Rainbow Dash, accompanied by Daring Do and Quibble Pants, seek a powerful dragon relic before it falls into the wrong claws.
Enlisted by famed adventurer Daring Do, Rainbow Dash and Quibble Pants head to the Crystal Empire to find the legendary Chalice of Rhinyorgrun, a mysterious yet powerful dragon artifact. Will they be able to solve the various puzzles that impede their progress? And what is the true secret behind the artifact?
[Some violence, though "Gore" is a stretch.]
Special thanks to my wife 'Cheetoy' for supplying all the artwork!
“I was supposed to be at a Metallicolt concert right now. You know they have a new album? They got this one song, called ‘Moth Into Flames’ … I think that describes what Fluttershy’s feeling right now. *chuckle* ”
“Now I got another song stuck in my head: ‘Now That We’re Dead’. You think that’s appropriate to describe us now?”
“Seriously, we’re stuck here forever now, aren’t we? I mean, I guess ‘forever’ isn’t really the case; we’ll die of starvation before too long. But eventually, we’ll just be dusty bones like all the others here, won’t we.”
“I’m really sorry you got caught up in all this, too. Bad enough that I have to go this way, but I’m all about adventure and stuff. I pretty much have to accept that something like this could happen to me. But you … you didn’t deserve this.”
“Funny how life can throw you a curving buckball in an instant. It really was only yesterday afternoon that I was chillaxing …”
Exxxxxxxxiiiiiiiiiiit liiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, Ennnnnnnnterrrrrrrrr niiiiiiiiiiiiight, Graaaaaaaaaaaain of saaaaaaaaaaand … We’re off to Never-Never Land!!!
The speakers from the sound system in Rainbow Dash’s foyer blast out Metallicolt at a volume level that would cause many a pony’s ears to bleed. Just the way she likes it.
Twenty minutes. That’s all the time she needs to chillax. After all, she earned a break. For two hours, she waited in that long line in Baltimare. Gave up a week’s salary for primo seats. And best of all, she was going to expose Scootaloo to one of the greatest rock artists Equestria has to offer.
Lying supine on a cloud-couch, Rainbow Dash headbangs away to the music, when she starts to hear a strange rapping noise.
That better not be a skip in the record! Irritated, Rainbow Dash flies over to the phonograph and stops the music … then perceives a heavy rapping coming from the front door. Oh … oops.
“Sorry, I’m coming!” she calls out as she quickly flutters to the door. Opening it, she’s surprised to see a familiar aged-looking pegasus. “DARING DO!!! What brings you to Clouds-”
Before Dash can finish, the elder-looking pony angrily shushes her and quickly trots in. “Close the door,” she whispers as she passes by. Dash complies, apprehensive at the adventurer’s demeanor.
“What’s going on? You seem a little frazzled.”
“Just trying to keep a low profile,” Daring Do replies in a softer tone. “I don’t think I was followed, but I can’t be too careful. Not now.”
A thought pops into Dash’s head. “Ohmygosh, are you on another adventure? Does that mean another book is coming out???” Her wide eyes and ear-to-ear grin force a smile out of her guest.
“I do have plans … but I need your help. Can I count on you?”
“Are you kidding? You better BELIEVE you can count on me!” Rainbow Dash begins doing aerial backward-somersaults in celebration.
“I knew I could count on you! Meet me at Ponyville Station tomorrow morning; we’re taking the noontime train to the Crystal Empire.”
Rainbow Dash suddenly falls to the ground in a heap, with Daring’s request hitting her like a bucket of ice water. “Tomorrow? But I already have plans for tomorrow!”
“Sorry, but time’s a factor and this task has to take place tomorrow night,” Daring Do coolly responds. “I only trust a hoofful of ponies in Equestria … and you’re number one among all of them.”
Dash gulps, and a slight twinge of resentment burns from within. “Can you at least tell me what’s so important about this adventure?”
Daring Do glances out a nearby window before drawing the blinds and turning back to her confidant. “Rainbow Dash, have you ever heard of the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun?”
“The Chalice of … what?”
“I can go into more details on the train ride tomorrow,” Daring assures, “but suffice to say, this is an artifact of particular interest to Dragonlord Ember.”
“Ember?” Rainbow Dash’s thoughts turn to her experience with Twilight and Rarity as they infiltrated a meeting of young dragons to watch over their friend Spike. “What does Ember have to do with anything? Besides, Twilight told us that with Ember as the Dragonlord, we have no reason to fear the dragons.”
“I can reveal more to you tomorrow on the train. I must leave soon and make a few more arrangements … can I count on you to be on that train?”
Whatever this involves, it’s important enough to warrant my help. Rainbow sighs, then bows briefly before answering. “You can count on me. I’ll meet you at the station tomorrow morning.”
“Daring Do smiles. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. If all goes well, all of Equestria will owe you a debt of gratitude … well, another debt, I suppose.”
Giving one final nod, Daring Do exits the premises and flies off, leaving Rainbow Dash to ponder how to break the news to Scootaloo.
Wow, I never knew these trains even had private compartments.
Rainbow Dash inspects the confined area that she and Daring Do share. She was by no means claustrophobic, but she was always much more comfortable in the open air than locked away in a cramped area. But there she was, sitting across a table from Daring, isolated from the other ponies on the train … save one.
At least this room has a window view, she thinks to herself as her gaze turns to the outside … right before her companion lowers the blinds. Dash sighs silently before addressing her companion.
“OK, I was able to get Fluttershy to take Scootaloo to the concert in my place. Now can you please tell me what this is all about?”
The resentment in Dash’s tone does little to phase Daring Do, who reaches into her saddlebag and pulls out a thick tome, placing it on the table between them. She carefully flips through the yellowed pages as she addresses the blue pegasus’s question. “Yes, I do owe you some explanations. Where do you want to begin?”
“Well for starters … Why is Quibble Pants sitting right next to me???”
“It’s good to see you again too,” Quibble deadpans, sporting a similar outfit as during the convention he met Rainbow, but without the gray highlights in his all-black mane and tail and no fan-made wings.
Paying no heed to her bench companion, Dash continues to address Daring. “I mean, you didn’t spend a whole day with the pony! He’s so arrogant and full of himself! And he’s such a know-it-all! And I told you what he thought of your last trilogy, right?”
“Many times,” Daring sighs as her eyes roll.
“I mean seriously, can you think of anypony as annoying as that?”
Quibble turns to Rainbow. “First, I’m sitting right here you know! And second, I can think of somepony right now who’s—”
“That’s enough, both of you!” Daring irately announces as she reaches a particular image in the tome. “And this is ‘what this is all about’.”
Dash pulls the book closer to her side of the table and bends over to better inspect the image, with Quibble peering over her forehoof. “It’s a cup,” she finally deadpans. “I mean, it looks nice and all, but-”
“This ‘cup’ that you refer to is the enchanted Chalice of Rhinyorgrun,” Daring Do explains. “It is one of the single-most important artifacts in Dragon mythos.”
Dash looks up, then back to the image. “I’ve never even heard of this ‘Chalice of Rinny … whatever-you-call-it. How come you know about this?”
“Because I was paid a visit two days ago …”
Forget Caballeron … the publishing companies are the real bad guys in the world!
A K Yearling pores through her notes related to her adventures in the Temple of Chicomoztoc with the Seven-Sided Chest. The deadline for the first full draft of her new novel was now only two weeks away, and even Page One hadn’t been typed up yet. If only they knew what I really had to go through for—
A knocking at the front door breaks Yearling’s concentration. Now who the hay could that be? It better not be Rainbow Dash; I told her that I needed time to finish hammering out the details to—
She arrives at and opens the front door … and observes who she assumes must be the smallest dragon she’s ever seen. Aquamarine, with dark blue spikes protruding from atop her head, the dragon barely stands taller than the homeowner. Her claws grip what appears to A K to be an ancient tome of some sort.
“A K Yearling?”
“Yes,” she replies slowly.
“What about ‘Daring Do’?”
“Sorry, you must have me confused with a character from my work, and—“
“I don’t have time for this charade!” The dragon pushes past the elder-looking pony and walks in. “Close the door. We need to talk, and I need your help.”
Realizing that her disguise is of little use, Daring Do shakes off her wig and scarf. “So how do you know the truth about me?”
“I’m sure you can fool all the fanponies in Equestria, but your reputation as an archaeologist and adventurer precedes you, at least in my realm.” The dragon turns to Daring. “You know who I am?”
“You have me at a loss, miss …”
“My name is Ember, and I am the Dragonlord.” The declaration causes Daring to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. “ ‘But you’re so tiny?’ Is that what you’re thinking? Believe me, I’m still getting those reactions … it’s getting tiring, to be honest, but I’m managing.”
“My apologies,” Daring quickly replies as she bows in reverence. Ember shakes her head.
“No need for any of that; that’s not the kind of leader I want to be. In any case, I need your help … and time is of the essence.”
Daring notes the tone of urgency in the young dragon’s voice. “You sound troubled. What’s wrong?”
“There are rumblings of a coup within my kind. Some dragons wish to overthrow me and claim my title of leadership. And if they succeed, their first act will be to declare war on Equestria.”
The premonition shocks Daring. “I don’t get it. You say you’re the Dragonlord; from what I know of dragon society, that means all dragons are bound to follow your lead.”
“I became Dragonlord by claiming the Bloodstone Scepter during the Gauntlet of Fire … but as only a select few know, I was not the first to actually touch the scepter. That honor fell to a waif of a dragon, even smaller than myself; one known as Spike. But he did not wish to be Dragonlord, and he passed the scepter on to me. Only one other dragon actually witnessed Spike touch the scepter first … an arrogant red beast of a dragon known as Garble. Later, once he learned that I was the Dragonlord instead of Spike, he beseeched my father for a retrial of the gauntlet. He cried foul, claiming that I did not truly earn the title. My father refused, declaring that—”
“I beg your pardon, Dragonlord Ember, but please: your father is? …”
“Torch … and until recently, he was the Dragonlord. I succeeded him through the results of the Gauntlet of Fire … against his wishes, I might add.”
Daring muses for a moment. “So I assume that this ‘Garble’ is now claiming nepotism.”
“He did,” Ember continues, “but eventually he came to accept the results of the competition … in public. However, my sources say that Garble has assembled a group of like-minded dragons that wish to have him as Dragonlord instead. For now, this remains a pocket group of dissenters … but if they succeed in reclaiming the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun …”
Daring gives Ember a quizzical look. “The Chalice of … Rhinyorgrun? I’ve spent my whole life searching for rare artifacts, but I’ve never heard of this chalice you speak of.”
Ember places the tome in her claws on a table and flips through several pages, coming to a stop at a full-page image. Daring inspects the image as Ember explains.
“I admit that my own stature is slight when compared to other dragons … but today’s dragons are just as slight when compared to the elder dragons of centuries gone by. My father is one of the last of his kind, towering above all living creatures as a physical god among mortals. Before he became Dragonlord, he was no larger than a typical teenage dragon today … but the ritual he went through, as all dragonlords had done before him … caused his transformation to larger-than-life stature. And a key component of that ritual involved the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun.”
Daring looks up from the image. “Remarkable. How does it work?”
“No one can say … or at least, no one from this era. My father had told me stories about the process he underwent, but after more than a millennia, many details have been lost. All I’ve gathered is that the ritual involved some form of baptism, with this chalice being a key component. The chalice itself, it’s been said, was created by three powerful dragon mages, forged in the bowels of a great volcano. My father remembers the shimmering brilliance of the chalice; it continually reflects an everchanging spectrum of colors.”
Daring looks back at the tome. “I don’t understand. According to this, the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun is just a legend. A story passed from generation to generation.”
“That’s because the Chalice may as well be ‘just a legend’ in the eyes of all but a select few,” Ember states. “My father was the last to undergo the ritual. Shortly thereafter, our realm was invaded by an elite strike force … led by the unicorn known as Sombra.”
“Sombra!!?”
After blurting out the unicorn’s name and interrupting Daring Do’s tale, Rainbow Dash thinks back to her first visit to the Crystal Empire, and her first and last encounter with the dreaded former tyrannical ruler of the crystal ponies.
“I’m sorry,” Quibble interrupts, “but could somepony tell me who this ‘Sombra’ is?”
“It’s a long story; I’ll tell you more about him later,” Dash promises Quibble before turning back to Daring. “But what does that psycho unicorn have to do with this chalice?”
“Perhaps it was simply because he was a unicorn, but in his prime, Sombra was naturally drawn to magical artifacts,” Daring relates. “Once he learned of the chalice and its powers, he led a small group of warriors to the dragons’ realm. He alone returned, in possession of the sacred relic … and it is said in dragon mythos that he had it hidden away somewhere in the Crystal Empire itself. This all happened shortly before he and the empire faded into oblivion, sealing the chalice away with it.”
“So, now that the Empire has returned, Ember thinks this Chalice returned with it?” Daring nods at Quibble’s hypothesis.
Dash ponders Daring’s tale. “OK, I suppose that all makes sense, but now what? Even if all that was true, where would we start looking?”
“The library,” Daring tersely responses. Dash guffaws at the answer.
“You sound just like Princess Egghead.” Daring scowls at Dash, who quickly silences her laughter and backpedals. “Uh, no offense meant, of course. But since when did you become so bookish?”
Daring Do replies with an underlying tone of annoyance. “Rainbow Dash, I make most of my living writing books! And as cool as you think all my adventures are, know that ninety percent of my time regarding those adventures is spent in libraries and universities, doing research into the cultures of all who both came before us and now coexist with us. Sure, nopony wants to read about all that time spent … but without that legwork, there would be nothing to discover or even write about at all!”
Rainbow Dash sinks her head, embarrassed by her previous comments. “I … I never really considered how you learned of all those artifacts you sought out.”
Daring Do reaches across the table and pats Dash’s hoof. “Hey, don’t sweat it,” she assures her trusted companion with a smile. “I shouldn’t come off sounding so harsh; the fact is that I do the research, but it certainly doesn’t compare to being out there, actually putting all that knowledge to use and discovering these treasures of antiquity.”
Dash reciprocates the smile. “Thanks. Sorry again. Buuuut … did you really bring me and Quibble here today just to do research in a library?”
“Oh you misunderstand me … the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun is in the library! And tonight, we’re going to claim it!”
Daring Do takes in Ember’s claim. “The Crystal Empire Library?”
“Our scholars of the day kept track of much of what Sombra did, especially after the theft of our Chalice. And he had little use for books, apart from those that dealt with dark magic and the occult. When he rose to power, he converted the library into his own house of worship … for the denizen crystal ponies to swear their undying loyalty to him and him alone. Upon claiming the Chalice, one of Sombra’s last acts was to construct a network of passageways beneath his converted church … the Spectrum Catacombs. It is said among the scholars of my subjects that the Chalice lays in a solitary room within those catacombs.”
“But how were your scholars able to gain all this information? Surely, dragons infiltrating the Crystal Empire would be quickly discovered.”
“A fair question, Daring. But tell me this: was Sombra’s more recent return welcomed by all of ponykind?” Daring Do’s silence sufficed for a response. “There were many within the Crystal Empire who resisted Sombra’s ambitions … including the very architect of the catacombs themselves. He had to abide by Sombra’s command, but he was able to smuggle this out.”
Flipping towards the later portions of the tomb, Ember comes across a parchment wedged between pages. She pulls out the parchment and unfolds it. “This is the key to solving the puzzles within the catacombs.”
Daring studies the icons on the parchment. “I don’t understand,” she eventually admits. “This isn’t a map. Just colored boxes, arrows, and checkmarks ... and a cryptic sentence at the bottom. What does it all mean?”
“Unfortunately, I can only speculate as to the true significance of the sentence and symbols … and likely, one will not comprehend the full meaning of all this until one is deep within the catacombs themselves. But if any individual can figure this out, it’s you.”
Ember turns towards the door. “I was only given one hint as to the location of the entrance to the Spectrum Catacombs: ‘A million in two.’ I do not know how to interpret that phrase; I leave that to you as well. The tome and the parchment are yours to keep. I hope they will be useful to you in your quest.”
“I’ll do my best,” Daring assures the Dragonlord. “I’ll contact Princess Cadence first thing tomorrow morning, and—”
“NO!” Ember quickly turns back to face Daring, urgency in her tone of voice. “No one else can know about this! It’s dangerous enough that I’ve contacted anypony at all!”
“But why? Surely, Cadence and Shining Armor can assist us … or at least, make certain that the Chalice doesn’t fall into the wrong claws.”
“Tell me, Daring Do … how many among all the ponies in Equestria do you trust with your most dear secrets.” Once again, Daring’s silence deafens the area. “No matter how trustworthy you deem others, there’s always the possibility that information falls into the wrong claws … or hooves. And even if no one with sinister motives found out, the last thing the Crystal Empire needs is a bunch of wannabe-adventurers tearing apart the Library, and possibly risking life and limb in an effort to acquire that which they should know nothing about.”
Daring pauses. “I understand,” she finally replies, “but there’s only so much I can do alone.”
“Then tell as few ponies as possible … and you better trust them with your life!”
“Trust me, Dragonlord Ember, I have the perfect ponies in mind. But there’s still one thing I don’t understand. Why this sense of urgency? Time is on our side, is it not?”
“Quite the contrary, Daring. Garble and his minions have already done what I have done just now; they have already reached out to another pony.” Ember’s comment leaves Daring Do stunned.
“What??? That’s impossible! What pony would sell out his own kind just for …”
Daring Do pauses for a moment. “… never mind. I know exactly who you’re referring to …”
“Wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash again interrupts. “You’re telling me that Garble enlisted—”
“None other than Caballeron himself. And he knows almost as much about the Chalice as we do … but he cares little about the political ramifications of handing the Chalice over to Garble; all he wants is the bits and recognition. And while he may not have the resources we currently have, he’s resourceful enough to acquire this information given enough time. Simply put, we have to get to the Chalice before he does; if he succeeds in delivering this artifact to Garble and his cronies, the consequences could be devastating.”
A groan emanates from Daring’s stomach. “I haven’t eaten anything all day. I’ll grab some grub for all of us; we’ll want to head straight to the Library once we hit the Crystal Empire. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Daring stretches her wings and flies out of the compartment, the door closing behind her.
Noticing a piece of parchment jutting from the edge of the pages of the tome, Rainbow Dash pulls out the legend Daring had alluded to in her story. She and Quibble spread the parchment out and inspect its contents.
Rainbow’s eyes eventually come to the cryptic message at the bottom. “ ‘When you can’t go forward, go back.’ What do you think that mean?”
“I don’t know … but it looks like there’re more symbols on the back.” Quibble flips over the parchment, and the two inspect the new set of characters.
Rainbow Dash scans the symbols and reads the message at the bottom. “ ‘When you get out what you put in, you get out.’ Seriously, what does any of this mean?”
“I can’t be certain,” Quibble replies as his gaze remains fixed on the parchment, “but honestly? This vaguely reminds me of that ‘Pony or the Tiger’ book I read when I was young.”
Dash thinks back to her last encounter with Quibble. “Oh yeah, I remember you bringing that title up. What kind of book was that? Another adventure novel?”
“There was an over-arching plot, yes, but the book was mainly a series of logic puzzles that the reader would solve along with the protagonist.” Quibble looks up from the parchment. “You know, that book really inspired me. I’ve been a fan of puzzles and riddles ever since.”
“The way you solved the Griffin Lock sure convinced me. Not to mention you figuring out which door to choose to get to the 7-sided chest.”
“PAH!” Quibble dismisses. “Foal’s play, both of those. Now the puzzles in the earlier books by A K Yearling, those required some brainpower.”
“Yeah yeah,” Dash grumbles. “You do know ‘A K Yearling’ is a synonym, right?”
Quibble raises an eyebrow. “You mean ‘pseudonym’?”
“Whatever. Seriously, how can you be so dismissive about all this? We’re gonna be part of another great adventure, you and me!”
Quibble notes Dash’s suddenly enthusiastic tone. “I’m not here for an ‘adventure’ Dash,” he flatly states, causing the latter’s jaw to drop. “I’m here for two reasons, and neither one involves getting swept up in yet another thrill-romp like last time. That’s your wheelhouse, not mine.”
Surprise gives way to confusion and then anger. “Then why the hay are you here, then!” she snaps.
“First and foremost,” he starts as he turns back to the parchment, “I’m here for the intrigue. That ‘7 doors’ puzzle was nothing, but this … I won’t lie, I’m curious as to what all of this means.”
“Yeah? Then what’s the second reason?”
“The truth is …” Quibble again turns to face Rainbow, his tone softening. “The truth is, I owe Daring Do. I owe both of you, for saving my life during that adventure. So when ‘A K Yearling’ showed up at my doorstep last night, asking me for my assistance, well … I have a chance now to repay the both of you.”
“Quibble …” Rainbow quietly starts, just as the door to the compartment reopens and Daring Do flies back in holding a trio of sandwiches.
“It ain’t much, but it’ll sustain us. We’ll be pulling in to the station in a few minutes. Thank you again, both of you, for accompanying me on this trek. I appreciate all your help.”
“You can count on me!” Rainbow emphatically states … while Quibble merely shrugs his forehooves and deadpans, “Yeah, go team.”
From the moment they leave the train, Daring Do scans the surrounding area for anything or anyone suspicious.
She looks left, looks right, checks behind her, scans the landscape in front of her, observes above and below her, as she and Rainbow Dash leisurely fly towards the outer edges of the Crystal Empire, with Quibble Pants trekking along the path, silently following the two pegasi.
Daring continues her continuous scanning of everything as the trio cross over the boundary into the empire proper, and still continues observing all around as the library comes into view.
“I don’t see any sign of Caballeron, Daring,” Rainbow assures the twitchy adventurer. “I think we’re safe.”
“You can never be too careful with Caballeron,” Daring quietly scolds Rainbow. He could be in hiding, or in disguise … or he could have any number of cronies observing us.”
“All I’ve seen so far is a grandmare pushing a stroller … and believe me, there was nothing about that pony that was calling out ‘crony’. Besides, he doesn’t know we’re on the case now.”
“He’s got connections all throughout Equestria. If he needs to know something, then believe me Rainbow Dash, he’ll learn about it. He could already be at the library, for all we know!”
“Well I guess we’re about to find out,” Rainbow notes as the threesome make it to the library’s main entrance. “Any idea how we’re going to explain our presence to the ponies inside?”
Dash opens the doors and floats in, with Daring and Quibble following. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Quibble flatly assures the others.
The three scan the rows of bookshelves and sprawling, empty floor laid out before them. A librarian mans a reception area to their right, but no other ponies inhabit the sprawling area. Daring eyes the librarian casually reading a book, before flying over and questioning the pony. “Excuse me, but is the library open this evening?”
The librarian looks up from her book. “Open every day, twenty-four-seven ... as a special favor to the Princess of Friendship. There just isn’t much interest in reading ‘round these parts, especially at this hour.” She then turns her attention back to her book, leaving Daring to flutter back to the others and simply shrug in resignation.
OK, do NOT mention this to Twilight, Rainbow mentally notes as she flies around the cavernous two-story area. Bookshelves line the walls on each floor, with more shelves forming a maze-like figure when viewed from the air. With no discernible features to hint at a hidden entrance, Rainbow flies back to Daring and Quibble.
“See anything?” Daring hopefully asks.
“Yeah … lots and lots of books, and lots of shelves for those books, but that’s it.”
“Well this was a useful trip,” Quibble replies as he walks up to one of the walls and eyes the towering shelf unit. Rectangular spines of myriad colors and sizes jut from the many rows, as they do with the shelves on either side …. and every other shelf in the building. The numeral 27 is ornately carved into the wood of one of the higher shelves before him; the units on either side have the numbers 26 and 28 similarly carved into them. He stands in front of the shelf, lost in thought, as the others discuss their next move.
“Do we have anything to go on?” Rainbow asks Daring.
“The only hint Ember gave me was ‘a million in two’. There could easily be a million books in this library. Maybe one of these books causes the entrance to appear.”
“But which one? Where do we begin our search?”
“Well,” Daring says as she points to another shelf. “I can see the number 5 engraved on that shelf. We could start at unit 1 and count the books, and keep going ‘til we get to a million.”
Rainbow stares at Daring in disbelief. “Are you serious? Count from one to a million? That could take forever! And besides, how would we know where on the shelf to count? Start from the top? From the bottom?”
“It’s all I got, Rainbow Dash. You have a better idea?”
“Well … no,” she admits. “But there has to be a better answer than counting out a million books. Hey Quibble, you’re good with this sort of thing, what do you …”
Rainbow turns to where Quibble was standing a minute earlier, only to see bookshelves. “Quibble?” she calls out. No response. “Hey, where’d you go?”
She floats up to get an aerial view of the ground level, spotting Quibble as he turns into a narrow corridor towards the rear of the building. “Hey, where the hay are you walking off to!” she calls out before groaning and flying to his position, with Daring following in curiosity.
The two pegasi finally reach Quibble’s location; a short hallway lined on both sides with bookshelves identical to the ones they had seen throughout the library. Quibble stands in front of one of the many bookshelves, before proceeding to pull out books from the bottom shelf, tossing them haphazardly to the ground.
“Quibble, what in Celestia’s name are you doing?” Rainbow asks.
“Testing a theory,” he replies as he empties the entire shelf of books, revealing nothing more than bare wall. He feels the wall behind the shelf with his forehoof, then proceeds to remove the books from the next shelf up.
“You’re testing my patience … again,” Rainbow declares as Daring eyes the shelf from top to bottom.
“Quibble, what is it about this shelf that intrigues you?” Daring asks.
“It’s the number carved in the shelf. All the shelves in this library have numbers carved in them.”
“Well duh,” Rainbow scoffs. “They’re probably there to help categorize the books. I’m no egghead, and even I know that. I mean, these shelves probably go all the way back to the earliest days of the library.”
“My point exactly,” Quibble asserts as he empties the shelf of its books and moves on to the next shelf up. Over fifty books now lay in a scattered pile all around them.
“Uggghh,” Daring groans. “I better talk with the librarian before she hears anything and comes over. Last thing we need is to attract unwanted attention. I’ll be right back.” She flies off back down the solitary corridor, leaving the sight of the others as she turns a corner.
“Can you at least tell me why you’re so intent on trashing the place?” Rainbow asks more softly. “This isn’t like you at all.”
Quibble pauses his work, staring at the bottom three empty shelves before looking around the pile of books lying helter-skelter all around them. He sighs in resignation. “I really did think there was something here,” he admits.
“But why? This shelf looks like all the other shelves around here.”
“Not the shelf, Rainbow Dash, the number.” Quibble points to the carved ‘64’ near the top of the shelf.
“64? What’s so special about the number 64? I mean, besides the number of squares on a checkerboard, I guess.”
“64 is the answer to the clue, Rainbow!”
“The clue?” Rainbow pauses for a moment. “You mean Ember’s clue to Daring?”
“ ‘A million in two’. That’s 64.”
“WHAT??? Quibble, you’re not making any sense!”
“Rainbow, have you ever heard of binary arithmetic?”
“Binary arithmetic?” Rainbow asks incredulously. “Sorry, I must’ve missed that part of training while in flight school. Math is math, isn’t it? You add, you subtract, you … do other things with numbers. What’s the point?”
“Normal arithmetic uses zero, one, two, and so on up to nine. Binary arithmetic uses only zero and one. You can do all the same adding and subtracting and ‘other things’ with just zero and one; they just require longer strings of numbers, which is why having more digits is more convenient.”
“String? Quibble, where did string come from? You gonna start referring to numbers as ribbons and bows next?”
“The point I’m trying to make,” Quibble continues, “is that the number one-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero written in binary is the same as the number 64 written in how we normally see numbers. 64 is ‘a million in two’; it’s 1000000 in binary. And that’s why I’m sure there’s something about this shelf.”
Quibble’s passion quickly dissipates. “… at least, I was sure there was something about this shelf.”
Rainbow ponders Quibble’s words for a minute. “Hey,” she finally says with a tone of consolation, “your idea’s as good as anything Daring and I could come up with. And you haven’t been wrong yet, so maybe …”
She walks over to the shelf and raps the bare wall with her hoof … and a rush of excitement quickly fills her. “Quibble! Help me move this shelf unit away from the wall!” Though confused, the earth pony obliges, grabbing one edge with his mouth while Rainbow does likewise with the other edge. The shelf moans as it is dragged across the floor and moved to the side, leaving the bare wall in its wake.
Backing up from the wall as far as possible, pressed up against the shelf unit opposite the hallway, she suddenly accelerates straight towards the gap between the adjoining shelves. She lowers her head and rams the wall, smashing through a thin patch of painted-over drywall. She quickly tucks into a ball, expecting to roll along the ground to stop … but ends up tumbling down from the top of a spiral staircase, flailing head-over-hooves as all parts of her hit stone steps all the way down.
“RAINBOW!!!” Quibble cries out as he instinctively sprints through the hole and gives chase down the stairs.
No big deal, Daring. If she heard anything and asks, just say we accidentally knocked some books over. No need for her to come over.
Daring ponders her explanation as she quickly reaches the front counter and floats back to the ground. “Excuse me, miss …” she starts, before recoiling slightly.
The librarian’s head lay on top of her book, her forelegs spread out across the table. She appears at peace in Daring’s eyes. Asleep? I suppose I’d fall asleep too if I were stuck watching over—
*FWIP* … “OW!”
An acute pain grips Daring as she instinctively reaches behind the back of her head, feeling and pulling out a dart. She quickly inspects the point, before a feeling of dizziness sets in. The area around her begins to spin, rapidly increasing speed as she looks around the area … noticing a silhouetted figure standing beside her moments before she passes out.
On one side of the wall lay the grandeur of the Crystal Empire library. Rows of bookshelves line the walls and envelop the spacious, brightly-lit area, each stacked neatly with tomes of bygone days.
On the other side, a stone spiral staircase winds around a marble cylinder. A torch emits a pale yellow glow, giving scant illumination apart from whatever brightness comes from the hole Rainbow created.
Paying no mind to his surroundings, Quibble races down the stairs. As he descends, he observes the change in tint from the torches on the wall from yellow to pale green to cyan to purple to red. In his haste, Quibble stumbles and somersaults down several steps; mercifully, he reaches the stone floor after only a couple rolls. He comes to a halt lying on his back, grabbing for the back of his head in an effort to massage the throbbing pain.
“Watch that last step,” Rainbow casually suggests with a smile as she flutters over Quibble, who perceives a number of bruises on her face and scratches along her body.
“Rainbow Dash!” he groggily stammers. “You’re … I mean, how are you able to ... because, that fall …”
“Eh, that was nothing.”
“Nothing???” Quibble stumbles to get upright, still shocked at his companion’s calm demeanor. “Rainbow Dash, I saw you tumble all the way down from the top step!”
“Quibble, I’ve crashed through walls, crashed through ceilings, crashed into mountain sides … you know,” she admits more to herself, “I’m starting to see where that nickname comes from. But the point is, I’m made of stronger stuff than your typical pony.”
“Yeah, that makes one of us,” Quibble grumbles as he shakes off the last of the cobwebs in his head. His attention is drawn to a narrow corridor, obscured by actual cobwebs that envelop the passageway opposite the base of the staircase. A dozen torches line the passageway, illuminating the sinewy webs in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Squinting, he perceives an archway leading out of the corridor. His jaw drops as he takes in the sight, leaving his companion to speak his thoughts.
“This must be it … the entrance to the Spectrum Catacombs. Well come on, let’s go!”
Rainbow begins to fly towards the mass of webs; Quibble instinctively bites down on her tail, stopping her flight. “Hey, what gives?”
“What,” Quibble says apprehensively, “we’re just going to plow through all those … spider webs?”
“Relax, they’ll just rebuild the webs. It’s what they do.”
“No, I mean … shouldn’t we wait for Daring Do to meet us down here? Or maybe one of us should run back up to get her?”
“It’s a long way back up,” Rainbow replies as she briefly turns back towards the staircase. “Besides, it won’t be hard for her to find us. And if the cobwebs are any indication, it may be just as well she’s not with us.”
“… What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, Daring has a … let’s just say, she’s not particularly fond of spiders.”
Quibble gives Rainbow a puzzled look. “Wait, Daring Do’s arachnophobic?”
“What, NO! She just has a small fear of spiders, is all.”
“Rainbow Dash, arachnophobia is a fear of spiders.”
“Oh … well in that case, yeah, she’s a ‘racky phobe’, I guess. So come on, you gonna just stand there or what?”
Wasting no more time, Rainbow Dash closes her eyes and flies down the corridor, through the mass of cobwebs. Countless strands stick to her face, mane and body, but do not impede her progress towards the archway; she quickly flies through the opening, turns, and touches down on the ground; she then proceeds to use her wings to wipe off as much of the sticky webbing from herself that she is able to get to. Staring back down the corridor, she notices dozens of spiders, all sporting various colors of the spectrum, begin to rebuild the webs she had flown through.
“You might want to hurry it up, Quibble!” she calls out before turning around to inspect her new surroundings. She finds herself in a small chamber roughly the size of her den, the walls stone and barren apart from a pair of torches on either side of the wall containing the archway she had just passed through. She notes three passageways that lead from the chamber, each thick with megawebs similar to the one she had passed through. Through the haze of the passageway to her left, she can make out colored torches on either side of the corridor; however, the web obstructs her view of the end of the passageway. Two piles of stacked rocks create a makeshift gateway to the corridor; a lintel topping the two ‘columns’ is adorned with an upward-pointing red arrow. Flying across the chamber, she inspects the passageway to the right of the entrance; the only discernible difference is that the lintel above this corridor is adorned with an upward-pointing green arrow. She then flutters to the passageway across from the entrance; it, too, resembles the others, but its lintel displays an upward-pointing yellow arrow.
Great, which way do we go from here? “Yo, Puzzle Pony, get over here!” she calls out while staring down the central passageway. The sound of clip-clopping of hooves on stone increases in volume, and Rainbow sets herself back on the ground and turns around. “So what kept …”
Upon turning, Rainbow eyes Quibble bend his legs and assume a fetal position, his head under his forehooves. Behind him, an earth pony holds his left forehoof to the back of Quibble’s neck; attached to the hoof is a mechanical claw grasping a dart.
“No sudden moves, please,” Caballeron requests to Rainbow Dash, “if you value the well-being of your friend.”
“I’m sorry.” Quibble’s lone words come out stunted and regretful
Rainbow Dash stands perfectly still as she stares down Caballeron; the sight of Quibble cowering beneath, eyes welled up, fills her with anger and disgust. “Let him go!” she demands, causing the latter to chuckle.
“You are in no position to make demands, Miss Dash. Now turn around, nice and slow.”
Rainbow complies, turning away from Caballeron and Quibble and towards the passageway adorned with the yellow arrow. “Where’s Daring Do?” she asks while peering at him through the corner of her eye. “What did you do to her?”
“I assure you that Miss Do is perfectly all right … or at least she will be, once she wakes up and adjusts to her ropes. I’m an opportunist, Miss Dash, not a murderer; I do not wish to harm anypony, but I certainly cannot have one such as Miss Do interfering with my business.”
“And what is your business, Caballeron?”
“The same as yours, no doubt: the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun. So nice of you to locate the hidden entrance to the Spectrum Catacombs for me; saves me a lot of time. Why shouldn’t this partnership continue for a bit longer?”
Rainbow turns her head towards Caballeron in confusion.
“Turn back, Miss Dash! I do not wish to become a murderer, but I will use this dart on your friend if I must.”
She quickly turns away, once again facing towards the central corridor out of the chamber. “What do you mean by ‘partnership’?”
“You and your quivering friend here have made it this far, I suspect you know how to continue on. Now I am not completely hard-hearted: help me retrieve the Chalice, and I can make it most worth your while.”
“Why would I help you?”
“I’ve done my research on you, Miss Dash … Miss ‘Element of Loyalty’, am I correct? With that title, I highly doubt you would let any harm come to a friend of yours.”
“And yet you ask me to betray Daring Do? Betray all of ponykind???”
“My dear, I won’t pretend to understand where that came from.”
“Cut the horseapples, Caballeron; we know you’re working for Garble and his cronies!”
“I don’t know who or what you’re talking about, Miss Dash, but my clients are none of your concern! Now enough talk. Which way do we go from here?”
At this request, Rainbow now laughs. “See, that’s the thing, Cabs. I don’t have the foggiest clue which way to go.”
“Well,” Caballeron calmly continues, “then it’s time for Plan B: you’ll go down a path, and if you are so fortunate as to have nothing horrific happen to you, then we shall follow. And to prove that chivalry is not dead, I’ll let you choose which path to take.”
Rainbow looks to each passageway, taking in the three upward-pointing arrows that each indicate a way onward. She looks down the left-hand corridor with its red arrow, then turns towards the right-hand corridor with its green arrow, then back to facing the central corridor with its yellow arrow. Her mind turns to the parchment she had observed on the train, symbols and colors flying around in her mind.
“We haven’t got all day, Miss Dash! Choose a path, or I’ll choose one for you!”
“Oh … oh … okay,” she stutters in response. “Then … I choose …”
“WAIT!” Quibble finally screams out. “I … I know which path to take.” Rainbow turns to face the pair as Caballeron stares down at his prisoner.
“So, you are some use after all,” Caballeron suavely asserts. “OK then, ‘Quibble’, which way?”
Quibble gulps. “It’s … it’s the middle path. With the yellow arrow.”
Caballeron maintains his position atop Quibble as he addresses him. “And you’re certain about this.”
“As sure as my love for all of Daring Do’s adventures.” Quibble’s answer angers his captor.
“Yes, yes, everypony LOVES all things Daring Do!” he sarcastically states. “You fanponies really make me ill, with your undying loyalty to the printed page. Very well then … you first, Miss Dash.”
Rainbow turns back towards the corridor across from the entrance, gulps, and takes a step ahead. Her leg buckles as she cries out in pain and crashes to the ground.
“Get up!” Caballeron orders the pegasus.
“I can’t!” she wails in return, wrapping her left foreleg around her right as she lets off another cry of anguish. “I took a nasty fall down the staircase; I must’ve damaged my leg. I … I heard a crack as I took a step, and now …” She buries her head in between her crossed legs. “I don’t wanna be put down!”
Exhaling in exasperation, Caballeron shoves Quibble’s head aside and trots over to the broken pony. He moves his left forehoof so that the dart clenched in its claw points directly at the back of her neck. “You think I’ll fall for an act like that??? Get up now, or so help me-”
*OOF*
Caballeron is suddenly thrown forward into the corridor as Quibble’s head-down charge into the former’s flank catches him by surprise. Quibble falls to the floor, still shaking, as Rainbow looks up at her tormentor’s plight.
Caballeron stumbles head-first into the sinewy spider web strands, which stick to his face and forelegs like superglue. In an instant, hundreds of spiders in all colors of the spectrum emerge from cracks in each of the corridor’s stone walls, spinning more webbing around their victim as a dizzying rate. Within seconds, his backlegs are spun together as well as his frontlegs; from back to front, his body becomes wrapped up amidst the freshly-spun webbing. He attempts one final scream, but the spiders quickly move from his torso to his neck and head, wrapping him deeper within the megaweb. Moments later, the spiders scurry back to the cracks in the corridor. An eerie silence pervades.
After adjusting to her initial shock, Rainbow notices a piece of Caballeron’s tail jutting out from the now-entangled body of her assailant. Careful to avoid any stray strands, she hovers over and carefully grips his tail with her teeth. She pulls, but the corridor web holds firm to the rest of Caballeron’s body. She increases her wing speed and tugs harder, as the stickiness of the corridor web starts to give way. In an instant, Caballeron’s body gets ripped from its position; Rainbow crashes backwards back into the chamber as the body lands nearby in a dull thud.
Quibble gapes at Caballeron’s wrapped, motionless body in shock for several seconds. He then sheepishly turns to Rainbow, still sweating and catching her own breath from the ordeal. “What did we just do?”
“Quibble … you … you got us out of … that jam,” she explains between gasps.
“Did I … did I kill a pony just now?”
Finding her second wind, Rainbow gets on her hooves and walks over to Caballeron’s head. She places her head low to the ground and listens intently for several seconds. “He’s breathing … I think he’ll be OK, now that he’s out of that corridor.”
“… You saved his life, Rainbow Dash. After he threatened both of us.”
“Nopony deserves a fate like what he nearly experienced,” Rainbow flatly asserts. “I couldn’t just let him stay there for those spiders to make a meal out of. Now come on. We gotta figure out which way to go.”
Quibble shudders at the thought. “I don’t … think I can continue.”
Rainbow turns to Quibble in surprise. “What do you mean you can’t go on?”
“Rainbow Dash,” he starts, finding his nerves once again, “I nearly killed a pony just now. Before that, I was threatened with a dart to my neck. I mean, I enjoy reading about adventure, not living it. This … this is all just too much for me.”
Rainbow addresses Quibble’s concerns in a soft tone. “I know you’re outside your comfort zone here. And I’m sorry you’ve had to go through so much already. But think about it: Caballeron told us he wasn’t working for Garble; that means Daring was wrong in her assumption. There’s somepony else trying to get the Chalice, so we can’t afford to just sit by and watch that happen. It’s up to us to complete this challenge … and I can’t do it without you. So please … let’s get through this, together.”
“And besides,” she continues as she turns towards the left-hand corridor, “I still owe you for saving my life.”
“You’ve already saved my life, remember?” Quibble mentions as he gets back on his hooves. “But OK … we’ll finish this, together.”
Rainbow smiles. “All right! So … you seemed to know that the yellow-arrow corridor was a trap. Mind explaining to me how?”
“Well …” Quibble pulls out the parchment from a shirt pocket and unfurls it. “I think I figured out what these symbols represent.”
“Take a look at the top,” he continues. “I think that tells us that we want to go down corridors marked with up arrows … and avoid those with down arrows.”
“But Quibble, all three corridors have up arrows on them. And we both saw what happened to Caballeron.”
“That’s where the colors come in. See those checkmarks and exes?”
Rainbow inspects the parchment. “Yeah … but what do they mean?”
“I think they stand for ‘true’ and ‘false’. The checkmarks are meant to represent true symbols, and the exes stand for false symbols. In particular,” he continues as he points to the left-most portion of the parchment, “all red symbols are false and all green symbols are true”.
Rainbow looks up, eyeing the two egresses on opposite sides. “So … that means that the red arrow is lying to us. It’s pointing up, but its true direction should be down.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Quibble states. “We need to go down the corridor with the green arrow.”
“But what about the yellow arrow?” Rainbow looks back to the parchment, pointing at the right-most portion. “How did you know that path was a trap?”
“Honestly … I didn’t.”
Rainbow turns to Quibble. “WHAT?”
“I have a theory … and after what just happened, I think my theory is correct … but I wasn’t certain.”
“But what if you were wrong and Caballeron attacked us?”
Quibble’s eyes reach for corners. “Well … I don’t know, really …”
Sensing apprehension and self-doubt creeping back into her companion, Rainbow quickly consoles Quibble. “Hey, your instincts were correct. So c’mon, share. What do you make of those symbols?”
Quibble refocuses on the parchment. “OK, see those two smaller boxes next to the yellow? I think those signify the other two corridors. The symbols next to them indicate that, between the three passageways, either all three are truthful, or exactly one is. Since we already had one truthful symbol and one false symbol, that meant the yellow arrow had to be false as well. And apparently … it was.”
“So, I guess any purple symbol we come across with have a similar property … but what about the blue and orange symbols?”
“I’m not sure. I can speculate better once we come across them, I guess.”
“Good enough for me.” Rainbow quickly takes to the air and points herself towards the right-hand corridor with the green arrow. “Follow me!”
“WAIT!!!” Quibble’s cry causes Rainbow to turn suddenly back to him.
“What is it?”
Quibble stumbles through his response: “I … I should be the one to go first.” His suggestion takes his companion by surprise.
“You? Mr. ‘I’m not here for the adventure’? Why?”
“Because if I’m wrong about any of this … I can’t save you. You can … hopefully … save me if the same thing happens to me that happened to …” Quibble indicates the web-entangled body of Caballeron.
Rainbow considers Quibble’s suggestion. “Are you sure about this?”
“No … but it’s the rational thing to do. Just be … ready, just in case.”
“OK then. ‘Dashspeed’, Quibble.”
Quibble gives one final eyeroll to Rainbow’s comment, then gulps as he approaches the web-obscured corridor. He shakes his head one last time, puts his head down, and enters the corridor …
Quibble emerges from the corridor, his face and mane covered with sinewy webbing. He falls to the floor, relieved that the inconvenience is the worst part of his walk.
Rainbow Dash flutters in after him. “Looks like you were right,” she admits as she scans their new surroundings.
“I usually feel more smug when I’m right,” Quibble retorts as he brushes away the stray strands from his face. He eyes the room they now find themselves in. “Hey, what gives? This room looks just like the last one!”
“Not quite,” Rainbow corrects. There’re only two paths onward … and I hope you got an idea about those blue and orange arrows.”
Quibble’s attention is drawn to the lintel above a passageway directly ahead of them, adorned with two orange upward-pointing arrows. To his left, a second passageway is adorned similarly, but with two blue upward-pointing arrows. He turns around … and notices that the megaweb he had just walked through has already reformed, obscuring the view to the chamber they had just left. Looking up, he sees no markings related to the corridor they came from.
Rainbow eyes each lintel in turn. “Maybe the two arrows means both corridors are safe.”
“That is probably what they signify,” Quibble agrees, “but we can’t know if they’re honest symbols or not. In the last room, we had red and green arrows; we knew which was honest and which was false.”
“Well, break out that legend-thing again. Let’s see if we can figure out those markings.”
Quibble nods in agreement, then produces and unfurls the parchment.
“… They’re not quite the same,” Quibble points out. “With the orange square, there’s a checkmark next to an up arrow and an ‘x’ next to a down arrow. With the blue square, it’s the other way around.”
“So maybe it’s telling us when each of those colors is to be trusted,” Rainbow adds. “Maybe the orange symbol is true if it’s a true path onwards, and false if it leads to … well, to what we saw before.”
“I think you’re right,” Quibble states, excitement in his tone. “And the blue symbol is false if it’s the correct way onward, and true if it isn’t. Nice work, Rainbow!”
Rainbow blushes briefly. “Hey, my awesomeness isn’t just confined to flying, athleticism, and loyalty.” She turns back to the two lintels. “So how do we use this information?”
Quibble ponders for a moment, before turning towards his left. “It’s this way … I think. That is, I hope. Which sounds better? ‘I think’, or ‘I hope’?”
Rainbow eyes the blue arrows above the corridor Quibble now faces. “So what makes you think … or hope … that this is the right path?”
“Well, both the orange and blue symbols say the same thing, so either they’re both true or they’re both false. If they were both true, then the blue-lintel corridor in particular would be a way onward. But that would mean the symbol was actually false, at least according to the parchment. So the symbols can’t be honest; they must both be false, so at least one of these corridors is a trap.”
“Furthermore,” Quibble continues, “since both symbols are false, that means that the orange path is a trap, and the blue path is the correct way onward. So I think … yeah, I prefer ‘think’ … that this is the way to go.”
Rainbow eyes the megaweb blocking the corridor. “You want me to go first this time?”
“You can’t. If I’m wrong, or if the parchment is misleading for some reason, I need you to pull me out … I won’t be able to save you.”
“OK then … good luck.”
Quibble nods and proceeds down the corridor as before. And, as before, he emerges from the corridor covered in spiderweb but otherwise unharmed. Rainbow flies through behind Quibble, using her wings to help brush off excess web from Quibble’s mane.
“So far, so good,” Rainbow acknowledges as she looks around and groans, “and I’m seeing a pattern here.”
Their new surroundings mirror their previous chambers, this one again with three paths onward as their way into the area again quickly clogs up with fresh webbing. Looking around, they notice a red arrow above the left-hand path and a green arrow above the right-hand path … but each arrow now points downward. Straight ahead, a lintel above a third corridor displays a purple arrow, also pointing downward.
“Well … green is green, right?” Rainbow starts flying towards the right-hand corridor, before Quibble bites her tail to stop her mid-flight.
“That symbol’s still honest,” he explains, “and now it’s telling us that it’s a trap. That’s not the way to go this time.”
“Oh … yeah, good catch,” Rainbow sheepishly admits. “So what about the purple arrow?”
“I think it’s like the yellow arrow … but this time, there has to be either one or three false symbols. And with the other symbols being one true and one false like before, this one must be true … it’s telling us that it’s a trap, just like the green arrow.”
“So that just leaves …” Rainbow turns to the left-hand corridor with its red symbol.
“Yeah … after me, I guess.” With less trepidation, Quibble once again lowers his head and plows through the webbing. And once again, he emerges from the corridor covered in web, and once again Rainbow flies in and helps wipe excess strands away.
“Uggghhh,” Rainbow groans more loudly, “at this point I’d prefer having Sombra’s evil spirit come after us! How many more of these rooms are we gonna have to go through.
The two look around the all-too familiar stone walls and passageways. To their left, they eye a single orange upward-pointing arrow; directly ahead, they see a single blue downward-pointing arrow; to their right, they notice three yellow downward-pointing arrows.
“OK, this one might be a bit more challenging,” Quibble admits before going into silent contemplation.
Tired of seeing the same environment from chamber to chamber, Rainbow flutters towards each corridor, careful not to touch any webbing within. As she gets to the corridor with the orange arrow, she notices a glint on the ground below. She drops down to the floor as her eyes focus in on the source of the glint.
“Well I know this much,” Quibble announces as Rainbow half-listens. “At least one of these paths has to work. Otherwise, there’d be exactly two ‘true’ arrow icons, which would contradict what we know of the use of the color yellow here. But that also means the yellow icon is false, so exactly one of those other icons is honest. But now I’m stuck.”
“Yeah, that’s great Quibble,” Rainbow half-heartedly replies, causing the ire within her companion to grow.
“RAINBOW DASH, ARE YOU LISTENING???” The sudden shouting causes her to look away from the glint and turn towards Quibble.
“Sorry, I just got distracted by … what’s the problem again? You said there’s at least one way onward from here.”
“But there’s no way to know which way! Take the orange arrow,” Quibble continues as he indicates the left-hand passageway. “It could be either true or false; either way is consistent with what we know. And the same is true for the blue arrow. Now I know that one is true and the other is false. If it goes ‘orange true and blue false’, then we could take either the path to the left or the path straight ahead. If it goes ‘orange false and blue true’, then we have to take the path to the right. But that’s as far as I can get. There’s no way to be sure.”
Rainbow turns back towards the left-hand corridor. “Actually, I’m pretty sure … at least about this path. We can’t go this way.
Quibble walks over to Rainbow and stares into the mass of webs. “How do you figure? Did I miss something with my logic?”
“No, you missed that,” she states as she points to the ground within. “Look!”
Quibble peers along the ground in the corridor. “I don’t see any- … wait, is that? …”
His eyes focus on a mechanical claw, still clutching a dart.
“That’s Caballeron’s claw; he must’ve dropped it when he stumbled into the corridor. This corridor. It must lead back to the first room,” Rainbow concludes, “And we’ve already seen what happens when anypony tries this passageway.”
Quibble nods. “Then I guess that means we take the three-arrow path.” He turns around, takes another breath, puts his head down, and pushes through another morass of webbing as Rainbow flies behind.
Please be something different. Please be something different. Please be … “Aw, COME ON!!!”
Rainbow’s hopes are dashed as she follows Quibble into yet another chamber with arrow markings. Turning around, she again watches the megaweb reform behind her. Turning back towards Quibble, she now notices the left-hand path adorned with three red upward arrows, the right-hand path adorned with three yellow upward arrows, and the central path adorned with three white downward arrows.
“Waitaminute … white arrows? The parchment didn’t say anything about white arrows. NOW what do we do?”
Quibble turns to the left-hand passage. “Well I know this much: not all of these passageways are going to work. But that means …” He quietly ponders the remaining symbols, as Rainbow’s fidgetiness increases. She takes to the air and flies around the room as she complains to no one in particular.
“This isn’t adventure! Where’re the mummies, the hydras, the basilisks? Where’s the action? It’s like Sombra’s trying to bore us to death! I just want to fast-forward to the fun part, where we kick tail and claim victory. I just … I mean …”
Rainbow touches down in the center of the room and shakes her head. “Sorry Quibble, I’m just a little antsy right now. So which way do we go?”
Quibble turns to Rainbow, a solemn look on his face. “We don’t.”
Rainbow gives Quibble an incredulous look. “What do you mean ‘we don’t’? C’mon, you’re good with these puzzles; I’m sure you can solve it.”
“I did solve it, Rainbow Dash, and all three of these paths are traps!”
Rainbow’s pupils turn to pinpricks. “All three? But, how do you …”
“The red arrows are false, like they always are. Since they say the same thing as the yellow arrows, that means the yellow arrows are false too. And in any room with yellow arrows, there has to be at least one true icon; that means the white arrows are honest. And the white arrows say that all three paths lead to doom.”
A spark of anger begins to grow within Rainbow Dash. She slowly turns away from Quibble, so as not to address him directly.
“We … went through all this … for NOTHING???”
“I mean, maybe there’s a secret passageway or something in this room. I say we inspect the walls and floor more closely, until—”
“I GAVE UP CONCERT TICKETS, RUMMAGED THROUGH A LIBRARY, BROKE THROUGH A WALL, CRASHED DOWN A SPIRAL STAIRCASE MADE OF ROCKS, BURROWED THROUGH SPIDERWEBS, AND NEARLY WATCHED A PONY DIE, ALL FOR NOTHING???THAT’S IT! I CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE! I QUIT!!!”
Having shout-spoken her mind, Rainbow flutters over to the passage they entered from. She lands on the ground and turns to face Quibble. “You coming?” she snarls.
“Coming where? Rainbow, where are you going?”
“BACK!” she says tersely, before turning towards the corridor.
Rainbow’s comment sends Quibble’s mind racing to the parchment, as he suddenly remembers the cryptic message:
When you can’t go forward, go back.
“Rainbow, wait!!!”
“Don’t try to stop me Quibble,” she calls back as she re-enters the corridor. “Jeez, these spider webs are sticky; I can’t even move my wings now— *AAAUUGGHH! *”
Quibble watches helplessly as a trapdoor opens underneath Rainbow, sending her to a depth below the catacombs. In an instant, he gives chase and leaps through the opening, which closes up as he passes through. He lands in a heap on a marble floor, bruised but not seriously injured; turning, he sees that Rainbow is likewise banged up but otherwise unharmed. They each pick themselves up and look around.
They find themselves in a small cube of a room, 15 feet in length, width, and height. The entire room, floor, walls, and ceiling, is cast in white marble. Along one wall, Quibble notices a row of 12 small holes, each a couple inches in diameter; below the holes lie six sacks of rocks. One sack is filled with small red rocks, another sack contains orange rocks, and so on with yellow, green, blue and purple rocks. Rainbow’s attention is drawn to a pedestal standing in an opposite corner of the room, holding …
Her eyes grow to the size of dinner plates, as she is mesmerized by the changing hues the artifact gives off, turning from red to green to purple to gold, and so on through dozens of colors. “The Chalice of Rhinyorgrun,” she quietly says to herself as she reaches for the relic. An electric shock immediately pulsates through her body, as if struck by lightning, and she’s catapulted across the room, crashing into the wall opposite and falling to the ground, knocking over the sack of purple rocks.
“Rainbow Dash!” Quibble yells, rushing to her side. “What happened?”
She shakes her head to get her bearings. “I’m OK”, she says weakly, “just … don’t try to grab … that.”
Quibble turns, and marvels at the artifact before him. “We found it … we found the Chalice!”
“Yaay us,” she deadpans. “We just can’t touch it, and ...” she looks around the room before continuing, “we can’t get out of here.”
Quibble turns away from the Chalice and inspects the room, agreeing that he sees no point of entrance or egress. “I don’t understand … there has to be a way out of here.”
Another sight catches Rainbow’s eyes. “Yeah? Tell them that.”
Quibble follows Rainbow’s gaze. With the backdrop of the marble, the two had initially failed to notice the skeletal remains of a handful of ponies, their bones strewn along a stretch of wall near the pedestal.
“Well … we got here, right?” Quibble states. “I’m sure Daring Do or some other pony can find us.”
“You think they can get through that corridor maze, without making any wrong turns? And if they do, won’t they just end up where we are now?”
Quibble sighs, then turns to Rainbow. “You’re not … you’re not scared, are you?”
“Quibble,” she timidly states, “I’m not comfortable in closed spaces.”
“You’re claustrophobic?”
“Not claws, closed … as in, being cooped up in a tiny place like this room, with no room to fly or spread my wings or …” Rainbow shivers at the thought of this room becoming her tomb.
Quibble takes another look at the wall with the holes, and the sacks of rocks. “Wait a minute … the other side of the parchment.” He pulls out the parchment and unfurls it, inspecting its back side as Rainbow walks over.
He rereads the message at the bottom: “When you get out what you put in, you get out.” He repeats the message to himself, then takes another look at the symbols. “I’m getting an idea.”
A glimmer of hope flashes in Rainbow’s eyes. “Yeah? What d’you got?”
“I think this is some sort of function notation. That if you ‘put in’ a certain combination of symbols, then you ‘get out’ another combination … and if you ‘put in’ just the right combination, you’ll ‘get out’ the same combination.” He turns back to the wall of holes and the sacks. “I think we need to put the right combination of rocks into the holes, and if we do, some pathway should reveal itself to us. We just need to solve this last puzzle.”
“Well don’t just stand there, let’s do this!” Rainbow exclaims enthusiastically. “So what’s the combination?”
“… I haven’t the slightest idea,” he dejectedly admits.”
“Oh,” Rainbow utters. “Well, let’s just try every combination of colored rocks. There can’t be that many, right?”
“14 holes, 6 possibilities per hole … 6 to the 14th power is about … just under 80 billion combinations.”
“Eighty billion? You mean with a ‘B’?”
“Yep,” he quietly acknowledges. “We’re not getting out unless we figure out the solution.”
Rainbow’s mind races, trying for a quick fix to their troubles. “Well, take that top row. I guess that means that ‘red-green-something’ gives back ‘something’. So, like, ‘red-green-orange-blue’ would give back ‘orange-blue’. That makes sense, right?
Quibble turns to Rainbow in admiration. “I think you got that. Nicely done!”
“Yeah, but what about the rest of it?”
Quibble notes the similarities of symbols on each side. “I think they’re all part of an ‘if-then’ clause.”
Rainbow glares at Quibble. “Seriously, what is it with you and claws?”
Ignoring his companion’s comment, Quibble continues. “I think the left side is the ‘if’, and each of the four rows on the right side is a ‘then’. Like, you said that ‘red-green-orange-blue’ would give back ‘orange-blue’. So that means the big black rectangle could be ‘red-green-orange-blue’ and the white symbols could be ‘orange-blue’. By that reasoning … let’s see … ‘blue-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce ‘red-orange-blue’, ‘yellow-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce ‘green-orange-blue’, ‘purple-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce ‘orange-blue-orange-blue’, and ‘orange-red-green-orange-blue’ would produce … just ‘blue’. That all makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Rainbow gazes at Quibble with a look of pure dumbfoundedness. “Yeeeaaahh … I’m just gonna lie down now. So … how do you actually solve this puzzle?”
For a half-hour, Rainbow Dash runs the gamut from manic to depression.
She flies along the ceiling, desperately seeking a way to open the trap door that led her and Quibble Pants to this marble mausoleum. She bangs on all areas of the ceiling, calling out for anypony to hear her cries. Numerous times, she flies down to the ground and suddenly shoots up, attempting to break through the marble interior … but each time she is unable to generate enough speed in the cramped quarters to gain enough momentum, and each time she hits the ceiling with a hard *bang*, followed by a graceless fall back to the ground. After several failed attempts, she then scours the walls and floor, desperately seeking an alternative exit. In the process, she knocks over the sacks of colored rocks and disperses Quibble’s work; though irritated, Quibble holds his tongue and resumes his work, placing rocks of various colors in rows, in an attempt to crack the code given by the back of the parchment Dragonlord Ember entrusted Daring Do.
Rainbow makes a couple more attempts to simply grab the Chalice of Rhinyorgrum from its pedestal; each time, she is met by a jarring electrical surge that flings her backwards.
Finally, broken beat and scarred, Rainbow collapses on her back and stares at the ceiling, devoid of all but hopelessness. “We’re going to die here, aren’t we Quibble.”
Quibble’s focus remains on his rows of rocks, but he engages Rainbow in conversation in an attempt to keep her spirits up. “It’s not healthy for you to sound like I did when you were saving my life during the convention.” He chuckles at his own comment in an effort to add levity to their situation, with little success.
“I guess it’s not all bad. I’m not leaving a whole lot of ponies behind, at least. Well, Mom and Dad, I guess … and Tank, my pet tortoise. But tortoises live forever anyway, so it’s not like this day wasn’t going to come eventually, right?”
“I wish I could empathize,” Quibble offers, “but I’ve never had a pet.”
“And I’m not leaving any siblings behind,” Rainbow continues, oblivious to Quibbles remark. “Well, Scootaloo, I guess; she’s like the sister I never knew before I met her. She’s just the most awesome pony you could ever meet. I’m serious … even more awesome than me. She’s got the biggest heart of anypony I’ve ever known, and she’s taught me so much. *sigh* … Sure wish I could’ve told her all that.”
“There’s still time, Rainbow. There’s no ‘quit’, right? You taught me that.”
Rainbow smiles, but not at Quibble’s comment. “I bet Scootaloo is really enjoying the concert. Did I tell you, Quibble?”
“Uh …”
“I was supposed to be at a Metallicolt concert right now. You know they have a new album? They got this one song, called ‘Moth Into Flames’ … I think that describes what Fluttershy’s feeling right now. *chuckle* ”
“I’ve always been kinda partial to Tantabus, myself. You hear their new song, ‘Nimble Discord’?”
“Now I got another song stuck in my head: ‘Now That We’re Dead’. You think that’s appropriate to describe us now?”
“Right now, I’m partial to lyrics like ‘Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there with open hooves and open eyes’.”
“Seriously, we’re stuck here forever now, aren’t we? I mean, I guess ‘forever’ isn’t really the case; we’ll die of starvation before too long. But eventually, we’ll just be dusty bones like all the others here, won’t we.”
Quibble opens his mouth to respond, but his mind quickly snaps back to one particular, simple row of rocks.
“I’m really sorry you got caught up in all this, too. Bad enough that I have to go this way, but I’m all about adventure and stuff. I pretty much have to accept that something like this could happen to me. But you … you didn’t deserve this.”
“Rainbow …”
“Funny how life can throw you a curving buckball in an instant. It really was only yesterday afternoon that I was chillaxing …”
“Rainbow, get over here!”
Quibble’s command shakes Rainbow out of her stupor long enough for her to get to her hooves and trot over to his position, careful this time not to disperse any of his work. “What is it?” she asks, a faint glimmer of hope in her voice.
“This should work,” Quibble proudly announces as he proceeds to fill half the holes with rocks. Rainbow observes her companion at work, then inspects the final product, reading from left to right.
“Purple-red-green-purple-red-green … I don’t get it.”
“It’s actually simpler than I thought it’d be,” Quibble admits. “Since ‘red-green-purple-red-green’ gives ‘purple-red-green’, adding a purple rock in front will cause that value to double; that means ‘purple-red-green-purple-red-green’ gives back ‘purple-red-green-purple-red-green’. We get back what we put in.” The smile on his face gives Rainbow more hope, but she remains puzzled at a number of concerns.
“But why are there twelve holes in the wall? And why would Sombra create a puzzle that didn’t use even half the information given by that parchment?”
Quibble struggles to answer each of Rainbow’s questions, his eyes darting from one corner to another.
“And by the way,” Rainbow continues, slightly exasperated, “why didn’t anything happen? Where’s the exit? Why are we still stuck here?”
“Well … I dunno, really …” Quibble continues to squirm, before an idea pops in his head. “Maybe we can get out now. Here, I’ll show you.” He begins to walk towards the pedestal.
“Uh, Quibble, you don’t want to touch that … I’m warning you …”
“Hey, I solved the puzzle. It’s done. Now all we need to do is figure out how this Chalice—”
As Quibble reaches for the Chalice, a burst of electricity surges through his body. The shock sends him careening into the hole-filled wall, knocking all the rocks out of their holes as he crashes to the ground.
“QUIBBLE!” Rainbow rushes over to tend to her comrade.
His hooves still quivering, Quibble slowly rolls off his back and takes several breaths while waiting several seconds before applying pressure on his hooves. Content that he can stand up without falling, Quibble rises from the ground and attempts to shake off the tingling sensations in his extremities.
“How… how did …” he starts in between gasps, “How did you put up with all those shocks?”
Rainbow shrugs. “I dunno. I work with lightning all the time, I guess I’m used to getting mild shocks.”
“MILD SHOCKS??? You call that a MILD shock???”
“Look, forget about the shocks for a minute! What do you think went wrong?”
“There was nothing wrong with my reasoning! There was nothing in that parchment that mentioned needing all 12 holes; that’s just being arbitrary. It’s like this Sombra pony’s not playing fair!”
Rainbow briefly rolls her eyes. “OK, so let’s assume that we need to use all twelve holes. And given the nature of that Chalice and the puzzles we’ve already seen, let’s also assume that we need to use all the colors in the solution. Got any ideas for how to continue?”
“Well … I do have another idea. It came to me for a bit, but I abandoned it when I saw what I thought was a simpler solution. Take a look.”
Quibble places a red and green rock into the middle two holes along the wall, leaving 5 holes on each side to fill. All I need now is the right generator, and I guess now it has to contain the other colors.”
Rainbow gives a quizzical look at both the wall and at Quibble. “Generator? What do you mean ‘generator’?”
“It’s like this,” he starts to explain. “We already know that ‘red-green-stuff’ gives back ‘stuff’. What we need is for ‘stuff-red-green-stuff’ to give back ‘stuff-red-green-stuff’. In other words, there should be a five-rock combination that generates the transformation needed to go from ‘stuff’ to ‘stuff-red-green-stuff’; we find that five-rock combination, and we find whatever solution this ‘Sombra’ pony intended.” His last comment comes out with a touch of derision towards his long-gone tormentor.
Fogginess remains in Rainbow’s mind. “You seem confident,” she admits, “but I’m still in the dark by what you mean by ‘generator’ and such.”
“OK, let me illustrate.” Quibble pushes four rocks, one each of the colors blue, yellow, purple, and orange, into a single pile. “Just assume for the moment that this pile of rocks represents the five-rock combination we need.”
“But … there’re only four rocks in that pile.”
“I know, but again, it’s just a representation; right now, we don’t know what the fifth rock color should be, or what order the rocks should be in. But again, just assume that pile represents the five-rock combination, OK?”
Rainbow nods. Quibble moves more rocks around, so that two piles of rocks, each one composed of the four colors as before and separated by a red rock and a green rock, line up in a row.
“So take a look at this new row,” he continues. “We need to find a series of blue, yellow, purple, and orange rocks that can turn any pile into what you see here: ‘pile-red-green-pile’. And remember our options: ‘blue’ adds a red rock in front, ‘yellow’ adds a green rock in front, ‘purple’ clones the entire row, and ‘orange’ removes the first rock in line. With the right combination, we can turn that pile into ‘pile-red-green-pile’; we use that combination as our actual pile, and … and that should work.”
Rainbow takes a minute to process Quibble’s explanation. “OK, I think I see what you’re getting at … so for example, you say we need two of those ‘piles’, so we need a purple rock somewhere.”
“I agree … but not immediately,” Quibble states. “I think we start with the pile on the right … and the first step is to add that green rock right in front of it.”
“And to do that,” Rainbow adds, “we need a yellow rock. And I guess we also need a blue rock, to add the red in front of the green, right?”
“We’re on our way,” Quibble states, excitement in his voice. “So ‘blue-yellow’ generates adding a red and green rock to the front of the pile. Now I think we double the row.”
“OK, so put a purple rock in front of the blue and yellow ones,” Rainbow continues. “That would make ‘red-green-pile-red-green-pile’.”
“And now we get rid of the two rocks in front, so we add two orange rocks to the purple-blue-yellow group.” Quibble moves more stones around, creating a row of orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow. “This should be our generator, and it’s exactly five rocks in length … so we should have Sombra’s intended solution.”
“So … orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow-red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow? That’s an awful lot of color, even for me. How can we know for sure?”
“To start,” Quibble says, “we know that ‘red-green-pile’ gives us ‘pile’. That means ‘red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’ gives us ‘orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’. Now we just keep adding rocks in front:
“ ‘YELLOW-red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’ gives us ‘GREEN-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’.
“ ‘BLUE-yellow-red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’ gives us ‘RED-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’.
“The next stone doubles the whole result, so ‘PURPLE-blue-yellow-red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’ gives us ‘red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow—red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’.
“Finally, adding two orange rocks removes the red and green result rocks from the front … so ‘ORANGE-ORANGE-purple-blue-yellow-red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’ gives us ‘orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow-red-green-orange-orange-purple-blue-yellow’. It’s twelve rocks in length, it contains every color, and we still get out what we put in.”
“So you think this time,” Rainbow finally adds, her heart pounding faster than ever, “we get out.”
“There’s only one way to be absolutely sure: you fill in the first five holes, while I fill in the last five.”
Together, the two quickly fill each hole with its respective colored rock. Rainbow fills in her final hole first; as Quibble moves to fill his last hole, she detects a humming sound emanating from the far corner. She turns towards the chalice, which is now cycling through its color pattern at a dizzying rate as an electrical buildup gathers within its bowl.
“Uh, Quibble?”
Her companion’s focus is on the rocks in the holes; as Quibble places the last rock, it and the other rocks begin to glow. “WE DID IT!” Quibble triumphantly announces, ignorant of his companion as he hoof-pumps in the air. “We solved the Chalice Puzzle!”
“Yeah, that’s great Quibble, but—”
“I’ve never solved a puzzle so difficult in my life … twice! That’ll show that smug Sombra guy!”
“I’m real happy for you, great job, but seriously—”
“Now this is a puzzle worthy of the next Daring Do adventure … once we add the extra restrictions, of course. I mean, it’d be just lazy to allow a simple solution to—”
“QUIBBLE!”
He finally turns to Rainbow Dash. “Yeah?”
“HIT THE DECK!!!”
Why do I always put these things off ‘til the last second?
Split Second certainly meant to return his copy of ‘Inspector Brown Beauty’ sooner; the pegasus had finished reading the coming-of-age/detective fusion novel several days ago. But then there were ponies to see, parties to attend, work that always seemed to intrude … and then there was that unfortunate coming down of hoofing cough just the other day. Now he only had minutes left to return the novel before the inevitable … a two-bit fine! And so he found himself galloping through the streets in the dark of night, grateful at least that the library would be open for him.
Almost there … FINALLY! …
Reaching the main entrance, Split Second pushes open the doors and trots towards the information desk. “Excuse me, I know it’s very late but I need to return … oh my!”
Upon reaching the desk, he peers over the counter and sees two ponies bound and gagged, each struggling with their ties. Upon seeing the visitor, each makes muffled pleas to the pegasus stranger, who quickly flies over the counter to reach them and undo their ties. “What in the name of Celestia happened to you two?”
“There’s no time to explain,” Daring hastily declares. “You two head immediately to Princess Cadence; she must be informed of a dire threat to all of Equestria. I need to find my friends, and—”
Without warning, the ground beneath them begins to quake. Suddenly, a beam of dozens of rotating colors blasts through the floor of the library proper, continuing upward through the ceiling and causing chunks of wood, stone, and crystal debris to rain down from above. The shockwave from the blast causes several rows of bookshelves to topple over as the threesome are flung backwards into a wall. Moments later, the beam wisps away to nothingness; all becomes calm once again.
As a dust cloud dissipates from around the pedestal, a small hill of fallen marble, stone, and library debris several feet in height reveals itself. Along an opposite corner, two ponies cower in response to the power surge that they anticipated right before the pulse emitted towards the sky. Covered in dust and shaken up but otherwise unharmed, the two slowly pick their heads up, dust themselves off, and look up at the hole in the chamber.
Quibble gapes at the carnage for a minute. “What in Equestria caused that?”
Rainbow’s focus is on the pedestal; the Chalice remains standing atop the structure, dust- and damage-free and continuing its cycling brilliance of colors. “I guess Sombra somehow had the Chalice hardwired to do … that …” she continues as she looks up at the hole in the wall.
Quibble trots over to directly below the hole, looking up through multiple levels of floor and ceiling. “Sweet Celestia, whatever did this went straight through the library’s roof! I can see the stars from all the way down here!” He then looks back towards the Chalice. “You think it’s now safe to …”
“Only one way to find out.” Rainbow flutters over to the Chalice, takes a deep breath, and reaches for the Chalice. As she touches its sides, another surge of energy fills her body … but not a shock. She cradles the Chalice in her forehooves as she begins to feel a warm glow spread throughout her entire body.
Whoa …
She slowly turns to Quibble, surprised to see him gaping again. “What?”
“Your … your body. It’s …”
Rainbow looks over her body, and is stunned to see its hue cycle through various shades of blue. From cyan to azure, midnight to morning to powder, light, dark, and every shade in between, Rainbow’s entire body changes blues as the Chalice continues to cycle through the myriad of colors in existence.
Oooohhh … myyyyyy … gawwwwd!!!
“How are you … feeling?” Quibble cautiously asks.
“It’s incredible. It’s like I’m permanently being hugged by every loved one I’ve ever known. I … I don’t really know how else to describe this. It’s just …”
“HELLLLOOOOOHHHHHH …”
A cry from above draws the attention of the twosome who each look up. Through several layers of floor, they spot Daring floating above them, calling out.
“Come on,” Rainbow tells Quibble. “grab on to my body and I’ll get us outta here.”
Quibble nods and grabs Rainbow’s midsection. As his hooves come in contact with her body, he feels the same warm sensation; taking a brief glance at his body, he notices his natural orange color cycle through various shades of apricot, peach, pumpkin, melon … from tan to brown, and everything in between. Mesmerized for a moment, he refocuses on holding on tight as Rainbow Dash, Chalice in hooves, flies the twosome up through the holes and eventually into the library proper.
Daring Do’s first instinct, upon witnessing Rainbow Dash fly up from the hole in the floor in the Crystal Empire library, carrying Quibble Pants in the process, is the simple thought, Thank Celestia you’re both safe! That instinct quickly gives way upon seeing the artifact cradled in Rainbow’s forehooves for the first time; her eyes widen as she gasps in excitement.
“You’ve found it! You’ve got the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun! But … Rainbow Dash …” As Daring eyes her companion and number one fan, she’s taken aback at the ever-changing shades of blue her body now cycles through.
Rainbow initially gives a curious glance at Daring, before remembering how she currently appears. “Oh … yeah, long story. Hold on a sec.” She touches down on a section of floor some distance away from the hole and releases her grip on the Chalice as Quibble releases his grip on her; Rainbow’s body fades back to its usual form while the Chalice continues to cycle through its vast array of tints and hues. She then looks around the library for the first time, shocked to see the carnage that the energy beam had caused. “Whoa … Princess Cadence isn’t gonna like this, and I don’t even wanna imagine Twilight’s reaction.”
“All of that can be fixed,” Daring quickly reassures Rainbow. “We got two others still unconscious near the information desk; the shock wave sent all of us careening into a wall, but I’m a little sturdier than the average pony. They should be OK, given a bit more time to rest after that ordeal. What about you two?”
“Good enough,” Rainbow replies, “but Caballeron’s still down there, tied up in spider webs.”
Daring gives a quizzical glance to Rainbow. “OK, longer story,” the latter adds. “Look we need to—”
The sound of the opening of the library’s front doors causes the threesome to turn quickly towards the main entrance. Before them stands the diminutive dragon that paid Daring a visit just days prior. Her eyes focus in on the artifact she had tasked them to retrieve; they quickly dilate upon realization.
“You’re … Dragonlord Ember!” Rainbow, witnessing the ruler of the dragons up close for the first time, quickly bows in reverence. Quibble quickly and clumsily follows suit, while Daring remains upright.
“You got it!” Ember quietly exclaims, paying no mind to the comments or actions of the ponies as she quickly flies over to them. “You found the Enchanted Chalice of Rhinyorgrun! YOU FOUND THE CHALICE!!!”
Ember scoops up the Chalice mid-flight. Immediately, her scales glow as they mirror the color cycle pattern of the artifact, changing hues from red to green to black to gold and continuing. She dances around the area in the air, exuberant that she is now in possession of the relic.
“Uh … you’re welcome?” Rainbow’s off-hoof comment catches Ember’s ears, as the latter descends back to the ground and addresses them.
“Sorry … sorry everyone! Didn’t mean to get sidetracked just now, but …” Ember tightens her grip on the Chalice as she continues. “I can’t believe it! You actually got the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun! I … I don’t know what you had to go through to get this …” She then looks around the area. “… but I can hazard a guess, if this is any indication.”
Ember looks down at her body. “One of many surprises, I guess. I just can’t thank you enough for what you did tonight. I knew I chose the right ponies for this task. You really have done this world a great service, and you have my sincerest thanks. I’m sorry I cannot stay longer, but I must … I must go; there is much to be done now.”
“ ‘Done’?” Daring gives Ember a puzzled look. “I thought you claimed the artifact to ensure that Garble and his followers didn’t get there first.”
“Yes, and again, you’ve done a great job of that,” Ember states, “but I must make preparations for the storage of this relic. It’s not like we can just display this in some museum; it’d be too risky to let this fall into the wrong claws again. Anyway, it’s my concern now. And thank you again!”
Ember bows to the threesome, then turns and flies back out the main doors. The threesome look at each other for several seconds, processing the sequence they just experienced.
“So what now?” Rainbow finally asks.
“Now,” Daring answers gently, “I think it’s time you two got some rest; you’ve certainly earned it. There’s a redeye outbound train leaving before too long; you two go catch that. I’ll tend to the incapacitated ponies here and inform Princess Cadence of all that’s happened in the morning.”
“What about Caballeron?”
“I’ll retrieve him, Dash. Trust me.”
“You should know, there are spiders down there,” Rainbow mentions.
Daring gulps slightly, but remains resolute. “After what you two went through, I think I can work on my … issues … with spiders. I’ll be fine.”
Rainbow thinks about continuing the argument, but fatigue gets the better of her as she lets out a yawn. “If you insist. Well, it’s been … something. Look forward to your next book!”
“I’m sure you are,” Daring replies with a grin. “Safe travels, and thanks again.” She turns and floats over the toppled bookshelves towards the back of the library, as Rainbow and Quibble walk towards the main entrance. Exiting the library, Rainbow takes a few steps before looking up at the clear, starry night sky.
“Never thought I’d be so glad just to breathe in outside air,” she confides to Quibble. “Between those monotonous catacomb rooms and that marble chamber … it all just got to me by the end.”
“Hey, you were great Rainbow Dash,” Quibble assures. Rainbow shakes her head at the comment.
“No, you were the real hero tonight, Quibble. For somepony who’s not the ‘adventure’ type, you really shined.”
“I just solved a bunch of puzzles,” he retorts. “Not exactly ‘heroic’ actions, right?”
Rainbow turns to Quibble in shock. “Are you kidding? I was going all to pieces back there, and you just kept a calm, steely resolve the whole time. And in case you forgot, you’re the one who saved us from Caballeron.”
“And you’re the one who rescued him! The pony who could’ve had us killed! That’s something ‘true’ heroes do. And in case you forgot, you’re the one who found the entrance to the Spectrum Catacombs.”
“Only because you solved that cryptic puzzle!” Rainbow pauses, suddenly aware that she and Quibble are shouting at each other. The two burst out laughing at the silliness of it all.
“OK,” Rainbow finally says after regaining her senses. “let’s just agree that, this one time, both of us were heroic.”
“I won’t argue with you about that,” Quibble says with a smile.
“That’s a first.”
Quibble gives Rainbow a glare, as the latter chuckles. “So,” he continues, “I take it you’re a fan of Metallicolt.”
“Yeah, I had to give my ticket away to probably the last pony who should be attending a hard rock concert. You ever listen to them?”
“Meh. They’re all right.” Quibble’s aside reaction draws Rainbow’s ire.
“ ‘Meh’? Whaddaya mean ‘Meh’? Metallicolt is pure hard rock awesome!”
“Hey, hey, now, calm down Rainbow! I’m not taking anything away from them … I’m just not really into them, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Rainbow sighs. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. To each his or her own, right?”
“I’m pretty much OK with any musical artist,” Quibble starts, “… well, except for Nickelbit, of course. You show interest in them, and we can’t be friends anymore.”
“You know, I’ve heard some of their stuff … I don’t care for it myself, but it’s not that bad.”
Rainbow’s comment fuels a rage in Quibble, who quickly pounces. “Are you kidding? THEY SUCK! Heck, I can’t even say the band’s name without feeling dirty ...”
Rainbow starts to open her mouth to counter, when a large shadow comes over the two of them. She turns to the source and her pupils shrink, as Quibble glances at the stranger while continuing his rant.
“… but hey, don’t just take my word for it, why don’t we ask this dragon—” He catches himself and turns back … and upward, to the sight of a menacing-looking red dragon that simply observes the twosome.
“Whoa … didn’t think namby-pamby ponies ever had stupid arguments. I won’t lie; it does give me a little more respect for your kind. But only a little.”
Quibble remains frozen in silence, while Rainbow all-too-easily recognizes the brutish beast before her. “GARBLE! What are YOU doing here … as if I had to ask!”
“Jeez, what’s gotten into … saaaaayyy …” Garble’s mind flashes back to a painful incident. “I remember you now! You’re one of those ponies who stopped me and my bros from smashing those phoenix eggs!”
Rainbow begins to sweat, knowing that she’s in no shape to get into any conflict with the dragon, least of all with Quibble nearby. She braces herself for Garble’s follow-up action …
… which is to grumble loudly, before getting down on one knee and addressing the pegasus: “I realize that my actions were a poor reflection upon my dragon kind, and I ask for your forgiveness for my past transgressions.”
The tension leaving her body like a deflated balloon, Rainbow looks at the on-bended-knee Garble with utter cluelessness.
“Rainbow,” Quibble whispers, “you know this guy?”
“I got a lot of long stories, OK?” she hastily replies before turning back to Garble. “Uh … yeah … so, that’s … great to hear. I, uh, guess I forgive you for … your, um, past?”
Garble lets out a sigh of relief that catches Rainbow and Quibble like a strong gust of wind. “Great! Well I guess that wasn’t too painful. Say, could you just pass my little speech along to the others so I don’t have to do that again?”
“I don’t understand,” Rainbow honestly admits, “what do you mean you had to do that?”
“Aah, Ember told me to say all that if and when I came across you ponies again. What ya gonna do, right?”
Quibble finds his voice and echoes Rainbow’s confusion. “Waitaminute. You’re this ‘Garble’ I heard about during the whole trip?”
Garble turns to Quibble. “You heard of me? Weird … I didn’t know I was so known among the ponies. That’s … really gonna hurt my cred, you know.”
“Did you come here for the Chalice?”
Garble gives Quibble a shrug. “What’s a chalice?”
“Don’t play dumb with us, Garble,” Rainbow flatly states.
“Hey, I’m trying to figure you ponies out better. I mean, why else would I be coming to a lousy pony library?”
“To get the …” Rainbow pauses, her mind racing back to minutes prior. “Wait; you said Ember told you to apologize to me?”
“It’s a dragon thing,” Garble mutters. “I wouldn’t expect you ponies to understand.”
“But I …” Rainbow pauses for another moment. “… heard a rumor that you were plotting against Dragonlord Ember.”
The mention of ‘plot’ angers the dragon, who leans into the pegasus. “You’re lucky Ember told us to be more tolerant to your kind, or I’d fry you up like overdone barbecue!!!” Regaining his composure, he turns towards the library’s entrance. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to—”
As Garble reaches for the handle, the door suddenly bursts open as Daring rushes out of the building, knocking the dragon to the ground with a loud thud. She spreads her wings as if to take off, but notices her companions still in the vicinity. “Why are you still here?”
“We got caught up in a conversation with an old acquaintance,” Rainbow answers as she points out the dragon Daring had just knocked to the ground. “And from the sound of things, he’s not the one who recruited Caballeron.”
“Old news, Rainbow; I know who recruited Caballeron!”
Passing through the hole in the wall that led Rainbow and Quibble to the Spectrum Catacombs, Daring Do marvels at the stone spiral staircase and the torches along the wall as she flies downwards. As she reaches the stone ground, she looks down the hallway towards the first room of the maze … and is surprised to see a creature crawling through the morass of megaweb in the hallway. She pushes through some of the sinewy webbing herself, meeting the creature halfway; she is taken aback to see it is her old rival, Caballeron, half-wrapped in spiderwebs and appearing half-delusional.
“Spi … ers. So … cons … ick … ing,” he stutters, his mouth barely able to move.
Biting down on the scruff of his mane, Daring drags Caballeron out of the hallway and into the staircase room. She spits out remnants of web and shakes off further webbing from her head, then addresses the stymied Caballeron. “More than you deserve from me after drugging me with one of your infernal darts, but … you’ll be OK, given enough rest. Now I gotta check on the others upstairs.”
She turns towards the staircase, when Caballeron cries out: “Ehhh … kliiye …”
She turns back to her rival. “What?”
“Kliiye … wuh … ehhh … errr …”
Her attention now fully on Caballeron, Daring coaxes him for more information. “What are trying to say? ‘Kly’? What’s ‘Kly’?”
“Kly … ennn …”
“ ‘Kly-ennn … Client! Who sent you here? I need to know!”
“Ehhh … errr …”
“I don’t understand,” she says urgently. “Look, the Chalice is already gone. Whoever you’re working for, you’re too late; it’s safely in the claws of Dragonlord Ember.”
“Ehhh … verrr …” Caballeron raises his head and attempt to clarify his speech. “Ehhhm … verrr … w-w-worrr … k-k-king … forrr … Ehhhm-verrr …”
Blood drains from Daring’s face. “No … you’re delusional, Caballeron … you couldn’t have been working for …”
“Ehhhm-berrr!” With one last breath, Caballeron rests his head back against the stone floor and passes out.
“That just doesn’t make any sense,” Quibble declares. “Why would Ember recruit both you and Caballeron to retrieve the same artifact.”
“… urgency,” Daring says to herself, loud enough for the others to hear her. “By having competition, she ensured that we would be as quick as possible in recovering the Chalice. She wanted it immediately … and with nopony else knowing about it either. That’s why she was so adamant about not telling Princess Cadence or anypony else. Right now … we’re the only ones who know she has it.”
“But to what end?” Rainbow asks. “She’s the Dragonlord … and if Garble here is any indication, they already follow her every word.”
“Hey,” the dragon suddenly replies brusquely, “just because I listen to know doesn’t mean I have to like what she has to say. Believe me, this world would be a lot different if I were in charge!”
Rainbow turns to Garble. “You follow Ember, but you don’t really respect her, do you?”
“Not really. What’s it to you?”
“And what about the Dragonlord before Ember? Twilight told us he’s Ember’s father. You respected him, right? Torch, his name is?”
Garble trembles slightly at hearing Torch’s name. “Dude, how could you not respect a dragon who could crush you like a bug?”
“And Twilight told me about ‘the Gauntlet’ … did that take place near the volcano near where you first met Spike?”
Garble groans at the mention of the purple dragon who briefly wielded the Bloodstone Scepter. “Lousy runt,” he mutters. “Yeah, the trial took place at the Flamecano, not far from our hangout.”
“Thanks, Garble. You’ve been a big help tonight.” Immediately after acknowledging the dragon’s assistance, Rainbow surges into the sky, leaving a rainbow-colored vapor trail in her wake. Daring and Quibble peer out into the nighttime sky as Garble shrugs and finally enters the library. Moments later, he steps back outside.
“Whoooaa … dudes, if this is how you treat your libraries, then I have seriously misjudged the party potential of ponies!”
As Ember eyes the Flamecano in the near-distance, she is struck by the tranquility of the scene. The feeling stays with her as she reaches the entranceway to the mountain that she had previously taken.
No boulders flying at her in every direction. No fires spewing from the entrance. The traps that had hindered the progress of herself and all the other dragons, in pursuit of the Bloodstone Scepter, now lay as dormant as carnival attractions after closing. Instead, an eerie calm follows her as she winds her way through the maze of passages leading to the original resting place of the scepter.
This has to be the place, she thinks to herself as she finally comes to the rope bridge that had once led Spike to the scepter. The cavern now lie calm and still, the pool of lava below the bridge undisturbed. Her heart racing, she swoops down to the lava pool’s surface and fills the chalice before returning to the pile of rocks where the scepter had once laid. She peers inside the bowl of the chalice, marveling as the lava changes hues within its container.
“EMBER!!!”
The dragonlord glances up at hearing her name echo through the chamber. What’s she doing here! Undaunted, she holds the lava-filled chalice high above her head … and empties its contents onto herself.
As the multicolored lava runs down her body, a feeling of agony grips her as she doubles over, careful to keep a grip on the chalice amidst the pain. A throbbing sensation pulses through her body, which begins to grow in stature. Additional spikes shoot out from her back to fill gaps as she grows to double her previous size.
Moments later, the pain subsides; she picks herself back up and inspects the results; she begins to laugh involuntarily as she notices that the chalice had grown in size along with her, while continuing to cycle through its spectrum of colors.
“IT WORKS!” she shouts to the emptiness of the cavern, her voice significantly lower than before. Regaining her composure, she refocuses on the task at hand. She swoops down for a second pass at the lava pool’s surface, again filling the bowl of the chalice before returning to the pile of rocks.
She once again holds the chalice high above her head … in a blur, the chalice is knocked out of her claws, landing on its side as the lava spills out onto the rocks, turning back to its natural fiery-red color as it chars and melts the patch of ground.
“What the …” Ember bends down and picks up the chalice, then turns to see Rainbow Dash hovering above the rope bridge, fire and ire in her eyes.
“YOU USED US!” Rainbow angrily declares. “Me, Daring Do … even Caballeron, for pony’s sake! Why???”
“This doesn’t concern you anymore,” Ember shouts back. “Now go!”
“You treated your friends like pawns!”
“I told Spike that dragons don’t do friendship! And I have nothing against you or any other ponies; I assured you that I would keep Equestria safe, and I intend to keep that promise. But to do that, I need this!”
“Need what?” As the initial fury passes over Rainbow, she takes in Ember’s new stature. She quietly continues, “Ember … what are you doing?”
Ignoring the blue pegasus, Ember soars towards the lava pool, skimming off a bowlful of lava as before. She returns to her previous position near the rocks and again holds the chalice above her head. “I’m doing what I have to do,” she quietly responds as she again empties the lava onto her body.
As before, Ember falls to the ground in abject pain while maintaining her hold on the chalice. Her body expands again to double its previous size, with more spikes and scales forming around her exterior. Soon after, she rises from the ground, now towering above the pile of rocks. She inspects the chalice, then turns to Rainbow; she smiles at the thought that the two are now similar in size.
“Ember, you gotta stop this, now!” Rainbow pleads, concern in her voice. “Whatever this chalice thing is doing to you isn’t natural.”
“Don’t pretend like you know about dragon culture!” Ember suddenly snaps back, her voice booming as it shakes the cavern’s walls. Rainbow is blown back by the sheer force of the volume, but maintains her position.
“I know we never met before today, but Twilight’s told me all about you … and I’m sure you’re not like this. You’re not thinking straight right now.”
“You’re wrong, Rainbow,” Ember states. “My mind’s never been clearer. Now leave this place and let me complete the process.”
“Process to what, becoming a monster?”
Ember suddenly unleashes a torrent of firebreath, causing Rainbow to dive down to avoid being charred. “HEY!”
“DON’T YOU EVER REFER TO THE ELDERS AS MONSTERS AGAIN!!! NOW GET OUT!!!”
With her new-found size, Ember simply bends down from her position to refill the bowl of the chalice with lava. As she reaches over her head again, Rainbow bursts into action, speeding over and knocking the chalice from Ember’s claws. The chalice lands at Ember’s feet, again emptying its liquid contents onto the rocks. Before Ember can react, Rainbow swoops in and clutches the chalice with both forelegs, straining but focused on holding its increased girth as she zips away. She returns to a position above the far side of the rope bridge and turns to Ember; the latter’s eyes shoot daggers at her.
“GIVE THAT BACK!!!”
“Or what, you’ll barbecue me?”
“… If I have to …”
Not expecting Ember’s quiet, seething reply, Rainbow turns tail and flies out of the cavern.
Ember quickly gives chase, but finds it difficult to maneuver through the passageways that were much larger for her when she entered. Her wings brush up against various ceilings as her tail slams into the sides of the passages, causing the area to shake as bits of stone fall from above. Undaunted, Ember continues her pursuit of the pegasus, eventually passing through the entrance to the Flamecano; her body smashes through the rock walls on the sides, sending chunks of boulder in the air to eventually splash into the waters below.
Ember is surprised and relieved to see Rainbow simply hover in place just outside the Flamecano. “GIVE ME THE CHALICE!”
“You’ll have to take it by force,” Rainbow coolly states, “and I don’t think you’ll harm me.”
“… You’re half right.”
Ember emits another stream of fire-breath directly at Rainbow. Unable to maneuver with the burden of the now-immense chalice, she shuts her eyes as she receives the full force of the flames which immediately engulf her body. She cries out in agony as she releases her grip on the chalice; the two plummet to the waters below.
The dragonlord soars over to the chalice, undamaged by the flames and continuing to cycle through its colors as it bobs up and down amongst the waves. She reaches out to grab the chalice … and notices Rainbow’s lifeless body floating on the surface; her mane, wings, and tail are charred black and her body singed a charcoal grey.
No …
Leaving the chalice behind, Ember flies over to Rainbow’s body, clutching it in her claws as she heads to a beach area at the foot of the Flamecano. She lays the pegasus’ body onto the sand and turns away, sobbing uncontrollably. Moments later, she turns to face Rainbow, tears streaming from her eyes.
“Forgive me, Rainbow Dash … I … I never wanted it to go this far … I’m so, so sorry … I just felt like … like …”
Through her tears, Ember notices a stirring from the pony’s body. She couldn’t have …
“Rainbow?”
A dull moan emanates from the pony’s mouth. Slowly, she tilts her head from left to right; minutes later, she wobbily gets onto her hooves. Immediately, she feels new pain when the towering figure before her squeezes her in a tight embrace.
“Rainbow! Please forgive me! I’m so sorry! I beg of you!”
The muffled cries of her embracee cause Ember to let go; Rainbow stumbles backwards and falls on her flank.
“You’re … alive!” Ember utters, dumbfounded. “How is that possible?”
“Like I told Quibble,” she woozily replies, “I’m made of stronger stuff than your typical pony … but I might want to see a doctor soon.”
“Rainbow Dash, I … I beg of you to forgive me. I just wanted so badly to …” Ember sighs. “I’m not fit to be Dragonlord.”
Ignoring her own pain, Rainbow addresses the dragon. “Heeey,” she casually starts, “I admit this isn’t what I expected from our first face-to-face, but from what Twilight has told us, you’ve been doing an incredible job! I just don’t understand why you felt the need to manipulate us and …” She looks over her own charred, pockmarked body. “… resort to this.”
“Rainbow, have you ever been in charge of other ponies?”
“Huh? Well, sure, I guess. I mean, I am the head weatherpony in Ponyville.”
“And the ponies you’re in charge of … do they respect you?”
“Well … yeah … I think. That is … I’ve never had a problem with anypony before.”
“Yeah …” Ember turns away from Rainbow. “Must be nice. I wouldn’t know.”
Rainbow sports a puzzled look which is missed by Ember. “Wouldn’t know what? I don’t understand.”
“They don’t accept me, Rainbow. Just a bunch of muscle-and-scale meatheads who still can’t believe that a tiny girl could become their leader.”
Sucking up the aching in her wings, Rainbow flies over Ember’s head to address her face-to-face. “That’s ridiculous! I’ve seen first-hoof: the dragons listen to every command you give them!”
“Only out of duty, Rainbow! Out of some ancient code of conduct created long before any of them existed! Not because they actually believe in what I say. Not like … not like when my father was in charge.” Ember closes her eyes and sighs. “Father … you were right …”
“You are every bit the dragonlord that Torch was!” Rainbow’s declaration elicits a derisive laugh from Ember.
“My father stands a hundred times over everyone. His voice carries real weight … he could knock over a crowd with a simple command. All the dragons feared him … and respected his every word. They knew never to cross my father. They don’t feel that way towards me. In me, they see someone weak and frail, not someone passionate and knowledgeable. All they see in me is weakness. Sure, they follow my orders now, but who knows what they’ll be like a year from now, or two years, or ten.”
Before Rainbow can respond, Ember flies off to over the water. She notices the chalice still bobbing on the surface, scoops it up and brings it back to the beach. “THIS,” she states to Rainbow, “is what made my father the dragon he is today. One who towers above all others. One who’s very being commands respect. My father told me stories about his transformation, and about the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun. I took those stories to heart, knowing that if I ever needed the power it contained … but I let that power cloud my judgment. Now …”
Ember drops the chalice and collapses on her back. Rainbow returns to the ground and eyes the chalice, surprised to see it continue to cycle through its myriad of colors … and see it slowly shrink in size. She turns to Ember, watching her stature wane simultaneously.
“I didn’t complete the process,” Ember relates. “The power I attained is wearing off. Maybe that’s for the best.” Minutes later, the dragon is restored to her former, diminutive self. She sighs and turns to face Rainbow. “I have much to apologize for.”
“You made a few mistakes, Ember. But your biggest mistake is not believing in yourself.”
Ember snorts in denial.
“You say the other dragons don’t respect you. That they only follow your orders because you tell them to.”
“It’s the truth.”
“So tell me: did you order Garble to come to the Crystal Empire?”
Rainbow’s question catches Ember off-guard. “Garble? I told him to apologize to the ponies he threatened during the phoenix egg incident.”
“But did you order him to spend more time around ponies? To learn more about them?”
“What? No … I was planning on bringing the dragons along slowly when it came to making contact with ponies.”
“Then what was Garble doing at the Crystal Empire library just 30 minutes ago?”
Ember stares at Rainbow as she tries to process the latter’s question.
“Yeah, he was there. But not for the Chalice. He knows nothing about that, though I guess that’s not news to you. No, he was trying to learn more about ponykind … on his own. And trust me, the Garble I knew before you became Dragonlord would never have done that!”
“Garble … was reaching out to ponies?”
“In his own way, I guess. Hey, Twilight told me all about that ‘gauntlet’ that you and Spike ran. From what I heard, Garble experienced first-hoof … er, first-claw … what friendship can really accomplish. He sees that, maybe he wants to know more. And who knows where that could lead. OK, so he doesn’t have as much respect for you now as you’d like … but he’s getting there. And this is Garble we’re talking about! If he can come around, so can all the others. Your actions are getting through to them; you just have to be patient.” Rainbow pauses, then chuckles slightly. “Heh … can’t believe I’m lecturing someone else about patience!”
Ember bows her head. “Wow … I had no idea that I was making a real difference. I wish I knew all that before I put all your lives in such …”
She stops in mid-sentence, her gaze focused on the horizon. Rainbow turns to follow her gaze, and notices a large creature flying towards them.
“EMMMMBERRRRR!!!”
“… Father?”
Within minutes, the massive former dragonlord reaches the Flamecano. Eyeing his daughter, he settles himself in the water to address the twosome at eye level. He notices the chalice lying in the sand, then turns to Ember.
“I’M NOT TOO LATE!!! THANK GOODNESS I GOT HERE IN TIME!”
“Father! How did you know I was here?”
“ALL DRAGONS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THE RITUAL OF THE CHALICE OF RHINYORGRUN HAVE AN INNATE BOND WITH THE CHALICE. I FELT A SURGE OF POWER NOT ONE HOUR AGO … A SURGE I HAD NOT FELT IN OVER A THOUSAND YEARS. I KNEW WHAT IT MEANT … THAT THE ARTIFACT HAD BEEN REDISCOVERED. I CAME AS QUICKLY AS I COULD; THANK GOODNESS YOU HAVEN’T STARTED THE PROCESS YET!”
“Well …” Ember looks away in shame. “actually, I did start the process … but Rainbow Dash stopped me before I could finish. And I rewarded her by …”
Torch turns to the ashen pegasus. “YOU SURVIVED DRAGONFIRE? INCREDIBLE”
“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome,” Rainbow replies weakly and half-dazed.
Eyeing the chalice on the beach, Torch then turns to Ember. “THERE ARE OTHER POWERS THE CHALICE POSSESSES THAT YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE OF. EMBER … IF YOU COULD, FOR MY CLAWS ARE TOO MASSIVE. FILL THE CHALICE WITH SEAWATER, AND TAKE IT TO THE PONY.”
Unsure of the consequences, Ember abides her father’s wishes. She picks up the chalice and sails over the sea, skimming a bowlful into the chalice. She flies back to Rainbow as her father continues.
“NOW DO AS YOU HAD DONE FOR YOURSELF.”
Ember slowly pours the contents of the chalice onto Rainbow Dash. As the liquid pours over the pegasus’ mane, the blackness washes away, making way for the colorful richness of its natural form. stray drops pour down her face, wiping away greyness and leaving behind bright cyan. As the remaining water empties over Rainbow’s body and tail, they too regain their pristine form.
Dropping the chalice, Ember backs away as Rainbow inspects her form, surprised at how healthy she feels.
“Whoa … that was awesome!”
“Father,” Ember says in a half-trance, “I had no idea the Chalice was capable of such powers.”
“THERE IS MUCH THE CHALICE OF RHINYORGRUN IS CAPABLE OF,” Torch states, “BUT MUCH OF ITS POTENTIAL WAS ALL FOR NOTHING. ITS ONLY USE TO DRAGONKIND WAS FOR GREAT STRENGTH. STRENGTH OF BODY AND POWER … BUT ALL IT PROVIDED ME, AS EVERY DRAGONLORD BEFORE ME, WAS ISOLATION.”
“What? Father … you’re the most revered dragon our kind has ever had. Every dragon looks up to you!”
“EVERY DRAGON FEARS ME,” Torch corrects his daughter. “AND FEAR BRINGS A DIFFERENT KIND OF RESPECT; A RESPECT BORN OUT OF DUTY, NOT OUT OF FREE WILL. TRUE RESPECT NEEDS TO BE EARNED … AND I NEVER HAD THAT CHANCE. BUT BY THE TIME I REALIZED THIS, THINGS HAD ALREADY BEEN SET IN MOTION.”
“No!” Ember’s voice cracks as she attempts to fight her father’s argument. “You’re legendary among dragonkind! That was why I wanted to follow your path! I listened to all your tales and stories! I wanted all you had!”
“WHICH IS WHY I NEVER WANTED YOU TO BE WHAT I BECAME. WHEN I FIRST TOLD YOU ABOUT THE CHALICE, I SAW A GLEAM IN YOUR EYE. I KNOW THEN THAT, GIVEN A CHANCE, YOU WOULD FIND A WAY TO TAKE BACK THAT WHICH WE WERE GRATEFUL TO BE RID OF.”
“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” Rainbow interjects. “You wanted to be rid of the chalice?”
“SOMBRA FELT THAT HE HAD CLAIMED A PRIZE … BUT I WAS RELIEVED THAT THAT CURSED ARTIFACT WAS GONE FROM OUR KIND! AND WHEN THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE DISAPPEARED, I THOUGHT THAT WAS THE END OF THE CHALICE … UNTIL EARLIER THIS EVENING, WHEN I … WHEN I KNEW EMBER WAS IN GREAT PERIL.”
Ember and Rainbow stay silent, taking in Torch’s words.
“IT’S POWER CORRUPTS THE MIND AS IT ENHANCES THE BODY. IT TOOK ME HUNDREDS OF YEARS TO FINALLY CONTROL MY RAGE … LONG BEFORE YOU WERE BORN, EMBER. AND NO OTHER SHOULD GO THROUGH THAT PROCESS.” Torch lets out a sigh that blows back the flora. “I KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE.”
With two tips of his massive right claw, Torch gently picks up the chalice from the ground. He carefully inspects its continuous cycle of color. “SO TINY TO ME NOW … I COULD CRUSH IT LIKE A BUG …”
…
He presses his clawtips together, crushing the Chalice of Rhinyorgrun into sparkling dust that blows away with a slight gust of wind.
Rainbow sighs at the loss of what could have been … as Ember wipes away tears and regains composure. “I only wanted to be a great leader … just like you.”
“NO,” Torch corrects. “YOU’RE ALREADY A GREATER LEADER THAN I EVER WAS. AND I AM SURE NOW THAT YOUR LEGACY WILL SHINE FOR ALL ETERNITY.”
Ember rushes to her father’s chest and embraces him, no longer fighting off tears. Torch carefully wraps his arms around Ember and warmly reciprocates. Rainbow simply observes the scene for several minutes.
“Well, hey, it’s been … something … but it’s a bit late, so I think I’ll just leave you two and, uh … yeah … you take care now.” Having given up on attempting to process all the recent events, Rainbow takes to the sky and flies off.
Figures … I can finally enjoy the window view, and I fall asleep for the whole trip back.
Upon opening her eyes, Rainbow Dash is surprised to see daylight pouring into the cabin that she and Quibble shared for the train ride back from the Crystal Empire. She turns to Quibble, and sees him fiddling with various quills. “How long have you been awake.”
“Not long. I just wanted to finish … this.” Quibble shows his work to Rainbow.
Rainbow inspects Quibble’s work. “Wait, isn’t this just the same puzzle we had to solve in that chamber?”
“I fixed it,” Quibble proudly declares. “This one requires all six colors, and it takes up only ten spots. It’s the puzzle Sombra should have made.”
Rainbow gives Quibble a funny look. “Seriously? After all we just went through, all you can focus on is a shoddy puzzle!?”
“Hey, I didn’t come for the adventure. I can’t help it if the adventure came for me.” The smile on Quibble face causes Rainbow to reciprocate.
“You are one unique pony, Quibble.”
“Sure, and you’re just another run-of-the-mill pegasus!” The two share a laugh.
“But seriously … you survived a breath of dragon fire? What are you, invulnerable or something?”
“I guess I can just take it better than most,” Rainbow admits.
“Too bad it was all for nothing. All the power and potential that chalice had, just to be crushed to dust.”
“Well, it might be for the best. I mean, I’ve seen enough ponies and other creatures let power go to their heads; it’s just too much for most to take. It’s why I give Princess Celestia so much credit … she has that kind of power, but also the restraint not to flaunt it, except when she really needs to, of course.”
Quibble lets out a brief ‘Hm’ before gazing out the window.
“So you think Daring Do’s gonna turn this into another story?”
“I doubt it,” Quibble answers while staring out the window. “I mean, her ‘adventure’ consisted of being knocked out, bound and gagged, and then exploring only a tiny part of the catacombs to retrieve Caballeron. She never even got to the first room of the maze.” He turns to Rainbow. “Maybe we should write about this adventure, instead.”
“Ohmygosh, I love that idea …” Rainbow pauses to reconsider. “Of course, most of what happened just involved solving a bunch of crazy puzzles.”
“Exactly! More in line with Daring’s older … and, of course, better work!”
“Meh … the real fun didn’t begin until after we left the library, when I chased after Ember and thwarted her attempted at harnessing the power of the Chalice.”
“Yeah, I guess I had to have been there to share the excitement,” Quibble states nonchalantly.
The two stare at each other for a minute.
“Ya know,” Rainbow finally says, “maybe we’re not meant to work together on a novel.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Eager to change the subject, Quibble suddenly remembers: “So, I pitched an idea to Princess Cadence. Can you believe it: me, just chatting with an alicorn princess!”
Rainbow thinks about her close bond with Twilight, but keeps it to herself. “Oh? What about?”
“The Spectrum Catacombs. Now that they’ve been discovered, I think it would make an excellent location for live-action roleplaying.”
Rainbow rolls her eyes at the suggestion. “Quibble, we could have died in there! Or worse!”
“Well, yeah,” Quibble admits, “but from what Daring told us after you flew off, it looks like all the supernatural elements of the passages have worn off. No more rabid spiders or anything like that. Just a spooky series of passages with incredible potential.”
“Potential for what?”
“Puzzle-solving! Think of it, Rainbow! We could set up those rooms with all sorts of markings. Really test a pony’s logical ability … harmless, of course, no real danger. I think it could make a great teaching activity.”
“I think you’re nuts … but I do have to hoof it to you, your puzzle skills really saved the day.”
“They did, didn’t they,” Quibble acknowledges, “but in the end, you’re the one who pulled Ember back from the brink of power corruption.”
“I guess we both had a heck of an adventure tonight.” Rainbow sighs. “Still would’ve liked to have seen Metallicolt, though.”
“I’m sure there’ll be other concerts. Now I don’t know about you, but I just want to get home and take everything in while lying down on my bed.”
“Now that is something we agree on!” The two feel the train start to slow, and Rainbow peers out the window. “Hey, it looks like we’re pulling into Ponyville station. That’s my stop.”
The two share a brief hug as the train comes to a halt.
“See you next Daring Do convention?” Quibble asks.
“It’s a date!”
“Awesome … I’ll have a date, in another several months.”
“You could always pay a visit to Ponyville before then.”
“Not today,” Quibble states with a yawn, “but yeah, that would be cool. Well … until then …”
“See you around!” After one final quick hug, Rainbow departs the train. She stands at the platform as the train starts up again, whisking Quibble and the remaining passengers along.
As the train leaves her sight, Rainbow flies off towards the center of town, searching for her number one fan. It takes her little time to eye Scootaloo engaged in a passionate conversation with her fellow CMCs; she notes Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hanging on every word the pegasus foal says.
“Scoots!” Rainbow races towards her, interrupting the foal’s story. “You wouldn’t believe the adventure I just had! There was this ancient dragon chalice, and—”
“THE CONCERT WAS INCREDIBLE FLUTTERSHY GOT ON STAGE AND GOT A STOMPING OVATION FROM THE CROWD AND WE WENT BACKSTAGE AND MET THE BAND OMYGOSH THEY WERE SUPER-AWESOME AND THEY GAVE US AUTOGRAPH COPIES OF A LOT OF SHIRTS AND ALL THEIR ALBUMS AND THEY’RE GONNA PLAY A SPECIAL CONCERT IN CANTERLOT TO CELEBRATE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY FOR THEIR CHANGELING BATTLE IN CANTERLOT AND THEY WANNA MEET YOU PERSONALLY CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???”
…
“I … see …”
…
“Can you excuse me for one moment? I need to say hi to Fluttershy.”
Rainbow bolts away from the CMCs in a blur, leaving behind a multicolored vapor trail in her wake.
