//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Tune of the Piper // by Bookpony579 //------------------------------// The trio, after asking for directions from some friendly locals, soon arrived at the large, old temple. Aside from a few obvious renovations due to it's age, it looked exactly like it did in the sketch. "Okay...now what?" Daring asked, looking at Twilight expectantly. Twilight opened the journal. "On the back of the drawing, there's a riddle. Let's see..." She found her place. "Okay:" "Go to the guardian of the moon and within the first quarter you shall rise anew and become full once more. " Daring and Flash just stared at her blankly. "Uh...what?" Flash asked, rasing an eyebrow. "'Guardian of the Moon'...." Daring wondered. "What could that mean?" Even Twilight was having trouble until she looked at the building again. Her brain clicked the pieces into place. "That's it!" She exclaimed. "Did you figure it out?" Flash asked. "Yup! Where are we again?" Twilight, grinning. Daring's eyes widened with understanding. "The temple of the Gods!" "And what Goddess in particular is popular with people?" "The Moon Goddess!" Both Daring and Flash exclaimed at the same time. "Grandma has to be referring to the Moon Goddess. She must have hidden something around her shrine. I'm sure we'll figure out the rest once we get inside." With that, the trio rushed up the stairs and through the doors. The inside of the temple was simple with high ceilings, clean windows, and rugs leading from the entryway to the various shrines and statues dedicated to the various Goddesses. The air held a wide mixture of smells caused by the burning incense. As it was still early in the afternoon, only a handful of others were in there, either priestesses making their offerings, or locals praying quietly to a particular Goddess. Quietly, both out of respect and so they wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to themselves, Twilight, Daring and Flash wandered through the great hall until they came up the shrine dedicated to the Moon Goddess herself. Standing tall and proud, surrounded by candles, flowers, incense, and a variety of food based offerings was an (arguably) life size statue of a beautiful woman with curled hair, an elegant floor length dress and holding a scepter with a crescent moon on the top. "Okay, we're here." Daring said. "Now what?" "I'm not sure." Twilight admitted, looking at the journal again. "The rest of the riddle doesn't seem to make sense." As the two women pondered what the rest of the riddle could mean, Flash took a good, hard look at the statue. This statue, along with all the other statues, were images he and pretty much every Equestrian grew up with. The faces of these Goddesses, whether stone, or any kind of colored depiction, were as familiar to him as his family's. Not seeing anything strange with the woman herself, Flash's eyes turned to the base the woman was standing upon. There was a stone diagram that he recognized was of the moon's phases surrounding the Earth. "Twilight, can I see that riddle again?" Flash asked, an idea coming to mind. Twilight blinked in surprise. "Sure." She answered, handing him the journal. Flash read through the riddle once again, and looked at the statue again. "I've got it!" "What?" Daring asked. "Look at the base of the statue." Flash said, pointing to it. "There are images of the phases of the moon." "Well...she is the Goddess of the Moon." Twilight hesitantly pointed out. "But look at the riddle! 'and within the first quarter, you shall rise anew, and become full once more!'" He looked at them eagerly. "Don't you see, they're not just words in a riddle!" Twilight gasped. "They're the names of the phases of the moon!" Flash nodded. "Exactly. Now let's see..." He leaned down in front of the base and, upon finding the image of a first quarter moon, pushed his finger on it. The image sank, like a button. Then he pushed the image of the dark moon, which sank back into the stone as well. Finally, he pushed the image of the full moon, which did the same as it's predecessors. Then, to his and the other's surprise, the diagram split in half, and the two sides slowly parted ways to reveal a hidden compartment. "Woah..." "You did it!" Twilight praised. "Wow...that was actually kind of smart." Daring admitted. Flash reached in pulled out an old folded up piece of paper along with a small stone circle with the image of a treble clef carved on it. "What is it?" Daring asked, peering at the newfound objects. "I'm not sure. They're probably important though." With that, he handed Twilight the paper while placing the trinket safely in his pocket before pushing the stone pieces back into place. Twilight quickly unfolded the paper and gasped. "What is it? A map to the flute!?" Daring asked. "It's...It's blank!" Daring and Flash's jaws dropped. "Why would she put in an empty piece of paper?" Flash asked. "I don't-" "Hand on." Daring snatch the paper out of Twilight's hands and laid it flat against the wall while also pulling out a pencil. "If there's one thing my adventures have taught me, it's that 'blank' pieces of paper.." She began rubbing the paper with the edge of her pencil. "...are actually hiding something valuable!" As she rubbed, another drawing could soon be made out; it appeared to an etching of a large fountain. "Nice job!" Twilight said. "Do you know where it is?" Daring shook her head. "Sorry. I've never been to this town either. We can probably just ask around-" Suddenly, she looked towards the entrance and gasped. "Get down!" She whispered, dragging the two teens behind the statue. "What the-" Flash gasped. "Ssshh!" Daring whispered, looking around in high alert. "Daring what's wrong?" Twilight whispered in concern. Daring signaled for them to stay silent before pointing at the entrance. "Look!" They looked and saw three men, two of whom were burly and seemed simple minded compared to their apparent leader, an older looking man, one who Twilight instantly recognized from the train incident a few weeks ago. "Is that..?" Flash asked in shock. "Doctor Caballeron!" Twilight gasped.