Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands

by Starglider

Trapped

Nestled in the bow of the great airship, the saloon provided a superb view of the sunset through full height windows. Golden light streamed in, casting the eight creatures within in sharp relief. It should have been Set Sail's favourite room on the ship, with its pleasant decor and expansive views to stave off claustrophobia. Since the crossing though, it seemed every visit was to deal with loss and disaster. A week ago it had been Reef Skimmer and the unnatural creations of the abandoned factory, now it was Summer Scribe and the ill-fated expedition to the island of felines.

Seated together were the explorers: Blaze Trails, the dark green earth pony guide, Azure Feather, the blue unicorn-turned-pegasus guard and Champion of Air, Grenelda the griffon and the big grey hippogriff doctor, Reef Skimmer. The engineer Sprocket was absent: no sooner had she brought the Second Chance down to land in the nearby meadow, she'd fled for the comfort of Static Signal's embrace. Of distinguished researcher Summer Scribe, there was no sign.

Across the table sat Clashing Gale, purple batpony and leader of the storm piercer team; the Captain was sure he'd know what to do if a rescue was needed. Next to him was the chief engineer Nutmeg Inferno, the kirin standing in for Sprocket and providing an engineering viewpoint should it be called for. The scaly-backed deer-like creature was listening intently to the away team's story, keen to hear about their adventures.

On the other side was Blue Type, the older earth mare's expression alternating between excitement and concern as the explorers spoke of the cat-centaur monastery and then the hostile natives. She was clearly worried sick about the absence of her friend and superior. Finally at the head of the table was Set Sail, facing another terrible situation that she was somehow supposed to lead them out of.

"...and Summer seemed to have it figured out by that point," Reef Skimmer was explaining, "She deployed her magic again, activated the element symbols, caused numerous glowing lines to appear, and hey presto the whole wall sunk into the floor, permitting passage into the main chamber. That's when the real trouble began." he said mournfully.

Grenelda waved a claw out. She clearly looks annoyed, but in that 'this is what happens when OTHER PEOPLE don't listen' way. "Turns out the place was infested with spiders and driders. No big deal, the fight was totally under control -" He gives an approving nod at Reef - "Especially with thanks to our new powerhouse here."

"It was most certainly not 'totally under control'!" Reef squawked indignantly, shocked by the hen's casual dismissal of the life-or-death situation. He looked at Set Sail; how was she handling this? He'd got in trouble before, rushing an explanation - he had to make sure she had the facts this time. "So... it was an enormous chamber with more life-size sphinx statues lining the walls. Terrible sightlines you understand, place was full of enormous stone pillars and cobwebs. Many, many cobwebs, bit of a giveaway really... we had perhaps five minutes grace before, oh, perhaps a hundred large arachnids had gathered about."

Blaze Trails could say nothing other than glower at the fact that she was stuck crawling through bushes and hiding from cats while the others got to get into all the really fun stuff, and it was her own damn fault for assuming that the natives wouldn't just let them leave, and there would be a flier to pick her up right outta trouble if she had known. Her leg brace was reapplied, and her leg was actually pretty sore from having to abuse it in her unexpected bush diving.

Her glowering was tempered by the fact that that excitable little unicorn hadn't returned, something that left Blaze saddened and devilishly curious just what happened to her. Perhaps if Blaze hadn't been acting like such a mudpony, she might've been able to help Summer before the worst happened. But at least her earth pony heritage meant that she wouldn't be troubled by injuries like this for long.

Clashing Gale was watching the two griffs closely, his face filled with concern. Truth be told, he had feelings for Summer Scribe that went beyond mere concern for the safety of a crewmate - feelings that had been pushed aside by his transformation, but that were now returning in force as it became clear something bad had happened to her. Azure Feather's mood was clearly grim and that didn't bode well for Summer's situation.

In fact the blue pegasus was sipping at a glass of water, and staring at it as if the clear fluid would give her answers, as she sighed. "I only saw the last moments of the entire process... damn it, we were told not to touch it... we were told not to! Damn it..." Another sip of water, which at this moment, she only wished some alcohol could lace this drink...

"Yes, well, we shall get to that shortly...." Reef Skimmer admitted. "So... Grenelda made the first move, decided to make a snack of one of the spiders. That seemed to agitate the rest and we were beset by the creatures. Fascinating really, it seemed there were several subspecies in the same swarm, with different defence mechanisms... one wishes there had been a chance to recover some specimens..." the griff trailed off, staring into space.

Grenelda licked her beak. "I'd do it again - that was delicious." A little chortle as she relived the ravenous pleasure only a carnivores knew. "It's what happened next that completely derailed anything." The hen clicked her beak and dipped her head. "The driders were setting up some kind of magical infestation to drain an earth elemental gate-"

By now Nutmeg Inferno had looked like she wanted to ask a question several times, only to look down shyly, as if unwilling to interrupt and call attention to herself. Now though she looked between the two griffs: "Spiders and driders? Oh no! What are driders?!"

Grenelda puffed out her head-feathers peered over at the kirin. Right, all this crazy new stuff needed an explanation. "Driders are, like... Big hostile critters, spider lower halves, drow upper half. No clue what their relationship to the other drow are, but they hunted with bow and with magic, and they had killing intent." She sticks her tongue out. "Reef managed to get the killing blow on one of 'em, though - couldn't be more proud of him! Plus, that liquid body is really good at tanking hits - bet it hurt, though..."

"Oh, spidrow!" Nutmeg nodded. "Like drow but even better at climbing! And making webs. ...I guess! So... draining a gate with their biotech? Were they trying to get into the nexus?"

"Search me," Grenelda shrugged. "We beat the spiders, then like totally unprompted, Summer blasts the damn thing open." Her voice rose and she fluffed up her wings in annoyance: "Waltzes in, and vaporizes her body to throw her spirit into this 'Oracle'!"

Blue Type perked up, in shock. "She did what? She's in the - oh no, Summer..."

Azure shook her head slowly, still trying to figure out the mysteries that the glass of water had and she didn't. After a few seconds the pegasus explained: "We were specifically told not to touch what the Sphinxes called the 'Oracle's Grave'. That golden statue, about as big as a pony and several times heavier than one, of a sphinx. Well, Summer did, and now she's trapped in it. If the Sphinxes caught us leaving with it, you might not even have had a squad returning here today."

Blue Type could feel tears of worry beginning to well up in her eyes. "W-wait! But, Summer - what happened to her? Why'd you have to leave her behind?"

"We... we didn't have a choice," Azure said grimly. "I hate the idea as much as the next pony..." With a grunt, the Champion of Air downed her glass of water and trudged off to get another.

Clashing Gale was left to sigh: 'trapped' didn't sound so bad, but... vaporised? He wondering what it would take to get Summer back, assuming it was even possible.

The mention of killing had snapped Reef Skimmer snapped out of his reverie. He glared at Grenelda, then gave the distressed Blue Type a sympathetic look. "Yes, now see here Grenelda, Azure... no sense skipping ahead! The captain..." a nod to Set Sail "...needs a proper debriefing. So... yes, fascinating creatures. Spi-drow, the sphinxes called them. Summer speculated back in that statue garden about more species in the centaur family, and lo and behold... a combination of primate and arachnid. So... two of the blighters, opening fire without warning, arrows and some manner of magic projectile. And I must say, their ambush was extremely effective."

Set Sail was furious. Her green kerchief was around her neck today, though if that signified anything, unclear. The blue haired brown mare stood, wings folded, glaring at Reef Skimmer more because he just happened to be in the direction she was looking. Any number of incredibly stupid scenarios were going through her head: how Summer tried to run into the crowd of spiders to look at something shiny, how Summer stole something from the Sphinxes and got caught and now was being held for ransom, not that Set Sail had any idea how they were going to pay a legendary monster for release from whatever cage they'd stuffed Summer in.

Her fury softened at Blue Type's words, at last sighting upon something besides her imagined Summer Scribe. "Yes, Reef," she said, looking to the half-eagle, half-equine creature she called friend, "What did Summer do, get herself captured? The rest of you came back okay, so I assume you managed to defeat these spiders, and... spi-drow as you said they were called? Please... continue."

"Certainly we prevailed, but had I not been... transformed, that first arrow would have punctured a lung, likely put me down," Reef explained. "That first bolt of magic missed Grenelda's head by centimetres, a hit would've likely blinded her. With the griffs down and the smaller spiders still a factor, the ponies could easily have been overwhelmed." An odd whistle, then he lamented: "Our lack of tactics and training nearly got the entire shore party killed."

As it was... dark, underground, surrounded by spiders, shots coming out of the gloom from unseen enemies, well... Grenelda ran aw- retreated, that is to say. The ponies took cover, and I... well honestly one rather lost one's composure. The arrows turned out to be an annoyance, but the mage began firing on me as well, and by Novo those shots stung. So... yes, as Grenelda said, I rushed the, erm, spi-drow. In hindsight, we could have simply retreated, but... I'd lost sight of Grenelda and Summer, chain of command was unclear, so... when I saw Sprocket firing back on the spider mage, I... well, I put her down. With... excessive force. The archer crawled away down a shaft and that was that."

The big griff stared guiltily at his claws for a moment, before adding indignantly "Not to mention the exploding eggs! Although one probably should. So... no sooner was the threat vanquished, than Summer spied one of those magic gates at the back of the chamber. The thing had this curious black organic material attached, veins leading to large sacs or eggs."

"And of course Summer Scribe couldn't even wait for us to locate Sprocket and Grenelda, couldn't even wait for the, erm, body to grow cold. She zapped those bloody eggs with her horn and what do you know, they exploded. Could've brought down the whole pyramid! As it was, just blinded and deafened, just what one needs after a life-and-death encounter." Reef huffed. "The whole statue business came after she blew the gate open. Azure saw that, I was looking for Sprocket."

Grenelda saw Blue Type's obvious distress and huffed. "I hate to say it, but this was just the culmination of Summer acting like Summer. Between the catastrophe at the factory and the levitation trap she blundered into at the temple, I don't know if she knew what risks she was taking on or not, but it's clear as day her lifestyle bit her in the ass too hard this time. I don't like the idea of leaving her behind, but she brought this one on herself."

"Well that's at least workable," Set Sail said with a sigh, "Their statue was a trap, go figure. A teleportation trap, sounds like? We'll just have to find whatever cage they've thrown her in, and sneak her out of there." She sighed again. "I suppose sphinxes here are going to be just as treacherous and cruel as the one in Equestrian legend. I assume they baited the poor mare into touching it? Summer never could resist what takes simple common sense. Still it doesn't make sense why they didn't capture the rest of you too. Did you fight your way out? Reef?"

Blue Type looked desperately at the griffs then Azure Feather, hoping for some piece of reassurance, or at least something that would let her make sense of what had happened. "She's really trapped inside a statue, in a sphinx temple?" The tears overflowed and began to stain her fur, as she realised how terrible the situation was. Poor Summer... "T-There must have been some reason! She must have touched it for a reason! We can't just leave her behind like that!" The earth mare lowered her head, trying to hide her face and keep herself under control.

"I'm sure she's out of it by now." Set Sail said disapprovingly, "Why would they leave her in their trap? We have to find where they're holding her, after they took her out, and... reset their trap or something. I'm sure Azure had a good reason why she couldn't just break her out." She looked to the pegasus guard, who'd just returned carrying a fresh glass of water awkwardly in her mouth. "That's when the sphinxes attacked, right? And you had to leave her to their mercy, to escape?"

To Azure Feather it felt like the captain was accusing the squad of lying to her. She reared up, putting her hooves on the table and saying seriously: "Listen. Summer is trapped inside a life-size golden idol of a sphinx, that they call the 'Oracle's Grave'. My guess ,we'd be butchered if the Sphinxes even knew we touched it. They don't know everything. We know even less! Damn it, we're looking for allies against the Drow, not another tribe looking to tear us limb from limb like them...!"

The mare's muscles were tensed, her eyes glaring. Seeing the shocked faces of the others, she backed down and took a long drink from her glass, hoping to avoid another outburst. Her gaze returned to her captain, as she said in a calmer voice: "All I know now is that this... may well be the elemental magic here afflicting Summer Scribe, a sort of curse like Reef's at the Water Gate, or mine at the Air Temple. Like ours, it comes with benefits and drawbacks: Summer's not without power in there. She created a... a weird... look-alike of herself. It was her... just... not her."

Blue Type was breathing deeply, trying to steady herself. Azure's words offered a little bit of hope... but a lot of uncertainty. "OK, good - she's still herself in there." She rubbed at her forehead, taking a deep sigh and trying to think. "So you- you think this is like your change and Reef's change? Just her own elemental attuning? Then maybe she knew it was going to happen - but I still don't understand why she'd trap herself like that..." Meanwhile Clashing Gale just stared quietly into space, trying to come to terms with the idea of the team leaving Summer behind.

Azure frowned: "There was no time to figure it out. The sphinxes must have heard all the noise from the battle with those spider-drow, they were coming... if they'd even seen Summer then... I don't think we'd be here. But... look, I don't think they're bad creatures. Their leader, Ne'kuno; she warned us after all. We set up another meeting with them, in two weeks. Now again - I'd rather have them as allies rather than enemies. It's going to be a tougher sell to them, but I prefer a group that fights for a cause, to one that just sells their services to the highest bidder," she concluded. The pegasus slumped back in her seat, sighing and shaking her head.

"A... weird look-alike of... so they did leave her in their statue trap?" Set Sail asks, wings disruffled, completely confused, "How do they not know she touched it, if they were the ones who tricked her into touching it? I mean, they could see their trap was sprung, right? You have another... meeting with them? How could they be our allies, if they captured Summer, and then attacked you before you could save her? They're sphinxes! They're—they're evil, right?"

Reef Skimmer nodded along to Azue's account. "You see Sails... I mean Captain! Captain Set Sails! Erm. So of course I thought Summer had been teleported somewhere! It was that or disintegration and no one wanted to consider the latter. So the obvious question was, where had the trap sent her, could the sphinxes help, dare we risk asking them. But then... there was that strange business with the ceramic Summer Scribe, threw the teleport theory out of the nest. Some kind of golem, it seems!" Reef blinked, was he being clear?

"One returned with Sprocket in tow and it was just standing there. Like a vase the size and shape of Summer. Walking and talking just like her. That's how we know she's trapped in the gold statue - told us herself! Then told us to smash her and come back later, when we heard the sphinxes approaching. Thoroughly surreal." He shook his head.

Grenelda's expression was stern, brow furrowed, not showing much sympathy. "Honestly? I don't think the sphinxes had any part in it. I think Summer chose to touch it herself. Then she disappeared; yeah, I think it's just how this 'Oracle' thing works. Like somegriff gets to be inside it and they become 'The Oracle', something like that." She shrugged her wings.

"That's awful!" Nutmeg Inferno muttered. "Why would they use a destructive scan?! Oh... oh, magic, maybe it's different with magic." The kirin stared at her hooves; maybe her random Tech insights weren't what was needed here.

"Indeed," Reef agreed. "So... then the sphinxes arrived and it seems they had no idea what had just happened! Nearly lasered us for breaking their seal, but... they saw the remains of that poor spider creature, and took us at our word that we'd been ambushed. Let us go in peace." He glanced at Azure. "We... told them Summer had been carried off by the drow." Catching Set Sail's eye, he said "You know I don't think the sphinxes are so bad, really? They're just in a tough spot, what with their island in ruins and those spider creatures trying to break into their temple."

Grenelda nodded to the other griff. "Yeah, seems like it's like this super-important religious artifact to them. We had to lie to them, because we had no idea what they'd do if we knew we desecrated the 'Oracle's Grave'. They came in all riled up and looking for a fight, Azure did really well to talk us out of it." The hen shook her head dismissively. Damnit, why couldn't Summer keep her stupid touchy hooves to herself just once?

Blue Type tried to give Grenelda a stern look, but it melted under the gaze of the fierce griffon. She chose her words carefully: "I... I can't say I always understand what Summer is doing or thinking. But she's so bright, so confident, so passionate about her work... I don't understand why she'd throw that all away! There must be a way to get her out! There must be some kind of plan we can make!" She threw her head under her hooves again and whimper-sobbed some more. "I don't know if I can handle losing her. I already miss her so much..."

Set Sail's continued insistence that the sphinxes were at fault nearly triggered another outburst from Azure Feather; thank goodness for the doctor and his words. Her next sigh was one of relief, as she nodded to Grenelda as well. "Thank you, both of you, I... urgh..." Fatigue was catching up with her; it had been a stressful trip, and she hadn't slept well.

"The sphinxes didn't have any part in it?!" Set Sail declared with an angry stomp, "Who captured her, then? You're all acting like the statue itself disintegrated Summer Scribe to dust and sucked her into it like some kind of a vacuum!" she looked around pleadingly at the confusing witnesses to the scene, asking, "Can't somepony give me the straight story here? What in Equestria's name happened to that mare?"

"Damnit, Set Sail! That is what happened!" Grenelda shouted angrily, her voice almost a screech. "There was no one else in the chamber. Summer Scribe blasted her way in and vanished, then she was in the statue. The sphinxes didn't come in until later. She really did just straight up trap herself in a golden statue." The griff sank back, muttering: "And who goes around touching important artifacts like that without knowing what they do in the first place? Like I said, it's her own damn fault and no one else's."

"One does get the impression that it wasn't a trap, as such," Reef Skimmer said thoughtfully. "Can't imagine why a trap would include the ability to create an animate statue of oneself. I think we must assume... the artefact was designed for some other purpose, and Summer activated it. I believe my colleague's theory," the hippogriff gestured with a wing to the hen sitting next to him, "is along the right lines. The sphinxes described it as a 'grave', hmm... holding the spirit of the departed, perhaps? A means of enduring beyond one's mortal shell? A flight of fancy, except..." Reef gave Clashing Gale a meaningful look "...it seems things we thought fantastic can be quite real, in this place. Yet... the statue was quiescent, until Summer provoked it."

Set Sail fish-mouthed at the griffonness, her ears turning from Grenelda to Reef Skimmer, the mare's expression going from anger to confusion, to outrage, to horror back to confusion, finally settling on incredulous shock. "She trapped herself in a golden statue," the pegasus mare asked flatly. "It just disintegrated her into dust, and... and sucked her up. But she's somehow okay?"

Grenelda peered over towards Azure. "You're the first one who saw her statue lookin' self - do you want to explain it to Set Sail? Again, 'cause she's still not getting it."

Azure just nodded grimly. "It's as the doctor said. The look-alike was glazed ceramic, like a vase, yet it was otherwise a perfect, animated copy of Summer Scribe. Her voice and all, a sort of golem would take even an archmage weeks, if not months to create. Yet it was no mere automaton, it was clearly the real Summer controlling it. It was as light and fragile as a vase too... I guess that's why it was so easy to smash. If I had to guess? Summer Scribe is now as capable with the Earth element as I am with Air, or Reef with Water. She's just... trapped."

Blue Type trembled a bit, rubbing at her face with her hooves as she tried to think. "Goodness... And all we have to do is convince the sphinxes to let us have our Summer back?" Her voice was uncertain - she knew it would be a tall order. "I just... She's still alive! There has to be a way. We can't..."

"Okay, well, okay," Set Sail said, backing down from her fury, "I have only one question then. Why didn't you bring her... look-alike back?"

"She asked us to break it. So that the sphinxes wouldn't see it. Hmm..." Reef Skimmer said, cocking his head "...one wonders if she was just worried about the sphinxes turning hostile, or if she knew more about her predicament than she could say." He brought a claw down hard on the table, with more of a thud than a clack. "Damn it, if only we'd had more time!"

Grenelda's brow furrowed again: "Best guess... we gotta take the Oracle itself out; that's the big golden statue, not the golem Summer made. She was really insistent on figuring out how we could carry it. I'm sure she wouldn't miss something that obvious." The griffon cocked her head, considering. "So it's statue retrieval or nothing. Whether she knew she'd be so stuck before she zapped herself into the Oracle... I haven't got a clue. Seemed like she was winging it, as usual."

"It must be a significant artefact!" Nutmeg nodded eagerly. "We should retrieve it and run some tests, try to figure out how it works. If it's more like a teleporter than a scanner, then the process could be reversible!" she said optimistically.

Blue Type sniffled and tried to wipe the tears from her face. "Yes... and we can't let Summer suffer in a tomb alone! I don't know how, but we must negotiate with these sphinxes! They'll see sense, I'm sure!"

"Remember that these creatures know how to fight," Azure cautioned them, "And that this is their sacred artifact. The thing they care about most, and they warned us not to touch it. We could go near, perhaps, but touching it? Very doubtful." Seeing Blue Type's distress, her expression softened - reckless or not, Summer was her friend, too. "We'll talk to them. We are not just abandoning a squad member; we'll get her back... somehow."

"She wanted you to... take The Oracle's Grave." Set Sail said slowly. "The golden statue that... disintegrates you when you touch it. The statue that's a super important religious artifact to the sphinxes. Sphinxes, plural," the pegasus concluded, looking for signs of recognition in all of them. Sliding a wing down her face in despair, Set Sail folded it, saying, "Okay, okay we can work with this. Summer is... safe, so-to-speak. We know where she is, and she's not in ...any more danger, at least. We just need to talk to the sphinxes, and... and they'll never let us just walk off with it. Celestia dammit, Summer, why do you have to make things so complicated..."

"The sphinx mare called their whole group the protectors of the tomb or some such." Reef Skimmer said. "Hard to imagine they'd be willing to part with it." He cocked his head, thinking. "They saw Summer's negotiation as an exchange of 'secrets'... willing to trade, perhaps, but what have we to offer that would entice them to abandon their life-long duty? The best case would be that they have the means and desire to extract Summer from her confinement... but if they don't, and we let them know she's in there... will be that much harder to get her back." The hippogriff sighed. "She said she wouldn't do it again. Promised even! So much for minimising risk."

Blue Type took another deep breath as she pondered the options. "Well, one figures out how to befriend other cultures by understanding them as thoroughly as possible..." She tapped her hoof on the floor, in unconscious imitation of Summer. "They treasure secrets, but I don't think any amount of secrets is a fair trade, if this is transactional. If we cannot appeal to their better nature, and their idol is of irreplaceable importance to them... I wonder if there is some crisis of similar magnitude we can save them from?"

The mare began to sweat as she realised how unlikely this sounded. "I know: this is getting into pure fantasy given our current, well, condition, but what else would be an option to us? Deepening the lie? I guess it's true that they don't know who is in The Oracle yet..."

"So... did you make any progress with the particle beam pyramid?" Nutmeg blurted out. At the shocked looks from the crew, she stammered "B-Because... the dirt sharks! They might help! With Summer Scribe, you know, if we solve their problem, maybe they're friends with the sphinxes, and..." the kirin trailed off.

Grenelda smirked. "Well, there were lasers in the sphinx pyramid as well. Itty-bitty ones. Maybe Summer would have figured something out if she didn't go and off herself... Hmm, say..." She clicked her beak. "You know Nutmeg here has a good point. Let's not forget our plan: doing a big favour for the dirt sharks. We know the felines won't like it: we're talking about sabotaging the big laser pyramid and helping the sharks mine those fancy rocks around it. Assuming that is still the plan."

"So look, if we're already destined to be on the sphinxes' bad side, why do we have to appease them? It's not like the pyramid's guarded 24/7 - why don't we just take this 'Oracle'? The moment we do we've picked a side, but it was kinda inevitable." She puffed her down up a bit, proud of such a cutting insight.

Azure just shook her head at that. "My guess, if we disable the laser on top of Summer's problem... we can kiss goodbye to any prospect of alliance, or even neutrality, with the sphinxes. They'll want our heads. From what I heard, the sharks are after one thing, and one thing only: money. Loyalty, friendship, alliances, they don't give donkey dung about that, you don't have money, they'll turn their backs on you first chance they get. The sphinxes are in a jam with the spidrow. Perhaps if we help them with that, we could call them friends - forge an alliance, even?" she concluded hopefully.

Clashing Gale had no patience for tip-toeing around these alien creatures. "Who cares about them, what they want, what they need at this point? None of them can be trusted, that's clear. One of our most valuable crew members is trapped in their relic: bottom line is, we've got to get hold of it. Then we can find a way to get Summer out."

Blue Type gulped: "Goodness, should we really be so forward about inciting such hostility with the sphinxes? They don't sound like an enemy we want to have..." she demurred, though... in truth she had no better idea to offer.

Reef was staring into space again. "An outright confrontation with the sphinxes... inadvisable. We saw five specimens, likely more went unseen. Flying predators, probably combat trained, perhaps used to fighting the spider creatures... likely as dangerous as griffons, and at least one was a combat caster. An engagement on their home turf, perhaps in a confined space... casualties almost inevitable - on either or both sides." He gave Set Sail one of those unreadable eagle stares, though his ear-fins flared out in anger. "Given that the whole business was our fault, one can hardly pay such a price, even to retrieve a crewmate."

“We are not stealing something that important to them,” Set Sail said flatly, “They didn’t attack us, we don’t attack them. They might not be our allies, but we do not need more enemies right now. Summer is safe, for now. And if what you say is true, she’s not going anywhere any time soon. We’re not gonna have any casualties, and Summer doesn’t count because somehow she was disintegrated and is still totally fine.”

Strutting past Reef, she continued, “Since we’re not, I repeat, not stealing from innocent creatures, a treasure they have sworn their lives to protect, we might as well open up a dialogue with them, to see if they know anything more, if we can get Summer out of there, if we can help them somehow, and to see if sphinxes are even possible to befriend.” Her feathers and fur fluffed as she walked stiffly up to Azure, saying, “There’s... a reason those pillars are so defended. We find out the reason, we find out what needs to be done, so that everypony is happy."

"If the sharks are awful as all that," she continued, "then we’ll know. But do recall that they could have given our crew over to the mercy of the drow, and they didn’t. They could have killed them, eaten them, captured them, instead they let them go, at no cost to us. After showing off some crazy machines, that Static is still squeeing over, and then asking for help.” The captain stood there a moment straining not to show fear, and then her countenance broke and Set Sail walked hastily away from the other pegasus mare.

Azure nodded quietly to the captain. "I see. We could have lost the squad to the sharks as well... I... I see." They were good points, and at this point she was uncertain how to proceed. Clashing had it wrong though; just ignoring the native creatures' various situations wasn't an option, not with them in such a weak tactical position.

“The two-leggers might know the reason for all the defences,” Blaze Trails spoke up, drawing Set Sail’s attention as the captain paused to look her way. “I wasn't there for the sphinxes, curse my luck,” the red-and-green earth pony said resentfully, “But something had those cat creatures so riled up you could bounce a coin off the tension. Enough their whole tribe mobilized to kick us out. I still feel so bad about trampling all over their magic school without knowin' it was off limits.” Shaking her head sadly, Blaze concluded, “If we ever do go back to that island, the first thing we're gonna have to do is go and apologise to them two-leggers.”

Blue Type let out a shaky sigh as she listened to Set Sail's words. Calm, reasonable, in control and on top of it all - it was reassuring. Still, she fretted: if the meeting with the sphinxes was weeks away, that was a long time to wait - perhaps even longer before they could see Summer. Unless... she cleared her throat with a nervous swallow: "Umm... I feel a bit transgressive even suggesting it, but..." An uncertain pause. "...Maybe one of us should check in on Summer? You could use the invisible magic soda to minimize the risk. I just... don't want her to be worried sick. She should know what we're planning to do to rescue her, whatever it is. And if she knows something that will help, we ought to know."

Set Sail's ears went down; she avoided the earth pony's gaze as she said: "We can... send someone in to check in on Summer. That's fine. But I don't care whatever airheaded plan she's got, we can't just take a... I wish I had been there, to... stop her."

Azure looked thoughtful as she considered Blue Type's suggestion, while Clashing Gale seized on it: at last, something they could do: "Yes! Somepony should go soon; it needs to be somepony the sphinxes haven't seen. That rules out most of you, but I wasn't on the squad..." A chuckle: "Magical invisibility? That's the key we're going to use..." He looked at Set Sail: "I volunteer. Will anypony accompany me?"

Blue Type looked adoring at the sleek, striking batpony: "...Thank you so much, Clashing Gale! That means a lot to me. Though... we should decide what to do as a team. I'm sure Summer will understand that now."

"Appreciate you stepping up, Clashing," Reef Skimmer said warmly. "So, backup for a stealth reconnaissance assignment... Cloud Cutter, surely? Damned uncanny, how that mare sneaks up on you... and wasn't she the one who discovered the invisibility potion?" The hippogriff frowned; was he letting personal feelings cloud his judgement? He'd rather the spooky mare was inflicted on the enemy than hanging around the ship, but... no, she was the logical choice. "By all means we could use more intelligence, but... perhaps Azure and myself should be on hand. At a discreet distance, you understand... just in case."

"I'm not that quiet," Cloud Cutter said. Somehow she was standing right next to Reef Skimmer, without anyone realising until just then.

A loud squawk escaped the griff's beak as he half-spread his wings, staring in shock and horror at the purple pegasus that had materialised from nowhere. "Hiding under the table? Really now!"

"What?" Cloud Cutter said, not reacting to Reef's squawk other than the draft ruffling her mane, "I just walked in."

Grenelda cackled: a throaty laugh at Reef's expense. "Oh, sorry, Reef - that was too good."

With the tension broken, even Blue Type stifled a quiet giggle. Sure, they were in a tough spot - but Summer was alive. There was still hope. She'd just have to work harder to learn all she can about the sphinxes: do anything she could to help the others rescue Summer.

Tired and frazzled, Azure didn't appreciate being startled by Cloud Cutter's sudden entrance. She rose to her hooves and looked ready to protest, but thought better of it, saying "...As the diplomatic representatives, a decoy of sorts for the real operation... I can see it, doctor. Not a bad idea, and really, better to have a rescue operation for what may be like sending two ponies into a hornet's nest..." She admitted.

"Hmm, yes, be that as it may..." Reef spluttered in embarrassment, before turning to Azure "...I seem to recall the sphinxes telling you to meet them in a week's time. Can we wait that long? Or do you propose outright telling them about Summer's predicament? At the very least, they will send some sphinx to check on her... not conducive to Clashing's infiltration."

"It was two weeks, doctor." Azure confirmed. "We may not be able to put off a confrontation with the pirates for so long. The griffons said they would be here soon, and if Sunburn becomes available as well... how long could we delay? It is only proper that I am present, of course." There was a somewhat... dazed look in her eyes for a second, not something that would escape Grenelda, Reef or any other fighting creature's attention, but quickly faded.

"Back to the subject... if Clashing does get caught, we could dive in to explain, but..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I suppose that couldn't end well. Apologies." Just what was she thinking?

"If things end up going that topsy turvy, maybe we should just grab Summer and haul while we still have a chance?" Grenelda suggested "Hrmm... that'd basically be the end of diplomatic relationships, yeah? So no shame in cutting and running after that." Inwardly, the griffon was wondering just what Summer was up to - sooner or later she'd start messing with the sphinxes on her own. That pony was just incapable of leaving things alone.

"And what do we do after we steal the statue?" Set Sail said, with a frustrated stomp, "There's nothing good that could come of that, even if we could do it. The moment they learned what we did we'd be back to square one. And what good would it do? Having a statue with—with earth powers is nice, but... where do we even put it? We don't have the—the only specialist who could've found out what it does magically got trapped inside it!" Giving a baleful look Grenelda's way, she said, "Yes if they outright attack us and... yes it's okay to steal the statue, then. I just... don't want to give up on them yet. I know they're sphinxes, but..."

Grenelda waved a clawed dismissively. "Well, she'd be a member of the team! Just a particularly heavy one. Someone'd have to be on carrying-Summer duty, and we'd probably just scram from anywhere the Sphinxes would look for us and never come back. Maybe we'd fix the dirt sharks' problems in a hurry, maybe we'd leave the island entirely and seek a resolution elsewhere. Look, this is only if the alternative is never having a chance to get Summer back. I love the idea of sticking it to the Sphinxes, but I don't like that it's dangerous."

"So... we return to the cat island. The goals being, an infiltration of the sphinx pyramid, to ascertain the status of Summer Scribe, then an attempt to make peace with the Abyssinians and the feline-taurs?" Reef Skimmer stated. "Hmm... it was strange that we just left, without attempting to negotiate. Summer managed to befriend dragons, after all," the hippogriff said thoughtfully. "Who will take up the mantle of diplomat, in her absence?"

"Well, at the very least we need somepony to visit her, and quickly," Set Sail said, giving Clashing Gale a beseeching look, "If you do that, and find out her situation, and tell her that we're working on getting her out of that statue, then maybe we will have a week before she decides to do something that the sphinxes... notice. While you're... checking in on her, discreetly, maybe the sphinxes have a less... guarded place we can visit without them getting all riled up about it. Like a...a village? I don't know how sphinxes live. Between that and Blaze's idea to apologize to the two-legged cat creatures, we might just pull it off." At Reef's question, Set Sail paused in thought a moment, then looked hopefully to Clashing again.

"I could make a winch for the copter!" Nutmeg said helpfully. "You could attach it to the statue and... oh... some pegasi can pull air carriages can't they? Can you do that Clashing Gale?"

"I... admittedly don't know. Pretty much all pegasi can, but... I'm not exactly a pegasus anymore, y'know?" Clashing Gale's confidence suddenly drained as he realised he hadn't checked his magic; could he even cloudwalk now? Reef had complained about losing that ability, and Cloud Cutter could no longer do weather working... concern filled his face. "Maybe? Really couldn't tell you, Captain, I'm sorry."

"Hmm, you raise an interesting question Nutmeg." Reef said, looking at Clashing thoughtfully. "I found myself bereft of any ability to reduce weight, my own or that of cargo, following the whole worm business. Yet Clashing Hail and Cloud Gutter can clearly still fly without the aid of jet propulsion or transformation. Perhaps an experiment or two would be warranted."

"We could always find out," Set Sail said a little blushingly, "Just... try to pull a cart, right? I can..." The pegasus mare sighed, sinking to her haunches and admitting, "I'm going to come on this expedition. I had a... little luck with being a diplomat earlier. Blaze seems... pretty nice, too."

"Well, I do my best," Blaze Trails said, lifting a hoof as if to hide her nose shyly.

"And your leg is...?" Set Sail asked, eyeing her leg brace.

"Oh, I'm more sore about losing the tent than I am in my leg," Blaze replied confidently, "Winter just put it on to be careful, you know."

Blue Type was thoughtful, at the prospect of taking a more direct role in negotiating for Summer Scribe's release. Of getting closer to her... she shook her head. No: she had to be rational about this. She'd be no use if things got tense, and from what the others had said, it sounded like the most dangerous island yet - and her judgement would be clouded. So she just sat down on her rear, silently wishing luck for the crew.

"Ok then, I can pull the cart," Set Sail said seriously to Clashing, "if things truly get so bad that we have to grab Summer's statue and run. We need two teams I think. Clashing and CC, for project Visit-Summer, and Blaze and I for... project Apologise-To-Cats. Reef, and Azure, you're..." She found herself willing to look at Reef, at least, "both... given powers of terrible destruction by this place. If things go south, we... need you there too. Otherwise... it's not safe for Blue to head that way just yet, and Grenelda, I mean no offense, but... you've seen Reef Skimmer and Azure in action. We don't want to bring a ton of muscle, and leave the ship undefended, right?"

Grenelda was no coward: she was prepared to go wherever she had to, so long as her allies need her protection (and, if she was honest, common sense). Yet she cocked her beak, amused: "Hey, they chased us out and stole our tent, what are we apologizing for? Seriously... yeah, those two can wipe the floor by themselves. I'm practically just an attack cat by comparison! If those two want to take point, I'd feel safe in their claws. Err.. and hooves," she corrected herself.

"One hopes it will not come to that." Reef said unhappily. "But..." his beak cracked open a sliver, "I appreciate the compliment, Grenelda."

Azure smiled a bit. "Gives you a chance to rest before the real fight against the drow, right, Grenelda?" But the smile quickly faded. "Will admit I'm not too much of a fan of going against a potential ally's wishes, but..."

Grenelda cocked her head and opened her beak in an avian smirk. "Believe me, the first moment I can, those slaver assholes are eating dirt."

Smiling in relief as the mood lifted, Set Sail concluded: "Then that just leaves who to pony the engine on the copter."

"Sprocket has psychological issues! And Static is trying to cure her! And... I've drawn up the blueprints and my ponies know what to do and, um..." Nutmeg looked down shyly "...is it ok if I come on the mission, Captain Sail? 'Cause this seems like just the most exciting island ever!"

"Of course," Set Sail said, a little surprised by the question, and being called 'Captain Sail', "You're the one who rebuilt that copter, Nutmeg. You know it better than any of us. Plus you're right. Sprocket is..." Set Sail winced, "...she needs Static right now, so it would be very good of you to come along."

"Great! Thanks Captain Sail!" the kirin nodded enthusiastically. "I'll just go... install that winch. Never know when you might need a winch!"

"Have at it," Set Sail said, glad that Nutmeg was being so enthusiastic about it.

Grenelda cocks her head and nods to the kirin with a grin. "Have a pleasant stay on the island," she said with just a hint of sarcasm. It had been three kinds of trouble, but awfully pretty and hey, maybe some actual treasure.

Nutmeg Inferno turned to leave... and froze, as she spotted another pony standing in the doorway. A tan stallion with a cream dapple, giving her a cold stare of disapproval. The kirin's ears went flat; "Oh, uh... just gotta deal with... whatever Gearshift needs. Uh, bye!" With that she pranced off towards the engine room. Gearshift looked around dispassively at the creatures gathered in the saloon, not saying a word, before trotting briskly after Nutmeg.

Creatures filed out, until it was just Reef Skimmer still sitting there at the table with Set Sail. The pegasus looked up at the griff expectantly, wondering what was on his mind. "Captain... I believe there are things we need to discuss. Truly, we're in a tough spot just now." He dipped his head, looking away. "We're all tired though and I need to check on Trade Wind and the other patients. Could you spare some time tomorrow morning? Take breakfast together, perhaps?"

"Oh," Set Sail said faintly, giving him a bit of a moonstruck look at his proposal, "Yes I... I could. D-did you want to, um..." and there comes the blush. "W-whatever you wanted to discuss or... or um..."

"Splendid!" Reef said quickly. "One will endeavour to catch up with you first thing tomorrow then!" He actually saluted, touching a pinion to his brow, before hurrying out of the saloon, leaving the pegasus to watch the last sliver of sun disappearing below the horizon.

Set Sail watched him go, and a silly smile fought its way onto her face. Covering it with a hoof, she said, "It's just... it's just breakfast, not anything..." though from the tone of her voice it didn't sound like she wanted to believe it. She turned to see the sun set, feeling like... like she had to get ready. Just to... make sure it was a... good breakfast.

Author's Note:

This story is a collaboration between myself (playing Reef Skimmer and Nutmeg Inferno here), Ferret (playing Set Sail and Blaze Trails), Patashu (playing Grenelda and Blue Type) and Spearmint (playing Azure Feather and Clashing Gale), based on an online RP.

This chapter is based on the fourty-third session, with myself as the GM (not that this one needed any GMing other than the opening narration). These meetings are surprisingly fun to RP (compared to real work meetings at least 😃) as they're a good opportunity to have the characters emote, interact and explain their viewpoints.