//------------------------------// // Through the Maze and Into the Marble // Story: The Chalice of Rhinyorgrun // by Coyotek4 //------------------------------//                 Quibble emerges from the corridor, his face and mane covered with sinewy webbing.  He falls to the floor, relieved that the inconvenience is the worst part of his walk.                 Rainbow Dash flutters in after him.  “Looks like you were right,” she admits as she scans their new surroundings.                 “I usually feel more smug when I’m right,” Quibble retorts as he brushes away the stray strands from his face.  He eyes the room they now find themselves in.  “Hey, what gives?  This room looks just like the last one!”                 “Not quite,” Rainbow corrects.  There’re only two paths onward … and I hope you got an idea about those blue and orange arrows.”                 Quibble’s attention is drawn to the lintel above a passageway directly ahead of them, adorned with two orange upward-pointing arrows.  To his left, a second passageway is adorned similarly, but with two blue upward-pointing arrows.  He turns around … and notices that the megaweb he had just walked through has already reformed, obscuring the view to the chamber they had just left.  Looking up, he sees no markings related to the corridor they came from.                 Rainbow eyes each lintel in turn.  “Maybe the two arrows means both corridors are safe.”                 “That is probably what they signify,” Quibble agrees, “but we can’t know if they’re honest symbols or not.  In the last room, we had red and green arrows; we knew which was honest and which was false.”                 “Well, break out that legend-thing again.  Let’s see if we can figure out those markings.”                 Quibble nods in agreement, then produces and unfurls the parchment.                 “… They’re not quite the same,” Quibble points out.  “With the orange square, there’s a checkmark next to an up arrow and an ‘x’ next to a down arrow.  With the blue square, it’s the other way around.”                 “So maybe it’s telling us when each of those colors is to be trusted,” Rainbow adds.  “Maybe the orange symbol is true if it’s a true path onwards, and false if it leads to … well, to what we saw before.”                 “I think you’re right,” Quibble states, excitement in his tone.  “And the blue symbol is false if it’s the correct way onward, and true if it isn’t.  Nice work, Rainbow!”                 Rainbow blushes briefly.  “Hey, my awesomeness isn’t just confined to flying, athleticism, and loyalty.”  She turns back to the two lintels.  “So how do we use this information?”                 Quibble ponders for a moment, before turning towards his left.  “It’s this way … I think.  That is, I hope.  Which sounds better?  ‘I think’, or ‘I hope’?”                 Rainbow eyes the blue arrows above the corridor Quibble now faces.  “So what makes you think … or hope … that this is the right path?”                 “Well, both the orange and blue symbols say the same thing, so either they’re both true or they’re both false.  If they were both true, then the blue-lintel corridor in particular would be a way onward.  But that would mean the symbol was actually false, at least according to the parchment.  So the symbols can’t be honest; they must both be false, so at least one of these corridors is a trap.”                 “Furthermore,” Quibble continues, “since both symbols are false, that means that the orange path is a trap, and the blue path is the correct way onward.  So I think … yeah, I prefer ‘think’ … that this is the way to go.”                 Rainbow eyes the megaweb blocking the corridor.  “You want me to go first this time?”                 “You can’t.  If I’m wrong, or if the parchment is misleading for some reason, I need you to pull me out … I won’t be able to save you.”                 “OK then … good luck.”                 Quibble nods and proceeds down the corridor as before.  And, as before, he emerges from the corridor covered in spiderweb but otherwise unharmed.  Rainbow flies through behind Quibble, using her wings to help brush off excess web from Quibble’s mane.                 “So far, so good,” Rainbow acknowledges as she looks around and groans, “and I’m seeing a pattern here.”                 Their new surroundings mirror their previous chambers, this one again with three paths onward as their way into the area again quickly clogs up with fresh webbing.  Looking around, they notice a red arrow above the left-hand path and a green arrow above the right-hand path … but each arrow now points downward.  Straight ahead, a lintel above a third corridor displays a purple arrow, also pointing downward.                 “Well … green is green, right?”  Rainbow starts flying towards the right-hand corridor, before Quibble bites her tail to stop her mid-flight.                 “That symbol’s still honest,” he explains, “and now it’s telling us that it’s a trap.  That’s not the way to go this time.”                 “Oh … yeah, good catch,” Rainbow sheepishly admits.  “So what about the purple arrow?”                 “I think it’s like the yellow arrow … but this time, there has to be either one or three false symbols.  And with the other symbols being one true and one false like before, this one must be true … it’s telling us that it’s a trap, just like the green arrow.”                 “So that just leaves …”  Rainbow turns to the left-hand corridor with its red symbol.                 “Yeah … after me, I guess.”  With less trepidation, Quibble once again lowers his head and plows through the webbing.  And once again, he emerges from the corridor covered in web, and once again Rainbow flies in and helps wipe excess strands away.                 “Uggghhh,” Rainbow groans more loudly, “at this point I’d prefer having Sombra’s evil spirit come after us!  How many more of these rooms are we gonna have to go through.                 The two look around the all-too familiar stone walls and passageways.  To their left, they eye a single orange upward-pointing arrow; directly ahead, they see a single blue downward-pointing arrow; to their right, they notice three yellow downward-pointing arrows.                 “OK, this one might be a bit more challenging,” Quibble admits before going into silent contemplation.                 Tired of seeing the same environment from chamber to chamber, Rainbow flutters towards each corridor, careful not to touch any webbing within.  As she gets to the corridor with the orange arrow, she notices a glint on the ground below.  She drops down to the floor as her eyes focus in on the source of the glint.                 “Well I know this much,” Quibble announces as Rainbow half-listens.  “At least one of these paths has to work.  Otherwise, there’d be exactly two ‘true’ arrow icons, which would contradict what we know of the use of the color yellow here.  But that also means the yellow icon is false, so exactly one of those other icons is honest.  But now I’m stuck.”                 “Yeah, that’s great Quibble,” Rainbow half-heartedly replies, causing the ire within her companion to grow.                 “RAINBOW DASH, ARE YOU LISTENING???”  The sudden shouting causes her to look away from the glint and turn towards Quibble.                 “Sorry, I just got distracted by … what’s the problem again?  You said there’s at least one way onward from here.”                 “But there’s no way to know which way!  Take the orange arrow,” Quibble continues as he indicates the left-hand passageway.  “It could be either true or false; either way is consistent with what we know.  And the same is true for the blue arrow.  Now I know that one is true and the other is false.  If it goes ‘orange true and blue false’, then we could take either the path to the left or the path straight ahead.  If it goes ‘orange false and blue true’, then we have to take the path to the right.  But that’s as far as I can get.  There’s no way to be sure.”                 Rainbow turns back towards the left-hand corridor.  “Actually, I’m pretty sure … at least about this path.  We can’t go this way.                 Quibble walks over to Rainbow and stares into the mass of webs.  “How do you figure?  Did I miss something with my logic?”                 “No, you missed that,” she states as she points to the ground within.  “Look!”                 Quibble peers along the ground in the corridor.  “I don’t see any- … wait, is that? …”                 His eyes focus on a mechanical claw, still clutching a dart.                 “That’s Caballeron’s claw; he must’ve dropped it when he stumbled into the corridor.  This corridor.  It must lead back to the first room,” Rainbow concludes, “And we’ve already seen what happens when anypony tries this passageway.”                 Quibble nods.  “Then I guess that means we take the three-arrow path.”  He turns around, takes another breath, puts his head down, and pushes through another morass of webbing as Rainbow flies behind.                 Please be something different.  Please be something different.  Please be …  “Aw, COME ON!!!”                 Rainbow’s hopes are dashed as she follows Quibble into yet another chamber with arrow markings.  Turning around, she again watches the megaweb reform behind her.  Turning back towards Quibble, she now notices the left-hand path adorned with three red upward arrows, the right-hand path adorned with three yellow upward arrows, and the central path adorned with three white downward arrows.                 “Waitaminute … white arrows?  The parchment didn’t say anything about white arrows.  NOW what do we do?”                 Quibble turns to the left-hand passage.  “Well I know this much: not all of these passageways are going to work.  But that means …”  He quietly ponders the remaining symbols, as Rainbow’s fidgetiness increases.  She takes to the air and flies around the room as she complains to no one in particular.                 “This isn’t adventure!  Where’re the mummies, the hydras, the basilisks?  Where’s the action?  It’s like Sombra’s trying to bore us to death!  I just want to fast-forward to the fun part, where we kick tail and claim victory.  I just … I mean …”                 Rainbow touches down in the center of the room and shakes her head.  “Sorry Quibble, I’m just a little antsy right now.  So which way do we go?”                 Quibble turns to Rainbow, a solemn look on his face.  “We don’t.”                 Rainbow gives Quibble an incredulous look.  “What do you mean ‘we don’t’?  C’mon, you’re good with these puzzles; I’m sure you can solve it.”                 “I did solve it, Rainbow Dash, and all three of these paths are traps!”                 Rainbow’s pupils turn to pinpricks.  “All three?  But, how do you …”                 “The red arrows are false, like they always are.  Since they say the same thing as the yellow arrows, that means the yellow arrows are false too.  And in any room with yellow arrows, there has to be at least one true icon; that means the white arrows are honest.  And the white arrows say that all three paths lead to doom.”                 A spark of anger begins to grow within Rainbow Dash.  She slowly turns away from Quibble, so as not to address him directly.                 “We … went through all this … for NOTHING???”                 “I mean, maybe there’s a secret passageway or something in this room.  I say we inspect the walls and floor more closely, until—”                 “I GAVE UP CONCERT TICKETS, RUMMAGED THROUGH A LIBRARY, BROKE THROUGH A WALL, CRASHED DOWN A SPIRAL STAIRCASE MADE OF ROCKS, BURROWED THROUGH SPIDERWEBS, AND NEARLY WATCHED A PONY DIE, ALL FOR NOTHING???  THAT’S IT!  I CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE!  I QUIT!!!”                 Having shout-spoken her mind, Rainbow flutters over to the passage they entered from.  She lands on the ground and turns to face Quibble.  “You coming?” she snarls.                 “Coming where?  Rainbow, where are you going?”                 “BACK!” she says tersely, before turning towards the corridor.                 Rainbow’s comment sends Quibble’s mind racing to the parchment, as he suddenly remembers the cryptic message: When you can’t go forward, go back.                 “Rainbow, wait!!!”                 “Don’t try to stop me Quibble,” she calls back as she re-enters the corridor.  “Jeez, these spider webs are sticky; I can’t even move my wings now— *AAAUUGGHH! *”                 Quibble watches helplessly as a trapdoor opens underneath Rainbow, sending her to a depth below the catacombs.  In an instant, he gives chase and leaps through the opening, which closes up as he passes through.  He lands in a heap on a marble floor, bruised but not seriously injured; turning, he sees that Rainbow is likewise banged up but otherwise unharmed.  They each pick themselves up and look around.                 They find themselves in a small cube of a room, 15 feet in length, width, and height.  The entire room, floor, walls, and ceiling, is cast in white marble.  Along one wall, Quibble notices a row of 12 small holes, each a couple inches in diameter; below the holes lie six sacks of rocks.  One sack is filled with small red rocks, another sack contains orange rocks, and so on with yellow, green, blue and purple rocks.  Rainbow’s attention is drawn to a pedestal standing in an opposite corner of the room, holding …                 Her eyes grow to the size of dinner plates, as she is mesmerized by the changing hues the artifact gives off, turning from red to green to purple to gold, and so on through dozens of colors.  “The Chalice of Rhinyorgrun,” she quietly says to herself as she reaches for the relic.  An electric shock immediately pulsates through her body, as if struck by lightning, and she’s catapulted across the room, crashing into the wall opposite and falling to the ground, knocking over the sack of purple rocks.                 “Rainbow Dash!” Quibble yells, rushing to her side.  “What happened?”                 She shakes her head to get her bearings.  “I’m OK”, she says weakly, “just … don’t try to grab … that.”                 Quibble turns, and marvels at the artifact before him.  “We found it … we found the Chalice!”                 “Yaay us,” she deadpans.  “We just can’t touch it, and ...” she looks around the room before continuing, “we can’t get out of here.”                 Quibble turns away from the Chalice and inspects the room, agreeing that he sees no point of entrance or egress.  “I don’t understand … there has to be a way out of here.”                 Another sight catches Rainbow’s eyes.  “Yeah?  Tell them that.”                 Quibble follows Rainbow’s gaze.  With the backdrop of the marble, the two had initially failed to notice the skeletal remains of a handful of ponies, their bones strewn along a stretch of wall near the pedestal.                 “Well … we got here, right?” Quibble states.  “I’m sure Daring Do or some other pony can find us.”                 “You think they can get through that corridor maze, without making any wrong turns?  And if they do, won’t they just end up where we are now?”                 Quibble sighs, then turns to Rainbow.  “You’re not … you’re not scared, are you?”                 “Quibble,” she timidly states, “I’m not comfortable in closed spaces.”                 “You’re claustrophobic?”                 “Not claws, closed … as in, being cooped up in a tiny place like this room, with no room to fly or spread my wings or …”  Rainbow shivers at the thought of this room becoming her tomb.                 Quibble takes another look at the wall with the holes, and the sacks of rocks.  “Wait a minute … the other side of the parchment.”  He pulls out the parchment and unfurls it, inspecting its back side as Rainbow walks over.                 He rereads the message at the bottom: “When you get out what you put in, you get out.”  He repeats the message to himself, then takes another look at the symbols.  “I’m getting an idea.”                 A glimmer of hope flashes in Rainbow’s eyes.  “Yeah?  What d’you got?”                 “I think this is some sort of function notation.  That if you ‘put in’ a certain combination of symbols, then you ‘get out’ another combination … and if you ‘put in’ just the right combination, you’ll ‘get out’ the same combination.”  He turns back to the wall of holes and the sacks.  “I think we need to put the right combination of rocks into the holes, and if we do, some pathway should reveal itself to us.  We just need to solve this last puzzle.”                 “Well don’t just stand there, let’s do this!” Rainbow exclaims enthusiastically.  “So what’s the combination?”                 “… I haven’t the slightest idea,” he dejectedly admits.”                 “Oh,” Rainbow utters.  “Well, let’s just try every combination of colored rocks.  There can’t be that many, right?”                 “14 holes, 6 possibilities per hole … 6 to the 14th power is about … just under 80 billion combinations.”                 “Eighty billion?  You mean with a ‘B’?”                 “Yep,” he quietly acknowledges.  “We’re not getting out unless we figure out the solution.”                 Rainbow’s mind races, trying for a quick fix to their troubles.  “Well, take that top row.  I guess that means that ‘red-green-something’ gives back ‘something’.  So, like, ‘red-green-orange-blue’ would give back ‘orange-blue’.  That makes sense, right?                 Quibble turns to Rainbow in admiration.  “I think you got that.  Nicely done!”                 “Yeah, but what about the rest of it?”                 Quibble notes the similarities of symbols on each side.  “I think they’re all part of an ‘if-then’ clause.”                 Rainbow glares at Quibble.  “Seriously, what is it with you and claws?”                 Ignoring his companion’s comment, Quibble continues.  “I think the left side is the ‘if’, and each of the four rows on the right side is a ‘then’.  Like, you said that ‘red-green-orange-blue’ would give back ‘orange-blue’.  So that means the big black rectangle could be ‘red-green-orange-blue’ and the white symbols could be ‘orange-blue’.  By that reasoning … let’s see … ‘blue-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce ‘red-orange-blue’, ‘yellow-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce ‘green-orange-blue’, ‘purple-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce ‘orange-blue-orange-blue’, and ‘orange-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce … just ‘blue’.  That all makes sense, doesn’t it?”                 Rainbow gazes at Quibble with a look of pure dumbfoundedness.  “Yeeeaaahh … I’m just gonna lie down now.  So … how do you actually solve this puzzle?”                 “… I have no idea.”