//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Puzzle // by englishwitch //------------------------------// The Puzzle Fanfic by Englishwitch Chapter 4 Magic poured from the unicorn, the door glowed with an eerie green light as the colourful magic worked along the surface of the door. Rust of ages past fell away from the surface of the door in clouds of fine dust. Slipstream flapped her wings to blow the dust away from the ponies. The two earth ponies gripped a long iron rod in their hooves which looked like a giant crowbar; a prying bar. They pushed the narrow toothed end into the minuscule gap between the door an its frame and started to pull. Their grunts and strains echoed off the cave walls. They were clearly giving it their all but the door refused to budge. Applejack stepped forward to give them some help, taking place at the end of the prying bar and adding her strength. Twilight and Rarity followed suit, lighting their horns with magic they began to telekinetically pull the heavy metal object. There was suddenly a screech like a dragon. Fluttershy squealed and hid behind Rainbow Dash. The door screeched again as the powerful combined magic of the unicorns fought against it. The years were torn away from it. Hinges that had thought to be sealed solid with rust were called into action once more. They screamed in resistance, but slowly, surely and ultimately the door was being forced open. As the seal broke there was a deep sigh of air rushing into the room beyond. A thick cloud of black dust poured forth, carrying with it foul air, dry and stale with the stench of death riding it. All the ponies covered their mouths with their hooves, coughing as the dry dust reached the back of their throats. "Li-" cough "Light!" Professor Hunter hacked and coughed with the rest of them. Each gasping choke made her chest tighter for a second. "Wind!" She gasped out, "Clear the air. Rainbow Dash heard the order and opened her wings. Slipstream was already doing the same. Together they flapped a powerful breeze that sent the cloud of dust flying away from the group and down the tunnel from which they had come. At the same time Twilight set her horn aglow, building up the magic until -finally- she released an illumination orb, which hovered above them, bobbing against the ceiling like a helium filled balloon. The white light cut through the last of the haze left by the dust cloud. The air was clear and the foul stale stench was vanishing. Rarity gasped and pointed a hoof, "Oh my stars!" Under the light of the orb and the lanterns the interior of the room beyond the door was filled with light, chasing away shadows that had existed there for centuries and revealing to the ponies what had been hidden for so long. A grinning skull greeted them. In front of a concrete pedestal were skeletal remains. It wasn't a pony. It's head was too round, the muzzle too blunt. It's back legs were too long and it's torso was a strange shape. There were digits at the end of its limbs: the remains of fingers and toes. It was dressed in decaying rags that had once been clothing and there were still, just, a few wisps of hair, resting on the shoulders where they had fallen from the head so long ago. It had probably been close to a miracle they hadn't been blown away in the rush of air caused be the opening door, or the wind made by the pegasus ponies to clear the air. "Human" Lycra whispered in awe. Her mouth agape and eyes wide she had to sit down as a wave of dizziness fell over her. The room was cylindrical in shape, with a flat floor and far wall. It looked as though some great drill had dug its way into the stone of the mountainside and the room had been left behind. Perhaps vault was a more apt term as the room didn't seem to serve any other purpose than to keep its contents safe. In the middle of the room was a pedestal made of moulded concrete, atop his pedestal was what looked like a crystal. It shimmered in the light with a rainbow of colours like an opal gem yet it was clear as quartz. It's main body was a tall pointed pyramid shape, twice as tall as it was wide, it had a second piece sticking out of its side at a 45 degree angle to its big brother very short and quiet wide at its base. The attention of the ponies wasn't on the crystal though. Their eyes were fixed on the human remains. Applejack removed her hat respectfully. Even though the remains she was looking at were those of a strange creature it been a living being all the same and so deserved some reverence. "What's it doin' locked up in here?" "Possibly," Twilight approached the doorway slowly, "Guarding that crystal." At the entrance to the vault she stopped herself. She looked back at her teacher with a sheepish grin, "Sorry Professor, this is your find. You should be the first inside." Relic Hunter smiled at Twilight. There was a tiredness in her eyes that she tried to hide, but Twilight noticed. "Thank you, Twilight." She looked to her assistants and fellow archaeologists. They, in turn, were still diverting their attention between Relic and the strange skeleton in the chamber. "Get the cameras. We must document everything before any pony sets hoof in there." Her words had the desired effect and the team snapped out of their daze and into activity. Cameras appeared, seemingly from nowhere and for the next few moments the vault was illuminated by the storm of flashes. Every object was captured from every angle with several cameras. All too soon it was over, leaving the ponies with dancing spots in front of their eyes. Relic Hunter eased herself up to her hooves. Her heart was racing, from the excitement. Tentatively she stepped forward, putting her hooves past the doorway and into he vault. "A place where no one has stood for centuries." she said in hushed tones. "And possibly a place where no pony has ever stood." The atmosphere around them seemed to grow heavy. The awe of the moment was so palpable they could taste it. Or perhaps that was the lingering dust in the air. Relic approached the skeleton slowly. The fixed grin and hollow eyes stirred instincts within her, something primeval. It was difficult to put such an ancient feeling into modern words and she knew if she said it out loud she wouldn't do it justice with her description. It wasn't quite a feeling of respect nor was it a feeling fear, but both those qualities were present in the sum of the whole. Perhaps it was simply an acknowledgement that this creature had been real. It had been on the planet before ponies and had even been more advanced than them, at least in some ways. To learn yours was not the first intelligent being to walk upon the world was a huge revelation for anypony. "There are so many mysteries around you," she spoke the ancient remains, "I can't say we'll solve them all. But we will try. Your people were forgotten for so long. You will be remembered again." She stepped back and looked to her assistants. "Get some stretchers from the medical tent. I want these remains treated with as much respect as you would show any pony when moving them. Take everything to be catalogued. Keep the," she looked to Twilight, "Is it a human?" Twilight nodded, "I never saw their insides, but the shape is so similar, I don't see what else it could be." Lyra also nodded, “It is. Its fits the shape in the stories and legends. A tall creature that stood on two legs, digits on the ends of its arms, with a round head and...stuff.” she faltered and trailed off, muttering only, “hands. Fingers and hands.” under her breath. Relic Hunter nodded back to her team, "Keep the human covered. We don't want it damaged by the sun or wind." She turned to twilight and the group. "This could take a while, in he meantime," her horn glowed as she levitated the strange crystal over to herself, "I'll take this for examination. Perhaps we can find out what made it so valuable that this guard would remain here, like this. Twilight, miss Heartstrings, if you would accompany me, we have several other unknown artifacts I hope you may be able to identify." Twilight nodded and, after a little hesitation, Lyra did too. ...***... Twilight sipped at some lukewarm peach flavoured tea. On the opposite side of the table sat Lyra. Professor Hunter sat in the far end of the tent, sitting in the cool shade. She had a slight headache but the dimness was helping. Even when resting she was still working, carefully looking over the crystal that had been removed from the vault. Twilight and Lyra, meanwhile, where looking over some of the more unusual artifacts that had been found during the dig. Most of the findings had been fairly ordinary items; cups, plates and simple tools like the rusted remains of saws and hammers. It could have all pointed to a mysteriously advanced but forgotten and unknown ancient pony settlement. The crystal empire was millennia old, but had been advanced in its day. A pony settlement of similar sophistication could have arisen in Equestria only to have been destroyed by Discord, or some other malevolent entity. Only the discovery of the doll had really given any clue that the items could have belonged to a human settlement. The items they were looking at now were labelled Misc/Unknown, which would have been analysed further by teams in Canterlot who had better facilities and resources than the basic set-up archaeological camp. Of course, the appearance of Twilight and Lyra; the two human experts, meant that they could have the answers much quicker. Lyra examined an object which looked like a small, flat, brick, made of black glass. All the while her horn was aglow, levitating a quill to scribble down notes while she worked. “Item 16-c. A decorative object which was used by humans to denote status and social standing.” Twilight laughed lightly and shook her head, “Actually its a gadget, called a Cellular Phone. A communications device used by humans to talk to each other. They could even use it to take photographs. See that small circle spot on the back,” she pointed to it with her hoof, “It’s the aperture of the camera.” Lyra gave her a deadpan expression. The quill ran across the paper to scribble out the notes. “Thank you.” she muttered flatly. She wrote down Twilight’s correction to her assumption. Twilight smiled sheepishly, taking note of Lyra’s expression and tone of voice. “Well...” she ventured in the hope that a change in subject would put the mare in a more pleasant mood, “This is an interesting device,” she held up an object made of plastic, with a small screen and many buttons. “item 16-D; it’s a gadget for playing music. I think I talked about it in a paragraph in chapter three of my book. Somehow, this machine, can hold hundreds, even thousands of pieces of music and can play them back at will.” she sighed lightly and shook her head, “It’s a shame I didn’t have more time in that world. I would have loved to have learned how these machines worked.” From the other side of the tent, Relic Hunter looked up from the crystal, “Interesting, Twilight, come look at this.” Twilight came over and immediately saw what had caught Relic’s attention. On the flat surface of the crystals base glowed a hidden feature. It was an engraving, so shallow that it might have been missed by eye or by hoof-touch. It was only illuminated when the light hit it at the specific angle and brightness caused by the sunset. If the sun was any higher the engraving would have been lost in the glow of light illuminating the rest of the crystal. It looked, at first, like a collection of squiggly lines. Like a spider web destroyed after a storm all the lines were connected but there were big gaps and empty spaces. It was a chaotic and random shape but something about it rang a small bell of familiarity in the back of Twilight’s mind. She wished she was in her library, she would have researched this image immediately. “What is it?” she spoke in a hushed tone. Relic hunter just shook her head, “I’ve no idea. But it’s not there by accident. The rest of the crystal is too perfect, too pure, for a flaw like this to be there naturally. This crystal was manufactured somehow, therefore this engraving had to have been put there by the makers. It was put there for a reason. It means something.” she shook her head gently, “Scholars will probably be researching it for decades to come. We may never know what these humans intended by it.” “Ahem.” The ponies turned to the doorway, where Applejack stood. “Mineral Deposit wants me to tell y’all dinner’s ready. If yer hungry.” As if on cue, Twilight’s stomach growled loudly. She grinned sheepishly and nodded her head, “I suppose we could all do with a break.” ...***... At the dinner table Twilight was glad to see Rainbow Dash was no longer wearing the safari shirt of Daring Do. But the pegasus had refused to give up the pith helmet. As well as her friends Twilight was finally meeting the entirety of Professor Hunter’s team. Half a dozen; making up the majority of the ponies present, were student of Professor Hunter’s who had volunteered for the dig. Including Professor Hunter there were two unicorns, including Mineral Deposit there were four earth ponies and Slipstream was the only Pegasus. Relic Hunter and an earth pony named Black Granite were the only fully qualified doctors of archaeology present. Relic Hunter picked at her light meal and sipped her water. Perhaps the excitement of the day was getting to her, she didn’t feel very hungry. If anything she just felt tired. “So,” Dash sparked up the conversation, “You guys cracked open the mystery of that crystal yet?” Twilight shook her head, “We’re not here to crack the mystery of the crystal, Rainbow.” she smiled, “That’s for pony scholars and researchers back in Canterlot. All we were really here to do was confirm this place used to be a human settlement, and help identify some of the artifacts.” Rainbow huffed, “Boring. Man, this archaeology biz is way more exciting in the Daring Do books.” Relic Hunter nodded, “Fiction is often more exciting than reality.” Pinkie giggled, “You should try our reality some time. Monsters, crystal empires and changelings, oh my.” Rarity nodded along, “Indeed. Over the last year our lives have certainly involved some excitement equal to anything I’ve ever read in books.” “I’ve heard,” the professor replied, “We may be in the desert, but every now and then Mineral,” she nodded her assistant, “Must return to Los Pegasus for supplies. He also brings newspapers so we can keep up with current events.” she glanced at Twilight, “So much excitement and adventure from the shy filly I used to know, who’s nose was always stuck in a book.” Pinkie bounced in her seat, “OOH, who’s that?” “Me, Pinkie,” Twilight deadpanned. Pinkie cocked an eyebrow for a second, confused. Then she started laughing, “Oh yeah, I guess that would be you Twilight.” Relic Hunter smiled kindly, “You certainly have interesting friends, my old pupil.” Twilight nodded, “Yes, they really are and I wouldn’t have them any other way.” she smiled proudly at her assembled friends, who looked back with mixtures of pride and embarrassment. Conversation around the table turned to business, the schedule for the further analysis of the Vault and the skeleton that had been found inside. Black Granite and Slipstream would scout the city ruins and begin making more detailed maps of the area. The group of non-professional friends found their interest waning as they lost the thread of the conversation but they managed to keep up with enough of the details. Lyra and Twilight agreed to stay an extra couple of days to help identify artifacts. Mineral Deposit would return to Los Pegasus in the morning to ship several crates back to Canterlot University. He also offered to take Twilight’s friends with him, if they wished the take the train back to Ponyville. Rarity seemed eager to get out of the hot, dry, desert. Claiming that the sand and harsh sun was doing its best to ruin her hair and hooficure. Fluttershy was also willing to leave; her animal friends would be missing her terribly. Applejack decided the farm could do without her for another couple of days and she would be willing to help, “Seems you could use a strong pair of hooves.” Rainbow decided she would hang around too, citing, “Maybe it’ll get more exciting when you start looking in that city.” Pinkie was Pinkie and would only say the confusing, “I’ll be around for the adventure.” The sun set, leaving a fading orange glow on the horizon. Lanterns were lit, bathing the camp-site in a cool yellow light. Without the sun the temperature in the desert dropped rapidly and all ponies found themselves shivering in the cold. Coats and blankets were brought out while Mineral Deposit lit a camp-fire for everypony. The conversation was moved from the dining table to the campfire. Twilight noticed Relic Hunter slip away from the group toward her tent. Her slow walk and the way she was dragging her hooves told Twilight that her old mentor must be tired. Well it has been a long day, she thought to herself. Twilight felt a chill run down her wings and made a beeline from the campfire toward her own tent, she had brought a nice blanket that would be perfect for keeping out the chill. Plus she had a nice book she was looking forward to reading. The tent was as simple as it could be; two cots with sleeping bags had been set up. Twilight’s trunk stood in front of one. A small and rather battered looking briefcase was in front of the other. The case was open because it’s owner was already in the tent. Lyra was wrapping a scarf around her neck. At the sound of Twilight’s approach she glanced in her direction. The mint coloured pony huffed in annoyance. “Should’ve known.” she muttered just loud enough for Twilight to hear. “I’ll have to see if there’s anywhere else I can stay. Bad enough I gotta work with you, I don’t wanna share a tent too.” Twilight looked at her in shock, “Lyra? What’s wrong?” the unicorn tried to push past her but Twilight spread her wings to block the doorway. “Ever since we met you’ve been harsh, cold and even rude to me. I know we’re not close, but I don’t understand what had happened to make you act this way towards me. Please, tell me, what’s going on?” Lyra, if anything, looked more annoyed than ever. “You really don’t know. The great Princess Twilight Sparkle isn’t smart enough to figure it out?” Twilight looked at her, hurt and clearly confused. Lyra snorted, “You really don’t remember me do you? Did you ever notice me? You ran the library in Canterlot university for all that time any you don’t remember your regular visitors? I spent so long making weekly trips to Canterlot just so I could use the library. I was there, from opening to closing, every week, researching humans and writing my paper.” Twilight thought hard. She had always concerned herself with her own studies and keeping the library clean and organised to pay much attention to who was using the library. However, now that Lyra mentioned it, she did have a faint memory of a unicorn mare sitting in at a table in a corner, a stack of books around her along with many pieces of paper. “Lyra I-” Lyra held up a hoof to silence her, “I remember the day I got by honorary degree. It was the summer sun celebration, almost two years ago. The same day you moved to Ponyville. I remember, after the ceremony, I saw you, running back to your library. I waved to you, I wanted to thank you.” “Thank me?” “For all your help. You kept that library organised, so I could always find what I needed. When I couldn’t find the book I needed you helped me find them. You even special ordered a couple when they weren’t on the shelves. More than that, you were quiet and you always kept that library open. Never shut it unexpectedly, never took a day off work. Other librarians might have spoken up when I monopolised a whole corner of the library and made such a mess with stacks of books and paper. But you never said a word.” I thought that was normal, Twilight thought to herself. That’s how I study. She chose not to say it out loud however. “But you just ran right by me. I doubt you even noticed me.” Lyra shook her head. “That’s not the point, it doesn’t matter. What matters is I had my degree. I’d spent my whole life studying humans, I’d written a real, scientific, paper on the subject, other ponies had read it and they’d recognised my hard work. They’d acknowledged me. My efforts. I was called the foremost expert on humans in all Equestria.” Twilight had a feeling she knew where this was going. “Except now, I’m not. You are. You’re the big human expert now. Do you have any idea how hard I hard to work? How many books on history, myths, legends and even fairy tales I had to read, just find one obscure passage -sometimes even one sentence- relating to humans? I had to put it all together myself, like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces scattered everywhere and you aren’t even sure what the picture is. I spent my whole life looking for stuff on humans. And it was so easy for you. You had to just write about what you’d seen. Not only that, your book says a bunch of the stuff in my paper is wrong. You didn’t just take my title, Twilight, you humiliated me.” Twilight bit her lip nervously, “Lyra, I’m -” “And you got to see them.” Lyra interrupted her, “Real, live, humans. You got to BE one of them! Everything I’ve ever dreamed of and you’re the one who got to live it.” Lyra sat down, her emotional outburst had drained her. She screed up her eyes, trying to hold back the tears of frustration that were threatening to rise up. She didn’t want Twilight to see them, didn’t want her to think that she had upset her badly. She was frustrated and angry, not saddened. Twilight looked down at the ground and shuffled on her hooves uneasily. “I’m sorry.” Lyra barely glanced up at her. “Lyra, I didn’t know. I was just writing about my experiences. I didn’t know that it would upset one of my friends. I never meant to do anything that would humiliate you, you know that, right?” Lyra glanced at her for a couple of seconds before slowly nodding her head, “I guess so.” she muttered. “It....it just hurt me, you know?” Twilight nodded, “I understand.” she put a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “but, some good might come of this.” Lyra snorted, “Like what?” “Well,” Twilight said cautiously, “You said that my book said some of the stuff in your paper was wrong, that means a lot of stuff was right. You could write a new paper and, armed with his new information, you won’t have to work as hard or take as long and you could write something better and more detailed than ever. I saw a lot of the human world but there are still so many gaps in my knowledge, gaps I’d bet you could fill in with your research. Who knows? This time next year, you could be the foremost expert again.” Lyra managed a brave smile, “Yeah, maybe. Thanks Twilight.” Twilight smiled back at her, “Anything for a friend.” “There you are,” the interruption was from Rarity. She had donned a pink scarf with matching boots to fight off the chill of the night. “Apparently Pinkie packed some camping supplies, so Applejack is making s’mores. If you want some, you’d better hurry before Pinkie and Rainbow Dash eat them all.” The three ponies raced back to the campfire before the delicious chocolately-marshmallowy treats vanished into the night. ...***... Twilight rose with the dawning of Celestia’s sun. Being the pupil of the sun princess had meant many an early rising. The habit of a lifetime that she would have found impossible to break, if she’d wanted to break it. With a yawn and a stretch she climbed out of her sleeping bag, spreading her wings to work out the kinks that had emerged during the night. If she knew her friends, Applejack would be awake, the natural clock of farm life, Fluttershy would also be awake, she liked to rise early for her animal friends. Pinkie might also be awake, but for her own unknowable reasons. Lyra was sleeping soundly so Twilight was extra quiet as she stepped outside. The air was dry but there was a gentle breeze carrying the scent of coffee from the kitchen tent. Just the smell was enough to make Twilight feel more awake. A lazy smile grew on her face as she drifted over toward the smell. Applejack, Fluttershy and Mineral Deposit were mulling around the kitchen. Fluttershy was nibbling at some toast while AJ and Mineral were fighting over the rights to make the breakfast. “You are our guest, you really should-” “If y’all can learn to cook right, maybe I’d leave it to ya. For a bunch of smart ponies, you don’t know much ‘bout making a good meal.” She glanced over at Twilight and smiled, “Mornin’ Twi.” Mineral Deposit jumped on the spot and flustered around Twilight. “Princess, good morning.” he bowed his head low, “Is there anything I can get for you princess? I’m sorry we don’t have anything more befitting-” “It’s fine.” Twilight said flatly. “Honestly, Mineral, just call me Twilight. After yesterday I’d thought you’d learn to relax. I don’t want, or need, any special treatment. All I want is a cup of coffee and some of those eggs.” she nodded to Applejack, who was already working up a batch of scrambled eggs. Mineral was instantly fixated on Applejack’s attempt to cook once more, leaving Twilight to relax and take a place at the table. Fluttershy smiled at her. “Good morning Twilight, did you sleep well?” Twilight smiled and nodded, “Well enough. I’m not a big fan of camping though, I’m looking forward to getting back to my bed.” A cup of coffee was slid across the table by Applejack, Twilight gave her a grateful smile. There was no sugar or milk available but Twilight didn’t mind. The acidic, bitter taste was just what she needed to wake herself up completely. She felt her brain spark into action, jolted by the caffeine. The plate of eggs was given to her a few moments later. Mineral Deposit unwillingly stopped fussing over Twilight. If the princess didn’t want his help then he would have to listen to her. He poured a cup of coffee to take to Professor Hunter, she would want rising early to go over the work schedule for the day. The tent was brightly lit, a lantern had been left on. The professor was sitting, slumped over the table which dominated the middle of the canvas-walled room. Maps, papers a couple of dusty books, and the mysterious crystal artifact were scattered around her. Mineral Deposit smiled, “Fell asleep working again Professor?” he sighed and put the coffee cup on the table, “You really need to stop doing that.” he put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her gently. Relic Hunter didn’t stir. “Professor? Time to wake up.” he shook her again, a little harder. Still the elderly unicorn didn’t stir. “Professor?” Mineral felt a chill run through his body. Thoughts that he didn’t want to entertain ran through his mind. Slowly, fearfully, he placed a hoof in front of Relic’s muzzle, hoping, praying, to feel breath. “Oh no.”