Chapter 5: Nocturnal Crown
“Yona stumped.” She said pulling on her locks. “What clue mean?”
Before a chalkboard, Twilight and Spike had the clue taped in the center with questions scribbled around it. Questions that asked things like: Who or what is Fengári? Who’s Maria? What’s a diadem? What did Carmen mean by Nyx and Oracle?
“Okay, I kinda have an idea what she’s after,” Smolder said, holding a dictionary. “Listen to this, ‘Diadem, noun, a jeweled crown or headband worn as a symbol of sovereignty.’ In other words, she’s getting herself a crown.”
“That narrows down the search a little,” Ocellus flipped open books that had slips of paper sticking out. “Still, not by much. A lot of kingdoms around the world have crowns, and most of them are from museums.”
This gave Gallus a moment of pause, “Hey, what about those that are still worn today?”
“Huh?”
“Well think about it, so far Carmen has stolen [or at least attempted to] from royals that are living, right? So what if Carmen is aiming to take stuff from those who are in power now? If that’s true, then we could rule out everything from a museum.”
“Something else I notice too,” Silverstream added. “We could also rule out the places she’s been to as well. She doesn’t seem to strike in the same kingdom twice.”
“Oh, I haven’t thought of that!” Sandbar agreed, “Okay, so she isn’t going to the Dragonlands, the Changeling Hive, Seaquestria, or Griffonstone. But that still leaves out the rest of the world though.”
Spike turned away from the board, “Still, it does help a little. But this clue is a tougher one though.”
Sandbar turned towards the board, looking at the physical copy of the clue. “Ya know, I don’t know if it’s useful or not, but…”
“What is it?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Well… why is it blue?”
This got everycreature’s attention.
“I mean think about it,” Sandbar pointed out. “If you’re going to write a letter, is it normally white? But this is blue. A dark blue that kinda makes it hard to read what it says. Maybe that’s a clue?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Smolder walked up to the board and pointed, “What makes it frustrating for me is this word here. Fengári. I looked up through the dictionary at least a dozen times and I can’t find that anywhere. Makes me wonder if it’s not even Equestrian or something.”
Then, Twilight’s eyes widen. “Smolder, you’re a genius!”
“Say what?”
“No wonder why it’s so confusing! You’re right, that word isn’t Equestrian at all! It’s old Pegasi. I’ll be right back,” Twilight was gone in a flash, and a moment later, returned with a book. She quickly flipped through it and nodded, “Ah-ha! Now we’re getting somewhere! Fengári is an ancient Pegasi word for Moon.”
Twilight took the piece of chalk, crossed out Fengári and diadem, and scribbled in “the Moon” and “crown.”
Silverstream tilted her head, reading aloud: “Dear Detectives, I’ve gone to the Moon to get a crown. Love Maria?’ But Headmare, that still doesn’t make sense. Does that mean she’s going to the Moon?”
“Not quite,” Twilight told her, “We’ve solved only a portion of this puzzle. But we’re getting closer. Carmen said about needing an oracle and Nyx.”
“Oh!” Ocellus raised a hoof, “Wait a minute, Headmare! Nyx was also the ancient Pegasi Goddess of Night. So would that mean that she might be targeting a Pegasi settlement like Cloudsdale?”
“Not so fast, Ocellus.” Smolder raised a claw, “There’s another piece we haven’t figured out yet. Who's Maria? And what does she have to do with this clue?”
Sandbar’s eyes widen, “Hey, what if we’re looking at that wrong?”
“What does pony mean?” Yona asked.
“What if Maria isn’t a who, but a what?” He pointed at Twilight, “Headmare, I think I remember something from your history class once. You said that when Gallopleo was making his observations through his telescope, he thought that those dark patches on the Moon were oceans. So, he named them after the Pegasi word for sea – Maria.”
“Dark patches…” Twilight muttered, before her eyes sprang open, “Oh! I know what Carmen is going after next!”
“You do?” everycreature asked at once.
Snatching the note off the board, she told them. “Sandbar, you’re right, this color of paper was chosen as part of the clue. Now think about this: who’s the only royal that has a night theme, has a crown where part of it is from the Moon itself, and is dark blue?”
“Princess Luna!”
Twilight summoned a scroll, scribbled a quick message, and told Spike to send it immediately. After breathing fire where the ashes were sent towards Canterlot, she told her students, “Good work, everycreature. When Carmen is ready, answer her clue correctly. I will head up to meet up with the Princesses to prepare for her.”
“Don’t you want any of us to come with you?” Gallus asked.
“This time I don’t think it would be necessary. Besides, we have the Royal Guard that should outnumber her. Now the sooner I get over there to help plan it out, the sooner Carmen will be captured. In the meantime, keep an eye on that computer there and let me know if anything changes.”
In a burst of light, Twilight had teleported over to Canterlot Castle.
While they waited for Carmen, Ocellus turned her attention to the computer game. She noticed that on the side there was (as she calls it) a button. One was a detective’s guide that was a notebook of the things they’d studied before. There was a button that showed a written record of the other clues. A world map. And the most interesting of all, the recordings of Carmen’s crimes.
They showed in the animated form of what had occurred, both Carmen’s successful thefts and their thwarting it. However, as Ocellus was looking through a few of them in hopes of finding anything useful, she noticed something. At the bottom, there was a close captioned transcript of the crimes that occurred.
“I wonder if something’s wrong with this game.” She said aloud.
“Why?” Spike asked, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Just something odd I’ve noticed. Except for the last clue that was answered, the others showed a grammatical mistake.”
“What Changling mean?” Yona asked.
“For example,” Ocellus moved the mouse to click on Carmen’s first crime, “Look at what the Dragon Lord said down here and tell me if something’s off.”
After clicking on it, the other students gathered around as they rewatched the robbery. Carmen ran out with the Bloodstone Scepter, and Ember emerged out of the cave for someone to stop her.
“There!” Ocellus pointed out, “Did you see that?”
“Huh,” Sandbar tilted his head, “Thief is spelled wrong.”
“Okay, but so what?” Gallus questioned, “Maybe whoever made this thing probably didn’t notice the mistake.”
“And that might be true,” Ocellus nodded. “However, it’s just odd that the rest have a word misspelled. If it was carelessly made, you’d think there might be more. But no, it’s just in some very specific areas. I don’t know if it means anything, but I just find it strange.”
Suddenly, the computer rang out with a new message from Carmen.
Carmen:
Have you solved my clue yet, Detectives?
“One second,” Spike told everyone, sending a note to Twilight with his dragon fire. “Okay Twilight, it’s showtime.”
He typed in:
Illuminators:
Princess Luna’s crown. Canterlot Castle.
They watched the screen as it changed to the great throne room in Canterlot with guards nearly everywhere and the princesses in the center. Ocellus paid close attention to the caption as the scene unfolded.
“Are you sure it’s only my crown the thief is after?” Luna asked, her regalia removed and replaced with battle armor. “Surely the safe in the royal vaults shoulb be more than plenty to keep our intruder away.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Twilight said, “From what I’ve seen, it’s best not to underestimate her.”
Luna smiled, “I agree with you. If she is as smart as you say she is, I believe that I am at least one step ahead of her.”
Twilight looked up, a raised eyebrow. “Why is that?”
“If I were a thief, and if I expected to find a crown, I’d go to the most secure vault of the place as that is where the jewels are kept. Little does she know, she will not find my crown there – instead, she will be walking into a trap. I’ve already stationed the finest guards there to catch her in the act.”
“So, where’s your crown now?”
“With me, of course.” Luna looked over her shoulder this way and that. Sure, that it was safe, she lit up her horn and in a burst of light, her dark crown appeared. “As long as I keep it with me, I’m certain no thief will ever be able to get it.” Her confidence however was cut when a metallic claw snatched it out of her aura. “What!”
Everypony looked upward towards the ceiling, never noticing that Carmen was overhead on the vaulted arch. Suction cups held her from a belt while she used a grappling gun to reel up the crown.
“I’ve got to hand it to you, Princess,” Carmen said, holding the crown, and examining it. “That was a clever plan that I nearly walked in on. Good thing I’ve decided to listen in to see where you’ve been keeping this. From one great woman to another, I might have tipped my hat to you.”
“Give that back, Carmen!” Twilight took to the air. And before Carmen could make a move, she conjured a protective shield around her. Trapping her in a translucent bubble. “Ha! I’ve got you!”
Where she had expected Carmen to be at least worried, instead the pixelated look was more… confident? “And hello again, Detective. For a moment there I was worried that I might have been too smart for you and your team. I’m glad that there are some brains after all.”
“Boast all you want, it’s game over for you.”
Carmen smiled, “Oh Detective, the game isn’t over until I say so. And besides,” she raised her hand, clenching her fist around the crown, “we’re almost to the finale.”
To Twilight’s surprise, Carmen threw the crown down on the shield as hard as she could, and it disrupted the shield enough to have Twilight lose her concentration. The crown fell quickly to the ground, and as Twilight was distracted, Carmen pressed up against a particular stone on the arch where it opened. Before Twilight realized what was happening, Carmen slipped away through the secret passage. Closing behind her before Twilight could go after her.
Luna meanwhile caught her crown with her magic.
“Ugh! She got away again!” Twilight frantically searched for that secret button but failed to do so. “I can’t believe it; I just had her.”
“Twilight,” Luna called out, eyeing her crown she spotted a note that was tapped on. “I think your thief left something behind.”
Back in the library, the students and Spike watched as a frustrated Twilight flew down to see what Luna found. The screen dissolved into a close-up of the note that was written the following clue:
My next theft – to take a state where the pavement is pound.
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So, pound the pavement usually means running or walking down a street, so ",,,where the pavement is pound." could mean a place where a lot of walking or running is done.
"To take a state..." if this were the real world, makes me thing literally take one of the US States, but this is Equestria.
With Discord's influence, it is possible Carmen could travel to the human world and take a state that way, but I do not think that is the intention here.
Pound the Pavement does seem like a city thing to me, however, so my location guess is a large city, like Manehatten or Los Pegasis/Whatever it was called in the show.
State can refer to a state of matter, of course, but also a social rank, like state of living, or just a condition in general, like state of being.
I am honestly not 100% sure, but maybe my rambling can help others figure things out.
Isn't the place where stray animals are send to called the pound? The only kingdom i can think about that fits that description is the Diamond dog kingdom from the comics. Or Abyssinia that was mentioned in the movie and only shown it the comics.
11779577
You might be on to something.
Edit: Although, pavement?
11779577
11779583
Perhaps pavement is not to be taken literally?
Pavement, in Equestria, would be made of stones and such. Such items would be pounded at a rock farm.
Could be the Pie Family Rock Farm, but I have no clue how state would play into that.
My only other idea is the main weather machine from the Cloudsdale Weather factory.
It changes water into solids like ice and hail, liquid for rain, and gas being water vapor for fog, clouds, and such, which covers state as in states of matter.
Rain pounds the pavement when it falls heavily as well, but that is all I have so far.
11779595
But the theme is Royalty, so it doesn't make sense if it's the weather factory.
11779596
YAKYAKISTAN
Not sure what is being stolen, or how state fits in, but "Pavement is Pound"
What creature is know best for pounding the ground with force?
11779598
Oh dear. You might be right.
11779606
Any idea how state may fit in, if it is that location?
11779607
I would assume (considering from what we've seen in the show) that Yakyakistan is a City-State of sorts.
11779610
Hmm, perhaps
11779598
11779610
Correct.