The Puzzle

by englishwitch

Chapter 5

The Puzzle

Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 5

The mood over the camp was a heavy one. As stifling as the hot air and as choking as the dust that blew on the wind.

The camp stood with quiet reverence around the covered wagon as two unicorns carefully loaded Relic Hunter’s body upon it. She had been lain on a stretcher and covered with a white shroud. All equipment, crates and artefacts had been removed. Nopony would allow Relic Hunter to travel with cargo. The next trip the cart would take would be for her alone.

Applejack, her hat removed in respect, whispered to Rarity, “You seen Twilight?”

Twilight was the only one missing from the gathering. She had been, naturally, upset by the news of her old friend passing away. She had cried fiercely and nothing could be done by anypony to console her. But in the last hour she seemed to have wandered away and vanished. All five of her friends were growing worried.

Rarity gave a gentle shake of her head, “I’m afraid not, darling. Where could she be? I would’ve thought if anypony would be here, it would be Twilight.”

Mineral Deposit, who perhaps knew the professor better than anypony in recent months, stepped out of the gathered crowd and bowed his head to the shrouded shape. Following his lead everypony else bowed their heads. “My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped galloping today.” His voice cracked with held back tears. He had to take a moment and several deep breaths before he could continue. “The sun has set and the moon has risen. May princess Luna sing you to rest. May her moon light your path. Her stars be your map into what lies beyond.
Life and death are as the sun and moon. The day and night.
The full moon, well risen in a cloudless eastern sky, covers the solitude of the world with its light. We are not conscious of daylight as that displaces darkness. Daylight, even when the sun is clear of clouds, seems to us simply the natural condition of the earth and air.
We take daylight for granted. But moonlight is another matter. It is inconsistent. The full moon wanes and returns again. Clouds may obscure it to an extent to which they cannot obscure daylight. Water is necessary to us, but a waterfall is not. Where it is to be found it is something extra, a beautiful ornament.
We need daylight, but we would be foolish to think we did not need moonlight also. When it comes, it transforms our world. It falls upon the banks and the grass, separating one long blade from another; turning a drift of brown, frosted leaves from a single heap to innumerable flashing fragments; or glimmering lengthways along wet twigs as though light itself were ductile. Its long beams pour, white and sharp, between the trunks of trees, their clarity fading as they recede into the powdery, misty distance of woods at night. In moonlight, two acres of coarse bent grass as rough as a horse's mane, appear like a bay of waves, all shadowy troughs and hollows.
We should not take moonlight for granted. It is like snow, or like the dew on a July morning. It does not reveal but changes what it covers. And its low intensity---so much lower than that of daylight---makes us conscious that it is something added to the land, to give it, for only a little time, a singular and marvellous quality that we should admire while we can, for soon it will be gone again.”
He paused just long enough to wipe away the tears welling up in his eyes, “Earth and forest, sky and cloud. From sunlight we come and to moonlight we go. Celestia and Luna watch over us. Always.”

“Always.” the crowd murmured.

The ponies started to disperse in their own time. Most wandered to the dining tent where they spoke in low voices about Relic Hunter.

Applejack stepped closer to Mineral, “A real good readin’ from the Book of the Sun and Moon. Never would’a guessed you was the religious type.”

Mineral nodded solemnly, “Not so much anymore, but some stuff never leaves you.”

Applejack nodded. She wished she could do or say more to help Mineral. Funeral’s always brought out this side of her. She remembered, too well, the pain she felt at the loss of her own parents. She couldn’t stand the thought of anypony else feeling that same pain. “A lotta things never leave us,” she said to him, quietly, “friends an’ family most of all. Even when they’re gone from the world, they ain’t really gone s’long as we remember ‘em.”

Mineral managed a weak smile, “Thank you Applejack.”

...***...

Fluttershy sighed, her head hung lower toward the ground than usual. She had taken care of enough animals, seen enough of them come and go, to fully aware of the circle of life. That didn’t mean, however, that she was used to it. Far from it. Every loss, be it animal or pony, continued to affect her as deeply as the first.

A sniffing noise caught her attention. Coming from the tent which had belonged to Relic Hunter. The place had been closed up after the passing of the professor, but it’s canvass door was open now. Who on earth would go in there?

Trembling, Fluttershy approached the tent-flap and peered into the shady interior. The familiar form of Twilight sat in front of Relic Hunter’s desk. Her wings hung limply by her sides and her head sat in her hooves. There was a redness and puffiness to her eyes that told Fluttershy, Twilight had been crying, a lot. “Twilight?”

The alicorn flinched. Her wings flared and her head darted to the sound of the whisper. The sudden movement almost made Fluttershy shrink back and hide.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, “Fluttershy? Hello. Has...um...have they....” She looked like she was about to cry again, “The Professor?”

Fluttershy understood and nodded her head, “She hasn’t left yet. Um...if you still want to say goodbye.”

To Fluttershy’s surprise, Twilight shook her head. The flared wings fell back to Twilight’s side and her head fell to join them. “I....” she hesitated, her voice catching in her throat, “I can’t. I tried but....to see her....like that...knowing she’s really...I just can’t....Oh, Fluttershy.... She’s gone and I won’t say goodbye... does that make me a bad pony?”

Fluttershy rushed up to Twilight and wrapped her hooves around her friend, pulling her into a surprisingly tight embrace that Twilight never would have thought the gentle pony capable of. It was a wonderful embrace, warm, caring and maternal. It reminded Twilight of her mother’s hugs. “No.” Fluttershy whispered into her ear. “No, you’re not.” she rubbed a hoof up and down Twillight’s back as a comfort. “I understand, really I do. You’ve lost an old friend you care about and it’s hurt you. You’re hurting and you don’t want it to hurt you more. If you go see her, go to say goodbye, that will be admitting that it’s all real. That she’s gone and won’t be coming back. And that would just hurt too much.”

Twilight trembled in her hooves as a fresh wave of sobs broke out. Fluttershy continued to hold her and made comforting noises. “There, there.” her gentle cadence sang out, “you’re not a bad pony. You’re just sad and hurt. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

For an unknown amount of minutes they continued to sit there in the middle of the tent. Fluttershy continued to hold Twilight and repeat what the pony needed to hear while Twilight let out her pain through her tears.

Slowly but surely, Twilight’s eyes ran dry. Her breathing levelled out and her heart stopped thundering in her chest. She felt tired, very tired. It was hardly past noon but she felt like she’d been awake for days. She eased herself back out of Fluttershy’s grip and forced a weak smile onto her face. Fluttershy could see through it, she let Twilight know this with a look. The false smile faded and Twilight felt all the better for it. “Thank you.”

“Any time, Twilight.”

Twilight let out a deep sigh. “It’s funny,” she glanced at the desk where Relic Hunter had been sitting just the night before. It was just as she left it; maps, papers a couple of dusty books, and the mysterious crystal artefact scattered around in the haphazard fashion Twilight recognised from periods when she had been deeply absorbed in study. “I haven’t even thought about her for years, haven’t seen her for longer than that. But with her...gone...it’s like I’ve lost one of you; my friends.”

“I guess...um...well...that’s because...um...you know that you’ll...you know...um...”

“Never see her again?” Twilight finished for her. Fluttershy nodded. With another sigh, Twilight nodded too. “maybe you’re right. Before now...I could have seen her...sent a message or...something.” she stopped to put her hoof to her eyes, as though she could push back in the tears that were threatening to come out. Twilight didn’t say anything more and Fluttershy, being Fluttershy, didn’t push her on the issue. Nothing more needed to be said.

Twilight put a hoof on the desk and drew one of the papers closer to her for a better look, “her last work.” It looked like it was a sketch of the engraving she and the professor had seen illuminated on the crystals surface in the light of the sunset. “A mystery she’ll never solve.” a twitch of a smile came to her face for a second, “But Professor Hunter said, ‘Sometimes the archiologists don’t solve all the mysteries. They uncover the questions and scholars years, or even generations from now, find the answers.’ I guess this crystal will be one of the-” she stopped suddenly as her eye caught some of the other objects on the desk. Among the books and hastily scribbled notes, which were full of blotches of smudged ink and many spelling mistakes, there was a piece of parchment, unrolled and held down at corners. It was a map and it had been desecrated. A large circle had been drawn upon it in red ink, and quite recently too. Twilight glanced at the sketch and to the marked second of the map, to the sketch and back again several times. They matched.
“Or maybe, she did find the answers after all.”

...***...

“Professor Hunter solved it.” Twilight used her magic to unfurl and hold the map on the table. Her five friends, Mineral Deposit, Lyra and Black Granite; the sole archaeological head of the dig now the professor had passed away. “Look at the sketch the professor made,” She held up the drawing. “It’s the inscription on the surface of the crystal. Look at the circled region of the map. They match perfectly.”

Black Granite scrutinized the two images, “the crystal was marked with an engraving of this region of the world? But to what purpose?”

Twilight shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know. Not yet. But I intend to find out.” She looked at the ponies around the table, “The discovery of these human artefacts were the last act of Professor Hunter. She discovered these mysteries, raised these questions and I want to find the answers. I want to solve the last great mystery of her professional life. For her.”

Her five friends smiled. “Well all right.” Applejack nodded and straightened her stetson.

“When do we leave?” Dash jumped in right away.

Twilight looked between them, “You don’t have to-”

Rarity put a hoof over Twilight’s mouth, “Let me stop you right there, darling. We’re coming with you. All the way to...wherever it is we’re going.” She glanced at the map.

“The Griffin Kingdoms.” Pinkie said in an off-hand manner.

Twilight looked at her with confusion, “Pinkie, how’d you know that? The region isn’t named on the map?”

Pinkie shrugged, “I know the author.”

Twilight felt a distinctive twitch in her left eye, “What?”

Pinkie continued to smile as she asked, with perfect innocence, “What?”

The group of Ponyville friends just shook their heads and dismissed it. It was better not to think too hard when Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie.

Twilight chose, instead, to centre her attention on Mineral Deposit, “I know this is against the usual procedure of an archaeological dig, and I have no right to ask this, but I would like to take the crystal with me. It could be useful on our journey.”

Mineral and Black Granite looked at each other, was a princess really asking their permission? Black Granite nodded her head, “To solve this mystery for Relic Hunter, you may have the crystal, Princess.”

Twilight’s face flushed as she realised more of her royal privileges had helped influenced their decision. “Thank you. When all this is over, I promise I’ll personally deliver the crystal, and my findings, to Canterlot University.”

Black Granite bowed his head, “Thank you, Prin-”

“And don’t call me, Princess,” Twilight sighed, “I’m Twilight, just Twilight.”

Black Granite nodded, “Of course, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight shook her head, “I give up.” she sighed and shook her head before turning to her friends. “If we’re going to do this, we’ll need to head back to Los Pegasus. It’s the nearest place we can get transport to the griffin kingdoms.”

“Well then,” Rarity smiled at her, “We should pack and be ready to leave as soon as possible.”

The group broke, rushing for their tents to retrieve their belongings.

Within the tent, Lyra was sitting on her cot in an unusual manner; she was flat on her beck with her rear legs dangling over the side. The sight was so odd it made Twilight stop and stare for a few seconds. “What?” she muttered indignantly, “it’s good for my back.”

Twilight nodded her head slowly, “okay.”

Lyra shuffled to a sitting up position. That just looked even weirder! “I’m sorry about the professor. She seemed like a nice pony.”

Twilight sighed and nodded her head. Her horn began to glow as she packed her belongings into her trunk. “She was. She just had this way of telling history,” she smiled warmly as the fond memories came upon her, “She made things come alive. When she told me about the ancient pony tribes, she wasn’t just reciting facts and figures. She made you understand and know, really know, what it must have been like back then. You could almost feel the stone floors under your hooves, or the rough-spun clothing on your back.” She had to stop for a few seconds to wipe the tears rising in her eyes. “One of the best teachers I ever had.”

She took a deep breath and extended her hoof on the exhale. “That’s why I’m going to solve the mystery of the crystal; to honour her hard work and dedication in uncovering the mysteries of the ancient world. I know Professor Hunter wouldn’t leave this puzzle alone. She would keep working until all her questions were answered and the last mystery revealed. It’s what drove her so hard to keep working, keep digging and learning. There’s always a question that needs answering.”

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