//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Odysseed // by AuroraDawn //------------------------------// Twilight was bouncing. It wasn’t so much Pinkie Pie-style bouncing as far as Applejack was concerned, but there was definitely no other way to describe it than bouncing. She rocked back and forth on all four hooves, as if somehow she had been storing momentum and was just waiting for physics to catch back up with her so she could rocket off into the distance. When the two of them had returned to the library, Celestia was standing off by the stained-glass window and lightly shaking her head at Twilight while laughing quietly. Twilight was in the center of the room, at a lectern, her nose deep in the book while her body vibrated. At the sound of the door opening, the alicorn zipped up from her work and grinned ecstatically. “Oh, this was so much fun. I love riddles. And this was such a riddle! There were these words that rhymed at the end of the sentence, and it looked like there were 5 sets of 3 rhyming lines, but then Celestia realized that the synonyms made this fascinating pattern if you spread one particular set of rhyming lines out between them all! So then we figured out the general order of the lines and fit the fifth set in where it made sense both in context of the poem and for the syllable count and we figured it out!” “That’s, uh, great, Twilight!” Applejack said, walking up and patting her on the back. There was a moment while Twilight stared gleefully into Applejack’s eyes. “...I’m guessing you want me to ask you how you figured out the order the stanzas went overall, right?” Applejack said, smirking. “You bet your bits I do! So the first set of syllables was seven—” “Perhaps we can hear the poem first, Twilight,” Celestia interjected, blinking prettily. “...Right!” Twilight shook her head, took a few deep breaths, and then cleared her throat and started to recite. Hugged by waves of dark mystique A white bird of peace lay nesting.  Start your journey upon its beak To find the prize you now seek. Keep starboard true to where sun sets And your voyage shall not be testing.  Upon the portside cast eyes like nets Until you catch the crimson steppes.  Below the ascendant mountain high Take not our guidance as jesting Directly as the peg’sus fly Follow Coltlantis’s seaward eye.  If true you’ve followed all our course You’re almost done with questing Seek those frozen lands introrse  And find safe passage to the Source.  “What does introse mean?” Applejack asked. “Introrse. It means to curve inward.” “Oh, okay. So we need to travel to where there’s ice that curves inward?” “That encompasses both poles of Equus, Applejack,” Luna said, tapping her chin. “Likely it is a specific set of instructions to be followed to ensure we get to the correct location. We could attempt to determine the end location, but it sounds to me like steps to be followed instead of directions in general.” “I had come to the same conclusion,” Celestia agreed. “While we may indeed lose a little bit of time by not going directly to where we think the Source temple is supposed to be, there may be specific, physical clues at each location listed within the poem.” “So if not where we end up, where do we start?” Applejack asked, peering over the open book Twilight had read from. “Hugged… by waves of dark… mystique.” “There’s a couple locations that could be, though I would hazard to assume it must be a water body that connects with one of the Frozen Wastelands. From what we know of those…” Celestia trailed off, pulling a long scroll off the top of one of the shelves and spreading it open. It was a map of Equestria, though it extended slightly into the Undiscovered West and all the way east to Griffinstone. “There’s our seas, and then the Into The Unknown passageway through the Frozen North. There’s also the Dragonland’s southern shores, and a few other smaller water bodies that could count…” She furrowed her brow, a rare view for Applejack of the Princess of Sun being unsure. “And then from there they need to have a bird of peace? That would make me think of the Dragonlands, with their birds of paradise.” “Dark mystique,” Applejack muttered aloud again, her gaze drifting. She caught the sight of Luna, who was just as occupied in consternation as her sister. She watched her mane billow and sway in a nonexistent breeze, watched stars and nebulae twist and warp gently by, fading in and out of the inky purple background of space. It was all very mysterious, she thought. Then she blinked, and looked back to the other two. “One’a the Luna Oceans,” Applejack said. There was a pause then to allow the shifting of trains of thought, the briefest of moments passing while the princesses in the room considered her suggestion. “Dove Island!” Luna shouted, leaping up into the air. “Dove Island in the South Luna Ocean!” She took a moment to realize they were all staring up at her, watching her float near the top of all the bookshelves. Clearing her throat, she gently brought herself back down to her seat. “It’s not marked on the map very well, because only one of our expeditions had gone out there, but it’s there. Towards the northern shore, about halfway,” she continued, highlighting the small white blob in discussion on the map with a small ring of magic. “They say it was shaped like a perched dove.” Applejack walked up close to the map, inspecting it. It appeared to be the same distance away from Equestria as Appleoosa was from Ponyville. “That’s a big ocean,” she admitted. “It is. It cannot be crossed by flight, and as such we shall need to organize a ship,” Celestia said, already bringing a quill and scroll up to begin the order. “I suppose we should go get packed then, eh Twilight?”