"VHAT IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA HAS HAPPENED HERE?!"
When Amber Glow and her assistants arrived at the exhibit pavilion, they found everything in shambles...again.
The crates and trunks were smashed to pieces, ransacked. The canvas was shredded. The support posts had been scratched up.
Worst of all, the four mummies were missing.
"This is a disaster!" one of the pegasi with the caravan exclaimed, clutching his head with his hooves.
"This is a catastrophe!" an earth pony wailed, swooning.
"This is a mess," a unicorn mare said with a shake of her head.
"Good morning, esteemed colleagues!" Rosetta Stone called cheerfully as he trotted up the road from the castle. "Are we ready to thrill and delight the good ponies of Ponyville with—" He trailed off, blinking as he surveyed the destruction. "Oh. Oh dear."
Amber Glow rounded on him. "DU!" she screeched. "HAFF YOU DONE ZIS?!"
"How could I possibly have—"
"Why would you suspect this pony of causing this?" a calm voice asked from behind Rosetta Stone.
"BECAUSE HE IST EIN DUMMKOPF, UND—" Amber Glow trailed off as she realized she was addressing none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle. "Und..."
"And Rosetta Stone was my guest at my castle all night last night," Twilight said. She blinked as the implications of her statement caught up to her, and blushed. "Umm, we were discussing Anugypt, and Lionaptra! I was fascinated by his studies and translations." She looked around at the ruined exhibit. "Could this have been the work of thieves?"
Amber Glow frowned. "Perhaps," she admitted. "Ve vere carrying many priceless treasures of ancient Anugypt. But..." She scratched her chin. "Surely thieves vould haff been more...careful."
Rosetta Stone carefully picked his way among the ruins of the exhibit. "My word," he said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it looked as though an entire herd of angry cats went through here." He lifted a slat from a broken crate in his magic, tilting it around. "See the way the wood here is curled? Mum's old ginger used to do this to the furniture..."
"Yeah, Rosie, I...don't think cats did this," the pegasus said.
"Wait a second," Twilight said as she joined Rosetta Stone in inspecting the debris. She poked at part of a crate with her hoof. "Look at the way the boards are scattered. Isn't this right here the inside part of the crate?"
"I think so," Rosetta Stone said.
Twilight looked around at everypony. "Then why's this side all scratched up?" She shook her head, then turned her attention to Amber Glow. "Are you in charge here?"
"Ja."
"I need to know everything that's missing," Twilight said. "A complete inventory of all the artifacts, so I'll be able to organize a search and investigation."
"Of course, Your Highness," Amber Glow said, bowing.
"The main thing missing are the mummies," the other unicorn mare in the group said. "Who'd steal four mummies, though?"
"Yeah," agreed the earth pony mare. "I mean, the royal headdress of Neferkitti and the various jewelry and such, those are valuable, but..."
"But mummies...it wouldn't make sense to steal those," Twilight agreed with a frown. "Unless..." She shook her head. "We need to look for clues..."
"TWILIGHT!" a voice yelled from high above. Rainbow Dash swooped down, braking in midair. "There's somethin' REALLY weird goin' on!"
Twilight looked up. "What is it, Rainbow Dash? And can you handle it without me? We've got a crisis here—"
"PONYVILLE'S got a crisis!" Rainbow interrupted. She frowned. "Well, not so much a crisis as something just plain freakin' weird, but..." She shook her head. "No, it's definitely a crisis! Twilight," she said, grabbing Twilight's face with her hooves, "all the water in Ponyville has turned into milk!"
"WHAT?!" Twilight yelled, teleporting two paces away and flaring her wings. "What do you mean all the water in Ponyville has turned into milk?"
"I mean all the water," Rainbow said slowly, making a waves-on-water motion with her hooves, "has turned," she made a turning motion, "into MILK," she finished, pantomiming milking a cow.
Twilight groaned. "Well that sounds like Discord," she said, "but I thought he was in Canterlot..."
"Excuse me," Amber Glow interrupted, stepping forward. "Did you say all ze vater in town has turned into milk?"
"How many freakin' times do I gotta say it?" Rainbow cried, throwing her hooves up in frustration.
The earth pony from the EEHS began trembling. "The curse," she said quietly. "The curse!" Without warning, she tore off into town at full gallop, screaming at the top of her lungs. "BEWARE OF THE CURSE!"
Twilight blinked at this, then turned to Amber Glow. "Would you mind explaining that?" she asked.
Amber Glow frowned. "Zere iz zis ancient Anugyptian curse," she said. "Ze curse says ze Queen of ze Sphinxes vill rise again und valk ze vorld as ein abomination..."
"That old nonsense?" Rosetta Stone said, snorting and scoffing. "I was just telling the Princess about that last night. Why, I even read her my transcription of the heiroglyphs from Lionaptra!"
Amber Glow froze. "You...you read ze vords from ze tomb?"
"Well, yes."
"Out loud?"
"That is how it generally works..."
Amber Glow got in Rosetta Stone's face, glaring angrily and snorting steam. "DUMMKOPF!" She began waving her hooves around. "YOU HAFF DOOMED US ALL!"
Rosetta Stone drew back, then laughed. "Oh, Dr. Glow...surely you don't believe in all this curse rot! It's silly superstition!"
"Anugyptian curses aren't something you screw around with, lad," the EEHS pegasus said softly. "According to legend, sphinx magic was powerful, chaotic, dark, and dangerous."
Twilight stepped forward, frowning. "Excuse me," she said. "Are you saying you believe four ancient, dessicated, mummified sphinxes have returned from the dead?"
"Ja," Amber Glow said, nodding. "Ze vater into ze milk iz ze first sign. Ze first of ze nine plagues, prophesied by ze ancient pony slaves of Anugypt."
"Nine lives, nine plagues," her compatriot agreed. "As the Sphinx Queen regains each of her nine lives, the plagues will fall one by one."
"Ven all nine of ze plagues have befallen Equestria, ze curse vill be consummated, und ze Sphinx Queen will be fully restored, mit all ze vast und horrible power she once possessed," Amber Glow said.
"Come on," Twilight said with a laugh. "This is...this is silly! I'm sure this whole thing is Discord, or...or something simple..."
Rosetta Stone frowned, examining the broken crates and shredded canvas again. "It...it does look as though the crates were clawed...from the inside..."
The ponies looked around at each other.
Twilight's ears wilted. "Oh horseapples..."
* * * * *
A long strip of dry, dusty bandages fell to the ground beside a lake full of milk. A rough tongue lapped up milk, slapping against dry, dessicated lips that were slowly regaining moisture and color.
"Ahh...that hits the spot." More bandages fell to the ground.
A mostly grey, emaciated sphinx with sunken, shriveled eyes, a thin, ragged mane, and wilted wings stretched. Ragged holes in her parchment-like hide revealed dessicated flesh, ravaged by centuries beneath the sands.
Around her stood three other shriveled, dessicated sphinxes, still wrapped in bandages. Two of them were carrying piles of gold and jewels. "Mewyet, Hennutawny," the unwrapped mummy said, "my royal dressings."
"Yes, my Queen," the two mummies carrying the gold said. Working swiftly, they adorned Queen Neferkitti with her crown and an assortment of jewels.
"Much better," Neferkitti said. She turned to the last of the mummies. "Drink, Ankhsenpawten. You must regain your strength. We have much to do."
"Will you find him, Mother? Will you find Prince Tomcathep?"
"Yes, my daughter. I will have my prince. And then," Neferkitti said, "I will consummate the curse, and we will rule. The cats, the jackals, and the ponies...all will bow before their rightful Queen..."