Okay let’s see, angry Sphinx approaches. Unconscious party member Fluttershy I just left on the grass unable to act in her own defense, I was unfortunately closer to the Sphinx and I still hadn’t done my thing yet because I’ve been continually interrupted. Mom, was… what mom was doing with that inky feather and why was she posing like that.
“Look if you act like a foul creature, and by that I mean if you attack us, I shall bash you over the head with the power of this feather!” As far as threats go that sounded lame if you didn’t take into account that the feather was still partially covered in ink.
I didn’t have an inkling as to what a cast magical alchemy spell with that additive would do. To be fair it was quite threatening to me if the spell couldn’t be aimed properly and I was suddenly hit with whatever mom targeted.
-
Magical alchemy came in two different flavors, casting and sustained. Various body parts, objects and other things always had various differing effects depending on the shape, color or origin of said objects, parts or otherwise. There were of course rules to magical alchemy and we were blindly stumbling upon them all the time.
Casting magical alchemy tended to destroy the object used in the cast, usually for a powerful magical spell of various effects. You could not use something that was living or still attached to the living in a casting. In example, I couldn’t use unicorn hair to do whatever that hair would do if it was still attached to the unicorn in question.
One example of casting is that fish bones gave one the ability to breathe underwater, like a fish, with the bones being the essence of an aquatic creature that made complete sense. If you were to cast multiple times with the same kind of object in a very short period of time, like say fifty times within a few hours, the temporary effect could actually become permanent.
This is why I told my mom that if she ever used a cast with an axe as her object, she better not cast with another axe if it was a spell that caused one to become a violently powerful berserker.
Magical alchemy could be dangerous to the user, what wasn’t dangerous was the fact that we were two proud aquatic capable Abyssinians. Sure we didn’t ‘technically’ have more than permanent water breathing or protection from being crushed by deep depths, but we were completely safe from drowning at the very least.
I made it a rule that temporary beneficial effects that alter emotions or appearance should never be used in quick succession more than two times, then you should at least wait a day or two so the magical effects didn’t cause permanent issues and to be sure they dissipated correctly. For a temporary effect to become permanent, it requires a certain number of active uses in a row. The effect of one use, no matter how much was used in that one use, could never be, thankfully enough, permanent.
A hand full of fish scales for instance causes ones fur to become more scale like and armored, it wasn’t armored like a dragon and the scales were far more protective in water than out of it. I was not going to walk around for the rest of my life looking like a cat fish and my mother agreed with the rule to watch what we did with our alchemy ingredients when we discovered their effects.
Also I banned any testing of catnip as an alchemy ingredient, I certainly didn’t want to know what it did as a cast or sustained. My mom only acquiesced after I implied what catnip might do to the both of us, especially if euphoria became a permanent effect from multiple casts and we couldn't stop ourselves.
It was an important thing for us to remember that while most fish bones might give you the ability of water breathing, other different kinds of fish bones might yield you far more different unexpected effects.
Sustained magical alchemy was different from casting. Instead of destroying the object for a powerful spell, a different more passive effect occurred that mostly only worked on the user and sometimes the effect would sustain itself without needing to use concentration.
An example of this is aside from glowing brightly, the fish bones sustained main effect made you more agile in water and capable of handling deeper depths more easily. It wasn’t technically permanent, if you didn’t concentrate on keeping the effect going or the bone were removed from your possession you’ll lose the effect immediately. Lose the thing keeping that effect going two thousand feet below sea level and you’d be mulched, the glowing was a self sustaining effect that didn't require concentration.
I had a simple glow in the dark fish bone necklace I could use if I ever had to go deep sea diving. I knew how to use the sustained effect of the fish bones and it wasn’t hard to concentrate on them to keep using said effect.
Fish scales had an odd sustained effect that neither I nor my mother quite understood, why fish scales gave you the sustained effect of being able to spit blasts of water from your mouth was something we've never been able to figure out. Said blasts came from our bodily fluids and we’d need to rehydrate after ten shots out of water. It was interesting and might prove somewhat useful against dragons, so we always had some fish scale necklace on us for sustained usage only.
Only one sustained effect could be held at any given time unless the effect was self sustaining and they can't become permanent like a cast effect. I was currently wearing a pretty fish scale necklace at the time. You could cast as much as you have the ingredients to cast with. The matter is not destroyed, it is however repurposed and even repurposed the essence used in a cast eventually returns to the planet and the magical nature of this world.
Now you understand how magical alchemy works, for the most part anyway. It’s not an exact science… yet.
My sun given ability was not magical alchemy, but it almost looked like it if I decided to make a show of it and pretended it was magical alchemy.
-
“Well hello to you too.” The unnamed Sphinx said in a sickly sweet voice. I knew what was coming, but mom didn’t. “I seriously don’t think a feather is going to save you from being my next meal.”
“Wouldn’t it be cannibalism if you ate us? We’re cats like you. By the way, hi I’m Jade La Perm and this is my mother Kurilian La Perm or just Kuril to friends. We aren’t looking for a fight here, but we will defend ourselves if we have to.” I pointed out to the one seriously threatening her with a feather and it wasn’t an empty one by any stretch of the imagination, plus my dagger was still in the ship behind the intimidating Sphinx. Said dagger had a nice magical alchemy sustained effect to it too, unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to get to it before we were all violently ripped to shreds. That included Fluttershy who had nothing to do with this at all, which was a big 'oops' if I let that occur. “Said mother who owes you a bit of an apology for redirecting an airship into hitting your body at a pretty good velocity…”
I stalled my words as I waited for the aggressive giant magical cat with wings to give me her name, this was in the hopes of forging a peaceful outcome.
“I am Sekhet Sphinx lowly mortal, I have lived for quite a long time and I doubt you’re wise to pick a fight with the likes of me.” Her name was Sekhet, well crap, if I remember history that meant she was a warrior goddess with incredible healing abilities. It explains why her spine isn’t broken from the weight of a galleon sized airship smashing into her back. “However I must still follow the guidelines of all sphinxes and give you a riddle, if you get it correct then you can explain yourselves and apologize to me. If you get it wrong, then we will fight and should you win the battle I might actually owe you a boon. Most people don’t survive longer than three minutes, most of which is spent running from me.”
Okay what were the several titles of Sekhet again?
‘The one who is powerful’, being the meaning of her name and not a title. She’s a freaking Sphinx, so of course she is powerful.
‘One before whom evil trembles’. Not applicable here… or is it? We did kind of trespass an evil upon her by accident, dung beetles, this was quite bad. I’m going to blame Rainbow Dash for this and some of it on my mother.
‘Mistress of Dread’. I was certainly dreading what she’ll soon do to us.
‘She who mauls’. That was the very description of what a sphinx this size can do.
“Mom, don’t antagonize her, we will not win a fight with a physical goddess who has the title of She Who Mauls.” The Sphinx smiled and puffed up looking proud that I knew who she was just by name and title. “She can heal from all wounds with time, she is after all a warrior goddess in the same vein that Celestia is goddess of the sun.”
“Yeah, that… that’s pretty bad for us.” Kuril agreed immediately as we looked up at the grinning sharp toothed visage of the Egyptian goddess of ‘honorable’ slaughter. I’m getting the idea that she didn’t kill off all those ponies back in the past because they weren’t a threat to her at the very least and it wouldn’t have been very honorable to murder them. “So what is this riddle you want us to answer?”
“Also why couldn’t we have landed on Bastet, she’d have been a much friendlier Sphinx to meet.” Not that I hated Sekhet, but Bastet was a goddess of protection and cats, sometimes she was also the goddess of fertility. I got the feeling that Bastet was a large friendly Sphinx in this world and Sekhet confirmed my suspicions.
“You know of my loving sister? Bah, I haven’t seen her since she was tasked with guarding an ancient pyramid. Unlike her, the temple of the kingdom I was saddled with is still surprisingly above ground.” She sounded angry and her eyes narrowed upon me, Sekhet was also goddess of rage on top of the healing and being a warrior. “Still, it’s interesting that you know of her. As the legends of her existence has died off, she should still be guarding it to this day. It is a riddle I will pursue after you answer this one… no... make that two riddles. You inconvenienced my hunt for food by landing on me, as such I will require you to answer two.”
At her size and given how healthy she looks to be, I don’t think she’s lost her warriors edge at all and as such she was quite dangerous even if she didn’t use her magical prowess to render the three of us into puddles of flesh, blood and bone. I haven’t forgotten about Fluttershy, like mom hadn’t forgotten to keep her journal open until the ink dries.
“So be it, tell us the first riddle. We are waiting on you oh mighty Sekhet.” I bowed before Sehket Sphinx on my knees with my head to the ground and my palms touching the dirt. I slowly got back to my feet and looked at her surprised eyes. The surprise did not last long, but it had been there.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard and cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life and kills laughter.” Her voice was really quite nice to hear, if she wasn’t seriously threatening to end our lives over something we only vaguely had some control over. “What am I?”
“Wow, you were really going easy on Somnambula back then weren’t you?” There was that curious look again, but Sekhet didn’t say anything about my comment. I looked to mom to see if she any idea what the answer to the riddle was, she shook her head no. If it cannot be seen, like a… that’s it! “The answer is, you are the dark or darkness itself.”
“Correct.” It was all Sekhet said as she continued to give me several funny looks. There was a long pause as she considered her next riddle. “This is not my riddle, but what occupations do you have? I find myself intrigued as to why you two are here in this land, so far from home.”
“I am a burgeoning witch and I used to run a restaurant, should we survive you… I wouldn’t mind sharing a meal if you can find enough for me to cook.” Turning from my mom’s answer to look at me, I gave the Sphinx a dubious look and a smirk.
Mom had the right idea to bribe the goddess with something she doesn’t get very often, a home cooked delicious meal made by the amazing Kurilian La Perm. Maybe an offer of friendship wouldn’t be amiss either given this is Equestria. It has probably been a long time since the goddess has spoke to anyone really.
“I am a rogue sun priest, I think the sun gifted me with one unique ability because it likes me.” That had the mighty Sekhet even more flummoxed than before when I had bowed to her.
“Really now… I hope to see what you make and as for you… your… interesting.” I now had a goddess interested in me, I certainly would have felt special if she wasn’t threatening to kill us if we failed her riddle. “Here’s my second riddle. Say my name and I disappear, what am I?”
Okay, that… that was actually a tough one because of how short it was and didn’t give me much to work with. The order in which she told the riddles meant she was less upset to get bodied by an airship and was more upset about not being able to catch her prey. However my mom broke me out of my thought processes by yelling a single word.
“Silence!” My mother shouted with a firm smile on her face and I just stared at her, why did she… oh. That was the answer.
The Sphinx frowned and growled at us a bit, but she didn’t attack she instead sat down before us and her large tail curled around her left side.
“If I provide the food, will you cook a meal for all?” I noticed that Sekhet was looking at the unconscious filly on the ground with what I considered to be a friendly smile. “I will not ask you to eat anything that can talk back. For I will provide both plant and fish, if you can make me a tasty dish. Then we will talk about how you came to be, especially with the boat that landed upon me.”
Oh great, now I was dealing with two people that liked to rhyme.