//------------------------------// // Present Day: The Long Discovery // Story: The Pony, the Sphinx, and the Immortal // by HapHazred //------------------------------// With the uncomfortable noise gone, the diggers managed to (mostly) get back to sleep, with the exception of Applejack, who drifted in and out of consciousness, often punctuating the night with heavy breathing and startles yelps. Most of the diggers, sequestered to other parts of the cave, hardly noticed, but for Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity, Applejack’s nightmares were all too present a problem. Twilight could barely stand to try and rest whilst her friend was in such discomfort. Applejack would likely not be good for much the following day, no matter how much coffee she drank. Twilight hardly got any sleep herself, and when she heard movement outside, indicating the diggers getting up and half-heartedly returning to work, she realised she must have only slept for maybe three hours that night. Fatigue wouldn’t be a problem only Applejack would face. Twilight decided that the sooner she made coffee, the sooner she’d be able to get to finding out all about what Zerephonzidas knew. The sphinx had been hoarding his secrets for far too long. There was also the matter of Applejack’s nightmares. No way they were just a coincidence. She slid out of her tent, somehow feeling awake and energised. She went to the kettle and began to boil the water. The sound of bubbles and steam apparently woke Rainbow up. “Morning,” came Rainbow croaky voice. “Had a good night?” “Not really,” Twilight replied. Rainbow emerged from her tent, more a mess than usual. “Yeah, me neither. AJ keep you up as well?” The boiling water met the ground coffee beans and a bitter aroma filled the cave. “Yes,” Twilight said. “Somepony needs to take care of her. I’ll get Rarity to…” “No,” Rainbow replied. “Let me do it. AJ doesn’t like feeling coddled. She’ll be happier this way.” “I thought you hated taking care of other ponies.” “I do,” Rainbow said. “That’s why AJ’ll be better off with me.” The pegasus darkened. “This is getting real serious, you know. Not like in Daring Do.” “No? I thought this sort of thing was what Daring was all about.” “Daring Do is about danger, not… nightmares and noises and glass ponies,” Rainbow said. “I thought Daring was about discovery.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Of course you’d think that. Egghead. She’s all about fighting! And action!” “... and uncovering the past,” Twilight said. “Speaking of, I have a conversation to have with Zerephonzidas…” Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. You do.” She folded her hooves as Twilight poured her a coffee. “I’m fed up with his secrets.” “Me too.” “If he knows what’s giving AJ those nightmares, he needs to come clean,” Rainbow said. “Or I’ll knock his teeth in.” Twilight smiled. “I’m sure.” “I’m not kidding. This is serious stuff. What if those nightmares are because of… I dunno, a brain bug or something?” Rainbow brought her hooves to her ears. “Like a little thing that burrows through your ears and into your skull and… does stuff. Bad stuff!” “Who knows?” Twilight frowned. “What really worries me isn’t what Zerephonzidas knows, though, but rather what he doesn’t.” “How so? The less he knows, the better, right? He’s evil.” Twilight was taken aback. “Evil?” Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah. Can’t you tell? Good guys don’t keep secrets and lead ponies on expeditions they know nothing about.” Twilight frowned, and was reminded of many of her interactions with Celestia. Rainbow caught the look, and sighed. “Look, I don’t mean like the Princess, okay? This is different. Celestia was doing all that for you and Luna, right? Zerephonzidas is out for himself, and whatever is in those ruins.” “I guess…” “I know,” Rainbow said. She gestured towards the cave network outside. “Go on. If Rares wakes up, I’ll tell her to catch up, ‘kay?” “All right. You’ll take care of Applejack right?” “Yeah. Best I can. Holler if you need awesome.” The excavation of the ruins was continuing at a quick pace. Digger Douglas knew his business, and already a significant amount of the ruins had been revealed. The walls were smooth and weathered, and clearing away the sand and rocks was easy. Any paint that had once been on the walls had long since peeled away, however. All that had been uncovered so far was just a long, empty corridor. The sand was being taken to the surface in buckets, dumped outside for inspection. Zerephonzidas observed everything with a critical eye. “Rainbow thinks you’re evil, by the way,” Twilight said. Zerephonzidas chuckled. “That’s a rather simplistic way of thinking.” “Depends if she’s right,” Twilight said. “So, you sorted your story out?” “I suppose I have. A deal is a deal,” he said. “Now is a much better time to discuss the matter of my long and… interesting past. Shall we move to my desk?” Twilight nodded. “I don’t see why not.” Both of them went away from the excavation, and Zerephonzidas sat down on a large rock, folding his forelegs in front of him like a lion watching an antelope. Twilight sat down on a small stool opposite him. “So? Tell me everything you know about these caves.” Zerephonzidas scratched his claw against the rock, sharpening it. It was still dented from tapping the glass statue. “Very well. Perhaps I should begin with me, though.” He smiled. “My interest in magic predates these caverns by millenia.” “Does it now?” “Yes,” Zerephonzidas said. “A sphinx lives for a very long time. It is up to us to find something to pass the long centuries. We are not compelled to find mates, and we are not compelled to survive for the sake of our species. We merely exist to fulfil our own desires.” Zerephonzidas scratched his chin. “We are magical creatures, but we could never explain the mystery of how we came to be. We were not alive to see it happen, after all. This is why I want to see as much as I can. It made up my reason to exist. To keep going.” Twilight frowned. “This doesn’t sound like it has much to do with these ruins,” Twilight said. “Or, for that matter, the column.” “I did say it was a long story,” Zerephonzidas said. “Over time, I discovered a very fascinating species that, like the sphinx, were very magical in nature, but unlike us, had short lifespans. They would evolve at a breakneck pace, going from dumb animals to perhaps the greatest power on this sphere.” “You mean us.” “That is correct. You were everything I could have wanted, Twilight. You provided magic and wonder every single day for me to observe. I was enthralled. Your tribal rituals, your ‘alicorns’, your spells and books and pegasus magic… It was all amazing. It was my golden age.” “Not any more?” Zerephonzidas darkened. “Well, the problem with having more of something is that it becomes cheap. So many mysteries of magic had been revealed to me that I began to take them for granted. I suppose you could say I became bored.” The sphinx looked back at the ruins as he kept talking. “It was an alien feeling for me. I had always had purpose, and then I felt like I was losing interest.” “And then?” “I found myself in a desert kingdom, one of the most powerful nations across all of ponykind. For context, there were only a few places where ponies thrived. North, which is quite close to the original site of Equestria, and down south.” “I’ve never heard of a southern origin for ponies.” “You have now,” Zerephonzidas said with a grin. “How history is forgotten is almost as fascinating as the history itself, in my opinion.” “What were you doing down south?” “I was working with… temporarily… a king. Their nation thrived around oases, and for that reason, he called himself the ‘Emerald King’. It was supposed to represent his dominion over life itself, believe it or not. He had quite an ego.” “He sounds it.” “Of course, his kingdom was the most advanced nation of magic at the time, so I was naturally drawn to it, and he was drawn to my long life and knowledge. I enjoyed a rather cosy existence for a few decades. The king was, I should mention, a tyrant, but then again, it was a less friendly time.” “What then?” “He… or rather, we… found something. Deep in the desert. A huge black column that no magic could explain.” Zerephonzidas peered into Twilight’s eyes. “Consider that for me, this was extraordinary. My eyes can see through something’s physical shape and gaze at the magic within, but this column… I could not see through. Additionally, I was so accustomed to things revealing all their secrets to me that I, well, was rather surprised by the feeling of not being able to understand something. This location became the center of magical experimentation. The king had things he wanted to find out, and so did I. Of course, we had vastly different objectives.” “How different?” “Significantly. I was just there to find out the truth. The Emerald King, on the other hand, wanted to use the column, and derived an interesting little spell without my knowledge.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How did you find out?” “I found out when he lured me away from the site to be assassinated. The plan failed, and I managed to learn what the King was planning from his highest ranking magician. The King was attempting to become a true immortal. I believe I have touched on this matter before.” “You did.” “I was shocked that the King had managed to both outwit me but also unravel the power of the column before me. Furious, I rushed back to the ruins, but by then, he had already cast the spell. I was just fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the magic before a powerful blast erupted through the ruins. I barely made it out alive, and I suffered… injuries,” Zerephonzidas said, raising a paw to his blank eye. “I was driven momentarily mad by the spell and the visions that leaked into my mind. When I finished wandering aimlessly through the desert, the ruins were gone… disappeared, and I had nowhere to go.” Twilight frowned. “So you still have no idea what the column is?” “No. But… I feel something is different here. Whatever it was and whatever it does, I feel I am close to finding it out.” “Why might it be causing nightmares? Noises? Did it do that before?” “No, it did not. I am afraid that the Emerald King’s spell must have had significant side-effects, such as the blast. Perhaps that noise is a similar unwanted phenomenon.” Twilight rubbed the bridge of her nose. “That’s not as helpful as I wished it would be.” “The reason this place fascinates me is precisely the fact that I don’t know so much about it,” Zerephonzidas said. “But think about it, Twilight. We could discover so much! Mysteries nopony in the entire world knows about! If the Emerald King got his wish and became the Immortal King… think about the changes this would bring for history! Magical knowledge.” Twilight had to admit, it sounded appealing. “I understand you are afraid, but true knowledge comes with risks. Please, let’s keep going. Let’s uncover the mysteries together. I promise I will do everything in my power to keep you and your friends safe.” “You promise?” Twilight asked. “Yes. I revealed my past just now, did I not?” Zerephonzidas sighed. “No more secrets. I shall be completely honest with you from now on.” “If that’s the case, I need to know one more thing,” Twilight said. “Go on.” “What do you intend to do once you find out the secrets of your ‘Immortal King’?” Zerephonzidas shrugged. “Just know them. I suspect I will move on after that,” he said. “I’m not interested in achieving ‘true immortality’. The watered down variety I currently have is quite satisfactory to me.” Twilight stroked her chin. “Very well. But if you don’t live up to your promise…” “I feel I shall have ample opportunity to keep my word.” “That’s not reassuring.” “It will be. You have not yet seen a sphinx in action. We are quite deadly, I assure you.” “Again, not reassuring.” Zerephonzidas shrugged. “Well, nothing I can do about that,” he said. “Is there anything else?” “No,” Twilight said. “That will be all for now.” “Good. Do pop by if you have any other questions.” Twilight found Applejack slumped against the cavern wall. Her eyes were grey, but she was past nodding off every few minutes. Her internal clock had broken completely, and now she was properly awake, but barely functioning. On the other side of the cavern, Twilight could see Rainbow keep careful watch with eyes that would make an eagle jealous. Instead of talking to Applejack, she instead trotted over to the pegasus. “How’s she doing?” “She tried working to stay awake, but Douglas had none of it,” Rainbow said. “I made her four cups of coffee. I think she’s feeling a bit sick now.” “Four cups?” “Yeah.” Rainbow ran her hoof over her face. She seemed sleepy too. “Did you learn what you wanted from Zerephonzidas.” “Not as much as I had hoped,” Twilight said. “Turns out he’s in the dark about these nightmares and that noise as we are.” “Huh. Did you believe him?” “Maybe.” Rainbow folded her hooves. “Maybe that’s the bit that worries me,” she muttered. Before Twilight had a chance to reply, she heard a sudden, loud noise. It was the sound of a digger dropping a large bucket of rubble, followed by shouting. Even Applejack lifted her head, startled, although she could barely muster the energy to get up. “What was that?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know,” Twilight said. “Stay here, I’ll check it out.” Twilight trotted down to the excavation site. The shouts were getting louder. They were panicked, and scared. Twilight’s heart beat faster and faster. What now? What else could possibly have gone wrong? When she rounded the corner and saw the source of the disturbance, she froze. “Get away from it!” Douglas shouted, sweat beading on his forehead. “Remember, it’s sharp enough to seriously hurt anypony it touches!” Slowly ambling towards the diggers, the glass pony Twilight had helped excavate shifted its hooves and began to walk. Cracks formed along its surface as it broke and snapped, creaked and splintered. Little shards of glass were spat from its body. At this rate, it’d crumble to smithereens… but would that happen before it cornered somepony? “Back away!” Twilight ordered. “Up to the entrance. Don’t let it trap you!” The glass pony turned its lifeless head towards Twilight. The alicorn could see her own terrified expression in its reflective eyes. Her horn flashed. “I’m not afraid to—” A small stone shot through the glass pony’s skull like a bullet, spraying splinters and broken pieces of glass from the exit point. The cracks propagated through its body like a spiderweb, and in an instant, the statue rumbled to dust, leaving nothing more than a pile of broken glass. Twilight found she had been holding her breath. She looked towards the origin of the stone. Zerephonzidas gave Twilight a curt nod. “I did promise to keep you and your friends safe, didn’t I?” he said. “You’ll want to be careful. Bits of that thing have gone everywhere. Be careful where you step until it’s all been cleaned up.” Twilight breathed in. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and her heart throbbed inside her chest. “What was—” “A rare phenomenon. I’ve seen it happen before,” Zerephonzidas said, leaning over the broken glass pony. “Not with… not with glass ponies, though. It happens for quick deaths. So quick they might as well be instantaneous. I thought because it was a statue we would be safe.” “What are you talking about?” “When things die quickly… so quickly that their spirits don’t realise they died… they don’t really stop living. If you can call it that, that is,” Zerephonzidas explained. “I imagine the blast turned the ponies here to glass so fast, their spirits didn’t leave.” He turned away from the mess. “Spirits degrade, of course. Trapped in rubble, they’re little more than mindless automatons. Don’t feel bad for putting them down.” Twiligt grit her teeth against one another. “There are more of those?” “Probably. Of course, we can simply break them when we find them in the future. Risk free,” Zerephonzidas said. “Besides, this one couldn’t even harm us.” He smiled at Twilight. “I promised, remember?” Twilight remembered. “I know,” she said, and turned to leave. “I’m going to hold you to it. Somepony gets hurt, and we leave.” Zerephonzidas’s smile gradually disappeared. “Of course, Twilight.” “It’s Princess Sparkle to you,” Twilight replied.