The sun hung low on the wilderness horizon. Autumn and Rarity laid out prostrate on the ground like a pair of slugs. After being brought topside with metal collars on, they were ushered into a partial building ruin on the edge of the plaza where four guards watched over them. They were part of the team that had stormed the temple smeared with camouflage paint and decorated with moss and leaves.

Winter remained free, standing in the rotunda with the rest of the team, her ears still ringing from the assault.

“Commander, release the princesses; they are not a threat.”

“Sorry princess,” replied the stallion. “We are under direct orders from the queen to capture and detain the insurgents for her arrival and ensure your safety. You'll have to ask her. She'll be here shortly.”

“Insurgents?” she sighed.

Winter looked out through the doorway across the plaza to where Rarity and Autumn were being held. She should at least try to reassure them. She started walking to the outskirts slowly, trying to formulate a plan to navigate this nightmare scenario. Ready or not, this was the last chance to stand up and advocate for their plan or just roll over for her mother again and forfeit everything.

Sensing movement out of the corner of her eye she turned to see her mother, already on the scene, flanked by another unit of guards as she tramped out of the woods. When they both recognized each other, the queen teleported straight to her in tizzy.

Equinox wrapped her forelegs around her daughter in a desperate, suffocating embrace. “Oh my precious baby! Did those horrible insurgents harm you?”

“No, mother they didn't,” she choked out. “I’m fine except for my ears. Can we maybe… unchain the captives now?”

The queen released her abruptly with an appalled expression. “What? Of course not. They kidnapped you. They're dangerous and they brought you here to force you into sabotaging our glorious plans for the crystal.”

Winter laughed nervously.

Equinox put a reassuring hoof under her daughter’s chin. “Don't you worry, because our vision is finally realized today. Come along,” she commanded, turning toward the two princesses with a flutter of her cape.

“How did you get here so fast?”

“I was waiting in the woods beside myself with worry. How could I just stay and stew in the castle, waiting for news of your recovery?”

The strike team saluted as they came upon the thoroughly subdued princesses.

The queen looked down at Autumn with sneering disdain. “So lovely to see you again, Autumn Blaze. Back for good I hope.”

Autumn only gave an angry grunt in response.

She turned to Rarity. “And you must be the little mastermind behind this annoying setback.” Equinox dangled a crystal necklace over Rarity's head, prompting it to glow in response.

“Princess Summer Storm,” she smiled. “I was all but certain it was you.”

“You knew we were coming,” charged Autumn.

“Of course. Your bold actions made your plan evident. I'm not stupid. I didn't get where I am today by complete accident. Why scour the countryside when I can just patiently wait for you to trap yourself in a bunker?”

Equinox turned to the old temple with a grin. “Well, the gang’s all here. We should see what this crystal can do.”

The princesses looked up at Winter expectantly. She swallowed. She needed to pick a side here and commit. Doing nothing was picking a side. Doing nothing was easy. Doing nothing was what she had always done but it didn't feel right.

“Bring them to the crystal,” ordered the queen, already walking back to the temple.

Winter ran urgently to catch up with her. “Um, uh, do we really need to do this right now? I mean it’s been a crazy day. Maybe we should just go back to the castle for now and… sleep on it.”

“But, Winter, everyone's already right here right now. This is the big moment we've been waiting for. Aren't you excited?” She looked to her daughter who forcefully returned a pained smile in feigned agreement even as she continued to flounder for something to say or do to stay on the fence and not offend her mother but still somehow get what she wanted but it was unavoidable. She was going to have to be… bold.

They entered the rotunda, Autumn and Rarity being marched in behind them.

Winter's voice echoed through the dome as she complained feebly. “Um, I- I don't feel well. Maybe I-”

“Oh it's all the excitement of the day,” began the queen as she started down the stairs. It’s probably just upset your stomach. Don’t you worry, we’ll get this out of the way quickly and then you can lay down in the carriage on the way home.”

Winter grimaced in frustrated embarrassment as she followed deeper into the chamber.

“Tell her,” growled a muted, guttural wheeze from behind that she assumed belonged to Autumn.

She was trying to tell her… or something. But her track record… Her best efforts always fizzled out against the ears that didn’t hear and the constant domineering riptide of her mother’s agenda always pulling on her. This was to say nothing of her legendary wrath when things didn't go her way.

The light of the queen's horn gave way to the welcoming glow of the crystal. She gasped in wonder as all three princesses assembled around it.

“Why it's utterly beautiful. I've never seen it like this before.”

The commander and a guard stood back against the wall. She motioned to the other two responsible for the captives.

“Hooves to the crystal if you please,” ordered the queen.

They pushed the princesses forward, drawing their sabers and placing the cold edges against their cheeks, prompting them to comply. Rarity and Autumn reluctantly placed their hooves upon the Unity Crystal.

When nothing happened, Equinox looked expectantly to her daughter and saw that she was frozen with hesitation.

“What’s the matter, dear? Just touch the crystal and I'll take it from there.”

Winter swallowed and looked around either side of the crystal to see Autumn and Rarity in chains and glaring back at her.

She raised her hoof slowly.

“You’ve betrayed all Kirin,” spat Autumn. The guard's blade pressed into her, threatening to draw blood.

“Hush now, impudent cur.” hissed the queen before turning back to her daughter. “Go on,” she encouraged.

Her breath was coming in short, panicked bursts. “I-”

Suddenly Winter felt her hoof magically compelled toward the crystal. Before she could protest, It pressed flat on its side.

Winter gasped. The moment the purple aura of her mother dissipated from her hoof she whipped it away but it was already too late. The crystal hummed to life, pulsing with energy.

The guards forced the other two princesses away from the crystal as white light snaked into the root pattern beneath their hooves.

The room rumbled. Everyone looked around in surprise but Winter didn't even notice. She stared, mouth agape at her own hoof. So many things were racing through her head. Shock, mortification and an unfamiliar tightening in her body that must have been rage. Her mother had treated her like a child in front of everyone, robbed her of her agency and never once asked how she felt about any of this.

Her teeth gritted as the room settled with a thud and the crystal dimmed, leaving them in the glow of the queen’s horn.

“Mother,” she cried, lighting her own horn. “I don't want this! I never wanted this!”

Equinox looked up at her in surprise, her hooves already groping greedily over the crystal, searching for whatever boon it would bestow. “What? What are you saying? You’ve been excited about this from the beginning.”

“Not like this. This isn't how you get unity. Swords and chains and…”

The queen rolled her eyes condescendingly. “Winter, of course this is how you get it. Someday when you’re mature enough to grasp-”

“This isn’t even about you,” roared Winter with deafening authority. “It’s about the three of us! You’re just butting in and taking over like you always do!”

The room fell into ominous silence, the last of her biting words reverberating into every crack and crevice as the dumbstruck onlookers cowered.

The queen's mouth hung open in abject shock, her ears stinging with the unprecedented diatribe levied against her by her own, always demure and obedient, daughter. The expression told her that she was finally, for once in her life, being taken seriously.

The corners of Autumn’s mouth struggled not to turn up in a spiteful smirk.

The queen’s eyes narrowed. “What… did you just say to me?”

Winter took a slow, shaky breath. “You… shouldn't… even… be here.”

Equinox shot forward to confront her. “You ungrateful little brat! I am your mother and Queen of the Kirin and you will show me due respect. I am building this empire with my own two hooves. You will inherit it some day and right here on the cusp of everything you’re-”

“I don’t want to inherit what you’re building,” she shot back. “It’s gross!”

“Ugh! Foolish child! No leader has accomplished what I have. I would like to see you do better!”

“So would the crystal, mom! So would the crystal!”

“I don't care what the crystal thinks, you're clearly not ready to govern.”

“How would you even know? You never let me do anything. I'm twenty-two years old and basically live in a fancy daycare center. I'm barely allowed to go buy candy by myself.”

“Yes and look how that turned out.”

“You know what?” sneered Winter, digging deep for a real crusher.

“Um, as entertaining as this is,” shouted Autumn. “It looks like we’re trapped in this room now and I don’t really know what’s going on anymore.”

The two stopped their fighting to look about the room.

“The stairs are gone,” Equinox pointed out, glancing at where the exit should have been. “What happened?”

The two free guards began scouring the peripheries, looking for a way out.

“I think the whole room went downward,” explained Rarity.

“I thought the crystal was supposed to become receptive to influence after we touched it,” began Winter. “But it doesn't even…” she waved her hoof over the dark and unresponsive crystal. “It doesn't even look like it works anymore.”

“Are we trapped here?” gasped Equinox.

“There was nothing like this in any of the material I covered. I don’t think anyone successfully influenced the crystal either. We’re in uncharted territory.”

“Could this be some sort of failsafe or defense system for the crystal,” questioned Rarity.

“A defense system against certain Kirin from using the crystal incorrectly?” asked Winter pointedly.

“Hmph.”

“These three panels along the wall glow,” reported one guard. “They have a gap in the middle like they're supposed to open but they won't budge.”

Winter moved in for a closer look. There were indeed three evenly spaced door-like shapes around the circumference of the room. Their rectangular outlines glowed, attached to the also glowing root pattern on the floor which seemed to have drained all the energy from the crystal.

“Maybe these open somehow using the power of the crystal,” she murmured inching closer. “The power's already in there; we just need to activate it somehow, I’m guessing.”

With the added light of her horn she began to feel around on the surface with one hoof, scanning over an array of carved symbols. As she caressed the stone, the white light energy came spilling down a crevasse to fill the symbol at the center of the door, an inverted spike in a circle that looked a little like an icicle.

Winter gasped and pulled away, the energy absorbing back into the reservoir of the doorframe. She looked at the other two prominent symbols on either side, flames and a jagged bolt of lightning. Predictably they did nothing when she touched them.

She turned back. “Summer, Autumn, I think this door requires all of us just like the crystal.”

The two princesses stepped forward but were stopped fast by their collars.

“Let them approach,” ordered the queen tersely.

Autumn and Rarity shambled over to either side of Winter and examined the symbols, immediately comprehending what to do. The three of them placed their hooves on the door, bringing them to life with light. There came a rumble as the two halves of stone parted, splitting the ice symbol down the middle.

The group watched in awestruck wonder as a passage materialized before their very eyes in the light of Winter’s horn. It was another chamber, much smaller and square. It was a short walk to a dead end where a matrix of familiar symbols lined the floor and every wall.

Unhindered by restraints, Winter was the first to enter.

“Winter,” be careful,” scolded the queen. “We have no idea what's in here.”

The ice princess looked down at the floor glyphs as she walked over them. They were the same as the ones on the doors. The one representative of ice lit up in just the same way as she placed a hoof on it. She looked at the wall to see more symbols. The space was cramped. In fact she could probably touch the floor, ceiling and both walls simultaneously if she really stretched. Another glyph illuminated as she rested her hoof on the wall.

Winter turned back to the group waiting in the doorway. “Take off their collars.”

“Why?” protested the queen.

“Because they're cruel and in the way. This looks like some kind of trial for the three princesses. We need their help to get out of here.”

“Ugh, fine. But the magicuffs stay on.” She turned to the guards. “Remove the collars.”

The captain produced a key and unlocked the metal collars around the captives’ necks, casting them back into the central chamber with a rattle and a clang. Rarity rubbed her neck as she followed autumn into the tight chamber.

“And don’t even think about trying anything funny,” added the queen darkly.

“Oof, not much space in here,” grunted Autumn bumping between Winter and the wall.

“Oh, I've played something like this before,” chimed Rarity, tapping different tiles.

“What are we supposed to do?” Autumn shrugged.

“Not sure,” mumbled Winter. “Just try lighting up as many tiles with your hooves as you can, I guess.”

The three of them began stretching and twisting as they found their corresponding tiles. Light from the guards helped. The symbols were large but few, only about one to three for each of them per surface making them need to plan which ones they would take.

Autumn giggled and squirmed as Winter wriggled under her barrel to reach for another two ice symbols.

“What is this, a game?” scoffed the queen looking on in annoyance. “Ridiculous.”

“Look, there's a little gauge on the back wall filling up the more tiles we hold down,” noticed Rarity. “You were right. That must be the objective.”

Winter stretched her forelegs to the max. “Almost… No, this isn't going to work,” she admitted, pulling back to abandon the position.

“There's two close together ice ones here,” reported Autumn, gesturing with a nod.

Rarity watched the power gauge go up and down out of the corner of her eye. “I guess there's no one right way to do this.”

“Almost got it.”

“Getting a cramp here.”

“I'm touching four spaces,” declared Rarity.

“Me too,” grunted Autumn who was balancing with only one hoof on the ground. “It's still not enough though.”

“Winter?”

“I have four too, I think.” She tried to check all of her hooves without slipping and falling on her back.

“Isn’t it supposed to do something?”

“The gauge is close to full but not quite there.”

“Hold on… Maybe…” Winter looked up at the ceiling and strained her neck, just barely able to poke the corner of a fifth tile with the tip of her horn. It worked. The symbol lit up and the gauge filled to the top, sending a sudden surge of power through a groove on the floor and back into the crystal chamber.

“Is that it?”

“I think we did it. Whatever it was.”

“Ahh!” Winter collapsed with a thud.

Rarity helped her up as the three princesses shared a laugh.

“That was good thinking.”

“Is the crystal ready now?” groaned Equinox impatiently. “Or is there some obligatory distraction waiting for us behind the other two doors?”

When the princesses returned to the central chamber, they were greeted by a pair of swinging metal collars floating in the air.

“Collars back on, ladies,” ordered the queen coldly.

Rarity and Autumn reflexively cowered behind Winter.

“No, we're done with the collars,” declared Winter firmly.

The queen's eyes narrowed. “Who do you think you are, making decrees for me? The collars are a reasonable precaution.”

“You have a team of special ops soldiers. The collars are an excessive hindrance and I refuse to continue the trials if you insist on using them.” Winter dropped to her haunches and crossed her forelegs defiantly. “We can just stay down here and starve.”

The other two princesses sat behind her.

The queen grinded her teeth. “I don't believe this. I am trying to protect us and you're here forming alliances with the enemy.”

“The enemy? The only reason they'd have to harm us is because of what you did to them. Mother, did you send an assassin to kill Princess Summer Storm when she was a foal?”

Equinox was aghast with indignation. “What? Where did you hear such a story?”

Winter only returned a tired stare as it was self-evident to all where the alternate account came from.

“Have you ever known me to do such a thing?” spat Equinox.

“She hasn't been in hiding like you said. She was kidnapped and raised by an ice assassin. She didn't even know how to use lightning magic until today because there was no one around who even knew how to teach her.”

The queen looked away. “Listen, we've all made decisions we're not entirely proud of. The important thing is that the mission failed and I've changed. Don't make me out to be the bad guy here.”

“I'm not; you are,” she quipped.

Equinox bit her lip as if she were trying to hold in a hurricane. She hurled the collars across the room with a crash. “Get going,” she growled, nearly frothing at the mouth.

The open doorway and a section of the root pattern on the floor had gone dark, likely indicating their completion of the trial.

Winter’s heart was nearly beating out of her chest from the taxing power struggle. She stood up followed by the other two and they all walked to the next sealed door. There were three elemental symbols upon it just like before but this time lightning was at the center. Rarity wondered if there was any significance to this or if it was just for the sake of symmetry.

The three of them placed their hooves on their respective symbols and the door came to life, sliding open with the sound of stone on stone.

“Oh,” exclaimed Rarity at the spacious chamber before them.

Made from the same grayish blue stone, the floorplan was square, at least twice the size of the crystal chamber. The ceiling was high, perhaps two stories up. It seemed like it was deliberately meant to feel the opposite of the previous room. Being able to stretch out a bit more was a relief to everyone.

The whole group walked in this time, including the queen and guards who looked around curiously. There was another empty groove carved into the floor. An energy sluice inlaid with crystalline and leading back to the Unity Crystal. At its other end it carved a maze-like pattern that went all over, up the walls and on the ceiling.

“We must need to send energy through this little path like before,” posed Rarity. “But where's the source? Where does it come from and how do we activate it?”

“We probably just need to step on all the little shapes again,” answered Autumn, eyeing an orange spot on the ground. The color was actually a separate inset stone piece, a disk placed neatly at a four way junction of the groove that meandered every surface of the room. The groove continuation on the disk was L-shaped connecting two directions together but leaving two unconnected ends also. She looked around and saw different colored disks with different shaped grooves in them. Some were straight lines and some were Ls.

“These spots on the floor look like they're supposed to spin,” she added, placing her hoof on the circle. “Don't know how though.” She tried twisting her hoof on it but it wouldn't budge.

“This looks… tedious,” muttered Rarity, her eyes bouncing between the colored spots overhead. “Hey, there's a touchpad in the very center of the ceiling where the groove ends,” she pointed excitedly. I bet that's the starting point. It looks like it's for me.”

The three of them squinted straight up at the lightning bolt tile that would probably require a six high Kirin tower to reach.

“Yep,” grunted Autumn. “So now what?”

“I'll just levitate you up there to touch it,” suggested Winter.

Rarity nodded. “That works.”

She flailed her limbs awkwardly as she suddenly became weightless and began to drift upward toward the ceiling like a loose balloon. She looked up as the touch pad became larger in her view. Reached a hoof out Rarity planted it on the tile as she made contact.

The tile illuminated even as she pulled off of it and energy began to flow from it into the groove. The light raced across the ceiling, tracing a shape, turning corners in a zigzag until it came to the first junction where it stopped short, colliding with a misaligned disk. The energy promptly reversed direction, seemingly retracting like a tape measure before finally disappearing back into the pad.

“Oh,” groaned Rarity, still floating. “We need to figure out how to turn the junctions to make a clear path for it first.”

Winter set her back down carefully on the floor where she began searching for some kind of central control unit. Autumn and Winter turned their attention directly to the colored disks themselves.

“You know this is almost like an escape room,” said Rarity, scratching her chin.

“A what?” asked Autumn.

“Uh, nevermind. I'll tell you later.”

“They look color coded to our clans,” mused Winter looking down at a white disk with a line junction carved in it. “Orange is fire. White is probably ice and yellow is lightning.”

Autumn found an orange one and began to get rough with it, stomping and sticking her hoof in the groove to hopefully turn it like a screw but it remained immutable to her efforts.

“What else can we do here?” mumbled Winter. “There are no other controls.” Out of ideas for how to interface with the puzzle she blasted the switch with an ice beam. Immediately it rotated clockwise ninety degrees. “It needs magic, she shouted to the room. “They only respond to elemental magic.”

“Oh… Well we can't really do that,” shrugged Autumn dryly.

Winter turned to her mother who stood by the wall looking bored. “We need to take the magicuffs off now.”

The queen's eyes bulged. “Absolutely not. That's complete reckless anarchy.”

“Mother, think about it, it's either that or we stay down here. These tests, or whatever they are, were designed to require the full participation of all three Kirin princesses. Those are the facts and we can't change them.”

Equinox muttered curses under her breath as she turned away. “Captain, remove the cuffs.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

The captain fished another key out and soon all three princesses were completely free of restraints. This made the queen visibly nervous.

Autumn tested her powers by burning an orange switch on the ground to make it spin.

“Okay,” began Rarity. “Let's create a clear circuit that goes from the source all the way back to the crystal. I’ll navigate and we can just adjust the switches as we go. She looked up to the ceiling and began tracing the path with her eyes, pointing at it with one hoof to help keep her place in the tangled labyrinth.

“Turn this one… and turn that orange one twice. This one twice. That one three times.”

Beams of elemental magic crisscrossed through the room like fireworks following Rarity's prodigious pace.

She followed the path down the wall, across the floor and up the wall again, winding around the whole room as she quickly dictated which disks needed to be toggled, flipping the ones she could do herself along the way.

Despite three dozen switches and what felt like a mile of conduit, Rarity made it look as simple as eating popcorn and was at the end in just a few minutes.

“That should do the trick. Lift me up, please.”

“No way this is gonna work first try,” muttered Autumn, thinking about all the junctions that could be misaligned. It only took one.

Winter floated Rarity within range of the ceiling pad, allowing her to activate the energy flow.

They watched with wide eyes and open mouths as It surged through the groove like juice through a silly straw, picking up speed as it went. Eventually it became so fast that their eyes couldn't follow. About eighty percent of the maze was illuminated when it hit the final straightaway and zipped out the door and into the crystal room.

The princesses exchanged elated glances and rejoiced in amazement at both their success and the meticulous whimsy of the ancient puzzle. The groove faded as the switched spun automatically to scramble the puzzle.

“That was awesome!”

They highhoofed one another.

“Yes, very amusing,” grumbled the queen as she turned to leave. “One left I suppose but what is the point of all this?”

“I think it's to promote, or at least test, unity between the princesses,” answered Winter, following her into the central chamber. “I never thought about it before now but it feels like everyone being on level ground is critical to building a real unified society.”

Equinox winced in disgust at the notion. “You mean level beneath a leader,” she clarified.

The group assembled at the final door and the princesses unlocked it with their hooves.

“A leader yes but one that listens to the ideas of others,” continued Winter walking through the gap.

“A leader that does that is a weak leader. They're opening the door to indecision and manipulation by enemies,” argued her mother, hurrying in after her.

Her daughter frowned. “But when everyone feels empowered and listened to, you have a lot more allies than enemies.”

Her mother gave an exasperated sigh. “Let me share with you a little secret: Kirin are stupid; they hate having to think. They crave oppression and rigid order whether they understand that or not. When they don't get it, look what happens. They stray from the path and there's discord and turmoil for hundreds of years.”

“Your answer isn't the only answer there is,” Winter shot back angrily.

“It's the only answer you can count on,” she replied with a scowl.

“I want to have the world in the old books.”

Equinox pointed a hoof in her face and exploded. “I'm not going to allow you to squander this power for your childish fantasies of a time long gone!”

Winter clenched her teeth, quivering with livid fury. “I wish I'd been kidnapped as a foal and taken away just like Summer Storm.” She turned away abruptly to go join the other astounded princesses.

The queen’s face went slack as she stood there frozen with a lump in her throat and a terrible pain in her chest. She'd heard plenty of harsh words over the years and responded to them with callous indifference or anger and in the end she always brushed it off but Winter's rejection cut right through her. Her lis drew into a thin line and she hung her head as tears began to sting her eyes.

“You don't actually think that, do you?” asked Rarity softly. “I never knew my real mother even though I really wish I had. I know it's different but the mother I have is the one I have and I wouldn't trade her for anything.”

“Let's just solve the stupid puzzle and get out of here,” muttered Winter staring at the floor.

The room was lit by magical sconces along the walls. It was about the same width and depth as the previous trial chamber but with two tiers of ceiling height, the lower one going around the perimeter and the higher one towering in the center. There was a u-shaped pattern of large tiles on the floor following beneath the ledge of the lower tier and surrounding a circular plate with the three ubiquitous touch pads carved with elemental symbols. They gathered around what looked like the starting point and touched their symbols to see what would happen.

There came an electric buzz as a strange array of nodes along the u-shaped pattern sprang to life in tandem with a mirrored grid of nodes on the lower ceiling. An energy array of shimmering panels snapped together between them, creating a solid partition that looked like a glass barrier stretching from floor to ceiling.

“What the,” mumbled Autumn.

“Haven't seen anything like this yet,” marveled Rarity. “Looks rather grandiose.”

“Princess,” exclaimed the commander.

The three turned to see the guards gathered around the left flank of the u where the queen looked to be boxed inside of the partitions. Standing in a narrow space barely big enough to turn around in, Equinox pounded on the wall which sounded strangely muffled.

Walking curiously over to the forcefield, Winter placed a hoof on the surface which felt almost as solid as metal. “Just teleport out,” she shouted, testing it with a stiff push.

“She can't,” argued the commander. “These weird barriers seem to be anti magic.”

Winter tried to teleport her out herself but nothing happened.

“Uh… okay. Let's just try to deactivate it then.”

The princesses reconvened at the circular plate, which now glowed, and put their hooves to it. Holding there they looked around the room but nothing was happening. The forcefield panels all stood solid.

“This seems like a bad design flaw,” began Rarity.

“Us three are the only ones supposed to be down here,” replied Winter. “This wouldn't have happened otherwise.”

“Looks like we just need to solve the puzzle then,” shrugged Autumn. Though if she was being completely honest, she was in no rush to fix the issue.

The three began to wander around the strange virtual apparatus trying to assess what the goal of the challenge was. There were color coded spots on the ground that looked like elevator call buttons. Once again they mirrored the u-shape of the panels.

Inside the tank, Equinox heard a strange distant sound like a babbling brook that was beginning to grow. The acoustics of the space made it sound like it was originating from everywhere.

A trickle and then a smattering of water droplets splattered on the floor at the queen's hooves. She looked down at it with inauspicious dread. Looking up she saw holes in the ceiling, one directly above each floor tile which made up the big u. Then, to her dismay, a much more turbulent sound met her ears from down the corridor. She looked to see a deluge of water falling down each hole in sequence like tumbling dominoes coming straight at her. Her eyes widened in terror as each hole became a blasting faucet filling the inescapable tank. The one above her burst forth and pounded down upon her back.

“It's filling up with water,” gasped Rarity.

“What?” screeched Winter. “Why is there water? The other ones didn't have water!”

“How do we shut it off?” shouted The commander.

The guards, who had spread out over the room to look for a solution, redoubled their efforts under the newest and most pressing issue.

Equinox looked up through the torrent and, shielding her eyes, blasted the hole with an ice beam. The opening plugged instantly with a column of ice going from the ceiling to the floor. She boxed the obstruction with her hooves to shatter the lower half out of the way to move on to the next but she quickly realized that it was impossible for her to stop it this way. There were far too many holes to plug and she was moving sluggishly through barrel high water which only continued to climb. Soon she'd be swimming. The guards began to exercise brute force attacks on the tank with hooves, swords and magic, none of which appeared to affect it in any meaningful way.

Winter and Rarity were all but running in frantic circles at the controls. On the floor were little touchpads, two situated near every floor tile in the big u, one looked like an up arrow and the other a down. They were colored in the triad of elemental colors but every single one had a random color ascribed to it. No pair were the same.

Winter pressed a white up arrow pad. The corresponding tile rose from the floor as a square pillar stopping at only about a foot high. She looked over at rarity who had activated one that went up taller than her. It just looked like another hazard to her terrified and struggling mother.

“I don't get it,” shrieked Winter. “What do we do?”

“Hey look at this part,” shouted Autumn, pointing up into the high ceiling center over the u-shape.

Here at the bottom of the u, where its two flanks connected, the forcefield panels stretched further up in a tall but narrow shaft formation almost like a clock tower. The space had yet to fill up. Directly below it was another raised floor tile but this one was joined to a buoy and floating at water level. It was anchored to the spot by a chain that extended as the water rose. The floating slab appeared significant because it had a horizontal crystalline groove carved across its side.

Rarity looked up and down and up and down. A ways up the shaft were two contact points with a space in between that would snugly fit the floating piece should it climb that high. Theoretically if they were put together it would make a path from one already glowing groove into the empty one which led back into the main chamber.

Rarity pointed urgently up the shaft. “That spot where there's a break in the groove! We have to raise the water level to float that buoy up to that exact height to complete the circuit between those two points and solve the puzzle.”

“Raise the water?” cried Winter. She pointed to her mother who was treading water on the surface with only about a head's worth of room for air. “She's drowning!”

Autumn scratched her head. “How do we even raise the water?”

“The pads on the floor raise pillars which displace the water I guess,” suggested Rarity. “We just need to solve it as fast as possible. Activate all of the pillars that you can safely activate.”

The three scattered across the length of the u and began stomping on anything they had the authority to raise. Pillars of arbitrary heights sprouted here and there. Some were only a hoof high while others almost went to the ceiling.

Winter glanced back at her flailing mother as the last of the air disappeared from the lower tier of the chamber and she was left holding her breath and praying. If only they had known about the mechanics of the puzzle sooner they could have directed her on top of the buoy and she'd be out of the water and have plenty of air in the extra height of the shaft.

“Everyone stop, it's too far,” warned Autumn. “We have to bring it down.”

All three looked up the shaft to see the slab floating above the contact points. Winter eyeballed the amount of extra water in the shaft to a comparably sized pillar and tried not to think of her mother's imploding lungs.

“This one,” she pointed to a medium sized pillar. “It's for you, Summer.”

Rarity teleported over and pressed the yellow down arrow. The pillar retracted all the way to the floor and they checked the alignment again but it was still just a little too high. Desperate and on the verge of total panic, Winter pressed another button retracting another nearby knee high pillar.

They let out a collective gasp as the groove lit up for a moment only to go dark again as the buoy sank too low.

“You've gotta be kidding me!” screamed Winter.

There must have been around three dozen moveable columns in all, about two thirds of which were raised. Between the ones they could see and the ones they couldn't it was now a finicky guessing game that they didn't have any time left for.

“I have an idea,” blurted Autumn, appearing from nowhere. “We both try stepping on the buttons at the same time to keep the pillar only half way out.”

She tapped the button to raise the pillar again.

“What?” asked the bewildered ice princess.

“Just hold the button down.”

Winter did as she was told and stepped on the down arrow. Autumn waited until the pillar was half retracted and then stood on the orange up arrow pad again, holding it down. The pillar froze abruptly in the interstitial position.

“Oh, I get it.”

The group looked up at the shaft expectantly. There the buoy settled on an in-between height just level with the grooves on either side. The waiting energy shot through the conduit, racing to the door and into the crystal chamber. They held their breath. There was nothing to do but wait and see. The queen struggled listlessly at the top of the chamber, her vision fading, the water waiting to fill the whole of her desperate lungs.

The groove went dark and suddenly the buoy began to drop as a violent maelstrom of bubbles floated up underneath it. The water was draining precipitously through the opening in the floor where the chain was anchored. They'd solved it but were they quick enough? Autumn and Winter only stepped off of the controls when they saw all of the columns begin to retract automatically. Finally air reached the bottom tier. The queen's limp body gasped for air, practically kissing the ceiling for it. Winter ran up to the barrier. The water level continued to fall and soon her mother was slumped over and panting on the floor. At last the forcefield dissipated and the only sign that anything had happened was the row of slick floor tiles and the waterlogged queen atop them.

“Mom!”

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

Winter put a hoof on her back.

Equinox coughed as she tried to speak. “I've never been so terrified in all my life. You saved me.”

“We all saved you. Especially Autumn Blaze. Without her idea, you would have drowned for sure.”

The queen picked up her head to look wearily at them over her daughter's shoulder. She had stepped on each one of them in one way or another but they still worked together to save her.

“I… I don't understand. Why?”

Tears came to her eyes again and she hung her head in shame. “Winter,” she sobbed. “Everything I ever did was supposed to be for you. I'm sorry. The last thing I want to do is drive you away. I love you!” She wiped her eyes as her face tightened painfully. She felt her daughter's forelegs wrap around her.

“I didn't mean what I said,” quivered Winter. “I'm sorry. I was just angry that you refused to listen to me. Because I have thoughts and dreams too and sometimes I can be right about things.”

The queen closed her eyes and touched a hoof to her daughter’s foreleg. “I see that.”

“C'mon. We should be able to get out of here now.”

They stood up. Equinox walked slowly with a sag in her steps. Her mane and drenched cape left a trail of drips out of the room. The whole group gathered around the crystal once more. The light had drained from the shapes on the walls and floor back into the stone in the center which pulsed slowly as if it were breathing softly.

Winter pointed at the crystal. “This is it. It's waiting for a command.”

Equinox sighed. “I'm not going to fight you for it. I don't know what will happen but until today I never could have imagined seeing three princesses working together, not just out of necessity or selfish convenience but with joy and genuine concern for one another… even me. If you can make such a commitment to each other without swords and chains then maybe… maybe your vision is true.”

Winter drew her into a hug. “Thanks mom.”

The princesses assembled around the crystal once again and all looked at one another.

“On three,” said Winter. “One… two… three.”

They pressed their hooves to the crystal which illuminated brightly from their touch. The room rumbled. The doors slid closed in concert before the floor began to rise upward. They kept their hooves there as everyone looked around expectantly for the stairs to appear. It was a relief to all when the decorative metal grate descended slowly from the ceiling. The strange elevator halted after reaching its original spot.

Rarity dropped her hoof back to the floor. “We're back but did anything-”

Her words died as the rumbling began again. The whole group looked up and gasped as the ceiling parted. The rotunda ceiling and its whimsical frescos appeared above them, the oculus at its center held a swatch of night sky and a smattering of stars. The floor beneath them pushed upwards again, rising until it was above ground and flush with the temple floor. The crystal shimmered and whined with increasing intensity. At its zenith, it released a shockwave and a great iridescent beam of light shot straight up through the oculus into the sky above.

The speechless group visored their eyes as a burst of magic hit their bodies and they began to change. As the beam of light stabilized and everyone regained their vision, they began to look at one another in wonder. The whole company had conical horns and cutie marks. Every one of them had been forcibly changed to their animus forms. Their appearances had been scrambled, their colors arbitrary, some of them never even seen on Kirin.

The now medium gray Autumn Blaze squinted at Rarity. “Winter?”

“I'm Summer Storm,” she corrected, marveling at how her own porcelain coat had burned straight through the burgundy color of her disguise.

“I can't tell who anyone is anymore,” laughed Autumn.

“I can't switch back,” gasped the commander.

“Neither can I.”

Fizzle stood on her porch in the dim penumbra of lamp light, eyes cast skyward. Her coat was orange and her long mane was light blue. Her cutie mark was a textile swatch with frayed edges. She watched the column of light in the distance piercing the heavens. The whole night sky danced with a rainbow colored aurora.

Author's Note

I like point and click adventure games.