Equestria Adventures: Unlocked Secrets
The mini-vacation in the 'taken over' Ponyville Day Spa proved to be as relaxing as Twilight had expected it to be for all involved. However, much to her chagrin, having all four alicorns in one place and seemingly defenseless did not lead to Tirek bursting in to try and steal all the alicorn magic. Probably a vain hope, considering Celestia had implied the effort it took for Tirek to drain magic was proportionate to the amount of magic the pony he was stealing from had and alicorns naturally had a great deal more magic than the average pony, but it would have ended the situation rather handily. Instead, Twilight was forced to work on her fallback plan of Harmony powered RYNO weaponry.
It had taken her a week to reproduce an additional five pony-based RYNO VI Protosuits designed to interface with each other and her own Protosuit and to run on Harmony energy, and an additional week to customize them all to each of her friends' combat styles. (Admittedly, most of that week was taken up figuring out that Fluttershy did indeed have a combat style, apparently based heavily in wrestling and chokeholds that she primarily used when performing chiropractic care on her larger animal friends.) She then brought her friends to the Tree of Harmony to familiarize themselves with the non-combat controls of the Protosuits while she did her best to solve the riddle of the box.
"Now let's see..." Twilight murmured as she examined the box. "The Tree gave us the box after returning the Elements of Harmony, so it should be some other way of tapping that power, or something similar. There are six keyholes, requiring six keys. Six Elements of Harmony, six of us...one key for each of us." She bent down to peer into one of the keyholes. "Despite the standard appearance of the keyholes, the locks are actually magical, and are quantumly entangled so that the box can only be opened if all six keys are turned together."
"You got all that just by looking?" Rainbow asked in shock.
"No, I got all that after studying it off and on every time I was in the Everfree ever since the Tree spat it out," Twilight corrected. "This examination is just helping me collate my thoughts." She returned her focus to the box. "I'm not even going to try to circumvent these locks. Not only would that likely fail, the box's higher dimensional nature likely would backfire explosively if the locks were forced. Safety measures like this are usually there to ensure whatever power is locked inside is accessed safely and properly. Not doing so is just asking for trouble."
"So...we gotta get our house keys or somethin'?" Applejack asked curiously.
"I don't actually lock my house," Fluttershy pointed out meekly. "So...I don't have any keys."
"No, it wouldn't be physical keys," Twilight corrected. "More like metaphorical keys, tied to our Elements."
"Metaphorical keys?" Spike asked, his voice full of confusion. "What, like something that represents a lesson you all learned about the nature of your Element beyond what you knew?"
"...actually, that could well be it," Twilight admitted thoughtfully. "It could be we've each recently learned a lesson about our Element that made us understand a side of it we hadn't thought of before, which reacted with the Element energy inside our bodies and exposure to the higher dimensional nature of this box to become energized with a transformative matrix which will cause them to become the keys when exposed directly to the box."
Spike blinked a few times. "I...think I understood half of that."
"Girls!" Twilight called out. "Come over here! I think I know how we can get this box open."
A quick explanation - followed by a slower explanation that didn't use as many scientific terms - later, and everypony was on the same page. "So...some item we got recently when we learned something about our Elements will become keys when exposed to the box?" Rainbow clarified. "Pretty sure I know exactly what mine is." Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the pin Spitfire had given her. "I...guess this is what I learned about...being loyal to myself? Not really sure how to put it into words." A rainbow sheen flared over the pin as she set it near the box.
"Oh hey!" Pinkie cried out. "I recognize that sheen!" Reaching into her mane, she pulled out the rubber chicken Cheese Sandwich had given her. It too flared with rainbow light. "It might not be the lesson, but Cheesy taught me a whole new way to laugh!"
Applejack quickly decided to change the subject. "Silver Shill - the guy who was workin' fer Flim and Flam - gave me this bit, since I taught him about what it meant to be true to one's values...even if that didn't mean always bein' 100% honest." The bit flared with rainbow light.
Rarity and Fluttershy each set out their own keys, a rainbow colored spool of thread from Coco Pommel and a flower from Seabreeze the Breezie. All the items showed the same rainbow sheen as they reacted to the box. "So...what now?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"Is there some spell to work?" Rarity asked curiously. "Or a ritual perhaps?"
Pinkie seized her rubber chicken. "Come on Boneless!" she shrieked out as she shook it. "Spill the beans!" As she shook it, it slipped out of her hooves to fly against the box. As it impacted, it blazed in a pale rainbow light, spun rapidly, and folded in on itself in the shape of a key with the balloon mark of the Element of Laughter on it, inserting itself into the keyhole.
"...that works," Rainbow allowed, picking up her pin.
"I don't think throwing is necessary!" Twilight called out quickly. "Merely placing it against the box should do the trick!" After all, the pin had a sharp point.
Each of the others placed their items against the box, causing them to take the shape of keys. All eyes then turned to Twilight. "So...my key..." Twilight murmured thoughtfully.
"Think, Twilight," Rarity offered helpfully. "When have you completed a difficult magical task, and in doing so learned something new about Friendship through interaction with another?"
"Since the box appeared? Can't say I have," Twilight murmured thoughtfully. "I mean, I can think of a few from before, but I hadn't encountered the box yet-"
"You said the box was hyperdimensional or something!" Pinkie pointed out. "And you did that quantum entangle brain thing with the Great Clock. Maybe that means some object got the box energy from you before you actually encountered the box, especially if the future entanglement point was post all this."
"I...actually don't know when the future entanglement point was," Twilight allowed, "so that's a distinct possibility. And the past entanglement point was during the trip from Equestria to Veldin, so it could be anywhere in my life." Idly, she stroked her Q pendant thoughtfully, not noticing it giving off a brief rainbow sheen.
"Uh...Twilight?" Spike asked, having caught the glow. "What about that?" He pointed to the charm.
"This?" Twilight asked. "Qwark gave it to me the night after he officially became my big brother. It was just after the worst of my separation anxiety issues built up - what with what the...the Technomites did to me...after the Dreadzone..." Shuddering, she banished those memories quickly as the others pulled her instantly into a comforting hug. "He said as long as I wore it, he'd always be with me. It's helped me deal with the worst of that to the point I'm almost normal. I'm sure it must be something else."
The others exchanged significant glances. "Uh...Twi?" Applejack spoke up. "That kinda sounds exactly like what we're looking for as far as key item."
"And it did just give off a-" Rainbow began.
"No!" Twilight snapped instantly. "It's definitely something else! It's gotta be something else that's going to get metaphysically transformed into some key to unlock Harmony power, some object I can handle never getting back! Not this!" She clutched the pendant protectively, starting to hyperventilate.
The others stared at her sympathetically. After all, their own objects that became keys were of at best momentary sentimental value, reminders of the lesson or a new friendship and little more. But for Twilight...it was the symbol of a bond that had shaped and stabilized her childhood and helped her remain mentally well - relatively speaking - into adulthood. For them, it had been a shiny bauble they'd barely had time to get attached to. For her, it was like asking her to let them take away her security blanket that she'd never been able to let go of.
As the others moved forward to pull Twilight into a hug, Rarity stepped back thoughtfully. She had an idea of something she might be able to do to fix this, but it would take a bit of time...
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I honestly had forgotten about that pendant.
Thus the Chess Master Rarity began her work . . .
WHERE WERE YOU ON THAT ONE, BOX?!
7965607 Mostly cause it was never said she was wearing it for a long long time, if ever since that first time.
ooohh.....
not the pendant....
Well, this could be troublesome. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
wait when did she get that
Sooooooo....
I got nothing. I never had the equivalent of a security blanket.
7965829
Just after the double-whammy section during which Twilight, still growing up and maturing, had to first deal with being almost programmed to kill her own father, Ratchet and then had to face off against the Technomites who CLONED Ratchet to use as foot-soldiers. Qwark was adopted by Ratchet as a "son" so that he could be Twilight's big brother, and he (Qwark) gave that pendant to Twilight.
That about sums it up with as minimal a spoiler as possible.
7965607 Ditto
So.... Will Twilight sacrifice her home's future for the sake of keeping a keepsake?
Will she give up the symbol of her bond to her off-world family for the greater good?
Will she find another way that doesn't require her to do either of those things?
To find the answers....
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/531/557/a88.jpg
It is nice to see that Twilight still has issues with what happened to her. I hope the impromptu help she is about to receive will help her out.
I'd forgotten about the pendant since it was mentioned once and never again. But hopefully Qwark has a spare somewhere that he can give Twilight. I do know if anyone had tried to take my first Teddy Bear (Whom I still have) from me as a little kid I would have fought to the bitter death to keep him, so I can kind of understand how TWilight feels.
But I will say this: MAGIC CAN BE A REAL DICK SOME TIMES!!!!!!
I imagine the pendant started flashing the rainbow sheen as she started thinking about it, and then more and more as she continued talking about it, and then when Twi said she didn't want to give it up, it suddenly stopped and acted all chagrined. XD
"Come on, Mistress of Time! I'm right here! It's not that hard!--
"Oh. Uhhh. Right. Maybe you could use just the chain holding me on?...maybe?"
I thought the last part was just gonna be some oblivious comedy, but I see now that this is kinda sad.
7965607 Me, too.
........ please tell me rarity has a very good photo graphic memory?
7965607 Same. And wow, I guess Twilight is still suffering on the inside, huh? Not that I can really blame her for that.
Ooh, love to see the neurotic adorkable side of Twilight.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7967743 We get something of a sample of what happens to someone from Equestria who lives most of their lives in the Star Wars universe. FenrisianBrony's story The Dragon and the Force is doing an excellent job in showing how traumatic living through three wars in the Star Wars: The Old Republic timeline was for Spike. Check it out. It's a little brutal though.
7965607 CHEKOV'S PENDANT!
7966669 It would be a douchey move for Rainbow to toss Twilight's necklace at the box.
7968055 i suppose. Although, it is actually far more likely in Satr Wars that they would pop up, and live a normal live as an abnormal alien. Outer rim will be rough, yes, but even out there people are in the billions of lives who simply just get on by on their own.
Conpared to the 40k verse where it will just be a (quite possibly very slow and painful) death.
Huh. I forgot about that...
HEY! I caught up! Woohoo!
Good story ya got here! Can't wait to see all the fun that's coming up.
Though if I may ask, more Ratchet/everyone else interactions maybe?
I was honestly hoping Fluttershy's style would actually include something rapid-fire, like the Mini-Sasha from Fortresshy.
Well, Rarity is commonly pretty clever, hopefully she's clever enough to come up with a good solution for this.
Wouldn't it be funny if they unlocked the box just in time to hit an approaching Tirek with a graceful of compressed magic castle?