//------------------------------// // 4. The Sorceress of the Atoll // Story: Treasure Hunt // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// “Why are we taking this if we could just walk to the post office?” Firelock asked Silver Spoon turned up her nose slightly at the suggestion of walking, even as she shifted a little to get more comfortable in her seat. “My daddy got a new carriage, and it should be put to use,” she answered. “That’s why.” The five of them were, indeed, sitting in a brand-new and exceptionally well-appointed carriage, being pulled along by two of Silver Spoon’s father’s servants at a leisurely pace through Ponyville. The carriage’s interior had two sets of plush seats facing one another, as well as a table that could be folded up and locked into place from one of the doors, though currently that was stowed. Beneath each seat were small cabinets containing drinks that the foals knew better than to open and drink. Over the rear seat was an additional storage shelf, though it was empty, while the front seat had a window that could be slid open in order to talk to the ponies pulling the carriage. “How much treasure do you think there is?” Sweetie Belle asked, leaning back in the plush back seat and putting a hoof to her mouth. She was sitting on the left side of her seat, with Firelock on the right and Alula between them. Diamond Tiara, sitting next to Silver Spoon on the front seat, rolled her eyes. “There can’t be much,” she said. “Pinkie Pie is just a baker. She doesn’t make nearly as much as my daddy, or Silver Spoon’s. She’s not rich.” “Wait, I thought this was Dread Cipactli’s treasure?” Sweetie asked, looking down from her musings and appearing confused. “No, it’s Espada Noche’s,” Firelock explained. “Dread Cipactli was the monster who had it, but then Espada Noche defeated her and took it.” “Oh…” “Except it’s not,” Diamond Tiara said, making a cutting motion with one hoof. “It’s Pinkie Pie’s. There’s no way a pirate like Espada Noche would hide his treasure in Ponyville. And even if he did, if Pinkie Pie knew where it was, why would she tell us rather than get it for herself?” The three foals in the back seat were quiet at that, until Alula looked up, wings flaring a little. “Because it’s Pinkie Pie?” she asked. Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to begin a tirade, but considered what she knew about Pinkie. “Maybe,” she conceded. “But I don’t think so.” Firelock let out a long sigh, looking out the window of the carriage. “It might’ve been fun to pretend…” Diamond Tiara stuck up her nose, a move that Silver Spoon copied. “We don’t need to pretend,” Silver Spoon said for her friend. “This is Ponyville, not the Thousand Islands, and were in a carriage, not a ship, and there’s no pirates – ” “Avast!” --- Rosedust cut through the waves with speed that would have made lightning envious, her draft so shallow that at times it seemed as though the ship wasn’t even in the water at all, but rather hovering above it. The schooner may have been small, but there wasn’t a ship in all the Thousand Islands that could beat her for speed. Sometimes, however, this was a bad thing. “Avast!” Scootaloo cried out when, out of nowhere, a tri-masted galleon seemed to materialize directly in their path. The crew of Rosedust all cried out in surprise and fear as Scootaloo turned her wheel rapidly, trying at once to cut her speed and change her course. The waves roiled beneath her hull as the ship spun on her stern. Were Rosedust inexplicably a scooter traveling along a dirt road, there would have been the sound of screeching tires, and a dust cloud thrown into the air. As it was, there was a large spray of water that fell back upon the deck of Rosedust, soaking all those aboard. “Yikes,” Scootaloo said. “Everypony okay?” There was some coughing from the crew, but nopony had fallen overboard. “Scootaloo!” Captain Dinky called from amidships. “You have to be more careful!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed a little in indignation, even as Rosedust settled down on the sea’s surface. “I stopped us in time, didn’t I?” she asked. “What did we almost hit, anyway?” Featherweight asked, looking up at the galleon, twice the size of Rosedust. A quintet of faces appeared over its side, looking down at the schooner and her crew. “A galleon,” Scootaloo said quickly, jumping at the chance to identify their obstacle before anypony else could. “A big one! And…” she looked at the five ponies inside, and then her eyes widened. “And Princess Alula is aboard!” The other four members of Rosedust’s crew gasped, while four of the ponies aboard the galleon all looked to Princess Alula, who herself shrank down, ears flat against her head. “I’m not a princess…” she tried. One of the crew of the galleon, a silver earth pony, leaned over the side and pointed a hoof down at Scootaloo at the same time. “You nearly crashed into my daddy’s new carriage!” she exclaimed over Alula’s objection. “Galleon,” Snails corrected from his position, at the stern of Rosedust. “It’s not a galleon, it’s a carriage!” the silver pony exclaimed. She pointed down the length of her ship. “Does a galleon have two ponies pulling it?” The crew of Rosedust looked at the bow of the galleon, trying to sort out what they were looking at. “Figureheadth,” Twist reasoned. One of the figureheads turned to regard Scootaloo. “Miss Silver Spoon is correct, little filly,” he said. “You could have been seriously hurt.” “Magic, talking figureheads!” Twist appended. The figurehead looked confused for a moment, looking to his counterpart, who only shook his own head and rolled his eyes. Scootaloo doffed her cap at the sight of obviously very powerful magic, which of course made perfect sense on a ship that was carrying the Princess Alula. “I’m sorry, mister figurehead,” she said. “But we’re in a race and we need to get to the Isles of Storm as fast as possible. Though I guess we don’t have to worry too much. Pipsqueak doesn’t even have a ship!” “Eenope.” The crew of Rosedust froze at the sound, then turned around as one. They found themselves staring at a mountain of wood and sail, a ship that was twice again the size of the galleon that they had nearly crashed into. Its hull was painted burgundy red, as were its sails. Waving in the wind amongst its tallest mast was a black pirate flag. Dinky gasped, pointing a hoof. “It’s the Pirate King, Captain Pipsqueak of the Hispaniola!” she exclaimed. --- Diamond Tiara blinked as she looked out the window of her carriage, trying to parse through how everypony outside seemed to be acting. “What?” she asked. “Ha-ha!” Pipsqueak, who had been riding in the back of a cart that was empty of hay but full of foals – himself, Bee Bop, Applebloom, Rumble, and Snips – leaped forward and onto the back of Big MacIntosh, who was pulling the cart and had a homemade pirate flag hanging over his withers. “That’s right, Dinky! Oh,” he paused a moment, taking off a pirate hat that he was wearing and holding it to his chest. “I’m sorry, I forgot. Captain Dinky of the Equestrian Army. It’s been so long!” “…what?” Diamond Tiara asked. The other foals on Big Mac’s hay cart came to its edge, each looking down at the small scooter that Scootaloo had been riding, along with the wagon attached to it that was equally as full of ponies as Big Mac’s hay cart, albeit cramped in much tighter. Dinky leaned forward, pointing up to Pipsqueak. “You may have forgotten me and my crew. But I’ve not forgotten how you sold us all into slavery, Pipsqueak the Pirate!” “Was that me?” Pipsqueak asked nonchalantly. “Oh, yes! I remember now! When I sacked Neigh Orleans!” “What?” Diamond Tiara repeated. “Will somepony please tell me what is going on?” “Over the summer,” Firelock explained. “When Pipsqueak first moved to town. We had a big game of pirate attack over at the Castle Tree, and the pirates won.” She stood up tall at that. “I was a pirate.” “Aye, ye was, and a fine filly o’ fortune at that!” Pipsqueak exclaimed, hopping forward yet again, balancing with surprising skill on Big MacIntosh’s head. The red stallion grunted a little in annoyance, but didn’t seem to notice the weight otherwise. Pipsqueak, meanwhile, eyed Diamond Tiara’s carriage. “But what crowd have ye fallen in with here? A merchant ship ripe for the plunder?” He leaned forward, eyeing Alula. “Or a royal consort, maybe? What be the name of this here ship?” “It’s not a ship, it’s a carriage,” Silver Spoon objected. “And we’re not playing your stupid game.” “Yeah we are!” Sweetie Belle objected, diving back into the carriage, and then pulling out the piece of cloth that Pinkie had given them. “We have part of the treasure map and we’re after the treasure and everything!” The eyes of the ten foals outside of the carriage lit up at the sight of the cloth and the map drawn on it. “The third piece!” They all exclaimed as one, rivalry between each other forgotten even as Big Mac rolled his eyes, and the ponies pulling Silver Spoon’s carriage did likewise. “I knew you were rival pirates!” Pipsqueak exclaimed, drawing the wooden sword that was slung over his back and waving it around in his mouth in what probably would have been a threatening manner were it a real sword and he weren’t ten feet away. “We’re not pirates!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air. How come everypony in Ponyville but her seemed to go crazy at the drop of a hat? “We’re just going to get the stupid treasure and then go back to my place for my tea party that I invited you all to but none of you wanted to come!” “You didn’t invite all of us,” Snips objected from his place amongst Pipsqueak’s band. “Who cares?” Snails asked heatedly from amongst Dinky’s own crew, even as he looked away from Snails rather pointedly. “Maybe I do!” Snips objected with a stomp of his hoof, looking away himself and whickering. Diamond Tiara looked between the two normally inseparable friends, briefly wondered what could have made the two colts fight, but decided she most definitely did not care to know at the moment. “We’re not pirates,” she repeated. “But we have a treasure map,” Sweetie Belle whined, waving it around. “And we’re looking for treasure!” Firelock exclaimed. “That sounds pretty pirate-y to me.” “But we don’t need to be pirates,” Silver Spoon said, trying a different tack from Diamond Tiara. “My daddy and Diamond Tiara’s daddy are rich, and Alula’s a princess – ” Alula sank deeper into her seat at that, mumbling something, “and your sister, Sweetie Belle, wouldn’t want you to be a pirate either. The only one here who could be a pirate would be you, Firelock!” Dinky and Pipsqueak, meanwhile, had been talking to one another, Pipsqueak having hopped down from Big Mac’s head and onto the ground. The two nodded as one, bumped hooves, and Pipsqueak hopped back onto the hay cart. “Right,” he said. “We’ve been holdin’ a captains’ council, and decided that ye are not pirates.” Diamond Tiara let out a sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was a rumor that she was a pirate being spread around town. “Thank-you,” she said, mostly sincerely. “You’re all part of the Royal Equestrian Navy!” Dinky exclaimed happily. “What?” --- The galleon, schooner, and ship-of-the-line had adjusted their positions before dropping anchor so that their captains could parley. Each had their jibbooms almost touching, and the crews of each ship looked on eagerly as their captains hashed things out. “We’re a bunch of outcasts and renegades,” Dinky explained from her position, sitting on the fo’c’sle of Rosedust. One front hoof was raised, while the other swept back to indicate her crew. “We’re all pirates by circumstance! When Neigh Orleans was sacked, we were sold into slavery, but managed to escape and come back together, and get a ship. And we’re after the treasure of Espada Noche because we want to be able to return to Equestria with enough bits to make up for what went wrong!” Pipsqueak, from his own position hanging onto the rigging of the massive ship-of-the-line that was Hispaniola, nodded. “And we be a band of cutthroats and ne’er-do-wells,” he explained. “I’ve sliced and diced me way to the top of the food chain, and now I’m the Pirate King, and me crew is the most violent and bloodthirsty pack o’ savages ye have ever seen!” “Arrrr!” Bee Bop exclaimed from the crow’s nest of Hispaniola, for effect. Diamond Tiara was sitting amidships on her galleon, leaning one front leg on the railing while the other hung limply over its side. “So what does that make us?” she asked in a dull, uninterested voice. Silver Spoon feigned disinterest of her own, but her perked ears betrayed her apparently growing curiosity, while the other three foals were rapt with attention as the galleon bobbed up and down in the waves. “You,” Pipsqueak said, “are all members of the Royal Equestrian Navy, like we said! You’ve got an official writ from the Princess herself to scour the seven seas for the treasure of Espada Noche, ‘cause you know that pirates and scallywags and the like are looking for it but she wants it first!” “You’ve got the newest and best ship in the Navy, too!” Dinky continued. “Sure, it’s not as fast as Rosedust or as big as Hispaniola, but it’s got the best guns!” she pointed at Firelock, who’s eyes lit up brightly, now dressed in a striped shirt and with a bandana over her head, though careful to avoid her horn. “And one of the most knowledgeable ponies in Equestria! Some would call her a living dictionary!” Pipsqueak added, pointing at Sweetie Belle. The filly beamed with pride, as in her mind she was dressed like a scholar-adventurer of the time, complete with a long coat brimming with scrolls and notes. Pipsqueak then pointed at Alula. “And the princess also sent along her niece, Princess Alula Plutonia, to make sure everything went according to plan!” Alula seemed somewhat less happy than Firelock or Sweetie Belle, despite being decked out in noble fineries that were nevertheless functional for a pony on a high seas adventure. Pipsqueak noticed Alula’s discomfort, and added quickly “and also because Princess Alula wanted to go on an adventure away from the Royal Court and be treated like everypony else!” Alula brightened at that. “And you two,” Dinky continued, pointing at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, “are the captain and first mate, from Equestria’s wealthiest families!” “Obviously,” Silver Spoon said, brushing herself as though straightening an officer’s uniform. Diamond Tiara – who, in the minds of every foal but herself, was now wearing the captain’s outfit of the Equestrian Navy, including a hat, though she still wore her tiara over the hat as well – glared a moment at Silver Spoon’s actions, before looking back to Dinky and Pipsqueak. “Great,” she said. “Now that that’s been sorted out, can we get going? This treasure isn’t going to get itself.” Dinky and Pipsqueak looked at each other across the decks of their ships, nodding as one. “Right!” Dinky exclaimed, turning and pointing to Scootaloo. “Weigh anchor! Set the sails!” “Aye, what she said!” Pipsqueak proclaimed to his own crew. “This parley has given us a chance to catch up to Rosedust, and I’ll no have it wasted, me harteys!” The schooner and ship-of-the-line pulled away from the galleon, sailing off in opposite directions as they went to continue their search of the Thousand Islands for the keys to Espada Noche’s treasure. Diamond Tiara let out a long, relieved sigh. “Finally,” she hissed, looking back to her crew. “Now let’s go and get that treasure and be done with this already!” She looked down at the magic figureheads of the galleon. “Take us to the post office!” “Please,” Alula added after a moment for her captain. The figureheads, which were well-paid despite being merely magical wood and so could put up with their captain’s impoliteness, nodded, and the galleon got underway, anchor coiling up under its own power and wind filling her sails. The crew was largely silent for a time as the leagues rolled by and they drew ever-nearer to Cutthroat Island. At length, Sweetie Belle spoke up. “So what’s our ship’s name?” Diamond Tiara turned to glare down at Sweetie, standing amidships. “This isn’t a ship!” she said. “It’s a carriage!” “Scootaloo said we were in a galleon, though,” Firelock pointed out. “And we’ve got a map, and we’re hunting for treasure, and doing all sorts of other pirate-y stuff.” “Pipsqueak also said that you were a pirate,” Silver Spoon pointed out. “But now you’re here with us, and Dinky and Pipsqueak said we weren’t pirates. What about that, huh?” Firelock rolled her eyes. “I retired from piracy, duh,” she reasoned. “Neigh Orleans was a good haul so I went back home to Equestria. But then when the Princess commissioned this voyage, I joined up, since I used to be a pirate and know the waters of the Thousand Islands! And also ‘cause Alula’s my friend.” There was a moment’s pause, before Silver Spoon looked away. “I guess that makes sense,” she admitted, straightening her glasses. “No it doesn’t!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed. “Does too!” Sweetie Belle objected. “I think it does,” Alula agreed. She looked at Diamond Tiara, swallowing her nervousness and reminding herself that she – if she really was sent by the Princess and was a Princess herself – then she was probably the ship’s master, while Diamond Tiara was only its captain. Maybe for once she could actually go along with the foals of town treating her like a princess. “And besides, carriages can have names too.” “That’s right!” Firelock pressed. “So whether this is a ship – ” which it was “ – or just a carriage, it can have a name either way!” Diamond Tiara looked around at her crew, and seemed to come to the realization that she was out-voted here, what with even Silver Spoon apparently wanted to at least play along. Captains were not supposed to be out-voted, she was pretty sure. “Well…fine!” she exclaimed. “But if this carriage is going to have a name, I get to pick it since I’m captain, and because I didn’t even want to do this treasure hunt anyway! I just wanted tea!” Firelock, Alula, and Sweetie Belle looked between each other, then to Silver Spoon, the first mate. The four other foals nodded. “Okay,” Silver Spoon said for them all. “That’s fair.” “Good. Then this carriage is the Diamond Tiara.” The captain had probably been expecting some kind of mutiny, or argument, or something else that would let her hop in the jolly-boat and row home and put what she considered to be a gigantic mess behind her. Instead, the four foals all nodded. “Okay,” Firelock agreed for them. “What?” Diamond Tiara asked. She looked at Silver Spoon. “But – wait – but, it’s you’re carriage! Aren’t you mad?” Silver Spoon shrugged. “I have a sh – a carriage at home named after me already,” she said. “And Diamond Tiara is a good name for a ship,” Alula added. “What’s that supposed to – ” “We’re here,” said one of the figureheads of the newly-christened Diamond Tiara. The captain looked out across the bow, and saw that, indeed, the ship had dropped anchor once more, and was moored now in a cove alongside a tiny spit of an island – barely more than a glorified sandbar, really, no more than a mile across and home to only a few lonely palm trees and a single stone building in its middle, three stories tall and more of a glorified shack than anything else. A faded sign on the front marked it as a postal relay station. “All ashore that’s goin’ ashore!” Sweetie Belle called happily as the crew piled into Diamond Tiara’s jolly-boat. The captain rolled her eyes at that, but came along with her crew anyway, mumbling and grumbling to herself as she did. In just a few minutes, the crew was upon the sandy beach, and trotting towards the relay station. Sweetie Belle had the treasure map out in front of her, held in her green telekinetic glow. “According to this,” she said, “the treasure is located just behind the post station. All we have to do is dig it up. We’ll be done in no time!” “Dig?” Diamond Tiara demanded. “Nopony said anything about digging!” She looked to Silver Spoon. “Still want to play pirate?” Silver Spoon looked decidedly unhappy about the prospect herself. “Well…that’s why we have a crew,” she said, once again adjusting her glasses as the five of them rounded the post station. They found it to be fairly unremarkable, a small clearing in which there seemed to be a fire pit, along with a quintet of shovels. Each foal blinked at the sight. “That’s helpful,” Silver Spoon said. “I’m not complaining,” Diamond Tiara commented, pointing at the shovels. “Okay, crew, get to digging! Let’s get this treasure and go home.” Her crew did so. Despite each of them being a unicorn, or half-unicorn in Alula’s case, none of their telekinetic abilities were quite developed enough for them to use the shovels with their magic alone, so they instead resorted to mouths and hooves. The sand that they were digging through parted easily enough, though, and it wasn’t long before Alula’s shovel produced a solid thunk when she thrust it into the ground. “I found it!” she exclaimed happily, wings buzzing. The foals redoubled their efforts, and even Silver Spoon joined in in helping clear the sand away from the treasure chest. “Finally!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed happily, trotting up to the chest. “Now let’s just open it and get our treasure!” “Right!” Firelock exclaimed happily, trotting to the front of the chest, putting a hoof on it – and stopping, eyeing the lock that was securely fastened to it. “Oh, um…does anypony have the key?” Captain Diamond Tiara froze. “Key?” she asked. --- “What key?!” “Did you say something?” Pipsqueak asked Snips as the Hispaniola moved through the waters at her best speed, towards the Atoll of Knowing. “No,” Snips answered, though his own ears were as perked at the sound that they had heard from across the distant horizon. The two looked back in the direction they had come, from their parley with the Equestrian galleon and their rival pirate crew of Rosedust. There was no follow-up noise, however, so the two just shrugged it off as Hispaniola continued through the waves. “So…you’re having a fight with Snails?” Pipsqueak ventured after a moment. He couldn’t be a heartless captain all the time – not if he wanted to make sure he could keep the votes needed to stay captain, anyway, in case Rumble made a go for it again. “What’s the problem?” Snips crossed his two front hooves in front of him. “Doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “It’s got something to do with Diamond Tiara, though,” Pipsqueak said, trying a different tack. “And seeing as now she’s got a crew and ship of her own, I need to know – ” “Land ho!” Bee Bop, the ship's navigator, called. Snips and Pipsqueak both rushed to the rail of Hispaniola, their discussion forgotten for the moment as the Atoll of Knowing came into view. Like any atoll, it consisted of a coral-made island ring that served as a barrier, separating the sea from the broad and relatively shallow lagoon on the inside. The atoll was large enough that some grass and palm trees had taken route in large areas. Of particular note was the greatest of these, a huge tree that seemed to be interspersed with coral growths up its entire length, with roots that dug deep into the atoll beneath it. The tree was, furthermore, obviously hollowed out and inhabited, as there were windows, a balcony, and even an observatory. Powerful and strange magic was a-hoof here, it was clear. There was a dock near the tree, the water near it just deep enough for Hispaniola to stop at. “Right,” Pipsqueak said, hopping off and onto the dock once Hispaniola’s lines were tied. The figurehead let out a slight huff, but the pirate captain ignored it. “We can no be chargin’ in here with cutlasses drawn and lookin’ for a fight. It’s said that the Atoll is home to a powerful sorceress, like none other on the seas! We’re gonna have to do this all diplomatic-like.” The pirate crew made their way along the dock and to the tree, finding the way inside quickly. Steeling himself against the challenges soon to come, Pipsqueak opened the door, and his crew entered. “Oh – hello!” A voice called as the door opened. Inside, the tree was revealed to have a cavernous interior that interior was loaded from floor to ceiling with books of every sort – except were space was made for tables, upon which sat eldritch experiments. Pipsqueak couldn’t even begin to guess at the purposes behind the vials, and beakers, and tubes and conduits that lay upon the tables, and even the bloody King of Pirates didn’t want to inspect the ingredients going into the experiments too closely. The one who had spoken was a unicorn mare with a purple coat, wearing a turban on her head with a crown of parrot feathers, and bedecked in voluminous robes. This, then, was the Sorceress of the Atoll, the one that the crew of the Hispaniola had come seeking. She considered them for a few moments, looking confused. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “You’re all here for that game that Pinkie Pie is playing, aren’t you?” “Yes,” Rumble answered. “No!” Pipsqueak declared at the same time. “We be the crew of the Hispaniola, following the map of Espada Noche, looking for the keys to the lost treasure of Dread Cipactli!” The Sorceress blinked a moment as Rumble sighed. “Oh – oh! Right. I should be in character, shouldn’t I?” she asked. “Right, uh…welcome to my atoll!” She waved her hooves over her head and set her horn glowing, though her actual words were fairly quiet. Pipsqueak paid no mind to the Sorceress’ temporary slip, as he knew that those who dedicated themselves to the study of magic could be a strange lot, especially if they isolated themselves in islands in the middle of the Southern Sea. His navigator, Bee Bop, stepped forward. “Oh great Sorceress of the Atoll!” she proclaimed loudly. “What do we need to do to earn the key?” The Sorceress winced a little, and waved her hoofs. “Um, first…could you keep your voice down? This is a library, after all.” The other four foals giggled at the thought of Bee Bop actually doing that, but the pegasus filly didn’t seem to notice them. “Okay!” she agreed happily – and loudly, albeit not as loudly as before. The Sorceress winced yet again. “A little less,” she suggested. “How’s this?” “Tiny bit more…” Bee Bop sighed. “How about now? I’m practically whispering!” “…it’ll do,” the Sorceress said with a sigh, waving a hoof and indicating that they follow her to the middle of her tree. “Now then,” she said. “Pinkie Pie – sorry, Dread Cipactli – said that I can come up with any sort of challenge I want before giving you the key.” “Makes sense,” Applebloom said. “So what’ll you be doin’, Miss Sparkle?” The Sorceress – who didn’t seem to mind being addressed as Miss Sparkle – smiled deviously as she came to a stop, turning around and tapping her hooves together. “I’m going to ask you riddles,” she said, “and as soon as you can answer five of them correctly, I’ll let you have the Book Key.” The pirate crew stared at the sorceress. “A quiz?” Snips asked. “Aw, but – but we just had a test in school!” “Aye,” Pipsqueak agreed, humoring his bosun since, after all, Pirate Kings didn’t need to go to school. “But this here be the Atoll of Knowing. So it comes as no surprise. I think we can meet this challenge!” “Ah,” the Sorceress said, horn once more glowing. “But – for each question you get wrong, I put a curse on whoever answered it wrong!” The crew all froze at that. The Sorceress was known, after all, as the mightiest spellcaster in all the Thousand Islands. Legend said she had even taken on and defeated an Ursa Major. A curse from her would no doubt be potent in the extreme. “Um…but you take the curse off when we get all the questions right, right?” Snips asked. The Sorceress nodded. “Of course! You can also leave whenever you want – but I won’t remove the curse if you do, not until somepony's earned the Book Key. So…are you ready?” The foals looked between each other. On the one hoof, the chance for untold riches and the treasure of Dread Cipactli. On the other, the chance for a terrible curse lain by the most powerful spellcaster in the Thousand Islands. At length, Bee Bop tapped her front hooves together. “Let’s do this!” she exclaimed, turning to the Sorceress. “Okay! Ask your riddles!” She nodded, horn glowing again as a sheet of parchment materialized in front of her, and she took hold of it with one hoof even as a quill appeared in her telekinetic aura. She regarded each of the foals, nodded again, and looked to her parchment. “We’ll start with an easy one,” she said. “You can chase me forever, but you’ll never catch me. What am I?” Pipsqueak smiled brightly at that one – he definitely knew the answer to this. “The horizon!” he exclaimed. The Sorceress nodded, using her quill to draw a line through the riddle on her parchment. “I said it was easy,” she said. “Okay, then, a little harder…I’m not there, but you can’t see through me.” “Darkness,” Rumble responded. “My brother told me that one.” “Hmm,” the Sorceress said, marking the riddle off. “Maybe I’m going too easy on you…I’m very easy to get into, but not so easy to get out of.” “Trouble!” Bee Bop exclaimed easily. The Sorceress grinned as she marked that off as well. “If a white house is white and a yellow house is yellow, what color is a greenhouse?” “Cl – ” Pipsqueak began. “Green!” Applebloom exclaimed over him. The Sorceress of the Atoll’s grin widened, and her horn started glowing. “Wrong!” she said. “A greenhouse isn’t green. Sure, the plants inside of it might be green, but the house itself? It’s made of glass, so it’s clear!” “Oh,” Applebloom said meekly, as she was surrounded by a purple glow.