//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Riddle // Story: Trial and Error // by Kiernan //------------------------------// Chapter 1: A Riddle Every step foreward for you is a step leeward for another They laughed. They laughed and laughed and laughed. They laughed at him, and his crazed ideals. They laughed until they were out of breath and couldn't laugh anymore. For years now they had laughed. Laughed at him, at his work, at everything he stood for, and at his lack of a cutie mark, at his age. Well, who would be the one laughing now? He had done it. he had done something that none before him had ever dreamed. He had made it possible for unicorns and earth ponies to fly as the pegasi, without being constrained to those weak, pitiful excuses that had been used for decades. Now, all he needed was a test dummy... He turned around and bolted to the door, which swung open into the stone hallway. Looking both directions, he found nothing, only torches lining the walls. but he actually had expected this, because when you live in an abandoned castle, in a forest no one dared set foot in (or at least the last time he checked, it was), you didn't get a lot of visitors. But that was how he liked it. No one to bother him, no one to laugh at him, and... no one to bounce theories off of or perform tests on. He sighed, remembering that with every benefit came a condemnation. At least it worked the other way as well. He galloped on, at full speed, approaching the town ahead. It seemed... bigger than he remembered it. But again, he had been locked away for quite some time in that castle. Things tend to change when you've been gone ten years. Now in town, he galloped through the streets, spotting passerby that would do wonderfully for his experiment, but seemed that they were more concerned with other things, and quite content to stay on the ground. He continued to gallop, a very precise location he had chosen, not far from the center of town, in an old, hollowed out tree. This was where he went in previous years: the town prison. The worst of the filth from all of the city was thrown down here, deep within the bowels of the earth. Bursting through the door, he knocked over what appeared to be another being, not a pony, though. It was purple and had green spines along its head and backbone. However, this was all the information he was able to collect before he burst through another door, this one leading to a staircase leading down in a spiral pattern. At the bottom he came to an abrupt halt, suddenly realizing that, either he was in the wrong tree, or the prison had been removed from the area. All that was here was a series of machines and piles of notes, stacked carefully on the tables.He was about to go back and check if the scaly creature from before was sentient, when all of a sudden-- "Can I help you with something, sir?" said a voice from the stairwell. Looking up, he saw a unicorn descending the stairs. She was a deep shade of lavender, with a pink streak in her otherwise purple mane and tail, which were both brushed to perfectly straight lines. her cutie mark was a six sided star, surrounded by five others. It reminded him of a certain collection of stones that he had seen at his castle,in what seemed to be the main throne room. "Yes, where are the prisoners? I should like to relieve one of his bindings."He said, trying to sound his most tolerant. "There aren't any prisoners in here," Answered the mare with a smile. "This is a library. Well, lab, really. The library's upstairs." "Ah, then where did they move the prison?" he asked, trying very hard to sound cordial. "There haven't been any prisons in Equestria for two years. All the prisoners have been set free, at their bail. What, have you been living underground for the last five years?" she joked. "N-n-no!" he lied, and he knew she saw through it when she chuckled. "Well, would you like an update on recent history then?" she asked, getting closer. He desperately feared her getting closer, as she would probably laugh at him. "No! That will be all!" he yelled, galloping past her and up the stairs. He slid past the counter, around the creature he had knocked over before, and out the door. Once more at op speed, he wove through the crowd, not even thinking about whom to use for the experiment. At the lack of a prisoner, he would just have to use another guinea pig, one closer to home. For who better to advance than oneself?