//------------------------------// // Legends // Story: Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands // by Starglider //------------------------------// Face to face with a creature of legend, Summer Scribe scrambled to find appropriate words. "Cooool! Wait, I already said that. Okay, introductions." The pale blue unicorn made a sweeping gesture with her hoof to suggest a collective noun: "We are ponies, from Equestria.... and one hippogriff-plus-some-water-monster, and one griffon, to be rigorous." And now came the lie by omission: "We are here as pilgrims." She bowed her head low. "We come here seeking the wisdom of your feline brethren long past in our time of dire need. Will you have us?" Some way behind Reef Skimmer and Summer, Azure Feather and Grenelda stood tensed and ready for a fight, with Sprocket sandwiched protectively between them. Azure remained silent: Summer was still their diplomat, even if nerves had gotten the better of her in the last feline encounter. If things got dicey, though, this would likely be her biggest test yet. The powers attributed to the single sphinx mentioned in Equestrian legend were formidable - taking away a pegasus's flight, materialising objects on command. Even if this one seemed... smaller... than expected, the carvings suggested a whole species rather than a unique monster. How many more were lurking in the jungle? Ne'kuno stopped pacing, sitting her rump on the stones and curling her tail around, while keeping sharp claws and teeth very much in view. "Ponies. Of course. A tribe of the unicorns... and the third breed of the bird-kind, the hippo-griffons." She stared for a while, inscrutable yet clearly curious. "You seek our secrets? What do you bring in trade?" The creature was about two-thirds lion and one-third pegasus, Summer Scribe thought. What taxonomy had hippogriffs as the third entry, she wondered - maybe it was a Cloudbreak Islands thing? She'd have to figure that out later: for now there was high-stakes diplomacy to conduct. Naturally that meant customs she didn't know about yet was expected to obey. All she could do was try to wing it. "Well, information for information - what has you the most curious?" the unicorn said, with what she hoped was a friendly grin. "Our newly minted Champions of Wind and Water? Equestrian spellcasting and 'tech? Our social customs of friendship and togetherness?" Summer tilted her head, trying to imply that she'd presented a spread so good, so alluring that it was hard to choose just one thing to boast about. "I would hear of this alliance of unicorns and griffons. The kingdom of Equestria?" Ne'kuno ventured. "Two Elementals among you, and you claim Magic as well?" A flicker of motion caught Azure's eye; another, bulkier sphinx, peering out from behind the leaves to one side of the causeway. It had visibly tensed as Summer said 'Wind and Water'. Sprocket sure could think of a lot of things to say, if she had any idea how to do diplomacy without sounding like some dumpy low class broad who doesn't know up from down. Grenelda just didn't want to get chased away again, but wings or not she wasn't about to let these pussy cats get away with any more bullshit. For one thing it wasn't good for her reputation with the ponies: she was supposed to be the tough one here. Summer Scribe nodded: "Well, sure! It wasn't 'Magic' before we crossed into the Cloudbreak Islands, but it was magic, so I think it fits." Her horn glowed as she picked up a loose rock from the ground, levitating it for a moment before giving it a gentle toss, sending it arcing through the air before clattering back down. Demonstration complete, she gestured into the distant sky. "Our land is from beyond and far below, past the Storm Barrier - we don't have your system of elements or your species, except, well..." She admitted, "We have our own legend of the Sphinx, and there's a remarkable similarity there! I'd love to know how that is, really!" Azure tensed even further as Summer veered into sensitive territory. If she continued on that path, explaining that the sphinx Somnambula had faced was a monster... well, the reaction would likely be negative. Still... Ne'kuno didn't seem to know as much as she pretended. If they could catch them surprise with her own wind powers and Reef's water element... the battle should be winnable. Two elementals, two unicorn casters and a griffon with plenty of combat experience; surely that would be enough to best these flying cats? As long as it was just two... "It cannot be!" the sphinx hissed. "The Endless Storm is the edge of reality, there is nothing beyond!" Ne'kuno was clearly agitated, rising to her feet again. "Wind, Water, Magic... such an abundance of Elementals. The academy was laid waste, the Skylanders no longer fly our skies. You are creations of the Eonites, are you not?!" At their leader's accusation, a pair of sphinxes padded out from their hiding spots in the jungle to each side of the avenue, the three now forming a loose semicircle around the Equestrians. The males bore no masks, making their scowls apparent. "What the hay are Eonites?" Sprocket called out, despite her fear of screwing up the negotiation. "Woah, woah, woah!" Summer Scribe backed up, eyes widened in panic. "You said you wanted knowledge, don't get upset when you're given it! It's true, there is a world beyond the Storm Barrier!" she protested. The sight of two more sphinxes had her sweating nervously. They were clearly ready to fight, and if they got any more agitated they'd probably start one without blinking. "Look, I don't know what you're getting at: the Skylanders do exist! We even teamed up with Spyro and Sunburn!" "Maybe they exist, but they're keeping a low profile?" Grenelda suggested uncertainly. "And we have absolutely no idea what these Eonites even are!" Azure blurted out. At the sight of the third sphinx, her expression turned grim. If they kept coming the squad would be outnumbered, and unlike the last group these foes could follow them into the air - or perhaps deny it to them altogether. This could quickly turn very ugly. "I am Ne'kuno, daughter of Re'pippi daughter of Ai'kida daughter of the legendary Sa'ratch, greatest of the Skylanders!" the lead sphinx shouted angrily. "You dare mock their legend, their sacrifice? You dare feign ignorance of those who transgress the covenant, force the Elements into undeserving hosts?" The lion body was tense, ready to spring. "Tell me your true purpose here!" "Are you saying people are doing this to us on purpose?" Sprocket blurted out in shock, "How?!" And the shouting match ensues in earnest, Summer thought. All she could do was shout back: "We're not lying about anything! I told you what we know and why we're here, and you can take it or leave it!" The unicorn was fuming: it had dawning on her that escalating basically guaranteed a fight, but what other choice did they have? "Reef Skimmer was infused with the element of Water through an accident - completely by mistake. Azure braved the trials of the Temple of Wind and was rewarded for completing them. So? Is there something wrong about us and what we've done? What's the big deal, huh?" The idea that her transformation wasn't voluntary - that some creature forced her to become a pegasus and lose her magic... was it really what happened? Or that what happened to Reef wasn't an accident? Doubt was gnawing at Azure Feather and destroying what remained of her cool. She hoped these sphinxes were bluffing, because the alternative was too horrible to contemplate. The two male sphinxes looked to Ne'kuno for direction. Her glare softened as she looked from Summer to Sprocket, then made a show of making the Equestrians wait as she licking her foreleg. "You wish to possess the secret of the pods? Why would you look for that here, unless..." She frowned; she'd already given away the beginning of it. Old Ai'kida would have called her out on being so un-enigmatic. "A morsel of knowledge in return for... what? Can you tell us of darkness, or mirrors, or sharks?" Summer Scribe tilted her head from side to side in disbelief: wait, that actually worked? She was getting such bad feedback here. Were sphinxes really that bad at communicating, or... she thought back to Reef Skimmer's difficulty with pony expressions. Perhaps it was another culture gap. Also... 'secret of the pods'? What 'pods'? It was probably a bad idea to just bluntly ask. For that matter, what was with the minimalist choice of topics? 'Sharks' would probably just lead to gushing and evidence-free speculation, so she should probably refrain from that. Darkness, could that be a reference to our Undead ponies? And mirrors? Are those special in the Skylands? "Well, err..." Summer fumbled the answer, as her brain raced to process all of this. Reef Skimmer was no diplomat, but he did his best to pick up the ball. "Now see here..." the hippogriff began, "The legends of the sphinxes and their great monuments and magics have been told in our lands for many generations. We simply had to see them for ourselves. Our purpose is merely to appreciate what greatness can be found here in the Cloudbreak Islands." The big griff dipped his head respectfully. Summer Scribe considered that for a moment, then nodded in agreement, going along with this... rephrasing, of the point she'd made before. "Mhm! We simply must know if there's any relationship between yours and ours, you know..." "Yours? What do you mean 'yours'? You have sphinxes in your kingdom? Why would they join you?" Ne'kuno asks, her voice a mix of disbelief, anger and concern. "Well..." Summer admitted, "They wouldn't exactly join us. All the historical references indicate that they were capricious and menacing, and also..." she took a few steps back and held her hoof as high as she could, "Bigger? But besides that, the resemblance is uncanny! Feels like you both enjoy riddles, too." Okay Ne'kuno hadn't literally told a riddle yet, but might as well have, with Summer's brain racing to try and work out what the sphinx wanted. "But if they were willing to band with us, we'd totally have them! I could tell you all about the Tale of the Three Tribes, the origin of Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasus's allegiance..." "Oh yeah, and the fire of friendship, that burned all those windigoes away and saved us from an endless winter," Sprocket said fondly, "I love that story!" Summer Scribe bumped hooves with Sprocket, cheered by her enthusiasm. "You bet! I love a good oral tradition." "Bigger?" Ne'kuno purred, smoothed by the hippogriff's flattery and apparently unconcerned by 'capricious' or 'menacing'. "Of course Fire would defeat Wind-beasts, we might speak of that another time. Pray tell me of these sphinxes, in the land of the unicorns. How great did they become? What elements did they master, and how?" She stared at Summer eagerly. Summer Scribe's ears perked, as one does when carefully scouring an escape room for clues; she quickly jotted down a scribble of a candle flame stabbing an arrow into a swirl of wind. That puzzle was going down, just as soon as they'd extricated themselves from this terrifying encounter! "Err, well, our knowledge on the subject is limited - that and you have to understand, elements don't work the same way back at home as they do here - so please forgive us, that's a big part of why we're so curious!" Summer's lips curled in a nervous little smile as she hoped her excuse would suffice. Though at the same time she pondered how she might poke a few more elemental affinities out of these knowledgeable felines... Azure took note as well, albeit mentally. So, fire is an element that she was weak to? Funny that Sunburn, the archetypal fire elemental, was one of her closest allies here in the Cloudbreak Islands! Sometimes alliances formed between the strangest things. She shook her head to clear it of such notions - even if the tension had cooled a little, they weren't out of danger by a long shot. Best to stick to the task at hoof. Meanwhile Summer decided she had to weave an inspiring tale out of what she remembered of the legend - it was pretty clear their new friend Ne'kuno was hungry for the juicy details. "...But we do know a few things of note. For one, their size - ten ponies tall, so vast that entire temples would have to be dedicated to them! So talented with magic, that they could disguised their appearance fully from head to toe with but a thought! Truly, they were unlike any other species in Equestria!" Gratuitous sucking-up, perhaps, but it seemed like Ne'kuno might go for it. "I dunno why they even left," Sprocket had to admit, "Seems like they had a pretty good deal there. They were big, but I mean we have some other big creatures too. I wonder what happened to them?" "The transference spell! They must-" Ne'kuno cut off the foolish male before he could reveal anything more. "Te'kepan! Enough!" she growled, before pacing even closer to Summer Scribe, staring eagerly into the pony's eyes as if she might lift the secret straight from the mare's mind. "And the treacherous centaurs? Do they live in your kingdom? Are they allies of the great sphinxes, or were they vanquished by them?" Reef and Grenelda's claws tightened as the sphinx was almost nose-to-nose with the little unicorn, her tail lashing in excitement. 'Transference spell? Hmm! Curiouser and curiouser.' Summer thought. Gotta follow up on that- She managed to suppress a scared yelp into a gulp as the sphinx leaned in close. Her face was close to that of a pony, but her mouth held soooo many sharp teeth! Her plan had worked though: Ne'kuno was hooked, the play was to keep reeling her in. Not that ponies knew much about the centaurs of Equus either, but hopefully enough to tell a compelling tale. "Oh, you won't have to worry!" she began. "We already dealt with our centaur problem definitively. They were gluttonous magic eaters, unrepentant, even to the point of claiming the magic of the alicorns - and we banished them back to Tartarus where they belong!" She held a hoof to her chest, bursting with pride for Equestria's accomplishments. Okay, in truth it had been a single centaur - the others would surely recognise the exaggeration, but it was more exciting this way. "My mom said he was the size of a mountain, when he took everypony's magic away," Sprocket added, with a haunted look to her eyes, "Didn't seem like anything could stop him, but the magic of friendship just utterly destroyed him. They say it was the one power he couldn't consume." Te'kepan stepped close to his chieftess. "Perhaps they stole it from us," he whispered. "Either way, the ancestors mastered it. We will possess it again." Ne'kuno replied, her mind churning with ideas of how she might accomplish this. The sphinx favoured Summer Scribe with a toothy smile, saying "Your recompense... the secret of the pods was it? A mere summary of course... unless you happen to have the details of how these sphinxes gained their size and power?" Grenelda was vague on interactions between ponies and centaurs, but she didn't like the sound of 'consuming power', much less 'nothing could stop him'. Particularly as she noticed wings beating overhead as a fourth sphinx settled into the branches arching out above the causeway. It seemed Summer Scribe was attracting a bit of a crowd with her tale-weaving, she thought! She wasn't expecting Equestrian history to be a useful skill out here, but it was a welcome surprise! The unicorn still had no idea what the 'secret of the pods' might be, but if the Sphinxes were offering it, it was probably valuable. She pondered whether she could (or should!) confabulate a reason why Somnambula's sphinx had been so powerful, but with so little to go on... If she came up with something incoherent that didn't withstand scrutiny, they'd just anger the sphinxes again. So... "Yes, I believe that will do! I'd love to tell you more, but I'm afraid this is all we know about our Sphinxes already!" "Wait... recompense for what?" Sprocket asked in confusion, "We don't know nothing about any pods. Mostly we're just curious what this pyramid is, and what's goin' on around your island here. But you don't need to tell us if you don't want. Just tell us where we can go without making anyone mad, and we'll go there." The second male growled at Sprocket: "A secret told, payment in kind! Do you doubt our honour?" Ne'kuno waved him off. "They are ignorant of our customs, Ze'noath, that much is clear. I will speak of the pods. Ages ago, the Arkeyans were on the march, invading much of Skylands and overtaking the great temples that were the only means of crowning Champions of the Elements. The fate of the Giants, first of the Skylanders and only hope against the mechanical conquerors, hung in the balance," she intoned, before pausing for a moment to recall the rest of the tale. "Goldlings and Fey both proposed a solution; each sought the favour of the Giants, wanting the defence of their own realms to take priority. The fey needed only to train and refine their innate abilities, developing the talent to empower other creatures, though their laws compelled them to require gifts before delivering a boon. The goldlings were masters of artifice; our own Mystics aided them in the creation of the Empowerment Pods, devices that could enfold a new-born elemental, enhancing and strengthening their attunement. Like many of their creator's works, they required gold as fuel." Summer Scribe listens carefully. "Empowerment Pods" she whispered, thinking over the various artefacts they'd seen so far. None of them looked like they could do that - which sounded incredibly useful, by the way. If they could make any of their allies as strong as Azure - or, well, Reef, if his rapid improvement continued - it would be extremely beneficial. With a few powered-up ponies, she imagined they could hold our own against the pirates without anyone else's help! They could all become true Heroes... but, well, that's pie-in-the-sky for now. Summer tapped her hoof, curious. "Gold as fuel? Hmm, I'm going to have to keep my eyes open... if we ever found something that useful, we'd do just about anything to get hold of it. Interesting!" "That does explain why there isn't any flippin' gold around here anymore," Sprocket grumbled under her breath. Azure Feather was a lot less enthusiastic. Empowering... sure, that was worth considering. True, if they could endow the whole crew with 'super powers'... it would make surviving this place a lot easier. But... both empowerings so far came with a huge cost. It felt like that was the way things worked here; could a fancy artefact bypass the laws of the 'Elements'? Ne'kuno seemed to agree. "Useful? Take care, if you truly renounce the Eonites, lest you repeat their folly!" the sphinx warned. Then she fell back into that curious hypnotic tone that the creatures seemed to have mastered: "You see, the Skylanders were too pressed to reject any aid in their time of need, but ultimately allied with the fey, who charmed their way into the grace of Eon and were able to appear wherever they were needed, unlike the cumbersome pods. So the artefacts were left to slumber until the cataclysm rent Skylands asunder, the Skylanders sacrificed lest destruction become total annihilation at the hands of the Lord of Chaos." "In the dark times that followed, all creatures sought power in all its forms, to preserve self and kin, to win what resources remained. And so in a desperate, misguided attempt to replace the Skylanders, the Eonites corrupted the pods, perverted them to implant an affinity, instead of merely enhancing it." Ne'kuno shuddered and closed her eyes. "Such a thing was not meant to be. A proud creature forced into such a pod emerges a tortured wretch, yet a powerful one, at least until their own power consumes them. Such are the 'necessary sacrifices for the greater good' that the Eonites demand." The masked sphinx paced away, before looking back to the ponies. "A secret given, a secret told. We are in balance." she said firmly. Those last words struck Azure like a thunderbolt; she looked at her allies, hoping they'd recoil from the notion. Creatures forcing artefacts to do what they should not, forcing other creatures to become what they weren't. An 'empowering' as dangerous as Reef's, as costly as hers, if not more so. Secrets of the sphinx... Azure's confidence failed as doubt flooded back about her own transformation. Was she... the ponies, even the Skylanders, were they really the heroes, or was seizing the power of the Elements unnatural? Azure's expression was tortured as her gaze returned to the sphinx. 'Folly? ... Oh. The folly is implanting elements?' Summer thought. She blinked, then looked over to Reef and Azure... 'Like we've already done, kinda. I guess if that lumps us in with the biggest evil army the Cloudbreak Islands have known, it makes sense there'd be some instinctual backlash there. ... Hmm.' "I see," she said curtly, "Thank you for your knowledge, and for your warning." The unicorn bowed her head low. If she was following correctly, it didn't mean the pods were useless - perhaps they were safe to use on existing Elementals, just not to make new ones - at least if they could find one that wasn't 'corrupted'. In any case it was clear they weren't going to magically solve their problems. Azure clearly looked worried - probably wondering if she was going to be twisted into a horrific reflection of her former self, along with Reef and the Undead ponies. It didn't seem likely - everyone agreed the Skylanders were ok - but... yeah, dangers all around. "Sweet mercy that's awful..." Sprocket said, sinking to her haunches, "We didn't touch no pods or nothing like that. That'd be like a machine that forced somepony to... to get a cutie mark. To be somepony they ain't. We—we won't tell you any more stories if you don't want, if it's that important to you. But ponies don't need to be paid back just for telling you about ourselves. I-I guess that means we don't have any valuable secrets, but it just don't seem like something you could put a value on. Guess I just dunno how to do that, sorry." "You have nothing more in trade?" one of the male sphinxes growled at Sprocket, before looking to Ne'kuno. "They are of no use to us, Wisest". "Any that show the proper knowledge and respect may gaze upon the life-works of the ancestors, Te'kepan." the golden-masked sphinx told him sternly. "You know the oath." She looked to Summer, slitted eyes narrowing behind crystal eyepieces. "You will show respect, yes? I would hear what you expect to learn, from the great sphinxes of old." Summer Scribe bit her lip. Now there was a question. There was a lot on her to-do list - chiefly making sure her and her friends are safe from the drow - but that didn't exactly have the mystic air the sphinxes were (probably) looking for. She'd figure out that practical stuff on her own, somehow. When it came to big, philosophical, historical questions, one thing floated to the top of her mind: "...Why are the Cloudbreak Islands like this? A bunch of floating islands suspended within a giant tornado? Besieged by factionalist wars and interdimensional invaders - was it always like this?" She looked Ne'kuno right in the eyes, trying to convey her hunger for knowledge. "I'm just here to back ponies up and see what kind of gadgets are around here," Sprocket said sheepishly, "Kinda maybe should've expected they'd all be magical in these parts. Still it's a real learnin' experience." "I'm here to protect the ponies," Grenelda said, pointing a thumb claw Summer's way. "Long as she's not in danger I won't do nothing to hurt no one. What kind of knowledge and respect is proper here anyway?" Azure relaxed a little as it became clear Summer and Sprocket weren't about to run off to find a 'pod' to mess with. An older part of her, a book-loving pony that had existed before the guardsmare, would love to hear about the history of the place. That wasn't her role any more though - the sphinxes were still a clear and present danger, and it was up to her to watch them, ready to react immediately if she turned hostile. Summer was there to handle the archaeology - and the diplomacy. Ne'kuno took a few slow paces, looking at each of the visitors in turn before answering. "The halls of the ancestors hold ancient secrets, a foundation of lore and an inspiration to every sphinx that comes of age. The conflicts of the day mean little in such a place..." she looked down unhappily, then stared, considering if these creatures deserved more without recompense. The creature's wings flared out and resettled, before she explained "...Only two joined the ranks of the hallowed ancestors since the Sklyands were torn asunder. If you seek fresher secrets, you must trade with the living, not study those long departed." "Wow, you guys live a long time then," Sprocket said with a look of respect to the sphinx, "The Cloudbreaks appeared in Equestria many centuries ago, so they say! I guess that'd be the same time the, uh, Sky-lands got torn asunder." Longer than ponies, that's for sure, Azure thought - though the sphinxes probably couldn't rival the princesses in power or longevity. At least, she hoped not. Summer Scribe waved a hoof, "Well, hang on, hang on. I have a particular incentive for more recent secrets right now, but that's just to ensure our safety." She leaned in, eyes glimmering. "I do really want to know how the Skylands became the Skylands, if that's something you're privy to! Please?" "What do you offer in turn?" the second male sphinx said gruffly, glaring at the little unicorn. Neither seemed happy about their leader's decision to let the Equestrians back into the pyramid. "Hmm.... maybe you'd be interested in learning about Equestrian magic?" Summer suggested. "It has a totally different basis from Skylands magic, so it should be like nothing you've ever seen before. I can give you the runes for Levitation, or Light, or Detect Magic, or..." "Runes of power?" the sphinx said, with a barely-disguised hunger. "Do they function only for your kind, or for all who inscribe them?" "Well, traditionally only a unicorn or an alicorn can cast them, or enchant them into a surface..." Summer grinned and winked, trying to butter up her 'opponent'. "Buuuuut... I'm sure a talented and heavily magical Sphinx like yourself can figure it out without needing a horn." Sprocket snorted in amusement, saying: "No reason for 'em if they only worked for us. 'Our kind' just uses our horns." With a guilty look Summer's way she added, "Unless you're good, eh heh." "You will demonstrate, then I will speak of the creation of Skylands." Ze'noath purred; it seemed that flattery was as good as catnip for this particular band of felines. This sudden talk of runes provoked a pang of nostalgia for Azure Feather: her former self would have been happy to demonstrate! Once again the pegasus felt the loss of her horn keenly. She knew she had to stop focusing on this - after all she had wind magic now, control over weather to put any pegasus back home to shame, power that had just saved Summer Scribe from the heat rays, but... she sighed. For now she just watched the sphinx known as 'Ze'noath' closely. The creatures were hungry for power, yet... even those simple spells were of interest? How much had they lost? "Sure, sure," Summer Scribe said. "So this is the spell, like, every Unicorn learns first, but even this one speaks to the fundamentals of spell creation." She took out her notebook and scribbled a series of inscriptions, holding the page up for the sphinx to see. Then she pointer her horn, concentrated and made the tip glow with a cool, serene blue light. Another moment of concentration and it detached: a mote of magical light that floated in a lazy orbit around the sphinx. "And of course, Levitation..." She stared at a pebble, concentrating again as her horn shimmered. Even when she released the magic the stone remained airborne, drifting lazily through the air at a constant height above the ground. "It'll stay up for half an hour or so. Anyway, if you want to play hide and seek, I'll always win, because your magical bodies stick out like sore thumbs! We can try-" "Tricks the least of creatures could perform, should they win the favour of Magic!" Ze'noath growled angrily. "Your notation is of no use to us. Have you no runes of power?" Summer was sweating again: tough crowd. "Not handy. Look, this isn't my speciality - inscribing runes that work consistently is like, a whole-day ordeal for me - but they do work. If it was anywhere nearby I'd show you the ones that power the Storm Piercer on the Harmony... or, err, maybe I could tell you about something else?" She clopped her hooves together nervously. "Or, we could learn what we can, and then don't worry about what someone doesn't want to tell us," Grenelda said. The griffon rolled her eyes, sitting back on her haunches with forelegs folded, looking extremely bored. "C'mon! I just wanted to learn the one more thing. I swear!" Summer whined. The tension was almost unbearable for Azure. These sphinxes just wouldn't let up, veering between 'almost friendly' and 'threatening to attack' with each turn of the conversation. It seemed to her that if they kept playing the game like this, sooner or later things would boil over into outright hostility - and against four sphinxes, that would end badly. Ze'noath just scowled at Summer, but his fellow guardian was not ready to give up. "You deny forced empowerment." the other male said flatly. "Tell us then how you gained the favour of Wind, Water and Magic." "Whew. Okay, that I can do," Summer said in relief. She gestured at Azure: "Azure here did the trials in the, um... Temple of the Four Winds, and now she's the Champion of Air, fair and square." Then at Reef. "Reef, uhh... he fused with some magical water monsters in what might have been a water temple? And now he's a... Champion? ...of Water?? Long story short, I don't think we did it the 'intended way'." "Erm, not a water temple as such, no." Reef Skimmer said, dipping his head in embarrassment. He held up a claw and let it soften and revert into four wiggling blue tentacles, extending from the stump of a foreleg. "Freak accident really, involved an attack by this, erm, 'animate magical waste' and the destruction of my shard of the Great Pearl..." He grimaced at the still-raw memory, before saying in frustration "Look, I don't suppose you creatures have heard of The Gulper? Somepony..." an unhappy glance at Summer Scribe "...unsealed the site of the accident, released the remnants and, well, here we are." Reef fell silent, glaring at his tentacles as he slowly glooped them back into the shape of an eagle claw. "Wait, we have the favour of Magic, too?" Sprocket asked, confused. Summer Scribe's hoof hovered around like a broken compass as she thought for a moment. "...Wait, yeah. We don't have a champion of Magic. I didn't say that by mistake, did I?" She blinked, starting to think this wouldn't be a satisfactory answer, either. Dangerous predators or no, Azure had had enough. She stepped forward, breaking her silence: "We told you our origins already! We went to the griffon's temple, I completed all the challenges and the spirits not only granted me their power, but changed my form completely. Reef was transformed by the... things that escaped from the soda factory, and as for Magic... all Unicorns have some degree of magic, it's not a matter of being chosen!" "You just like to play diplomat, twittering with these cats," Grenelda grumbled, looking away from Summer. "The answers don't even matter..." "Knowledge does too matter! Knowledge is the backbone of society!" Summer retorted. "Every little fact eventually finds its place and ends up mattering!" she said vehemently. "Then why don't you ask 'em if we can visit their village, or what's the matter with those two-leggers on the west side of the island, or something actually useful?" Grenelda shot back. Summer Scribe's head lowered in shame and guilt. "Sorry, sorry. Promise I'm sorry," she mumbled. An ear flicked at Grenelda. "To be honest? I get the impression they know a lot more about old things than new things. Do you want to try?" Azure's ears flattened as her companions started to argue with each other. They shouldn't be showing weakness and division in the face of a potential foe! Waving a wing as if to dismiss the others, she told the sphinxes: "You wanted the full story? Well, now you've got it." A shame really - at least the sphinxes hadn't assumed the ponies were mere pets. "Enough!" Ne'kuno commanded the squabbling Equestrians. "You will respect the traditions, if you intend to spend one minute more in our territory!" She glared at Grenelda, wings unfurled and hackles raised in challenge. The tension spiked again as evercreature waited to see if the hen would back down. Summer Scribe gulped. No tradition respecting, no pyramid! This was important! She regarded Grenelda with a pained grimace, saying nothing but implying 'please be nice for once??' The griffon wouldn't back down so easily. "What are the traditions??" Grenelda shot back to the angry kitty, bristling, though her tail drooped low, "We're just trying to be decent to you and we don't even know..." she looked away with a huff. The leader of the sphinxes stared at the griffon, until it was clear she would not meet her gaze. Dominance re-established, at least for now, she turned back to the pegasus, expression still hidden behind that golden mask. "The Temple of the Four Winds, that place is known to us. A new champion... perhaps a cub will go seeking there." Ne'kuno looked to Reef next. "And is there any more of this 'magical waste' remaining?" "One certainly hopes not!" the hippogriff said indignantly. Summer Scribe nodded in quick concurrence with Reef. The less of those things in existence, the better! She looked back to Ne'kuno, asking meekly "Is that sufficient, then...?" She wanted knowledge, sure, but she couldn't do this all day! There were other tactics she could try, but the exchange felt borderline-adversarial and she's wary about wearing out her welcome... or her luck. The sphinx merely smiled at that before nodding to her subordinate. "Go ahead Ze'noath." "It was three score millennia past, when the realm that would become our hope was naught but a dark void." the male sphinx intoned. "The Ancients came to that place nonetheless, finding a treasure greater than any gold or magic: countless drifting shards of crystalline potential, a vast gyre of imaginite waiting for the touch of great minds to give it form. Delighted at such a canvas, the ten greatest Ancients each dreamed into being an Element, while the lesser members of their race busied themselves in the creation of islands and beings to populate them. So Skylands was spun out of nothing, and long did the Ancients rule over their creation, until they resumed their search, leaving mortals to make their own destinies." The ease with which he rattled this off suggested that this was something all his people learned at a young age. Summer Scribe listened intently... then tilted her head as she realised that was all she was getting. Well, hmm. She was hoping of learning something of the nature of why the Skylands are this way now, but got a relatively content-free creation myth. She tried to look excited anyway, so as not be an impolite guest. "Cool! Thank you so much, Ze'noath." She bowed low on her hooves for good measure. Keen to get out of the encounter without starting a fight, she followed up with "So, are we free to enter your temple? As seekers of wisdom, of course." Ne'kuno took a step forward, staring intently at Summer. "There are none attuned to Earth among you?" "Well, err, Blaze Trails would be the closest to counting...?" The unicorn looked around, as if the earth mare might pop out of the jungle at any moment, but... nope, still absent. "Maybe kinda sorta. But... no, she's not here. Why?" The sphinx cocked her head, unsure what to make of this. "Make no attempt to disturb the Oracle's grave! Take nothing and disturb nothing, and you shall go in peace. Deface the legacy of the ancestors, and you will face the wrath of the guardians. You understand?" Summer crossed her hooves and nodded swiftly. "Yes ma'am, no looting, I promise." Honestly, she had to say this a lot. It was usually true! The stress slowly drained out of Azure Feather as the situation was resolved without conflict. Thank goodness these creatures knew reason, even if they liked to posture. "I think it's pretty clear," she said, taking a step backward and refolding her wings. "Seems you can't do anything around here without attracting some creature's attention," she added, looking over her should at the stepped bulk of the pyramid. Ne'kuno walked away, putting a little distance between herself and the newcomers before sitting in the centre of the causeway. Following her lead, the two other 'guardians' paced over to flank her. "Then enter, if you have the wisdom." the masked sphinx told Summer. "We will be waiting. One more thing... beware of the crawling vermin. It has been almost two moons since we last sanctified the halls." She made a show of licking her paw. "A mere trifle for elementals such as yourselves, no doubt." "I got four 'elementals' right here," Grenelda grumbled smugly to herself, holding up one sharp claw. Glancing upwards, the griffon noted that the sphinx lounging in the branches overhead had been joined by another. How many more were there? "Crawling vermin, huh?" Summer mused; she'd handled a few squatter rodents in her life, it shouldn't be a problem. "Duly noted! I'm like, super ready to enter. Thanks for your time and for your permission!" She bowed low once more for good measure, nodding to her assorted company. "Alright; we all good to venture back in? I'm itching to finish that puzzle..." "You and me both, Summer..." Azure agreed, staring at the dark entrance. "Let's go, but again - be careful. Seems like lasers aren't the only thing to worry about in there." "Puzzle?" Reef said, as the group made their way into the dark tunnel leading to the first chamber. "Lasers?!" "Yeah. Lasers," Azure nodded. "Get ready to fly if we make another mistake, alright? I can only save one of you per attempt." Concern returned to her face as she considered what further dangers the squad might face inside. "Yeah, they're hot, so watch out!" Sprocket said to him with an amused hip bump, as she followed alongside. "Could use a little bit of wisdom right now." "Oh, I've got it all figured out!" Summer Scribe said brightly, seemingly perfectly calm in the threat of laser death. "It was a fun one actually!" The five of them emerged into the antechamber, its rich mosaics still lit by the glowing fluid in the shallow central pool. On the far wall, the ten elemental symbols and eighteen small orbs awaited their return with infinite patience. "So!" Summer flipped her notebook open, turning to a fresh page and quickly sketching the symbols for the ten elements. "I've taken the liberty of re-arranging the elements into different positions, and in a few short moments you'll see why!" She added a few arrows. "First, here's everything we already know - plus that little hint the sphinx dropped. And I didn't even have to pay a single fact for it!" She giggled, feeling like she'd gotten away with a grand heist. "And now, I make my first educated guess." The unicorn draws a line from Life to Tech. "It only makes sense, right? The passage of time and growth of plants gumming up our greatest technological achievements - it all turns back into debris, never the other way around!" Confident in her deduction, she lit her horn and pressed the relevant orbs on the puzzle wall. Sprocket skittered for the entrance hall again, but Azure Feather didn't budge from her spot. Summer seemed to have this figured out! Maybe that's why the Skylanders of old defeated the 'mechanical conquerors' the sphinxes spoke of. A cyan glow shimmers over each elemental orb in turn as Summer's magic activated them. By the time she was done, nine arrows glowed with golden light and half of the small orbs had lit up, while the ominous spiked crystals ringing the chamber remained dark. "Now, to the crux of my solution!" She beamed: this was the smart part. "There are ten elements, and everyone knows that magical systems obey internal symmetries of one sort of another. Initially I thought there might be a five or ten way symmetry, but the moment the Sphinx gave away the game, we had two chains of three - Water beats Fire beats Air beats Earth, and Tech beats Magic beats Undead beats Life. If you just jammed them together, that'd be six, which doesn't make sense? So what kind of symmetry could it be instead? There are 18 arrows in total, which doesn't go cleanly into four - and then it clicked." She draws an arrow from Earth to Water, from Tech to Magic, and from Light to Dark. "Light and Dark are opposites of each other! Which means they're each other's weaknesses! That leaves eight elements with four cycles of four, each with two strengths and two weaknesses, to figure out. Isn't this exciting?" With a few more taps eleven of the small orbs were lit; though only ten arrows glowed, as the one linking light to dark had merely become double-ended. "Yeah!" Sprocket called out from the entrance. The unicorn crept curiously back into the room, a little less wary now that Summer seemed to have it cracked and hadn't set off the laser trap. Meanwhile Azure thought quietly, considering the combat implications of these relative vulnerabilities. "Curious that earth defeats water, when oceans wear down coastlines, but... one does confess, that *feels* right." Reef Skimmer said, looking around nervously, suddenly conscious of the massive weight of stone above. "Or perhaps griffs just aren't suited to going underground," he admitted. "The links from the outer cycle to the inner one are already uniquely determined by Wind beats Life," Summer explained. She went around the diagram, pencilling in Fire destroys Undead, Water erases Magic and Earth crushes Tech. A few more presses and the puzzle wall mirrored Summer's diagram, with just four orbs still dark. "We just need one inner-to-outer match-up to determine the rest." The unicorn turned to Reef Skimmer with a grin. Indicating the diagram, she asked: "What do you think is most likely to beat your element, Water - out of Life, Tech, Magic and Undead?" "Woah, fire beats undead," Sprocket called out, staring up at the twisted diagram of elemental relationships, "I almost don't wanna see that." The hippogriff cocked his head, considering. "One can certainly rule out undead. Sorcerers and engineers certainly have means of moving water, but... hmm, it's hardly scientific, but one must confess a certain sense of foreboding when we were considering entering that Life bubble earlier. Beyond what one would reasonably expect from challenging a tribe of Abyssinians, that is." Frowning at the puzzle wall he concluded: "My guess would be Life, but don't hold me to it." Summer nodded: "Life beats Water it is! That's my best guess as well, since every other connection I could make lacked a certain intuition to it." She completes the pattern correspondingly: Life consumes Water, Tech cages Fire, Magic controls Wind (huh, don't tell Azure that one!) and Undead rises from Earth. "And with that, we have a beautifully symmetric object, a diagram of all of the Skylands' type matchups!" Beaming with confidence, she tapped in the final combinations. "Let's just see what the wall thinks." The sound of a deep, melodious bell filled the air, as the arrows shone brighter before flickering out. With a grinding rumble, the entire puzzle wall began to sink into the floor, slowly revealing the space beyond. Vindicated, Summer Scribe took a bow. "And that is why I am the Puzzle Master." "Indeed!" Reef admitted, looking around the room with those sudden, jerky head movements griffs favoured. "No lasers then?" Azure nodded politely to Summer; finally they could move on. She did wonder about her second weakness... magic... her former self? Was that why she couldn't keep her horn; was Air afraid of Magic? Ugh. The pegasus shook her head, frustration returning to her expression. No time for that now. On to the next task. "No lasers. Maybe worse. Exercise caution," she told the griff. "Eheh, yeah, Grenelda would've killed me if I'd toasted her again." She looked up at the hovering griffon apologetically, before peering at the open doorway, her horn gently pulsing with the tingling waves of magic detection. "Okay! Let's see what's deeper inside. Azure, Grenelda, keep an eye out for... vermin, crawling, was it?" "Fifty bits says they're the size of an elephant," Grenelda groaned, but landed next to Summer as Spocket came trotting up to help with the scan. "What do your unicorn horns see?" The stone tunnel continued on a little way before opening out into a much larger chamber, occupying the entire centre of the pyramid. A forest of enormous square columns supported a stepped roof lost in the gloom overhead. Dim orange light came from the perimeter, where a series of niches held statues akin to the sandstone sphinxes outside, but much more lifelike. A subtly different glow came from the opposite side of the space, diffused and blurred by the numerous veils that hung all over the chamber; cobwebs, fluttering gently in the slight breeze. "Ooh, spiders," Grenelda said in pleasant surprise, slinking on in, "I was afraid it was gonna be rats." "Ooh, this is big. Now we're talking. Geez, it's a mess down here, though..." Summer lit up the tip of her horn, taking slow, cautious steps and clearing away cobwebs in front of her as she advanced. The perimeter was better lit, so she approached one of the sphinx statues to investigate further. "Anyone see anything moving, just sing out." "Understood." Azure said curtly. She summoned the barest breath of air, moving slowly to clear the cobwebs and as many lines of a sight as she could without being reckless... though if someone had to spring a trap, probably best it was her. This time the sphinx statue was made of glazed ceramic: life size and with realistic colours, sitting on a pedestal more finely carved than those outside. Again the ponies were struck by the dissonance of a mostly normal pony head atop a predator's body. The pictograms were enigmatic as ever, but one particularly large and detailed one took pride of place: a small hairless biped next to a larger green one, in some sort of workshop. All around were more bipeds, stylised in form and in various stages of assembly. They were clearly made of wood, yet some seemed to be carrying supplies and mixing potions, presumably helping the living creatures create more of their kind. "Hmmm." Summer Scribe leaned in, admiring the pictograms curiously. "What's this? Some kind of artificial, manufactured race? Looks small and wooden, so not like the golems we've seen before. Interesting..." Sprocket was more hesitant, poking a hoof nervously at the webs the others tore aside, pulling back as the sticky stuff clung to her hoof. "Guys?" she calls in, "These webs are uh... fresh. You know what happens when you hit a spider's web, right?" "Counting on it," Grenelda said, looking around sharply, "A little more light'd be nice though. Care to use one of those tricks the least of creatures could perform, Summer?" "Oh! Right away." Summer grinned at the little in-joke and gave her horn a faint 'tap' on the air, dislocating a glowing blue mote of light that floated over to Grenelda. "I like that this spell is basic. Means I never screw it up." She frowned as she pondered Sprocket's warning. "Why'd it have to be spiders, anyway..." "Could be worse," Grenelda replied, backing up close to Summer, "At least spiders taste good." Summer Scribe stuck out her tongue and pulled a face. "Eww, gross. If you eat any spiders I'm looking away," she joked, even as she tried to peer through the columns and cobwebs to the far side of the chamber. There was some sort of... magical disturbance there, she could quite place- A soft yet repellent sound of scuttling and chittering filled the air, as the explorer's eyes caught flickers of movement all around them. The extra illumination revealed a scattering of eight legged, black-furred shapes crawling over stone and web, with further flickers of movement hard to make out behind the layers of webbing. The spiders were the size of a pony's head, with brightly coloured abdomens. "Guess we didn't have to wait long to find the resident vermin." Azure muttered as she spread her wings again. "Guess that means I finally get to give these an actual field test...!" After all that practice with Cloud Cutter she'd been hoping for the chance. "Ah, a new species! Such variety of pigmentation, fascinating..." Reef Skimmer said, seemingly unconcerned by the growing numbers of arachnids swarming at the edge of the pool of light. Summer didn't share the hippogriff's curiosity, backing away in disgust: "Ugh, oh, gross, why does it have to be big spiders too..." Her body shuddered involuntarily, then her horn was glowing as she picked up a rock in a half-hearted attempt to arm herself. Honestly though the unicorn hoped her companions would whisk this problem away for her. Grenelda didn't hesitate, pouncing on the nearest spider in reach and slashing it open, keeping a claw on it so it couldn't turn to bite her. A fine strategy for lone prey, but many others clustered at the edge of the light - in the gloom and flickering shadows she couldn't even tell how many. "There are a lot of spiders here," the hen remarked nervously, fluffing her wings out as she faces the growing hoard. The griffoness tossed away the carcass of the first spider, but as she did so sticky fluid leaked from its punctured crimson abdomen. The stuff immediately caught alight in the air, spilling burning droplets on the floor and causing tiny flames to flicker around the tips of Grenelda's claws. A thin wailing screech came from all around, as the spiders scuttled forward, driven by some urge to eliminate the intruders. "These aren't just spiders!" Grenelda shrieked, "They're working together! And they're made out of fire!!"