Chapter 96: Be Reasonable
The city of Canterlot was shown. People were walking about the streets of the city. Among those was one small prince as he was running toward his destination. He arrived at the Canterlot library as it was one of the biggest buildings in the city itself. Spike approached the front doors of the place but found them locked.
"Locked! It can't be locked; I gotta get in there!" said Spike as he tried to pull the doors open, but they wouldn't budge.
The prince then fell back as he lost his grip. He sat up and rubbed his head. Spike needed to get in as he was supposed to help Twilight and the Canterlot librarian, Dusty Pages, clean the library. Spike was now trying to think of a way to get in; he saw the chute next to the doors as it was used for people to return books. Spike approached and opened the chute up as he had no other option.
"Remember, kids. Don't try this at home," said Spike as he gave a quick public service announcement before hopping inside the chute.
Inside, Rainbow, Applejack, and Storm were shown cleaning the main floor of the giant library. Twilight had asked some of her friends to go with her to Canterlot to help. Storm was shown mopping the floor when the chute above the bin of books next to him made a noise. Spike then appeared and let out a scream before he crashed into the bin as books and other electronic devices fell out when he landed. A moment later, the small prince popped his head out as he had birds spinning around his head.
"Spike!" said Aj and Dash.
"Huh?" said the small boy.
The metal arm that was next to the chute began to move. It grabbed the kid's shirt as he was lifted out of the bin.
"Hey, I'm royalty!" shouted Spike, who didn't like how he was being treated.
The arm shoved the small prince into a bookshelf as it identified him as a book that was being returned.
"Help!" shouted the boy as he was trapped.
Storm put his hand out as he used the Force to remove Spike. The prince was in the shape of a book as he was shaking up and down as soon he returned to his regular shape.
"What day is it?" asked Spike as he got his head to stop spinning.
"It's the day Ms. Dusty Pages closed the library while she fixes the computer system," said Applejack as she had a feather duster and was dusting Spike's head.
"Twilight asked us to help her clean while it's empty," stated Rainbow.
"Oh, yeah. Fix the computers. That's why I couldn't get in." said Spike as he dusted himself off.
"Twilight is with her right now in trying to fix them. The kiosks are down. They're running in emergency mode. You can use them to ask questions, but that's all." said Storm as he approached a green robot and cleaned its screen.
The Jedi Knight pulled out his communicator and contacted Dusty Pages and Twilight.
"Hey, Twilight. Your annoying little brother is finally here," said Storm.
"Hey!" shouted Spike.
"Deal with it, Spike!" said Twilight as she couldn't help but chuckle at calling her little brother that.
"Splendid! Have him check the paper in the copy machines," instructed the old librarian to the Jedi Knight.
"And Storm, tell him to make sure there are no bent corners! Understand?!" stated Twilight as she was going to talk with Spike about being organized if he failed his task.
"Yeah, yeah," exclaimed Spike as he didn't like his older sister's OCD.
"Will do, Sparky. How are the repairs going?"
"Hmm. We'll have the problem licked in no time," said Twilight as she handed a tool to Dusty Pages.
"I only wish I knew what went wrong," replied the librarian as she put up her google and removed the spark plug from the kiosk robot she was working on.
The princess went to fetch something as Dusty kept on working. Soon she tinkered a bit more as the robot stood up and faced her.
"Perfect! Problem solved!" said the librarian as it seemed the robot was working.
Dusty went to go put her tools away when at that moment, something happened. The back of the robot was open as sparks were shown. The sparks then traveled down one of the robot's wires and into its circuits. The spark then continued as it made its way into the mainframe of the entire computer system. Soon it entered the main CPU as the entire library was now malfunctioning. Printers were printing paper faster than they could keep up, and alarms blared throughout the massive building.
"What's going on?!" asked Spike as he and the others in the main lobby saw what was happening.
Every door in the place was being shut, closed, and locked. The hover pods around the building crashed into the walls as elevators dropped. The arms went on the frizz as they began to toss out every book shelved.
Upstairs where Twilight and Dusty were, they saw what was happening.
"Look out!" shouted the princess.
She ran and managed to push the librarian out of the way of the hover pod that went haywire. The hover pod crashed into the water fountain as it was destroyed, and water began to shoot upward.
"Thanks, Twilight," said Dusty Pages to the princess for saving her.
"Twilight, what's happening?" said Storm as he contacted Dusty's pager.
"I don't know. The entire system's gone berserk!" said the librarian. "Our room is filling with water, and we can't stop it!"
She and Twilight were on a giant plastic book that was part of the room's decor; the water fountain was rapidly filling the room with water. They were directly above the spot as they hoped to stop the leak, but the force and momentum behind it sent them flying. They heard a scream as they landed near the door; the water kept coming.
"And to make matters worst, the doors are jammed shut!" said Dusty Pages as she and Twilight tried to pry them open but couldn't.
"We're trapped!" said Twilight.
"Sparky!" shouted Storm as he didn't like to hear that.
"Don't worry, Twilight. We'll get you two out of there!" assured Aj to her friend.
The three teens ducked as a book came sailing over their heads that would have smacked them.
"Where are you guys?" asked Rainbow.
"We're on the 20th floor in the..."
At that moment, the transmission was shot as Dusty Pages' voice ended before she could tell the teens where she and Twilight were.
"Ms. Dusty! Ms. Dusty?!" shouted Storm as he pushed some buttons on his comlink to see if he could get her back. "No good. We lost the connection!"
"You heard the lady! 20th floor, here we come!" stated Spike as he was clocked in the face by a book thrown.
"Guys, it could take hours to find them if we don't know where to look. They'll be submerged by then," said Storm.
"Storm's right!" said Applejack as they all ducked again to avoid another book hitting them. "We need to know what room they're in on the 20th floor."
"I got it!" said Rainbow as they ducked again. "We'll ask the kiosk. It answers questions, right?" said the chromatic-haired girl.
Rainbow approached the kiosk as she injected her library card into the port. The robot then stood up and began to function.
"Each card user is limited to three answers to questions," said the kiosk, in a female voice as they were all in emergency mode due to the shutdown.
"Kiosk, what room is Ms. Dusty Pages in on the 20th floor?" asked Rainbow.
"Your request has found three items belonging to Ms. Dusty Pages on the 20th floor. Her clipboard, her lunch bag, and her pager. Each item is found in a different room." answered the robot.
"That's not what I asked!" stated Rainbow as she made a face while crossing her arms.
"Do you want another answer?" asked the kiosk.
"Careful what you say, Rainbow. Remember, we only get three answers per card," stated Storm.
"Okay. Give me another answer," stated the girl.
"Her clipboard is sitting on top of a book entitled: How to Paint," answered the kiosk.
"Is it just me, or did the kiosk not answer the question?" said Spike.
Rainbow made a face and shrugged at her friends as even she was lost.
"You have one answer remaining. Do you wish for more information?" asked the robot to Dash.
"Considering you still haven't scored any points, you piece of shit! Yeah!" exclaimed Rainbow.
"Ms. Dusty Pages' lunch bag is beside a chariot," answered the robot.
At that moment, the kiosk spat out Rainbow's card as it shut down.
"Oh, man! I didn't get shit, and now I just wasted my card!" said Rainbow, as her card was null and void for asking for more information.
"And we're no closer to finding Twilight and Ms. Dusty than we were before!" stated Aj.
Speaking of the two...
"That should stop it!" said Dusty Pages.
The librarian and princess had made it to where the leak was happening, and they began to plug it up to stop the water flow. The pair took a step back as it seemed to be working. However, the backwater was too much as it pushed through all the stuff the females used as it shot in all different directions. Twilight tried to use the Force to hold back the water, but the strain was too much. Eventually, she lost her grip as Dusty pulled her back to avoid a spring coming at her head.
"Thanks," said the princess.
"Twilight, can't you just cut the doors open?" asked Dusty Pages to her favorite person to rent books to.
"I don't think so; the other side is already full of water!" said Twilight, as she knew that if she used her lightsaber, they would have to swim through a long hallway to get to the elevator. Much too long for someone to hold their breath.
Right now, their only hope was for Storm and the others to reach them and find a way to get them out.
"Hey, guys. Do you mind finishing this round of finding the librarian a little faster? Please?" shouted Spike as he was lifted by one of the robot arms that put books away. Once more, the small prince was shoved into a bookcase. He then slipped out as the books fell on him.
"Spike's right. They're gonna scuba gear if we don't locate them soon," said Storm as he approached one of the screens and pushed a button as the map of the 20th floor came on.
"Okay, okay. But have we learned anything about where they are?" asked Rainbow.
"Other than she's on the 20th floor, nothing!" stated Aj.
"According to this map, there are only three rooms on the 20th floor," said Storm as he redirected their attention to the screen. "Art, History, and Science."
The map was a circle divided into three sections; each section had a symbol to tell what subject it represented. A microscope for Science, a chariot for History, and a painting palette for Art.
"Oh, man! There are drinking fountains in all three rooms," said Rainbow, making it even tougher to figure out where their friends were.
"The answer's right here!" said Spike as he pointed. "Art is Dusty's favorite subject. She practically lives in that room. How's that for a hunch?" smiled the prince.
"A hunch isn't for sure, Spike. It's just a guess," said Storm as Spike was now not feeling so hot about his pick. "And if we guess wrong, Twilight and Ms. Dusty Pages will be... swimming with the fishes."
"We have to find out for certain where they are. No hunches! No guesses!" said Applejack.
"If we'd gotten some straight answers from that kiosk, we'd already know. But no, oh no. It had to say shit like her clipboard, her lunch, her pager are on the 20th floor." said Rainbow, speaking that last part in a mocking tone.
Storm was thinking about what Rainbow was saying as a thought ran through his head.
"Her pager! She answered our call on her pager. That's it!" stated Storm. "The room that her pager is in is where she is!"
"Yeah! You're right! Aj, go pop your card in the kiosk!" instructed Rainbow.
"Oh, hell naw! I ain't wastin' mah card on that hunk of bolts if it ain't gonna give us straight facts!" said Applejack.
"Chill, Aj. We just don't know yet what they mean, " Storm stated to the group.
"Okay, so what do we know? We already have one. Ms. Dusty Pages' clipboard is on top of a book entitled: How to Paint." said Rainbow. As the teens were speaking, Spike had to duck an arm trying to grab him as he quickly ran with the arm chasing after him.
"Well, since painting is art. You'd find that book in the art room," Storm said as he pointed at the map and the clipboard image.
"See, I told you! They're in the Art room!" stated Spike as he managed to give the robot arm the slip.
"Sorry, Spike. We can't conclude that they're in the art room just cause her clipboard is there," stated Storm.
"Oh," said Spike as he didn't like that he was wrong. He was then yanked back as the arm managed to get a hold of him.
"Fact number two: Her lunch bag was beside a chariot," stated Aj as, in the background, Spike was swinging back and forth.
"Chariot. A vehicle from ancient times," stated Rainbow as she began to think. "That's historical! Her lunch bag must be in the History room!"
Storm pointed at the map as the chariot image appeared in the History section.
"Look at that! We know where two things are!" said Spike as he was lifted off the ground. The arm then let go of his shirt as the small prince crashed into the floor.
"The only one left is the pager. But where is it?" asked Applejack.
"Wait a second. Didn't the kiosk say that all three items were in different rooms?" said Storm with a smile. "If the clipboard is in Art..."
"... and the lunch bag is in History..." Rainbow continued the Jedi Knight's train of thought.
"... then her pager, along with Twilight and herself, are in Science!" exclaimed Aj, as Storm pointed and the pager's image appeared on the map.
"Wow! Good thing we checked out clues!" said Rainbow as she was impressed by how they figured out this riddle.
"Or else we would have gone off in the wrong direction," said Storm.
"And we didn't think that kiosk gave us any clues," said Spike as he was holding onto the robot with one hand; the arm had a hold of his other arm as it was being stretched out. "You put your heads together, do a little thinking, and you get a new answer. Who knew." The teens turned to look at the prince as they saw him holding on for dear life. "Can we please go now? I'm feeling a little stressed out." The prince was then yanked from the kiosk as he crashed into some books.
Twilight and Dusty Pages both appeared from the water and spat some out.
"I am definitely adding flood survival to the next librarian training course," said Dusty Pages.
Back with Storm and the others, they were shown racing toward the elevator on the main floor.
"20th floor, here we come!" stated Spike as he pushed the button to call for the elevator.
A loud ringing occurred as Storm, and the girls could hear it. They all stepped back as the Jedi Knight yanked the prince using his powers. A crash was heard as dust picked up and made every cough. Once it was disbursed, they were the doors cracked a bit. They soon opened up as it showed the elevator had crashed and wasn't functional for them to use.
"Something tells me this elevator is out of service," spoke the Jedi Knight.
"So much for the elevators," said Applejack.
"We need to find another way up to the 20th floor. And fast!" stated Spike.
"We'd better split up and look," instructed Storm.
All four began to take off in opposite directions as they began to search the main floor of the building.
"Hey, y'all! Over here!" shouted Applejack as she called to get the attention of the others.
The three made it to where their country friend was. She was standing in front of a bin of books as a clear tube was above them.
"This tube delivers mail all over the library. Maybe it can deliver us to the 20th floor," suggested Aj.
"Check this out!" shouted Spike as the teens looked at where he was.
The small prince was near a hovercraft below a tunnel with several exits along it.
"These library carts go up this shute!" said Spike as he pointed up.
"Looks like you can get off at any floor," Storm said as they looked up, his voice echoing into it.
"Whoa, look at this!" shouted Rainbow as she was near something else. "It looks like a time machine from some sci-fi movie."
"It's a teleporter pad," clarified Spike.
"A teleporter pad?" asked Storm, as he didn't know what that was.
"Yeah, Dusty Pages uses it when she has to get somewhere fast. You can ride them. Well, sorta." said the small prince.
"So there are three different ways to get to the 20th floor. Mail tube, library cart, and teleporter pad. Let's just pick one and go."
"Rainbow, wait! We can't just pick one and go. We have to be sure it stops in Science," stated Storm, as that was where their friends were.
"And here's the answer. At your service," said Spike as he found a kiosk nearby.
"Well, my card is used up. Aj?" asked Dash.
"Got it," answered the country gal as she showed off her card and approached the robot.
Applejack slotted in her card as the robot came online.
"Each card user is limited to three answers to questions," said the kiosk.
"Yeah, yeah, we know. And run it straight this time with answers," stated the farm girl, as she didn't want what happened last time to repeat. "Ahem, my question is: Do any of these vehicles stop in Science?"
"Each vehicle goes to a different room on the 20th floor," answered the kiosk, "Do you want another answer?"
"A straight one than that, please," Applejack sternly said.
"The library cart only goes to the History room," said the robot, "You have one answer remaining on this card. Do you want another?"
"Spit it out," sighed Aj.
"The mail tube does not stop at the rooms," said the kiosk as on its tummy screen, a tube was shown with letters coming out, "whose names begin with the letters f through w." The screen showed the letters as in between was a hyphen, and then a big black x flashed.
"F through w? What kind of shit is she sayin'?!" said Applejack.
Just then, her card popped out as she caught it.
"Great! The kiosk didn't say anything about the Science room. And now Aj's card is used, " Rainbow said with a scowl.
"Let's go, girls. Keep the facts coming," said Spike as he approached the kiosk and was about to insert his library card.
"Spike, hold on! Your card is the only one left that we can use. So we better not waste it." said Storm to the boy. "Who knows how many questions we'll have to ask to reach Twilight and Dusty Pages?"
"Make room, y'all! I gotta pace," said Applejack as she began to walk with her hands behind her back and her head down.
The others all did the same as they walked a few meters apart to think.
"I say we do what we did before. Take a closer look at the facts we already have," said Storm as he approached a bulletin board.
"I don't know about you, but I need to see what I'm thinking," stated Rainbow, as she felt it would help her brain process this riddle more smoothly.
"We know that each vehicle can only go to one room on the 20th floor," said Storm as he grabbed some stacks of small slips that had the names of the rooms on the 20th floor.
At that moment, Spike bumped into Aj as the prince fell to the floor. Small cars emerged from Spike's pockets that stopped in a single line.
"Sorry, that's my toy car collection," chuckled the prince sheepishly as Storm picked them up in his other hand.
"That's it! Spike, you're a genius!" said Storm as a lightbulb went off in his head.
"I am?" said the boy, liking that someone called him that.
"No," responded the Jedi Knight bluntly as he bent to the floor. The teen was now explaining his plan to the group using the toy cars and slips of paper. "Let's pretend this is a library cart. This is a mail tube. And this is a teleporter pad."
Storm laid out a buggy wagon car first, then a tube-shaped car, followed by a transported car with controls and a seat. All of them were laid out in a single line as the others took a seat on the floor to see what the Jedi was doing.
"And these cards represent the three rooms on the 20th floor," said Storm as he presented the slips of paper to the others. "Science, Art, and History." The Jedi put each slip under the buggy wagon. "Now, let's picture all the possibilities. The cart could go to Science, Art, or History. Right?"
The others all nodded at Storm's question.
"Now, how about the tube?" asked the Jedi.
"The tube might go to each of those rooms also, but so what?" said Rainbow.
Storm then put another set of the same slips under the tube car.
"Wait a second. I think Storm is onto something. The same is true for the teleporter." said Applejack.
"Right," smiled the teen as he saw his friends were catching on to what he was trying to do.
The Jedi Knight put the last set of the same slips under the last car, as they now had a picture to work with.
"So here are all the possibilities. What else do we know?" asked the teen.
"The kiosk said the library cart only goes to the History room," said Rainbow.
"News we can use. If the library cart only goes to History..." started Storm.
"... then it can't go to Science or Art..." said Aj.
"Exactly," nodded Storm as Aj removed the slips that said Science and Art from under the buggy wagon car. Only the History slip remained.
"Now we know that the cart goes to History. And since each vehicle goes to a different room on the 20th floor, then the tube and the teleporter can't go to History!" said Rainbow as she removed the slips that said History from under the other two cars.
"So, let's get rid of those possibilities," Storm said as the image in front of them was clearer.
The library cart only going to History. While the other two vehicles only had either Science or Art as to where their destination was.
"Hey. Those two facts really gave us a lot of info," said Spike as he could clearly see the picture in front of him. "Who knew?"
"And we know one more thing. The kiosk said the tube doesn't go to rooms beginning with f through w," said Storm.
"S is between f and w. So I guess the tube doesn't go to Science," said Spike as he pointed at the slip.
"You got it, Spike. Take that one off," said the Jedi Knight as the prince removed the slip. "Now look. That means the tube is the only one that goes to art."
"And since that's true. The teleporter can't go to Art," said Rainbow as she removed the slip that said Art from under the car that represented the teleporter.
"And now there's only one possibility left. The teleporter's the one we've been looking for. That's the one that goes to Science, " Storm said with a smile.
In front of the kids was the image. The buggy wagon representing the library cart, and it only going to History. The tube-shaped car representing the mail tube, and it stopping at Art. While the teleporter car meant it would stop at Science, which was the location they needed.
"We thought we didn't know anything, but we knew a lot. Amazing," said Spike.
"Once again, you continue to amaze us, Jedi," said Rainbow placing her hand on Storm's shoulder at how he was able to figure out the answers to these puzzles. "Let's go!"
All of them stood up, and they raced toward where the teleporter was. Spike quickly grabbed his toy cars and put them back into his pocket as he caught up with the others. He quickly stopped them as he stood in the chair to address them.
"Not so fast, everyone. Let me ask you all, do any of you know how this teleporter works?" asked the small prince.
"We've zip in and out hyperspace all the time. It can't be any more difficult than that," said Rainbow.
"Try getting turned into a ball of light. Being lobbed through walls and windows like a ball and getting turned back into yourself," explained Spike. "That different enough."
"Hey, being a ball for a few seconds could be fun," smiled Storm as he quickly set the projector to the Science room.
He flipped the switch as it began to work. Spike was too slow as the light shined on him, and he turned to a ball. Within a second, he was gone as he zoomed out of the room. The small prince was screaming as he was ricocheting off the walls and bouncing in all directions. He could feel himself spinning as he phased through some walls.
The others all sat in the chair with Storm in the main seat, with each girl sitting on the chair's armrests. A light shined on them as they took off behind the prince.
"20th floor, here we come!" shouted Rainbow in excitement as they bounced around.
Spike was shown as he phased through a wall. He landed in another projector and then reappeared in another chair's teleporter.
"Everything is still where it should be," said Spike as he looked at himself to see if anything was out of place when he bounced around. He then jumped out of the seat and fell into a pool of water.
"Spike! You made it!" said Twilight as she and Dusty Pages were in an umbrella that was floating about.
"Nice to see you, Spike. By the way, you wouldn't have happened to bring paddles, did you?" asked Dusty Pages to the boy.
At that moment, Storm and the girls appeared as they rematerialized in the chair. Rainbow and Aj fell off as they splashed into the water below, leaving the boy on the teleporter.
"Storm!" said Twilight as she leaped out of the umbrella and into the water.
The princess didn't care that she got wet while swimming toward her partner.
"Hey, Sparky!" said the boy.
He was then quickly tackled by the princess as Twilight leaped out of the water and hugged him. The boy held the princess in the chair as he felt her wet clothes drenched. Also, with Twilight being wet and pushing up against him, the Jedi Knight could feel her bosom pressing against him. Not to mention, her clothes were sticking to her like a second skin as he didn't dare to look down to see the little cleavage that Twilight was exposing by pushing herself against him. Thankfully, he was saved by Applejack, who spoke up.
"We made it, Twilight!" stated Aj to her friend.
"Glad you're all okay. How'd you find us?" asked Dusty Pages.
"It's all thanks to Storm. The geek is smarter than I thought," said Rainbow.
"What?" said Twilight as she looked at her partner as she was in his lap.
"It's nothing special, Sparky," stated the Jedi Knight, as he didn't think it was a big deal what he did to help get them to where the princess was.
Storm didn't see that Twilight was looking at him with a look as hearing what he did to get to them seemed to catch her attention. In some ways, it turned her on.
"So, what about you? Did you manage to locate a way out?" asked Storm.
"No, but before we lost contact, I did manage to send a transmission for help," stated the princess.
At that moment, the giant screen in the Science room began to receive a signal.
"Hello! Hello! Can anyone hear me?! Please respond!" said the voice on the screen.
"Hello, this is Princess Twilight Sparkly. Come in. We're trapped and about to be submerged!"
"Princess, thank goodness you're alive. We received the distress signal you sent. We've been working to find a way into the library. The men were able to shut off the water system, so you won't have to worry about drowning. But we still can't get in to save you due to the security system that's locked in place."
"So, we're stuck in here?" shouted Rainbow.
"Not necessarily. There's another room in the library that we can access. We can cut our way in and rescue you if you can get there."
The transmission then ended.
"Well, at least we have a way," stated Spike.
"Right, since we used the teleporter to get in, it can get us out," stated Storm as Twilight was still sitting in his lap.
A small wave occurred as it threw the Jedi out of the chair and into the water. Not only that, the piece of the teleporter came undone, and the floor pads. Aj and Dash each caught one of the parts to avoid falling into the water.
"Great. The teleporter's toast!" exclaimed Rainbow as she held the lamp.
"No, it's okay. It just came apart. You can reconnect the pieces to the base." said Dusty Pages.
"Come on, Applejack! Put the chair on it!" said Spike as Twilight and Storm put all three pads together to connect.
The farm girl got up on them and lifted the chair out from the water. She was about to put the chair on the yellow floor when she was stopped.
"Wait! Plug a piece into the wrong color, and the whole thing will fry," stated Dusty Pages as she made a short-circuited sound to get the message across to the teens, "unfortunately, I don't remember which piece goes on which color."
"Guess that means we know what we have to do," said Rainbow as Twilight was shown on an object floating in the water as she paddled toward the kiosk Dusty was working on when the library shut down.
"Yeah, ask the kiosk of confusion. You're gonna help us out this time?" said Twilight as she inserted her library card, the girl was informed by her friends how frustrating it was to deal with the robots.
"You have two answers left. Is that your question?" asked the kiosk as it seemed to have heard what Twilight said when she popped her card in and took that as one of her three questions.
"No, it's not!" said Twilight trying to take that question back. "Dusty, I think this one still needs an attitude adjustment." stated the princess to the librarian. "Kiosk, to reconnect the teleporter, which parts go on which color?"
"The chair does not work on blue," answered the robot.
"Spike, wait!" shouted Storm as he saw the prince was about to put the chair in the yellow piece. "The kiosk only told us where the chair doesn't go. We can't put it anywhere yet."
"We can't?" said Spike as he struggled to hold the chair as he and Storm wobbled a bit from the water.
"You have one answer remaining on this card. Do you wish to continue?" asked the kiosk to the princess.
"Yes, please," said Twilight.
"The lamp does not work on red," said the robot. It then spat out Twilight's card as it was now used up.
"Seems to me we know lots about where things don't go and nothing about where they do go!" stated Spike.
"That's not true. It may not look like it. But the kiosk facts must tell us something," said Storm.
"Hmm. Maybe if we picture the possibilities again," said Rainbow as she suggested they do what they did previously.
"But we can't use the floor this time," said Aj.
"No problem," said Twilight as she pulled out her journal.
The princess opened it up and went to a blank page. She then handed Storm a pencil as she began to watch her partner in action on how he solved all the puzzles to reach them.
"Okay, we've got three teleporter pieces. The lamp, the projector, and the chair. And there are three places where each of them could go. Blue, Red, and Yellow." said the boy.
"But which piece goes with which color?" asked Spike as he sat on the platform.
"I'm not sure. Let's fill in what we know as we go, okay," said Twilight as she took the pencil from her partner and began to draw something.
The princess now made a quick 3-by-3 chart as the top row had the three pieces with the colors going on the side.
"The kiosk said the chair doesn't work on blue," said the princess.
"So we can cross off that possibility," said Storm as he took the pencil from Twilight and made an X in the box with the chair and blue.
"And the lamp doesn't work on red," spoke Rainbow.
"Cross that off too," said Storm as he put an X in the box with the lamp and red.
"Nice, we've eliminated one color choice from the lamp and the chair," said Twilight as she saw what Storm did to the chart.
"But they don't tell us anything more like the last time. We need more information. And we're out of library cards." said Applejack, as they were no way for them to get any more info.
Just then, Spike cleared his throat as he got everyone's attention. He was shown his library card as he waved it about.
"I believe it's my turn to save the day," smiled the prince.
The boy made his way to the kiosk and slotted his card in.
"Due to an overdue book, inquiries with this card are forbidden," said the robot.
"Spike!" yelled Twilight as she didn't like hearing what the robot said about her little brother not returning a book on time.
Spike stood there with a face. Reality gave him a hard smack when it felt like he would have a chance to be a hero. The kiosk spat out the card that hit him in the face. The small prince turned around as Dusty Page was not happy about hearing how Spike had an overdue book.
"But I... I brought the comic book back yesterday, Ms. Dusty. I swear," said Spike as he pleaded with the librarian to believe him. "You uhm, wouldn't happen to have a card, would you?"
"Your highness! What kind of librarian needs a card for her own library?" stated Dusty Pages to the small prince.
"Uhm, can I pay you with some gold or jewels from the royal treasury?" asked Spike.
"Spike!" shouted Twilight even louder at hearing her own brother try to bribe Dusty with some money from the royal treasury, which wasn't his to take.
"What are we going to do? We still need at least one more fact to solve this problem!" Applejack looked at the chart; they couldn't make any solutions.
With no more library cards, the group wouldn't be able to put the pieces together and get out.
"Well, we're not totally out of library cards," said Storm. Everyone looked at him as he was now holding one.
"You have one? But how? You didn't come with us when I helped register Aj and Dash." Twilight recalled the day she invited her friends to the library to get library cards. However, that day, Storm declined as he went off to see the city.
"True, but I registered with Ms. Dusty after you all left. She was about to close the library, but she helped me to get signed up. Unfortunately, I had to wait a while for the card to be made." said Storm. "And before we took off toward the elevator to reach you two, I checked by the main desk and saw a folder with my name on it. So I opened it up and saw my library card; I grabbed it, figuring we'd need it."
"Hold on, you mean you had a card all this time, and you didn't tell us?!" shouted Rainbow.
"Well, you never asked," smiled the boy as she growled her teeth.
Storm then floated his library card into the kiosk as it came online.
"Kiosk, we'd like another answer to our last question," stated the boy.
"The projector works on yellow," said the robot.
"At last, news we can use," stated Rainbow, as everyone was glad to have that piece of info. "A real answer that tells us where one of the pieces goes."
"Right, the projector goes on the yellow part of the stand," said Twilight as she put a checkmark in the projector's box and yellow.
"And since the projector can only go on one color, I can cross off blue and red for the projector," said Storm as he crossed the other two boxes.
"And because yellow is already taken, we can cross it off for the lamp and the chair," stated Aj as Storm crossed off those boxes.
"We just knocked out two more possibilities," said Rainbow, looking at the chart.
"And guys, guess what..." smiled Storm as he saw what was in front of him. "We just revealed which piece goes with which color. Check it out."
"Lamp on blue," said Twilight.
"Chair on red," stated Aj.
"And projector on yellow," spoke Dash.
"No guessing, no hunches. We know for sure!" stated Spike.
"Excellent work! Now let's hope we can make it," said Dusty Pages to the kids.
"Do it, guys!" instructed Storm.
"Lamp on blue!" stated Rainbow as she plugged the piece in.
"Chair on red!" exclaimed Applejack as she put the piece in.
"And projector on yellow!" informed Twilight as she put the final piece in.
"Time to get out of here!" said Storm as he used the dial on the projector to pick their destination.
A light shined as it engulfed Spike. The prince then turned into a ball as he was now bouncing again. The others soon followed as they let out excited sounds. Eventually, Spike landed in a different room and sighed. He got off the chair, glad to see he was still in one piece. Just then, a sound was heard as the prince looked up. A blowtorch was shown as it was making a hole in the way.
Once the shape was made, the wall fell in as there were several people, including the fire marshal, as he peeked his head in.
"Your highness, are you okay?" asked the fire marshal to Spike.
At that moment, the projector whirred again as Rainbow appeared before the others all came in one by one.
"Get us out of here!" stated Spike as he looked up.
The rescue team soon rescued everyone as they were glad to be out of the library. Storm was walking toward Twilight, sitting on one of the vehicles with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands as a blanket covered her shoulders. The princess saw her partner approach, and she smiled.
"You okay?" asked Storm.
"Yeah," nodded the girl as she set her drink down. Twilight then leaped as she wrapped her arms around Storm's neck and had her face close to the boy while staring into his eyes. "You were amazing in solving all those problems to get to us."
"It was nothing, princess. Honest. Anyone could have done it. I'm just glad you're safe, " said Storm softly as he put his hands on Twilight's waist.
"Thank you," smiled Twilight as she put her forehead on Storm's and closed her eyes.
Storm did the same, closing his eyes and sighing with the princess. After a strange and unusual adventure involving seeing all the possibilities, everyone was looking forward to just relaxing.
Author's Note: A little adventure trying to navigate the library. Not to mention a little lesson in the many different ways you can solve problems and see the possibilities. Even the smallest bits of info can help in solving the bigger picture. Also, another example of Storm displaying the leadership skills he's gained. As always leave a review expressing your thoughts and comments.