3 The Suns Shall Discover the Truth
Chapter Three
The Suns Shall Discover the Truth
I had many other duties that kept me from devoting all the time I wanted to studying the journal. It was the second day after I had visited the university and I was marking up a new tariff proposal from the Guild of Merchants. I wrote in the margin in red ink, "Never try something like this again, or I will drop you into the heart of the Everfree and you can try bribing the timberwolves and manticores!" There was a knock at the door.
"What is it?" I snapped, flinging the door open and turning to face it. There was nopony there. Well—just a unicorn guard, standing to the side, almost out of sight. He cleared his throat and pointed downward. Jigsaw was in a bow so deep, she was doing a good imitation of a doormat.
"Oh! Ah... forgive me, Jigsaw! Please, get up!"
"Forgive me, Your Serene Highness! If I am interrupting, I can come back—"
"No, no, no, no, no! I sent for you! Please get up!" I said, and to the guard, "Have some tea sent up, please."
"Really, Your Highness, I can come back later if..."
I took hold of myself and mentally went through the Taking Charge of the Situation checklist. I took a deep breath and in a calm, quiet voice, I said, "Rise and enter, Jigsaw." She practically leaped to her hooves and trotted into the room. I gently shut the door behind her and continued, "You will forgive me for my outburst.[1] I am angry at the Guild of Merchants and my temper got the best of me for a moment."
----------
[1] Notice I wasn't asking? Can't deny a princess when she commands you to forgive her. Neat trick, huh? Incidentally, it was Luna who taught me that. She's a little more monarch-y than Celestia.
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"Oh, yes! Yes, of course, Your Serene—"
"And you are not to address me as Your Serene Highness unless we are in court. A single 'Your Highness' will do when we first meet in public, and 'Ma'am' thereafter, understood?"
"Yes... ma'am."
I sighed. "Though I would very much prefer it if, when we are in private and working together, you would simply call me 'Twilight'."
She took a moment to compose herself. "I understand, Twilight." Then her grip on her composure slipped a bit. "Wait... working together? We're going to be working together?!"
I nodded, trying not to let her sudden smile infect me. "Yes, I've arranged with the college for you to work part-time for me as an adviser on matters archaeological. Think of it as an internship of sorts. You'll be paid, and also get credits for the work."
"It's about the map and the journal, isn't it? Isn't it?" She was so excited, she did a little dance in place. I couldn't help but smile then.
"Yes, it is. Now, while I finish threatening the Guild of Merchants, why don't you take volume two of the journal and start reading? When you get to the bookmark, stop. Don't look at anything past that point."
It was an odd request, but she just nodded. "Yes, Your... uh... yes, Twilight."
I pulled the journal out of my desk and gave it to her. She settled down right where she was and dove into the book.
"Wouldn't you like a more comfortable place to read?"
She grunted something vaguely negative without looking up from the text. I grinned. She was a filly after my own heart. I waited a minute or so and then lifted her up and slid a cushion under her. She didn't even notice.
I went back to my own work with determination but considerably less enthusiasm. It was a situation that would set the tone for most of the rest of our adventure.
= = =
"There's something odd about this sun," Jigsaw said.
I looked up from the court schedule I was organizing for Luna. "What do you mean?"
Jigsaw tapped the page with a hooftip. "This is part of the decorative edge of a relief in..." She glanced down at the figure's caption. "...the library. The text says the entire border is just a series of identical suns, but..."
The plural "suns" made my ears stand straight up. "Yes? But what?"
"Look at the drawing."
I moved over and sat next to her. "Well, it's not the usual heraldic sun." In other words it wasn't a copy of Celestia's cutie-mark.
"No," Jigsaw agreed. "It has far too many rays for one thing."
"And the rays are irregular," I said as I noticed that fact.
"Yes, that's what caught my attention. If this was a modern journal, I'd think that the artist had just been sloppy. But not... mn..."
"What is it?"
"Look at the hatching on the rays. Some have it, some don't."
I fetched my magnifying glass and hovered it over the image. I also grabbed my notebook and started recording our observations. "They're not irregular," I breathed softly. "The variations are on purpose!"
"Oh, sweet stars, you're right, Twilight!" Jigsaw's cheek pressed against mine as she stared avidly though the glass. "Two different lengths... two different textures... and... yes! Some rays have three bends, some have four. That's three sets of binary differences. It's not mere decoration..."
We looked up at each other and simultaneously said, "It's a code!"
My brain went into overdrive, trying to correlate this new data with everything else I knew about the mystery. It was only a few seconds before I groaned and put a hoof over my face in embarrassment. "Discover," I muttered, "dis-cover!"
"I'm sorry...?" Jigsaw peered at me in confusion.
"The archaic use of the word discover, meaning to purposely uncover or reveal. There's another clue in the journal. Another... umn... carving that's labeled, 'The suns shall discover the truth.' I thought it was something to do with Celestia finding out secrets or something, but now it's obvious that the text was pointing to the information encoded in the border of suns! The suns will reveal the truth, would be more accurate!"
"That's great!" Jigsaw actually trembled with excitement. "Is there a drawing of the whole border later in the book?" She took hold of the volume with her magic, beginning to turn the pages, but I stopped her. She looked up at me, questioningly.
"I'm sorry, Jigsaw. There's no image of the whole border. The artist didn't bother to copy down what she thought was just a decorative edge."
Jigsaw's brow furrowed. "That's so unfair! With only this little sample, we'll never be able to break the code, and with the rest of it missing anyway—"
"No," I interrupted thoughtfully. "If it was hidden in plain sight with a clue pointing at it, I doubt that the code will be that hard to break. I think it was meant to be found by certain ponies. It's probably based on one of the old ciphers that the alchemists of Starswirl's time used to send messages... hmn..."
I started scribbling in my notebook. Twenty rays. Five digits in binary would be necessary to encode all the Equuish letters. That meant three sets of differences could encode twelve letters per sun. Twelve sequential letters should be enough to confirm if I'd gotten the decoding system right, even if they wouldn't convey much information.
"Might as well start with the obvious," I said, and began to write in my notebook:
1st Cycle (First Assumption)
Long Ray = 1, Short Ray = 0
00000 = A
00001 = B
00010 = C
00011 = D
—and so on.
It took me nearly two hours, but I finally cracked it. At the end of several pages of gibberish, the twelve letters had finally resolved themselves into something intelligible:
LADYCELESTIA
"That is so cool!" Jigsaw actually clopped her hooves together.
I sat back and looked at the words with very mixed feelings. I tapped the notebook and said, "You know what this means?"
She looked up at me in surprise. "You can get something out of just those two short words? Twilight, you're amazing!"
I made a sour face. "It isn't the words, it's my addiction to knowing all the answers. Depending on the ordering of the elements, it could also be, 'CELESTIALADY' but I can't know for sure unless I have access to the rest of the sequence. It means I'm going to have to find out what the suns reveal. It means..."
"Oh, please take me with you! Please, please, please! I know all about the Badlands! I mean, I've read all about them. I've been on two student digs and I've studied—"
I held up a hoof to stop her flood of words. Jigsaw looked up at me, her lower lip trembling in fear that I would dismiss her. But who else was I going to take? I didn't dare ask Spike or any of my friends: There was no way I was going to explain the situation to them.
"Well, in The Ring of Destiny, Daring Do has some help on her adventure, so I guess I could use a partner, too."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you..." She actually leaped forward and hugged me. Then she suddenly stiffened and jumped back with a gasp. I thought she was going to profusely apologize for violating the corpus principessa, but she surprised me. "Wait! You like Daring Do?"
"Uh... yes?" I said, with an uncertain little grin. I had thought Jigsaw was a fan, too. She had chuckled whenever I'd used a catch-phrase. Why would she do that if she wasn't a fan? Unless she hadn't read the books and thought I was just being clever.
Wow, the fighting emotions that flitted across her face were something amazing. She finally settled on a neutral mask. "Oh, no reason. I've never had time to read the books."
Even I could tell there was something more going on there, behind her One Does Not Disagree With a Princess attitude, but I could see that it wasn't something she wanted to talk about, so I let it go.
= = =
Taking an interest in archaeology, that was my excuse. Perhaps cataloging the buffalo tribes and—wouldn't it be nice if Dodge Junction had a visit from a princess?
When I stopped to take a breath, Celestia chuckled and said, "Of course, you can take a few weeks off, Twilight! You've been doing a superb job lately and I'm sure the kingdom won't collapse if you take a little time for yourself."
I didn't want to argue against myself, but I couldn't help thinking of all the disasters in recent memory and the importance of guarding the Tree of Harmony. I suppose my expression gave me away. I'm not very good at hiding my feelings.
"Don't worry, Twilight! I think we've cowed all the evil forces likely to threaten us in the near future." Celestia paused and gave me a sidelong look. "Even the Guild of Merchants are behaving themselves for a change."
= = =
At night court, Luna was a bit more reluctant. "Everything goes so much smoother when you are here, Twilight Sparkle."
"When I handle the boring bits and paperwork, you mean? Shadow Quill is a perfectly capable secretary."
She gave a dismissive toss of her head. "She often makes me read things. As you say, it is my other duties I care for. Is there aught else on tonight's schedule?"
"Only a petition from the mayor of Los Pegasus for your presence at their Moon Viewing festival next—"
"Granted. Court is adjourned. Herald..."
I scrambled to gather and neaten the paperwork as the pony below the dais stomped his fore hooves and announced to the otherwise empty throne room. "Night Court is hereby at an end! Make way for Her Divine Highness, Luna, Princess of the Night, Mistress of the Moon, and Regent of Dreams!"
I cleared my throat.
"Ah... also make way for Her Serene Highness, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship!"
Luna is big on formality, and I wouldn't have wanted her to blame the herald for forgetting me. That's all it was. Really.
"Will you be taking a large retinue?" Luna asked as we walked together toward her wing of the castle.
"No, just the one assistant."
"I see." Luna glanced back at me out of the corner of her eye. "And what does he look like, this assistant?"
"Luna! Why do you assume my assistant is a stallion? And what would it matter what he looked like?"
Luna shook her head sadly. "Twilight Sparkle, I despair of you! Would not a well-favored companion make the journey more enjoyable?"
"Well..." I decided to give Luna a dose of her own medicine, "Jigsaw is a very pretty mare. She's quite fit... on an athletic scholarship, in fact. She takes good care of her coat and mane..."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Ah, you jest."
I snickered as quietly as possible and we walked on in silence until we came to Luna's Chamber of Dreams. She tossed her mane and stretched her wings. "And now to the portion of my duties I truly enjoy! I bid you goodnight, Twilight Sparkle."
"Goodnight, Luna. Sweet dreams!"
"But of course! I have my pick, after all." She swung the heavy door open, then paused. "Twilight Sparkle?"
I turned back to her. "Yes, Luna?"
"If you were truly enamored of your assistant, or some other mare, there would be no shame in it. You would have my blessing, i'sooth."
That was so unexpected, it kind of choked me up. I cleared my throat and tried to make light of it. "Well, look at you! All modern and liberal-minded. Except for that 'i'sooth' bit, that is."
"Modern? Fie! Tis' a vile calumny!" She tried to hold her stern face but broke out into a broad grin. "Truly, though, I want you to know that I'm only hoping for your happiness. However it comes to you, I will be glad."
"That's very sweet of you, Luna. If I ever get a special somepony, you will be one of the first to know, I promise. But right now, what's going to make me happy is a little adventure!"
= = =
=
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How often do you do updates?
3428146
I will try and do updates every three or four days.
Yes, I've arraigned with the college for you to work part-time for me as an advisor on matters archaeological
While 'arraigned' is a word, since criminal proceedings are not involved you probably want 'arranged'
3428241
Thanks for the corrections!
Man, I'm really loving this Twilight.
Luv this storeh!!!
So much mystereh 
Loved Twilight's reaction to the Guild of Merchants and her boulder demonstration. And that was an interesting reaction from Jigsaw regarding Daring Do. Makes me wonder if she has a connection to the adventurer outside the books.
I'm really liking your liberal use of time-jumps. They keep things from getting even the least bit uninteresting, and each location within the timeline is distinct enough that I immediately know where it is. It's a very compelling element to the story that you make work seamlessly, and that I've never seen used to anywhere near the degree you do.
I also enjoy how you write Twilight. She is still herself, but you pull off a more confident, kick-ass interpretation of her and keep it believable. It's a lot of fun to read, especially seeing as she's my favorite pony.
All in all, this is the most interesting pony [Adventure] I've read in quite a few months.
Twilight has an excellent narrative voice in this story; I love it
Ha, Twi showed those merchants who's boss, no doubt.
And the adventure is on!
The non-chronological timeline is slightly annoying, but not enough to truly throw me off.
Jigsaw I'm still deciding if I like or not; she essentially seems to be unicorn Twilight; not sure if your trying to ship them or not but I'm relived that there's not a romance tag.
3428193
Do you really write that fast or did you write most of it in advance and just give yourself time to proofread?
The shipping is delicious.
Really liking this so far. May have found a mistake, though, in the 1 footnote:
"a princesses"
That was a lovely characterisation of Luna. For all her archaic attitudes and stern demeanour, she's really the more approachable of the Sisters. Maybe it's because she sees into ponies' dreams and thus understands them better than Celestia. I also think that Celestia cultivates remoteness so that ponies can trust in her neutrality and probity in settling disputes. However, more than anything else, I think Celestia decided, a long time ago, that not getting too close to Her Little Ponies was the simplest way not to be driven slowly mad by the grief and pain as their brief, mayfly-like lives flicker and fade around her.
4266755 Well now we know who ate the Titanic...
5327414 It wasn't Godzilla?
"She grunted something vaguely negative without looking up from the text. I grinned. She was a filly after my own heart. I waited a minute or so and then lifted her up and slid a cushion under her. She didn't even notice. "
That ... just ... so ... *Squee*
I like Jigsaws reaction to Twilights confession about Daring Do. Frst I thought that'll cause an excitement induced aneurysm. Intriguing turn of events.
Whyyy, whyyyyy? Why must there be shipping in this storyyy???
and just when we were about to discover something!!! I guess I was warned because of the tag... *sigh* well, it's been interesting, these few chapters. Once they start all-out shipping those two I'll stop reading.
Hahah, Twilight knows how to deal with merchants.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Are
6498577
I still don't get why some folks hate shipping so much, but that's kinda beside the point. The actual point is that the author seems to be very conscientious about tagging, and there's no romance tag here. Adventure and mystery, and in the author's words, "friendshipping" and "badass twilight." My views on romance stories aside, I really love the conversations with Luna - her ribbing of Twilight about her love life is exactly the sort of thing you'd expect between two very close platonic friends. It feels completely natural, does a great deal to establish Luna's character as fun and playful (despite her formal demeanor in public) and her close friendship with Twilight, and at least so far implies nothing about any actual shipping that will or will not occur (and from the "friendshipping" tag, I'd guess "will not").
I like the footnotes. They're very Twilight-y, and placing them between paragraphs like you do is an excellent work-around for not having a handy page bottom to put them. The time jumps do a great job of keeping things fresh, too.
Also, I may or may not fully support the potential shipping.
LOL!!!
7093409 No, 'is' is the correct term as the 'Guild of Merchants' is a singular entity. Had it been the 'Guilds of Merchants' are would've been correct.
Yeah, I'm aware how old this comment is.
7759186 I'll follow in the vein of commenting on old comments, and clarify that "is" is the correct term in American usage. I've grown up with that myself so I wouldn't proofread the British version, but as far as I know, they tend to use "are" and other plurals for collective nouns. As the guild is made up of multiple merchants, 1DATMLP is presumably used to that method of talking about them.
And since I don't want to leave this here without talking about the story itself, I'm really loving Twilight's characterization and the beginnings of her and Jigsaw's relationship. A bit too early to comment on the revolution and Celestia's role in it, but it's definitely very intriguing so far. Looking forward to that nice, long list of unread chapters!
7881948 Actually, being British and all, it is right, least in my experience. It doesn't matter if'n you're just here to read, though.
In the words of Bilbo Baggins, "I'm going on an adventure!"
Super 'B'!?
That's worse than A-!
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/289/985/abb.gif
I really liked the hidden clue that the chapter is named for. Etymology is a bit of an interest of mine, so I really appreciated that you worked it into one of the puzzles in Twilight's quest. Plus, I had never thought about the origin of "discovery" before, so I'm happy to have learnt something new.
8185580
I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far!
If you like etymology, you might like a podcast called The Allusionist.
Just started reading and I really like jigsaw's personality. I hope she doesn't die
I had also forgotten how jealous you make me of Twilight's intelligence.
That is a strange 1st assumption. I would 1st try 00000 for the numeral 0, 00000 for the numeral 1, et cetera. ¿Which base do the ponies use? ASCII uses Hexadecimal 300 for 0 through Hexadecimal 39 for 9.
Hmm, the relief border being a binary code reminds me of the "torched h34r7s" bitcoin puzzle. Was that an inspiration?
9817436
No, I haven't heard of that one. The sun "code" (actually a cipher) was inspired by a simpler one in an old book on Napoleonic era spies.
Her Serene Highness is such a great title for Twilight. I also love Luna's title, and the characterization you've given her! And that cipher puzzle with the binary! For chapters being so short, you certainly demonstrate that "less is more." I honestly prefer shorter chapters myself, since I find it too easy to get "lost" among chapters that take a significant amount of time to read.
stares at fallout equestria and that one chapter that's 50,000 words or 4.5 hours on the audio book
My tiredness was catching up to me as I read this chapter just before bed, so I might have to re-read it again tomorrow or Friday. I'm here to learn gosh dangit!
10232857
You have no idea how many times I've tried to start reading FO:E and then just start something else. I keep yelling at myself to read the damn thing and my brain is just like 'Nnnnnope.'
10424740
You other go marathoning or go home with long chapters no?