hallways they’d checked so far only went on for about a hundred feet before they ended in front of a shrine built around a statue. Both statues they’d seen so far were different and didn’t resemble either the Ponynesians’ sun or moon gods; one was a pegasus mare, and the other an earth pony mare. Each statue had been carved with jewelry and other accessories, and little relics and trinkets decorated their shrines. Rainbow figured they had to be important ponies in Ponynesian culture; the numerous mummified remains in little alcoves next to the shrines made her think they were maternal family heads of distinguished lineages or something to that effect.

But it was obvious that the Ponynesians had turned this empty magma chamber into a set of natural catacombs for their dead. They’d come across so many bodies so far that even Rarity had finally started to desensitize to them. Generations of dead seemed to fill these halls… and there was still no end in sight.

“I wonder if Stargazer and Ball Bearings are having more luck than we are,” Rarity wondered aloud. “Do you think we should just go straight to the end? I feel like we’re only going to find more of these family shrines down the side paths.”

“It probably wouldn’t be the worst idea,” Rainbow said. “There’s a ton of these side hallways to choose from, and if we spent the time to check them all out, we’ll run out of moonlight.”

“And being trapped down here with all these corpses is not high on my priority list,” Rarity said, quickening her canter a hair. “If we ended up trapped down here, we’d have to wait another month until the full moon is back, wouldn’t we?”

“Maybe more,” Rainbow said. “If the storms block the full moon again, then the temple wouldn’t even open.”

“You think they would?” Rarity asked. “You’re sure it’s not just a coincidence?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I told you, Rares, those clouds were summoned! Whatever magic brought them here in the first place was trying to keep the moonlight from hitting the tomb and opening it up. I don’t know why, especially if the Ponynesians used this place to bury their dead, but it was important to them for some reason. Important enough that they’d work some powerful magic that’s still working however many hundreds of years later.”

“Leaving lasting spells and charms seems to be one thing they were good at,” Rarity said. “I mean, the ward around these islands, the sun magic at the sun temple, the moonlight magic here…”

“Twilight would have a friggin’ field day,” Rainbow agreed. “Maybe when all this is done with we can come back on an official government expedition or something.”

Rarity snickered. “Please, Rainbow, don’t tell me you’re already getting nostalgic for our time spent on these islands when we haven’t even left yet.”

“I’m just saying, they could be pretty great if it weren’t for everything bad about them.” Rainbow smiled and briefly indulged her imagination. “Like, if we got a crate of booze and some good food, some modern comforts like fans and actual sturdy shelter, security to not have to deal with any minotaurs that might come our way… it’d be a pretty awesome getaway.”

“Yes, I see what you mean, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, now.” Rarity shook her head and continued to wade through the water toward the far end of the cavern. “I don’t think I’ll head to the beach for at least a year when we get back home. I’d rather go vacationing up north to the Crystal Empire or so. Hopefully I won’t have lost my tolerance for cold, even temperate weather.”

“I just know it’s gonna be way too cold back in Equestria,” Rainbow grumbled. “Even if it’s the middle of summer.”

“Just as we’ve adjusted to the tropical heat on these islands, I’m sure we’ll adjust back,” Rarity assured her. “For the time being, however, I suggest we focus on the now. We do have a job to do, after all.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “It’s just taking forever.”

“I’m not sure what all we can do about that, Rainbow dear,” Rarity said. “I can only wade through the water so fast.”

“Yeah, and you’ve got our light, too.” After a moment to think, Rainbow excitedly fluttered her wings. “But I can fly! Duh!”

“What are you going to do, fly in the dark?” Rarity asked her. “You’ll break your neck on something, I’m sure of it.”

“Not if I can see where I’m going!” Rainbow said. “Can you throw a light down the cavern?”

Rarity glanced up at the mote of light resting on her horn. “I suppose I can. It’s a little more complicated than simply using my horn as a light source, but I should be able to manifest a source and move it with my mana.”

“Good, then you should do that!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Throw it down the cavern as fast as you can, and I’ll fly after it! That’ll let me get a good look at what we’re dealing with and we won’t have to spend forever wandering around down here.”

“If you think it’ll work, I’m willing to give it a shot.” Rarity closed her eyes and let mana build on her horn, and Rainbow took wing and hovered in place. “I think I’ve got it. Whenever you’re ready, darling.”

“Do it,” Rainbow said, already pivoting about and beginning to accelerate down the hall. “Let her rip!”

With a surge of magical power, Rarity flung a softball-sized orb of light down the length of the cavern. It cast pale blue luminescence on the walls as it moved, and Rainbow immediately pumped her wings to take off after it. The ball of light buzzed by numerous hallways and rocky formations, slowly but surely diminishing in size the further it traveled. But it moved fast, and Rainbow had to flap her wings more than she’d expected to stay with it.

A stone wall abruptly appeared in front of Rainbow between blinks, and the pegasus flared her wings to avoid plowing headfirst into it. The orb of light struck the wall and stuck to it, fizzling out by the second, but Rainbow was able to land in the pool of water below and quickly scan the wall before it did. Her eyes seared the ghostly images of carvings depicting the moon and a unicorn stallion into her mind, and she noticed two very large stone mechanisms sitting on either side of the carving. But before she could figure out what they were for or even how they worked, the light faded away, bathing Rainbow in darkness.

“Another light!” she shouted back down the cavern, her voice echoing numerous times. “I found something!”

“What is it?” Rarity shouted back, but nevertheless, a second glowing ball of light soon hit the wall in front of Rainbow. It let her make out the carvings and mechanisms more clearly. She saw numerous soldiers covering the wall in front of her, all of them with their weapons trained on a ghostly unicorn while a pegasus sliced his horn off with a sword. A seam in the wall ran right down the middle, and the stone mechanisms on either side were slotted into grooves on the wall and held in place with large counterweights. It was a door, Rainbow quickly realized, and it was sealed from their side, not from within.

Rarity soon joined Rainbow’s side and let her eyes wander up and down the carvings. “Oh my,” she said, letting her horn brighten a little bit to provide a better steady light for the two of them. “This is certainly something, isn’t it?”

“I think it’s the something we’re looking for,” Rainbow said. “In fact, I’m sure of it.”

“Mmm…” Rarity nodded her head, then looked back the way they came. “I suppose we should find the boys, shouldn’t we?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, already taking wing. “You stay here with your light on. I’ll fly back and find them.”

Comments

[RoboRed]

She saw numerous soldiers covering the wall in front of her, all of them with their weapons trained on a ghostly unicorn while a pegasus sliced his horn off with a sword.

...Well...that couldn't have been a fun time...

[zaponator]

Whatever's in there is locked in for a reason. I suspect letting it out isn't going to end well.

[Mocha Star]

Well, I see only good things happening from here on out. They'll get in, get the thing, and trot out to a small banquet the former pirates have to offer in penance.
Moonlight and rainbooms, everypony. Just skip the next few chapters of peaceful celebration.
Oh yeah, after this goes so smoothly the other guys on that island will turn out to be freed from an enchantment.
Story over, right?!

[PonyDragon]

It was a door, Rainbow quickly realized, and it was sealed from their side, not from within.

I've got a feeling it should better stay sealed...

[Merula]

This is about to get all kinds of fucked up, isn't it?

[kotor511]

Still Listening to that delightful Shadow temple music from Ocarina of Time.