//------------------------------// // Puzzle 07: Even Odds // Story: Princess Twilight and the Puzzling Curse // by Parchment_Scroll //------------------------------// Solution: "Oh, wow, so you're the one who solved my cake-cutting problem for me, are you? Wow I wanna thank you so much and there's only one way to do that, and that's with a PARTY! "I hope you don't mind if I hold off on baking you a cake. I don't wanna go through all that again!" Fun Fact: The solution shown is one of at least five! However, moving two gumdrops up a space each would change that. Can you figure out which gumdrops would need to be moved? "Pinkie," Twilight said after cutting the cake. "Who are you talking to? I'm right here. I cut your cake for you." "Oh, gosh, Twilight," Pinkie said. "That's fantastic! Ooh, and you even used a different pattern from the nice pony who showed me how to do it!" Twilight raised a hoof momentarily, then rethought her action and put it back down again. "She's just being Pinkie Pie," she reminded herself. Actually, it was quite a relief to have Pinkie Pie back to normal. Or abnormal, in Pinkie's case. Delightfully, entertainingly, amusingly abnormal. "So, what are we doing?" Twilight nodded briskly. "Like I said, we need to get the rest of the girls and go get the Elements of Harmony. Once we figure out who's causing this mess, we might need them to set it right. And even if that's not the case, I've learned that there's nothing my friends and I can't handle together!" "Great. So... Rarity?" If Spike was trying to conceal his eagerness, he wasn't doing a good job of it at all. "Actually," said Twilight, "no. It makes more sense to start close by. By now, Applejack should be in the market square with her apple cart, so we'll head there next." * * * * Twilight Sparkle looked around the market square in obvious confusion. "I don't understand," she said. "What's to understand?" Spike waved a stubby arm, taking in the market square. "She's not here. Seems pretty clear to me." "She should be here! It's not like Applejack to be late on market day." Spike frowned. "What do you think?" "Well," said Twilight, "as I see it, there are a few possibilities. One: She's overworked herself again, and could be anywhere between here and Sweet Apple Acres, asleep on her hooves. Two: Whoever did this abducted one of my friends so we couldn't use the Elements of Harmony. Three..." "She's probably stuck on some stupid puzzle," Spike said. "Same as every other pony in town." "Yeah," Twilight said. "That. We can probably eliminate the first possibility. Applejack said she learned her lesson last time she overworked herself. And I don't think the second is likely, either. Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are okay, after all." "So... Sweet Apple Acres, then?" Twilight nodded. "She's probably there, trying to figure out which of her horseshoes is fake or something." "Well," said Spike, "in the meantime, I think I see somepony who needs your problem-solving brainpower!" He pointed over to Sofas and Quills, where an upset Davenport was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. Twilight rolled her eyes. "All right," she said. "Let's go see what's up." * * * * * "Oh, thank goodness you're here," Davenport said. "Just look at the mess these foals made of my best couch!" Twilight took one look at the ravaged cushions and shook her head. "That's... pretty extreme," she said. "What did they do, graze on it?" Davenport shrugged. "I have no idea," he said. "I tried casting a truth spell on them to see if I could figure out what happened, but..." "Wait," Twilight said, shaking her head again. "Run that by me again. You, an earth pony, cast a truth spell?" Davenport nodded, smiling brightly. "Oh, yes," he said. "It's all thanks to this fantastic book I found this morning." He held up the book by its front cover, showing it to Twilight and Spike. "'The Earth Pony's Guide to Unicorn Magic'," Twilight read, "'by Duplicitous S. Cored'. I've... I've never heard of this book before." "Neither had I," said Davenport. "But it's incredibly useful. Except..." "Except what?" "Well, this spell... It's a lot trickier than I thought it would be." He set the book down and flipped through the pages until he revealed the spell in question. "Okay," Twilight said. "According to this description, if you cast it right, then anypony with an even number of letters in their name will tell the truth, and anypony with an odd number of letters in their name will lie." She frowned, blinking in obvious confusion. "What the hay kind of spell is that?" "Oh, it gets more frustrating than that," Davenport said. "Keep reading." "If you mispronounce one syllable, the opposite happens?" Twilight stared at the book again. "I guess this is what you get for casting a spell written by a pony named 'Duplicitous.'" She looked at Davenport. "So... did you cast the spell correctly or not?" Davenport slumped to the ground, defeated. "I have no idea," he said. "And so, when I questioned the foals about who broke the couch, they all started contradicting each other, and I don't know who's lying and who's telling the truth!" Puzzle 07 Even Odds 45/45 Bits Davenport cast a truth spell on the five foals he suspects of breaking his most expensive couch. Unfortunately, this spell only makes some ponies tell the truth, while it forces others to lie. If cast correctly, ponies with an even number of letters in their name tell the truth while ponies with an odd number of letters lie. If miscast, the opposite is true. Since Davenport isn't sure if he cast the spell right or not, he can't figure out who broke his couch. Can you point out the culprits to him? Here are the ponies statements: Snips: Dinky Doo never went near the couch. Snails: I'm innocent. Dinky Doo and Snips broke the couch. Diamond Tiara: Snips is completely innocent. Silver Spoon: Diamond Tiara and I did nothing wrong! Dinky Doo: I'm the only one who touched the couch.