//------------------------------// // And the Sign Read "Cane Dashie" // Story: Ynanhluutr // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// “Whoahhhh...” Nick gaped, his eyes sparkling as he traversed the scant floorspace available to his hooves. On either side of him and Rainbow Dash, the front foyer was stacked halfway to the ceiling with books, books, and more books. Where there weren't books, there were thick mountains of haphazardly stacked papers. Where there weren't papers, there were binders stuffed full of crazily scribbled notes. And there weren't any of these things, there was dust—not that it mattered, for dust covered everything else as well. “Look how much the old stallion has hoarded up in this junkheap!” He squinted at a stack of thick black tomes on a far wall. “Are those... fifth... fourth... and third edition Kihutajan Almanacs?” “I dunno, you tell me,” Rainbow muttered. “That stuff was reportedly stolen from the campus library way back when my uncle attended the K.M.C.A.!” Nick smirked. “Heh... guess I know what happened to them now.” “Who would steal books from a friggin' library?” Rainbow asked. “Same pony who would give a kid a concussion and threaten to burn down the nearest post office for being out of sticky notes.” Nick suddenly froze in place, paling. “Okay, you know, it was a fun tour, but maybe we should be galloping right the hay out of here.” He made a break for it— —only to be stopped by Rainbow's outstretched wing. “Not so fast, Romeoats. We came here for a reason.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, kicking up dust. Gray sunbeams wafted through the thickly curtained windows. “There's gotta be a map around here... like... a super detailed map that only this yahoo is capable of making.” “Yeah, and?” Nick made a face. “What if we find one? What then?” “What else?” Rainbow hovered from stack to stack. “We... y'know... borrow it.” “You mean steal it, don't you?!” Nick wheezed. “No way! Uh uh!” “Why not?” Rainbow looked over her shoulder at the stallion. “From the way you've described this dude, he seems pretty keen on stealing stuff himself.” She lifted a few books, then coughed as a wave of grit flew into her face. “Grnnngh... as well as arson.” “Pssst! Rainbow!” Twilight's head phased out of a veritable tower of tomes. She waved a lavender horn. “Over here! I think I found something!” Rainbow immediately turned to look at her. She flew swiftly across the room. “What? What is it?” Nick asked, nearly tripping over a stump of compact newspapers. “Don't tell me... more of you being a magical sky horse.” “Pffft. Don't be crazy.” Rainbow then proceeded to rub her ruby pendant, summoning a deep red glow to illuminate the books in front of her. “Guhhh!” Nick shuddered all over. “Please, for the love of sails, don't be sprouting a third eye or something the next time I look at you!” “Relax,” Rainbow said, shining the light on the books right in front of her. “I only do my evil, chaotic transformations when somepony removes my necklace.” “Yeah, well, thank goodness I didn't plan on stripping you anytime soo—” Nick immediately grimaced. “I-I mean... not that it was ever your burden to bare—gaaah—I mean... it... that...” He sighed, shuffling off with ears folded. “I wonder if this guy has any ketchup in the pantry that I can put on my hoof...” “Hmmff...” Rainbow's lips curved somewhat. She looked and looked, then eventually muttered, “I give up. What am I looking for?” Twilight floated alongside her. “A little to the left, past the encyclopedias.” Rainbow tilted her pendant accordingly. At last, a desk came within focus, covered all over with papery clutter. However, peaking out from the mess of paraphernalia, a framed sheet of illustrated paper could be seen. Rainbow Dash floated over and tried to pull the frame out. The thing wouldn't budge. Sighing, Rainbow had to pickup three small stacks of books and place them on an abandoned stool. At last, she was able to pull the frame out. Before her loomed an elliptical slice of latitudinal and longitudinal lines. Rainbow spotted three irregular shapes to the far west. “Those three spots on the far left,” Twilight said, pointing. “Rainbow, do you think it could be Kihutaja?” “Looks like it from the air,” Rainbow whispered, her ruby eyes squinting at the image of the three land-shapes. Sure enough, they were joined by a tiny artificial strip. “That'd be the bridge...” Her eyes tilted to the left, and she exhaled. “Heh... well I'll be darned.” “What?” Twilight leaned in closer. Rainbow pointed. “Look. It's the island we were on,” she said, pointing at a tiny-tiny speck of land far from the westernmost tip of the K.M.C.A. “And just to the west of it...” “The Tower,” Twilight murmured, eyeing what appeared to be a starry beacon of light etched onto the page. “But...” She turned to gawk at Rainbow. “If nopony could actually sail their way into the Blight, then how would they have these two things mapped out?” Rainbow lifted her head, observing several metal tubes stacked up in the corner—some of them rusted. “I don't think they went their physically, Twi...” “Telescopes...!” Twilight grinned. “Of course!” She turned to smile at Rainbow. “I'd really like to meet this Sinrar fellow!” “Yeah, speak for yourself,” Rainbow grumbled, then turned about. She raised her voice, “Hey! Kid!” “Yo...” Nick trotted up, eyes bright. Rainbow hovered in front of him, flipping the wide frame out so he could see the map in its entirety. “Does this look legit to you?” “Ooooh...” Nick smiled. “That's pretty old-fashioned...” “Old fashioned...” Rainbow blinked. “...in a good way?” “Well, most scholars today use a Marecator Projection, which only leads to extreme geographical distortion, especially in the extreme latitudes...” “Uhhhh...” “But there's Kihutaja in the West,” Nick said, pointing. “Along with the outlying colonies... including T'Gom Atoll, where I was foaled.” He giggled. “Heehee!” “And... uhhh...” Rainbow leaned her head over, gazing at a large circular continent to the east, framed with multiple winding fjords all around. “...Rohbredden, I presume.” “Yup! The home capital of—well—of everything, really!” Nick nevertheless chewed on his lip. “Still... hmmm...” “What?” Rainbow blinked. “That doesn't sound like a good 'hmm.'” “It's just that...” Nick rubbed his forehead, then pointed at an archipelago located to the east, about one sixth of the way across the map. “I don't think I've ever seen these islands before. How strange.” “You think the map's bogus?” “Well, it's hard to say.” Rainbow arched an eyebrow. “What's that supposed to mean?” “Only that... erm... the ocean's super... super huge... eheh...” “Yeah, and water is wet. Your point?” “Do you have any idea just how hard it is to survey the open sea?” Nick said. “Maybe it's easy for the Rohbreddenites cuz the Six Tribes have so much solid ground to anchor themselves with. But for the other archipelagos—the Western Colonies especially—it's something that's taken decades if not centuries to perfect.” He shrugged. “Some places have been drawn onto the map... only to disappear completely later.” “Mmmmf...” Rainbow's nostrils flared. “I don't like the sound of that.” “Honestly, you gotta be either super dedicated or super crazy to try and keep track of every obscure little island in the ocean!” “In other words, you gotta be Professor Sinrar.” “Heh... pretty much, yeah.” Twilight had trotted over to stand right next to Nick. “Curious...” She squinted at the page. “None of the landscapes are even labeled.” Rainbow looked at her, then at Nick. “How come nothing's labeled?” “That's a very good question.” Nick glanced at Rainbow. “I bet Sinrar would know.” “Meh. Maybe.” Rainbow tucked the map under her forelimb and flew towards the door. “Uhm... Rainbow?” Nick asked. “Where are you going?” “Do you honestly think the old badger was doing anything with this?” “What's it matter?” Nick remarked. “It's his, isn't it?” “Yeah, Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed. “He's got a point!” “Don't sweat it, you guys,” Rainbow said with a slight smirk. “Guys?” Nick blinked while Twilight groaned. “I'm just gonna ask a few professors around campus what's what and work from there,” Rainbow said, opening the door. “And—if we're lucky—maybe we'll find Sinrar while we're at it.” As soon as she opened the door—WHACK!—the end of a slender wooden cane slammed across her muzzle. “OOOMF!” Rainbow dropped the map, clutching her nose as her ears folded bag. “Nnnngh... found him...” “Eeep!” Nick ducked behind a stack of books while Twilight craned her neck. A set of blistered wingfeathers wrapped around the cane, lowering it to the floor with a cold thunk! A gray-coated pegasus hobbled into the room, his frazzled mane of wirey orange hairs tucked under a black beret. A stained black scarf framed a stone-hard face with an even harder frown. “Branleur!” He rolled with a gravelly voice, his faded amber eyes squinting hard behind a pair of knife-sharp bifocals. “Come and sneak into my maison, will you?! Sea filth! Hrnngh! If you wanted clams, you could have had a squat out in the garden and made some yourself!” Professor Sinrar paused, teetering slightly as he dropped a bag full of empty milk cartons at his side. “And what have you done to my dust?!?”