Princess Twilight and the Puzzling Curse

by Parchment_Scroll

Puzzle 13: Pipe Nightmares 1

Solution:

Well spotted!

Which is more unbelievable? The fact that all of these changes happened overnight, or the fact that they seem to have gotten an apple tree away from Sweet Apple Acres?

"And that's just the half of it," grumbled the mayor when Twilight pointed out what had changed overnight. "There are problems all over town!"

"Tell me about it," Twilight said. "Everyone I've spoken to so far has had a puzzle for me. It's awfully suspicious."

"I'd appreciate it," said the mayor, "if you could do what you can to resolve as many of those as possible. It would clear up a lot of this paperwork, to say the very least."

"Oh, Princess," Rarity suggested, "perhaps you could contact Princess Celestia about this?"

"That's a wonderful idea! Spike, take a letter."

"Um," said Spike after a moment's hesitation, "about that..."

"What is it now?"

"We're out of the magic scrolls we use to mail the Princess," he confessed.

"Spike!" Twilight gritted her teeth in frustration. "You were supposed to pick more up!"

"Today," Spike said. "I was supposed to pick them up today."

"Oh. Right." She turned to the mayor and smiled winningly. "Mayor Mare, we need to restock on magic scrolls."

The mayor looked up from her stack of paperwork. "That's fine by me," she said. "Spike, you know where we keep them, right?"

Spike ran over to the cubbyholes where the enchanted scrolls were kept. "Oh, wow," he said. "There's only one left!"

"What?" Mayor Mare galloped over beside him. "That can't be right," she said, "I put in a requesition for more just the other..." She trailed off, her eyes drawn to an envelope sitting on top of the cubbyholes. "Ah. Aheh... heh... I don't suppose you'd mind just sending this along with your own letter, Twilight?"

Twilight spent a moment stifling the urge to groan. "I'd be happy to, Mayor. Spike? Take a letter."

Spike unrolled the scroll and pulled out his quill. "Better make this count, Twilight," he said. "Seeing as this is the only chance we've got."

Twilight nodded, and began to dictate.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you about a strange set of circumstances occurring in the town of Ponyville this morning. It seems that everypony in town has been afflicted by some sort of geez compul spell that's caused their daily routines to be interrupted by puzzles and riddles.

I am gathering my friends in the event that the Elements of Harmony are required to deal with this problem, but at this time I'm unaware if the problem extends past Ponyville itself.

Any information or assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

"Ahem," the mayor interjected.

Twilight sighed. "P.S.: Enclosed, please find Mayor Mare's requesition for more enchanted scrolls."

"...enchanted scrolls," echoed Spike as he finished the letter.

"Great!" Twilight levitated the letter out of his grip and scanned it once before tucking the mayor's envelope inside and rolling it up. "Send it, please."

The scroll vanished in a gust of green flame from the young dragon's mouth, and he turned to Twilight. "Okay, so, do we wait for her response?"

"I don't think so," Twilight replied. "I told her I'm getting my friends together, so we should probably keep doing that. So long as you're with me, her reply can get to me anywhere in Equestria, after all!"

"So... who do we have left?"

"Well," said Twilight, "Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash should be getting ready for the picnic already, so I suppose we can meet them at the park like we originally planned. I haven't heard from Applejack or Fluttershy yet, so either they're getting ready for the picnic, or they're stuck on some weird puzzle themselves."

"So," said Spike, "where to fi--"

He was interrupted by a loud gurgle. "First," said Twilight, embarrassed, "we grab a light snack. With all these puzzles, I've worked up quite an appetite!"

"An excellent idea," Spike said, trying to conceal his salivation.

"Well, then," Rarity said, "what are we waiting for? The cafe beckons!"

It was, thankfully, a short trot from the town hall to Twilight's favorite cafe. She waved off any attempts to treat her differently than she was used to, and took a seat at her usual table, with Spike on the side opposite and Rarity sitting beside her.

It took no time at all for the waiter to take their order, thankfully. Twilight, who had been expecting some sort of puzzle, perhaps, breathed a sigh of relief.

After a few minutes of waiting for their food to be delivered, however, Spike began to grow impatient.

"Patience, Spikey-Wikey," chided Rarity. "One simply does not lose their temper in an establishment of this quality."

"I'm sorry, Rarity," Spike said. "I'm just kind of cranky when I'm hungry."

"This is taking forever," whined Spike.

"You heard what Rarity said," Twilight reminded him. "Patience."

"Oh, I'm through with patience," Rarity put in, positively fuming. "I said that when I was under the impression this was a quality establishment. Garçon!"

The waiter appeared at her side within moments. "Madame?"

"Have you any idea how long we have been waiting?"

With a wince, the stallion nodded. "Oui, madame," he said. "The management extends its apologies. We have recently installed a new system to speed food delivery, but the user manual is... shall we say 'verbose'?"

"And...?"

"And we must admit to having some difficulty in determining exactly how to use it."

Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes. "Would you like some fresh insight?"

The next few moments were made extremely uncomfortable for the studious mare, as she was unaccustomed to having a grown stallion prostrate himself before her, kissing her hooves. "Oh, madame," he said when he was calmed enough to speak, "if you would be so kind as to help us, we would be eternally grateful."

"Okay," Twilight said, heading off the incoming tide of gratitude before it became overwhelming. "Just... bring me the manual and I'll see what I can do."

Puzzle 13
Pipe Nightmares 1
25/25 Bits

The cafe's food delivery system is convoluted to say the least! Using a set of pneumatic pipes, the kitchen staff can, in theory, deliver food to any table on the patio in an instant. The only problem is that the route the food takes is not direct. Food proceeds either down or across in the pipe diagram shown, but never up. Whenever it reaches an intersection, the container must switch pipes.

As poor Spike is getting impatient, which pipe should his food be put in to ensure it comes out at his table?