Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Push Ahead

‘Not much further away’ turned out to be a misnomer, as Rarity soon found out.

She couldn’t possibly fathom how large and complicated this structure was. There were staircases, balconies, hallways, enormous rooms, and open-sea courtyards scattered here, there, and everywhere. Every so often, she and Melody would pass by another giant circular room that led up into some pocket of air and hidden chamber beyond the water level. Had Rarity the time to explore on her own, she might have stopped and attempted to map out this entire structure in the hopes of uncovering some kind of lost secrets. But then again, it would be all too easy to become hopelessly lost in the maze of underwater tunnels and rooms.

“I still can’t believe the Ponynesians built all this,” she said, keeping pace with Melody as the green siren led the way deeper into the structure. “They were primitives and didn’t have access to any of the tools and knowledge Equestria has today. That they could even build something like this that rivals the grand majesty of the Canterlot Castle is astonishing beyond belief.”

“Who knows how long these ponies had inhabited this section of the sea,” Melody said, her eyes wandering up as she momentarily paused to admire a leaning statue. “Even primitives with enough time could do something like this, don’t you think?”

“Then they wouldn’t be considered primitives anymore, would they?”

Melody shrugged and slowly paddled onwards. “My great-grandmother watched Equestrians develop better ships over eight hundred years. Every pony civilization seems primitive at some point to us. A single siren’s lifespan will sometimes outlast a civilization’s rise and fall.”

“I can’t imagine what living for a thousand years would be like,” Rarity said. “I’d be afraid there’s simply too much to remember and my skull would burst.”

“That’s why we have bigger brains than ponies,” Melody said with a wink. She hesitated at an intersection in the hall ahead of them before seeming to remember which direction she needed to go. “Come on, this way. We’re getting close.”

“You said that earlier,” Rarity muttered, swishing her tail after Melody. “I feel like we’ve been going in circles.”

“I’m just trying to remember where exactly this door is,” Melody said. “I haven’t been down here for two or three decades. There hasn’t been much of a point.”

Rarity sighed and rolled her slitted eyes. Of course there would be some kind of complication like this. At least it was because Melody was slightly lost, not because of some sort of unspeakable horror or magical anomaly preventing them from pushing ahead. “So long as we get to where we have to go before the next full moon…”

They carried on in silence for a few minutes, Rarity content to just follow Melody’s fins while she examined the architecture of the temple. There were certainly numerous images and carvings worked into the walls of the structure, seemingly telling the entire history of Ponynesia from start until its eventual decline. And, judging by the craftsmareship of the murals and carvings, the deeper they went into the structure, the more recent the events became. It wasn’t too long before she drifted to a stop in front of an enormous carving of a circle of ponies seemingly worshipping a unicorn descending from the moon itself, while on the panel next to it, the cult circle was attacked and massacred by other ponies wielding spears and slings. All down the hall, additional panels played out the fall of the Ponynesian civilization in abstract detail, recounting nearly every little event that happened in the war. As Rarity drifted along, she saw how increasingly desperate the primitives became, and some of that desperation was even reflected in the carvings about the conflict, in how they became sloppier and more rushed, like somepony was trying to etch everything down as it happened in real time.

She remembered the panels she’d seen at the tomb on the archipelago and blinked a few times. “Didn’t the Ponynesians bring the avatar’s dead body to this structure when they slew him?” she asked Melody. “I saw some panels that seemed to depict that back on the archipelago.”

“If they did, I haven’t seen it yet,” Melody said, her fins swishing along as she swam. “But if anything, it’s likely beyond the door I couldn’t get through. That would be the most secure place for something that dangerous.”

“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just burn the body or destroy it in some way,” Rarity said, drifting back up to Melody’s side. “Why bury it in someplace like this? How did they even bury it down here in the first place if the entire structure is submerged?”

“Maybe the building sunk into the sea sometime afterwards,” Melody said. “Maybe there’s another explanation. For all I’ve been able to figure out about this, there are still some things I don’t know for certain, simply because there aren’t carvings about them, or whatever carvings there are were destroyed over time.”

“I feel like there’s something that we’re missing,” Rarity said. “Something that would make this all make more sense.”

“If there is, I haven’t found it,” Melody said. “I only know what I’ve been able to interpret from these walls.”

The two sirens swam on a bit more, until they finally approached a dead end. In front of them, an enormous stone door sealed with tarnished silver chains filled up the end of the hall. The chains seemed to be attached to enormous counterweights in grooves set into the walls, with handles on the weights to lift them up. Apart from that, Rarity couldn’t see anything more attached to the door.

Melody drifted over to the door and put a hoof on one of the chains. “This is as far as I’ve been able to get,” she said. “The door is warded and sealed, and the chains attached to the counterweights keep the two halves pulled together. To open the door, we’d have to lift the counterweights to let the chains slacken, and then pull the halves apart.” She pointed to one of the counterweights, and then she noted the distance between them with her tail. “They’re not too heavy for sirens like us, but they were too far apart for me to lift both at the same time. If I lifted one, then the other door half would pull taut against it, keeping it shut. We’d have to get them both up if we wanted the halves to pull away from each other.”

Rarity furrowed her brow and looked the door over. “But even then, how will we get inside?” she asked. “If we’re both holding up the counterweights, then how will we get through the door?”

“The door is heavy enough that the halves won’t slam together when we drop the counterweights,” Melody said. “You can quickly dart through the gap, and I can hold the halves open. Then you should be able to get inside, get the figurine, and leave. It’ll be simple.”

“Couldn’t we stack stones under the weights once we raise them to keep them up?” Rarity asked.

“The counterweights sink into holes in the ground. It might not look like it, but the handles are near the top,” Melody said. “Even when you lift them up all the way, there’s no space to put something under them.”

“Then there goes that plan,” Rarity muttered. “If only things could be simple, but they never are. I’ve learned that lesson quite a lot from this island.” Sighing, she shook her head. “Last time I went through a door on my own, I talked with a god of darkness, nearly became enslaved and enthralled, almost died, and moon mummies attacked my friends. I’m afraid that if I go through this door, I’ll find an open portal to Tartarus that will spawn an infinite army of demons to enslave the world.”

“I’m… sure something like that won’t happen.” Melody fidgeted, her hooves brushing together. “If you want, I can go through the gap, but you’ll have to hold the doors open.”

“No, no, it’s better if we do it your way,” Rarity said. “You’re the larger siren, so not only does it make sense that I should slip through the gap, but you’re likely much stronger than me. I’d be afraid I couldn’t hold the doors open very long and then we’d be separated.”

Melody nodded. “A fair point. I’ll make sure I can hold the doors open first before you go in, and if I do, I’ll give you a shout when I start to feel tired. We don’t have to do everything in this first foray, alright? We have time for multiple attempts.”

“Time indeed.” With a few swishes of her tail, Rarity drifted over to her counterweight and put her hooves under the edges. “Whenever you’re ready, darling.”

Melody nodded and did the same. With her hooves on the weight, she curled up her tail and pressed it under herself, like a coiled spring against the floor. “Do like I do,” she said, “and push on three. Ready?”

Rarity coiled her tail and wedged it against the floor, already tensing the muscles along its length in preparation to heave. “Ready.”

“Good. On three. One, two, three!”

Rarity’s cheeks puffed with seawater as she struck out with her tail. The counterweight in her hooves slowly began to rise, the old stone fighting with tremendous friction against its groove. But, little by little, Rarity pushed her counterweight toward the top of its groove, and when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw the chains slackening and the door halves beginning to separate, slowly rolling away from each other on their slightly declining grooves.

“You got yours at the top?” Melody asked. She twisted and shook her forelegs, trying to jam the block in somewhat on its side to allow friction to hold it in place better.

“Yes, I do,” Rarity said, also trying to follow suit. There wasn’t much room to maneuver or wiggle the counterweight, but she felt like if she twisted it slightly, it didn’t sink back down as quickly. Even when she let go, she saw that it only drifted down slowly, and the two halves of the door gradually pulled closer together a few inches every second.

Melody swam away from her counterweight and slid into the gap between the door halves. Bracing her hooves against each side, she grunted and pushed her forelegs out as far to each side as she could. Though they trembled a bit, both halves of the door stopped moving, and the counterweights ceased dropping. “I’ve got it,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can hold it open for a few minutes, but after that, you’re going to need to come back.”

Rarity nodded and already began swimming over to the door, dropping to the ground and using her hooves to pull herself through the gap under Melody. “I’ll be quick,” she said. “And please do say something if you’re starting to become tired. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“Don’t worry,” Melody said. “I will.”

Then, frowning down her scaly muzzle, Rarity pulled herself into the chamber lying beyond.

Comments

[Eroraf86]

This can only end well.

[RoboRed]

#HereWeGo

[Elsaack]

I was thinking turning Rarity into a siren was an overly complicated solution to just carrying an upside down bucket with some air in it to breath. I was wrong, whole place is just too massive. Not to mention I'm paranoid about betrayal now, from Melody leaving Rares in this room or pirates in a few chapter. The gang has weeks of time to kill until the big bad is out. How bad can things get before that?

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

8875193
Not enough air for something like this. Siren was the way to go.

[Merula]

Once more unto the breech

[PonyDragon]

“Last time I went through a door on my own, I talked with a god of darkness, nearly became enslaved and enthralled, almost died, and moon mummies attacked my friends. I’m afraid that if I go through this door, I’ll find an open portal to Tartarus that will spawn an infinite army of demons to enslave the world.”

Considering your usual luck that is still unlikely, but not impossible...
If you are really unlucky, said army is lead by Squall.

[zaponator]

Water temples usually aren't this easy...