• Published 8th Dec 2011
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Aitran - CTVulpin



Twilight and Rainbow visit a pony version of Myst

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Chapter 9

It wasn’t just raining when Rainbow Dash appeared in Baseli; it was pouring. The cyan pegasus was soaked to the skin within moments of materializing on the tilted wooden deck of a ship not too unlike the book vault she had just come from. A quick glance behind her revealed that the ship was missing its front half and was firmly wedged into a giant grey rock of an island, and then she glared up at the rainclouds that filled the sky from horizon to horizon. With a snarl that dared the weather to defy her, she spread her wings and launched herself into the air. When she neared the clouds she thrust her front legs straight out and went into a roll to drill through to the top. She burst through the clouds and looped around to look at her work, grinning in triumph as she saw a hole easily ten feet across marring the dark, fluffy surface. “That’s right,” she said, landing at the edge of the hole, “I’m in charge here now clouds.” She preened for a little bit, basking in her own awesomeness while she shed the excess water from her wings, until she noticed the hole was starting to fill in. “Huh,” she said nonchalantly, “looks like you’re going to need a few more lessons in who’s boss.” She took flight and starting kicking at the edge of the shrinking hole, intending to spiral out and at least clear the air above the rock she and Twilight were obviously going to be staying on for the duration of their visit. After several circuits, however, she realized she wasn’t making any progress; the clouds were moving in to fill the hole as quickly as she beat them back. “Dang it,” she finally said in defeat, stopping at the center of the hole and glaring around. She turned her face to the clear blue sky above the cloud layer and shouted, “Was it too much to ask for you to write tame weather into your illusions Star Swirl?! What a load of pony feathers…” Grumbling, she aimed her nose toward the surface and folded her wings in for a dive. As she dropped, she took note of the lay of the land. The front half of the ship she’d started out on was wedged to the rock a short way around from the rear half, and a carved set of stone steps connected the two. A set of wood steps spiraled up from the port side of the ship’s bow to the peak of the rock, where a telescope was set up on a platform. A lighthouse rose out of the sea a short way from the bow, and some planks had been set up as a bridge between the ship and the lighthouse, and a similar plank bridge linked the rear ship half to something under a large umbrella. Twilight wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“Twilight?” Rainbow called out as she flared her wings and prepared to land on the rear ship fragment.

“Over here Rainbow,” the unicorn called out. Looking around, Rainbow saw her standing in what looked like a crow’s nest rising out of the sea and shielded from the rain by the large umbrella. Rainbow sighed in relief and fluttered over to join her friend. There were three big piston-like buttons in the crow’s nest, but there was still enough space for the two ponies to take shelter in it. “No luck with the rain I take it,” Twilight said dryly.

“There’s a reason we have an entire weather team for the big stuff back home,” Rainbow said, “I can break up and move these clouds, but there’s too much for even a pegasus pony as cool as me to handle by herself.” She sat down and looked out to sea, seeing several smaller rocks jutting out of the water around them for a short distance. “So, what’s the deal with this place?” she asked.

“Well, it’s obvious that a lot has changed between when Star Swirl’s journal ends and now,” Twilight answered, “There used to be a community of ponies living here, taking their food from the sea and using the lighthouse Star Swirl built for them to stay in contact with settlements far from here. I’m pretty sure the sea level was a lot lower back then,” she added when Dash gave her and incredulous look, “Star Swirl did note that the water had risen or the rocks had sank a little after a ten year period.”

“So what’s with the ship?” Rainbow asked.

“Star Swirl tried to put it into the world through writing,” Twilight said, “He wanted to use it to explore beyond the Rocks, but he… missed and it ended up on the big rock.” She shrugged, looking apologetic for some reason.

“I don’t think anypony lives here now,” Rainbow said, “I wouldn’t blame them if they all just up and left.”

“Nor would I,” Twilight agreed, “and not just because it’s such a small space now. Did you notice the cave?” Rainbow shuddered as she shook her head slowly. “It’s hard to miss,” Twilight continued, raising an eyebrow, “where the ship meets the rock, there’s a worked entrance that leads down. There’s probably living space or something down there, but it’s all flooded now, as is the doorway leading inside the aft cabin of the ship.”

“So, what does that leave for us to search?” Rainbow asked, “The lighthouse? It’s standing, just mostly underwater,” she added when Twilight gave her a curious look, “head around the rock a little and you’ll see it.”

“That’s definitely a place to look,” Twilight said, “but before I head back out and get wet again, I want to see if these do anything.” She nodded at the piston buttons and then pressed down the one on the left. The sound a of pumping mechanism started up from beneath the ponies’s feet and quickly rose to a rapid pace. “Curious,” Twilight mused, pressing the middle button. As the button depressed, the one on the left popped back up and the pumping noises started building up again. “A pumping station,” Twilight said, “I wonder…” She stepped out of the crow’s nest and walked carefully along the planks back to the ship, Rainbow flying behind her in curiosity. When she reached the ship, she went over to the rock, which did indeed have an open, obvious, expertly hewn doorway in it, and looked inside. “The water’s gone,” Twilight said in surprise and glee, “Rainbow, go back and turn on the left pump; let’s see what, if anything, that one clears.”

“Ok,” the pegasus said, glad for an excuse to get out of the rain for a moment. She flew away, and a few seconds later Twilight watched as the staircase beyond the doorway flooded again with surprising speed. Turning away from the cave, she saw that the staircase leading down into the interior of the ship was no longer flooded as it had been a moment ago.

“A cavern and the ship’s hold,” she noted to herself, “One of them probably holds the Aitran book and the other... probably the red and blue pages.” She turned toward the crow’s nest and beckoned to Rainbow Dash. “Let’s look around a bit more,” she called out.

“Coming,” Rainbow called back before flying over. The pegasus took the lead as they crossed to the bow-end of the broken ship. Another cavern entrance opened up where the deck met the rock, and from the prow Twilight could see the plank bridge spanning the gap from the ship to a small rock and finally through a window in the lighthouse, which was either far shorter than any lighthouse Twilight had ever seen pictured or was sitting on a rock way below the water line. Power lines stretched from the lighthouse to the top of the cavern entrance. “There’s a telescope at the top of those stairs,” Rainbow said, pointing out the wooden steps that had been driven into the rock.

“I doubt I could see much in this weather,” Twilight said, taking a few tentative steps onto the plank bridge. After assuring herself of the bridge’s stability and her own balance, she made her way to the lighthouse and poked her head through the window. Like everything else in this world, the interior of the building was flooded, with only a platform made of a few wide planks allowing one to stand inside and keep their hooves dry. Across the room from the window was a ladder leading up to a hatch in the ceiling, which was padlocked closed.

“Are you going in or not Twilight?” Rainbow said impatiently from behind her, “It’s wet out here.” Twilight rolled her eyes and stepped through the window, walking over to the base of the ladder to give Rainbow room to come in as well. “This is sure helpful,” the pegasus said sarcastically, “now what?”

“The third pump might remove the water,” Twilight said, glancing down, “and what’s this?” She noticed a black key on the floor, attached to a chain that had been screwed into the wood. “Why would somepony chain a key to the floor?” she said, tugging at it with her magic. After a moment of futilely trying to pull it free, she let the key drop and went into thought. “Try the third pump button,” she said at last.

“What, me?” Rainbow asked.

“You can get out of here easier than I can,” Twilight pointed out, “and you’re faster.”

“I’m never going to get dry,” the pegasus muttered as she backed out through the window and took flight.

Niether am I, Twilight thought sardonically, not unless this rain shows signs of letting up soon. After a couple moments, the water began to drain away as if the entire bottom of the lighthouse had fallen away into emptiness. That pumping machine means business, she thought approvingly. A staircase winding around the lighthouse wall was revealed by the retreating liquid and Twilight began making her way down it just as Rainbow Dash returned. The pegasus debated following her for a moment and then gave in and slowly hovered down after Twilight.

The bottom floor of the lighthouse was mostly unremarkable. Water leaked in through tiny cracks in an otherwise surprisingly solid barricade of wood and tar covering what was probably the door and flowed into a drain set in the middle of the floor. A square wooden chest held closed with a padlock sat on the floor near the drain, with a spigot set in the bottom of one end. “I wonder if that key up there will unlock this,” Twilight said after probing the padlock with her magic.

“I’ll take it up there,” Rainbow said, getting a solid grip on the chest and spreading her wings. She heaved with her wings and legs, but the chest didn’t budge. “Wow, that’s heavier than it looks,” Rainbow said, “what is it made of? Rock-wood?” She gave the chest a firm kick and winced slightly at the impact, while Twilight noticed the sound of sloshing water. Twilight opened the spigot with her magic and smirked as water came pouring out of it and down the drain. “Oh,” Rainbow said, “Now I feel dumb. All right, trying this again.” She cracked her neck and gripped the chest again. With a cry of effort, she hefted the chest off the ground and began to slowly ascend. After getting a few feet up, she all cut crashed back to the floor, panting heavily. “Dumb… box…” she grunted, pounding it weakly as she lay sprawled out over it, “why are… you still… so heavy?”

“It might because it’s waterlogged,” Twilight said, closing the spigot with her magic, “but even waterlogged wood can float, especially with an air pocket inside. Why don’t we let this place flood again and have the water do the heavy lifting?”

“You know what Twilight?” Rainbow said as she got off the box and stood up, “I am so glad you’re such a smart pony. You go run the pump this time though; I need to catch my breath before I go out into that storm again.”

“Fair enough,” Twilight said with a nod. She trotted up the long spiraling stairs to the exit and waited until Rainbow had nearly caught up before heading out into the rain and making her way all the way back to the crow’s nest. “Let’s see,” she mused when she arrived, “might as well search the caverns next.” She turned on the middle pump and went back to the lighthouse. When she got there, she saw that the chest was already opened, with the chained key sitting in its padlock, and the hatch in the ceiling had also been unlocked and opened. She climbed up the ladder and found herself in the lantern room of the lighthouse. Rainbow Dash was on the opposite side of the room, looking up from investigating a hoof-cranked generator.

“Hey Twi,” the pegasus said cheerfully, “you were right; the chained key opened the chest, and it had the key to let me get in here.”

“I figured as much,” Twilight said, “I was planning to check out the caves next.”

“Have fun,” Dash said quickly, “I’ll just stay here and figure out what this thing does.”

“I think it’s a generator Rainbow,” Twilight said, “with those power lines leading from here to the rock, it probably powers something in the caverns.”

“Ok then,” the pegasus said, “I’ll stay here and keep it powered while you go look around.”

“You sure?” Twilight asked.

“Me and caves don’t mix Twilight, remember?” Dash said testily.

“Ok, ok,” Twilight conceded, “I’ll come get you when I’m done.” She climbed back down the ladder, left the lighthouse, and made straight for the cave as soon as her hooves were on the steady deck of the broken ship’s bow. She stopped just inside the doorway to shake the rainwater out of her coat and look down the stone stairs in front of her, which were still damp from the recently removed floodwaters. “If there’s a single dry spot on or inside this rock, I’ll be amazed,” she muttered as she began to walk down, and down, and down. The stairs went so far down and turned so often that Twilight soon gave up all hope of guessing which way she was facing and where she was in relation to the entrance, and she was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic. The stairs finally came to an end, leaving Twilight in a straight hallway that ended in a study-looking metal door with a glowing blue button in the middle. When she pressed the button, the door slid back slightly with a hiss of released pressure before sliding up out of the way. Beyond the doorway lay a dimly lit room hewn out of the rock and sparsely decorated. To the left of the entrance stood a large but simple bed made up with dark blue bedclothes, the right side of the room had only a dresser, and at the back of the room was a table holding a lamp and a big half-scrolled sheet of parchment.

“This place has a definite-” Twilight started to say as she walked further into the room and looked around, cutting off with a surprised “eep” as she saw a large wooden mask hanging on the wall next to the door. It reminded her of the creepy-looking masks Zecora had in her home, except that it resembled a frog’s face more than whatever the zebra’s masks were supposed to be. Chiding herself gently for being startled by a simple, if big and creepy, mask, Twilight walked over to the table and unrolled the sheet on it. It looked to be a sea chart showing sailing routes between several small islands and archipelagos, with what looked to be the edge of a mainland filling the northeast corner. In the exact center of the chart was a cluster of small islands labeled “Basalt’s Rocks,” and every landmass directly connected to it by the course lines had been crossed out with a thick red X. “Did the inhabitants turn pirate?” Twilight wondered, frowning, “or was it somepony else?” She rolled the chart back up and went to investigate the dresser. Clockwork devices of dubious purpose sat on the top, a good sign to Twilight’s mind that Archeon had inhabited the room at one point. Sitting front and center on the dresser top was a flat circular device with a divot in the top holding a white crystal and a button and slider on the front. I’ll probably regret this, Twilight thought as she pressed the button with her horn. The crystal lit up and an illusory rose appeared in the air above the device. Pleasantly surprised, Twilight smiled slightly as she moved the slider to the right, only for that smile to vanish as the rose morphed into a bleached pony skull. I was right, she thought in disgust as she nearly skewered the device in her haste to switch it off, I regret that. Archeon was one twisted pony. I could easily picture him burning the books, but having Cirrus as our only option for finding a way home doesn’t feel right… With a sigh, Twilight began searching through the dresser drawers. Those that weren’t empty contained more maps and charts, none of them for places Twilight recognized. In the second drawer from the bottom, she found a piece of paper that had been written on and then torn down the middle. “The Hidden Vaul…” she read, “Finding and using the… first turn on all the… island of Aitran…? Well, if this has something to do with Aitran, I’m keeping it.” She started to put the paper in her bags, and then realized how wet they were and emptied them out to check the contents. The loose note paper was wet to the point of uselessness, but the Baseli journal and the small diary she’d found under Nyx’s bed looked ok, being only slightly damp along the top edges of their pages. Relieved, Twilight took the torn note, folded it in half, and placed it inside the Baseli journal for safe keeping before putting everything back in her bags. Turning her attention back to the dresser, she opened the bottom drawer and found a blue page waiting to be claimed. With some hesitation, Twilight picked the page up in her magic and stuck it into the Baseli journal. “That’s Archeon down,” she said, leaving the room, “Now for Cirrus.” The door slid closed behind her with a hiss as she started up the stairs, and she realized a second later that the room had been completely dry. Water-tight doors, she thought with a smile, not a bad idea.

About halfway up the stairs, Twilight paused in her climb as she noticed a recessed panel in the wall marked with a blue square outline. Suspecting a hidden room, Twilight wasn’t surprised when the panel slid aside at her touch, revealing a metal tunnel. “Might as well,” she said, crawling in. After a couple feet, she was able to stand up again and walk normally. The tunnel opened up into a dark room with a black metal floor and walls that turned out to be made of glass when Twilight lit up her horn to get a better look. The only illumination provided by the room came from a giant compass sitting in the center of the room. A comfortable glow came from behind the face of the compass, which was marked with a compass rose showing up to the tertiary directions. Round brass buttons rimmed the compass, numbering thirty-five in all. “Ok, you’re obviously an important piece of equipment,” Twilight mused, walking slowly around it, “but what do you do? All these buttons…” She held up a hoof, hovered it over the rim for a second, and then picked a button at random and pressed it. Instantly, the lights went out and an alarm started honking at her. “Ah! What did I do?” Twilight exclaimed, lighting her horn up as she looked around in panic. She spotted a blinking blue light in the distance and made her way over to it, finding it to be above a short tunnel ending in a panel that slid aside as she approached, depositing her in a dark stairwell. After getting her footing and bearings, she trotted up the stairs as fast as she safely could and emerged from the cave onto the aft end of the broken ship. Too relieved at her escape to mind having come out in a different place than she’d gone in, or even the pouring rain, she made her way toward the lighthouse.

She met Rainbow Dash where the plank bridge met the bow end and the two ponies caught each other in a hug before firing off questions at the same time. “What happened?” they both said.

“The generator suddenly lost all its stored power,” Rainbow said.

“I pressed the wrong button,” Twilight said.

“What button?” the pegasus asked

“I found a giant compass with all these buttons around it in a hidden room,” Twilight explained, “No idea what it’s meant for, but I think I blew out a fuse or something with the button I pressed. I still need to explore the other cave too…”

“You and electricity shouldn’t mix I guess,” Rainbow said with a wry smile, “I didn’t see anything break or explode out here, so maybe you didn’t do anything permanent. Just a second.” She jumped into flight, turned around, and went back into the lighthouse. A couple moments later she stuck her head out the window and called out, “The generator’s still working. Go see if the lights are working again, and don’t mess with that compass anymore!”

“All right,” Twilight said, turning away. It has to do something important though, she protested silently, there’s got to be a clue to the right button somewhere… She went back to the aft ship half and down into the well-lit cave. The stairs wound around and left her directionally confused once more as she approached and opened the water-tight door to Cirrus’s room. As in the Fortress world, the room was bright, opulent, and as different from Archeon’s room as day from night. A bed big enough for two large ponies, or one Princess Celestia, was set up with its head against the back wall, and between the wood paneling, decorative columns, plush carpet, gold-framed paintings of the sea, and potted ferns, it would be easy for one to forget that the room was carved out of a rock. A mahogany desk stood against the right wall and a tall dresser stood on the left. After a quick survey of the room and desk revealed nothing, Twilight went to work on the dresser. The top two drawers were surprisingly empty, especially given Cirrus’s evident love for material goods, but the next drawer down contained several small rolls of expensive-looking cloth in a rather eclectic range of colors and patterns, none of which seemed like something Rarity would deign to use. The next drawer held a bundle of candles and enough plates and tea-cups to set up a small banquet table, the likes of which Twilight had seen no sign. Finally, in the bottom drawer, she found the red page. The placement of these pages has to be deliberate, she thought as she placed the page alongside its blue rival in the Baseli journal, whoever tore them out and distributed them wanted whoever came looking for them to see how Cirrus and Archeon lived in these worlds. It’s not a good picture for either of them at this point… Concerned over the options presented to her, Twilight left the room and began climbing back to the surface.

She paused when she reached the panel leading into the compass room and bit her lip. Rainbow would be pretty mad if I knock out the power again, but this is one puzzle I can’t just leave unsolved. She rocked back and forth as she debated going into the room again, and then gave into temptation and opened the passage. She crawled inside and walked over to sit at the south side of the compass, staring at the face and willing it to reveal its secrets. “Hit the wrong button and the power goes out,” she said after a moment, “So what would the right button do? Why did you put this here Star Swirl? It had to have been him; I can’t imagine Basalt’s group coming up with something like this, whatever it is. Oh, wait,” she facehoofed, “Star Swirl would’ve mentioned this in the journal if he built it. Duh.” She pulled the journal out of her bag and flipped through until she found the section where Star Swirl began speaking about his construction projects. After two read-throughs, she failed to find any mention of the room she was in, but a drawing of an underwater lamp caught her attention. “Ok, going out on a limb here,” she mused, “but I haven’t seen anything that looks like that thing yet. Since this compass is connected to the power grid, maybe it’s supposed to direct power to the underwater lamps? Still, that doesn’t help me figure out which button to press… Gah!” Frustrated, she slammed a hoof onto the compass, accidently hitting a button. At the same instant that she realized what she’d just done, the room became far brighter as a pair of submersible lamps switched on outside the room, shining through the glass walls and revealing the sea-life just outside. “Huh,” Twilight said, stunned by her stroke of luck, “How do you like that… I guess there’s something to be said for brute-force and dumb luck.” She packed the journal back up, double checking that the pages and torn note were still inside it, and then made her way out of the room and up to the surface.

Rainbow Dash was waiting for her on the bow end of the broken ship, front legs crossed suspiciously. “What did you do this time?” she asked.

“I got lucky,” Twilight said without shame, “Some more lights turned on. What happened on your end?”

“The generator crank locked up,” the pegasus said, “So, you got more lights on down there. Are you happy with yourself?”

“Quite,” Twilight said, “I’ve also got the red and blue pages and a new list of questions and concerns. Let’s find the Aitran book and get out of this rain.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow said, “but where’s the book?”

“We haven’t looked inside the ship yet,” Twilight said, heading toward the pump station.