//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: The Puzzle 
// Story: TEK: The Beginning 
// by Jet Fly 
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Jet gasped as he took the entire room in. The “Tile Room," as Celestia called it, was amazing. It was an enormous room and the walls were composed entirely out of brownish stone. Four black torches adorned each wall, each one lit, lighting up the otherwise dark room. But the walls and ceiling weren't what was amazing, it was the floor that really caught their eyes. It was adorned with tiles, each one with a picture of something on it. 

Each row of tiles had seven tiles. There were seven rows in total, leading all the way to a small landing on the other side of the room. Each tile seemed to be made out of dark brownish stone, and the image adorned upon it was engraved on its center.

“Whoa..." both Jet and Shade said at the same time. 

“Yes, the Tile Room is quite a marvel to behold. I will repeat the instructions one last time for you. All you have to do is make it to the other side of the room without using magic or flight. If you use either, you're disqualified. If you get hit, your disqualified. That's about it. There is no specific time limit, but you must beat your competitors times to move on. Understand?" Celestia asked.

After the duo shook their heads yes, Celestia flew to the other side of the room.

“May the odds be ever in your favor."

Once Celestia left through the door on the opposite side, Jet began to take notice of the pictures on the tiles. 

“This is obviously a trap room. If we step on the wrong tile, we'll activate some sort of trap. The key is to figure out the pattern. Look closely at the first and second row. Is there anything they have in common?"

Shade knelt down and began to study the tiles. The first row had as follows: a triangle, a horseshoe, a cake, a blanket, a lightbulb, grass, and a basket. The second had: bats, what appeared to be sound waves, a weird shape that looked like a blob, a small claw, a ribbon, a cow, and a box. 

“I have no idea. I can't gain anything from these emblems. They seem totally random."

“There's gotta be something. Let's keep looking at the other rows."

“But the pics are so small. I can't see all the way to the last row."

Shade continued to squint to see the opposite side of the room. 

“I can. Natural pegasus vision." 

Jet countered as he continued to scan the floor.

“Oh yeah. Forgot about that."

The third row had: a napkin, a cap, wire, a pony, an ear, water, and a bowl. The fourth had: a fruit of some sort, a balloon, a bridge, paper, a dragon, a goat, and a bell. The fifth had: glasses, a cello, a lyre, the earth, wings, ice, and a feather. The sixth had: dust, a knife, a cottage, a large tree, the sun, a number two, and a door handle. The seventh had: a quill, lettuce, smoke, a swirling mass that looked akin to a galaxy, a sword, a weird bipedal creature with four limbs that Jet recognized as a human, and finally the last tile was all black, empty of any symbol. 

Jet relayed to Shade what he saw so that they could discuss it. 

“I don't get it. They seem so random. I can't detect any sort of pattern. Besides the fact that each row has inanimate objects. You think that's the pattern?"

“I don't know... there are multiple inanimate objects on each row. What if we accidentally choose the wrong ones? We can't take that risk." 

Jet continued to think. He closed his eyes and concentrated even harder. 

“Think Jet, Think! What do these things have in common? What's the pattern?"

“Hey, don't cows eat grass?" 

Shade's statement was more of a factual tone than as a question. Jets eyes popped open at this revelation. Shade was right. And he might be on to something. Jet had a hypothesis now, but wasn't sure if it was correct or not yet. He continued to scan the next row. 

*Grass, cow, napkin? No no, that doesn't make sense. Wait... grass, cow, pony? That makes sense!* 

A small smile crept Jet's face as he began to make the connection. Shade noticed this and angled his head in question. 

“I found the pattern, Shade."

“What is it?"

“Look at the first three. You were right about the connection between the cow and grass. The next one in line is the pony. Don't you see?" 

Shade wasn't really catching on. Then it hit him like an express train. 

“The food chain?"

“Not the food chain exactly, but more like the natural order. If we go by this pattern, the next safe tile should be the dragon, then the earth, then the Sun, and finally the galaxy. You get it? It's just going by order of the lowest, to the highest. Cows eat grass, ponies own cows, dragons are more powerful and dangerous than any pony, and the earth is where we all live. The sun provides life for the earth. And finally, the galaxy holds it all." 

Jet jumped up as he reveled in their discovery. 

“WE DID IT BUDDY! WE FIGURED IT OUT!"

“Calm down, we're not done yet. Just because we're almost certain of the pattern, doesn't mean that we have the correct one." 

Jet immediately stopped and rubbed his neck.

“Yeah, your right. I'll try it out first."

Jet slowly made his way to the grass tile. Shade narrowed his eyes as he waited with pins and needles for Jet to either succeed in making it to the other side, or trigger a trap and risk getting them both disqualified. A bead of sweat dripped off Jet's face as he got even closer to the tile in question. 

*I sure hope this works* 

There was a moment of silence as Jet placed his hoof on the cold tile. Both ponies waited for something to happen. Then finally... nothing. Nothing happened. Either they were correct in figuring out the pattern, or this tile was defective. The latter was highly unlikely, so the only logical conclusion was that they had successfully figured out the pattern. 

Jet let out a sigh of relief as he finally put all of his weight on the one tile, making sure to avoid all the others. 

“Let me make it to the end first. Then you. Just to be safe." 

Jet continued his journey to the cow tile, flinching as he put his weight on it. Again, nothing happened. At this point, Jet was more confident about their plan and was even more eager to get to the other side. Next was the pony, then the dragon, the earth, sun, and finally the galaxy. Once Jet finally stepped hoof on the other side of the room, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. 

“It worked Shade, It's safe! You can come across now." 

Shade gulped as he made his way to the grass. 

“Let's get this over with."

He stepped on the first one, then the cow, and then the pony. But something happened when Shade made his way to the dragon. 

He stopped and shook his head. He started sweating profusely, his pupils shrank, and his breathing sped up. Jet took notice of his friend's panicking and yelled out to him. 

“Don't worry it's safe... Shade, can you hear me? SHADE!"

But it was no use. Shade wasn't there anymore, only a shell. Shade couldn't hear anything besides his own screams and the roars of his past. He closed his eyes as he started screaming at something that wasn't there. 

“No... NO! GET AWAY!"

Shade's mind began flooding with memories of caves, running, and a large, terrifying dragon. He was no longer in Canterlot, he was far away in the Everfree Forest, running for his life from the fear of his life. 

Jet had no idea what was going on. His best friend was now lying on the pony tile, screaming and yelling at something while rubbing his face and head like it was on fire. Whatever he was seeing was intense. But then, something even more dangerous happened. He started rolling over. Any farther and he would lean on the other tile next to it, surely activating a trap. 

Jet quickly looked around himself to find something he could use to help his friend snap out of his trance. Finding a pebble to be the only thing available, he quickly kicked it with his foreleg at full speed towards Shade. It succeeded in hitting his face, seeming to bring him back to reality, but it also caught him off guard, sending him back a bit, stepping on the tile behind him. A loud crack echoed through the room as the incorrect tile sunk into the floor.

"Uh oh..."

Shade, now back to the present, was trying to clear his head, which was in an unexplained pain. While trying to remember where he was, he caught a glimpse of Jet waving his hooves at him in an erratic way. He also seemed to be yelling something. He then began to remember his situation, and the trials, and the tiles. Then it hit him. 

“Crap..." 

In the span of a few seconds, arrows flew out of the walls at breakneck speeds. One whipped past his snout, mere millimeters from his face. Acting fast, he jumped to the next tile just in time as three arrows flew directly where he was just sitting.

“C'MON SHADE! YOU'RE ALMOST HERE!"

Shade hopped up and landed on the next safe tile. Only three more to go. Seeing an arrow fly right for his face, Shade acted fast and jumped to the side, landing on his belly on the tile next to him. Unfortunately, the safe tile was directly in front of him...

“OH C'MON!" 

Another loud snap resounded throughout the room once again. Shade jumped on the sun as the incorrect tile sunk into the floor, just as the other one had. For a second, Shade questioned whether or not something was gonna happened. But then the tile got hot... really hot. Shade yelped and jumped to the next tile as his hooves burned from the intense heat emanating from the slabs of stone. The next tile was cool to the touch, and it gave him a sense of relief, but it didn't last as he realized that two more arrows were aimed for his face and flank. 

Going full speed, Shade did a complete barrel roll onto the other side of the room, finally landing on the safe side. They had finished it, finally. Shade sighed as he took a moment to relax. Jet watched as his mentally and physically exhausted friend laid on his belly in an attempt to relax. 

Finally, after about ten seconds, Jet grabbed his friend's tail and dragged him through the doors. They were greeted by a smiling Celestia. 

“Well done you two. You both finished with outstanding times and without being hit. I'm very impressed."

Jet was a bit confused. 

“How did you know?"

Celestia motioned to a screen showing the tile room. It had plastered on it the arrows still flying and an entire row of now red hot tiles. 

“You two have passed with the fastest time ever. And your the only pair to trigger a trap and not get hit. I'm very impressed," she said with a smile.

Shade, on the other hoof, was not smiling. He was not happy at all. 
His face grew hot with his pent up rage. 

“Do you know what you put me through? I could have died if one of those arrows had hit me! And my hooves could have been burned off if I stayed on those tiles any longer than I had!" 

Shade seethed through his grinding teeth. He was obviously trying to contain his anger. Celestia, unfazed by Shade's obvious rage, kept her smile.

“You were perfectly safe the entire time. The arrows were made out of rubber, and the heated tiles were simply heat rocks, meant for warming up reptiles. It only reached a certain temperature. It burns, but it doesn't permanently hurt you."

Both Shade and Jet's mouth dropped at this revelation. 

“So... I wasn't in any real danger?"

“No, and if things did eventually get out of hoof, I could always shut it down with this switch." 

She then motioned to a small red switch on the wall. Once she flicked it down, the stones on the screen turned back to brown, and the arrows stopped shooting out the wall.

“I-I'm sorry Princess. I should have known you would have everything under control..." 

Shade sheepishly rubbed his neck.

“No worries Shade Vortex. Your concerns are entirely reasonable. You were simply worrying about your safety." 

With everything cleared up and the first trial completed, they began their way to the other contenders on the other side of the waiting room. This one was almost exactly the same as the other one, with the exception of the screen and switch. The other ponies looked just as exhausted as they did. 

“I wonder how everypony else did," Jet asked as they took their place near the rear of the group. 

“I'm extremely proud of you all for attempting this trial. It was not easy, and that was the point. But unfortunately, some of you did not follow the rules, and are thus disqualified."

She then proceeded to call a few pairs of ponies who were now disqualified. But, being a generous Princess, she promised to give them extra credit anyway for their troubles. After a guard escorted them out, Celestia turned to face the remaining pairs. There were only five pairs left. 

“I'm proud of you all for succeeding in passing the Tile Room by using both ingenuity and teamwork. But it's not over yet. There are still two more tests you have to pass. With that in mind, let us make our way to the next one. Come, follow me." 

The group of ponies thus departed as they made their way to the next trial. Jet turned to Shade to ask about to ask about the incident. 

“Hey, wanna tell me what happened to you back there?"

A grunt and solid “No" was all Jet got in response. Jet decided not to push it, and decided to drop the topic for now. The remainder of the walk was made in silence. As they made their way to the next trial, Jet could only think about what other traps and challenges awaited him and Shade...