Chapter 4: Dragon’s Despair
The train eventually came to a stop, and Layton opened the door to disembark. He looked out on the new sight that awaited him, a rural affair with thatched roofs and beautiful natural scenery. The air was crisp and the ponies in the vicinity were smiling and chatting away whilst going about their daily business. The professor smiled and opened up the map he was given.
“Oh dear...” The ink had smudged on the map, a result of being kept in a damp place. The professor folded up the now-useless map and headed away from the station. It wasn’t long before he came across a group of fillies chasing each other and giggling. As they noticed Layton, they stopped playing and stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the biped standing before them.
“Good afternoon, young ladies.”
“Oh my gosh!” yelled one of the fillies, a yellow-coated earth pony with red hair and a pink bow, with golden eyes. “Yer not a pony!”
“Ooh, what are you?” a second filly squeaked. She was a white unicorn with curly pink and lilac hair and emerald green eyes.
“Awesome! Lyra keeps talking about humans, but I never believed her until now!” The third filly trotted up to Layton, looking on in awe. She was a vivid orange pegagus with purple hair in a quiff and lilac eyes.
“What are your names?” Layton asked politely. In order, they replied:
“Ah’m Apple Bloom!”
“I’m Sweetie Belle!”
“And I’m Scootaloo!”
In unison, they announced, “and we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
“Excellent. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Tell me, would you happen to know the way to the local library?”
“Well...” Apple Bloom hesitated. “Ah reckon we know the way...”
“But it’s a super-duper secret!” Scootaloo interrupted. Both she and Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle, who took a moment to register the glances.
“Ooh! Oh! If you play a game with us, we might tell you where it is.”
“Y’all up for a Cutie Mark Crusader challenge, Mr. Big Hat?” Apple Bloom posed to the professor, who chuckled to himself.
“What did you three have in mind?”
Puzzle 010
“Each a’ the critters can see their food in plain sight. But every time they get to a new path, they get curious an’ walk down the new route. They always head the way where the food is, but I ain’ never see a mouse take too well to eatin’ a fish, an’ ah’m sure dogs prefer bones over cheese! Can ya put in two new paths in so the cat, dog, mouse and frog reach the fish, bone, cheese an’ fly in that order? Y’all can’ go crossin’ the paths over each other, now. That’s cheatin’!”
Layton took a moment to think it over, before placing his two lines on the ground-drawn diagram, confident in his answer. This was met again with Apple Bloom’s thick Southern burr.
“Aw, yer no fun!”
“No fair!” chuckled Sweetie Belle. “We took all of a night to think up that one!” A high-pitched squeak emphasised the word ‘night’ over the others.
“Puzzles are a speciality of mine, of course,” replied the professor, not allowing too much of a smugness to break through his expression.
“You must be REALLY smart, sir!” Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly. “I’ve only come across one pony as smart as you.”
“Indeed. In fact, I have come to see her.”
“Of course!” Sweetie Belle squealed.
“A promise is a promise!” Scootaloo announced proudly.
“Come on, sir!” Apple Bloom took command. “We’ll show ya the way to the library.” With that, the professor and the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked briskly to the north end of the town.
Upon reaching the northern lanes of Ponyville, Layton noticed a very large tree. The tree had windows dotted around certain parts of its trunk, and a balcony stood off its east side, holding a telescope in its firm standing. The sign next to the front door was a picture of the book.
“I expect, girls, that this would be the library.”
“Yes, sir!” Apple Bloom confirmed enthusiastically.
“Wonderful! Well, thank you for your help, young ladies. I shall attend to my business here."
“Of course!” a bubbly Sweetie Belle replied. “If you need any more help, you’ll see us about.”
“Definitely!” echoed Scootaloo. “We shall continue to find out who we are. We are...”
“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” The three fillies chorused together. “Bye, Mr. Man!” The Crusaders were soon out of sight. Layton couldn’t help but smile at the playfulness of the three friends. He turned to the library door, noticing a peculiarly hand-written note nailed to the front of it.
“Library closed due to compassionate leave.”
It seems I’m not the only one informed of Miss Sparkle’s disappearance, the professor thought. He knocked on the door, which elicited a sobbing male reply from the other side.
“G-go away! We-we’re closed!”
“Forgive the intrusion, but I was sent by the Princesses to resolve your friend’s disappearance.”
“R-really? I... I don’t believe you. B-but if you are, maybe you c-can help me with a problem I’ve been having.”
“Okay, sir. I am here to help.”
Puzzle 011
“I have a love for gems, you see. But I need to get mine valued. 1 out of every 4 gems I have are sapphires, 3 out of every 7 gems I have are topazes, 11 out of every 45 gems I have are emeralds, and the rest are rubies. As I can’t have fewer gems without these amounts being wrong, how many rubies do I have?”
A patch of parchment and an ink-dabbed quill slid out from underneath the door. The professor picked them up and wrote his answer clearly on the parchment, before sliding the paper back under the door. A moment of silence.
“Okay, that’s helpful. I suppose I could... let you in.” The sound of a deadbolt sliding aside rang harshly, before the door to the library creaked open. The interior was dimly lit, but the professor could see books lining the walls, multicoloured specimens ranging from the ancient to the more contemporary. However, there was neither sight nor sound of the crying mystery male.
“Hello?” The professor’s voice rebounded dully off the wooden walls.
“Woah, you are not what I was expecting. When Princess Celestia said she was sending somepony, I had no idea it would be... not a pony.” The professor turned around to notice a short bipedal lizard, with purple skin, an off-white underbelly, green spinal scales and ears, along with eyes to match.
“Ah, good day to you, sir.”
“Uh, hello. I’m Spike the dragon.”
“Professor Layton, at your service. I am making an investigation into the disappearance of Miss Sparkle.” Layton looked around, but Spike’s eyes welled up.
“Oh, I am sorry, Spike. Say, let’s shed some light on this library, shall we?” With that, Layton adjust the lamps in the room and used one of the lit candles to start more that were dotted around the walls. As the room illuminated, something odd immediately caught the man’s attention. He peeked down a nearby corridor, noticing a large wooden door with some text etched on it. In front of the door were 12 buttons arranged in a circle.
“It appears to be in the shape of a clock, Spike.”
“Yeah, but what does the message on the door mean?”
Puzzle 012
“How many hours can a pony sleep?
A sixth of them have skies to sweep,
Another 3 to read away,
Another 2 for fun and play,
Work, a dress, takes up a third,
3 more hours to drive a herd,
Another sixth for creatures’ care,
A digit, please, of what’s to spare.”
“I don’t get it, Professor,” Spike cried, confused.
“Tell me, Spike,” the professor posed a question. “How long has this puzzle been here?”
“I noticed it when I woke up two hours ago, when I received the message from Princess Celestia about Twilight.”
“It is 6:30 in the evening.” Spike blushed noticeably at this observation.
“I tend to nap for a bit in the afternoon.”
“Hm... How very interesting.” Taking this new information into his mind, Layton turned back to the conundrum at hand. He proceeded to press on a number of the buttons, before standing in the centre. A loud clunk rang from the puzzling door.
“You did it, professor! Man, Twilight would be so jealous of your smarts!”
“I think,” pondered Layton, “that Miss Sparkle is about to find out soon enough.”