Chapter 2: The Riddle

Equestria seemed to be having difficulty sleeping that night. All of the houses stayed lit much longer than usual and whispers of gold and jewels could be heard into the wee hours of the morning. Even with all of the excitement though, the small group staying in Canterlot Castle managed to catch a few hours of shuteye before the sun raised its head over the horizon. After a quick breakfast, the friends headed to the throne room where they found the Princesses waiting for them to arrive. Also present was a new piece of furniture, an elegant round table with a large sapphire placed directly in the middle. Another new addition to the room were the fully armed guards who surrounded the outer edges of the entire throne room. The guards were constantly looking out the large glass windows nervously, as if a swarm of equines could burst forth at a moment’s notice.

“Welcome!” greeted Princess Celestia. “I hope you all slept well. You will notice the large gem sitting on the table. This is one of the many jewels from which Sun Cloak appeared yesterday. We now have only to wait for the appointed time.”

And wait they did, for Sun Cloak waited the entire twenty-four hour period he promised. It wasn’t until some time into the afternoon that the large jewel sputtered to life with an ancient glow. A low hum came from the sapphire and small sparks crackled until they became a bright flash of light. When the light faded Sun Cloak the Gifted was again standing before the ponies in his semi-transparent state.

“Good morning…or afternoon…or evening. I don’t particularly know when this message will reach you all so, good whenever-it-is to you all. I hope that the twenty-four hours allotted yesterday was enough time to allow you prepare. Now, before I give the first riddle I would like to go over a few ground rules. Firstly, a warning: I have done everything in my power to ensure a clean competition so be aware that attempting to cheat will be met with severe consequences. Second, I mentioned that anypony is able to hunt for my treasure and, while this is true, only the first seven teams to solve this riddle will be able to continue. Lastly, I want you all to understand my intentions for this contest. During my life my treasure would have been used poorly. I hope that time and the coming challenges will allow only a worthy team to retrieve my treasure and use it properly. And now, on to the riddle; since this is the first one I will make it fairly simple. I hope you have something to write with or have a good memory…‘Here it begins; where I shut them in; to the world I died.’ Good luck, Equestria.”

The image faded as the glow around the sapphire died. The throne room resounded with the sound of many hushed conversations. Even the guards had their thoughts on the matter.

“What in tarnation is that suppose to mean?” bemoaned Applejack.

“Quick! We need to get to a race track!” shouted Pinkie as she sped off and grabbed a schedule of Equestrian sporting events from who knows where.

“A racetrack?” asked Rarity, “Why, whatever for?”

Pinkie popped her head up from searching the sports list.

“Didn’t you hear him? He said, “here it begins” and you always begin at the starting line and they have starting lines at race tracks.”

She then went right back to scanning the paper and mumbling names of racetracks to herself.

“Um…I don’t know if that’s right Pinkie. You know, maybe,” Fluttershy tried to get her head around the sports list that Pinkie kept turning around and around.

“Hmm…he said that he shut something in and that it begins there. What kinds of things do you shut in?” offered Spike.

“Heifers!” shouted Applejack and she stomped a hoof on the floor resolutely.

“Huh?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Ya’ know: cows. We shut ‘em in our barn every night. I say we take a look at some farms.”

“Hmm…A racetrack at a farm…” murmured Pinkie, who continued to look over her brochure.

“But what about the last part? About him dying to the world?” commented Twilight.

“Did he die on a farm? Oh! How dreadful!” cried Rarity.

“If he did die on a farm it wasn’t because of the animals, all of the farm animals I know are kind and gentle,” Fluttershy defended.

“I don’t know if we’re getting anywhere useful,” Twilight shook her head. “Princess Celestia, is there anything you know that could help us?”

They all looked to the Princess of the day, except for Pinkie Pie who continued to rotate her sport schedule around and around. Celestia stood still and closed her eyes, she appeared to be deep in thought. Finally, she spoke.

“I don’t know how helpful it is, but I should make you all aware that I knew Sun Cloak.”

“You…knew him?” asked Spike.

“Well, I shouldn’t quite say that. It’s more that I knew of him, but I did meet him once many, many years ago.”

“Does that mean that you know the answer to the riddle?” asked Rarity.

“No. I am sorry to say that I do not, but I thought you may like to be aware of this fact in case it becomes useful later.”

“Perhaps I could be of assistance,” Luna spoke up.

The group turned their attention to the Princess of night.

“Of course! You must have met him too!” replied Twilight happily.

“No, Twilight Sparkle, I did not. He lived and died during the time I was sealed in the moon. But I have been thinking upon the last phrase, ‘To the world I died’. That sounds like something that would be recorded in a history book. If thou couldst use the Archives thou might be able to find out where Sun Cloak met his end.”

“That’s a great idea!” exclaimed Twilight.

She took off for the Royal Archives and the others followed closely behind, but Pinkie Pie didn’t notice and remained pouring over her sporting events brochure.

“Neighbraska Stadium!” shouted Pinkie suddenly.

The pink mare looked up from her paper with a bright smile and saw only the two Princesses looking at her, a bit startled.

“Umm…”

“The library,” Celestia answered the unasked question.

Pinkie took off running, leaving her brochure to fall to the floor. Luna glanced down and then her eyes lit up brightly. She levitated the brochure to her face.

“Oh, sister look! The Phoenixes are playing the Comets next Tuesday.”

* * * * * * * * *

“Let’s see ‘Q’… ‘R’… ‘S’. Here’s the ‘S’ section, let’s see if ‘Sun Cloak’ is on any of these books,” Twilight thought aloud.

“Oh! Twilight! I found something!” shouted Spike happily. The young dragon’s book finding skills were top notch thanks to his assistance at the library in Ponyville. He held out a dusty tome titled, “The Tragedy of Sun Cloak”.

“Perfect! Thank you Spike!” said the happy unicorn as her magic yanked the book from the dragon’s claws.

She flipped it open.

“It looks like an epic poem.”

“An epic poem? Is that like a poem that’s put to really loud music?” asked a certain pink pony.

“No, it’s a long story written entirely as a poem,” corrected Fluttershy.

“That’s right Fluttershy! I’m quite impressed,” Twilight praised her yellow friend. “Now, epic poems are usually just fables and myths, but there’s always a grain of truth hidden away in them,” lectured Twilight.

The purple unicorn skimmed through the tale quickly. She mumbled a few words as the myth unfolded: “war”, “dragons”, “city”, “jewels”, “forbidden love”, “magic necklace”, “mountain”, “traitor”.

“So, what’s it say?” asked Rainbow Dash as Twilight shut the tome.

“There wasn’t much of use, but I paid special attention to the last few pages. It tells of Sun Cloak’s final act: to crumble an entire mountain upon a unicorn city made of nothing but crystals. He was in the city when the mountain fell and died within it. In the end he was branded a traitor for his actions and written out of most histories.”

“A city made purely of crystal? That sounds like the Crystal Empire!” voiced Rarity.

“Well, I suppose that answers the riddle,” said Applejack.

“Sounds good! Let’s get a move on!” Rainbow Dash blurted.

“No. Wait,” Twilight stopped her rainbow maned friend short. “Remember what Princess Luna said? She wasn’t around when Sun Cloak was alive.”

“So what?” Dash interjected.

“So, the Crystal Empire vanished for a thousand years and just recently came back. Sun Cloak couldn’t have been to the Crystal Empire or even known it existed!”

“Oh…That’s a good point,” Rainbow agreed.

The library was silent for a few moments.

“What now?” Spike finally spoke up.

“Oh! Oh!” Rarity suddenly got excited. “Princess Luna might not have been around, but Princess Celestia was! If there was another city made of nothing but crystals she would surely know about it!”

“Rarity, that’s brilliant!” Twilight jumped for joy.

“Come on y’all! What are we waitin’ for?”

Applejack charged back to the throne room with the other following close behind.

* * * * * * * * *

“A crystal city?” mused Celestia. “And you say that it’s not part of the Crystal Empire? Hmm…I must say, I don’t recall such a place.”

The group looked downcast at the bad news.

“But don’t let that be the end of it,” the Princess continued, “is there anything else you can tell me about this place?”

“The book claimed that the city was situated on a tall mountain and that many waterfalls flowed through it,” Twilight added somewhat dejectedly.

The Princess closed her eyes and sat in thought for a moment.

Guards were constantly moving around the room, whispering news to the others and clanking around in their shimmering armor Pinkie noticed that a few guards had surrounded the circular table from before and appeared to be pointing at some form of map. “Fillydelphia,” claimed one of the warriors as he pounded the map with a hoof, “we need support in Fillydelphia. There’s a group of hooligans stirring up the city and-”

A sudden burst of laughter from Celestia cut through the guard’s voice.

“Princess, what is it?” asked Twilight alarmed.

“I just figured out the riddle. I’m a little surprised you didn’t solve it first Twilight. After all, you’ve been there.”

“What? I have? Where?”

“The answer is Canterlot!” declared the Princess emphatically. “Deep beneath Canterlot are caves full of gemstones. Many years ago, the caves were discovered and masses of ponies came from all over Equestria to claim their wealth, but a massive earthquake sealed the caverns deep below the ground and took most of the original city with it. Years later, the Canterlot you know was built on top of those old caves. Only a few even know the caves exist so it looks like Sun Cloak’s first riddle wasn’t as easy as he thought it was.”

“Of course! The Changeling Queen trapped me in those caves!” Twilight’s eyes went wide with the revelation.

“Did you say ‘crystal caves’?” Rarity asked. “As in ‘crystal caves’ crystal caves?”

Celestia smiled and nodded.

“Then what we waiting for? There are gems to be found!”

“But, how are we supposed to get into the caves exactly?” asked Spike.

“There is one entrance I know of at the bottom of the mountain. I will have my charioteers take you down there,” replied Celestia.

“Aw yeah! Now we get to do some real treasure hunting!” cried Rainbow Dash with joy.

* * * * * * * * *

The party boarded one of the large chariots and was quickly whisked to the foot of the enormous mountain. The charioteers dropped them off at a small, natural entrance into the massive stone and then flew back up to Canterlot.

“I don’t know…it’s so dark in there,” Fluttershy voiced her concern as she peeked into the mouth of the cave.

“I’ll bet it’s not that dark in there,” declared Pinkie as she bounced in. “Oh, nope. It is that dark!”

Then she giggled and it echoed off the walls somewhat eerily.

“I-I think I’ll just stay out here, if that’s ok with you.”

“Boo!” yelled Rainbow Dash from behind.

“Eeep!” shrieked Fluttershy and jumped backward into the mouth of the cave.

“That wasn’t so hard, now, was it Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow as she strolled casually in.

“Ok, I’m in the cave. I can do this. Be brave Fluttershy, be brave,” the yellow pony spoke to herself and inched forward with eyes closed.

“Let me get some light,” Twilight said.

Her horn began to glow and illuminated the cavern walls. The purple-tinted light spilled into the cave and showed a tiny, winding passage further into the mountain.

“Alright! Let’s find some treasure!” Spike dashed forward but halted in his tracks when he heard Rarity speak up.

“Step aside, this is my time to shine,” declared the fashionista.

The white unicorn’s horn began to shimmer. All along the walls, small pockets of precious stones became visible even through the hard earth. The further into the mountain the group moved, the larger the stones became. Soon, the party was surrounded by walls of pure crystal. Twilight’s light bounced playfully off of the shiny gems and cast strange shadows along the walls. At first the group “Ooo”d and “Ahh”d at the sight but, even surrounded by the enchanting crystals, they soon realized that they had no idea what they were looking for. The twisting passageways and confusing reflections only meant that the group became lost more quickly than they thought possible.

“We’ve been in here for hours!” complained Rainbow Dash.

“And here I thought you actually wanted to hunt for Sun Cloak’s treasure,” said Rarity pointedly.

Her horn was still ablaze and she was even sweating and panting.

“Besides, I’m doing all the hard work. Do you know how difficult it is to keep a spell up for this long?”

“Alright y’all. We haven’t even officially started this here treasure hunt and we’re already at each other’s throats. Let’s jus’ sit down and take a breather,” Applejack suggested.

They all agreed with a contented sigh and slumped to the floor.

“I just had an idea. What if THIS is Sun Cloak’s treasure?” asked Spike as she lay on the ground and waved to the enormous gemstones.

“As great as that would be Spike, Sun Cloak said that only seven teams could continue on the hunt,” replied Twilight. “I think that pretty much everypony could come in here and take something. I don’t think that he meant the Crystal Caves.”

“Surrounded by the most beautiful gems in Equestria and I have nothing to carry them with! Such a shame,” pouted Rarity.

It was then that her horn blazed to life and yanked her to her feet. Her own magic then began to drag the prissy unicorn down the passages at a blinding speed.

“Rarity!” wailed Spike.

“Quick! After her!” urged Twilight.

They chased after their white friend, down and around several curving passageways. A few times they lost sight of her and had to follow the sound of her screaming as she was forced to fly toward some unknown destination. Shortly, however, the chase came to an end. The party had come to an opening unlike any before it.

It seemed to have been hollowed out by a living creature. The ceiling became rounded, like a dome, and the floor had been smoothed out. Circling the center of the room were seven stone pedestals and in the center was another pedestal with a large ruby placed on top. Rarity lay sprawled out before the central pedestal and her horn was no longer glowing.

“Stupid horn, dragged me all the through those dusty floors!” whined the unicorn as her friends helped her to her feet.

As she brushed herself off, a spark jumped from the ruby and a low hum echoed off of the cavern walls. A short flash blinded the ponies for a moment but, when they recovered, Sun Cloak’s translucent form was standing before them.

“Greetings,” began the unicorn, “you have solved the first riddle and are ready to begin the real hunt. On each of the pedestals behind me you will find a small gem. In order to continue the hunt you will need one of these crystals, please pick one up and make sure everyone in your party touches it.”

The Royal Treasure Seekers walked carefully up to one of the stone pedestals and grabbed a small ruby that was lying on its surface. Each one touched the gem, as Sun Cloak had instructed. Twilight glanced at the other pedestals and noticed something slightly disturbing.

“Girls,” she whispered, “two of the other pedestals are empty. I don’t think we were the first ones here.”

Before any of the others could respond, Sun Cloak spoke again.

“Now that you have all touched the stone, its magic will only react to your team. The gem that you have chosen is connected to your party until the hunt has ended. This is to ensure that no foul play can occur. The other gems on the other pedestals will not react to you and, in fact, they will also keep you from stealing them. If you don’t believe me, try touching one.”

“Ok!” Pinkie said happily.

“No! Don’t!” cautioned Fluttershy.

But Pinkie placed her hoof close to a tiny emerald on sitting on a different pedestal and instantly she began to shake uncontrollably. Small magical sparks jumped at her hoof and her hair became even frizzier than usual, if that was possible. She pulled her hoof away and the effect died.

“Whee! That was fun! I felt all tingly and everything! You guys should try it.”

“No thank you Pinkie Pie, I like my mane as is,” said Rarity as she took a small step away from the other gems and held her mane down.

Sun Cloak spoke one last time and the group quieted down.

“From now on, I will only appear to those who hold these crystals. The next riddle will be given once the last gem is collected. If you are lucky enough to have solved this riddle before the last gem is gone, then I suggest you use your time wisely. Prepare yourselves while you have the opportunity to do so…and good luck.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: The Crusaders Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 25 Minutes