Aitran

by CTVulpin

Chapter 6

“Note to self,” Twilight Sparkle muttered as she glared at the severed end of the electrical cable floating in front of her, “When I get home, I’m taking an in-depth tour of Ponyville’s hydro-electric dam and then tracking down every book on electricity between Canterlot and Manehatten.” It felt like she had been working on the mystery of the rocket’s power issues for hours, although that was probably just the fatigue from using her magic to remove and reattach the cable to the ship combined with running back and forth to the power station to cut or restore the electricity, which was necessary since the breakers on the two towers between the station and the rocket didn’t seem to have been designed to allow for manual cut-off. Twilight had looked at the braided mass of copper wires in their insulating sheath at least four separate times and had not yet been able to find a reason why the rocket’s door refused to open beyond a few inches when it had power, or even why the cable had broken off and caused the problem in the first place. With a disgruntled sigh, she floated the end of the cable back to its connection on the rocket and prepared a spell to repair the break she had created. Once the copper and insulation had melded back into place, the unicorn turn and began walking to the power station. Again.

When she reached the end of the walkway, she was startled out of her funk by a loud, triumphant shout followed by something streaking out from the library and arcing up into the sky, leaving a rainbow in its wake. By the time Twilight’s eyes caught up with the source, the contrail had looped around several times before turning toward the dock. Twilight galloped over and stopped on the pathway above the dock to watch Rainbow Dash flying low over the water, kicking at it to splash droplets into the wake of her wing-beats, which was stirring the air into the beginnings of a cloud. Once she had built up enough mist, Rainbow flew around it in tighter and tighter circles until it turned into a thick, fluffy cloud. The pegasus then flopped down on top of it and rolled around before burrowing into it.

Twilight stood nonplussed at the display for a few seconds before calling out, “Rainbow Dash!” When Rainbow didn’t respond, Twilight used her magic to pull her and cloud over to the dock. “Rainbow Dash, are you ok in there?” she asked.

Rainbow’s head poked out of the cloud, upside down, and she gave Twilight a smile that clashed with the wild look in her eyes. “I’m getting to ‘ok’ Twilight,” she said, “You would not believe what I just had to go through.” She pulled her head back in and then emerged right-side-up from the top of the cloud. “I have never been so happy to see the sky in my life!”

“Did the book send you into an underground cave?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“Not directly,” Rainbow said, hugging some cloud matter to her chest, “Although, with the unresponsive fog on the surface I couldn’t see the sky anyway… No, the problem was that the way out was a book hidden at the far end of a huge labyrinth of a mine, and the only way to avoid getting lost was to operate this slow… mine runner vehicle. Well, it moved slower than I could’ve gone on my own, but it did seem to know which way to go at each juncture. All I needed to do was figure out what sound effect corresponded to north, south, east, and west…” Her voice had risen in pitch as she spoke, and once she finished she shook her head and buried it in the cloud.

“Wow,” Twilight said quietly, “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you. Still, I’m impressed you managed to conquer your fear on your own.”

“Heh,” Dash said, her voice muffled slightly by the cloud, “Of course I did. Just… don’t make me go into any caves for a while. Even the tower or Star Swirl’s house might be too much right now. Almost wasn’t worth the… Oh yeah!” Her head popped back up and she smiled excitedly at Twilight. “Guess what I found?” she asked and then, without waiting for an answer, reached her head into her saddlebags and pulled out the red and blue pages she had found. “Ta-da!” she said around the paper.

“Are those?” Twilight asked in surprise, taking the pages in her magic to get a closer look. “I’d almost forgotten about Cirrus and Archeon,” she said, looking the papers over, “You found these in the illusion world?”

“Yep,” Rainbow said, hopping down to the ground, “They were just laying around.”

“They couldn’t have gotten there by accident,” the unicorn said, “There had to have been some other pony involved in those two becoming trapped. Come on, let’s go put these in the books and see how much information we can get for them.” Rainbow nodded and the two walked up the hill and into the library. “Now, how should we do this?” Twilight wondered, looking at the red and blue books in turn, “There’s still the possibility that one of them is guilty of burning the books, so it might be best not to let them know we’re helping both of them.”

“Why don’t we each talk to one and compare notes after?” Rainbow suggested, “I’ll take Archeon, you talk to Cirrus.”

Twilight thought for a moment and then nodded, passing the blue page to the pegasus. “I think I can cast a spell to block the sounds on my side of the library from leaking over to yours.”

“Nice,” Rainbow said before taking the page and walking over to the blue book’s alcove. Twilight went over to the red book, focusing her magic to create a bubble around her and the book. Once the bubble formed, she called out to Rainbow a few times and, when the pegasus didn’t respond or even react, nodded and turned her attention to placing the red page into its spot in the book.

The red static was still very prevalent when Twilight turned to the panel on the last page, but Cirrus’s face was easier to make out when it appeared and remained visible for slightly longer. “You’ve returned,” the dusky blue stallion said with a pleased smile. After a wave of static passed, he spoke again, “Thank you for bringing another page, the view is Zzzzzt. You still have a ways to go though…”

“I know,” Twilight said just as the static roared up. “Cirrus,” she said when the image cleared again, “Do you… how long have you been in there?”

“zzZZz –don’t know,” the stallion answered, “Days? Weeks? Time is- RrzzzzbzzzZZt in the other worlds and zZZzzrrr here.”

---

On the other side of the library, Rainbow Dash was having a similar conversation with Archeon. “Did you know Star Swirl the Bearded?” the pegasus asked.

“Oh yes,” the bearded dun stallion answered, nodding, “He was ou-ZzzZZt- Poor master.” His face screwed up in fury. “Cirrus ZzzzrrtZZzz –stroyed the illusions, our Mast- ZzzzttZZzztrrrzz his vanity and unending greed! To think, ha, I once called him brother Zzzzt. Now I’m unjustly impris-zzzz for Cirrus’s Rrrrzt.”

---

“I don’t know what Zzzzrrrtrrzz –cheon to change,” Cirrus was telling Twilight, “but he treated our master’s worlds like ZzzzrrRRrrzz used up and discarded. Perhaps, in the worlds that sur-Zzzrzztrrrzz –evidence of his madness. Now please, find the remaining Rrrzzzzt ugh, the remaining pages and let me BzzzT. I promise, I will make it worth your while.”

“I’m on it,” Twilight said, giving Cirrus a smile as she closed the book. The smile faded as she turned around and looked across the room at Rainbow Dash. She waited until the cyan pegasus closed the blue book and turned around before taking down the sound barrier and walking to the middle of the room. “How’d it go?” she asked.

“I think he’s a little bit crazy,” Rainbow said conspiratorially, “but I’d be like that too after who-knows how long being stuck in a book. He’s definitely Star Swirl’s Archeon, but he accused Cirrus of being the one to destroy the illusion link books. He said something about unending greed. What did Cirrus say?” she asked, looking over Twilight’s shoulder to give the red book a distrusting stare.

“He accused Archeon,” Twilight answered, “and he seemed sane enough. He recommended we look through the surviving book worlds for evidence of Archeon treating the places badly. Did you see any signs of destruction or neglect in the world you were just in?”

“Not unless the big broken clock I saw there counts,” Rainbow said, “And I think that was deliberate on Star Swirls’ part, since the sounds it made were part of a lock I had to get past. Nah, that place was in pretty good shape for being a mostly desolate hunk of rock. All the machines and radio stuff worked perfectly.”

“Ok then,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling as she thought, “Somepony’s lying to us. Let’s open up another place of protection and see what it holds.”

“Fair enough,” Rainbow said, nodding. She walked past Twilight and went to the map. “If I remember right,” she said, “the other three points where the tower’s line turns red are the gears, the dock, and the giant tree. Do you have a preference?”

“Not really,” Twilight said with a shrug, “Whichever one the rotation reaches after the rocket I guess.” Rainbow nodded and held her hoof on the tower symbol until the line hit the lighted picture of the giant gears.

“I’ll be outside,” she said as the sound of the tower’s rotation rumbled into the library, “come get me when you’ve got the key.” Twilight nodded and waited until her friend had gone out the door before activating the painting-switch to open the passageway behind the bookcase. As she trotted down the hallway, her mind went briefly to the three journals still sitting on the table down in the living area and she resolved to fetch them on her way back from the tower, just in case she and Rainbow needed to pull some clues from them like they had from the fourth journal.

The journal that’s now stuck inside a rocket that refuses to be repaired, Twilight thought sourly as she reached the tower cave and stepped into the elevator, I hope it didn’t have anything else we’ll need in it… As before, the elevator stopped halfway up and rotated, but went to the left this time rather than to the right as it had when the tower was pointed toward the rocket. Makes sense I guess, Twilight thought as the elevator resumed its ascent and deposited her in front of the narrow window. She glanced out the window to see the artificial plateau that made up the southeast corner of Aitran Island. Two giant gears made from a black stone of some sort took up most of the space on the flat hilltop. One gear lay horizontally while the other was sitting vertically in a groove that pointed its edge more or less toward the tower. Twilight walked around the elevator and found the plaque with the key engraving on the back wall. She spun it around and found the clues to the access key to be a time and a trio of numbers: 3:35 and 3 2 3. “A time sensitive lock?” the unicorn wondered as she walked back around to the elevator door, “That’s quite secure, but inconvenient for emergencies. Or maybe I’m reading into it too much?”

---

The library door slid open and Twilight stepped out into the bright, comfortably warm light that bathed the island. She’d retrieved the three journals from the living area and placed them under the map in the library so they’d be more easily accessible later on, so all her bags contained were a few sheets of note paper. “Rainbow!” she called, looking around for her flying friend, “I’ve got the clues. Where are you?” She looked up and saw a cloud floating a little ways above the roof level of the library, with the end of a rainbow-striped tail hanging over the edge. “Hey!” she yelled up, “You aren’t taking a nap up there are you? I could probably solve the next puzzle by myself, but I figured you’d want to weigh in on it.” She shrugged and started walking down the path between the columns, figuring it would be best to start at the only timepiece she knew of on the island. She only made it a few steps before Rainbow Dash landed next to her, her face a picture of unease.

“Sorry Twi,” she said, falling into step beside the unicorn, “I was trying to get my mind off of caves, but then I started thinking about home…”

“Hey now,” Twilight said, leaning her head over to give Rainbow a comforting nuzzle, “We’ll find a way home. Cirrus or Archeon, whichever one turns out to be innocent, I’m sure they’ll know how we can get off this island and back to Equestria.”

“What if they don’t though?” Rainbow said, “Or what if we make a mistake and let the bad one out?”

“We’ll… just have to be very careful and keep our eyes and ears open for anything that’ll make the choice clear,” Twilight said as the ponies left the columns behind and began passing through the tiny forest beyond, “And I told Spike to take the Aitran book to Princess Celestia if we didn’t get back within an hour. He’s probably on his way to Canterlot right now, and the Princesses know enough about Star Swirl’s work and magic in general to find a way to get us home.” She gave Rainbow Dash a confident smile. “We’re going to get home,” she said, “One way or another, as sure as the sun shines in the sky.”

“Yeah,” Dash said, her head drooping, “I… I don’t think there’s a sun here Twilight…”

Twilight stopped and looked askance at the pegasus. “What do you mean you don’t think there’s a sun? There has to be a sun. Where else is all the light coming from?”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow answered, “but I looked across most of the sky while I was up on that cloud and I didn’t see the sun anywhere. I haven’t seen any clouds besides the one I made either, although that makes sense since I’m the only pegasus around right now…”

“No sun?” Twilight squeaked, her eyes drifting toward the sky involuntarily. The trees blocked out most of the sky, so she ran until she reached the western shore of the island, almost stumbling into the sea as her gaze remained glued to the wide, blue, empty expanse above her. Most of the island, especially the mountain containing the tower, still blocked her view of the eastern horizon while a clock tower with a door in its base sitting on a gear-shaped platform out in the water hid a portion of the western horizon, but the skies that Twilight could see were void of celestial bodies of any kind; there wasn’t even a corona or glare to reveal a sun hiding behind some solid object. “Dear Celestia,” the lavender unicorn said, staring off into space in disbelief, “what is this place?”

“Twilight?” Rainbow asked, coming over to her and nudging her with a hoof.

“It can’t work,” the unicorn said, one eye starting to twitch, “No sun, no light.”

“Uh oh,” Rainbow said, recognizing the warning signs of a “Twilight Spazzle” mental shutdown as they started to appear. The slate-blue mane was quickly breaking free of its normal straight and smooth arrangement as the violet irises of her eyes shrank to creepy purple points in the middle of a wide circle of white and the corners of her mouth quivered upward as she started to ramble about light and heat and other such topics. Well aware of what the mare who embodied the very Element of Magic itself was capable of and completely unwilling to see what her fraying psyche would eventually rationalize doing to correct an oversight like a missing sun, Rainbow Dash took flight, lifted Twilight off the ground, and flew a short distance from the shore before dropping the unicorn unceremoniously into the water. Considering the gradual slope of the land on the western end of the island, the water was surprisingly deep and Twilight ended up completely submerged before her instincts kicked in, drove out the madness for a moment, and got her head above the surface. Gasping and sputtering, she pony-paddled the short distance to a depth where she could stand up and walk out of the water, after which she shook the excess water out of her coat and mane vigorously in the hopes of spraying Rainbow with some of it. Dash shielded her head with a wing until Twilight had finished, and then got up in her face before the unicorn could open her mouth. “Twilight,” the pegasus said, “I’m still on edge and we cannot afford to both lose our heads at the same time.”

“But, you don’t understand,” Twilight said, her annoyance at getting wet quickly replaced by pleading, “There’s light with no source. That’s impossible.”

Rainbow sighed and stepped back a pace. “I know it is,” she said, “and I’m sorry I pointed it out, but you need to stop thinking about it, all right? It’s not like it’s the only impossible thing we’ve seen today, or ever. Just treat it like Pinkie Sense, or how Discord could make cotton candy clouds.”

“But… but…” Twilight stammered, looking up at the sky.

“Twilight!” Rainbow snapped as she jumped and hovered in Twilight’s field of vision, “Fine then, you can panic about this, but do it later, after we get home. I need you to be the smart, focused Twilight Sparkle who I respect, and who happens to be the only pony who knows what the key to opening the next hiding place is.”

“The next…” Twilight murmured, and then her irises snapped back to normal size as she returned to sanity. “Right, the books” she declared, turning to face the clock, “We find the books, find the missing pages, go home, and then read Aitran until I’ve found the missing sun.” Rainbow gave her a bemused look, but decided not to press her luck any further. “There were two parts to the clue,” the unicorn continued, “the first part was a time: three thirty-five. I assume that has to do with that clock.”

“I hope you aren’t planning on waiting,” Rainbow said, pointing to the clock face, “it hasn’t moved past twelve o’clock since we got here.”

“That would be a problem,” Twilight said, finally taking a clear-headed look around the area. On the edge of the land directly across from the clock, she saw a metal box with two wheel-shaped handles – one larger than the other – and a red button on top. “I’ll bet this is for setting the time,” she said, grabbing the large wheel in her magic and turning it clockwise. The minute hand on the clock began spinning in sync with the wheel, coming to a stop on the three when Twilight let go and gave Dash a satisfied smile.

“Just get on with it,” Dash said, rolling her eyes. Twilight wrapped both wheels in her magic and turned them until the clock showed the correct time and then stepped down on the button with her hoof. The clock did nothing, but a chain of gears rose out of the water to create a bridge from the shore to the tower. “Is that it?” Rainbow asked, unimpressed, “I could’ve just flown over there. Heck, you could probably just swim out there.”

“Perhaps,” Twilight said, “but that would leave you soaking wet.” She leveled a glare as the pegasus started to chuckle. “Yes, I know, I’m still damp,” she deadpanned, “thanks a lot for that.”

“You’re welcome!” Rainbow said sincerely, and then flew over to the clock, calling back, “what’s the next clue?” She opened the door at the foot of the clock and poked her head inside while Twilight made her way along the bridge. The unicorn was about to answer the question when Rainbow looked over her shoulder and said, “It’s a three-number combination lock, isn’t it? There’s a machine in here with a couple of levers, three gears with the number 3 on them, and a model of the big gears out in front of it all.”

“Three two three,” Twilight said, trying to look past her friend without knocking either of them off the too-small gear island, “Mind moving aside?” Rainbow considered the request for a moment, and then jumped into a hover above the doorway, almost clipping Twilight with a wing on the way up, and then motioned for Twilight to go ahead. Twilight stepped through the door and looked around. It was evident to her that the tower might not have been intended to serve as an actual clock, for although she could see a system of gears in the upper reaches behind the clock face, there was a lack of the mechanisms needed for the clock to actually operate. In front of her stood the machine that Rainbow had described: a metal box that obviously contained the majority of the moving parts with a long lever on either side, three gear-like dials each with the number 3 engraved on the visible portion of their edge stacked up on a pole reaching up from the back of the box, and a scale model of the giant gear embedded in the plateau on the far end of the island. Twilight could sense a simple spell resting on the gear, which on closer examination turned out to be a “Like Follows Like” spell. If she could unlock and open the small gear, its counterpart would react in the same manner. In the back left corner of the room there was a weight hanging on a chain, and a third lever sat on the back wall to the right of the machine. “Seems simple enough,” Twilight said, grasping the left-side lever with her magic and giving it a pull. With a rhythmic clanking, the bottom two gear-dials rotated to display 1s and the weighted chain dropped a few inches. Twilight repeated the action with the right lever, which rotated the top and middle dials, making the full display 1, 2, 1, and the weight dropped again. “Interesting,” Twilight mused, grasping the wall-mounted lever and pulling it. The dials spun back until they all displayed 3s again and the weight returned to its original height. “Oh, I see,” the unicorn said with a nod.

“You figured it out yet Twi?” Rainbow asked from outside.

“I know how it works,” Twilight said, glancing over her shoulder, “I have a limited number of moves in which to get the combination right.” She returned her gaze to the machine and pursed her lips in thought. “The question is, what is the pattern of lever pulls that will get me to 323?” She opened her saddlebag and levitated out a sheet of paper to take notes on, only to find it still soaked from her impromptu dip in the sea. “Dang it,” she muttered, dropping the paper, “Hey Rainbow, do you still have the paper and pencil I lent you?”

“I think so?” the pegasus said, landing on the platform, “I never used them.”

“Great,” Twilight said, turning around and digging into Rainbow’s bag with her magic. She found the pencil and piece of paper and started writing down notes on number combinations and the lever motions needed to get to them.

Rainbow watched her friend scribble for a minute or so and then asked, “If you’re going to be doing that, can I take a crack at the machine?”

“Knock yourself out,” Twilight said distractedly. She ducked her head as she stepped out of the clock to give Rainbow room to fly in over her, and then drafted the marker switch podium sitting next to the door into the role of a desk as she continued her mapping of the possible combinations. She flattened her ears against her head when the sounds of Rainbow’s hooves-on approach to finding the solution started up inside the building. After a couple minutes, she stopped writing and looked over the notes in confusion. “That can’t be right,” she said, “I must have missed a… no, I did try both options at that juncture. With only two possible actions, getting a two in the middle of a pair of threes is impos-”

“I got it!” Rainbow whooped, the sounds of gears clanking and springs winding providing backdrop to her celebration. Twilight turned away from her paper, looked inside the clock tower, and felt her jaw drop as she saw the dials displaying the key combination. The weighted chain had dropped down nearly to the floor and the gear model was rotating clockwise to reveal a missing quadrant. Rainbow Dash was grinning and broke out into a laugh at Twilight’s dumbfounded expression.

“What?” the unicorn exclaimed, calling her notes over to her and glancing between them and the machine in disbelief, “What did I…? How?”

“I’m just that awesome I guess,” Rainbow said smugly.

“Come on, tell me,” Twilight pleaded, starting to prance in place agitatedly, “I’ve got to know how you solved it!”

“Well, ok,” Rainbow said, nudging Twilight back so she could exit the clock, “I’ll tell you. If you can beat me to the book! Ha!” She spread her wings and leaped into flight.

“Rainb-” Twilight started to whine, but then stamped a hoof and snorted. “Fine, you want to play? Let’s play.” With a flare of her horn, she teleported to just inside the door of the library, materializing there just in time to shake off the disorientation before Dash arrived, cackling. The pegasus seemed to want to put on a show of fair play and was flying along the pathways rather than making a beeline for the plateau, a fact that Twilight used to her advantage. Before Rainbow could start turning, Twilight grabbed her in a sheath of telekinetic magic and forced her to maintain her present trajectory, but slowing her down significantly so Twilight would have time to reach and activate the passageway painting after the predictably perturbed pegasus had crossed the threshold. The library door slammed shut and the bookshelf dropped out of the way as Twilight gave Rainbow a little push to send her down the hallway while Twilight teleported back outside and ran for the plateau. She arrived to see that the upright gear had indeed rotated to a position that gave access to a swinging metal shelf bearing a grey-bound book. She sat down, leaning a shoulder against the marker switch, to catch her breath. Ordinarily, such an exertion of both physical and magical ability wouldn’t have left her so winded, but something about Aitran’s environment made casting spells beyond simple telekinesis noticeably more difficult. Why Star Swirl the Bearded, a unicorn mage of legendary ability, would design a reality where magic didn’t work as well was yet another mystery Twilight had to file away in the hopes that, eventually, she and Rainbow Dash would find the time and means to resolve it.

Twilight was feeling like her usual self again by the time Rainbow came flying toward her with a very sour frown on her face. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said, getting up in the unicorn’s face, “I’m surprised at you. I never took you for a cheater.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said in a level tone, “The answer to a pressing question was on the line, and you know how seriously I take finding answers to pressing questions.” She managed to keep her expression neutral as Rainbow continued to glare at her before opening her mouth to retort. After a second of silence, however, the pegasus’s anger evaporated into amusement.

“Ok, fine,” she said, landing in front of Twilight, “you got me there. And I have to admit, that was a pretty impressive move. I wound up halfway to the tower elevator before I was able to turn around. Thanks for not shutting the bookcase on me.”

“I was just trying to slow you down,” Twilight responded, “You owe me an explanation, so start talking.”

Comments

Rainbow dash should have an easier time with Mechanical fortress then the Selenitic tunnels *shivers*

Please update!

P.S. are you planning a sequel with Riven? because that would blow my socks off

[CTVulpin]

81914
Secure thy socks to thy feet.

[Tom Marlow]

Out of curiosity what would your take on a ponified version of Saavedro be?

[CTVulpin]

84550
Y'know, I keep going back and forth on whether or not I can fit Saavedro into the history I'm building for this fic and its follow-ups. I mean, I know everyone would be all or if I skipped over Exile, but at the same time I have no idea how I'd work it in. If I were to use him, he'd more likely be something like a Zebra, a Buffalo, or even a Diamond Dog instead of a pony. Or maybe a sheep? I dunno. I haven't thought much farther ahead than Riven yet.

Now, you'll probably be like "Vulpin, the means and motive for Saavedro would be a breeze to transplant directly into your pony-Myst verse!" That would be true only if Star Swirl's history was the same as Atrus's. Which it isn't

[fromtheshadowsistrike]

you my friend have inspired me to play mist again because when I started reading chapter 2 a wave of nostalgia smacked me dead in the face. And I want to say thank you! This is a great read and looking forward to the other chapters!

[Zelda Spectrum]

So all I had to do was listen to the sounds of the machine to get through the labyrinth. Ugh, I feel so stupid now that I've found out I got through it the hard way.

[PresentPerfect]

They're starting to play off of each other pretty well now. There's hope for this story yet!

[Borg]

I'm disappointed in Twi. She should be able to immediately recognize that the middle wheel should have the sum of the values of the other two wheels, mod 3, and that 0+0 is not congruent to 2. She shouldn't need the pencil and paper.

[ShadwSonic]

Wait a second... wasn't the number 223, not 323? The latter would've been MUCH easier to figure out, but I'm confident it's the former.

[Steakthedog]

9249659
221 actually. I’ve got the strategy guide released by Prima on hand.