The Riddle

“How dangerous is this, exactly?”

All six elements were assembled in a particular alley, though only Fluttershy knew why. The others, Twilight had merely told that there had been exciting progress, but that it would be better to hide specifics for the time being.

“Well,” she responded in a factual tone of voice, “the dangerous part is I don’t really know what we’re dealing with. The reassuring part is that everything I thought was dangerous before turned out to be fine.”

“Why should we take the risk at all, though?”

“‘cause Twilight’s in love with science,” Rainbow Dash answered for her, causing a giggle from Pinkie Pie.

“That’s not the only reason,” Twilight clarified, which in turn caused a giggle from Fluttershy, “but while I still can’t tell you the rest, I’m pretty sure that the first experiment is safe. How about we do this, and afterwards we reassess? I can also tell you what this is all about, then.”

Rarity nodded. “Alright.”

“Anypony else has objections? Anyone?”

“Nah.”

“Nopie-dopie-lopie!”

“Uh, Twilight?”

“Yes, Applejack?”

“Is Peewee being here part of that plan o’yours?”

“Oh.” Twilight’s gaze followed the farmpony’s hoof to the phoenix, who was indeed sitting on a nearby roof.

Was he here to oversee the experiment? Twilight hadn’t forgotten what the princess had written to her three months back: Philomena is here, reading the letter, or perhaps reading my mind, or perhaps sitting on my shoulder because it is comfortable. The weeks which had followed had made that slide into the background, but now that it seemed as if phoenixes were able to change between being animals and persons, all of her earlier suspicions were back on the table.

“Oh, hi there!” Pinkie waved in his direction, giggling. “I didn’t know he likes flying publicly!”

“He doesn’t,” Twilight murmured, “I think he wants to watch.”

“Err,” Applejack made, “watch what, Twilight?”

“Right.” She cleared her throat. “The experiment. I need a volunteer, or better two. All I need you to do is walk across the alley.”

“If that’s all.” Applejack made a step forward.

“Oh, can I? Can I?”

“Can I also fly?”

“Yes, actually,” Twilight said to Rainbow Dash, “sorry, Pinkie, but I’d rather have two other ponies go first. Okay, so Rainbow, I need you to fly from here...” She walked a few steps to the side. “... to there.” She pointed directly towards the tower, but to Applejack and Rainbow it must have looked as if she was pointing to the end of the alley. “And Applejack, you can do the same on the ground. What’s important is that you both walk – or fly – slowly, and adjust your course if we tell you to.” She shot a brief gaze to the phoenix, who seemed to be observing the scene motionlessly. “Ready?”

“You got it!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, ascending until she was at a spot right above Applejack.

“Alright, you can go. Rainbow, don’t fly higher, please.”

Twilight watched, her heartbeat steadily accelerating as they both came closer to the Spiral Tower. “A bit more left,” she instructed, causing the farmpony to move a bit to the side, and Rainbow Dash following suit above her. “A tiny bit more.” Now, just a few more steps...

As she was right at its base, Applejack did a stroll to the side, walking around the tower, and though Twilight couldn’t see it well because the tower was also blocking her vision, she appeared to have returned to her previous course imminently. She also wasn’t sure whether Rainbow Dash had dodged it, but she didn’t appear to have made contact.

“You can stop,” Twilight called, running over to where Fluttershy was standing. “Did you see how she-”

“-suddenly changed directions? Yes, I saw it.”

“And did she turn right back around? I couldn’t see it.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“And Rainbow Dash?”

“I only looked at Applejack, sorry.”

“That’s okay.” She gave Fluttershy smile, turning to her two subjects as they returned. “Thanks. That was very informative.”

“It was?” Applejack sounded skeptical.

“Yeah. In fact, Rainbow Dash, I’d like you to do it again.”

“Err...” Rainbow shrugged. “Sure.”

“Fly a bit lower this time.”

“Sure. From here?”

“Not quite.” Once more, Twilight walked to a spot from which they were headed straight towards the tower.

They were now working for him, she thought as Rainbow Dash got ready. Finally, there was something he wanted... but it was different this time, not like it had been and still was with Celestia; she had chosen to do this, and it wasn’t like-

“Twilight?”

She snapped out of her thoughts, turning to the questioner. “Yes?”

Fluttershy just pointed at Rainbow Dash, who was now close to the tower.

“Stop!” Twilight called immediately. “Too far left!” Rainbow adjusted her course, looking over her shoulder for affirmation.

“That’s fine. Keep on going!”

This time, it was unambiguous: Rainbow Dash flew to the right, just before she would collide with the tower, but re-adjusted her course immediately afterwards, just like Applejack had done.

“Okay! You can come back now.”

“She doesn’t seem to have noticed,” Fluttershy said, who must have just seen Rainbow Dash dodge an object still invisible to her, even if she knew it existed.

“Did you notice anything strange?” Twilight asked Rainbow once she was in ear range. ”Anything at all?”

“Err, nope!”

“Did any of you?” Twilight asked the others.

“Uh-huh,” Pinkie Pie responded, while Rarity and Applejack nodded.

“Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem to have noticed. Why don’t you tell her what you saw, Pinkie Pie?”

“You made a curve!”

“I what?”

“You flew in a curve!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “The first time it was to the left, and the second time it was to the right, even though Twilight told you to fly straight! I thought it would be easy for you!”

Rarity nodded in agreement.

“Is it because you hurt your wing?”

“What?” Applejack and Twilight asked simultaneously.

“Rainbow Dash wasn’t flying evenly. Her left wing beats were stronger than the right ones.”

“I... did hurt my right wing,” Rainbow Dash said, “but that was over a week ago. Not even a Cloudsdale judge would notice that. How did you...?”

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I like how you’re flying, Dashie. I know how it looks!”

“Well” Twilight said, “that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with my experiment. So neither of you noticed that you were changing directions while you were walking?”

Both of them shook their heads.

“That’s amazing...”

Twilight stared at the tower in new-found awe, wondering just how hard it would be to create a spell that worked to such perfection. Permanent invisibility of such a large object was already impressive, and making ponies walk around it even more so, but doing it with enough subtlety for the affected subject to remain clueless even as she was specifically focusing on her walking pattern, that was nothing short of incredible. The level of skill required to make this work went far beyond Twilight’s current abilities, and if there even was another unicorn out there who was this good, then she had never heard of her.

Twilight doubted it.

And even if there was one, why in Celestia’s name would she use her skills for such a purpose?

No. Whoever – or whatever – was supplying this magic, it was not a pony.

“Alright...” she murmured. “The next thing we’re going to do is to have Fluttershy, who already knows what’s there, try the same thing. Fluttershy, could you step here...” Once more, Twilight pointed to the spot. “... and walk in a straight line?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“More right,” Twilight called as she was only a few steps away, and Fluttershy corrected her course, now heading directly into the black wall-

-until, right before, she suddenly deflected to the right. After about a second, she seemed to notice her own actions, halting for a few moments before she continued. Just like Applejack and Rainbow Dash, she completed a semicircle around the tower, but didn’t bother with walking any further, instead returning to the other five.

“I noticed it right after I walked to the side,” she reported, “but, uhm, I didn’t want to... um, try to walk straight at it.”

“Walk straight at what?” Rarity now asked, having watched the scene with increasingly apparent curiosity.

“There is a black tower standing in the middle of the alley,” Twilight said.

Nobody laughed. They had all seen the experiment. Pinkie stopped bouncing, making Twilight realize for the first time that she had done so before.

“Hoboy,” Applejack murmured. “You mean right there? And we can’t see-”

Twilight shook her head. “Only I can see it.”

“Because of him?” Pinkie asked, pointing at the phoenix. Twilight nodded.

“How tall is it?” Rarity asked.

“Fifteen yards, maybe. Rainbow, would you fly upwards, please? Slowly? ... stop. Okay, a bit higher. Yeah, right there. That’s how high it goes. Thanks, Rainbow. And it gets thinner near the top, and it has a spiral to it.”

“What color?”

“Black.” Twilight looked at the questioner. “Pinkie, do you want to try next?”

“To walk?”

Twilight nodded.

“Uh, sure! I’ve been here plenty of times before, after all! Nothing bad’s ever happened.”

Like the others before her, she walked in a straight line directly towards the tower at Twilight’s directions. When she was right in front, she did a step to the side, and then-

“Ouff!”

-she bumped right into it.

“Oh my gosh, Pinkie, are you okay?” Fluttershy rushed over to her, while Twilight was rendered speechless for the moment.

“Darling, you don’t actually want us to go... in there, do you?” Rarity asked, once it became clear that Pinkie hadn’t hurt herself anymore than she would have by walking into a wall (which, Twilight mused, had surely happened before).

“Err,” she made. “Well, only volunteers, of course. But... yeah, I doubt we’re going to get far just looking at it from the outside.”

“Does it even have an entrance?”

“I haven’t seen one, but I haven’t been looking very closely.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow.

“It could be hidden, somewhere. That’s what I suspect. But I could also just teleport us inside.”

“Teleport inside of an invisible black tower? I don’t know about this, Twilight. I know you like-”

“It’s not about science anymore, Rarity. We have been instructed to do this by a phoenix. A phoenix!”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow your enthusiasm, Twilight.”

“A species which can come back from the dead!” Twilight exclaimed. “We’re talking about a species here that is so... so... respected that even Princess Celestia is afraid of them. What would you do if god itself came to Equestria and told you-”

“-God?” Rarity interrupted, sounding highly skeptical. “Really, Twilight? The last time I checked, the two beings which are the closest to divinity are two ponies living in Canterlot, and as far as I know, most ponies don’t believe that there is someone sitting in the sky who watches over us all any more than Luna does. Just because Peewee can do some things we can’t explain-”

“Coming back from the dead is not just doing ‘something we can’t explain!’ It is doing the one thing in the universe which is supposed to be impossible! How can you just-”

“Don’t be overly dramatic, please. That is my job.”

It was a clear attempt to break some of the tension, but while she heard Rainbow Dash laugh and Applejack snicker, she herself was too upset for it to work.

“It is hardly the only thing which is impossible, either. What about time travel?”

“Time travel to the future appears to be possible, and time travel to the past is, eh, it’s not even fair to treat it as something that could be possible, because the universe couldn’t be logically coherent-”

“Ahem,” Applejack made, “you ladies might wanna get back on topic.”

“No matter how special they are, it simply does not make sense to risk one’s life in such an irresponsible fashion, when-”

“I’m not going to ignore-”

But Twilight cut herself off, taking a few deep breaths. “Sorry, Rarity. Continue?”

“Thank you. When we don’t even know what for.”

“Right,” Twilight said, “sure. I get what you’re saying. And what I’m saying is that if a phoenix tells me to do something, then I’m gonna do it.”

“But why?”

“Because...”

But Twilight was lost for words. She didn’t understand why Rarity didn’t understand! How she could turn her head from this. Did she not see how everything they had learned pointed towards phoenixes being a force of good through and through, more so than ponies, how they were more magical than anything else in the world and just how could you want to refuse them??

“Listen,” she now said, “listen. Right now, based on what I know, phoenixes could... literally be magic itself, or even... even... they could be integral to the universe in a way we will never understand! If the phoenix told us to do this, then there must be a reason. An important reason! Not doing it just can’t be right!”

“Twilight, you’ve been more... objective these past weeks than you ever used to be, which I had attributed to your sessions. And there is nothing wrong with that, but now you are telling us to do something because it doesn’t feel right not to? I’m sorry, but that does not fit.”

“I,” Twilight said, “I... I...”

Frustrated, she took a look at the other four, who had all been listening silently, even Pinkie Pie. Twilight overwhelmingly felt that she was right about this, but as of now she didn’t know how to explain, even to herself, why that was.

“You’re winning the argument,” she murmured, “but I don’t think you’re right.”

“And that fits even less.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I know this is all super-duper important,” Pinkie unexpectedly said, “but you guys do realize that we’re in a public street, right?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle, “you were getting a bit loud there, Twi.”

Somewhat alarmed, Twilight took a look around.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Pinkie Pie, who’s living here?”

“Bell Perin, Berry Dreams, and Ballad! I always thought ‘Ballad’ was a funny name, don’t you? Do you think she changed it so that there would be three ponies whose names all start with a ‘B’ living next to each other?

“No,” Twilight responded, who didn’t recall any of the names listed, “but we should probably leave. I, uh, could take you all out to eat. Are you hungry?”

“Nah,” Rainbow said, but Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity all said yes.

“Eh. Fine. I’ll come with you.”

“I don’t even know if you can change your name after you already got your Cutie Mark!”

“I didn’t mean to be rude,” Twilight said to Rarity while Applejack was responding something, “I think it’s great that you, um, take a stance for what you think is right.”

Rarity nodded. “Think nothing of it, dear.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said with a smile, throwing one last look over her shoulder before the group walked out of sight range. Both the tower and the phoenix were still there.