The Pony, the Sphinx, and the Immortal

by HapHazred

Present Day: Deeper

Driven uneasy by the prospect of another glass statue in their camp as well as the possibility of an even larger horde waiting inside the ruins, the ponies did not sleep easy that night. Two of the diggers kept a watchful eye on the ruins entrance, taking in turns to keep a lookout.

Morning couldn’t come fast enough for them. Sleep felt more like a risk at this point.

When Twilight emerged from her tent, Applejack was already up, drinking coffee in large quantities.

“Still not sleeping well?” Twilight asked.

Applejack’s answer was curt and to the point.

“No.”

That was where their conversation ended. Applejack handed Twilight a coffee and then returned to silence. Applejack had gone from orange to almost grey, her coat having lost most of its luster. Her eyelids were sagging.

Twilight didn’t know what to say. There wasn’t much she could do about nightmares. Hopefully Rainbow Dash knew what she was doing when she said she was taking care of her.

After all, she hadn’t starved Tank to death yet.

“Morning,” Rainbow grunted as she rubbed her eyes, snatching up a cup of coffee. “Hey, look, that statue hasn’t killed us all yet. I call that a win.”

“Yeah,” Applejack grunted.

“So, how much sleep, AJ?”

“Couple of hours,” Applejack replied.

“Neat. Good coffee.”

“Yeah.”

Once Rarity joined them, Twilight got down to business.

“We’ll be delving deeper into the ruins today,” she said, “As soon as the room full of statues is cleared of glass.”

“We expecting more statues?”

“Yes, I think we should.”

Rainbow sighed. “Great. Those things give me the creeps. They didn’t use to, until they started walking, by the way.”

“We can whack ‘em, though, right?” Applejack asked.

“Not with our hooves. I can shield your hooves using magic, but I’m already shielding Zerephonzidas’s. I can only manage one more.”

“Do it on me, then,” Rainbow said. “I’m fastest, anyway. You and Rarity can use magic, and sorry to say this AJ, but the best you can do is fall asleep on them.”

Applejack grunted, but didn’t argue.

Twilight’s horn flashed. “There. It’s slightly different from Zerephonzidas’s, though.”

“How so?”

“If you wanted, you could also hurt ponies,” Twilight said.

Rainbow grinned. “Heh. Let me guess, Zereph’ doesn’t know about that little caveat?”

“No.”

“Devious,” Rainbow said, and chuckled. “I bet that’ll take him by surprise if he goes psycho on us.”

“Hopefully he won’t,” Twilight said. “But if he does, hopefully it will.”

Applejack got to her hooves. “Well, sooner we head to the ruins, sooner this’ll be over and done with and I can go home,” she said. “To my nice, soft bed where I can sleep properly for a week straight.”

The ponies stood up with her and trotted down to the dig site.

It would be a long day.

---

Zerephonzidas looked like he ought to be bumping into things left and right given his size, but even in the tight confines of the ruins, he seemed to slide through as if the walls were coated in oil. Rainbow held a small flashlight in her teeth, peering left and right.

Applejack followed Rarity closely, preferring to stay close to the brighter, more uniform unicorn light. Zerephonzidas guarded the rear, his eye able to see perfectly well in the dark anyway.

“What are we looking for?” Rarity asked.

“Blockages we need to clear out,” Twilight said. “We find a place to keep digging, and we go back. Douglas’s team put up some safety beams, and we move forwards.”

Rarity nodded. “Very well.”

“I need to make sure it’s safe before I send my ponies in here,” Douglas said, who was right in front of Zerephonzidas. “As in, no glass statues to trap us and do whatever it is they want to do to us.”

Rainbow flexed her hooves. She was still getting used to the feel of having a magic shield around them. She was also excited to try them out.

“Glass statues won’t be a problem,” she said. “I’ve got it covered.”

“We both do,” Zerephonzidas said.

The team reached a fork in the corridors. Twilight stopped.

“Which way?” she asked Zerephonzidas. “You’ve been here before.”

“There are likely statues in both directions,” he said. “We should split up and deal with them before we continue exploring.”

“I don’t like the sound of splitting up…” Rarity said.

“To be fair,” Rainbow said, “The statues won’t be a problem for me, the fastest pony alive, a giant monkey-lion with super-sharp claws, an alicorn princess, and… um… you guys.”

“We’ll split up for now,” Twilight said. “We don’t want statues from the other corridor to get past this spot and get us from behind.”

“Teams?”

“Myself and Rainbow should each be on different teams,” Zerephonzidas said. “That way we’ll spread out the ponies with shields on their hooves.”

“Good point,” Twilight said.

Rainbow was less than happy about the prospect. She folded her hooves.

“Douglas, can you come with me?” Zerephonzidas said.

The digger nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

“I could also use…”

“I’m going with Twilight,” Rarity said.

Applejack also sided with the princess. Zerephonzidas shrugged.

“Well, I suppose the friends can stick together. It’ll just be you and I, Douglas.”

The digger was evidently not thrilled by the prospect, given by the expression on his face. “Are you sure we can’t convince at least Applejack to come?”

Twilight was already beckoning her friends to follow her down the left passage. “We’ll meet up here in an hour. All right?”

Zerephonzidas moved towards Twilight, and leaned over to her ear. The others looked at him suspiciously.

“If ever you do get close to the column,” he said, “Come back and find me.”

Twilight didn’t reply. Zerephonzidas’s brow furrowed.

“Trust me,” he said. “There may be much that is dangerous about it that a sphinx could help you handle. Help me help you.”

“I’ll consider it,” Twilight said.

Zerephonzidas drew up to his full height, dwarfing Twilight completely. The alicorn felt a sudden twinge of fear. She reminded herself of the shields on Zerephonzidas’s paws.

“Whatever information you think you can glean on me is not worth your life,” he said. “Remember that.”

“That a threat?” Rainbow asked, butting in.

“A recommendation,” Zerephonzidas said. “Let’s go.”

Douglas seemed less enthusiastic than ever. He turned to Rarity.

“If something happens to me, take care of my snails,” he muttered half-jokingly.

Once Zerephonzidas and Douglas were out of earshot, Rainbow caught up with Twilight.

“You should let me go with them,” she said. “Keep an eye on the big guy, you know?”

“We need somepony with shields on…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Listen, you’re an awsome magic princess and I’m incredibly fast. You send a signal, I’ll be right over, promise.”

Applejack rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Guys, we shouldn’t let our mistrust of Zereph’ make us less able to handle danger.”

“Zereph is the danger!” Rainbow said. “Don’t you guys get it? He’s like Caballeron from Cloak of Destiny. Working with Daring so he can steal it for himself and leave Daring stuck in the dark! And I’m Daring Do in this scenario.”

“He did just threaten you,” Rarity said. “It might be helpful to have somepony who isn’t Digger Douglas watching him. Somepony fast enough to go toe-to-toe with him, even.”

“Somepony like me,” Rainbow said. “Come on, let me do it. It’s for the best.”

Applejack folded her hooves. “I don’t like it.”

Rainbow grinned. “What, sorry to see me go?”

“Please don’t say it like that,” Applejack said.

“What, like I’m going to kick flank?”

“No. Like you’re going to d…”

“That’s quite enough of that,” Twilight said. “Rainbow, go. I’ll use magic to contact you if we need help. Don’t get spotted.”

Rainbow nodded. “I won’t. I promise.”

With a flash or rainbow coloured light, the pegasus disappeared. Applejack ran her hoof through her mane.

“Ponyfeathers, Twi’,” she muttered. “If you’re so worried ‘bout Zerephonzidas, why’re you sending Rainbow to go spy on him? What if he…”

“Rainbow will be fine,” Rarity said. “She’s…”

“Not a good spy,” Applejack finished.

“Let’s just focus on moving forwards,” Twilight said. “Come on.”

---

The ruins seemed to get darker the deeper they went. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity hadn’t seen any signs of glass statues yet. Just empty rooms filled with ancient furniture. Some appeared to be half blasted apart, burned to a crisp. The blast, Twilight suspected.

“Pretty quiet,” Applejack commented.

“Like a grave,” Rarity added.

Twilight ran her hoof over a broken table. It looked like a desk, she thought. She had seen plenty like it in her time. Funny thing was, she thought, this one was far too high for a pony. There were no chairs, either.

“Girls,” she muttered, “I think this is where Zerephonzidas used to work.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

The disposition of the room reminded her eerily of Zerephonzidas’s own little desk back in the cave. “It feels like him,” she said. “Except… older.” Twilight began rummaging around the room. “Maybe he left something behind.”

“Like what, darling?”

Twilight saw something in the corner of the room, hiding in her peripheral vision. She trotted over to it.

“What do you see?” Applejack asked.

Twilight picked it up. It was a lens.

“A magnifyin’ glass?”

Twilight peered through it. “No,” she said. “It’s special.” She handed it over to Rarity. “I have a theory, but I need you to tell me what you see.”

Rarity raised her eyebrow. “I see lines,” she said. “Very strange lines. They almost look like…”

“Magic?” Twilight asked.

“Lemme see,” Applejack said. She peered through the lens. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s a sphinx eye,” Twilight explained. “Or at least, works like one.” She took the lens back. “I wonder how it was made. Or what from.”

“How’s that make a difference?”

“Because sphinxes can’t do magic the same way we do,” Twilight said. “They don’t just make magic. They have to take it.” She fiddled with the lens. “Oh. Here it is.”

“What are you doing?”

“Seeing what this eye has seen.”

Twilight looked through the lens. She saw a prairie. Red. She flinched when she realised that the grass was stained with blood.

“What is it?”

“The sphinx this eye belonged to,” Twilight said, “Just killed a pony.” She kept watching. “Oh, dear… It didn’t kill a pony, it’s just… playing with it.”

Rarity frowned. “That’s disgusting.”

“The pony doesn’t look right,” Twilight said. “It’s… ah, it’s not developed. It can’t speak.”

“That don’t make it better,” Applejack said. “You still shouldn’t play with your food.”

Twilight saw a second shape appear from the grass, and quickly kill the pony. As the eye focussed, she recognized Zerephonzidas.

“Oh, this is a sphinx Zerephonzidas knew,” she said. “This must be millions of years ago… Oh.”

“What?”

“Zerephonzidas just killed the owner of this eye,” Twilight said. “There’s nothing left now.”

“What could Zerephonzidas want with a sphinx eye?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a reminder?” Twilight asked. “It must be lonely, being one of maybe a handful of your kind. Perhaps it’s a trophy?”

“Maybe he was selling… sphinx parts to the ponies here?” Rarity asked.

“We’ll likely never know,” Twilight said, storing the lens away for safekeeping. “It’s still… disturbing, seeing the sphinxes of old.”

“Even worse when you remember that they’re the same sphinxes we have today,” Rarity said.

“Let’s not think about that,” Applejack said. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”

---

The trio continued walking, and eventually found what they were afraid of finding.

Glass statues.

“Now,” Applejack said, “Would be a good time to call Rainbow.”

Something beyond the statues caught Twilight’s eye. A deep sense of unease took her over, and she backed away.

“We need… ugh…” she pulled the lens out of her bags and brought it to her eye. “What is that?”

Applejack rubbed her forehead. “Come to think of it, I don’t feel so good…”

Twilight looked through the lens, and blanched. “Oh, dear…”

“What is it?”

“We need to go,” Twilight said. “We need Zerephonzidas, now.”

“Why?”

“We’re near the column,” Twilight said. She heard the clinking of breaking glass.

“The what now?” Applejack asked.

Rarity was already backing away. “Girls? Do you hear that?”

Twilight became aware of a persistent ringing in her ears. “I hear it…”

“I mean the sound of a…” Rarity continued, her ears flattening against her head. “Oh, no…”

“Sound of a what?” Applejack asked.

“Of a cave in,” Rarity said.

Twilight could hear it too. Under the ringing and the sound of the glass statues awakening, she heard the rumble of rock on rock.

“Run!” Twilight shouted. “Get away!”

The ceiling collapsed.

---