//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: The Centre // Story: Iota Force Issue #3: The Treachery of Images // by The Iguana Man //------------------------------// “Look, I'm telling you, Pinkie, somepony was in my house last night!” Icy swallowed and fidgeted, trying not to look uncomfortable about the conversation she was unintentionally eavesdropping in on. Sugarcube Corner was mildly busy, it being after school had ended on a Friday but before most adults got off work, but she cold still hear the discussion pretty clearly. Said discussion being held by two of the loudest and most flamboyant ponies in town helped with that. She wiggled herself deeper into the corner she was sitting in and slumped down, as if trying to physically hide from the ponies around her, none of whom were paying her any mind. “I believe you, Dashie, I do, but why do you think I did it?” “Oh, come on, who else would sneak into my house in the middle of the night and move things around?” “What things?” “There was liquid rainbow all over my yard and my Wonderbolts speed trophy was moved two inches to the left!” There was a brief pause before Pinkie responded. “Okay, I admit, that does sound like something I'd do, but I didn't, honest!” “Look, Pinkie, don't be a sore loser, just tell me what the prank is and...” “There's no prank! Just ask Twilight – I didn't get her to cast her cloudy walky thingy on me and my whirlycopter doesn't fit through your door, so how could I have got up there?” “Er, Pinkie, Twi's been all holed up doing egghead stuff for days. Can't really ask her much right now.” “Including to cast a spell on me.” Icy could almost hear Pinkie's sly smile. Dash paused, considering this. “Okay, guess you got a point, there. But if you didn't do it, who did?” “Ooh, ooh, I know!” Pinkie replied, her voice accompanied by bouncing noises. “Maybe it was the wind! Maybe you accidentally knocked it! Maybe another you from the future travelled back in time to change things so that you having it where it was and having a rainbow-free cloud-lawn wouldn't eventually cause the resurrection of Sombra!” “Sure, Pinkie, sure.” Rainbow said, clearly not listening. “Or maybe there's another villain, who was trying to steal...” “You know what, Pinkie, never mind, sorry I accused you and stuff.” Rainbow trotted away, passing Icy and grumbling. “Great, first that featherbrain Blossomforth loses half the clouds for Sunday's storm and now this.” Icy breathed a sigh of relief as Rainbow exited the shop and Pinkie went back to... being Pinkie. Not that there had been any reason they might have realized that she was involved in the unknown housebreak, nor any reason why she should feel guilty that she was, since she'd been attempting to stop the perpetrator. Still, overhearing that did make her feel a little uncomfortable. Of course, it wasn't helped by the final puzzle she and her team had been given. The word part was fairly simple and clear, being only two words, and there was only one picture left that hadn't been used. So it should have been relatively easy. Which made it all the more awkward that none of them had a single clue what it could mean. The picture was a pentagon with lines coming off the corners, so the obvious answer would have been something about the centre of the overall picture – in the middle of the pentagonal centre. However, they'd gone over the picture thoroughly and there was absolutely nothing there. Not a rock, nor a patch of moss nor even any big furrows in the dirt of the path. In fact, it was like it was specifically swept to remove anything like that. They'd even tried transferring the lines on the corners of the smaller pentagon onto the larger one, seeing if they lead anywhere. Nothing came of it, but it did give them a reason to use the geometry set Icy kept in her pencil case - a feat that not even Cheerilee's lessons had managed. The next thought had been that it referred, in some way, to the centre of Ponyville itself. Except that the centre of Ponyvile was, well, the centre of Ponyville – the town square. Which consisted of an open space without anything noteworthy to steal, even by Magic Eye's bizarre standards. It could have been referring to a building next to the town square, and that was their working theory, but there were far too many of them to figure out which one the puzzle was referring to. Particularly since the building closest to the exact, geographical centre of Ponyville was the Town Hall, which he had already targeted. Well, he hadn't actually done anything to it, but he'd already used it as the basis for a puzzle, so it seemed rather unlikely that he'd do so again. They'd even checked to see if there were any buildings in town shaped like a pentagon and of course there weren't. Icy sighed, shaking her head as she got up from her table. She'd finished her milkshake a while ago but, as usual, she'd been lost in thought and just sat there for a while. And she'd have plenty more opportunity for that in the hours before they started work that night. In the absence of any clue where he might be going next, Iota Force was left with only one course of action: Patrol. Patrol. It always sounded so glamorous in comic books. At least, to Icy it did. Sure, it was always presented as the basics of superheroing, the thing they did when they didn't have a big case to solve or a major villain to hunt down, but it was still going out into their city, flying or swinging or roof-running or otherwise moving awesomely, finding and thwarting crimes as they happened and keeping the innocent citizens under their protection safe from all threats. That was pretty nifty. At its best, patrol meant the hero would stumble onto the villain's plan and get involved, kicking the story off. At its worst, it meant the hero having a fun fight against ordinary thugs and criminals. Their version of patrol, however, was somewhat less exciting. For a start, none of them could fly, swing or roof-run and the only one of them with any special method of movement was Scootaloo. However, after a brief check-up from Nursery Rhyme, the little daredevil was under orders to rest after having strained her wings a bit the previous night. Nothing too damaging, of course, they would be alright again in a few days but they still needed a lot of rest. Oddly enough, Scootaloo herself had been the only one to object to this arrangement, insisting that she was fine and she could join in on finding their quarry that evening and that she promised not to use her wings or anything. It had only been after Dinky innocently suggested she “Pinkie-promise”, whatever that meant, that the orange filly had relented, grumbling at the idea of remaining idle that night. That said, she had, on the off chance one of them found Magic Eye somewhere, coached them on how to pretend that they totally knew that was where he'd be and that they had not in any way stumbled across him randomly, don't be dumb! That was the other part of why this patrol didn't feel particularly fun – the fact that they had no idea where he was, so each one of them was simply going round their assigned area, looking for anything suspicious. Which could mean many things – lights suddenly coming on, ajar doors, strange noises – so that meant that they didn't know exactly what to look for. As a result, the only thing they could do was look at everything and hope they found something. That, combined with the late hour, made the whole process very tiring. Icy glanced towards the end of the street she was in and over to the clock tower on the outskirts of the town. She smiled for a moment at how lucky she was – to have been assigned the only sector where it would be visible. Quarter to midnight, it said. The good part of that was that it meant there was only fifteen minutes left of their patrol – Magic Eye's heists usually happened between eleven and midnight. The bad part was that, well, they usually happened between eleven and midnight, so there was a good chance that tonight's had already happened, they'd failed to stop it and someone was going to wake up to find they'd been robbed. Icy's badge crackled to life, interrupting her thoughts. She took her eye away from the clock and listened. However, nothing was said. A brief, quiet fzt of static had come over the radio, then it had gone dead again. Normally, that wouldn't have been confusing – since Lance couldn't talk, he would tap his badge firmly whenever he wanted to communicate something basic over their comms. However, a single tap usually meant “Yes”, using the classic “once for yes, twice for no” system, so that would mean he'd just replied “Yes” to absolutely nothing. Icy placed a hoof on her own badge to activate it. “Lance, was that you?” Fzt fzt. “No? So who was it?” Icy asked. “Did anyone accidentally hit their badge or something?” “I didn't.” Dinky's voice came over. “Wasn't me.” Archer followed. “Not even wearing it.” Scootaloo claimed, sounding a little groggy. Icy began running down the short list of people with badges to think of who else to ask when Dinky beat her to it. “Pip? Was that you?” There was silence for a moment. Fzt “Pip?” Dinky asked after another brief pause to see if there was anything else coming. “Are you okay?” Pause. Fzt Fzt Fzt Fzt... Fzt... Fzt... Fzt Fzt Fzt Pause Fzt Fzt Fzt Fzt... Fzt... Fzt... Fzt Fzt Fzt “Everyone get over there!” Archer's voice came over the intercom, but it wasn't needed – Icy was already in motion. She didn't know much about Horse code, but she recognized an SOS when she heard one. She arrived quickly, her patrol having been the closest to Pip's house. As such, she expected that she'd be the first one there. Which made it something of a surprise when she turned the corner to see Dinky sprinting up to the door. She was about the same distance from the house as Icy was, but since her assigned area was right on the other side of town, that was still quite an achievement. It took Icy a moment to notice the fact that she was panting in exhaustion, even more than a sprint across town would make her, and a glow was just fading from her horn. Evidently, she had really, really wanted to get there quickly. Icy trotted up just as Dinky was opening the front door. They didn't exchange so much as a glance as they hurried down the stairs and threw open the door. Icy steeled herself, having been even more worried by Dinky's panicked whimpering. It was clear that the little chronomancer was terrified at the possibility of something happening to Pip. Which made the sight they saw when she opened the door to his room a little jarring. Pipsqueak was not, in fact, hurt. Well, he might have been somewhat uncomfortable and his dignity, such as it was, was in tatters, but he hadn't been truly harmed. Instead, he had been tied to his desk's chair and gagged. Now, that alone might not have looked too strange, at least by the standards of Iota Force. However, he was also lying on the floor, having clearly wobbled himself and his chair over onto its side. It may have been deliberate, as a number of things from his desk had been knocked onto the floor, including the communications badge, and his position allowed him to tap on the badge with his hind hoof. A clever idea, assuming it had been intentional, but it didn't make him look any less silly, lying on the floor and wrapped up in rope, cloth and chair. Icy managed to stifle a laugh at the sight. Admittedly, it wasn't that funny, but the sudden shift from “he might be in danger” to “look at the little pony-burrito” was sudden enough to make the tableau seem especially absurd. Dinky, on the other hoof, didn't seem to find a speck of humour in the situation, running over and looking him over desperately, her horn lighting up as she pulled the gag from his mouth. “Are you okay, Pip, did he hurt you, please say he didn't, tell me you're okay, I...” “Uuuagh!” Pip exclaimed, working his jaw to loosen it up. “I'm fine, Dinky. Well, I mean,” he looked down at himself, “I dunno about fine, but no need to worry, okay?” “What happened?” Icy asked as she trotted over too, walking around his back to start working at the knots binding him to his chair. “What do you think?” Pip replied, not sounding angry at the, Icy had to admit now she thought about it, rather obvious question. “Had a run-in with ol' Smart Eyes. Came in, tied me up, talked my ear off a bit then left.” Icy raised an eyebrow as she fumbled with a knot. Her initial question of why Magic Eye had come there and how it tied in to his puzzle was put aside briefly when he said that last part. “Wait, just left? Didn't he take anything.” “Not a thing. Actually, he flat out told me he wasn't gonna steal anything. Said “This is not a robbery, I am not targeting you, I'm just fulfilling my prediction.” Really wanted me to know that this wasn't a robbery like the others.” “Weird.” Icy said before sighing as she let her hooves fall. “Sorry, Pip, but these knots are way too tight for me to untie.” Dinky looked over the knots, the worry in her expression fading a little to be replaced by curiosity. “Say, how do Pegasi and Earth Ponies tie knots with hooves, anyway?” “No idea,” Icy admitted, shrugging, “was never a filly scout. Anyway, may have to wait until Lance or Archer get here.” “You called?” Archer's voice came from the bottom of the stairs outside the room. She and Lance walked in, Archer stopping as she looked over the scene. “Boy, is Scoots gonna be mad she missed this!” Icy could tell from her voice that she was having absolutely no trouble keeping her laughter in, but that she was having to keep it in nonetheless. Lance, on the other hand, wasn't. Without pausing, he trotted up to Pip and, in one motion, drew his sword and sliced through the ropes. Sheathing his sword again, he tilted his head in query at Pip. “Yeah, he was here.” Pip answered his silent question as he was helped to his hooves by Dinky. The tiny filly was holding him firmer and giving him far more support that he probably needed, presumably due to a combination of extreme concern and the fact that he was the only colt small enough for her to support in such a manner. Not that Pip seemed to mind. That brought Icy back to the question she'd put aside: "How did the riddle he gave work out to here? “Well,” Archer said, still at the edge of the room, leaning on the doorframe, “I guess “the centre” could mean the centre of our work, but I don't know how we were supposed to get that that meaning's the one what it... meant.” Nodding, Icy hopped her front hooves onto Pip's desk and looked at the photo still lying there, specifically at the middle-left point of the star. It still looked like it had before – a pentagon with lines coming out of the corners. “You got me!” Pip admitted, rolling his shoulders. “Maybe he just thought that, 'tween the five of you, you'd think he might mean that and keep someone here. Maybe.” He grimaced slightly, not feeling particularly confident about the idea. Icy didn't notice, however, as she focused on one bit of his suggestion. Five of us... five sides, five of us, but the other lines... ten of them, or five sets of... oh, dear Celestia. She groaned as her head fell onto the desk, making a quiet thump. “What, what is it?” Dinky asked, rushing over and putting her hooves on Icy's back, her worries transferred rather than dissipated. “The lines. Of the pentagon.” Icy said, not lifting her muzzle from the table, making her words muffled but not disguising the exasperation in them. “They're iotas." "Huh?" Archer looked at the picture closely. "I'm not seeing it, what do you...?" "Pip, do you have any tracing paper?" Icy asked. Pip trotted over to his desk drawers and opened one, remaining silent as if trying to bring his dignity back through sheer concentration. When he laid a sheet to transparent paper on the desk, Icy took it and placed it over the picture. She then took some of the coloured pencils that no normal child's desk would be without and drew a series of lines over the photo. "Iotas." Icy stated. "Five iotas all weaving together.” A chorus of “Oh”s of varying lengths and appreciations came from the others as they realized what she was alluding to. Icy tilted her head up, resting her lower jaw on the desk. “Well, guess that's that. Last picture, so I guess that's all for him, right?” She looked over to the others. Dinky and Pip were looking suddenly uncomfortable, Archer was sighing and Lance simply shook his head. “Ain't gonna be that easy.” Archer said. “I mean, it could be, I guess, but he usually saves his biggest crime for last.” “Yeah,” Pip added, “plus he actually told me there was one more. Said the score was two all and he'd see you all at the “grand finale”, which means... yeah, he's got one more left.” “Great.” Icy said flatly. “So what's the next puzzle?” “Didn't say.” Pip shrugged. “He didn't?” Dinky asked, one eyebrow going down, turning her expression from surprise to confusion. “So, did he leave another note?” “Nope,” Pip shook his head, rather puzzled himself, “didn't take anything, didn't leave anything. Actually said that, too - “I shan't take anything, I shan't leave anything!”, those words exactly.” Pip was clearly far better at impressions than Scootaloo, but it didn't sound nearly as much like Magic Eye. “Did he... did he say anything else?” Icy asked, hoping that maybe there was something else hidden in his words. Pip shrugged. “Not really. Just that he had “faith we'll solve his final problem”.” “The problem he didn't give us?” Archer asked. “Pretty much.” “He might still send us something.” Dinky suggested, though she didn't sound very sure. “We should check the P.O. Box tomorrow.” “That's a good point.” Pip smiled at Dinky. “If he's going for something big, he might need time to set everything up, so he'll send the last puzzle when he's all ready.” Icy nodded. “That makes sense, I guess. But what if he...” She thought for a moment before shrugging. “Yeah, I got nothing. Don't think he'd do a crime without sending us a clue first so... I guess we're waiting on him for that.” She sighed, not sure whether having to figure out his target without a clue or having to wait for him to give one was the worse prospect. Lance snorted and turned around, walking out of the room. “Geez, didn't think he'd take it that hard.” Icy said, looking out the door after him. “Hey, we're all annoyed, but I don't think that's why he left.” Archer pointed out. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver. “I'm thinking he left so he wouldn't have to draw lots with us.” Taking the arrow in both hooves, Archer snapped it in two, with one half longer than the other. She put that half on the desk and took the smaller half and snapped that one in two as well. “Draw lots?” Icy asked as Archer picked up the other half to snap. “For what?” Archer grinned a little wickedly. “For who has to tell Scoots.” As it turned out, Archer's grin had vanished when everyone else drew the longest sticks, leaving her with the shortest. Though her voice and posture didn't change from its usual relaxation, Icy couldn't help but hear a touch of desperation at the suggestion that the longest stick should be the one. No one agreed. Icy hummed to herself as she trotted down the street, not really going anywhere. It was fairly late, around eight in the evening, and she and her mother had just had dinner, after which Icy had decided to go for a walk. Or rather, Sunny Flight had “suggested” that her daughter not spend the rest of the day reading comics in her room and not doing anything else and come on honey, just a quick walk, it won't kill you, blah blah blah. Icy snorted a little to herself. Her mother wasn't wrong, exactly, and she liked the occasional wander, but it wasn’t like she was staying in her room, lying on her bed reading comics because she enjoyed... just because she enjoyed it. She was reading detective comics and, indeed, Detective Comics, trying to hone and prepare her mind and make sure she was ready for whatever cryptic clues Magic Eye could throw at her. Besides, it was Saturday – one of the two days you were supposed to relax and goof off. Seriously, Icy was pretty sure there was a law about that or something. Ah well, she thought, it is kinda nice out here. Dark had long since fallen on the town due to the lateness of the year, and with it came a substantial chill that sent most ponies into their homes and drew Icy out of hers. She was surprised how well she could see – strangely enough, the town had no real street lights to speak of, but the darkened town was still clearly visible due to the strength of the moonlight. The silver orb shed plenty of light on the quiet streets, so artificial light really wasn't necessary. Icy wondered why that was – there were street lights in most of the big cities like Canterlot or Manehatten, but not here. Maybe it was because there weren't as many big, tall buildings blocking the moonlight and casting the streets in deep shadow. Maybe it was because the mare who controlled the moon and was connected with its power lived so close, so the moon shone brighter here. Or maybe the Princess just didn't like the competition. Of course, her old home in Flanchorage had plenty of street lights, but given its propensity for overcast skies and the occasional snowstorm, they were somewhat more necessary. Icy shook herself out of her thoughts, something she had a lot of practice with, when she noticed she'd come to a crossroads. She considered going left towards the post office, but quickly dismissed the idea. One or another of the team had been going over there periodically all day, hoping to find the final puzzle, but it hadn't come and now the post office was closed. Not that that had stopped him putting something into the box, but she somehow doubted that he expected them to break into the post office to get something out of the box. Although, the next day was Sunday and the Post office was closed that day (there was definitely a law about that, Icy was sure). Sure, Dinky's mom could let them in like last week, but even back then, he'd given them until Monday night, presumably in case they needed to get it that morning. Which, in turn, would mean that he was waiting three days before his final robbery. Not impossible, but it seemed off, somehow. Icy just couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing or forgetting something. Shrugging, she turned around, ready to walk back home when she stopped suddenly, a cart hurrying past her down the street. For a moment, Icy wondered why he was in such a hurry before she remembered that most people would be eager to get inside out of the cold. Of course, this was all before her thought processes were interrupted by the dust the cart had kicked up and the subsequent sneeze wiping her brain out completely for a moment. Sneezes were odd things. Icy had encountered plenty of ponies whose sneezes were almost comically dainty, tiny things that sounded almost exactly like someone simply saying the word atchoo. Icy’s, on the other hand... aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAASCHHHOOOO! …generally registered on the Richter Scale. Icy fell back onto her haunches, rubbing at her nose and placing a hoof on her throat – that one had hurt. Admittedly, they usually did for her, but this one more than most. She scuffed a hoof on the ground, watching as it kicked up a small cloud of dust. A slight rumble of thunder in the distance, presumably from the weather team preparing the clouds for the next day, drew a smile from Icy. Whatever else you could say about storms, at least things weren't dry and dusty afterwards. Nope, it'd all be mud and puddles, things which Icy had a fondness for jumping in and sliding around on, making tracks and patterns in the semi-liquid dirt and then wiping it all... away... Just like... Oh no! Icy leapt to her feet, turning to her right and looking towards where she knew Pip's house to be. She lifted a hoof, ready to race off. She then thought for a moment, turned back towards her home and galloped towards that instead. After all, just because she was going to stop a major heist and protect something probably priceless didn't mean she shouldn't inform her mother of where she was going for the evening. That'd just be rude. “What do you mean he's moving tonight?” Scootaloo asked, still a little grouchy, both from her wing-aches and from having been called over completely out of nowhere. “I just realized,” Icy said, not taking her eyes off Magic Eye's first letter, scanning for the part she vaguely recalled, “it has to be tonight because there's gonna be a rainstorm tomorrow. This did not elicit sounds or expressions of understanding from the others. “So?” Scootaloo asked. “What's that supposed to...?” “Ah, found it!” Icy shouted, not seeming to notice Scootaloo's question. “ This is the bit: “I hope that my tableau will last until after I'm finished in this town, and certainly should if I did my homework right...”.” She read out loud. “The storm was scheduled more than a week in advance, so he must have known about it - “did his homework - and that'd wipe away the picture he drew, but if he's gonna finish before that happens, it has to be tonight.” Scootaloo frowned, though whether it was at Icy or at Magic Eye was unclear. “Aw geez, you're right but... he hasn't... GAH!” She threw her hooves up in frustration. Dinky put a hoof on her shoulder. “Well, he must have said or done something – he wouldn’t do anything without giving us a chance first.” “I think he has,” Icy suggested nervously, “there's this bit: “once you complete the picture, you'll see my grand finale.” I think we need to use what we know of the picture to figure it out.” “Oh, great, sure, no problem.” Scootaloo said as she hopped up onto the desk and pulled the photo onto the floor in the middle of the gathered ponies, as if she could force it to reveal its secrets through sheer force of sarcasm. “So what does it mean?!” Icy looked at the photo and recalled what she knew. Five pictures, five riddles, five crimes already committed and one big blank space in the middle. She shook her head, eyes wide and mouth dry. “I have no idea.” “Me neither,” said Archer as she glanced toward Pip's bedside clock, “but we've got two and a half hours to figure it out.” Her voice conveyed no urgency, but it didn't really need to. They were on the clock.