//------------------------------// // Puzzle 03: Fancy Mathematics // Story: Princess Twilight and the Puzzling Curse // by Parchment_Scroll //------------------------------// One has to wonder what kind of pony would design a system like this. Of course, one also has to wonder about the sort of pony who would use it to deliver food. "Well," said Twilight as Spike picked through the mess the pneumatic system had made of his hay fries with a side of sapphires, "that was interesting." "I do believe this new system of theirs might need just a teeny bit of tweaking," Rarity said. "No kidding," Spike said. "There's bits of sapphire in my hay fries from when they got chipped in the pipes!" That didn't, of course, stop him from gobbling up the fries. He paused mid-chew, a delighted smile spreading across his face. "I take it you don't mind the end result," Twilight said. "Are you kidding? This is fantastic!" Rarity beamed at the little dragon. "Well," she said, "this is what we creative types like to call 'a happy accident'. It's delightful when a seeming mistake synergizes with one's intentions to bring forth something new and different, isn't it?" Spike's reply, though largely unintelligible, was enthusiastically positive. "Spikey-wikey," Rarity reprimanded, "a gentlecolt never talks with his mouth full." Spike swallowed. "Sorry, Rarity." "Apology accepted." She turned from the dragon to Twilight, arching a delicate eyebrow curiously. "What have you got there, Darling?" Twilight hefted the Earth Pony's Spellbook. "It's a spellbook that's supposed to let Earth Ponies use Unicorn magic," she said. "What?" Rarity fluttered her eyelashes, taken aback. "But that's ridiculous! That's as ridiculous as--" "A spell that lets Unicorn and Earth Ponies cloudwalk like Pegasi? Or that gives them wings like Pegasi?" "Well, now," Rarity said, "I wouldn't say my wings were like a Pegasus Pony's." She sighed wistfully. "Anyway," Twilight said, interrupting Rarity's reminiscence of the Glimmerwing spell, "I'm trying to figure out how any of these spells work, but they're just... nonsense! Who the heck is this Duplicitous S. Cored character any--" She trailed off, a look of dawning comprehension breaking across her face. "What was that name again, Twilight?" Rarity asked, getting a glimmer of what Twilight had realized. "D.," said Twilight, "S. Cored. I should have known he'd be involved in--" "Hey," said Spike, "that kind of sounds like Discord!" Before either of the ponies could respond, he hiccupped. Rarity shot him a glare, and was visibly preparing herself to lecture him on table manners, but before either of them could utter a word, a loud belch erupted from the baby dragon's mouth, accompanied by a plume of magical green fire which coalesced into a scroll bearing the Royal Seal of Canterlot. "Oh, Princess Celestia's reply!" Twilight set the book aside for the moment, her attention focused on the scroll. "I got it," Spike said, reaching out to snatch the scroll off of the table. Unfortunately, in his haste, he knocked over the pepper shaker, and a disaster was in the making. "'To My Most Faithful Student,'" he read, "'Twa... Twa...'" Twilight frowned, cocking he head curiously. "Having trouble pronouncing my name?" she asked. "TWAAAAAAAAAAAAA-CHOO!" Twilight's attempt to yank the scroll out of range of Spike's sneeze was counteracted by the sheer volume of flame that erupted from his mouth. In moments, she was left with a single scrap of paper. "'Please,'" she read. "Please what? Argh!" "I'm sorry, Twi," Spike said, ashamed. "Hey," Twilight said. "It's okay. It's not your fault. When the rest of that letter gets to Princess Celestia, I'm sure she'll figure out what went wrong and send another copy." "Um," said Rarity, tapping Twilight on the shoulder delicately. "Twilight, dear, I do hate to be a bother, but I don't think that scroll went to Princess Celestia." She pointed skyward with a hoof. High overhead, fluttering in the breeze, were several tiny scraps of parchment, each pice singed and trailing a little wisp of smoke. "Oh no!" Twilight galloped off after the errant papers, snatching as many with her magic as she could see. "Catch them, catch them, catch them!" Rarity galloped after her, Spike scrambling to keep up. * * * * * A few minutes later, the mad dash had ended, and Twilight surveyed the meager results of their efforts to retrieve the scraps. "Five?" She sighed. "That's all we managed to grab? Five?" "Six," said Spike, "if you count the one you already had." He waved the little piece of parchment in the air. "Well," Twilight said, "let's take a look and see if we can't make head or tails of these things." "Well, this is definitely the same letter," Twilight said. "This scrap has my name on it, and it's all in Princess Celestia's writing." "Let the guards know what?" Spike asked. "I'm not sure. Let them know I'm working on this? Let them know the problem even exists at all? Have you even seen any Royal Guards today?" "Shouldn't you have some with you at all times," asked Rarity, "now that you're a princess?" "Rarity," Twilight said, "I'm not bringing guards with me when I travel around Ponyville! This is my home!" "But think of the--" "I know," said Twilight, "I know. Proprieties." She shook her head. "We don't have time to worry about that now. We should get the other girls together and collect the Elements of Harmony. Then we can get to work figuring out what's going on here, and what Discord has to do with it." "Aren't you kind of making assumptions there?" Spike scratched his head. "I mean, Fluttershy did such a great job of getting Discord to behave, and Princess Celestia took him in hoof. Sure, this kind of chaos is kind of his thing, but hasn't he changed now?" "Even if he's not behind it," Princess Twilight argued, "he's involved. That spellbook had his name on it. In any case, first things first: We have to get the girls." "Why not try Applejack next?" Rarity asked with a smile. "Any reason in particular?" Rarity's smile widened somewhat. "I suspected as much," she said. "You've been so focused on chasing down those fragments that you didn't realize how far afield the chase was taking us. Applejack's closest, Dear." Twilight frowned. "Rarity, don't be silly. Sweet Apple Acres is outside of Pony..." She trailed off as her eyes finally took in ther surroundings. Sure enough, in her frenetic gallop after rogue letter fragments, she'd led the trio all the way to the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. * * * * * Applejack and Big MacIntosh were glaring at each other. "Ah ain't one ta call a pony a liar," Applejack said angrily, "less'n they're lyin'! Admit it!" "Nnnnope," drawled her brother sanguinely. "Ah've had enough o' this, Big MacIntosh! There ain't no way ya--" "Ahem," Twilight said, feeling it was high time she interrupted before the argument became a fight. "What's going on, Applejack?" "It's Big Mac, here. Darn fool gone and hurt hisself again last week. Nurse Redheart says he's okay ta work the farm s'long as he takes plenty of rest as he goes. Ah reckon he's gone an' overworked hisself, seein' as he says he finished his half o' the work already, an' Ah just finished mine. There ain't no way he can be done less'n he's not takin' that half-hour off every hour like Nurse Redheart says he should." "Well, A.J.," said Spike, "Big MacIntosh is bigger than you. Didn't you say he can do his work faster than you already?" "Not that fast," Applejack said. "Huh," said Spike. "Twilight, is this another one of those puzzle things?" Twilight smiled. "Yes, Spike," she said. "Do you think you can figure it out?" Puzzle 03 Fancy Mathematics 30/30 Bits Big Macintosh and Applejack are busy bucking apples. Big Macintosh can buck three trees in the amount of time Applejack can buck two. However, after every hour of work, Big Macintosh has to rest for a half hour so he doesn't aggravate his injured side. To keep things fair, Big Macintosh and Applejack have split the work exactly in half. Applejack can clear her half of the orchard in exactly six hours. How long does it take Big Macintosh?