Gemfire - II

Next installment of my messy Rarity fantasy thing. First part is here. Can you guys guess the puzzle? If you can't, it's probably my fault.

,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-(_Gemfire_)-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸

♦♢ II ♢♦

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“Rarity? Rarity! Hey, I think she’s waking up!” Sweetie Bell’s voice. Anxiety wrecked her words like instruments out of tune, but some harmonious melody of relief asserted itself at the tail end of her words.

“Oh good! Finally, we can start,” a smooth womanly voice answered.

Rarity groaned, one hoof going to her head as her eyes eased open to see the night sky twinkling above her, the stretch of a tall tower reaching into its heart. She was laying on cold, hard stone. Sweetie Bell’s muzzle hovered over hers, and it split into a small, twitchy grin.

“Rarity, I’m so glad you’re all right!” her sister gushed.

Rarity winced, feeling a pain in her head and shoulder as she rose. “What happened?” she asked drowsily.

“You passed out,” Sweetie Bell answered, glancing nervously over her shoulder. Her grin was already gone.

Rarity blinked with surprise, some spots coursing through her vision as her blood rebelled. “Passed out? But why--?” She turned around to see just what her sister was looking at... and screamed.

Double drat! The gargoyles! How could I possibly have forgotten!?

The stony guardians had turned on their perches, their slim tails flicking lazily behind them as they grinned beatifically at her. Any other time-- like say, when they weren’t alive and eyeing her like predatory cats-- and Rarity would have been able to admire the smooth carvings of their bodies, elegant and almost stately in their design. Compared to other gargoyles, they were quite easy on the eyes.

“Hullo my little pony. As we were just telling your darling sister, we have been waiting for you,” The female gargoyle (a name floated from the ether of Rarity’s mind: Haydon?) said.

On the other side, Scorpan (Yes, that was his name, I’m sure of it), added, “Don’t feel bad for fainting. At least one of the others did as well.”

“One of the others?” Rarity sputtered, looking between the gargoyles. “I do not understand! Why haven’t you attacked us? What others are you referring to?”

Haydon held up one delicate claw. “First, we have not attacked you because that is not our purpose. It’s really quite simple.” She raised another claw on the same hand. “Second, you are not the first visitors to have recently arrived…”

Rarity tried to slow her breathing, though it was hard. Just because an imposing gargoyle said it wasn’t going to kill you, that didn’t actually mean it would keep to its word. Mentally, she prepped a flash spell in her mind-- in case she needed to blind the beasts long enough for her and her sister to escape.

She lined up a teleport spell (taxing on the mind, and not as quick as a flash spell) back to the road for Sweetie Bell in case both of them could not escape.

When Rarity felt certain she could cast said spells within the next moments, she carefully asked, “And are you perhaps talking about the servants of the Sun Patroness who conduct their business in this tower?”

A silent shake of the head from both gargoyles.

Rarity quirked an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side, one ear drooping in the same direction. “Then… are there perhaps others who are…?” she couldn’t bring herself to finish, dread gripping her heart. Were we too late? Have I failed before I’ve even truly begun!?

Haydon giggled and asked in return, “Others who are looking to take the prizes hidden in the tower?”

The unicorn’s white coat reddened and she cleared her throat. “Er, yes.”

Scorpan smirked and gave a short nod. “I’m afraid so, little pony.”

Rarity frowned, striking the ground with her hoof. “Blast it! They’ll have beaten us to it, then!”

“On that, you are incorrect,” Scorpan informed her with calm.

Now she looked at him, bewildered. “How so?”

“Because they are waiting for you,” Haydon explained.

Rarity blinked, her body going still. “Come again?”

“That’s what they were telling me while you were unconscious, sister,” Sweetie Bell hissed behind her. “They said… they said you were expected!”

Rarity looked sharply at her sister, then back at the gargoyles. “Is this true? But how can that be?”

Scorpan raised a chiseled eyebrow. “Did you not stop to wonder why it was your College sent somepony almost completely unsuited to the task given to her?”

She pondered this with puckered lips, her eyes turning down in thought. “Of course I did,” Rarity relented. “But it was not an impossible task, surely!”

“Impossible to anyone unworthy of entry, yes. But you and your sister are worthy, little pony,” Haydon explained gently. “You see, you would not have found this tower had you not been deemed so fit by the heavens, and in turn, the gracious entities that gave us life.”

At Rarity’s continued look of confusion, Scorpan chuckled and asked, “How did you come to hear of the Celestial Tower?”

“Through the legends!” Rarity answered with a creased brow. “Like everypony else! But what does that--”

“And when did you first lay eyes on the tower? Was it this night? Or some other night?” the gargoyle pressed with a firm but soft voice.

Rarity’s tail flicked once across the stone, her frown deepening. “The first night I saw this tower was three days ago. I was returning from a special production in Trottingham.” Her expression softened as she looked up at the tower with the fog of memory clouding her eyes. “I had traveled that road so many times, but… but suddenly there was the tower. Within view of the main road. The sun almost seemed to be spotlighting it, the way the clouds broke just so…” She squinted her eyes. “Come to think of it, I did find it rather odd that nopony else seemed to have the faintest idea what I was talking about. I returned to Canterlot, a bit perturbed by the sudden appearance of this tower, but when I asked other travelers I passed where the tower had come from, they would look at me like I was a fool and ask, ‘What tower?’ It wasn’t until I mentioned it in passing at the Bardic College that somepony finally took me seriously.”

Haydon and Scorpan nodded together.

“You see,” Scorpan said, “Those unworthy of the opportunity to enter the tower cannot see the tower. Those who are told of the tower’s location, promptly forget.”

Rarity’s eyes grew. “So… So the reason I was sent here was because the College knew I was expected?”

Again, the gargoyles nodded in unison.

The unicorn looked from the door to the pair and back. “Then why in Equestria is this door still refusing to open for me?”

“You aren’t entitled to the boons found within the tower, little pony,” Haydon giggled. “Scorpan mentioned being worthy of the opportunity to enter the tower, did he not?”

Rarity eyebrows rose. “You mean I must pass a test?”

“Yes,” Scorpan said.

Rarity’s look soured. “Well what sort of test? You aren’t going to ask me to slay a beast, or some other brutish thing, are you?”

“Oh my, no!” Haydon assured her with a soothing coo and placating claws. “The Celestial Tower is in line with the spirit of the Heavenly Sisters, whom breathed into our stony hearts life eternal. Though powerful and worthy protectors of ponykind, their domain lies not in strength of the flesh, but of the mind. Thus, you will be tried on your mental acuity. Only one of you need solve it to gain both of you entry.” A delicate shrug. “The sisters favor… ah… diversity, as they do comprehensiveness. Knowledge passed along the bonds of friendship is a knowledge shared, after all.”

“In a sense, you have already completed two tests of which we are aware, little pony,” Scorpan said next. At Rarity and her sister’s confused stares, he explained with unflappable patience that only a living statue could affect: “One domain lovingly tended to by the Sun and Moon Patroness is that of friendship. Family or not, your bond with each other as sisters is a clear testament to your indomitable love in your hearts. Without this, you would not have noticed this tower. Indeed, never!”

Rarity shared a proud and affectionate look with her younger sister. It was one thing to have somepony observe that you and your kin got along well. It was another thing entirely to have a deity’s agent declare your bond was pure by heaven’s standards!

“Next,” Scorpan continued, “You wouldn’t believe how many ponies assume that the Celestial Tower lies only within the domain of the Sun Patroness. Most come during the day, believing they are somehow honoring her, or even perhaps that the treasures inside can only be won with her loving light.” Scorpan and Haydon looked at each other, their hard bodies shivering with mirth. The male went on with a chuckle, “The fools! They sit outside, stumped as to how to get inside… But huzzah to you, dear mares, for you have figured out, whether by design or by happy accident, that the Moon Patroness has as much say as to whom enters as her elder sister does!”

“Thus our coming alive only at night, being the only ones able to deliver the final test to grant those worthy seekers a chance at entry,” Haydon purred.

“So…” Sweetie Bell stepped forward, one ear pricked as the other drooped and flicked. “All we have to do is pass this test…? Then we can get inside and take whatever is we’re looking for? No more trials?”

“Provided those inside are agreeable to such a thing, then yes. You may take what you will!” Haydon answered with a broadening smile and a squint of her eyes.

Rarity’s tail flicked, her muzzle tightening. “Very well then! If we must pass a test of the mind, then we are ready!” And at the risk of being rude, let’s do get on with it! The idea of losing out on our prize, and thus our reward, leaves me feeling quite ill! But she didn’t dare voice this thought.

Scorpan drew himself up to his full height, his expression turning as grave as it had before he had come to life. “In a large valley lives four normal, healthy beings: A pony, a dragon, a griffon, and a minotaur. Each being is immensely proud of an aspect of their forms. One cherishes their horn, another their tail, another their wings, and the last their eyes. Each being also excels at a single personal hobby. Knitting, painting, writing, and singing. There are three occupied homes: A hut, a castle, and a cave. The one who claims the west side of the valley lives in no structure, built or natural. The griffon lives opposite of the pony. The being proudest of their eyes enjoys painting. The being residing in the hut adores their wings. The one who knits does so because their home does not hold heat well. The dragon needs glasses. The pony detests built structures. If the singer faced the south of the valley, the writer would be to the left. Now tell us… Who lives to the north of the valley? Which being enjoys writing?”

Rarity’s eye twitched. Sweetie Bell looked at her sidelong. “You skipped Logic in school, didn’t you?” she hissed. The younger sibling earned a hard elbow to the ribs for her trouble.