//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Flurry Heart's Story: Let My Ponies Go! 
// by AleximusPrime 
//------------------------------//

The children continued to slide down a smooth granite pipe in the ground, barely keeping their heads above the water to gasp for breath. They finally saw light and were dropped down into a pool inside a cave with some light shining in.  Stormy came out of the pipe last and instinctively flapped his wings.  He was airborne and realized he now had his ability to fly back.
“Whoa, I can fly again!” he said.
“Is everypony okay?” Flurry asked.
“Could be better,” Pound said, walking out of the water and shaking himself off as the others did the same.
The kids all did their best to dry themselves off and spit out as much of the water as they could.  Annie kept coughing as Chip had his hoof over her shoulder to make sure she was all right while Stormy carried Pumpkin out.  She used her magic to lift Mrs. Cake’s bag of goods that made it down the pipe with them.  Flurry used her magic to squeeze the water out of her hair.  Anatankha’s magic had clearly worn off on her, Pound and Stormy so they were able to fly again.  They tested it out by buzzing their wings to get the water off.



“Now what do we do?” asked Pumpkin.
“We do the smart thing: we go back to the town to get help,” Pound said, authoritatively.
“No wait, we can’t just leave everyone else behind,” Flurry told Pound. “Somnambula’s in there and the others stuck back there too.  We’ve got to find a way to help them.”
“Flurry, we don’t even know how we’re going to get back in there.”
“Sure we do.  Look, follow me.”
Flurry flew ahead as the others followed her.  She exited the cave and turned right.  In just a moment, they could all see the same entrance they came in with the stone that had rolled aside after Somnambula guessed the riddle.
“Whoa, how did you know the entrance was there, Flurry?” asked Chip.
“I saw that cave earlier.  I would’ve said something, but I didn’t think it was important at the time,” Flurry replied. “Hurry, we don’t have much time.”
“Flurry hold up!” Pound said, flying in front of her and blocking her path. “You heard what Somnambula said earlier.  We have to go get help!”
“Pound, that was before we lost everyone else.  It would be better to go in and rescue them right now. We have our flying back, it won’t be hard.”
“Flurry, you saw what that sphinx can do.  Do you really want to try taking on her again?”
“Who cares, Pound!” Stormy butted in. “Somnambula’s in trouble.  Let’s go stop that dumb Anaconda and rescue her!”
“Her name is Anatankha,” Flurry told him.
“Yeah, what she says.”
“Stormy, I know you like Somnambula, but we need to think practically,” Pound told Stormy as Stormy crossed his arms and grumbled.
“Pound, look, if we go in now, we can get it done faster than if we waste our time going all the way back to the town to get help,” Flurry continued.
“And just what do you plan on doing once you get in there?”
“Well, first we rescue Spike and our moms.  Second we rescue Somnambula.”
“No, second we go get help.  We can’t risk our lives in there against Anatankha!”
“Pound, you’re not listening to me!”
As Flurry and Pound continued to quarrel, Pumpkin nervously looked back and forth at them both.  She finally reached into the saddlebag and pulled out a plastic container that had some muffins inside.  Mrs. Cake had brought them for snacks on their trip and thankfully they survived the watery trek.
“OKAY!  Muffins? Anypony?” she shouted to get their attention. “They didn’t get wet on the way down!  It’s one of Mom’s best recipes!  Come on, you guys know you want one…it will make you feel better…



Pumpkin smiled and put the muffins between Flurry and Pound, as they continued to stare at each other angrily.  Flurry used her magic to lift and eat one of the muffins, while Pound reached down to bite one with his mouth.  They still looked angry and didn’t take their eyes off of each other.
“GREAT!” Pumpkin said, happily. “Now we’re all feeling a lot better and ready to have a nice, civilized conversation!  Right guys?”
Flurry and Pound turned their heads and stared menacingly at Pumpkin.  With an expressionless face, Pumpkin closed the container and placed it back into her mother’s satchel.
“Okay, I’ll shut-up now,” she said, smiling nervously before slowly shimmying off to the side.
Flurry and Pound turned back to each other and took deep breaths before continuing.
“Look, Flurry, how about we just go get the adults and then we go back to town?”
“I don’t feel right leaving Somnambula behind.  Who knows what Anatankha could do to her.”
“Okay, but we clearly aren’t able to fight back and we’re just going to lose our flight again.  If we rescue Somnambula, she’s just going to come after us and then take it outside.”
“Yeah, but if we’re outside, we have an advantage because she can’t use any of her traps and she can’t take away our flying.”
“What?  How do you know that?”
“Because she uses labyrinth spells.  Starswirl taught me about them.  It only works inside something like a temple or cave.  She can cast some spells outside, but she can’t keep our wings closed unless we’re inside this temple.  I think that might be why our wings are working now.  Either that or we’re out of range.”
“Flurry,” said Chip. “I think Pound’s right.  If we go in there, it’s too dangerous.  Knowing Spike, he probably got stuck in the drain and that’s how we lost them, but our moms are safe with him.”
“I agree,” Annie said. “They should be safe and Anatankha didn’t seem to want to harm any of us, but they’ll probably find their way out anyway. If we go in it might make things worse.”
“Alright, so me, Chip and Annie agree we head back to town. Pump, how about you?” Pound asked his sister.
“Anypony want some soggy pretzels?” Pumpkin asked.
“PUMPKIN!!!”
“Er…um…should I plead the fifth?”
“Okay so three agree we should go to town, two disagree, and one is undecided.  The majority wins.”
“Pound, wait, we can’t just vote on this!” Flurry groaned.
“Sure we can.  That’s how democracy works.”
“Pound, if you would just listen!”
Stormy got increasingly irritated, listening to everypony argue.  He couldn’t wait any longer and finally rushed into action.
“Alright, enough talk!  Let’s do this!  I’M COMING SOMNAMBULAAAAAAAAA!”



He took off into the temple at high speeds, whooping as he went until he disappeared in the darkness.  The rest of them just stood with shocked faces.
“And there goes Stormy,” Pound said, flatly.
“Stormy, wait!” shouted Flurry as she and Pumpkin ran after him.
“Come on, we’d better at least make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” Pound told Chip and Annie as they all took off to follow the others.


Back in the cave, Rainbow Dash had figured out Anatankha’s spell had worn off and she could fly again.  Hovering just above the concave floor, she continued pulling on Spike’s wing from above, but it did no good.  Spike was getting impatient and was really worried about Flurry.
“Geez Spike, could you maybe lay off on the gems every now and then?!” Rainbow Dash said through her teeth.
“I think I may be partially to blame.  Every time he comes by Sugarcube Corner, he always buys one of our gourmet gem cupcakes,” Mrs. Cake said.
“I can’t help it!  You guys make ‘em so good!” Spike said, nervously.
“Never really were great with tight spaces, eh Big Guy?” teased Applejack.
“Not like I used to be.  If I weren’t so fat we wouldn’t have lost the kids.  Then again, I also wouldn’t have been able to protect Flurry from Scutellum, so I guess I should count my blessings,” Spike said, patting his belly.



“Well, sorry Spike, but it doesn’t look like you’re going anywhere,” Rainbow Dash said, landing on the ground in defeat. “I’m just going to wear myself out if I keep this up.”
“I hate to say this, but maybe you guys should just leave me and go find the kids,” Spike said, sullenly.
“I can stay with Spike while you two go,” Mrs. Cake told the other two.
“That’s probably best,” Applejack added. “We gotta make sure the kids are alright.”
“No need to check, Mom.  We’re right here!” said Chip above.
They looked up to see all the kids except Stormy at the top of the slope.  Pound and Flurry flew down while Chip, Annie, and Pumpkin slid down cautiously to reunite with their mothers.
“KIDS!  You’re alright!” Mrs. Cake said, hugging Pound and Pumpkin as Chip and Annie did the same to Applejack.
“Hey Flurry, think you could give me a helping hoof here?” Spike asked, bashfully.
“Sure thing, Number-One Guardian,” Flurry said happily as she used her magic to pull him out of the hole.
“Wait, where’s Stormy?!” Rainbow Dash asked, frantically.
“Eh, you know Stormy.  He flew ahead to go find Somnambula,” Pound told her.
“UGH!  Storm Nimbostratus Streak, you lovesick little Romeo!!”
Rainbow took off flying of the cave and got back on track with the stairs they went up earlier when they first entered the temple.
“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Flurry said, trying to catch up with her. “We’ve gotta be careful!  We can fly again but it might still be a bit unsafe with some of these booby traps!”
“I think we’ll be okay,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Those blobs that came out of the walls weren’t lethal, just really sticky.”
“Still, it could still be really dangerous.”
“Do you have any ideas of how we can stop them?”
“Sadly no...”
As they continued talking and flying with the others running close behind, they came to the spot where the bridge had retracted and revealed water underneath.
“Uh, Rainbow, some of us can’t go any further!” Applejack called from behind.
“No problem,” Rainbow Dash said as she picked up Applejack and carried her to the other side while Pound and Spike helped carry some of the others and Pumpkin used her magic to lift them.
They all quietly crept towards the room they met Anatankha in. They made it past the pillar that had crashed through the doors and saw that Anatankha and Somnambula were nowhere to be found.  The only thing different was a door near the back that had been opened and revealed a set of stairs leading up.
“That must be where she took Somnambula,” Flurry whispered.
“And where Stormy is,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Well, what’re we waitin’ for?” Applejack said.
“Wait,” Flurry said, looking at a piece of paper on the ground.
“Somnambula’s map!” Pumpkin added.  “She must have dropped it while fighting Anatankha.”
Flurry picked up the map and noticed a section that Somnambula hadn’t told them about.  There were symbols on it that translated into standard Ponish letters.
“These glyphs…” Flurry said, “I’ve seen them before.”
Flurry then walked over to the zodiac that Somnambula stood on earlier to release Anatankha and noticed it had the same symbols.  She spent a few seconds studying the symbols and then managed to make a translation out of it.
“It’s…it’s a riddle!  The zodiac has a riddle on here to guess!”
“What happens if we do?” asked Annie.
“Well…it looks like this says…uh…it says ‘Should you guess the riddle… before the setting of the sun…all the sphinx’s magic…shall be undone.’  Perfect!  All we have to do is guess it and we might be able to stop Anatankha!”
“What’s the riddle, Flurry?” Spike asked.
“Hold on…”
Flurry took a moment to translate the riddle and this time she used a spell that Starswirl showed her to make the translation quicker. She shot a beam out of her horn onto the map, which then shot a beam at the zodiac and back to Flurry, creating a glowing triangle.  The symbols appeared above the triangle.  They flickered back and forth to other symbols until they were translated. Flurry read the translation out loud.

“I am in the hearts of those who feel they’ve lost purpose.  When you are at your highest, I can take that away.  How you get rid of me is up to you, but I can still return at any given moment.”

Flurry stepped back and cleared her throat before answering.
“The answer is: Sadness.”
The glyphs on the zodiac stopped glowing and the sound of a machine powering down could be heard throughout the temple.  They heard stone slabs moving which must have meant some of the traps were deactivated.  They all had gotten their ability to fly back earlier, but hopefully this meant Somnambula had her flying back and was now able to defeat her wherever they were.
“I think it worked!” Chip exclaimed.
“EEEE!  We’re gonna win!” Pumpkin said, jumping up and down joyfully.
“Pound, do you still object to going to rescue Somnambula?” Flurry asked.
“I guess not,” Pound sighed. “No sense leaving Stormy back here too. Lead the way, Flurry.”
Flurry confidently nodded and turned to the doorway that undoubtedly lead to Anatankha.


Meanwhile at the top of the temple was a large exquisite throne room where Anatankha and Somnambula resided. Somnambula was inside a cage hanging from the ceiling while Anatankha was tidying up.
“Anatankha!” shouted Somnambula.
“Hehe, you want to speak now?” the sphinx replied, turning around to face her prisoner.
“We need to talk.  How did you last this long?  Were you the one who turned yourself into stone?”
“Ah, so you’ve figured it out now.  Yes, it was I.  I cast a spell on myself so I would be around one day to meet my nemesis again.”
“And you set up everything so that I would come here?”
“To release me, yes.  The messages were designed so that you would find this temple.  I was afraid someone else would find the clues first, but the zodiac you stood on as well as the tile to open the door to that room would react to you and you alone.  I knew you wouldn’t stay imprisoned in limbo forever.”



“But how did you know I was gone to begin with?  Starswirl did not disclose our plans to anypony else.”
“I followed you to Ponehenge and saw what you and your friends did to that Pony of Shadows.  I could not decipher the wizard’s spell, so I took all of those talismans you left behind and placed them in the appropriate spots, hoping someone would one day find them all and use them to release you.  I then set everything up so you would eventually find me, and find me you did.”
“Why though, Anatankha.  Why go to all that trouble?”
“Why?!  Silly Somnambula!  The answer was there before you even entered this temple!”
“Revenge…your first riddle.  You wanted revenge on me.  I figured it, but you promised you would leave after I rescued Hisan.”
“I promised I would leave the village and stop taking their crops.  I never said I wouldn’t come back to exact my revenge on you one day.  This was all designed so you would enter and face me again. I have all sorts of challenges for you to complete.  It will be so entertaining to see you toil away and try to use your wits to overcome me. And if you escape, it does not matter. That will just add to the fun.  I will find you again and we will continue to play this game as punishment for what you did to me!”
“I feel I am not getting the entire story, Anatankha. What other motive was there besides-”
Before Somnambula could finish what she was saying, her wings popped open.  She stopped talking, looked at her wings and started to flap them.  Anatankha’s spell had been undone.
“WHAT?!”  Anatankha bellowed.  “WHO HAS UNDONE MY SPELL?!?  That riddle was meant for you to solve!  It was that little alicorn girl that was with you, wasn’t it?  I told her to stay away from my temple!”
Anatankha’s eyes glowed green and Somnambula’s wings folded up again.  She then turned hastily to the door to leave.
“Anatankha, stay away from her!  She is the princess of the Crystal Empire!”
“Princess or not, I will dispose of them properly and then rig this entire temple so no one else will dare enter!”
Anatankha slammed the door behind, leaving Somnambula to herself in the cage.
“Flurry, if that is you, please be careful out there!” she said, lying down with her eyes closed.