Chapter 12: The Findings

The light of a new day had barely crested the horizon when the Twilight came barging into the Royal Treasure Seekers sleeping chambers. She slammed the doors open and yelled to the heavens.

“Merring!” she cried in happy ecstasy.

The ponies began to stir from under their covers and woke. Yawns and groans greeted Twilight’s perky ears.

“Huh? What time is it?” groaned Spike groggily.

The tiny dragon rubbed his eyes and looked out a large glass window to see the sunrise.

“Mmff…ummf…gugh…” gurgled Rainbow Dash into her pillow as she rolled over, still sound asleep.

Pinkie Pie leaped out of her bed wide awake.

“Merring to you too!” the pink equine shouted.

“Come on y’all! I git up at this time almost every mornin’ back at Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack said as she hopped out of bed.  The country mare got right to making her bed. She clenched her sheets between strong teeth and tugged them into a snug, smooth spread.

“Can’t a girl get some beauty sleep around here?” whined Rarity. “And can you please stop all the shouting?”

The white unicorn sat up, forced her eyes open, looked around, and then fell back into her comfy sheets. Of course, she got up fairly soon for the simple reason that Rainbow Dash’s snoring wouldn’t let her fall back asleep.

Fluttershy woke up without so much as a peep. She blinked her eyes and gave a dainty yawn before flipping herself onto the ground. She made up her bed in a nice, neat manner.

“Quick, Spike, get the rings from my saddlebag,” prompted Twilight anxiously.

“Twilight, did you ever get to bed last night?” asked Spike as he moved to get the rings with a stretch and a yawn.

“There’s no time for sleep when we’ve got a puzzle to solve!”

Twilight’s left eye involuntarily twitched a little. Her eyes dilated and she had almost as much nervous energy as Pinkie Pie.

“Twilight, really, what is all this about?” grumped Rarity as she finally forced herself out of bed.

“It’s Merring!” shouted Twilight, her voice trembling with enthusiasm.

“Calm down, Sugarcube,” stated Applejack. “Now jus’ what is this ‘Merring’ of yours?”

“Merring is the answer to the puzzle! And when Spike gets those rings we found, I’ll be able to explain it!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” Spike’s muffled voice came from inside Twilight’s saddlebag.

The little dragon rummaged around until he finally came out with the three differently sized rings. He brought them over to the sleep deprived Twilight and dropped them at her feet. They clanged against the stone floor. Spike went back over to his small bed and sat down in it while Twilight levitated the rings into the air.

“Rainbow Dash, you might want to hear this,” Twilight said to her sleeping friend.

“I’m up…I’m up,” mumbled Dash.

The cyan pegasus waved a hoof in the air and then rolled over again and buried her face in her pillow.

“Sure you don’t want to hear this? It’s about sports,” teased Twilight.

“Sports?” Dash’s eyes flew open and she stared at Twilight attentively.

“Can you please just tell us what this is all about?” questioned Rarity.

“This is about the puzzle we couldn’t solve last night,” Twilight’s voice was quivering. “This is the answer!”

Twilight used her magic to bring the three rings together. The golden circles fit inside each other like a matryoshka doll. Twilight then chose the largest of the rings and put the others back on the hard floor.

“Merring is an ancient unicorn sport created over six hundred years ago. It was originally designed as a teaching tool for young unicorns to focus their magic,” Twilight began her explanation. “Here’s the general layout of the game…”

Twilight spun her ring magically in the air until it became parallel with the floor, making it completely horizontal.

“One incredibly large center ring floats in the middle of the playing field. We’ll let this ring represent the center ring. A small track, the width of two ponies standing shoulder to shoulder is placed around the gigantic center ring. This track is the only area that ponies are allowed to stand on the playing field. Five small towers are placed on the outside of the track, equally spaced apart.”

At this time in the explanation, Twilight levitated five small pieces of chipped rock from the floor and placed them evenly around the small ring to show how the towers would be spaced.

“Each tower has a small clear crystal on the top which glows when struck with magic. The objective of Merring is to focus magic onto the main ring and jump it toward the towers.”

Twilight shot a small beam of purple energy at one side of the golden ring. Her magic stuck to the ring like glue and glowed brightly. Slowly, her magic expanded around the ring until she could bounce some of it to a rock, while the rest of her magic stayed glued to the ring.

“Whichever team can capture four of the five towers first is declared the winner.”

The purple magic overtook the rest of the ring and it jumped onto three more of the floating pebbles.

“Any questions?”

“Yes,” opened Rarity, “you mentioned teams. How many unicorns play this game at a time?”

“From what I’ve read, the teams can be as large as eight per side or as small as one on one. It’s actually really interesting how the teams work together. You see, as a team they can combine their magical focus on the center ring to expand the magic’s reach around the central ring in order to hit the towers, but the opposing team also wants to get the towers. When the two magical forces meet, they push against one another for supremacy on the main ring, kind of like a tug of war match. If one team has better focus, they will begin to shove the other team’s magic backward and will claim more space on the central ring which they can use to jump onto a point tower.”

“Ok, so unicorns channel magic onto a massive ring and then try to push the other team’s magic away to snatch up the towers,” reviewed Rainbow Dash.

“That’s right,” beamed Twilight.

“Then what are the rings we found used for?” asked Applejack.

“I’m glad you asked. These small rings are called side rings and they throw a wrench into the game. You see, when Merring starts, the two teams choose a tower to begin at. This means that two point towers already start with owners, but the other three towers have these rings placed at their base. These side rings add an element of extra strategy to Merring. It’s one thing to push and shove another’s magic away, but what if a unicorn could float one of these small rings anywhere they wanted and then bounce magic onto them? By using these smaller rings as stepping stones, a team can loose in the tug-of-war on the main ring, but still come out victorious.”

To demonstrate this concept, Twilight floated a small piece of chipped wood from a bed frame onto the miniature playing field. She then proceeded to launch magic from the ring to the woodchip and then to the last unclaimed rock shard.

“That means that the players have to fight for control on the side rings as well as on the main one, right?” recapped Fluttershy tentatively.

“That’s correct. Merring was known to be very intense. In fact, it’s the intensity of the sport that eventually killed it. Sometimes a unicorn would push beyond what they were capable of and they would injure themselves…permanently. Merring was eventually cancelled as a professional sport, but it didn’t truly die out until around two hundred years ago.”

The ponies took in all of this new information.

“This is all quite fascinating,” mused Rarity, “but how does it relate to the puzzle?”

“Do you remember that line, ‘the ol’ ring-a-round’?” Twilight asked. “Well it turns out that was a term used for one of the basic plays in Merring. The ol’ ring-a-round is where a team sends out a surge of magical energy through the main ring to make the opposing team break focus. It’s a tactic that was known to end games in seconds if used properly.”

“Does this mean that we’re going to a racetrack after all?” asked Pinkie ecstatically.

“Sort of,” replied Twilight, “Merring is a sport, so we may have to go to a sporting arena which may or may not be close to a race track. The only problem is that Merring hasn’t been played for centuries. The closest we can get now days are the reenactment groups that still keep it alive as a kind of dinner show.”

“Are we going to a dinner show then?” asked Spike with interest.

“That’s just it. I don’t know where we’re supposed to go next,” replied Twilight.

The room became silent for a moment as each one thought over the new developments.

“If you don’t have the answer,” Rarity eventually spoke up, “…Then why did you wake us up at this ghastly hour!?”

“Because I know how to find the answer!” Twilight replied with a sleepy kind of happiness.

Her eye twitched again and she broke into crazy grin.

“Spike!” Twilight commanded with all the feeling of a mad scientist. “Get…the crystal!”

She clapped her hooves together and chuckled in delight. Spike shuffled a few steps away from Twilight and went to grab the ruby. He rummaged through her bags and finally came out with the polished gemstone. Tentatively, he handed the shiny jewel to Twilight as her eye twitched again.

“Sun Cloak!” the purple equine shouted at the crystal. “Tell us about Merring!”

The ruby began to hum its well known tune and Twilight gave a hiccup of a mad laugh as the gemstone flashed and sparked, enshrouding the small room in a bright yellow light. When the light had faded, Twilight was no longer laughing but instead gazing intently at the image of Sun Cloak.

The old unicorn was dressed, as always, in his enigmatic cloak. He appeared excited and his eyes lit up brightly.

“Merring,” whispered the dull yellow unicorn with intensity. “My all time favorite sport.”

He smiled before continuing in his normal voice.

“Merring is a sport of champions. I played it myself during my years at Small University. But, there are many other great sports out there that should be mentioned. I say ‘should’, but I will mention only one other. My second favorite sport: Cloudclip. Ah, I have such good memories watching and competing with my friends on the field. There’s nothing quite like the smell of freshly cut grass and the hum and whir of magic as it crackles through the air or the feel of a soft cloud beneath your hooves as you cheer on friends. No, nothing quite like it.”

Sun Cloak ended his message with a distant look in his eyes and a deep, contented sigh. He smiled and chuckled one last time and then the message ended. Twilight’s eye twitched again as the ruby became dark and the image faded. Spike took the gem from Twilight and looked caringly at his exhausted friend.

“Um…Twilight, you may want to take a nap,” suggested the dragon.

Twilight looked at her young helper a long time before speaking.

“…Yeah.” she agreed before trotting over to an empty bed and falling into its fluffy sheets.

Soon enough, snoring came from the purple mass, fallen on the soft bedding.

“Let’s move into the kitchen, shall we?” asked Rarity warily.

The others followed the white mare out of the small sleeping room to let Twilight get some rest.

* * * * * * * * *

The friends, those who were awake, had made it down to the Royal Kitchens where a table had serendipitously already been prepared with breakfast.

“She’s pushin’ herself too hard,” Applejack mumbled with a pastry stuffed between her teeth.

“That may be true, but she got results.” Rainbow Dash pounded a hoof on a small table full of breakfast foods. “Plus, I know about that other sport, Cloudclip, that Sun Cloak mentioned.”

“Do ya’ now?” asked Applejack with interest.

“Sure I do. Even Fluttershy knows about Cloudclip.”

All heads turned to the shy pegasus. She blushed a little and daintily picked up an apple strudel.

“Yeah,” Rainbow’s voice drew all the heads back to herself, “Cloudclip is an old pegasi sport. From what I’ve heard, it was originally used as an army exercise to teach troops how to fight without the ability to use their wings.”

She munched on a cherry filled donut before continuing.

“I’ve been to a few matches myself. It’s not my kind  of thing, but it’s popular in some circles.”

The others looked at Rainbow expectantly, but she continued to happily sit and munch her pastry.

“Well?” asked Spike as he leaned closer to Dash.

“Well what?” she replied while chewing.

“How do you play Cloudclip?” Spike explained and leaned in closer.

“Oh! Right,” Rainbow started, but then noticed how close Spike had gotten in his excitement. “Hey, uh…would you mind backing up a tad, Sport?”

Spike looked embarrassed as he quickly moved back.

“Thanks. So, as I was saying, Cloudclip is a game where pegasi gather a whole bunch of clouds into a large platform. Two teams each get on opposite sides of the playing field and try to kick the clouds out from under the others. Wings are strictly forbidden and using them will get you kicked out of the game. Whichever team is left standing on the clouds is declared the winner. I mean there’s other stuff to it, like a second platform below the first and whatnot, but that’s the gist of it.”

She shrugged and went back to finishing her breakfast.

“It can actually get a bit rough,” said Fluttershy quietly. “Luckily, I haven’t heard of any injuries yet this year.”

Suddenly Pinkie Pie popped up right by her yellow friend with a large foam finger on her hoof.

“Woo Hoo! I love sports! So, when are we going to that race track?”

“Pinkie where did you-? Nevermind,” Rarity shook her head in disbelief.

“Didn’t you hear Twilight? We don’t know where we’re going,” Spike replied.

“Then I suggest we figure that out while Twilight’s snoozin’ the day away,” said Applejack after taking one final bite of breakfast.

“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash nodded as she finished off her donut.

“First things first,” Applejack addressed the group, “we need to go back over that puzzle. With all of this new information we should be able to solve it.”

Spike whipped out the ruby and asked Sun Cloak to repeat his riddle.

“ ‘Where the ol’ ring-a-round scores a coup de grace

  And where pegasi fall with a bumbling ace,

  Here you will find the next challenge awaits;

  Only at Small: for one…for all’.”

When Sun Cloak’s message was finished, his form dissolved.

“So we know what the ‘ol’ ring-a-round is’,” Rarity thought aloud, “but we still don’t know what that talk about pegasi and small is about.”

“I reckon that the pegasi falling is that Cloudclip sport,” Applejack suggested.

“So we’re definitely going to a race track then,” Pinkie stated with total sincerity.

The others looked at their foam fingered friend, who now had on some crazy rainbow clown wig. Rarity was able to bring the conversation back to something more productive in one quick sentance.

“That’s all well and good, but what is this ‘small’?”.

“For one, for all…” mused Rainbow Dash. “It sounds kind of like a line in one of the Daring Do books or something.”

“Wait.Wait.Wait,” Spike held up a claw. “Didn’t Sun Cloak say he went to Small University?”

“Spike you’re a genius!” praised Rarity with delight.

“So all’s we got to do is find this Small University?” Applejack pondered. “How hard could that be?”

* * * * * * * * *

A loud gurgle interrupted a group of ponies weary from research in the Royal Archives.

“When my stomach growls like that it usually means it’s time to eat,” Pinkie told the others.

“I’m not sure we need your Pinkie Sense to tell us that,” Rainbow Dash said bluntly. “But yeah, I’m starving too.”

“But what about Small University?” pleaded Spike.

“Oh, Spikey-wikey, we’ve been looking over these old maps for hours now. I think it’s time for a break,” replied Rarity.

Spike looked back down at the faded parchments lying before him. These large and faded pages were maps from ages past in Equestria’s long history. Cities no longer in existence pocketed the old papers and some showed modern cities as no more than backwater villages. The ancient ink had begun to blur together in Spike’s eyes after so much staring. They really all could do with a break.

“Alright,” the dragon sighed, “but what about Twilight? Do you think somepony should wake her?”

“I’ll get her,” volunteered Fluttershy.

“That settles it then. To the kitchen!” Rainbow Dash charged off with a flourish of her wings, mind set on food.

“Do wait up!” called Rarity.

The party followed after their friend down the corridors of the Castle to grab some lunch while Fluttershy went off to get Twilight. When they had all left, a figure stepped from the shadows of a bookcase. The shadowy being began to pour over the maps set out by the Royal Treasure Seekers. It pushed the papers around harshly, mind set on something specific. The papers slid all around and even off the table, but the creature still had not found what it was searching for. Grunts of frustration came from the being as more and more maps found their home on the hard stone floor. Without warning, the doors creaked opened again. The creature gulped and shot toward the sky, shoving the last of the maps to the ground. Twilight Sparkle had entered the library.

“Hello? Anypony here?” the unicorn called.

She waltzed casually over to the table, once filled with maps. She looked down curiously at the pile on the floor.

“That’s odd,” she commented.

She ignited her horn and lifted the papers in a gentle magical embrace. She took a glace over each one and slowly set them back down on the table one by one. The other being in the room eyed the pony from atop a bookcase, lost in shadows. It waited and listened as the papers crinkled and as Twilight paced around the table.

“Where is everypony?” Twilight asked aloud.

“Twilight! There you are!” called the soft voice of Fluttershy.

The purple scholar turned around and found the shy pegasus trotting toward her.

“Fluttershy! Do you know where everypony went?”

“Yes, they’re having lunch. I was sent to wake you up, but you weren’t in your room so I came looking for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Come on,” Fluttershy nodded for Twilight to follow, “we think we know where the riddle is trying to lead us. Everypony’s waiting for you in the kitchen.”

The two left and their hoof steps echoed around the large, empty library. The figure swooped down from his position and again shoved papers around, always looking for its objective. Another clip clop of hooves came from outside the library. The being snatched up some of the maps in frustration and whisked itself up to the library’s ceiling where it left through a small crack in one of the giant window panes. Its prize may have eluded its grasp, but hopefully it had taken enough with it to be of use. The figure made haste away from the castle, headed straight into the sun to blind anypony foolish enough to look for it. The being chuckled quietly to itself.

* * * * * * * * *

“So Small University, hmm?” asked Twilight between bites into her sandwich.

“Correct-a-mundo!” Pinkie declared.

“We haven’t found any clue as to where this University is, though,” added Rarity.

“So that’s why I found all those maps on the floor,” Twilight shared.

“On the floor?” asked Fluttershy. “No, we made sure to place them carefully on the table. They looked quite old you know.”

“Maybe Rainbow Dash knocked them off when she flew out in such a hurry,” suggested Spike.

The others stared at Rainbow accusingly.

“What? I was hungry,” the pegasus defended herself with a mouth full of oats.

“It’s ok. There was no harm done,” Twilight replied. “Just try to be more careful next time.”

“Well, my stomach is full and I’m a hankerin’ to find that there University,” Applejack said. “Ain’t no silly map gonna’ best me. Not when we’re so close to solvin’ the next puzzle.”

“You go ahead,” Rainbow said with a wave of her hoof. “Me and Pinkie have something to do real quick. We’ll catch you in a few minutes.”

The others shrugged and turned to leave. They made their way out of the Kitchen and down the halls which led to the library, where they began their search anew. However, in the kitchen things were going a little differently.

“Ok, Pinkie,” Rainbow whispered when the others had left. “Let’s see who we have yet to prank.”

The pink pony giggled as she grabbed a small list from her saddlebag. She handed it to Rainbow Dash.

“Let me see…” whispered Dash. “…Valiant Charge, nope got him last week. Who else? Oh! Quill Feathers!…No. Wait. She’s out of town. Hmm…I got it! Pinkie, we haven’t pranked the chef yet.”

Pinkie Pie began to giggle uncontrollably as Rainbow Dash whispered into her what she had planned for the Royal Chef that afternoon.

* * * * * * * * *

All was going smoothly in the library. Maps were being passed around and mumbling was coming from the group. They were gathered around the table and were constantly pouring over the old parchments. Each one was searching thoroughly for even the slightest sign of Small University.

“It’s odd,” Spike whispered to Twilight, “I thought for sure that we had a few more maps laid out earlier.”

“You must have just counted some twice,” she mare whispered back.

“I guess so,” he shrugged and continued with the search.

“Ooo! Ooo!” Rarity began to point emphatically to a point on her crinkled map. “Right here looks like it might be the University.”

“Um, Rarity…” Fluttershy said, “On my map it says that place is now a village. They would have already had a community if there was a University there.”

Rarity groaned and then went back to looking over the maps with a slight frown on her brow. They were all getting slightly frustrated as they searched through the old documents.

“Are there any older maps?” Twilight asked a few minutes later.

“Sorry, Sugar Cube,” replied Applejack, “either they don’t have anythin’ older or somepony else has em’.”

“Rats!” The purple unicorn stomped her hoof on the floor.

Only a few seconds later, the library doors burst open and Rainbow Dash darted inside. The cyan pegasus looked scared. She flew hastily into the room and crouched behind Twilight, trying to hide herself.

“What are you doing?” asked Twilight.

“Hiding!”

“From what?”

Loud hoof steps could be heard echoing from the hallway outside the library and an angry muffled voice was calling out.

“That,” croaked Rainbow Dash. “You’ve got to help me!”

“Ok, but first you’ve got to tell me what happened,” Twilight threatened.

“Let’s just say a prank didn’t quite go as planned.”

“You’re still pranking the royal guard?” huffed Twilight.

Rainbow looked up at Twilight with an almost innocent plea in her eyes. Twilight shook her head in disbelief.

“Well come on,” the purple bookworm said as her horn began to glow.

Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were shrouded in a bright flash of light. They found themselves standing atop a bookshelf and hidden in the shadows. Soon, the Archive doors flew open and two angry stallions charged in. One, wearing a chef’s hat, had his face covered in a sticky purple substance. The other, decked in armor, had the same gooey stuff lodged in his helmet and covering his once shinny chest plate. The two came toward those in the group who were holding maps. All that Twilight and Rainbow Dash caught were some snippets of angry questions and frustrated hooves pounding on the cold floor. Eventually, the two left and things began to settle down.

“That was too close!” said a pink pony to Rainbow Dash’s left.

“Pinkie?” Dash looked over at Pinkie Pie, but had to do a double-take. “But how did you get up here?”

The pink equine ignored the question and instead flipped her head over the bookshelf so that she was reading the book spines upside down.

“Whoa! They look so different from this angle!”  she giggled happily. “Oooo, This one sounds cool. ‘Yisrevinu Llams’.”

She pulled the old book from the top of the huge bookcase and began to flip through its pages.

“Aww,” she moaned disappointedly, “it’s just an old school yearbook and it doesn’t even have pictures in it.”

She was about to place the book back on the shelf when Twilight stopped her.

“Wait! Pinkie, let me see that.”

Pinkie handed the yearbook over to the unicorn, who began to examine it eagerly.

“Do you know what this is?” the purple mare asked as she shoved it into Rainbow Dash’s face. “This is a yearbook from Small University! And it’s close to five hundred years old!”

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash strained her neck around the cover so she could read it with Twilight, “The Royal Archive has a yearbook from five hundred years ago?”

“The Royal Archive carries anything ever published, including yearbooks. Come on, let’s show the others.”

Twilight’s horn began to shimmer once again and the three atop the shelf teleported back down to the main group.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity accusingly, “just what was that whole mess all about?”

“No time for that right now,” interrupted Twilight, “Pinkie found something that may give us the answer.”

She levitated the old book for all to see.

“This is a yearbook from Small University,” explained Twilight, “and it might tell us where the school is located.”

“Really?” asked Rarity excitedly. “Let me see it.”

Twilight carefully placed the book on the table and allowed the others to skim over it.

“Here! Right here!” Rarity planted her hoof triumphantly on the front page. “It says that Small is located in Trottington. Quick! Everypony look for a Trottington on the maps.”

Each pony grabbed a map and started a search for Trottington. Spike, however, wanted to do something else.

“Hey Twilight, can you hand me that old yearbook?” he asked and pointed.

“Sure,” Twilight levitated it to him, “but what do you want it for?”

The book floated over to Spike, who caught it mid air with a small hop.

“I want to see all the funny student pictures from that long ago.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble Spike, but they didn’t take pictures back then. They had to hoof draw any picture that they wanted so only teachers got pictures put in those books. And even the teachers didn’t usually get pictures.”

“Really? Aw…teachers always take boring pictures anyways,” mumbled Spike as he opened the old book and found that Twilight was right. The only thing to greet the dragon was a lot of fancy words. Still, he flipped through the pages until he found the professors and he began to chuckle. It would seem that luck was on his side and this book had pictures. The old fashion was quite humorous to look at.

“I found it! Trottington!” declared Applejack from across the table. She was pointing at her map and showing the others where the town was.

“Excellent!” declared Twilight. “Fluttershy, could you grab a current map and find where that is?”

The yellow pegasus obliged and current map for the modern day location of the old town. Her eyes sparked when she found the location.

“Here it is. It looks like there’s a new town or something where Trottington was. The map says ‘Hooverdale’.”

“Hoo-Hoo-Hooverdale?!” Rarity began to sway back and forth in excitement, almost fainting.

“What? What’s Hooverdale?” asked Twilight.

“What’s Hooverdale?” Rarity’s eyes went wide in absolute shock and she grabbed Twilight’s face. “Why it’s only the ninth richest community in all of Equestria! You have to be either a millionaire or famous to even enter the place.”

“Do ya’ think the Princess can get us into there?” asked Appleajck.

“Of course Princess Celestia can get us into Hoovedale,” replied Twilight, as she gently pushed Rarity’s hooves off her noggin. “And, if we know where we’re going, I suggest we start packing for the trip while I talk to Princess Celestia.”

The others began to organize the maps into a neat pile when Spike suddenly jumped to his feet.

“Twilight! Everypony! Look at this!” he shouted. With claws trembling in excitement, the dragon held up the ancient yearbook. What greeted the ponies was a picture of a young unicorn stallion with the title “Professor Sun Cloak”.

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First fan art:

Huge thanks to The Truth of Chaos! Make sure to check out his page on Fimfiction and his DeviantArt page. Next Chapter: Chapter 13: The Alliances Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 18 Minutes