//------------------------------// // Building Bridges // Story: Eris's Riddle // by hahatimeforponies //------------------------------// "I still can't believe my laughing was actually hurting somepony!" Pinkie Pie whined, tugging at her mane. "We know, Pinkie..." Rainbow Dash grumbled. "You've been lamenting for like, ten minutes straight now." "But it's true!" The earth pony jumped in her friend's face, eyes bugged out. Dash grimaced and tried to lean back to little avail. "Alright, we should be on to the final leg of our route, as soon as we cross this..." Twilight reached the edge of the trees, and the river ford came into view. Along with the large river wyvern slumped across it, tail waving around idly in the air, leaning lazily on one elbow. Her ears went flat. "... river..." "What now..." Applejack groaned. Twilight sighed, folded up her map and strode up to the dragon. It appeared to be sleeping. "Hello!" she called. There was no answer. She looked back at her friends still standing on the hill for instruction. All she got was a shrug from Applejack. The unicorn just turned back to the wyvern and continued. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and my friends and I were rather hoping we could cross the river here..." Her pleas were met with an idle huff from the wyvern's nostrils. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and took to the air. "Oh for the love of Pete, just climb over him!" Slap. As she was passing over the river, a large, fish-finned tail came out of leftfield and smacked her forcefully back to the ground. Applejack and Pinkie Pie rushed to where she landed - she was winded and dazed, but didn't seem to have any lasting damage done. "What the horseapples was that about?" Twilight snarled to the dragon. The beast shifted in place a little, rotating its head and stretching its neck muscles, before answering simply; "Toll please." "What? Toll? This is crazy! There's no way we-" A small velvet bag whistled over her head, prompting her to stop talking. The wyvern deftly snatched it out of the air. "Keep the change." Rarity cut in, walking purposefully past her. The dragon sniffed the bag curiously, before extending his tongue out and upending the contents on to it; an assortment of fine, cut gems of several kinds. She couldn't help but wince when he pulled them back into his mouth and started chewing, but the relief was universal when he swallowed and gave his judgement. "Acceptable." "Alright everypony, now that that's out of the way, let's move!" Twilight assumed control again, walking up to the ford and waiting for the blockage to remove itself. And wait she did. "Anytime now." She folded her arms. "Aren't you gonna move your tail?" "I never sa-" Burp. "-id the toll was for crossing the river." "Horseapples!" Applejack barked. "He's... technically right, he never said anything about letting us cross..." Twilight grumbled. "Hmmyes, it's less of a toll and more of an... admission charge." The dragon started picking his teeth and scratching his side, drawing looks of disgust from all around. Rarity looked particularly offended; she looked like she was about to explode. Suddenly, she disappeared in a flash. "Wha-where'd she go?" Dash burbled. "Rarity, what are you doing..." The librarian sank her head into her hand. She did her best to try and keep up with Rarity's concealed hoofsteps, but on the short grass they were nearly impossible to see. She gulped when she just about saw a phantom dent on the wyvern's tail, and she was able to follow it for another couple of lengths along his body, but quickly lost track after that. "Take advantage of my generosity, will you?" The cry came a few seconds later, coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the river guardian's head. The group looked up, just in time to see Rarity reveal herself and launch herself at his neck, dagger outstretched. Schling. With the full force of her weight behind her, and the dragon's lethargy to her advantage, she drove the blade through his scales at his neck. He opened his eyes and let out a pained roar, that quickly reduced to semi-conscious gurgling as she swung around, carving a long, curving gash, thick, navy blue blood starting to ooze from the wound. Her maneuver allowed her to fling herself around and back to shore. She was unable to escape a squirt of the viscous, sticky fluid during her dismount, and she let out a frustrated growl as she rolled to a safe landing. While the wyvern's head and claws fell limply to the ground, she stood up, throwing the worst of the sticky mess off and sheathing her dagger. "Hm. Ruffian." "Rarity... that was..." Twilight blinked. "... a bit extreme, don't you think?" "Eh, it got the job done. Let's go!" Dash shrugged and flew over to perch on the motionless tail, ready to help the others across. Rarity took the other unicorn aside, still panting and wringing the tarry blue mess from her mane. "Twilight, I know that was a little hot-headed of me, and I'm not entirely happy about it either, but it had to be done." "But... you killed him. You stabbed him in the throat." "I suppose it may have been a trifle on the rash side, but you saw him. I could just tell there was no reasoning with him. If he was contrary enough to charge a toll just for being in his presence, he had it coming." Twilight remained unimpressed. "Hopefully this was just one of Discord's tricks anyway. Which, I might add, didn't work!" Rarity chuckled, cocking her head back. A thick glob of the wyvern's blood slicked at the end of her forelock and dripped off. Twilight sighed and shook her head, and winked out next to Rainbow Dash, atop the beast's tail. "Come on, move it, hut hut hut!" Dash barked, helping Applejack up the scaly wall. "Easy sugarcube, we ain't yer air force pals!" The earth pony smirked, greeting her with a jocular thump on the shoulder. "Don't you start that too!" Dash laughed, shoving her towards the other side. While Applejack held her balance fairly well, the slippery surface inevitably led her to drop face-first into the ford. Twilight frowned. "Is it just me, or are we all a little more... violent today than usual?" "Forest's a tough place. And besides, if Discord's messing with our heads like you say he is, th-" Slap. Dash stumbled back after taking a fish to the face. Twilight looked down to see Applejack standing in the ford, a mischeivous grin on her face despite the bloody graze on her forehead, and her hat in hand, a couple of fish flapping about in it. "Oh you're gonna get it now!" The pegasus yelled, swooping down to pluck another trout from the water and hurl it back like a missile. The unicorn sighed, and took over Dash's work of helping the others over the heavy tail. At least they're only play fighting this time. "Why can't we meet your other friends? I'd like to make some new friends!" Kalza chirped as she bounced around the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse. "Listen, ah think it's best if you just stay here..." Applebloom grumbled. Scootaloo followed her up the ladder, an apologetic look painted on her face. "Your types ain't exactly welcome in Ponyville." "My types? What does that mean?" The gryphlet tilted her head. "Ugh... can you just... go on the roof and check for bird nests or somethin'?" "Sounds fun!" Kalza cheeped, darting out the window and out of sight. As soon as Scootaloo was safely inside, Applebloom grabbed her and took her over to the corner, whispering to her. "We gotta get rid of her, Scoot." "We can't just ditch her!" "She's a gryphon. They eat ponies." "What do you want me to do? Just leave her in the Everfree forest?" "That could work." "I was being sarcastic!" "Hey guys!" A familiar voice called. They broke their huddle in time to see Sweetie Belle climb through the door, and Dinky Hooves eagerly scampering after her. "Oh! Is someone else coming?" Kalza ducked her head in the window, hanging upside down from the roof with a yellow feather in her beak. Sweetie Belle squealed and fell backwards, catching her dress on the floorboards and nearly falling out the door again. Dinky jumped, startled, but clung to the ladder for dear life. "It's a g-g-gr-gr-gryfmmf!" Applebloom rolled her eyes and covered Sweetie Belle's mouth when she started to panic. "Keep it down! We know. She's..." She sighed, not quite believing what she was doing. "... she's just lost. She ain't tryin' ta kill us. She's just a little'un." "Excuse me, I am not little!" Kalza scowled, and vaulted through the window, landing with her legs spread wide and her head held high, imitating a proud lion. Applebloom's expression remained deadpan. "I don't even have downy feathers. And listen to this!" She took a deep breath and a step back, preparing her mighty roar... only to release a shrill chirp, barely louder than a robin. She quickly blushed, and covered her beak. Applebloom didn't even flinch. "Y'see?" "I-I... guess..." Sweetie Belle was still panting a little. "But what is it... she... doing here?" Dinky blurted out. "Well..." Scootaloo cut in. Twilight stumbled across the ditch at the edge of the tree line, hastily stopping herself at the cliff. Before her, a rickety rope bridge spanned the gap to another ledge, and beyond that was a path leading to a crumbling stone hall. Her eyes lit up, and a wry smile spread across her face. "We're here!" she called back. "Finally..." Rarity groaned, uneasily tip-hoofing down the slope. Pinkie Pie just fell from the top and wheezed on the ground. "I really gotta lay off the cakes..." "No time for restin' sugarcube, gettin' there's the easy part..." Applejack chuckled, giving her fellow a light kick as she passed. Rainbow Dash swooped ahead of the group, inspecting the bridge. A couple of the planks were a little soft to the touch, but not really any worse than last time. "Sweet, I don't even need to pull it up this time!" "I wouldn't be so sure, Rainbow, we still better be careful." Twilight stood cross-armed by the posts the bridge was tied to. "I'm telling you, it's fine..." Dash flew straight up about fifteen lengths, then banked around, diving straight into the bridge. She held her hands out in front of her, pushing the bridge down like an elastic band. It quickly sprang back into place, shooting her back into the air. When it settled again, she landed with one hoof on each of the guide ropes, grinning confidently. "Alright, s'your neck on the line if this thing snaps when we're on it." Applejack shrugged, and gently pushed past Twilight to start across the bridge. One by one, the others followed her. "Fine, if you're that worried..." Dash huffed, and dropped on to the planks to walk with them, just ahead of the group. Rarity leaned out to the side as she tenatively stepped on to the first board. "I have to say, with the impeccable placement of all the other... trials, shall we say, I wouldn't be quite so confident there's nothing wrong if I were you..." "Oh relax, even if something did happen, I've got your backs. I never leave my friends hangin'!" "Famous last words..." Rarity muttered. Twilight was the last to step on to the bridge, and she did so apprehensively. It was easy enough crossing it in the dark, and it was always nice knowing she could teleport if things did go pear-shaped, but she couldn't say the same for the others. She kept a close eye where she was standing, and frequently looked up to check the ropes, listening out for every creak the old bridge made. Her previous experience with rope bridges did little to calm her nerves. At least this one wasn't icy. When they were about halfway across, she ran her eyes along the rope again, and gasped. The cord itself was in pretty good condition, but the knot around the post on the other side was unravelling suspiciously quickly. A lantern flicked on inside her head. She stopped in place and leaned forward to cast a very particular spell. The world around her ground to a halt. The ponies in front of her stopped walking. A bird flying nearby slowly froze in place, mid-wing-beat. She felt her muscles lock up and ignore any direction she tried to give them. A creaking sound from the bridge dropped in pitch until it was too low to hear, like an unplugged record player. And to top it off, Rainbow Dash's voice started echoing in her head. "What the hell? What's the deal? Why can't I move?" "It's working then!" "Ah! Twili- what the..." "Relax Rainbow, this is a similar spell to the one from earlier. I just didn't bother with the visuals, there's no time. Plus, it's way less taxing on me like this." "Oh, okay." Dash's tone remained a little suspicious. "So what did I do this time?" "This isn't about you, not like that at least. I've figured out the way Discord's set up his tricks." "Not sure why you had to stop time to tell just me, but alright, let's hear it." "They're based on the Elements of Harmony, maybe to try and taunt us or something. But the way they're set up is unmistakable - they're all subversions of the virtues they represent! The cliff that Applejack thought was shorter than it really was was meant to make us doubt her honesty. The bear that Fluttershy had to manipulate a snake into killing was meant to challenge her kindness. That imp in the forest was feeding on Pinkie's laughter. That wyvern at the river abused Rarity's generosity. And they've all worked beautifully so far. So here..." "I don't see anything..." "Look at the posts on the other side. The ropes are coming undone." "No they're n- whoa. Whoa, okay. That's some freaky mind stuff there. One minute it looks fine, and the moment you point that out..." "Sounds like Discord's mind tricks alright. I think what's supposed to happen here is that the bridge gives way, we all fall, and you won't be able to catch all of us before we hit the rocks below, confusing your loyalty. I think he's trying to make you choose which one or two of us to save." "Wow... Discord's an asshole." "Ahem. Quite. But since we spotted this in time, I think we can beat him here. If you grab..." "I think I gotcha... but I have a better plan. If I fly backwards right now at top speed, it'll get everyone off the bridge in one move. It might be a bit rough for some ponies, but better than jagged rocks." "Alright, go for it. I'll wind down my spell when you're ready." "Just... one last thing. How do I know you're not Discord pretending to be Twilight in my head?" "I..." She's... got a point. "... you'll just have to trust me, Rainbow. I can't really prove anything." "Hm. Okay." She paused, as if thinking. "Ready when you are." Twilight didn't say another word. First, she broke the mind link. Second, she started dispelling the time bubble. The ponies in front of her started, ever so slowly, to walk again. The bird in the background started to creep across the sky, accelerating as the neurotemporal distortion wore off. The creak started winding up again. As soon as she could feel herself being able to move again, she braced for impact. She heard a series of successive thumps, each one a higher pitch than the last. The final one sent Pinkie Pie falling back into her, knocking her flying too. After a couple of seconds of blur, she found herself flat on her back on the grass. She sat up, just in time to see the knots give out, and the empty bridge fall away. Behind her, the other five sprawled in a groaning heap. "Toldja!" Dash coughed. "I never leave my friends hanging..."