A Rainbow Over Myst

by Moon Flame

A Water Slide. No, Not The Funny Kind

Rainbow Dash thought she saw a dim light in the distance. The thin fog slowly revealed the towering presence of a lighthouse. Below the lighthouse was a series of slides running back and forth.

“I didn’t know this place had a waterpark.” Rainbow Dash remarked. There were an enthusiastic reply coming from her book strap.

“Although this is no tourist resort there have been plans among other native people to establish mechanized day camps for kids, and counting in the differences in world structures studied from the Crystal Viewer...”

“Okay. Okay, it’s just slides, plain and simple!” Rainbow Dash boomed.

She landed at the top of the light house and looked out over the eery fairground which she guessed was called Dirt Land. She spotted a river running down from the mainland. The river seemed to part itself right into one of the slides before running into the sea.

“It’s another puzzle, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash sulked.

“Maybe you should fly down and find out?” Atrus proposed.

Rainbow Dash turned around and looked in the middle of the lighthouse top. She spotted a key that had been locked to a chain. The chain was fastened onto rusty iron plate that had been loosely screwed to the floor.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash blurted when she heard the clonking sound. The inside of the lighthouse appeared to be filled with water!

“Ehe, why are there water inside the lighthouse? Aren’t lighthouse’s supposed to guide boats AWAY from the water?!”

“Hmmm, They must have used it for some kind of alternative to the river, in case they needed flowing water.” Atrus replied from the Myst book.

“Or they figured there weren't enough crazy design choices being made on this island.” Rainbow Dash said, almost feeling like Rarity. She spread her wings and thrusted, beginning her decent toward the park.

Rainbow Dash landed on a wooden pathway. It squeaked as her hooves pressed down on it. She could see a hut ahead. She trotted up to the door and pushed. It was locked. Atrus felt useful.

“Well, i guess we’ll have to find another way in...”

Rainbow Dash turned around and used her strong hind hooves to kick the door in, a big chunk of wood rocketing as she did.

“...Or just kick the door in like we were a group of special forces.”

“No, i am. You’re my nerdy sidekick, the hacker, the coward who trot around in terror while I dual wield the bad guys.” Rainbow Dash teased as she entered the dimly lit hut.

Once inside they could hear the sound of pumping. The biggest hose Rainbow Dash had ever seen ran through the floor, apparently plunging into the water surface below the hut. Beside the hose was a big metal pump. On the pump was a lever along with a symbol of a lighthouse. The symbol was shining, revealing it’s blue colors that looked like it represented water.

Rainbow Dash pulled the lever.

The intense sound of water flowing roared. Rainbow Dash wailed her head slightly to the left. There was a big metal plate in front of Rainbow Dash. It had a button on it along with a round hole. It appeared that the metal plate could be opened. Hooves alone wouldn’t budge it though.

“How do i open this?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Maybe you should brute kick it in?” Atrus asked sarcastically. Rainbow Dash laughed confidently.

“Haha, yea, i guess i could, but my back hooves feels a little stiff today” Rainbow Dash stretched one of her hooves so that it made clicking sounds, ”probably better if we did it your boring way this time.”

“Then maybe we should find the object that fits inside that round hole.” Atrus proposed, somehow remaining ignorant to Rainbow Dash’s rude ways.

Rainbow Dash looked around. Her eyes festered on the pump again. The water had stopped flowing and the symbol of the lighthouse had blackened. She guessed that meant that the lighthouse had been emptied of water, making it actually a lighthouse again.

“Maybe we’ll find something inside the lighthouse.” Rainbow Dash brainstormed.

Rainbow Dash flew to the top of the lighthouse. To her pride it had indeed been emptied. She looked down between the stairs that ran in circles along the inside of the lighthouse. She spotted a chest laying at it’s bottom. Her eyeballs turned toward the key fastened on the rusty plate again. Atrus lit up.

“I remember this! It’s from one of the sub ages that i made while living in Myst. You need to open that chest with the key. But to do that you first need to use a small valve located at the side of the chest and empty it from water. That way it will float to the top once you activate that pump and refill the lighthouse again.”

Rainbow Dash could already feel her hooves aching thinking about that long progress. She reached out her hoof.

“And then while having it floating on top you should be able to grab that key and...”

There were the sound of wood breaking when Rainbow Dash ripped the key from the floor, the chain along with the rusty plate following, her strong hoof muscles showing.

“...And rip the key from the floor like an angry gorilla, that works to. No, i insist, keep breaking my age, i’m just the writer.” Atrus wailed incredulously.

”Ah, he. No Atrus. You said it yourself, you only describe the basic rules of the age, not the details. But since i am the only one here now I decide about the details. You go back ’describing’ my awesomeness now while i stay here and take care of business.” Rainbow Dash teased.

”Well, I can think of a few descriptions alright.” Atrus muttered.

It would soon turn out that the chest contained a round sphere made out granite. Having acquired it, Rainbow Dash made her way back to the hut again. She placed the granite inside the hole and pressed the button. This opened the metal plate, revealing a glass panel. Behind the glass panel pointed four huge glass pipes toward the sky. All of them had a red line painted on them. At the bottom of each pipe was a ball. Rainbow Dash noticed two levers placed in front of her. When she pulled the levers something moved at the back of the glass pipes. Rainbow Dash’s mouth bent in bewilderment.

“And what in the name of Celestia am is supposed to do here?”

“Celestia?” Atrus whispered dreamily. “Where have i heard...?” His voice dwindled of. He appeared to leave his office.

Rainbow Dash must have spent almost fifteen minutes fiddling with the levers. Something was moving back there, but those frigging glass pipes were in the way.

“Get out of the way pipes!” Rainbow Dash blasted. She moaned and released the levers.

Out of fun Rainbow Dash decided to fill up the lighthouse again. She pulled the pump lever and heard the water suck up the big hose. After a couple of minutes the lighthouse lamp lit up again and the pump stopped. Rainbow Dash pulled the lever. A roar of water sounded, followed by the splash of water hitting the glass panel.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash turned her head.

Above the huge glass pipes a slide had been pulled up by a string. The slide sprayed a constant stream of water. Rainbow Dash grabbed the two levers and found that she could control the slide with them. It was then that she noticed that the tops of the glass pipes had holes in them.

Her tung hanged out of her mouth in concentration as she aimed the water stream above the hole. The pipe started to fill, resulting in the ball at its bottom floating higher. It didn’t take long for the pegasus pony to figure out that she needed to get all four balls in level with the red line painted on respective pipe. It was now that Rainbow Dash started noticing how frustrating it was to control the hanging slide.

“Huh, come on!” She urged the dead object.

She managed to fill the first pipe so that the ball surfaced just at the red line. Rainbow Dash pulled away the water stream. The pipe stopped filling. It was now that Rainbow Dash noticed that the water level inside the pipe was sinking. Somewhere underneath the pipe the water ran out. The muddy truth slowly festered itself inside her head like the stench of one of Pinkie Pies moldy pies.

...She would have to fill each pipe in such a way that she managed to get the last ball in level with the red line at the same time the water in the other pipes had emptied their balls in line, lines that were in different level from the ground. As if that wasn’t enough, just as Rainbow Dash realized this the water stopped and the slide lowered again. The lighthouse was empty.

“I must do this ON TIME!” Rainbow Dash wailed.

———————————————

The cold wind blew through the water park. A squeaking sound could be heard slightly before it’s source jumped with his four frog legs into the bushes. The still water flowed above the slides, powering small generators along the way, giving power to the households.

Rainbow Dash had never been a pony of deep concentration, but if anypony would have asked her if she could take the sound of flowing water she would have been more than glad to sit down, watch it flow, peacefully and gently, feeling it’s soft touch giving her mind a massage. Indeed, she would have been so happy inside.

Rainbow Dash’s furious face jittered with red veins. The last ball wasn't even close of reaching the red line when the water flow stopped for the sixth time.

“STUPID WATER!” She roared. The lighthouse would have to be filled again. The following minutes she would have to hear the sucking of the hose again. It would suck, and suck, and suck and finally, just like everything else in this room it would s...(Bleep).

This time it was close.

“Yes, yes, YES!”

Rainbow Dashs happy face widened. The last ball was just about to reach it. It did reach it, but the other ball sank to low. The water stopped. A crazy smile festered on Rainbow Dash’s face.

“Yes... It’s water. Bottoms up. Wuahahahahah!” Rainbow Dash’s crazy laughter subdued inside the thick hut. At that same moment Atrus returned to his desk.

“Rainbow Dash? Are you alright?”

“It’s water Atrus!” Rainbow Dash blasted with a happy face.

There were a short silence.

“Water. You mean...?”

“Yes, i mean.... Hahahahah... I mean it’s amazing Atrus. I love water!”

Atrus itched his neck nervously. “Sooooo do i Rainbow Dash.” He continued hesitantly. “In fact, water is our most important chemical substance.”

Rainbow Dash felt like a chemical substance alright. She talked slowly in a crazy speech level.

“It’s flowing... And flowing... And flowing... And the balls are floating.”

“Balls, they float?” Atrus asked, not sure what he himself meant with the question. Rainbow Dash’s blue eyes widened.

“Oh yes.” She paused and smiled. “They float.” A random red ballon sailed past behind the pegasus pony.

“Are you okay Rainbow Dash?” Atrus asked.

“Hihihi...Haaaaah... Iv’e never been better.”

Rainbow Dash’s blue face widened into a plea, as if to say ‘Take me away from here’.

“Never been better.” She whispered.

It would take three more tries before the device finally decided that the balls were close enough. There was a clicking sound.

“YES!” Rainbow Dash blasted out in joy. She saw a bridge fall down outside the glass panel. Rainbow Dash had a bed feeling inside.

She walked outside and over the bridge. She entered a wooden door and saw the second page laying inside a glass showcase in the middle of the room. From above the weak sunlight entered a large gap in the roof and shone over the case, the gray sky laying beyond it. Rainbow Dash’s face widened in disbelief.

“What? I could have used my wings to get here ALL THIS TIME!?”

Inside her mind Rainbow Dash heard the flowing of all the water the last half hour sounding at the same time in one blurry jittery. Her eyeballs went upward as she fell sideways and fainted.

When Rainbow Dash exited the hut she at least had the second book page inside her pouch she thought. But now another question formed inside Rainbow Dash’s mind.

“But Atrus?”

“Yes Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in bewilderement.

“You called me Dashie?”

“Yes...” Atrus dwindled. “Just, i don’t know. Anyway, what was it?”

“I just wondered why you didn’t come here yourself. I mean, you are the author after all? Couldn’t you just write a new linking book?”

“Writing a linking book is an old D’ni art.” Atrus paused. “...That i happen to master, as part D’ni myself. But it would take to long. The book of eternity would be gone by then.”

“Gone? You mean...?” Rainbow Dash’s face lowered in anger. “Wait a minute, you knew i was going to get attacked, didn’t you?!”

Atrus sighed.

“You asked me why i’m not here, well a couple of nights ago i could have been, but the original Myst linking book was stolen during a break in at the time. ” Atrus voice grew darker. “Listen Rainbow Dash, the book of eternity is a well sought after relic. Many people out there would go long ways to get it.”

“But why didn’t you tell me this from the start?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I didn’t know if i could trust you. You remember how i left you in that cage, didn’t you? I had to make sure that you weren’t a spy.”

“A spy? Of who?”

There were silence. Atrus seemed to make up his mind about something.

“A spy of my father.” He finally said. Rainbow Dash’s mouth bent sideways in bewilderment.

“Your father?”

Atrus itched his nose. He folded his hands, put them on the table, and told the story.

“Long ago, in the now crumbled age Riven I was saved by Catherine from drowning after linking to that age. We eventually fell in love but my father had promised himself to her. You see, my father Gehn had learned me to write ages when i was 14. I came to Riven hoping to get to know him again after all those years, but eventually i realized that the man i once knew as my father had grown mad by power.”

“A bully heh?” Rainbow Dash added.

“You can call him that.” Atrus admitted. “Catherine had been his greatest student and he vowed to marry her. That would allow him to gain control of the art since he wasn’t too good himself. He couldn’t write linking books my father. He tried again and again but he always ended up burning his failed attempts. The ages he did create were unstable due to his clumsy writing. His clumsy references created contradictions.”

“Contraaaavlavlavla....?” Rainbow Dash blurted. Atrus laughed.

“Let’s just say he wasn’t the best of writing his age rules consistent. But the main reason why he was so dangerous was his beliefs, that the writer of an age was also it’s rightful ruler.”

Atrus leaned closer to the link window. His voice gained a dark seriousness.

“Rainbow Dash. I have told you before that the writing of an age is a process of general descriptions, but the notion my father brought was one of punctual control. His lust for power lead his one track mind to destroy entire civilizations. He caused millions of people living in his ages misery, only because of his own selfish needs. So believe me when i say it Dashie, that i had no choice but to capture him inside a prison book.”

“A prison book?” Rainbow Dash felt this turning into The Game Of Eggheads.

“A book that’s designed to be a one man prison. It takes you into a void between links where there’s no way out.”

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash nodded, not sure how to rate the current functionality of Atrus family.

“But it didn’t went without sacrifices. Before i had Stranger preform the deed there was a bloody civil war in Riven. My wife Cathrine lead the rebels against Gehn’s men.”

Atrus brought forth a book and opened the pages. He showed it to Rainbow Dash through the linking window.

“You see here?” Atrus showed a picture of a knife that had been formed like a triangle. Its handle was round with a iron line running through the circle.

“That is a rebel knife, the one that stood for the rebels belief that Catherine was the true ruler of Riven.” Atrus put away the book. “Catherine was eventually captured. It was then that i sent Stranger. Stranger managed to fool Gehn into thinking that the prison book was a link out of Riven. But here is where you come in”

Atrus voice grew dark again.

“I really hope that it isn’t the case, but if it is then Gehn might have been set free on this island.”

“Set free?” Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in confidence. ”Well, if that is the case then I’ll know a thing or two about handling escaped fugitives!” Rainbow Dash boomed, thinking about when she helped defeat Tirek.

“That, or it might be one of his men. Either way, i heard you back at the temple, i don’t believe either that the attempt on your life was a coincidence. That is why I must insist on you to be careful Rainbow Dash. Gehn is a very dangerous man.”

There was a shadow moving somewhere behind the thin fog. Rainbow Dash gasped.

“Who’s there?”

There was no answer. Rainbow Dash raised her wings in aggression.

“Listen bud, if you don’t answer me right now i am going to be really mad!” She shouted.

There still was no answer.

“I am counting to three. One... Two...

A figure appeared ahead. He had his authoritarian chin raised high. The human male looked sideways at Rainbow Dash. His eyes glowed behind his old face. Rainbow Dash felt her blood freeze.

“Gehn.” She whispered

After a moment of hesitation she thrusted and rocketed toward the human figure. The figure turned around and walked behind the corner. Rainbow Dash rounded the corner. Her angry face stayed in place before falling into disbelief. The man was gone!

“Rainbow Dash? What’s going on?” Atrus asked, horrified after hearing her whisper his fathers name.

“I’m leaving, thats whats going on.”

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took of into the dim fog, leaving behind her the ghost rides of boring.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Will I need to play Myst to understand this story? If Artus was voiced, what would he sound like?

[Moon Flame]

8514731

No. Unless i f(bleep) something up, you won't need to play the games to understand the story. And playing the games wont ruin the revelation at the end either.