Not wishing to fight the feline inhabitants that had challenged their right to explore the abandoned magical labs, the explorers had taken to the sky; at least five of them had, the earth pony Blaze Trails had vanished into the forest and could not be located for extraction. Grenelda the griffon, Azure Feather the (newly-minted) pegasus and Reef Skimmer, originally a hippogriff but currently in the shape of a small roc. On the giant grey eagle's back (or should we say, partially embedded in it) was the cerulean form of distinguished researcher Summer Scribe, while the pink-coated unicorn Sprocket squirmed in the legs of the pegasus.
Reef Skimmer took the ability to change shape for granted; it had been nearly two decades since the Royal Pearl had been split among the hippogriffs of Mount Aris. Before his painful encounter with the unnatural worms he'd been restricted to two shapes - griff and seapony - and the change itself had been more or less automatic. Now new possibilities had opened up, albeit requiring much more practice and concentration to master. The roc shape was certainly useful, he thought: once airborne, the occasional flap was enough to maintain altitude. The whole messy business of wriggling tentacles and water jet propulsion could be put out of mind for a while.
This was in fact his first time flying like this in the daytime; it was reassuring to see things from a decent altitude again. There was Azure Feather, wings flapping hard to climb with the engineer pony gripped tightly in her legs... and there was the griffon Grenelda, spiralling easily up to... hmm, with no pony. "What happened to Blazer?" Reef called out, his roc shape making his voice deep and extra-squawky.
Grenelda shrugged her shoulders by way of response, as her wings stilled into a soaring glide. "Couldn't find her, wasn't responding when I shouted her name. I figure she knows what she's doing and we'll see her back at camp. If not, I dunno - we'll figure that out if she doesn't show up."
"Return to the camp?" Reef started down at the tiny feline shapes below, now creeping into the half-ruined complex; no doubt searching for spies or stragglers. "I suppose we should make a show of flying off in a different direction first, lest we lead them straight there. Then, erm, sneak back in and try to pick up Blazer, is that the plan? What about the copter?"
"Hmmmm, guess we can take the long way around," Grenelda considered, before nodding firmly. A minor diversion that might save a lot of hassle. "That Blaze pony, I think she just straight up ran off. My guess is, she's already making her own way back to camp. The copter? Yeah, we just don't fly that way, problem solved."
From her position riding on (or to be honest, stuck in) Reef's back, Summer Scribe was listening to the griff's conversation. "If we're juking the cats, maybe we could head down southeast first?" the unicorn suggested. "Get a closer look at the jungle and the temple hiding in there?"
Azure Feather finally reached the same altitude as the griffs, with Sprocket hanging nervously below, though it had been an enormous struggle. Physically her wings were fine, beating powerfully at her sides, but pegasus flight was as much magic as aerodynamics, of a kind very different from the unicorn spellwork she was used to. Flying with the weight of another pony in her legs was a huge thing to ask of a beginner, and it was clear that she couldn't keep it up for much longer. Make it back to the camp, maybe, but a leisurely trip around the island was out of the question.
"I say Azure, brave effort there, but... perhaps you'd prefer to put Sprocket next to Summer here?" Reef suggested, banking over to glide below Azure. "One can hardly feel the weight and you do look a little, erm, flustered."
"F-Flustered?" Azure managed, clearly straining to stay in the air. "You're... not kidding." The pegasus grunted as her grip faltered, her passenger slipping down a few centimetres. "Sorry Sprocket... can't keep this up..." The mechanic pony was trembling now, reaching out with her hooves, and unconsciously lighting up her horn to try and arrest her fall. Before she could close the gap with the roc, Azure's legs finally gave out, causing the unicorn to plummet like a stone while the pegasus shot upwards.
Fortunately Reef was already in position: his aerial catch of Sprocket was successful, if a little disturbing. The extra passenger landed in his back with a loud squelch, pushing the grey feathers aside and embedding half way up her barrel in the blue gooey substance beneath. "Oh, erm, perhaps I can just..." With a few false starts and odd sucking sound, Reef managed to re-extrude the second unicorn until just her hooves were held fast. "...and there we are." he finished, feigning nonchalance.
Sprocket's heart had leapt in her throat as Azure finally dropped her, but she'd landed squarely on the roc-like creature's back. Her panic flared as she continued to sink through him, but as his... stuff grabbed her and pushed her back to a stable standing, Sprocket felt like she could breathe again.
Summer Scribe looks over to Sprocket with a giggle. "Welcome to Reef Airlines! It's a little sticky, but I've had worse."
"It's..." Sprocket panted for breath from the close call there, "...something! Sorry uh... Azure, didn't think you'd have to fly far. You okay?"
"I'm... okay now." Azure stated, gliding along smoothly now but still trying to catch her breath. "Sorry... I'll have to work on my wing power if I'm going to do something like that again." It seemed Summer's confidence in her new wings had been misplaced, she thought glumly.
"So... south east, you said? Over the jungle?" Reef looked over his shoulder at the two unicorns stuck to his back, then over to the griffon. "Perhaps we could head for the aqueduct over there, then swing around? Should throw those kitty-cats off the scent, one would think?"
Grenelda nodded: "Sounds like a plan. If we're having to do this anyway, then some sightseeing isn't the worst." Not that she was feeling any love for this island after the death ray and the thoroughly unfriendly cats, but, eh.
"Not falling to my death, so no complaints here!" Sprocket called out.
"I guess we stick to the plan of retreat and regroup then? Fair enough. I'll follow your lead." Azure nodded, not enthusiastic about sticking around either. What were the odds the jungle would be any more welcoming? Still, they had a job to do here...
The three flyers stopped circling and turned south-west, staying close as they flapped away from the abandoned monastery and its besieging force of indignant talking cats, hoping to find a less hostile reception in the jungle and its mysterious stepped pyramid. Summer Scribe looked back at the receding complex and let out a bittersweet sigh of relief. "Well, that could have gone better, but it could have gone worse. I'll take it."
Reef Skimmer drifted lower, peering down at the landscape where the forest began to open up. A river snaked lazily through a small plain dotted with the signs of agriculture. Small, scale, disorganised, but fields of vegetables nonetheless. It pooled into a small lake, where a collection of small, rounded wooden buildings could be made out sheltering under and in the trees near the shore.
To the west, a line of stone arches led away towards a much larger settlement of more elaborate buildings, though both the aqueduct and the city were clearly damaged by some calamity. To the south-east, a glimmering bubble of greenish magic domed over a cluster of clearings and meadows, bright with flowers and dotted by some form of statues or sculptures.
"You see those pens? It seems the Abyssinians have a taste for swine, I'd say the same species we encountered in the river islands." Reef noted, before cocking his head in various directions. "One is feeling... something from that bubble. Hard to put into words. The feeling of going from meadow to jungle, but concentrated, intense? Apologies, I suppose that doesn't make much sense."
Summer Scribe was starting to calm down, as it seemed they were out of danger for now. Sure she was a thousand metres off the ground, embedded in a huge bird with innards made of goo, but it was a nice sunny day and the thrum of Reef's wings was soothing. She looked out over the landscape far below to give herself something to occupy her mind and senses.
"...You know, I don't blame the cats for telling us to scram. I guess." Her brow furrowed. "They were totally in their right to do so. It's just unfortunate that they have to be like this, you know? But... no biggie. There's plenty more to explore, so we won't be out of leads any time soon."
"In the right?!" Grenelda protested angrily, "Those cats were total jerks! They didn't even let you explain. And everyone thinks you're pets or something! So we were in their fancy school or library or whatever, which was already trashed when we got there by the way. So what!? I thought those sharks were just blowing hot air, but I guess they're right about the creatures living here."
"I'm just glad we got away!" Sprocket called over to the griffon, "They can't be total jerks, or they wouldn't have let us leave!"
Summer Scribe's tail twitches in a half-flick. "I mean, yeah. They didn't even ask why we were here, or even what we were, but..." She gulped, eyes downcast. Why had she hesitated, shirked her duty as part diplomat? A little hostility from the locals never usually stopped her. This time, she felt strangely... guilty? Then with the trap she hadn't spotted in time, hanging helplessly there waiting for Blaze to rescue her... yeah.
"They probably were too scared to do anything about it," Grenelda countered, "Did you see that male? He was just shaking in his boots, for no reason!"
"Some races are nice like us, some races are... less nice, I guess." Azure shrugged, taking in the landscape below. "Nice place for a vacation, but that's not what we're here for... Maybe we'll get a chance to meet them under better circumstances. Best not to worry about it right now."
Summer Scribe had already put the cats out of her mind: her gaze was focused on the shimmering dome of green magic below, nestled in a forested area near the smaller of the island's two lakes. She peered at Reef's head up ahead and asked loudly: "I had my eyes on the pyramid in the Jungle, but that magic dome... Doesn't it make you want to know why it's there? Are you as interested in taking a look as me?"
Reef Skimmer's huge eagle face turned back over his shoulder to regard his passengers. "The matter is intriguing of course, but..." said uncertainly to Summer. The whole incident with the slime worms was undoubtedly down to the abandoned factory, but he couldn't help joining Set Sail in unease at these incomprehensible native magics. "...that is to say, if there is but a single entrance, as per the water park, what if we get trapped in there?"
Reef glanced over at Azure Feather; that was a sound tactical reason for staying out, right? "It's not far from the village; we might end up having to fight our way out through a legion of felines. Assuming we can get in at all, if it requires one who can perform magic on plants; alas, our agriculture pony is... taking a stroll in the woods, right now."
"Yeah! Won't they just chase us out of this super magic dome too? It's even more protected looking than the ruins!" Sprocket asked. Stuck further back on the roc than Summer, she was craning her neck to try and see around the great gooey beast in vain. "Or the pyramid in the ruins for that matter. We need to find out what they're all up in arms about, before we pay a visit to more of their places!"
"Not all races even want to talk with others." Azure sighed, shaking her head in resignation. "Nothing wrong with it, but I guess we'll need to gain a positive reputation if we're to even get close, I think." She looked down warily at the lakeside village, then the shimmering dome nearby. After all, they think our team is two hungry griffons and their pets. They think we're nothing."
"Hmmm... but we have to face it: we have no plans of doing anything for the cats. We need that alliance with the sharks..." She echoed Azure's sigh: she wished it didn't have to be so transactional, but... "Because they're our only hope against the Drow right now. We picked a side. I would love to make friends with everycreature, but..."
"One shouldn't draw too many conclusions from one encounter, Azure." Reef admonished, before looking at Summer and cracking his beak open in an avian smile. "The same species can exhibit radically different behaviour depending on circumstance and local culture. Why, you might imagine harpies were the foulest beasts or the greatest, erm, temptations, depending on whether your first meeting was at the end of a pirate cutlass or the performers at, erm... certain establishments that specialise in entertaining sailors."
Azure sighed again at Reef's words. "To be fair, we've been called sheep, goats, camels, and now pets. Guess I really shouldn't be surprised anymore."
"Well I don't have anything against the cats," Sprocket said, giving Summer an uncertain look, "Maybe that's why they chased us away, because the sharks have been sending creatures to mess with them. Maybe it was a simple... misunderstanding?"
"Keep in mind our goal: we want to shut down that laser-pyramid," Summer said firmly. "It doesn't take a genius to realise that that thing is probably sacred to the cats and they'd oppose us if they knew what we were really up to. It's not like this is ancient history: we were told they're actively at odds with the sharks and messing with their mining plans."
The group had passed over the smaller lake now and were about to clear the edge of the island. "As for the jungle temple, one can only hope the canopy will hide an aerial approach from any hunters that might be skulking about in the jungle." Reef said. "One assumes it is the same plan, Summer: retreat if confronted?"
Summer nodded back: "Yeah, same plan."
"Retreat if engaged by hostiles? Understood," Azure confirmed. She didn't enjoy turning tail every time she was challenged, but Princess Twilight would probably agree: they were the intruders here, and fighting would only make them invaders. She flapped along behind the two griffs, scanning the sky now for any other fliers. It was good that Grenelda had kept watch outside, or they'd have been ambushed for sure... something to remember when they reached the jungle.
"But... they must be sacred for a reason, right?" Sprocket replied hopefully, refusing to give up on making peace with the Abyssinians. "If we find out that reason, then we can find a way for both of them to come to an agreement!"
The group sailed over the edge and out into clear sky, three tiny specks crossing the great blue void as they began a lazy banking turn to head east, towards the lowest jungle-covered arm of the cross-shaped island. "Ah, the characteristic optimism of pony friendship, erm, evangelism. Warms the heart!" Reef winked at Sprocket. "Say Sprocket, could I ask a personal question? One certainly doesn't want to put you on the spot, but erm, I find myself in need of a little more advice on... a certain matter."
Summer didn't share Sprocket's optimism, muttered to herself: "I kind of doubt it, if I'm honest." But she looks with curiosity between Reef and Sprocket, at first confused...then with a knowing and curious grin. Aha! Reef was still thinking about Set Sail!
"A personal question?" Sprocket asked, giving the giant bird a very confused look, "Why would you want to ask me a personal question? I can't promise I'll answer, but...?"
Reef Skimmer bobbed his head, looking unsure. "Well, one understands... that is to say, Nutmeg mentioned... you have a special otherpony? Or two special otherponies? One isn't quite sure how that works... so the matter in question is: what do you typically gift to them on, erm, hoof and heart day? Just a little, err, equipological study one is putting together."
Summer said nothing, but her lips turned up in a bashful, slightly blushy grin.
"I..." Sprocket sounded torn as she trailed off, ears drooping, "I mean you just... a-anything, really. You shouldn't ask me. I don't know what to get anypony. My special somepony, well one of them, they just... t-this being stranded has him so... I just wish I could get them something nice but I don't know what would get that would get him to even look at me anymore. I just... I-I'm having some troubles with one of m-my band right now, so I just don't know. S-sorry don't mind me, just ask somepony else. Summer probably knows ...all about it." She sighed unhappily.
"Oh. I do apologise, erm.. one is sorry to hear that, of course." Reef stammered. "Stressful times for everygriff, to be sure."
Summer Scribe ear-flattened and nodded as well! "I'm sure you can see things through, Sprocket! Good luck!"
Azure Feather snorted dismissively, too far back for the others to notice. Friendship wasn't something she truly believed in any more, at least not the "most powerful magic around" part. Sure it worked for Princess Twilight, she'd become its icon, but everypony else... And love? Even less so. There was one thing Reef had right in it all, she thought. Stressful times. Right now she was concentrating on not getting an arrow to the wing. She still hadn't said a word.
It took only ten minutes for the explorers to cross the gulf of air and spiral down towards their objective, nestled in the thick green vegetation carpeting the lower arm. The jungle here was even thicker and more vibrant than the central part of Blissful Pastures, fed by numerous streams that trickled down from the central lake and out into the fragmented, suspended delta at the southern edge of the island. Colourful birds were everywhere, many of them cawing and flapping and flocking, swirling nervously as they kept a safe distance from the newcomers, but no signs of cats.
The upper reaches of the pyramid thrust up through the treeline, a stepped bulk of sandstone topped by a kind of pavilion, a stone roof supported by squared-off columns. Several thinner stone constructions poked up as well, carved and tiered like oversized stone totem poles, lining a kind of avenue extending from one side of the pyramid, though the causeway itself was largely obscured by spreading trees.
"What say you ponies, set down near the summit, or push down to that open area underneath?" Reef called back.
Summer Scribe peered down over Reef's flank, oohing and aahing. "Now this is it! What a great pyramid." Confidence crisis forgotten, her face was alight with glee. "I think we might want to set down in the jungle and enter on hoof - just feels safer, somehow."
"Don't ask me," Sprocket said, still stuck in the middle of the roc's back, "I can't see anything down below!"
" I'd exercise caution either way: we know there are hostiles here, and with the standing order to retreat at the first sign of hostility..." Azure started, as she peered into the canopy, trying to spot any creatures that might be lurking below. "Your first option enables us to get the higher ground against any land-bound enemy, at the price of leaving us in the open for flyers to attack - such as a sphinx. Going down gives us cover from above, but opens us to ambush. Still... we have to scout the area: I can't see any openings at the top, perhaps we'll find an entrance at ground level."
"Or a sign saying Sacred Grounds: Keep Away!" Sprocket suggested hopefully.
"Your wish is my command." Reef nodded. Carting around ponies again... well, no need for a cart this time, but the whole thing was getting quite familiar. The pink-crested roc let his claws revert to the blue tentacles they truly were and folded his wings, swopping down towards the gap in the canopy between the sloping pyramid and the adjacent jungle. Water blasted down again as he squid-propulsed to a hover, hanging in the green-tinted shade of the trees.
It was a striking sight, a long sandstone causeway covered in moss and vines, flanked by lines of statues and steles, with the jungle pressing in from both sides. Two score stone sphinxes bore silent witness to the arrival of these strange new visitors, as Reef's water jets delivered a much-needed pressure-washing to the avenue's flagstones. Glancing around and content that there was no immediate threat, Reef Skimmer clicked his beak and settled to the ground, flattening to allow the ponies to disembark.
Sprocket tumbled off, landing hastily, and working her legs out in relief to be finally free. She looked around the jungle apprehensively, the sunlit foliage almost glowing as it pressed around them every direction except that strange stone pyramid.
Grenelda landed beside Reef, still ticked about the reception from the cats back there, but maybe a little less after ponies had to go and throw it all back into ambiguity again.
Quite the loud entrance, Azure thought, coming to a landing next to Grenelda. Then again, it came with the territory of being a gigantic bird. But at least... at least there were no hostiles here. Not yet, at least.
Summer Scribe disembarked as well, wobbling a bit on her legs for a moment after aceing the landing. She looked down the rows of statues then at the stepped pyramid, her expression a mix of excitement, curiosity and wonder. The kind of wonder a pony got from working in unknown, dangerous, yet fascinating locations - the kind she lived for.
The statues lining the avenue were very familiar to Summer; the leonine body, eagle wings and pony head topped by elaborate headdresses matched exactly the legend of Somnambula (less legendary and more confirmed history since the heroine had returned from the nether). They seemed simple sandstone, with no detectable magic; the plinth each sat on was decorated by numerous scenes of stylised creatures fighting, or casting spells, or giving speeches.
"Alright! Here we are." The little unicorn nodded her head eagerly, walking forward to begin examining the sphinx statues. Stone eyes looked down at her, silent and serene as the day they were carved. The carvings beneath were fascinating, fanciful creatures and places she didn't recognise. Much as she wanted to make a methodical study... they might not have long here, if the last site was anything to go by, and the main structure took priority.
"Let me take point: I'll keep my eyes open for traps and secret doors," Summer told the others. "Hopefully this pyramid holds the answers we're looking for about our laser problem..."
"No offense Summer," Grenelda said with one feathery eyebrow raised, "But you took point about an hour ago, and immediately walked right into a big glowy floaty trap."
"Mmm... point." Summer's frustration and exasperation only showed a little on the surface. "Well, what would you rather do, then?" she asked - floating it without a real sense of what kind of response she's fishing for. Did anypony else want to take the lead, even?
"I'll see what I can do," Azure declared, stepping forward towards the pyramid. After all, it was her job to protect every creature on this mission, not every creature minus one, and right now point was the most dangerous position. "I haven't been to any place like this in the past, but if something bad has to happen, best that it's me and not anypony else," she concluded, carefully venturing into the monumental structure.
Reef Skimmer seemed oblivious to their dilemma; he'd reverted to his tentacle-bedecked default shape, and was engaged in the tedious process of trying to squash himself back into something resembling a hippogriff.
"I uh..." Grenelda said, glancing away at Summer's unfortunately poignant retort. Then she brightened and looked to Azure saying, "Yeah, Azure'll take point. She knows what she's doing. Problem solved!"
"Don't listen to her, Summer," Sprocket said with a roll of her eyes, "Bet I would've walked right into that trap too if you weren't first." Azure was already off though, so she trotted after the guardpony, wondering if maybe she would end up being 'first' this time.
Summer grinned and ran to catch up with Azure, giving the pegasus a playful shoulder bump. "Don't worry! You got this." She has a tone of voice that sounds teasing, but she's genuinely happy for the company up here in front.
"Hey, I—hey!" Grenelda shouted, bounding after the ponies leaving her in their wake, "It's not like I'm scared or anything, wait up!"
The avenue did indeed terminate at a monumental entrance built into the base of the pyramid, built from the same massive stone slabs as the rest of the place. A hallway extended into the dark interior, the walls lined with more of the carvings. Instead of neat rows of pictographs they'd seen at the previous site, there was a disorganised jumble of hundreds of tiny scenes, of impossibly varied creatures in all kinds of poses and situations.
"All of you, just... calm down," Azure muttered. "Any sudden moves could be very bad, especially in tight spaces."
The guardpony leads the way, heading down the straight, square tunnel until they were perhaps a quarter of the way into the bulk of the structure. The unicorns sensed an energy here, an upwelling of ambient magic that increased in strength as they went deeper inside, but there were no concentrations that would indicate active spells. Summer was right behind Azure, letting her horn tingle with the dull pulse of magic sensing, checking every tile for pressure activation, every wall for tripwires, being as systematic as she possibly can be.
She stopped every so often to admire the carvings, comparing and contrasting the various scenes to their own history. It looked like a wide jumble from all places and times. Sphinxes were present in most, but usually only one or two at once - definitely a minority compared to all the Abyssinians, trolls, mabu, drow and less recognisable creatures. "There's clearly a lot of history recorded here," Summer said reverently. "A lot to learn from, but finding the specific knowledge we're looking for might be like a needle in a haystack... In any case, we'll probably have to venture deeper inside to get anything really juicy."
The entrance tunnel ended in a large, square room, with rich and intricate mosaics covering the floor and walls. The light came from a shallow pool occupying the centre of the space, apparently filled with water yet glimmering with a soft sourcelesss glow. Prominent crystals jutted out at regular intervals from the lower parts of the walls, set at various positions up to the height of a pony's head. Facing them was a wide doorway blocked with an enormous slab of grey stone, on which were a scattering of curious symbols.
Ten glassy orbs in various colours contained symbols Summer recognised as the fundamental Elements of this place. In one corner, eighteen smaller orbs were inset; one glowing with a dim golden light, the others dark. The only other notable feature was a glowing trail of what seemed like crushed amber lead from the droplet symbol to the flame symbol. With a wave of her horn, Summer confirmed that this slab definitely did hold an active spell.
Summer Scribe paused again, concentrating on the tingling sensation in her horn. "There's a source of magic here, but I don't think we're near any spells," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone of voice. She inspected the shimmering pool, its light reflected as sparkles within the surrounding crystals, finding it to be just pretty for the time being. Then she made a beeline for that door, which smelled very much like a puzzle; a test for the worthy. A grin filled the unicorn's face as she inspected it.
"Yeah... there's something here," Sprocket whispered, her hooves echoing in the quiet empty space as she looked around, horn faintly aglow. "Something big. Can everypony feel that? It's not anything, just a really big... what is that... big thing, Summer? Sorry, I..." her ears turned down at the other unicorn, "I don't know nothing about magic, but you can feel it, right?"
Summer Scribe paused in her analysis of the puzzle, nodding to Sprocket. "Yeah, I feel it too - a big source of magic, somewhere around here. I don't think it's even connected to any spells - it's just there."
Azure just stepped to one side, falling back into the role of guard, watching for signs of danger. As a unicorn perhaps she could have helped Summer, but no longer... her ability to sense magic, to shape it... all gone along with her horn. All she could do was let the unicorns work.
"Okay, this seems simple enough!" Summer took out her notebook, levitating it for all to see and flipping to a sketch of the ten elements she'd made back at the shine on Blissful Pastures. "If it's connecting water to fire - we know that there's five canonical pairs, so I probably just have to indicate them all in sequence." With a glow of her horn, she applied a telekinetic 'shove' to pairs of elements - water then fire, undead then life, tech then magic, dark then light, earth then air; she had to crane her head way back to hit some of the higher orbs. Satisfied, she stood back to watch for the reaction!
For the first pair nothing happened; it seemed they were already connected. After that though a light push on each of the inset orbs was rewarded by a soft chime, as golden-glowing arrows flashed into existence: Undead => Life, Tech => Magic, Dark => Light. With each new arrow another of the small orbs began to glow. Earth to... the last push on 'Air' triggered not a melodious crime but a harsh sound like a cracked gong. All the arrows disappeared instantly, and the room suddenly brightened with an orange glow as the crystals around the edge powered up.
Summer Scribe gave a pleased tap-tap of her forehooves against the stone floor. "Success! Possibly?! Maybe? Ok, let's see what that did." She turned in a circle, keeping her horn in magic sensing mode as she approached the pool, looking all around the glowing orange crystal-lights too. Maybe something changed in the pool? Actually... she felt a sensation in her nostrils, tingly like she's about to sneeze. Summer backed up, glancing around nervously: "Spell charging - be careful, everyone."
"Oh is that what—" Sprocket murmured, pausing in the process of backing away nervously from the mysterious symbols and ominous glow, then blushing at her ignorance and continuing to back up all the way into the corridor.
Azure stared at the crystals, then the walls... those little glassy patches, were they... ? Suddenly putting two and two together, she cried out: "We have a problem! Everypony up!" She leaped into the air, making a split-second decision; Sprocket seemed safe, but Summer... in the line of fire, and too far away for a carry.
Taking a deep breath even as she pumped her wings, the pegasus prepared to employ her new powers. A strong enough gust should do the trick; didn't need to be precise, as long as it carried Summer into the air. If she was right... anypony left at ground level was in for a bad time. Tension built in her pinions; she released the energy just a second before the punishment for being a pretender to the secret of the elements was unleashed.
Forced upwards by a sudden blast of air, Summer Scribe was tossed like a piece of salad as the wind whipped up the pool, spraying glowing droplets all around the room. Then the beams of energy burst forth from the crystals, filling the lower reaches with a criss-crossing grid of burning-hot light. Sprocket was safe in the entrance tunnel, watching the light show and wondering at the spellwork behind it. "I don't think that was the right combination!" she called out.
Grenelda was not so lucky, screeching in pain, surprise and indignation as beams caught her in the flank and tail. She too flapped into the air to hover near the roof, blowing on her smouldering fur and feathers. The humming beams continued for a few more seconds before flickering and dying away, leaving the room as it was before save for the glowing mist now swirling around the pillars. "You think?!" the griffon shouted angrily, grabbing at her own tail to pinching out the fire on its tip.
Summer Scribe floated gently back to the floor, stumbling in shock as her hooves made contact. Her jaw hung open, dumbfounded: either that wasn't the solution, or this puzzle was designed to straight up vaporise ponies. "Geez! Good instincts, Azure: you're my saviour today!" She had a sympathetic wince for Grenelda though, seeing the griffon come off much worse from the trap. "So, uhh... Hmm." All she could do was stare at the puzzle again; it seemed to have reverted to its original state. Was it her fault, or did the Spirit of Infuriating Puzzles choose today to spite her? "Sorry, sorry, working on it!"
Meanwhile Azure Feather descended quietly to the floor and folded her wings. Her eyes were wide - sure, she'd practiced summoning wind a couple of times with Cloud Cutter, but this was the real world! If she could achieve anything like what she'd done in the challenges of the wind temple... things were looking bad for the drow! First things first though... she'd watched Summer closely as she manipulated the puzzle. "So far so good until you tried to join Earth to Air - didn't seem to be what it was looking for. The small orbs lit up with each arrow, then went out when you tried that."
"Oh, yeah..." Summer eyed the small orbs, "like a progress meter! We got four, then, uh..." She scratched with a hoof behind her head, "But if I linked every other pair then maybe the direction matters? Or, wait, no: eighteen orbs, eighteen connections... only ten elements so it must wants more than just pairs. It wants... some directed relationship from element to element?"
Summer furrowed her brows. Her notes from the shrine held no clues as to a broader relationship between the elements more broadly relate together, but... if they were anything like Equestrian magic, it would make sense for them to have a deeper structure. "Ok, let me start by doing the obvious." She restored the four connections that worked before, then tried reversing the last pair. A push on air, then on earth: storm wears down mountain, given time to work, and this time the golden arrow illuminated, along with a fifth orb in the corner of the slab.
Summer Scribe makes a face. "Hmmmm! Okay - so it looks like it's not just pairing off all the elements, but going from strength to weakness." She turns to Azure with a 'help me out here' smile on her face. "So! Azure. Champion of Wind! What's some other elements you feel confident that you could beat? One or two come to mind, perhaps?" She leans in!
Azure looked right to Summer, before slowly looking around at every element. "I don't see Wind causing anything special to Undead, nor Magic or Tech. The first thing that immediately comes to mind is that wind can extinguish a candle flame, but only helps an inferno. So that's a coin-flip at best. But..." she shuddered. "The Wind Spirits that made me into this... utterly annihilated any trace of me being a unicorn. Giving me pegasus wings, going from Equestria's element of Magic to that of Air. So if you want a more-" She cut herself off, eyes wide. "Think like a Skylander, not an Equestrian." She reminded herself. "Air obliterated my Magic."
Summer Scribe's ears flattened, but she looks enlightened. "Think like a Skylander," she concurs, thinking for a moment... "Huh... Yeah. Air did obliterate your Magic. That has to be more than just coincidence... let's try it." She nodded firmly, telekinetically tapping the spiral symbol of 'Air' then the star for 'Magic'. At the touch of the latter, the hateful gong sounded again and the ominous glow returned to the crystals ringing the room.
"Oops!" Summer Scribe was flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, Azure, I really thought your idea would work - uhh, windy thingy again, please?"
Grenelda was instantly into the air and hovering up near the ceiling, with her scaly forelegs crossed and a very unimpressed expression. She wasn't going to let that thing get her twice!
Frustration showed on Azure's face as she realised she'd misled her squad. She quickly got airborne, calling out to Sprocket: "Don't get caught, you know exactly what's coming." Of course she wasn't about to let Summer down, once again summoning her wind powers, this time with more confidence as she knew it worked... but damn it, she should have known better.
Another blast of wind and again Summer was floating on a cushion of air as burning beams lanced out and filled the room below. It was actually quite pretty when you weren't in danger of third-degree burns, with the spray whipped up by Azure's wind powers splitting off millions of tiny rays as the droplets vaporised in the light, filling the space with a shifting cobweb of light. Sprocket wasn't quite so lucky this time, spending a little too long staring at the symbols and taking a hot laser right in the sprocket as she scampered back into the entrance tunnel.
After drifting back down from a narrowly averted lasery death, Summer Scribe trotted over to Azure, and pulled her into a quick, gentle hug. "You didn't do anything wrong, OK? This is just how puzzles go - if you're not told the rules, you need to deduce them, and if it was trivial to do so, then it wouldn't be a puzzle. It just so happens that this one has lasery death as a feedback mechanism, but you have it on lockdown. We're safe, thanks to you."
"Mostly safe!" Sprocket called out in frustration from the entrance.
"Sorry!" Summer called back.
Azure Feather seemed to appreciate the hug, but the reminder of Sprocket's injury set her shaking her head again. "Close. Close ain't good enough. I mean, thanks for the vote of confidence, but..." A deep sigh: she had to do better.
"Now you know it's coming, you could just, you know, pick her up, instead of blasting her into the air?" Grenelda suggested to Azure in a maybe less than a helpful tone, "Close is fine though. That thing hardly even singed me. Keep the doom and gloom to stuff that's actually dangerous, would you? We got room to mess around here."
With the trap had deactivated again and the puzzle reset, Summer got back to her hooves and tapped in the four combinations they'd successfully discovered. "Well, if we're tying observational evidence to this... what about all the times your wind magic has torn trees apart? You blew two holes in the forest, before your transformation, then there was that time you cut a path, near the factory?" She pointed a hoof at the stylised-foliage symbol for Life. "Maybe 'Air' beats 'Life' too?" A couple of quick taps and the arrow was glowing there, while an entire row of the little orbs light up. Two more rows remained dark:
Summer smiled at their progress. "We should probably expect each element has at most two arrows coming and two arrows going, if the elements are in balance. Let's stay focused on wind - what two things might beat it?" She squints at the puzzle. "If the candidates are Fire, Water, Undead, Tech, Dark and Light... Hmm. I don't have a good intuition for this one."
The unicorn tapped her hoof in thought, then chuckled. "Maybe you and Reef could have a fight, and we draw an arrow for whoever wins? Or maybe we can try and figure out Life's two wins... Do we think it erodes Earth? Slurps up Water? Clogs up Tech? Soaks in the Light? It can't be all of those, I think..."
Azure looked dubious about the prospect. "I'd rather not fight an ally, particularly in a dangerous place like this? There must be another way to find our strengths and weaknesses..." She racked her brain: if not magic, what else did she fear?
Summer's ears dropped at Azure's response. "Well, I was mostly facetious, but... If we could experimentally set two elements against each other and confirm one 'wins', then the puzzle would be trivial after that. Hmmm... we didn't exactly bring equipment to run magical experiments."
A distant shout interrupted their musing, echoing down the long stone entrance tunnel. "Ladies? Can you hear me? Company!" came the hippogriff's call.
"Oh, Reef!" Summer Scribe jolted from her aimless musing to wave a hoof and shout in response. "Cats?! Should we come out or hide in here?" She looks suddenly concerned. Now's not the time for this!
"We could rush 'em?" Grenelda suggested.
Hopefully not the cats... not now, of all times... urgh... Azure shook her head a little, nodding a bit at the griffon's obvious frustration. There are other problems right now...
Summer Scribe thought a moment then nudged Azure. "We've gotta head head out - we might as well be fish in a barrel if we let them trap us in here. Whatever we want to do, our options are better outside." She hated to leave a puzzle unfinished, but they could hardly leave the doctor alone out there.
"Absolutely... I'm expecting the attack this time, really." Azure muttered, shaking her head and deciding to take the lead once more, expecting this time the Abyssinians would skip talking entirely and go straight to fighting. First impressions and all...
"They probably have Blaze Trails, and now they want us next," Sprocket said glumly, "They're not gonna put up with us a second time, are they? What do we do if they attack?"
Summer Scribe nods over to Azure, "We'll have to defend ourselves if we're attacked. Everypony get ready."
The four of them trotted (or in Grenelda's case, padded) back down the tunnel, blinking as they emerged into the sunlight. There was Reef Skimmer, with his feathery tail turned to them: wide grey wings spread and head lowered as he stared down the newcomer. A winged feline form stared back at them, in plain sight in the centre of the avenue: a sphinx, furred and feathered in shades of deep red. The creature could be from legend, except for its size; barely bigger than a pony, it could stand eye-to-eye with Grenelda. There was no elaborate headrest, but it did wear a golden half-mask, dented and scratched but lovingly polished and inset with a prominent crystal where a unicorn's horn would be.
Sprocket couldn't believe what she was seeing. A monster right out of Equestrian legend, one that it'd taken a great pillar of virtue to defeat, whose magic and powerful strength were both deadly and cruel. ...she thought they'd be bigger. Azure took a more practical attitude, bowing her head as she regarded the creature. A lion with wings and magic... lovely.
Several possible reactions flashed into Summer Scribe's head as she saw a real, living, legendary sphinx just standing there in front of the party. She quickly settled on jaw-dropped admiration and giddy disbelief. "Oh-my-gosh. A sphinx. A real sphinx! Cooool!" The unicorn gawked for a moment, then began galloping forward in a clatter of hooves, eager to get a closer look... only to skid to a halt next to Reef Skimmer as caution began to re-assert itself. "Oh! Uhh. Hi! Uhh. I should introduce myself first??"
"Oh yes," a feminine voice purred, as its owner began to pace, wingtips flicking. Eyes hidden behind crystal lenses stared at each of the newcomers. "You will tell me without recompense, what kind of creatures you are and whether you come as plunderers or pilgrims, for you tread in the territory of Ne'kuno and her pride, guardians of the Oracle's grave."