//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Riddle Thinnens // Story: Adventures In Text // by Glimglam //------------------------------// Chapter 2: The Riddle Thinnens >NORTH You are in a section of the jungle. >NORTH You are in a section of the jungle. >NORTH You are in a section of the jungle. “TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash shouted, frustration boiling in her blood. “I think I’m lost! I just keep going north, and I’m STILL stuck in this stupid jungle!” Twilight looked up from the book she was trying to read—‘A Filly’s Guide to Dealing with Stress’, by Tender Care—and groaned. “It’s supposed to be a maze. Getting lost is, I don’t know, kind of the point. But the pattern is easy. You’ll figure it out eventually.” “‘Eventually?!’ C’mon, Twi! Can’t you give me any more tips than that?! You must’ve beaten this game a whole bunch of times already!” “Er…yeah, a bunch,” the unicorn mumbled, biting her lip nervously and hiding her face behind the book. ‘I still ought to mention that I never was able to finish it… but not now.’ Rainbow Dash slumped back in her chair with a face of extreme displeasure. “Great. Now what the hay am I supposed to do?!” she asked out loud. “You’ve been saying that for almost an hour straight!” Twilight snapped, briefly losing her composure. She realized this, stopped, and took a deep breath before continuing. “If you weren’t so blindly stubborn, then maybe you’d figure out that north isn’t the way to always go…” “So what am I supposed to do, go west, or something?” Rainbow Dash half-stated and half-asked. Twilight merely shrugged her shoulders and kept reading. Oh yes, that spoke volumes. The prismatic pegasus threw her hooves up into the air at the sheer vacillation of it all. “Ah, to Tartarus with it! I’ll just go west…” “Yes, go west, young mare,” Twilight whispered, a slight smirk tugging at her mouth as she continued reading her book. “‘Tis where you’ll find your fortune.” Rainbow Dash didn’t hear her though; she was too busy inputting the new command. >WEST_ You are in a section of the jungle. She was silent for several moments, her face developing a pouty expression. “Oh Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said in a falsely polite tone, only to instantly yell directly afterwards, “IT DIDN’T WORK!” “Now go north,” Twilight continued without even looking up. She seemed really absorbed in her book now for some reason. The pegasus gave a grumble of dissent, flattening her ears against her skull with irritation. She begrudgingly entered in the command after a moment’s pause. >NORTH_ You are in a section of the jungle. Rainbow’s left eye began to develop a twitch. “Twilight, nothing’s working,” she stated simply, her uneven voice suggesting unstableness. “It keeps saying the same. Darn. Thing.” “Trust me, it’ll work,” Twilight assured her friend. “Now finally… go west again. That should be it.” “…Fine…” Barely suppressing her involuntary tics, Rainbow Dash entered in Twilight’s ‘final’ direction. >WEST_ You are in a section of the jungle. “Oops,” Twilight said nonchalantly, looking up from her book and smirking devilishly when she saw the expression on Rainbow Dash’s face. “I actually meant to say east. The pattern was West, North, and then East.” She feigned an innocent shrug. “Silly me.” ======O====== Scootaloo had finally reached to windowsill. Finally, after so much difficulty clambering up the side of the house, the orange filly would get to see her idol. In the shallow depths of her mind, Scootaloo wondered if she should try and take up rock climbing again; that first time was probably just bad luck. Oh, she just had to think about her luck. Right as Scootaloo was climbing onto the window’s edge, a sudden, eardrum-shattering sound greeted her. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!” It was only a few brief instants before Scootaloo’s face had a happy reunion with the ground. THUD! Pulling her head out of the small indent she had made in the earth, Scootaloo spat out a mouthful of soil and shuddered. It tasted nothing like what Pinkie had been going on about. Was this was ‘Dirt Pie’ was made of? Actual dirt? Scootaloo groaned. Who was shouting, anyway? Was it somepony inside the library? It must’ve been; how else could she have lost her balance so easy? Whoever it was, she wasn’t able to figure it out, or care. All she did know was that things weren’t going to be made easy today. “My word, what is with that scream?” The pegasus filly looked up, and saw a pair of other ponies walking by the library. One was an earth pony, one was a unicorn, and both were mares. “What in Equestria is going ON in there?!” the unicorn with a mint-green coat, Lyra, demanded. The earth pony to her side, Bon-Bon, also posed the same question. Scootaloo wasn’t precisely sure that she had an acceptable answer. As such, a very drawn out “Uhh…” followed the mare’s inquiries. Such intense Q&A was thankfully not needed however, as a voice could be heard coming from within the library. “Calm down, Rainbow Dash!” the voice of Twilight was heard exclaiming. “No need to get all stressed-out over playing this!” “No need?! There’s totally a need! I ask you a simple question, and what do I get? SOME LOUSY ADVICE! And you were doing it ON PURPOSE!” Scootaloo’s ears pricked upwards at the last voice that spoke. It was Rainbow Dash! …But, what were she and Twilight arguing about? “Well then, sue me! I was just trying to have a little bit of fun!” “Fun?! You were practically screwing around with me!” Lyra and Bon-Bon exchanged a confused look. Scootaloo was a tad lost as well. “Umm… That sounds like Twilight and Rainbow Dash,” Lyra muttered. “They seem like they’re upset about something…” “What are they talking about, anyway?” Bon-Bon asked plainly, even though nopony present had any decent answers. “D-don’t look at me,” Scootaloo put out, feeling somewhat defensive. “I was just hanging around… not doing anything…” At this, both mares began to regard the pegasus filly with a somewhat suspicious look. Before either Lyra or Bon-Bon could question Scootaloo further, they were hushed by more voices. “Look Rainbow Dash,” Twilight was heard saying, “I’m sorry, okay? But it’s not easy if you keep asking me for constant pointers and help! You’re the one playing; I’m just enabling you.” “Do you seriously expect me to do it all on my own?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, letting out a cry of frustration. “AGH! WHY IS IT SO HARD!?!” “…Oooooo-kay,” Lyra said slowly, averting her gaze from the library, “a little bit of context here would be nice…” Bon-Bon shook her head. “Oh Lyra, you and your oddly-aligned thoughts… I’m sure they must be having a reasonable, if slightly heated discussion in there—” “YOU DIDN’T EVEN GET PAST THE JUNGLE YET! It’s not even supposed to be difficult!!” “For eggheads like you, maybe it’s not! But come ON! I’m new to this, okay?! So what if I’m no good?!” “It’s not that you are ‘not good’, Rainbow Dash, it’s just that you are too stubborn and single-minded to at least try wrapping your head around this on your own!” Bon-Bon sighed and muttered, “Never mind…” “Oh?! So I’m an idiot all of a sudden?!” “No! Nopony’s calling anypony stupid! If you’re already tired of this, then why not take a break and think this through?” “…” “Well?” “…Fine. I’ll take a break.” “Good. Ugh, all this nonsense is giving me a headache... I’ll be going to the store to pick up some paper and quills. I should be back before long.” “Whatever…” As the voices from inside died down, the three eavesdroppers slowly digested what they had heard. Scootaloo had no idea what was going on between them, being of a young, untainted mind. Lyra and Bon-Bon however… well hay, even they weren’t 100% sure what was going on in there. The door of the Library swung open, startling the three of them. Twilight had just exited the tree-like building, and immediately noticed them. “Oh, Lyra and Bon-Bon! Nice to see you here,” she said rather gently, not showing many signs of the ‘argument’ that took place earlier. “Oh, and you too… Scootaloo?” By that point, the pegasus filly had decided to make herself scarce. That is, run away. She wasn’t exactly keen on being caught spying on the library and its occupants. Twilight sighed as Scootaloo zipped away into the distance, and resumed speaking with the other two mares. “Oh, just so you know, Rainbow Dash is feeling a little bit moody right now. Well, you know what stress can to do to a girl. I’d give her some space if I were you.” “Uhh…” Bon-Bon was just about to ask what the argument earlier was about, but thought better of it and clammed up. For some reason, Lyra seemed to be holding back a sleazy little grin. “Well, see you later! I need to get to the store before they close.” And with a content little smile, Twilight merrily trotted off to her destination. Both mares left standing there were frozen with shock. After a moment of brief mystification, the two of them slowly turned to look at each other. Bon-Bon spoke first. “Umm… do you think… that perhaps… she and Rainbow are…?” From what could be gleaned from the grin that Lyra could no longer contain, she was thinking the same thing. Well, mostly the same thing… just a little bit more ‘scandalous’. “Oooooh! This is juicy stuff! We ought to tell everypony!” “W-what? No!” Bon-Bon snapped, though the idea of such gossip was somewhat tempting. “I-it’s not right… Besides, we don’t even know if they are seeing each other…” “Wasn’t that display proof enough?” Lyra reasoned, still grinning maliciously. Bon-Bon’s face flushed red from the thoughts poking around in her mind, but she was able to suppress them. “W-well, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding… We shouldn’t jump to conclusions…” “Oh, come on! It makes so much sense! Why else would Rainbow Dash hang out at the library with Twilight? It’s not like she actually reads or anything, right?” “Actually,” Bon-Bon interrupted, “she does read. At least, she reads the Daring Do books. Well, that’s what I hear, anyway…” “…Seriously? She does?” “Yeah. There was a big fiasco about it, too.” “…” Lyra shrugged it off. “But still, that doesn’t account for what they were shouting about! Because it sure didn’t sound like they were talking about books!” “Well, I suppose that they didn’t appear to be…” “Then that means I win! C’mon, we’re telling everypony!” “H-huh?!” Without waiting for a proper reply (or objection), Lyra snatched her companion by the hoof and practically dragged her down the street and away from the library. What they were off to do was anypony’s guess. Though if one could wager a guess, they were most likely off to spread some glorious gossip… …Well gosh, things just got a bit thorny, didn’t they? ======O====== Of course, Rainbow Dash had no intention whatsoever of ‘taking a break.’ One does not simply “take a break” when playing an extremely awesome game. She only said that just to get Twilight off her back. The only problem, obviously, was that she now had nopony to offer any assistance. Twilight was the only one she knew that had played (and apparently, beaten) this game, so Rainbow Dash was, figuratively, currently up Neighagra River without wings or a paddle. Oh well. She could manage, right? Rainbow Dash reclaimed her spot atop the chair facing the computer, staring down the machine like it was an old rival. Remembering Twilight’s directions from before, she attempted to navigate that STUPID BUCKIN’ JUNGLE one more time. >WEST_ You are in a section of the jungle. >NORTH_ You are in a section of the jungle. Rainbow Dash sincerely hoped that Twilight wasn’t joking when she said that ‘east’ was the next (proper) direction to go. Because if she was… Well, RD never had egghead salad for lunch before. Maybe it would be time to try something ‘new’…? >EAST_ You are at the Ruined City outskirts. After navigating the treacherous and confusing jungle, you finally can see the ruins in the distant north. They stand, tall and imposing against the now-open sky. It’s almost like a huge, dilapidated city, weathered by the trials of time. (You remembered to use your map, right? Of course you did! …You did, right?) Rainbow Dash facehoofed. The map! For Luna’s sake, how could she have forgotten about the MAP?! …Well, at least she finally got out of the jungle. But still… was the map still useful? Maybe it could tell her where to go next? >USE MAP_ You’re already at the ruins. It wouldn’t serve a further purpose now. “Gah…” Rainbow Dash slammed her head on the keyboard. >SH4MYF85HDYT64CW_ What’s a ‘sh4myf85hdyt64cw’? “…” The pegasus decided not to even comment on that. …So, where to go next? Well, if it said the ruins were north… then north it was. >NORTH_ You are standing before the Ruined Gate. As you approach the ruins, you notice that a large and impossibly tall fence surrounds the entirety of the city ruins. In front of you is a tall gate of unknown composition, though you quickly deduce that it must be a variety of copper alloy. It is shut, and there doesn’t appear to be another way in. You can see a gate, and a length of rope. Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin in thought. Of course, all ancient cities had to have a giant gate blocking access, didn’t they? But a better question was… what was a bunch of rope doing lying in front of such a gate? Surely, the developers did not simply place it there for no reason. >LOOK AT ROPE_ It looks to be approximately 12 yards in length, but it’s a little hard to measure perfectly accurately. Conveniently, it appears light enough to carry. ‘Convenient indeed,’ Rainbow thought. ‘A little too convenient, but… whatever.’ >TAKE ROPE_ Taken. With one somewhat-arbitrary task complete, there remained but one more. And that was to… enter the ancient city. But… how would one go about this task? >GO INSIDE RUINS?_ Are you asking me, or telling me? “Ugh…” Sometimes, RD felt like this game might’ve been a tad too smart for its own good. That kind of bothered her a little bit. >GO INSIDE RUINS_ The gate appears to be locked. “…Phooey,” Rainbow Dash muttered, her ears flattening with irritation. “Well, so much for that…” Once again, she had reached an impasse. The door was locked, completely barring entry, and all that was available was a bit of rope. The map was useless. She sincerely doubted that those binoculars would help either. Where was a strategy guide when you needed it?! Before Rainbow Dash could start exclaiming obscenities in fervent frustration, there was a knock at the library’s door. Not even a moment later, the front door swung open, and the pegasus whipped her around to see who it was. Her initial expectation of it simply being Twilight returning from the store was promptly dashed away when it turned out to be Pinkie Pie, of all ponies. “Hiya Dashie!” she exclaimed through the book being carried in her mouth. “I borrowed this book from Twilight, and now I’m bringing it back! It was really helpful for my ‘creamy caramel candy-coated cupcake cobbler’ recipe! I never thought that it could go so well with ‘super-secret supremely sour sauce’! Ooooooh, you should’ve seen the look on those ponies’ faces when they had that first bite! I never knew it was possible for somepony’s face to go all inside-out like that!” Rainbow Dash tried not to imagine what it would’ve looked like. Just like Pinkie to get all ‘experimental’ with her cupcakes again… “Uh, that’s nice Pinkie Pie… but, Twilight isn’t here. She went to the store. Also, I’m, uh… kinda busy…” The neon-pink pony tilted her head to the side, like a curious puppy. “Huh? Ooooooh, what’cha doing, Dashie?” “Playing a game,” RD replied tersely, trying to get this over with as soon as possible. “And it needs… er… concentration. So please don’t bother me.” Pinkie Pie dropped the book on a table, and playfully hopped over to the desk that Rainbow Dash was sitting at. “A game?! Woooow! Can I play? Huh huh? Can I? Huh?” “Er…” The pegasus switched glances between Pinkie and the Mareintosh. In all likelihood, that pink time bomb would somehow figure out a way to destroy it, and then Twilight would get extremely upset. For a machine that costs a whopping 20,000 bits… she wasn’t willing to take that risk. EVER. “Sorry Pinkie… You can’t. You’ll have to ask Twilight first before you can.” The pink pony’s mile-wide grin quickly shrunk into a petite little frown. For a moment, she looked rather downtrodden and disappointed, but being Pinkie, her mood picked up again almost instantly. “Okay! I’ll just wait right here then!” And with that happy declaration, she quickly planted her haunches right on the floor where she stood. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash wasn’t exactly comfortable with having somepony give her a very unnerving smile-filled stare while playing. Disconcerting though it was, the pegasus tried to pay no mind to her impromptu audience. Oh well, at least Pinkie had quieted down. >LOOK AT GATE_ It stands imposingly before you, as if just daring you to try and open it. There are no visible latches or handles on the gate, but there is a large horizontal beam that seems to be blocking the door. ‘A beam, huh?’ Rainbow Dash thought, raising a curious eyebrow. Perhaps there was some way to dislodge this beam? If it were removed, the gate would likely open! Brilliant! “Ooh! Ooh! I know that puzzle!” Pinkie Pie suddenly piped up. “All you need is a giant rope, a mariachi band, a pair of binoculars, a piñata, and bam! Party time!” “…Whuh? That doesn’t make any sense!” Rainbow exclaimed, furrowing her brow in both annoyance and confusion. “This isn’t about a party, Pinkie! …And why would you need binoculars for a party anyway?” Pinkie’s look turned serious as she put a hoof to her chin in deep thought. “Yeah, that’s just stupid… where would we find a mariachi band at this time of year?” she mused, completely missing Rainbow Dash’s point. “It’s more of the season for wubs! Ooh, I should call my pal Vinyl again!” She giggled. “What was I thinking? Mariachi band, what a silly filly idea…” “…Never mind,” the pegasus groaned, facehoofing. Still, the rope did seem like a reasonable way of moving that beam out of the picture… perhaps Pinkie was onto something. >USE ROPE_ What do you want to use the rope on? >GATE_ You expertly coil the rope and twirl it in both hooves before tossing it at the gate, cowfilly style. However, just as the rope makes contact around the beam, the rope slips off. You’ll need something to weigh the end! “See?!” Pinkie exclaimed suddenly, almost in a matter-of-factly way. “You need a piñata! What rope is complete without one?” “I DON’T EVEN HAVE A PIÑATA!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her wings flaring with frustration. “ALL I HAVE IS A STUPID PAIR OF BINOCULARS!” Pinkie looked genuinely surprised. “Really? Well, that’s not a very fun party if there’s no piñata.” She shrugged it off, and grinned again. “Oh well, better make the most of it!” Rainbow mostly ignored the nutty pink pony. The only thing that could possibly be used to ‘weigh down’ the rope was the binoculars… but, surely there could be a better use for something other than that? …But, if there was, she couldn’t think of one. Ah, screw it. >USE ROPE_ What do you want to use the rope on? >BINOCULARS_ You don’t see how this will accomplish anything, but why the hay not? With mostly-expert precision, you tie the binoculars to the end of the rope. And now, was the moment of truth. Could a devious puzzle such as this truly by solved by such a menial and unconventional method? >USE ROPE_ What do you want to use the rope on? >GATE_ You expertly coil the rope and twirl it in both hooves before tossing it at the gate, cowfilly style. The rope, with the binoculars attached, loops around the beam and coils itself tightly. With a mighty pull, aided from the extra force from the flapping of your wings, the beam jars loose and falls to the ground where it will likely be forgotten and disintegrate over the next millennium or so. Success! Rainbow Dash blinked. Well, apparently it could. “Aw, why didn’t I think of that?” Pinkie whined, ears flattening with disappointment. “You’re too good at this, Dashie! It’s not fair!” “Uh…” The pegasus rubbed the back of her neck bashfully. “I’m really not that great at this, but… I guess I am pretty awesome for figuring that out.” As usual, the concept of modesty was lost on poor Rainbow Dash. Pinkie didn’t really mind much, though. Regardless, the ruins were now within reach. What waited beyond that gate? Rainbow Dash didn’t know, but she was sure as hay excited to find out. But for a change… she also felt some semblance of accomplishment. She figured out the puzzle without Twilight’s help! …Well, Pinkie Pie gave her a slight nudge in the proper direction, but still! Rainbow Dash steeled herself. Whatever was awaiting her… or rather, what was awaiting Daring Do… it was bound to be awesome. “Just make sure you don’t get eaten by a grue!” “Uh… a wh-what…?”