Twilight, Blue and Shining got out of the chamber with the mirror labyrinth and entered in a room where the only thing that was there was a table with seven bottles of different shapes aligned: a balloon-shaped one; another with a more elongated body; a tiny one; another with the same shape as the second, but longer; a pyramidal one; a great and paralelepipedal one and finally a round one. On the other side of the room, there was a dark corridor.

"Seriously, just this?" Blue asked, while he, Twilight and Shining advanced to the table with the bottles. "What are we supposed to do, drink all this?"

It was then that a light blue fire appeared in the doorway where they entered. It wasn't a normal fire, because it seemed to be alive. At that same moment, a blue fire in a much darker tone appeared in front of the corridor which was on the other side. They were completely trapped.

Twilight and Blue looked and then saw a roll of parchment lying next to the bottles. Shining used his magic to hold it, unwind it and read it to others:

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

Twilight let out a gasp, while smiling, something Shining and Blue less expected.

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed. "Don't you understand? This is a riddle. Mirror Coat must be definitely a logic lover. We should have expected that his seed would put an obstacle like this."

"Don't look at me" said Shining. "Twilight has always been better at this than I am."

"The blue star seed should expect nopony, excepting its owner, could decipher these riddles. After the invaders had managed making through that mental trick, it must want them to be stuck here forever or be roasted by the fire for using shortcuts."

"Of course not" Twilight replied, starting to read the parchment. "Everything we need is in this scroll. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will lead us safely through the dark blue fire will and one will take us back through the light blue fire."

Twilight read the scroll many times, passing then to analyze each bottle, muttering to herself and pointing to them. Finally, she exclaimed:

"I got it! The tiny bottle will take us through the dark blue fire... to the blue star seed."

"Wow, that's… reassuring" Blue commented. "At least, we have almost 100 percent sure."

"I trust blindly in my little sister" replied Shining. "However, we just have enough in this bottle for one of us."

"So one of us have move forward while the other two have to stay?" Twilight asked. "So, who will go forward?"

"Of course" Blue said. "If it wasn't for you, I think me and Shining would never get free from the charm of that mirrors."

"And it was you who solve the riddle with the bottles" Shining added. "If anypony can recover the blue star seed, that's you."

"I and Shining will drink the one which will take us back and wait for you. Probably, when you get the blue star seed you can get out of here."

Twilight looked to Shining and Blue. They seemed to be sure that she would get the star seed. By the faith they were depositing in her, she was not able to deny them. She waved and then indicated them the bottle that would allow them to go back: the round bottle.

After that, Twilight saw Shining and Blue taking some of the contents of the round bottle, responding to its taste and then passing through the light blue fire. Then, Twilight took the small bottle with magic and drank its content, feeling its effect: a cold sensation through her body. Wasting no time, she advanced to the flames and began to cross them. She couldn't feel them, but, for a moment, she saw nothing but dark blue flames. It was then that she arrived at the other side of the flames. There was no going back. She had to continue. For that reason, she advanced.

She walked through the corridor and it led her to a new camera. This was smaller than all the others, but there was something about it that attracted a lot of attention. There was a statue of a sphinx, a great legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head of a pony with a crown of pharaoh of the Ancient Coltypt against the opposite wall to that wall that contained the door. It almost reached the ceiling.

Twilight dared to approach and then the sphinx's eyes shone with a light blue light and the statue came to life, freeing itself from the stone layer that was holding it and becoming a real sphinx, something that surprised Twilight.

"Congratulations" the Sphinx congratulated Twilight. "It's the first time somepony can get so close to the greatest treasure of the General of Knowledge: his star seed."

"You know what I am" the Sphinx noted. "So you must know what you have to do to win the blue star seed."

"Precisely" the Sphinx confirmed. "You will have only one try. If you give the right answer, you’ll win the blue star seed. If you don't want to answer, you can go back and leave the cave safely. But, if you give the wrong answer, I’ll attack you. Did you accepted the challenge?"

"I will only ask you one simple question in which you have to give a single and objective answer" the Sphinx said. "The question is this: the Mirrored Library contains a lot of books that are as immense as the knowledge they contain. How many letters are there in those books?"

Twilight had been petrified when the Sphinx enunciated his riddle. How would she calculate the number of letters in the books of the Mirrored Library? She didn't even know the number of words that exist in any book, much less the letters, moreover all the letters in all books of a gigantic library like the Mirrored Library. Then she remembered what Heartbeat had said about the Mirrored Library, about the fact that it update itself constantly, accompanying the course of Creation. Thus, there wasn’t a right number of words and, consequently, of letters. The Sphinx’s riddle had a reply quite impossible to answer.

The Sphinx was put at Twilight a lot of pressure. She didn't know if the creature was doing it on purpose or not. Twilight resorted to all her logic ability to interpret that riddle. Then, she remembered what the legends about the Sphinx told about that malicious and treacherous being, something he carried in his riddles. She wondered if there was some trap in the riddle he had proposed. It was then that Twilight understood. The part about the Mirrored Library’s books was just a distraction. She should focus on the question. She interpreted it and then realized.

"Ten letters" Twilight answered. "The answer is ten letters. You asked how many letters there are in those books and I answer ten letters.

"I'm really impressed” the Sphinx said. “You could see beyond my distraction. You really deserve the blue star seed."

And having said that, his eyes began to shine with more intensity and so the blue star seed appeared and headed to Twilight that took it.

"Don't worry" says Twilight. "I will. What's going to happen to you now, Sphinx?”

"I was created by the blue star seed to protect it" he replied. "But now that it has been taken, I'm free to do whatever I want. Thank you for my freedom, Princess Twilight."

So Twilight came out of the Sphinx’s room and began making her way to the exit. When she reached the room with the table with the bottles, the two fires had vanished. Twilight entered and went through the chamber with the mirror labyrinth until she reaches the cave. It was then that she arrived at the entrance, hoping to find Shining and Blue, but she was shocked by what she found.

There were a lot of ponies with dark tones and red eyes and two of them, the strongest, were holding Blue and Shining against the floor and they were trying to free themselves but in vain.

She advanced to go help them, but then two unicorns appeared in front of her, threatening her with their horns full of magic, which made her stop.

But the dark ponies didn’t answered . So they heard a chuckle and a familiar voice answering:

And then the dark ponies paved the way and Fire Punch appeared, advancing to his old enemies.

"But more important" Blue said, noting in Fire Punch’s horn and the absence of his wings. "What happened to you?"

"It’s quite simple, actually" Fire Punch replied. "The Lord of Chaos gave me an opportunity to redeem myself. The only think I have to do was to give my master the star seed, so he could conquer this world."

"And to do that you had to sell yourself once again and give up your wings only to attach the Sombra’s horn?" Shining asked.

"Why not?" Fire Punch asked. "Just by the horn’s power already worth it. And then there's this."

"Dark ponies" he continued. "Unconditional and loyal servants. Steal the light from their star seeds is quite satisfied. It gives me so much pleasure."

There was a break in which he looked at his enemies with a proud look and then said:

"But we have much more important affairs. Princess Twilight, I believe you have something that I want."

"Of course you have" Fire Punch said, smiling and closing. "Maybe a small, bright, light blue seed."

Twilight was not affected by him. Fire Punch noticed that and said, while he simply walked away a little:

"At this point, a few of my servants are trying to retrieve the other star seeds. If everything goes as I hope, we will be much closer to the original star seed."

"That's what we'll see. For starters, here's a choice for you: the star seed or the two stallions you love the most."

Twilight contorted her face. He had her against the wall. Or she gives the star seed up or Fire Punch would destroy Blue and Shining. Twilight had no other choice. She took the blue star seed of his saddlebags with her magic and then said:

"I have to!" Twilight answered them. "I can't let anything happen to you. You are too important to me."

Neither Shining nor Blue said anything. Twilight turned to Fire Punch and said to him, extending to him the blue star seed:

"So sweet" Fire Punch replied, using his magic to take the star seed. "You made the right decision."

"I changed my mind" Fire Punch answered, while moving away. "You should have seen this coming. It's not that I don't have any other choice."

The black ponies that were holding Shining and Blue launched them to Twilight’s edge and they and the others prepared to attack the three.

"I'm sorry" Twilight said to Shining and Blue. "I shouldn't have given the blue star seed to Fire Punch."

"Yes, I would have given my life for you, my love, not only the star seed" Blue said.

The dark ponies prepared to attack when they heard a loud roar coming from the cave that made them stop. It was then that something jumped over Twilight, Shining and Blue and landed between them and the dark ponies.

"Yes, and he was the last obstacle" Twilight said, turning to the enigmatic creature. "I can't believe you are helping us."

"As I've said, I am now free to do what I want" he answered. "And what I want to do now is to help you."

The Sphinx roared and rushed to the dark ponies, starting to give them kicks with their huge paws. They were shot down as they were nothing. Horrified with such ferocious creature, all dark ponies fled from there as fast as they could.

"That was amazing!" Blue exclaimed. "You really terrified those guys. Of course I also had fled after being attacked by a being so great and so intimidating."

"I never thought I'd live to see a sphinx" Shining said. "I've heard about your race, but I never thought it was real."

"We are really scarce and we prefer to stand guard for our greatest treasures" Sphinx replied. "Of course I was just created to guard the blue star seed."

"Well, I just came to tell you that Rarity and Pinkie Pie returned with the orange star seed and Fluttershy is bringing the green star seed" Heartbeat said.

"That's fantastic!" Twilight exclaimed, pleased to know that not everything had gone so badly.

"But, hey, guys, I don't know if you've noticed, but we can still get around the situation" Blue said. "We can still recover the star seeds we lost. In addition, there’s also a star seed missing."

"Blue’s right" Heartbeat said. "And since you are unoccupied and the others are in the Crystal Empire or are coming to here, you can get the yellow star seed."

"Yes, it's the best we can do" Twilight agreed. "We have to recover it as soon as possible. Heartbeat, can you give us the star seed’s exact location?"

"That will be a little difficult" Heartbeat replied. "We're talking about Golden Paladin’s star seed. I can't determine with accuracy its location. I just know that it’s in the big mountain of San Palomino Desert."

"I can help with that" the Sphinx said. "I spent centuries guarding the blue star seed. During that time, I created a bond that allowed me to contact the other star seeds. I can lead you to where the yellow star seed is."

"Well, I see you already have a ride" Heartbeat said. "I’ll wait for you there."

The Sphinx then cuddled up, allowing Twilight, Shining and Blue climbed to his back and then he stood up and started running towards the place where the yellow star seed was.

--------------------------------------

In his dark throne room, the Lord of Chaos was sitting on his throne. He was watching the purple star seed that was on his hand. It was then that a shadow appeared, coming from one of the mirrors, and took the form of Fire Punch. He approached of Lord of Chaos and then he told him while making a bow and stretching the blue star seed:

The Lord of Chaos made a gesture and the blue star seed went to him and was placed beside the purple star seed. The proximity of the two, made them start to shine so brightly.

"This light hurts me" the Lord of Chaos said. "However, I need these star seeds with their light to be able to find the original star seed of that world. It’s a pity that your dark ponies couldn’t have brought me the orange and the green star seeds."

"It won’t be necessary" the Lord of Chaos replied. "We already have two and that's enough."

"We will retrieve the other star seeds, that's a fact" the Lord of Chaos replied. "Who cares if they can or not get the last one? We just had to ensure they couldn’t find the original star seed before us and revive the Light Kingdom."

"Of course I say" the Lord of Chaos said. "Believe me, they won't know what hit them."

The Light Kingdom

by Rakoon1

Searching the Seed of Knowledge, Part II