//------------------------------// // Present Day: The Last Expedition // Story: The Pony, the Sphinx, and the Immortal // by HapHazred //------------------------------// Zerephonzidas sat by the entrance to the ruins, feeding on a seemingly endless stream of supplies. The diggers around him were in poor spirits after learning of Digger Douglas’s fate. They had sent a small team of ponies to look into the hole Rainbow had tried to escape through, but not only were there only a few stallions who could fit in, but there was no sign of Rainbow Dash. Even the cold breeze Zerephonzidas had claimed had come from it was gone, leaving nothing but stale air and empty echoes. Eventually they had to turn back. Fatigue was clawing at everypony, from Applejack to the diggers who had worked for nearly three days straight to rescue the team of ponies. Besides, the odds of Rainbow surviving for this long without food, and more importantly, water, were close to zero. Twilight sat above the entrance to the ruins, staring at them with a blank expression. Rarity hadn’t spoken to her since they had found Zerephonzidas, and all Applejack hadn’t even seen Twilight since learning the news. Twilight knew that on some level they blamed her, and frankly, Twilight was of a mind to agree with them. The team had found Douglas’s remains, partially squashed under a large slab of stone. Twilight hadn’t the heart to examine the body, and besides, it was too damaged by the cave-in to recognise beyond Douglas’s cutie mark. Twilight picked at her meal, still regaining her strength. She had lost count of how many glass statues she had smashed, but it was enough for her horn to ache from the effort. She rubbed her forehead. Two lives was two too many, Twilight thought. She got to her hooves and trotted to the entrance, where Zerephonzidas was still recovering his energy. He looked like a zombie version of himself, gaunt and pale. “I thought you promised,” Twilight muttered. “I apologise for losing sight of Rainbow,” Zerephonzidas said, still eating. “It was careless of me.” Twilight sighed, feeling like a large hole inside of her had opened up. “I imagine you want to leave this place immediately,” Zerephonzidas said. Twilight frowned. “No,” she muttered. “I want everypony else to leave, then I want to know exactly what it is that’s so important we lost Rainbow and Douglas.” Zerephonzidas managed a small smile. “That’s a very sphinx way of thinking,” he said. “I can’t promise you any kind of satisfaction after what’s happened, but I can promise we will get answers.” Twilight stared into the ruins. “I just don’t think I could leave with everything unfinished. You know?” Zerephonzidas nodded. “All too well.” He continued eating his meal. “When I’m back to full strength, we shall go back into the tunnel, just you and I. Now you’ve found the column, there is no sense risking anyone else’s life.” Twilight nodded. “Good,” she said. “That will have to do.” “How’re you holdin’ up?” Rarity turned to face Applejack, who was still rubbing her eyes from lack of sleep. Recent events had likely not made sleep come any easier to the farmpony. “I feel awful,” Rarity said. “I feel like I’m going to be sick.” Applejack nodded. “So do I,” she said. “How ‘bout Twilight?” Rarity looked towards where Twilight used to have been, only to find she had gone. “I’m really worried,” she admitted. “I’m scared she’ll do something… rash.” “How rash?” “Very.” Rarity sighed. “How are we supposed to tell Pinkie and Fluttershy?” “Or Scootaloo,” Applejack muttered. “I guess I’ll have to take care of Tank, too.” “Oh, right. Douglas told me to look after his snails,” Rarity said. “I’m not sure I know what it is snails eat, though.” “Leaves ‘n plants, I think. They just eat some of our cabbages back at the farm.” “I suppose they have to eat something,” Rarity said. Pick came down from the upper levels, frowning. “Speaking of eating,” he said, “Somepony’s been getting into our supplies we left up by the entrance to stay cool. You wouldn’t have seen anypony nicking anything?” Applejack shook her head. “No.” “It’s revolting,” Rarity muttered. “After everything, somepony is stealing food?” Pick grumbled. “I know,” he said. “I’ll give whoever it is a stern talking to.” Rarity scowled, and turned to leave. “I’m going to make us a drink. Do you want one, Applejack?” Applejack nodded. “Coffee.” Rarity shrugged. “It’s all we have left, anyway.” Zerephonzidas rolled his neck. “Well?” he asked. Twilight levitated a small pebble to see if her magic had returned to normal. Apparently, it had. She nodded. “I’m ready,” she said, and looked back up at the camp, where Rarity and Applejack were no doubt waiting. She breathed out. It was better they didn’t come with her this time. After all, she knew where she was going, and she had Zerephonzidas with her this time. Together, they were as safe as they were going to be anyway. “Good,” Zerephonzidas said. “This ends today.” Twilight put a hard hat on. Zerephonzidas gestured towards the entrance to the ruins, which opened up like the jaw of a giant snake. “Let’s go,” Twilight said, and stepped inside the ruins once again. Hopefully this would be the last time. Applejack nursed her coffee, the images from her latest nightmare fresh in her mind. The column was clear in her mind’s eye, now, its outline contrasting starkly against the army of glass statues that cowered in its shadow. Whatever words it had been whispering in Applejack’s ear, she couldn’t make sense of them. It was like listening to an amalgamation of a thousand languages pouring into her at once. She rubbed her eyes. She could still hear the odd noises and… She frowned, her ears flicking to the side. She could hear the sound of eating. Not normal eating, either. It was animalistic and savage, like somepony had a grudge against an apple pie. She trotted towards the source of the noise. Perhaps a rabid animal had entered the camp. As if Applejack needed any additional trouble. Whatever it was, it had caught Applejack in the foulest mood she had ever been in, and would likely regret it. She rounded a corner, and widened her eyes. One of the large sacks full of food had been torn open, the strands frayed as if they had been bitten through. Bits of food and wrappers surrounded it, crumbs and sauces staining the stones. In the middle, practically inhaling the food, was a very familiar pony. “Oi! We just found the pony watching over the food!” came Pick’s voice. “He’s been knocked out!” Applejack’s heart raced. “I found the food,” she shouted. “You’ll never guess who our thief was!” Zerephonzidas and Twilight reached the boarded up entrance to the last hallway, where Twilight and Applejack had been trapped for hours. A quick swipe with his paw was all Zerephonzidas needed to undo their work, and make a hole big enough for both himself and Twilight to pass through. “Careful, there might be glass on the other side,” Twilight said. “I have a way of dealing with that,” Zerephonzidas said, and once he got to the other side, he spread his wings and blew the small bits and pieces away. “There. Mind some of the larger pieces, though.” Twilight clambered through after him. Zerephonzidas admired Twilight’s handiwork. “You got through a good number,” he said. “It seems there were more here than there were in my corridor.” “There are more inside,” Twilight said. “You’ll likely need to cut through a few more.” Zerephonzidas nodded. “Of course,” he said. “I need to pass by my former study, though. I left something important there.” Twilight rummaged around her bags and pulled out the lens she had found there earlier. “You mean this?” Zerephonzidas raised his eyebrow. “Why, yes. Thank you,” he said, and took the lens from Twilight. “I made this five-thousand years ago to help me investigate the column. It didn’t work, but at least now it has a use to me.” He popped the casing off the lens, revealing the sphinx eye within. “I took this from a sphinx named Salenorzabul. He never trained his eyes to see as well as me, but after he passed away, I improved it somewhat.” “I know you killed him,” Twilight said. “I looked through the eye.” “Ah. Well, no pretenses then. Yes, I killed Salenorzabul. He was a pest.” “You don’t feel bad about killing a fellow sphinx?” “No. Why? Would you?” “Yes.” “Ponies tend to just come and go, but a problematic sphinx is worth dealing with,” Zerephonzidas said. “I decided it was better to be rid of him than curse myself for millions of years.” He brought the eye to his bad eye, and blinked. Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Wow,” she muttered. Zerephonzidas smiled, both his eyes creasing as he did so. “There we go. All better.” “I’ve never heard of that trick,” Twilight said. “Sphinx magic is brutal and cruel. If I want to fix myself, I need to break someone else.” He looked down the corridor. “Do you know that for five-thousand years, all I could see out of my bad eye was the column? It was as if it was always with me, every day. When I slept, I would still see it. When I tried to run away from it, it followed me. It’s a vision I could never escape, until now.” Twilight swallowed. “And now that you can escape?” Zerephonzidas breathed in. “Yes, I could leave, couldn’t I?” He stroked his chin, and then narrowed his eyes. “But I won’t. Nothing has changed: I need to finish this, more than I need food or oxygen.” He bared his teeth. “I will not have wasted five-thousand years of my life, and tormented myself for no reason. I will do anything to get to the column. Anything at all.” “But… how?” Rarity asked as Rainbow Dash continued to gorge herself on food. “Got out of the tunnel,” Rainbow said, her face covered in crumbs. Her mane was a mess and she was shivering. Applejack had draped a blanket over her. Spent a day trying to find the cave. Almost froze.” Rarity couldn’t describe how happy she was to see her friend alive. “We thought we lost you,” she said. “Well, you did,” Rainbow said, swallowing down a sandwich in one go. “I had no idea where I was. Good thing pegasus fur is thicker than Earth pony or unicorn coats, otherwise I’d be an icicle somewhere in the snow.” She began gulping down water. “Jeez, I feel awful.” “Have you found Twilight?” Applejack asked Pick. “She’ll want to know…” Pick shook his head. “No sign of her,” he said. “Sorry. She might be outside.” “Well, go find her!” Rarity said. “This is great news!” “What happened to Zereph and Douglas?” Rainbow asked. “Did they make it?” “Zerephonzidas did,” Applejack said, looking down. “Douglas was killed.” Rainbow’s eyes widened. “What? How? He was doing fine when I left.” “There was another cave-in,” Rarity said. “We found him crushed under a rock.” Rainbow frowned. “Yeah, right.” “Hmm?” Rainbow stood up, swaying slightly. “Ugh, I think I feel sick. Where’d you put him?” “You don’t want to see him,” Applejack said, putting her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “It ain’t pretty.” “I really do,” Rainbow said, taking another sip of water to settle her stomach. “Douglas was a top notch digger. It’d be like saying I was killed by a cloud.” Rarity pointed towards the top levels. “We put him up there until we could take him home,” she said. Rainbow nodded, and flew up to the entrance to the cave. Douglas’s remains had been put in a bag. Rainbow unzipped it, and gagged. “Ugh. You’re right,” she said. “I didn’t want to see this.” She breathed out. “Is this it?” “This is all we could find.” Rainbow frowned. “Yeah, something smells real fishy,” she said. “Now, I’m no smart pony, right, but I think that when somepony gets crushed, half their body doesn’t magically disappear, right?” Rarity and Applejack caught up with Rainbow. “Well, where else would it have gone?” Rainbow looked closer at the body. “Well, look at it this way: if you were starving in a tunnel next to a snack-bar on legs, how hungry would you have to be before you wanted to eat the snack-bar?” She pointed at some markings on Douglas’s body. “Call me crazy, but those kind of look like teeth marks, don’t you think?”