Lily and the Dragons

by Hyper44

Battle of wits

The meeting point turned out to be deeper in the forest that she expected but then Lily realized that they probably wouldn’t want to be close to a pony dwelling. She heard them before she saw them. Their voices carried through the trees as the laughed and chatted.

As the trees thinned she spotted the other mini dragons. They were all about the same size and shape as an adult stallion just like Leftfang. One was an earthy colored brown with a thick heavyset body. Another dragon who was perching on a low hanging branch on the far side of the clearing was a dark, twilight blue. She was surprisingly delicate looking, the spines running down her back seemed more decorative than anything. Her wings were somewhat transparent and even created a slight blue shadow where the sun shone through them. Another female dragon was sitting below picking dirt out of her claws. She was yellow with red spikes. The fourth dragon was sitting regally atop a boulder. He was a solid bright red with green claws. It was easy to guess that he was Green Claw and her likely opponent. He watched with hooded eyes and apparent disdain as the other dragons gossiped.

“I swear,” The blue dragon said, “That this manticore insisted that some monster sneaks around in the Everfree berry patch. He even said that it bit him on the paw once. Ha! It looked like thorn scratched him to me.”

“I don’t know,” The yellow dragon chimed it, “I heard about it too and when I went out there something hit my tail.”

“Yeah, you hit your tail on a rock when you swung it around like you always do.” The brown dragon laughed.

“I do not!” She snapped as her tail switched angrily back and forth behind her.

“Oh, of course not just-Hey! He actually showed up and really did bring a pony!”

At the announcement of the earthy brown dragon every eye turned towards them. For moment, all was silence as the two parties stared at each other. Then Green Claw spoke up.

“Woah, you were serious! Truthfully, I was expecting this to be some kind of prank,” He jumped down from the boulder and faced the mini dragon and pony who were standing side by side.

“Why would I pull a prank when my magic is messed up?!” Leftfang snapped.

Green Claw shrugged. “Well, we would like to help you out Leftfang but going to make friends with ponies to fix your magic makes no sense. Besides, didn’t you lose your magic by hanging around them?”

“It’s not so simple as that!” Leftfang snorted.

“Sounds like it,” Green Claw replied before turning to Lily. “And what do you want out of it? One wish not good enough?”

Lily refused to be baited. “I’m here because I don’t want Leftfang to be left without magic. We can’t figure out the problem so we need help. I am also here because love and friendship between kinds is very important to Equestria, our society was even founded on it. Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princes of Friendship wishes to extend a welcoming hoof to you.”

Green Claw burst out laughing and the other dragons quickly joined in. Lily couldn’t help but cringe at the derisive laughter. Leftfang wasn’t surprised but he still glared at them.

“You want to convince me that ponies are all about friendship and love!” Green Claw chortled. “Sure, they’re creatures of love alright, they love themselves. It’s how ponies are.”

“We are not!” Lily snapped.

“Little pony,” Green Claw started in a patronizing tone, “You are young and naïve. I have lived much longer and have observed many ponies without their knowing. I hate to break it to you but your kind tends to be dull as well as selfish. When one only has regard for themselves they are easily manipulated. That is why we dragons were able to lead so many ponies on. Hold on,” He stated when Lily opened her mouth to speak, “Are you going to tell me that there are no selfish ponies?”

“There are dull and selfish one just as there are sharp-witted and kind ones!” Lily snapped stomping her hoof.

“If ponies aren’t not so selfish then why are they no easily manipulated!”

Lily glared back at Green Claw and managed to stop an exasperated sigh. While Leftfang had told her more than once that the only way to win them over was to find a way to start a battle of wits she had hoped simply to win them over as friends. However, it was now very obvious that that was a doomed plan from the start. Unless they happened to need sudden saving from falling rocks there was no chance.

Lily shrugged off her personal irritation and took her opportunity. With snickers ringing in her ears she smiled sweetly and stepped forward until she was only a couple of hoof steps away. “Would you change your mind about that if I, a young, naïve pony could beat you in a battle of wits?” The chuckling stopped instantly and every dragon looked at Green Claw expectantly.

Green Claw snorted. “Nodragon is a match for me. Why would a pony be?”

Lily shrugged. “Oh. I understand,” she said halfway turning her back as she sat down and wrapped her tail around her hooves. “It would be too embarrassing to lose to a pony in front of others, especially a little stupid one. You’d never live that down. It’s fine if you don’t want to take a risk. I mean there is no reason to turn down a challenge like this unless you feared losing.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from the surrounding dragon and Green Claw’s red face turned even redder. He snorted and smoke puffed out of his mouth and nostrils as he bit back a fireball. Lily felt Leftfang tense up beside her ready to tackle Green Claw if necessary.

“No dragon and especially NO PONY can best me in a battle of wits.” Green Claw snarled.

Lily fought not to lose her nerve under those glaring green eyes. Or to look like she was losing any nerve. “Typical riddle battle then?”

Green Claw glowered at her and the three other dragons stared intently as they eagerly awaited the challenge to begin. Finally, Green Claw replied. “Fine! But each of us only has five minutes to think of an answer. I don’t want to be here all day while you try to think.”

Lily nodded. She didn’t really have much choice. Green Claw nodded at the blue dragon. Her claws lit up and after a flash of light a translucent hourglass appeared in front of her.

“Two fathers and two sons went fishing one day. They were there the whole day and only caught 3 fish. One father said, that is enough for all of us, we will have one each. How can this be possible?” Green Claw began and the blue dragon instantly flipped the hourglass over.

This was an easy one but Lily knew that he was only testing the waters. It would get harder. “It was a father, his son and his grandson, or his son’s son. This makes two fathers and two sons,” She replied and Green Claw snorted.

Lily shot off a more simple one herself saving the best for last. “I am the first on Earth, the second in Heaven, I appear two times in a week but you can only see me once in a year. What am I?”

“The letter E,” Green Claw snorted in the same second that the blue dragon reset the hourglass. “Imagine that you are in a room with no exits, ponies would know about putting creatures in that, how do you get out?”

Lily ignored the gibe, “You imagine a door. What gets bigger the more you take away from it and what can be put into a box to make it lighter?”

“Holes!” Green Claw growled. “You’re not even trying if you’re really that smart. Let’s step it up a bit. You are trapped in a cave and can choose between doors, each with a sign above it. You are told that one may can lead to an escape and one may lead to a starving manticore who will devour you instantly. However, there is no guarantee. They may both be escapes and they may both lead to the manticore. You don’t know. All that you know is that one sign will lie and the other tells the truth. The sign above the first door reads, this room leads to freedom, the other has the manticore. The second door states, One room has a manticore and one leads to freedom. What should you choose a door and if so, which one?”

Lily pondered only a few seconds before replying, “You should choose door two.”

“Lucky guess,” Green Claw snorted.

“No, if one sign has to be false and one has to be true then the sign above the first door can’t be anything but false,” Lily replied calmly, “Now here is one for you. ‘Let’s say the king of a foreign land is angry at you and wants to feed you to a sea monster. By law though, he must give you some kind of chance. So, he announces to his people that his guards will bring forth a bowl with two folded up pieces of paper. One will read fish food and the other will read full pardon. The problem is, you find out that the devious king made sure that both pieces of paper read fish food. Don’t bother trying to tell anyone because they won’t believe you. It doesn’t matter though. His trick can be used to ensure that you do survive. What can you do to make that happen?”

Lily saw flicker of worry in his eyes as the hourglass was reset. He emitted a low growl as he thought. She could almost see the gears turning rapidly in his mind. A minuet passed and the worry increased along with irritation. Another minute ticked by and the three other dragons also started to look worried at first. Then they began to look a Lily with new interest. Leftfang began pawing at the ground eager for the minutes to end and the contest to finally be won in his favor. Then Green Claw smirked just as the third minute passed.

“You snatch one paper out and eat it, or in my case burn it before any of the guards have a chance to take it from you,” Green Claw stated. “With the first paper gone they will be forced to read the second one. When they see that it states fish food they will assume that you selected the paper that pardons you.” He stared triumphantly at Lily and then stated his riddle. “You need a password to get into a certain part of the forest but this password changes every month. To get past the guard you will need to know both the last password and the new one. A dragon approaches the guard and asks, Is the old password out of date? The guard nods and replies, Yes, the new password is different but you should be able to guess. Four of the letters are the same and it has the exact same number of letters as the old one. What are both passwords?”

Lily blinked at him certain that this was an unfair riddle. How could she figure out one password by comparing it to the other when she was not allowed to know what either one of them was? The same numbers of letters and some of the same letters would make it easy but she had no idea what letters and how many numbers. She stared at the hour glass draining as she alternated between pondering the riddle and debating whether or not she should call him out for an impossible question. As three minutes passed and the next one began to drain she closed her eyes willing herself to think harder. Then her eyes snapped open and she nearly laughed. She had been way over thinking it.

“The old password is out of date and the new one is the word different!”

Murmurs came from the on looking dragons but they sounded like voices of approval. Glancing at them Lily could see new respect in the eyes that had only held contempt before.

Green Fang was glaring at her. He didn’t look back but he had obviously heard them. “Hurry up! What’s your next riddle?”

Lily looked calmly back and replied, “An old king has just passed away. It was his wish that either one clever and thoughtful person will take over after him or a council of both near and distant relatives. So he devises a test that will ensure either an intelligent ruler or a council if that fails. You and 99 other relatives are brought to the castle. The instructions are this, “The crown is locked in a safe. All of you will be brought to a puzzle and if you solve it together all you will form a council of equal power for each person. However, if one of you is able to solve the riddle without going through the steps you will be made king.

“Sadly, the old king didn’t realize how rotten most of his relatives were and if they were to be in charge with the majority of the council things would not go well for the people. So, you have to solve the riddle first without going through any of the steps.

“All of you are brought to a room with 100 boxes each numbered 1 through 100. All of you will be assigned your own number and must follow these instructions, relative one will open every box. Relative two will close every second box and relative three will change the status of every third box. If it’s closed, he will open it and if it’s open he will close it. Each of you must follow this pattern until all 100 of you have taken a turn. The boxes left open at the end will give you the code for the safe. Before they begin the steward askes if any of you already know which boxes will remain open. Can you step forward and claim the code before the steps are to begin?”

Silence rained in the forest when Lily finished. The blue mini dragon emitted a low whistle as she restarted the hourglass. Green Claw looked at her in horror and then with anger. He quickly shook it off and set his mind to work. Tension hung think in the air as Lily and every dragon watched him think. It was hard to tell what the three new dragons were thinking. Green Claw’s tail began to lash back and forth as he stared off at nothing.

Green Claw’s tail began to lash back and forth as he stared off at nothing. Watching him Lily realized that he must be trying to visualize each of the steps in his head. Her hope of winning grew stronger. That was not the way. There were too many steps and no one could not keep track of every imagined box. Green Claw must have realized this as he growled at her and closed his eyes. The hourglass slowly drained and the tension increased. The bottom filled with more sand and the top grew smaller and smaller. Green Claw stomped with irritation but continued to ponder the riddle.

Lily could feel her hear beating faster and faster in her chest as the sand began running out. So close! As small of an amount that was left the sand seemed to take forever. The suddenly the last grain fell. The three dragons blinked at it for a moment as if they could hardly comprehend what had happened. Then dark blue dragon spoke up, “Uh, Green Claw..”

The red dragon opened his eyes and looked at the hourglass with what looked like horror. Her snapped his head back around and glared at Lily. “You cheated! There is no way to guess without trying to go through all the steps which no beast can do in five minutes!”

Lily shook her head. “Yes, you can. You don’t need to go through any of the steps.”

“How!” Green Claw demanded.

“It has to do with the amount of factors in each box number.” Lily explained. “There are 100 boxes with 100 relatives going in a pattern that will alternately open and close them. If a box number has an even number of factors then it will be closed at the end. Those with an odd number of factors will have their status changed an odd number of times leaving them open. The majority of the boxes have an even amount of factors but there are ten with an odd number of factors between 1 and 100. They are1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81 and 100.”

“She beat you!” Leftfang snapped at Green Claw. ‘She proved you wrong. Now you have to-“

“No, she didn’t!” The bright red dragon snapped thrashing his tail back and forth.

“Uh, Green Claw… she did best you in a fair riddle contest…” The yellow dragon started.

“NO!” Green Claw snapped turning to glare at her.

“You know that she did.” Leftfang growled as he stomped forward.

“No,” Green Claw stated again. “To beat me she has to answer one more riddle.”

“That isn’t how the contest work and it isn’t fair!”

“That the way it is going to be take it or leave it,” Snapped Green Claw before turning back to Lily.

The little pony looked back and forth between the bright red dragon and the dark red one. Leftfang was right, it wasn’t fair. Yet she knew that you can’t always expect fairness. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and overcome it.

“What is this last riddle?” Lily asked.

Green Claw smirked than began. “Let’s say that you and six other ponies were captured by dragons for once. To gain your freedom you must solve an impossible riddle. All of you will be lined up facing the same direction according to size. The tallest at the back and the shortest at the front. This way each pony can see the head of every pony in front of them. A magic spell will be cast over you so you can’t move at all, not even to turn you head. Then a small jewel that will either be blue or red will be placed on your heads. You will only be able to see the color of the gems in front of you but not the one on your own head or the ones behind you. Your job is to guess what is the color of the one on your own head.

“Now, if any of you try to say anything extra to let the others know what kind of jewel was place on their heads, all of you will lose instantly. Each of you can only say blue or red once. There will be no other communication or looking around. Out of the seven of you, there can be no more than one wrong answer. So, if less than six of you get it right you lose. Keep in mind, all of you can only say red or blue, once. Is it possible for at least six of you to guess right every time? If so, how?”

Green Claw then turned and nodded to the blue dragon. She stared at him critically for a moment but then started the hourglass. Green Claw smirked and turned back to Lily who was already pondering critically. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at his smug grin. This must have been a grand riddle that he had been saving for later and was angry that he lost before he could use it. That, and he just angry that he lost to a pony. He may not be playing fair but at least he couldn’t keep stretching the rules without looking stupid in front of the others.

“Time is running out,” Green Claw taunted.

Lily ignored him and focused on the question. She wanted to just tell him that it was an impossible riddle, which it did seem to be but she knew better. She began to grow frantic as she listened to the ever-present sound of the hourglass draining away. Then, as looked over the imaginary heads of the ponies of the riddle a sudden realization flashed through her mind. She opened her eyes and Green Claw’s smug grin vanished as she smiled confidently back.

Author's Note:

Can you guess the answer to the last riddle?