//------------------------------// // The Temple Sphere Mystery // Story: A Rainbow Over Myst // by Moon Flame //------------------------------// The air laid still outside the stone temple. The influence of the sun caused the rocky path to burn Rainbow Dash underneath her hooves as she landed. It pressed against Rainbow Dash the fact that the still air did not contrast the presence of life. The temple seemed as empty as the pages inside her Myst book, counting the empty heart of the human inside. Speaking of... “Hello...Can you...Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow Dash frowned. She reached down into the custom made strap she had made for the Myst book. She opened it. The image of Atrus ugly face made Rainbow Dash’s ‘artery’ work alright. “YOU! You left me to starve! You left me to...!” “Ok calm down.” Atrus urged inside the book. “I think i know how to get you out of that cage. You see, I remembered when my wife Catherine and I added the other Myst islands. She might have made some adjustments to the industrial rules as well, resulting in some contraptions having double purposes which in turn means that there could be double ways of operating them.” Rainbow Dash felt like she was talking to a colt version of Twilight Sparkle. Her furious eyes glared underneath her raggedy rainbow mane. “What are you talking about? I’m already out!” Atrus face widened in surprise. Rainbow Dash kept ranting. “Why didn’t you tell me about the musical screw thingys inside the cage? I thought you designed this place!” “Musical screw thingys? Interesting...” Artus wandered of into his thoughts. Rainbow Dash waved her hoof incredulously. “Hello, angry pony you left to die over here!” “I thought i’d known that but i could never have imagined.” Artus thought out loud. “Imagined? You couldn’t have imagined that i would be angry for leaving me in a cage!?” “You really managed to get out of that cage?” Atrus asked with a tinge of wonder. The anger flowed Rainbow Dash’s every being, her pride was stronger though. She grinned. “Haha, yea. Because I'm awesome.” “Maybe she isn’t as worthless as i thought.” Artus whispered out loud. Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in anger. “Well, maybe you aren’t as PREPOSTEROUS as i thought!” Rainbow Dash blasted sarcastically. She continued with an incredulous voice. “That’s it. I’m done. I’m sorry but i really need to get back...” “...Back to Equestria.” Artus interrupted. Now it was Rainbow Dash’s face that widened in surprise. “How can you possibly know about Equestria?” “I thought i’d seen you ponies in a book, or maybe in an age description somewhere.” Artus leaned forward and put his folded hands on his desk. ”Listen pony, you and I may not have started of on the right foot, but it seems clear to me that we need each other. I need you because there is no other way of me getting that book of eternity now when you’ve used up that link book, you need me because there is no other way you will be able to find your way home again without the help from someone with a vast knowledge of the ages. So, let’s make a deal.” Rainbow Dash grumped. “Alright, let’s hear it.” “You will continue on gathering those pages and find the book of eternity. In the meantime i will do all i can and look through the books about The World Of Equestria And It’s Wondrous Creatures, which i believe were the name of the book. I will give you pointers on your adventure when i can but you need to keep your eyes and ears open, every small detail could be a clue to a solution. I advice you find yourself something to take notes on.” Artus leaned back into his chair again. He picked up a book and started reading. He straightened his glasses and continued. “The age of Myst used to be just one small island, but with my help my wife Catherine took the liberty of expanding Myst to look like her birthplace, the now crumbled age Riven.” “Riven? Crumbled?” Rainbow Dash tried her best to understand. Only the promise of getting back to Equestria was holding her back from teasing this Egghead. Not that she was ever a bully really, but this human made it hard to resist. “The art of age writing might seem like playing God to some, you simply take a pencil and make your dream world exactly how you want it to be.” Artus looked up from his book and continued in a dark tone. “No notion could be more wrong. Age writing is like government managing, but even more complex. Every rule you make, even the smallest changes you make in it’s foundation could have dire consequences higher up in the event chain. One written word could be the difference between a stable age or an age tearing itself apart, like the Star Fissure was in Riven.” “Star Fissure?” A grin of incredulous had started to form on the pegasus pony’s face. “A anomaly appearing due to clumsy age writing. The Star Fissure showed itself as a stethoscope pointing down at the ground in that age. A long time ago I had my assistant Stranger open the hatch in the ground and look through that stethoscope. In there he could see the stars along with his home planet Earth hovering out in a breathable version of space.” And with that Rainbow Dash could take it no longer. She bursted out in a raspy laughter. “OAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What are... Waha... What are you eggheads doing out here?! Age writing? Riven? Star Fissure? Watching stars through a hole in the ground? Stranger, now what kind of a name is that? Didn’t he have real name?!” Tears were running down cheeks of the laughing pegasus pony. Atrus remained punctual. “He wasn’t much of a talker Stranger. Either way, the opening of the Star Fissure caused the natural logistics of Riven to collapse. I barely made it out of there before my home world was gone forever.” Rainbow Dash wiped the tears from her eyes. “Only you? What happened to Stranger?” “Stranger? He returned to his home planet by jumping into the Star Fissure and flew home to earth again.” The warmth from the hot sun laid whiteness to the still air around the temple. It’s influence was cut in pieces by the exploding laughter of the rainbow, tears being it’s rain. “OAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Rainbow Dash’s hooves sent echoes along the stony pathway. The stone walls had long lines running across them due to erosion. Ahead seemed to be some kind of door with a lock. Four round glass spheres where fastened in front of it. To the sides of the door the pathway parted, giving Rainbow Dash the choice to either go left or right. She walked up to the door. She tried to push it with her hooves but the door wouldn’t budge. She tried to press the big red button under the glass spheres, but nothing happened. She tried to fiddle with the glass spheres. Inside the spheres Rainbow Dash spotted five minuscule balls that were held airborne by bent iron holders. Together the composition made four glass spheres with five hovering iron balls inside like a miniature version of an old ancient planetarium. The iron balls spun around inside like a planetarium would when Rainbow Dash spun the spheres, although there were no apparent space logic involved. Not that Rainbow Dash would ever notice. All she did was wondering how anyone could have place these spheres here and not above somepony’s baby crib where it belonged. She leaned her head above the spheres and noticed that three red dots had been painted on the iron holder underneath, allowing for a number of ways they can be lined with the spinning balls inside. Rainbow Dash brought up the Myst book. “Atrus?” The link book image became clear. Atrus was reading like Twilight during a scientific research. “Atrus?” Still no answer. “Atrus!?” Atrus now looked at Rainbow Dash. Her face was frowned. She head motioned the spheres. Atrus raised his shoulders. “So?” He asked. “What’s the combination?” Atrus sighed. “I told you Rainbow Dash. In the making of an age you use descriptions and general rules. I merely described these devices.” “So?” Rainbow Dash asked. “So, i don’t know the exact combination!” Atrus answered irritatingly. He looked with interest what the linking book showed. “I could however describe to you the relevance those glass spheres have to the locals and their beliefs. when...” “Alright, alright. I get it. I’ll find the combination.” Rainbow Dash stopped this from turning into a boring Twilight conversation. Rainbow Dash walked down the left pathway. Eventually it lead her into a big round room. Apart from where she came from two more doorways opened inside the round room. One of them seemed to lead outside due to the patching light, the other seemed to be some kind of joke because there were only a brick wall behind it, along with the number 1 engraved on it. “Whoever built this, i hoped they didn’t pay him in advance.” She told herself. Rainbow Dash walked back and tried the right path from the glass sphere door. It lead her to a dead end. She noticed a button on the right side of the dead end. She pressed it with her hoof. There were the sound of rocks moving, slowly, slowly, slooooowly. Eventually Rainbow Dash was greeted with the round room again. It appeared that the button had spun it around, allowing her to approach it from a different angle. Once again one of the doorways lead into a brick wall. This time the wall showed the number 3. Rainbow Dash soon discovered that the other two entrances to the room also had buttons. She figured that a pathway was hidden somewhere behind the walls and that she needed to line up the room just right to be able to reach it from either side. She decided to try and approach the room from the outside entrance. She trotted around, pressed the button and watched the room spin around, slowly, slowly, slooooowly. “Gaaaaaaah.” Rainbow Dash moaned in boredom. This time one of the doorways revealed a path that lead further inside the temple. Eventually the path opened into a huge hall. Big colored windows decorated the walls. A huge stone figure of a pig like mammal towered in the middle. In front of the stone figure there seemed to be some kind of sacrifice altar. Withered roses and fruits had been placed in front of it. Rainbow Dash trotted up to it. She found a pile of small papers glued together into some kind of note block. Three coal sticks laid beside it. She took them, figuring they would be useful for taking notes with. She also found a pouch to store the note block in. On the stone pillars of the temple where four metal bug sculptures. A small rope hanged down from underneath them. Rainbow Dash pulled one, resulting in the bug opening it’s wings and revealing five dots in a complicated starlike pattern. A lamp glowed red beside the bug as it opened. The other three bugs would turn out to have the same star patterns in different variations. They also had different number of lamps beside them, numbering them from one to four lamps. Rainbow Dash felt the frustration grow inside her as she noted down all the patterns, along with the number of lamps that glowed. It seemed logical that all this had something to do with the glass spheres, but were do the four red dots underneath the glass spheres come in? Rainbow Dash felt her cocky mind working overtime. Was she about to go star watching now? Was she going to the Star Fissure?! Rainbow Dash shook her head in frustration. ‘This is impossible dad.’ ‘Nothing is impossible for my Rainbow Dash.’ The answer from Bow Hothoof circulated her mind. Rainbow Dash calmed down, figuring she must have missed something. It was in this state of calmness that she noticed the TV screen on the wall. She trotted up to it. There were two buttons beside it. She pressed the first one and heard the sound of a door opening on the other side of the hall, revealing sunlight. Great, now she didn’t need to go through that boring spinning room to enter the main hall. She pressed the other button. This booted up the TV screen, revealing some kind of security camera. It showed the spinning room from a roof perspective, along with four red dots on the floor inside it! “Great. Now I'm getting somewhere.” Rainbow Dash spoke to herself. It soon turned out that, dependent on which bug was open, the pattern of that bug would be overlaid onto the screen, showing clearly how the red dots fitted with the ball pattern. This together with the number of bug lamps showed which pattern was number one, two, three and four. “Yes! Time to open ourselves a door!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed After writing down the patterns Rainbow Dash made her way back to the glass sphere puzzle. She spun the spheres around until they lined with the written down combination. She pushed the big round button under the spheres. Nothing happened. Rainbow Dash felt her mind boil. What had she missed now!? Her face widened as the realization came. ‘The numbers inside the rotating room!’ The truth slided thick like sirup against her brain. Rainbow Dash would have to go back to the round rotating room, take note which number was shown on the brick wall, go around the temple to the main hall, open the bug that corresponded with the current number inside the rotating room, and THEN look how the pattern on the main hall screen compared with the red dots. So Rainbow Dash did that. She watched the round room spin around, slowly, slowly, slooooowly. “Whaaaaaaa.” Rainbow Dash moaned. After being forced to watch the room spin around four times she had the combination. She approached the glass sphere puzzle. She placed her hoof on the first sphere, losing grip of the paper in the progress. It limply sailed down into a water puddle on the floor. Rainbow Dash’s pupils diminished, her right eyebrow twitched. The air laid thick inside the small condensed pathway. Around a corner there were the sound of a button being pushed. The sound of rocks sliding followed, it slided slowly, slowly slooooooooooooooowly.” “GAAAAAAAAAH!” A raspy roar of frustration suddenly echoed along the pathway. Rainbow Dash felt her anger calm when she finally watched the glass sphere door open after entering the right combination. It revealed a room with a pedestal. On top of the pedestal was a glass showcase. Inside the showcase was a piece of paper. It was one of the book pages that was needed to open the link book to Atrus library. After putting the paper inside her newly acquired pouch Rainbow Dash trotted toward the exit via the main pathway. She brought up her Myst book to rub her awesomeness in Atrus face. “Atrus. Are you...?” There was a swooshing sound, followed by the sound of wood hitting rock. An arrow fell down and landed in front of Rainbow Dash. She wailed her head around. An arrow swooshed by only centimeters from her face. Rainbow Dash galloped as fast as her pegasi hooves could carry her. There was another swoosh. A cracked clay pot toppled in front of her, the arrow spinning around in circles from the impact. Rainbow Dash saw the sunlight engulf her as she exited the dangerous hallway. Once outside she jumped and took cover behind a rock. “Huuuuh....Huuuuh...Huuuuh!” She breathed heavily. There was an answer coming from the Myst book. “Yes Rainbow Dash? I guess you've come to ask for help. You know, there’s really no shame in...” “Atrus! Somepony is trying to kill me!” “Kill you? What...” “They shot at me Atrus, somepony with a bow and arrow!” There were silence. Rainbow Dash leaned over the rock and glanced back toward the temple entrance. There was nopony there. She quickly went back into cover. “How many folks are there that knows about my quest Atrus?!” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Alright, let’s not jump into early conclusions here. There are many possibilities...” “Possibilities?! May i remind you that I’m the one getting murdered here!” “Did you see who it was?” Rainbow Dash shook her horrified face. “Well then we can’t possibly know yet now, can we?” Atrus wavered his palms in a calming gesture. “Just make sure you get out of there. We can return for the book page later.” “Theres no need for that. I have it.” Rainbow Dash informed and raised her wings. Once airborne she left the temple behind her, the book page safely tucked inside her pouch. One down, four to go. After that she would only need to find the book of eternity, and then leave this boring slash horrifying place once and for all.