//------------------------------// // Puzzle 15: Bejeweled and Befuddled // Story: School of Logic: a Collection of Puzzles involving the Student Six // by Coyotek4 //------------------------------// I can’t believe what I’m about to say, but can we get back to solving puzzles? Gallus knew better than to voice his thoughts to his professor. In fact, he has become rather burned out at the whole notion, even as adept as he and the others had become. But more to the point: fashion never really inspired him the way it did others, such as his professor. And given a choice, he’d rather toil through another puzzle than— “Gallus?” The griffin looks up with a start, now aware of Rarity staring back at him. “Uh … could you repeat the question?” “How much impact would you say fashion has had on griffin culture?” “Fashion? Uh …” Gallus’s eyes dart around the room as he searches for an acceptable response. “Well? … er …” He sighs before concluding: “Not much.” Rarity frowns at the response. “Surely there must be some emphasis made.” “Griffinstone isn’t much for finery,” he sheepishly replies. “Well perhaps we can change that. Come on up and let me take your measurements: we’re going to design an outfit specifically for griffins!” Gallus gulps inaudibly as he gets up and walks towards the front of the class. He catches a glimpse of various photos on the teacher’s desk. “So what are these?” he asks, pointing out the pictures. Rarity sighs. “A failed attempt at pleasing the unpleasable, mixed with a tinge of revenge, no doubt.” Her response draws the attention of the rest of the class. Gallus takes a second look at the photos. “Really? All I see are scarves … six of them, each with some strange markings … are those exes and ohs?” Rarity’s horn illuminates as the photos separate and spread themselves atop her desk. The students get up and gather around the pictures, each of which is of a scarf trimmed with five gems of various colors. “Who are all these for?” Smolder asks. “Chroma-chaotica, the avant-garde fashion designer,” Rarity replies. “Every year, the stallion gets in his head *THE* color combination that is ‘in’, and every year designers from all of Equestria follow his lead. This year, I had hoped to get a jump on the crowd.” Ocellus takes a closer look at one of the photos. The scarf displays a series of five gemstones: diamond, ruby, another diamond, onyx, and a third diamond. In the bottom-right corner, she discerns an ‘x’ and an ‘o’. “Miss Rarity … what do these symbols at the bottom mean?” “I had my trusted Manehattan assistant Coco take six samples to Chroma’s representatives; these photos bear those samples. For each sample, she received feedback as to what truly worked, what worked in a minor sense, and what didn’t work at all.” “Is that what ‘x’ and ‘o’ for?” Yona asks. “The ‘x’ signifies that Chroma fully agrees with the color and placement of exactly one of those gems,” Rarity explains. “So either he thinks a ruby should be in the second spot, an onyx should be in the fourth spot, or one of the diamonds is correctly placed.” “And the ‘o’?” Sandbar asks. “The ‘o’ means Chroma likes the idea of one of the gems, but not its placement. So maybe he believes the ruby should come first, instead. Or maybe last. Or maybe one of the diamonds should be fourth. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure.” “But you have six of these photos,” Silverstream notes. “That’s enough information, isn’t it?” As the hippogriff speaks, Ocellus picks up a piece of chalk and notes each photo’s gem ensemble and associated marks on the board: D R D O D – x o D R S R R – o o o O S S E O – x x R O O S T – x o o S E T R E – o o T S O T D – x o Gallus scans the board. “I guess ‘D’ stands for diamond. What about the other letters?” “ ‘R’ is for ruby, ‘O’ is for onyx, ‘S’ is for sapphire, ‘E’ is for emerald, and ‘T’ is for topaz,” Ocellus replies. “Really pretty colors: white, red, black, blue, green, and yellow.” “So … this like puzzle,” Yona points out. “That means we can solve.” “If only it were that simple,” Rarity sullenly responds. “I’m not particularly adept at figuring things like this out, as you have seen.” “We are,” Smolder asserts. “Yes, the whole school has witnessed your capabilities, but I’m afraid there’s an added issue, for which you can thank Suri.” “Suri?” Ocellus asks. “Suri Polomare … and old rival of mine. Shortly after receiving these photos, I received a letter from Coco that Suri caught wind of my plans. She was able to gain access to the photos and changed the comments on one of them, and I don’t know which one.” “Why just one?” Gallus asks. “Why not just alter all of them?” “It’s her way of toying with me, like baiting a cat with a piece of string. In any event, I daresay the situation is now beyond even your abilities. Only five of these six photos can be trusted as having useful information, and there’s no way to figure out which photo is the wrong one.” “Some might consider that a challenge,” Gallus retorts. “No, no, no … I appreciate all you’ve shown myself and the others, but even if it were possible to solve this conundrum, I’m afraid it would take too much time out of our already abbreviated day. But, if you wish to stay late and inspect the photos on your own time, they’re of little use to me now. Now then, let’s discuss proper griffin regalia …” As early evening comes over Ponyville, the students reflect upon another day’s work … “Miss Rarity can really work fast under a deadline.” Silverstream notes. Ocellus turns to Gallus. “So what do you think Griffinstone will make of your new modeling duties?” she asks with a chuckle. He replies with a laugh. “I don’t want to be the one to disillusion our resident fashion guru, but her first trip to Griffinstone would probably be her last. It’s not exactly Manehattan where I’m from.” “Maybe she’ll get the idea to create outfits for Yakyakistan next,” Sandbar says as he turns to Yona. “Yona not think other yaks interested in attire … but then, Yona not think other yaks interested in others at all, so first for everything?” “Ooh, maybe we’ll design outfits for dragons next,” Silverstream notes. “By the way … shouldn’t Smolder be back by now?” Ocellus muses for a bit. “She said she wanted a few minutes to take a longer look at those photos. Honestly, I’m surprised she wanted to; she never showed a big interest in puzzle-solving before.” “Even if she did,” Gallus adds, “there’s no way she’d still be at it. I just assume she caught up with Spike afterwards. Not like any of us have fellow students of our own species around here.” Sandbar opens his mouth to speak, when the door to their foyer bursts open. The group turn to face Smolder, her eyes wide open and twitching with retinas bulging. “Smolder,” Yona exclaims. “We just talk about you!” “Where’ve you been,” Ocellus adds. “It’s been hours since we last saw you.” “You were with Spike, right?” Gallus asks. “I mean, it’s not like you spent all that time on Miss Rarity’s photos … did you? …” Smolder replies stiltedly: “Four hours … thirty-seven minutes … twenty-five seconds … but I did it.” “You did what?” Sandbar asks. “I figured … it … out …”