//------------------------------// // Present Day: Glass Notes // Story: The Pony, the Sphinx, and the Immortal // by HapHazred //------------------------------// The dig site was quiet that evening. Not many ponies really felt the same enthusiasm they had for their work as before. Of course, it was hardly a rare occurrence to find old bodies at archeological digs, but most bodies weren’t turned to completely hard glass. Dinner was a sober affair. Rainbow hadn’t the courage to start up a friendly card game that night. Rarity didn’t even have the heart to comment on the unfashionable decor. Applejack drifted in-between sleep and consciousness, blinking fatigue away. She leaned against one of the bigger stalagmites, picking at her food. “Tired?” Rainbow asked, the first words spoken in a while. Applejack shook her head. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just didn’t get a good night’s sleep is all.” Twilight couldn’t imagine the thought of the glass pony below them would make the night any easier. “Well, at least this trip will make for an interesting discovery,” she said. Nopony seemed to care much. “How’s your hoof?” Douglas asked the digger who had injured himself on the statue. “All right, I guess,” the stallion replied. “Can’t exactly pick up tools with it, though.” Douglas nodded. “I’ll move you to keeping watch outside then for a while. No heavy lifting.” “Thanks, boss.” Rarity’s fork clattered on her empty plate as she put it to the side. “Twilight, a word?” Twilight got to her hooves. Rarity was beckoning to the side, indicating Twilight follow her. The alicorn trotted after her, away from the others. “How good is sphinx hearing?” Rarity asked. Twilight tapped her chin. “I’m not sure. About average? I think they’re more attuned to high pitched sounds.” Rarity sighed, and made a conscious effort towards deepening her voice. “Um, all right. How is this?” “He’s down near the dig site. I’m pretty sure he can’t hear you,” Twilight said. “What is this about?” Rarity’s voice returned to normal. “Frankly put, darling, I don’t trust Zerehponzidas.” Twilight sighed. “I understand the feeling,” she said. The frown on Rarity’s face deepened. “No, darling, I don’t think you do,” she said. “You’re, well, rather similar to him in some ways. You’re both curious, intelligent, and honestly, prone to obsession.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “I’m not that bad,” she said. “When you want to know something, or can’t figure something out, you’ll go to great lengths to sort things out your way.” Rarity waved her hoof around. “I can name plenty of examples, if you want…” Twilight winced. “No need.” “My point is that I’m really quite worried,” Rarity said. “Zerephonzidas has been looking for whatever answers he wants for thousands of years. He doesn’t care about ponies, not really. To him, we’ll be gone in no time. We’re a dime a dozen.” “I understand, but he’s not that bad,” Twilight went on. “He’s just… a bit creepy.” “Twilight, dear, I don’t want him to make you as obsessed as he is. I don’t know much about magic, but I’m not uninformed enough to know that if something can turn a pony into solid glass, it may not be something to be trifled with.” Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “If things start to go… wrong… then we need to leave it be. Whatever is down there isn’t worth being turned to glass.” “I don’t think that the blast will occur again,” Twilight said. “It would be highly unlikely…” “If something happened once, dear, expect it to happen again.” Twilight went quiet. “Do you understand what I’m saying, dear? Zerephonzidas will not hesitate to take great risks in the pursuit of knowledge. We have more to live for.” She gave Twilight a wan smile. “It comes with not living for millions of years.” “I understand,” Twilight said. “I know the difference between obsession and curiosity.” She took a breath. “But I do want to know what it is Zerephonzidas is looking for.” Rarity nodded. “All right. Just… know when to stop.” She looked around the cave. “The longer I’m here, the less I like it.” “I can agree with you there,” Twilight said. “Come on, let’s get back to the others.” She yawned. “I don’t know about you, but today was pretty tiring.” “I can only imagine how tired Applejack is,” Rarity said. “The poor thing has been yawning all day long.” As the pair returned to their friends, they noticed that many of the diggers, including Douglas, had begun to leave. Applejack and Rainbow were the only two who remained, and Applejack looked like she was already halfway asleep. “Hey, so, Twi’, remember when I said this trip was boring?” Rainbow said. “I guess I take that back.” “Well, now we’ve actually reached some ruins and aren’t just digging through rocks and caves, I imagine we’ll be finding a lot of old things,” Twilight said. “This is becoming more and more like a Daring Do story the deeper we go.” “Yeah. Except Daring Do didn’t have ponies turned to glass under mysterious circumstances,” Rainbow said. “Mostly just Ahuizotl trying to take over the world with ancient artifacts and stuff. I kinda wish Ahuizotl was here, actually. At least you know where you stand with an insane blue freaky money-thing. Not… digging and secrets.” Rainbow leaned back. “There’s this weird pressure here. I didn’t pay much attention before, but it’s like… uh, I dunno how to explain it. Needles, I guess.” Odd, Twilight thought. Usually, pegasi and Earth ponies weren’t able to sense magical auras. For Rainbow to point it out was just one more bad sign to pile onto all the others. Broken snoring came from Applejack. Rainbow looked over towards the sleeping farmpony. Applejack’s breathing was irregular and heavy. She was not having a good sleep. “Hey, I’m gonna move AJ to her tent,” Rainbow said. “She’s been having bad dreams.” “She told you that?” “Yeah,” Rainbow said. “Whilst you were off talking to Rarity about Zerephonzidas.” Twilight bit her lip. Rarity sucked air in through her teeth. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Like, why else would you guys want to talk to you in private? I’ve seen you tiptoe around Zereph’.” Rainbow’s expression darkened. “Don’t think he hasn’t noticed, either. He’s almost as keen-eyed as I am.” Rarity ran her hoof through her mane and breathed out. “I’ll… keep that in mind.” “If it helps, I don’t think he cares. I don’t think he expects to be trusted, in my opinion.” Rarity frowned. “Well, if neither of us trust the other…” “Yeah,” Rainbow muttered. “Then it’s just a game of ‘who knows what’.” She shrugged. “Like a game of dominoes, I guess. Except with way higher stakes.” “You’re worried about him too?” Twilight asked. “What, the big guy? Nah. I get that he gives you the creeps, but he doesn’t scare me,” Rainbow said, relaxing against the cavern wall. “He’s big and can’t move that well in here. Out there, I can fly rings around him. I’m more on edge about that statue.” “Why is that?” “Because, in my experience, when something looks as lifelike as that,” Rainbow said, finally getting off her flank and walking to pick up Applejack, “it tends to be alive.” A shiver went up Twilight’s spine. Rainbow sniggered, slinging Applejack’s sleeping body over her back. “Jeez, I just meant that it makes me uncomfortable,” she added. “I mean, you guys said it yourselves: solid glass. Dead as a doornail.” She gestured at Applejack. “I’m gonna put this one to bed and then hit the hay myself. Night, guys.” “Good night,” Twilight said. “See you tomorrow.” Twilight’s ears flicked. Her eyes opened. She felt a pounding in her head, and she sat up, brushing her mane out of her eyes. What was that noise? She could hear a slow, odd sound. It was like a siren, fluctuating gently,only existing on the very edges of perception. Twilight was reminded of the feeling when a mosquito would buzz close to her ear before flying away, except there were no mosquitos in this cave. She tried to flatten her pillow over her head, hoping the noise would go away. Instead, it seemed to pass through the pillow. Sticking her hooves in her ears didn’t work either. Perhaps it was just in her head? She heard a rustling from the tent next to her. Applejack was squirming like she was on a bed of porcupines. Twilight wondered if she might wake her friends up, but she decided to speak anyway. “Applejack? Do you hear that?” She heard a groan from the other tent. Twilight stuck her head out and trotted over to Applejack, now worried. Applejack had both hooves on her ears. She was sweating through her coat and her teeth were grinding against one another. “Get it out!” came the words, sliding in-between her teeth like razor knives. Twilight bit her lip. “Oh, dear,” she muttered. She cantered to Rainbow’s tent. “Rainbow! Rarity!” Twilight unzipped Rainbow’s tent open. Rainbow was splayed out inside like a puddle, snoring contently. Twilight could hear movement from Rarity’s tent. “Rainbow!” Rainbow shot up like a bullet. “Eh? What? Hey!” “Do you hear that?” “Hear… what, are there bugs in here?” “Do you hear that noise?” Twilight asked again. Rainbow cleaned her ear out with her hoof. “Uh… I hear something…” “What is it, darling?” Rarity asked, yawning as she stepped out her tent. She looked over at Applejack. “What’s wrong with… Goodness, what is that sound?” Twilight felt that bad feeling she had since discovering the glass statue get worse and worse, like a bad meal in the very pit of her stomach. “Rainbow, take care of Applejack,” she said. “Rarity, come with me. I need another unicorn.” Rainbow trotted over to Applejack. “Oh, jeez. AJ?” “Get it out!” “Okay, we’re waking you up,” Rainbow said, starting to shake Applejack awake. “Come on, none of that.” Twilight and Rarity left to go into the rest of the cave. Already some of the workers were milling around, scratching their ears. There was no sign of Zerephonzidas. “Where is that coming from?” Rarity asked. Twilight was not a gambling pony, but she had a good idea of where to start. “Let’s go see that statue.” Twilight’s horn lit up, bathing the caves in a bright white light. The noise continued to burrow into her ears, ringing away like it would never stop. “I was hoping you wouldn’t say that,” Rarity muttered as she followed Twilight. As the pair descended towards where they had left the statue, Twilight noticed a large shadow detach itself from the rest. Rarity screeched. “Don’t panic,” Zerephonzidas said. “It’s me.” “You hear that?” “Yes,” Zerephonzidas said, his face twisting into a scowl. “It’s rather irritating.” “Do you know what it is?” Zerephonzidas seemed to take an age to say ‘“No, I do not.” Twilight continued cantering in the direction of the statue. Light flashed from her horn, scanning the statue from top to bottom. “Zerephonzidas, do you have the snowball?” The sphinx nodded. “Yes. I’ll try taking a look,” he said. He then went very still, like a statue himself. His good eye became lost in the statue, seeing through it, beyond what pony eyes could see. “It’s not the source of the sound,” he said eventually. Twilight’s horn stopped scanning the statue. “That’s what I can tell as well,” she said. “Anything I might have missed?” “It may not be the source,” Zerephonzidas said, “But it is reflecting it. Passing it along, so to speak.” Twilight frowned. “Where is it coming from, then?” Zerephonzidas looked towards the ruins, still partially buried under rubble. Twilight narrowed her eyes. She decided to take a wild stab in the dark. “Is it coming from the column?” she asked, referring to the drawings on Zerephonzidas’s desk. The sphinx narrowed his eye. “You’ve been snooping.” “That’s not a no,” Rarity pointed out. “What is this ‘column’?” “It was here last time,” Zerephonzidas said. “When I was here five-thousand years ago.” He stared at Twilight. “It did not make this noise when last I was here.” “Could it be making this noise now?” “I… do not know. I could not see through the column.” Twilight rasied her eyebrows, her gaze focussing. “You couldn’t see through it? Not even using your… um, special sight?” “No. It was as if it was not there,” he said. “I will discuss this later. For now, it would be advantageous to silence that noise, yes?” Twilight wasn’t stupid. “Are you bargaining with me?” “Silence for silence,” Zerephonzidas said. “I do not want to talk about the column right now.” “When will you?” “Later.” “I was right not to trust you,” Rarity hissed. “What are you hiding?” “A long and bloody past,” Zerephonzidas said. Noises came from above them. The diggers were getting restless. Rainbow peered down into the gloom. “Hey, if you can make that noise stop, that’d be great,” she said. “Applejack isn’t… she isn’t doing so good.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Tomorrow, you start talking. For real.” Zerephonzidas bristled. “Fine.” He looked towards the glass statue. “The sound is, as you might have guessed, magical.” “Yes, but I can’t counter it without the…” “I can tell you the frequency of the frequency,” Zerephonzidas said. “I can see it in the glass statue.” Twilight nodded. “Very well. I’ll ready my spell. Tell me when I reach the right frequency.” “What are you doing?” “Negating the magic that’s making that noise,” Twilight said. “It will only work up in the caves. As we get closer to the source, it will weaken and the noise will return.” “Begin,” Zerephonzidas said. Up by Applejack and the others, Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief when the noise was silenced. The farmpony was still panting heavily, but at least she seemed somewhat coherent. “You all right?” Rainbow asked. Applejack opened her eyes at last. They were red and bloodshot. “No,” she murmured. “Can’t sleep.” “Because of the noise?” “No. Because of the nightmares,” Applejack replied. “I can’t go to sleep,” she said. “I can’t go to sleep.” Rainbow bit her lip. “So, uh, I’m not exactly good at this sort of stuff,” she said. Applejack held her head in her hooves, still panting. Rainbow patted her on the back. “Um, there, there.”