Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands

by Starglider

Pyramid

Grenelda's beak hung open as she watched Reef Skimmer fight to escape from the spidrow nest. The giant bird flew straight into a mass of webbing, which exploded into showers of pyrotechnics. Lightning crackled and flashed, lighting up the whole cavern and sending the spider-creatures scuttling for their lives. The transformed hippogriff took the worst of it, falling out of the air and crashing somewhere in the shadowy depths of the cave.

'Shit!' the griffon thought; sure Reef seemed super-durable, but that was a hell of a beating. She considered plunging down there, maybe trying to burn away the tangles of webbing, but how the hell were they going to get him to the train? They were still steaming full-speed towards the exit, no more than thirty seconds before they were outta here - and not a moment too soon given that the track was collapsing behind them, battered by Sprocket's bombs and set alight by the severed fire-conduits.

Azure Feather flew above the train, continuing to suppress enemy fire with the quick application of wind blades. She saw the captain make it to the train, rescued sphinx in tow; Discord's beard, it looked like they were actually going to make it! The locomotive thundered over the second region of burning track, spreading more globs of fiery ichor on the engine as it approached the cave exit.

Her sudden optimism was shattered by Reef Skimmer's fall. Diving down there to help - now that really would be a suicide mission. The train would be gone and the distraction with it, leaving any would-be rescuers to quickly be picked off by the furious spidrow swarming above.

Yet she couldn't just abandon the Doctor to be captured. Think, Azure! Her mind went back to the sphinx pyramid: the elemental puzzle, the burning beams of energy, her timely rescue of Summer Scribe. Perhaps... the situation wasn't too different, right, just on a larger scale? And she had perhaps twenty seconds left to hit a moving target containing friendly ponies not to mention high explosives-

Azure shook her head. No time for doubts. Her wings glowed with power once more as she focused air energy on the far side of the cavern. An intense updraft to get things moving, then within that just the right gust to tweak Reef's trajectory; if she pulled this off she should retire from the guard and switch to hoofball, Azure thought.

Down on the cave floor Reef Skimmers's world was pain and confusion. He'd shrunk and reverted to his tentacle-laden mutant-griff form, but he was still covered in sticky webbing and the broken remains of pods. Arrows pierced through him in multiple places, making it hard to breathe let alone think. He should be able to dissolve this mess off, but it would take time and- why was wind whistling in his ears? He was underground... the world abruptly stopped making sense as a gale-force air current blasted the water elemental back into the air, along with several screaming spidrow that had been cautiously approaching their fallen nemesis.

Melonwater dared to peak over the rim of his ore truck just in time to see his doom descending, in the form of a giant gooey eagle-pony-tentacle-monster arcing down on a ballistic trajectory toward the train. Grenelda reflexively spread her wings, ready to bail from the inevitable derailment, but at the last moment Reef's instincts kicked in. He still had no understanding of what had just happened, but he managed to get his wings out and his water jetting just in time to arrest his descent.

Reef landed on one of the ore carts with a splat that rocked the trucks nearly off the rails. The next cart along caught one of the water jets; and thus Melonwater and Cloud Cutter found themselves sharing a warm frothy bath as they continued to ride the shaking, speeding train through the spider-filled gloom.

Got it! Not exactly a clean score, but she'd take it, Azure thought. She quickly took a head count: Set Sail plus liberated sphinx? Check. Griffon doing a phoenix impression? Check. Reef Skimmer? Taken care of. Blaze... Clashing... Cloud Cutter... was that Melonwater in there?! Never mind, all that was left to secure was... herself! Subconsciously summoning one last gust to speed her along, the pegasus caught up with the train and swooped down to a hard landing, clomping into an ore cart next to Clashing Gale. With a whoosh of steam the pony express disappeared into northern tunnel, leaving the shell-shocked spidrow to pick themselves up, assess the damage and wonder what the hell had just happened.

---

Sprocket’s heart was hammering in her chest as the dark hole loomed before them in the side of the cavern. She’d never been happier to be in darkness as the walls of the tunnel swept all around her, cutting off all view of that crazy spidrow nest. As their escape to relative safety slowly started to register on her conscious mind, her shoulders relaxed and her eyes turned to the levers and valves. The train hissed and whooshed as she released the engine pressure, slowing in its madcap race through the mine.

Grenelda let out a squawk and sigh of relief, beak open and panting as the last of her flames flickered out and the rush began to fade. "Whew! Nice one, Azure! Damn, you pack some real wind power in those wings of yours! Teach me sometime!" She clicked her beak in an impression of a grin, figuring it's probably not that simple but hell, she still wanted to express her admiration. "And Reef!" she called back, "That was some good shit! I can't believe how much of a beating you can take now and still be standing! You alright?"

Reef Skimmer just groaned: 'standing' was out of the question just then. In fact he was pretty much a ball of goo and feathers squished into an ore cart, with several tentacles and a beaked head sticking out. In the rushing darkness of the train tunnel he couldn't even see the arrows stuck in his form; he could only grit his beak and wait for his body to dissolve them away.

Clashing Gale put a reassuring hoof on Azure's side, giving the pegasus as much space as he could in the cramped cart. The guardpony seemed exhausted; between the hundred-plus wind blades and the gale-force winds she must have used a lot of energy. "Easy, easy... well done out there, heck of a rescue mission. Everyone's alive, everyone's alright... Captain was right after all."

Those last five words echoed in Azure's mind... oh, hell. She'd have to apologise later... and shut up in future. Guard or not, she was a foot soldier, not a tactician - arguing with the Captain back there had been foolish.

Cloud Cutter stood up and shook herself off; she was no longer soaking wet, but knee-deep in water was not how she'd expected to leave the cave. Rapidly cooling water, at that. They would have to stop soon and clean this car out.

“Oh h-hey,” Melonwater said in the darkness, “At least... we’re not on fire anymore.”

The purple pegasus wasn’t sure what to say to that.

Further up the train Set Sail came to slowly, nursing a bump on her head. A warm, furry body lay across her, one that she’d shielded falling into this train car. Much warmer than when she’d pulled the sphinx out of that cocoon. The memories came rushing back as she quietly murmured, “Oh Celestia we’re alive.”

"Are they-" Reef managed a croak, "...alive?"

The sphinx twitched and shuddered; her eyes flickered open for a moment and stared wildly around, before rolling back as she lost consciousness again.

“She’s pretty out of it,” Set Sail said quietly, leaving the sphinx still cradled against her, “I hope she doesn’t need any special treatment. I think we... managed to save her.”

Reef nodded in relief, then slumped back and concentrated on pulling himself together - much as he wanted to treat the patient, he could do nothing while severely wounded himself and stuck on a moving train in a pitch-black tunnel.

Blaze Trails was in better shape, clambering over the carts to take a look. She favoured Set Sail with an appreciative nod and a wide grain: "Fine work - you put it all on the line to save a stranger, and I respect that heavily." Her thoughts swirled as she got her first look at a real sphinx. "We'll get you back to your kin soon as we can, I'm sure of it."

“I couldn’t leave her there. They were taking her magic,” Set Sail said, shuddering with the horror of it, “No, they were taking her life...”

---

Sprocket drove the train onward, winding their way north through a tunnel that was even more dark and deserted than the first. This time it was a gradual ascent, taken at the highest speed she could manage while still giving enough distance to stop should there be a cave-in... or another ambush. The way remained clear though, until twenty minutes after their escape from the spidrow nest the train's lantern revealed a sharp bend ahead... along with golden light brighter than anything they'd seen since the surface.

The unicorn closed the throttle and worked the brakes, slowing the train as it negotiated the turn. This proved wise as they emerged into what was clearly a station, with rotting buffers marking the end of the track a mere train-length ahead. With a drawn-out squeal of worn brake shoes Sprocket brought their scorched and battered ride to a halt. The train had stopped at a platform, forming one end of a large rectangular hall.

The space was well lit by crystals set in the roof, while the walls and floor were polished stone. At the far end of the hall was a sizable passageway, with faint purple light shimmering within. The exit was flanked by a pair of statues: feline centaurs bearing staffs, resembling the mystic Everdream they'd met on their last visit. The crystals topping the staffs also glowed bright purple.

“Centaurs,” Set Sail said faintly, looking out from her ore cart at the shimmery-eyed carved stone figures. “Or... cat-taurs or whatever they're called. This couldn’t be the pyramid, could it?”

“Whatever it is, it’s the way we have to go,” Cloud Cutter said frankly, “We don’t want to be here when those spidrow get over the shock of our passing.”

Reef Skimmer was more interested in the sphinx. He clambered out of his cart - back in hippogriff form, though his body was covered in dark blue burn scars and a scattering of holes remained in his flight feathers - and made his way to where the former prisoner lay. "Pulse, breathing seem fine, no obvious injuries..." his claws moved over her orange fur with practiced precision "...poor muscle tone... to be expected, considering." The sphinx reacted to the touch by shivering, then her eyes snapped open. "A... griffon?" she croaked through parched lips, "Who- Where am I? Ahhh... I am drained nearly dry..."

Grenelda's attention was immediately drawn towards the felitaur sentinels; their golden, crystal-encrusted staffs in particular. "Yo - these look like mini versions of the big statues I saw outside the laser shootin' pyramid. I guess that means we're at Summer's secret basement entrance?" She tilted her head and tapped a foot, trying to get a good look into the hallway; was that weird sparkle some kind of force field? The hen stared for a while as though sheer willpower could make it give up its secrets, then shook her head. "I'm gonna guess if we smash those, we're in." The griffon began padding forwards to test her theory on the nearest statue.

Cloud Cutter flapped up into the air behind her. “Smashing is not the solution to everything,” the purple pegasus pointed out, “though I can understand you might think so when you’re with Gustus.” Looking down, her eye was drawn to the pattern of scorch marks on the floor. Starting quite suddenly, as if an invisible line was drawn half way up the hall. Some of them still had the burnt remains of rat bones in the centre. "Grenelda, you might not want to-"

The warning came too late, as purple light lanced out from the statue's staff and struck Grenelda in the chest. She was thrown back to skid across the polished floor, coming to rest against the train with her chest feathers burnt and smoking.

"Grenelda!" Reef Skimmer called out, abandoning the semi-conscious sphinx to rush over to the griffoness. He immediately sprayed cooling water onto her chest, dulling but certainly not erasing the pain of the blow.

“You were captured by the—holy Celestia!” Set Sail said to the awakening sphinx, jumping up into the air as Grenelda’s smoking body skidded across the stone. As Reef doused her, Set Sail hovered over Grenelda worriedly saying, “Are you alright??”

Cloud Cutter visibly winced as Grenelda went sailing past her, the empty eyed pegasus stopping just short of crossing those scorch marks herself. Heading back to the recovering griffon, she said, “I don’t think the statues want to be smashed.”

"Uuufffhhh! Fuck," Grenelda croaked out, her eyes wincing shut as her chest heaved, waiting for her breathing and heart rate to stabilise. The splash of water was numbing and forceful, a helpful distraction from the pain. "- Stupid cats and their magical traps. I'm fine, I'm fine, lemme lie down and regret my life for a bit." With that the griffon sank down to enjoy the coolness of the stone floor.

"Don't move!" Reef said Skimmer firmly. "Does it hurt when you breathe? Force like that could easily have cracked a rib... or three."

Grenelda focused a moment, trying to think through the pain and get a sense of her vitals. "Hurts like scat but I can breathe fine. Okay, I think I'm good. Took the landing alright. Wing probably took the brunt of the hit, not gonna check right now. My heart's beatin' fast, too." She easily followed the hippogriff's orders, content to play ragdoll in his claws for the time being.

Reef insisted on poking and prodding at the griffon's chest, feeling the bones underneath. He lifted her left wing, and her pained squawk confirmed that the pectoralis muscle was badly bruised. "No flying... or fighting for that matter, if we can help it. One will get a dressing on that burn and tie up the wing," Reef ordered, digging into his medical kit for the second time today.

“Well no one ever said it’d be easy,” Set Sail said, glaring at the statues with a huff. Meanwhile Sprocket was fussing around the locomotive, shutting things down then hopping off to investigate her surroundings. She disappeared into some kind of alcove, inset in the far wall up near the head of the train.

Azure trotted over, too tired to fly right now. Her face betrayed concern as she watched the Doctor treat Grenelda; it didn't look as bad as Clashing's injury, but she knew wounds caused by magic could be deceptive. "It's not too bad, I hope?" she asked Reef. "Last thing we need is another fighter stuck in sickbay... assuming we can get out of here without another fight." The hippogriff just nodded grimly and continued with his work.

Melonwater's green-furred face appeared over the edge of the ore cart he'd been hiding in. "Did it... did it shoot Grenelda?" he asked, aghast.

"Yeah, I got shot," Grenelda croaked out, "I'll be fine." She'd had worse! Five minutes to catch her breath, let the doc finish up with the bandage, and she'd be up - she wasn't going to let some dumb statue get one over on her.

Well this was a pretty predicament, Blaze Trails thought. Her eye went to those menacing statues, then the rescued sphinx. Not an exact match, but surely the feline was much more familiar with this stuff than the ponies. Maybe she'd have an idea for how to get through?

Set Sail was flapping around in frustration, until she followed Blaze's gaze to the wide-eyed sphinx still sitting in the train car. Her eyes lit up; gliding down to land next to the train, she said to the pony-faced cat, “Sorry, sorry! You were captured by the spidrow. We were just passing through, and it looked like you could use some help.”

The sphinx was murmuring something: "The pyramid... it must be... You brought me to... the Pyramid of Gnosym..." She closed her eyes again.

“Just rest for now,” Set Sail nervously assured her, patting the sphinx comfortingly, “We’ll... figure something out.” Turning again to regard the impressive array burn marks on the floor of the entrance hall, she asked: “...any ideas?”

“I ain’t comin' up with anything that won’t bring the roof down,” Sprocket said, eyeing the twin statues, “Maybe there’s something around here that could turn ‘em off?”

“If we could get closer to that doorway it might help,” Cloud Cutter suggested, without enthusiasm, “The force field in front of it probably means we aren’t finding a way past it over there though.”

"Y'all notice how spidery some of the scorch marks are, here?" Blaze Trails gestured with a hoof at the scorch marks. "Some of them got pretty close to the barrier, too. Guessin' they were really itchin' to get though there, to the point where they'd take casualties for it. None here now though, so... must've given up?"

"The spiders covet the power of the mystics of old," the sphinx whispered, her eyes still closed. "As do many creatures."

“We’re not coveting anything right now, other than a way to get out of the reach of those spidrow,” Set Sail said, staring at it in consternation, “Come on, there has to be some way. Maybe if we threw a cloth over their heads, they couldn’t see us?”

Azure Feather just stared silently at the sentinel statues, racking her brains for a solution. Wind seemed unlikely to help. If only she still had her magic... Clashing Gale was thinking along similar lines: "Aerial assault unlikely to help. We dodged the beams from the large pyramid, but that was in open air, not underground, at point-blank range."

Blaze Trails scratched at her head with a hoof. "Yeah, we've really got two problems, don't we? The zapping statues and the energy field. Does that mean we need two solutions? Or just shut the whole mess down, somehow? If we could suck up magic like those spiders... Though sayin' that, even if we could, how would we get close enough without getting zapped?"

Craning her neck, she considered the layout. "Ya know, the way those things are set up, looks like the hall itself is a blind-spot. See the angle, no line of sight from the crystals to the forcefield. But... you can't get there... 'less you could teleport." She shot a playful glance at the only unicorn present.

“Hey, don’t lay that on me. I ain’t Starlight Glimmer herself,” Sprocket said, scrunching insecurely. She'd finished poking about in the alcove and hopped back into the driver's cab. “There’s some sort of old tool shed over here,” she noted, “All rusted to heck of course. Picks and shovels and stuff, and we got that drill Melonwater found. If we got a week, we could maybe dig around the door?”

"One would imagine the spidrow have tried tunnelling around this place, if they've truly been seeking admission for years," Reef Skimmer said dubiously, as he rubbed burn salve onto Grenelda's wound.

Blaze Trails furrowed her brow, "Hrmm... yeah, that is a good question: why don't they just tunnel around it? I mean this stuff looks like regular stone, but..." She knew the right spellwork could make stone vastly stronger and tougher than its natural state - otherwise half of Canterlot would slide right off the mountainside - but Blaze had skipped out of those classes to go explorin' the Whitetail Woods. Daddy had been heartbroken that she'd never got her rockterate...

Wait... teleportation. The gears were turning in Azure Feathers's head: "Not a bad deduction. As it turns out... we do have somepony capable of teleportation... well, not in the traditional sense, but..." She turned to the spooky pegasus, saying encouragingly "Cloud Cutter... wouldn't your shadow walk double as some sort of that? I mean, that statue isn't going to shoot at shadows..."

Blinking, Cloud Cutter said, “Oh, I suppose that would count as teleporting. Even if it does open fire, it’s just my shadow, right?” The empty eyed pegasus looked down at her own shadow cast in the strange purple light, seemingly unsure that simple statement held true any more.

Blaze Trails blinked in surprise. Honestly, she was just kinda rambling there, but Azure was on the ball. "Risky... but yeah, not like we have a lot of options. What's Cloud Cutter gonna do over there anyway? Maybe if she could get behind the statues themselves? Give 'em a good buck?" She peered at the golden sentinels; they seemed pretty solid, and no doubt seriously heavy. An earth pony could topple 'em maybe, but CeeCee? "Yeah, I dunno where this is goin'."

“I doubt my hooves are going to disable those statues” Cloud Cutter said, “But I can check out the entrance at least. One second.”

It looked like she was just standing there, staring down the hall, but then her shadow slid strangely away from her body with increasing speed, halting just short of the force field past the statues. “If they fire at me, I’m pretty much pinned back there,” she said distantly, hesitating at the last minute.

The pegasus seemed to phase out of existence, then spring back out of her disconnected shadow. She found herself standing in the short hallway between the train station and the chamber beyond, blocked at the far end by a shimmering field of energy. Peering through the purple glow, she could make out an enormous stone ramp spiralling up into a shaft above. Around the perimeter of the room were assorted carvings and metal objects, some of which glowed faintly; she was unsure if they were decorative or had some unknown function.

The forcefield blocking her way forward was projected from a metal cylinder on each side of the hall, each two hoof-widths in diameter. On the left side, a golden metal plate bore a stylised engraving of a crystal-topped staff, rather like the one Everdream had carried, surrounded by what could be magical runes or just decorative flourishes. The hallway was otherwise bare, albeit with smooth polished tiles and colourful abstract patterns on the walls.

Blaze Trails nodded happily: safe and sound, looked like. Excellent. "Y'see anything back there?"

“There’s not much over here,” Cloud Cutter called back, “I don’t think the statues can see me though. There’s some... instructions? Must be pretty important, if they etched them in gold here! Unfortunately it’s just a picture of some kind of staff; I can’t read the runes around it. Maybe we could disable the forcefield by taking out these things on the side, which might be projecting it?”

The sphinx had opened her eyes again, peering with interest at Cloud Cutter's display. "The shroud of the wraith..." she whispered, "...are you truly horses? I had thought... you'd be bigger."

That drew a wry grin from Blaze: "Well, ponies, but yes. How you feeling? You with us?"

At least one creature that got it mostly right, Azure thought, as she kept a close watch on Cloud Cutter. Part of her had hoped she hadn't sent squad-mate into a no-win situation, the other part of her hoping the drow were taking their time regrouping before following them up the tunnel.

The burnt orange sphinx struggled into a sitting position, regarding Blaze Trails warily. "I am Te'summi, daughter of Uw'yeya." she said slowly. "The spidrow took my magic, but not my life, it seems." She looked around at the others. "Ne'kuno found mercenaries who would attempt my rescue?"

Azure frowned at the idea. "Mercenaries? Hardly..." A look from Clashing... yeah, she wasn't the diplomat. Best leave it at that.

“We’re ponies,” Set Sail said, with a curious look to the sphinx, “But we are related to horses somewhat. Yes they are bigger. You mean to say they have horses in the Skylands, but one look at ponies and they think we’re some sort of sheep?”

"I have seen horses only in the books of the Mabu," Te'summi told the pegasus, "If they endure in Skylands, it is not within a week's flight of Fellis." She cocked her head, saying flatly: "Oh... perhaps I was supposed to trade for that fact."

“Well, we’ll just have to do something nice for you in the future then,” Set Sail said with a half-smile to Te’summi, “Thank you for sharing that with us though. I’m Set Sail, and this’s Blaze Trails. That’s Azure Feather, and I suppose the rest can introduce themselves to you soon enough.”

Blaze Trails chuckled. "We're actually not on the best terms with the sphinxes, right now: we only rescued you by happenstance. I hope you don't mind that you might be a way to patch up our relations?" she offered. "Either way, rescuing you was the right thing to do: we saw you were stuck in there and just had to get ya out."

Blaze Trails chuckles. "We're actually not on the best terms with the sphinxes, right now - we only rescued you by happenstance. I hope you don't mind that you might be what patches our relations up?" She offers. "Either way, rescuing you was the correct thing to do - we saw you were in distress and did what we could."

"Truly? You would risk capture to save a stranger, not even of your kind?" Te'summi seemed to be somewhere between impressed and incredulous. "Then... you seek treasure in the pyramid of Gnosym?"

“Of course we’re going to help you!” Set Sail said, looking hurt by the sphinx’s words, “I-it’s nothing big. They’d capture us either way, right? ...I have no idea about any treasure. We’re here to help out some friends, and hopefully get some help fixing our damaged ship.”

Blaze Trails pondered her next words carefully; didn't want to mention the sharks, not given the reaction from the other cats. "No one has gotten in there for a good long time, that's the impression I get?"

Reef Skimmer finished tying a sling for Grenelda's wing... maybe a little too hastily... and trotted eagerly over to the sphinx, asking "Are you in need of medical attention?".

Te'summi shrank back from the much larger, fierce-looking creature. After a moment's stand-off, she said "My form is whole... though my thirst is substantial. Have you water to spare?"

Set Sail shot Reef a cautionary glance, before saying, “Of course. Let me just go get the canteens.” With that she hurried to the rear of the train, searching through the supplies piled there.

All the while Sprocket was staring in disbelief; this was fascinatin' and all but were they just gonna leave CeeCee hanging over there? "So... we gonna try and smash up those statues or what?" she said, climbing out of the train and trotting over to get a better look at the forcefield.

"Uh, not exactly... like she said, maybe do something 'bout the forcefield first?" Blaze replied. She called to the pegasus: "Can you get them apart? Need tools maybe?"

“All I know is it’s some sort of metal cylinders in the wall!” Cloud Cutter called back, “What tools would remove that?”

"Can you get a prybar between the metal bits and the wall?" Melonwater suggested.

“Maybe a really thin one!” Cloud Cutter shouted back, “They’re in the rock pretty tight! Don't- hold on." She appeared next to Melonwater in a purple flash, concluding at normal volume: "Don’t you have a chisel or something?”

Melonwater whinnied in shock as CC popped in, looking himself over as if checking he hadn't been drained of life. Then he cringed and said guiltily "Uh, sure Cloud Cutter. Don't think the pipes on the, uh, the jackhammer, they won't reach that far, unless... you can do something Sprocket?" His ears flattened. "Could try blasting but, uh, I mean I've been to a few mines but I'm not really trained..."

“I really don’t want to blow it all up because those spidrow’ll come right through here after us,” Sprocket muttered, with a nervous look down the dark tunnel from which they came, “They probably tried blowing it up already anyway. So get past this, without blowing it up, and fast. Uhm...”

“The forcefield has to come down either way, unless you can magic up a staff to work those controls," Cloud Cutter stated flatly. "We can probably get past the beams if we draw their fire somehow, once the forcefield is open.”

Grenelda wondered out loud: "I was able to lead the big beam by just twistin' and turnin' too fast for it to lock onto, but I dunno if that'll work here. These are smaller and, uh... zappier, and we didn't bring any warm bodies to sacrifice and experiment with." Still laying on the floor, she drummed her foreclaws on the stone, before finally beak-grinning to Azure. "Hey, if you think you're fast enough to pull it off, impress me. If anygriff here can it's you."

Azure cocked her head, considering the plan. Sure she had air magic, but she was still new to these wings. Maybe she could use her magic to speed Clashing or Set Sail's flight? The hall wasn't that big, and she could easily end up smashing them into a wall. Her fatigue wouldn't help matters either...

She shrugged back to the griffon: "Using air magic, there's a chance. A slim one, I can do my best but... we've already got several injuries in the crew." She sighed; the spidrow were probably on the way right now. "I don't want to risk them. What if one of the statues aims at me while the other blasts you again?"

“I was just thinking we throw something for them to shoot at,” Cloud Cutter said with a shrug, “Or use something as a shield to block them from hitting me, so I could play dodge the laser and then use my own thing, once we’ve all passed on into the other room.”

"Worth a shot. Here goes..." Blaze Trails took a loose piece of rubble in her teeth and tossed it on an arc towards the rear hall, judging the angle so as not to put anypony in the line of fire. The thrown rock had barely crossed the invisible threshold where the scorch marks began, when purple energy lanced out from the right statue's staff and shattered it into dust. The miniature blast echoed around the empty stone chamber.

“There, see?” Cloud Cutter said with flattened ears and a strained smile, “Easy!”

Blaze Trails just winced. "Question asked and answered, I guess."

Set Sail had returned with a full canteen in her mouth. Te'summi took the offering in her paw, eyeing it for a moment before raising it to her muzzle and gulping it down eagerly. "My thanks, they are most sincere," she told Set Sail. A weak nod, then: "I will tell you anything that may aid your escape, without recompense."

“Oh don’t feel like you have to go out of your way,” Set Sail said with a flattered blush to the sphinx, “But thank you very much, Te’summi. All I want right now is to see everypony home safely. ...a-and that includes everysphinx.”

"Fine." Sprocket stamped her hoof. "Looks like we're blasting then. I’ll be honest, I've never done it myself. I mean I've fooled about, but uh...” Sprocket said, with a sheepish smile Melonwater’s way, “You’re probably the only one here who has. Maybe we could uh, stick a little bit of the explosives to the thing? I heard they have shaped charges that work kinda like that."

"Well, uh... we're not drilling, so... we'd need something to fix it," the green stallion said dubiously. "Ideally act as a tamper as well, like a lump of clay... sticky clay. We've got fuses and matches so, uh... I can show you Cloud Cutter."

“Well hurry it up then,” the purple pegasus said impatiently, “I’m the only one who can get over there. I’m sure we can find something sticky and claylike around here.”

"Hey, yeah! I saw just the thing back there..." Sprocket dashed off to the dark recess full of rusting tools and returned with a bucket of old and extremely sticky tar. Meanwhile Melonwater carefully unpacked the gelignite from the trailing ore cart, attaching the fuses to two sticks and mouthing them into the bucket. It took Cloud Cutter just a few minutes to teleport to the barrier, emplace one stick against the projector on each side, pile up tar behind them and light the fuses. In a flash she was back at the train, looking at her tar-covered hooves in disgust.

"Cover your ears!" shouted Melonwater. Everycreature did so, and seconds later the portal exploded, the blast deafening in the confined space. One the dust had settled Cloud Cutter teleported back to inspect her handiwork: the metal tubes were split open, exposing cracked and sparking crystals within. A few pathetic flashes flickered where the forcefield had been; the pegasus tentatively held a hoof out, and found they did nothing to block it other than making her fur stand on end.

Grenelda whistled and jeered at the loud explosion! "Fuckin' awesome! Show that barrier who's boss!" she said, following up with one of her signature avian cackles. She tilted her head, trying to see past the barrier, but between the dust and the gloom she couldn't make anything out. "Y'see anything back there, CeeCee?"

"The wraith pony is within!" Te'summi exclaimed. "No living creature has trod those halls for a century and more!"

“It would have been nice if I could’ve been the first,” Cloud Cutter said sadly. Then, she turned and ventured carefully past the former barrier, beginning to glow herself as she checked for any imminent threats in the chamber beyond.

Azure's ears were ringing, but there was a smile on her face. Another of their crazy plans, but sure enough, it had worked... then her smile died as the sphinx spoke out. Wraith pony? That was... harsh. Really harsh.

Clashing Gale just sighed. So, they really did look like... that.

The second chamber was dominated by a square shaft, ascending into the darkness above - the scale was enormous, to pony eyes. A wide ramp spiralled around its perimeter, straight segments connecting square landings at the corners of the shaft. Looking around the perimeter, Cloud Cutter took note of the mysterious mechanisms, or ornamentation - it was hard to be sure - and several dark openings, presumably leading to side chambers. A glowing device drew her eye; a set of four golden plates, set into the wall not far from the entrance. Moving closer, she saw that each plate was engraved - one glowing red, another green, with two dark.

“Oh dear, looks like their barrier spell is on the fritz,” Cloud Cutter remarked in the quiet, “I wonder how that could have happened.” Lifting a hoof up, she touched the green lit square. It was subtly sunk into the wall relative to the un-pressed squares, so with a bit of pressure, Cloud Cutter depressed it. The light faded, and with it, the last of the purple glow from within the room she came from. Depressing the red square for good measure, Cloud Cutter declared through the ruined entrance, “The statues should be disabled now!”

"The way is safe?" Te'summi struggled to her feet, wings hanging down to the floor; the sphinx could barely stand. Set Sail and Blaze fussed at their lanterns, dispelling the sudden darkness.

Grenelda perked up and cackled as she saw the magic drain out of the sentinel statues. "Nice work, CeeCee!" She wearily stumbled to her feet, before getting second thoughts. "...Someone else go first, just in case."

Cloud Cutter waited a moment, then trotted out past the statues herself, her own purple glow lighting up the room again, casting strange shadows as she strode towards the ponies. This time no beams lanced out. “Okay, it does look like they’re disabled,” she said, “Now let’s hurry up and get everypony inside.”

---

The explorers abandoned their battered and singed conveyance. Sprocket looked sad to leave the old mine train here: for a centuries-old relic, it had served them flawlessly. She stopped to remove the thermal crystals before floating them with her tools into the pyramid. Meanwhile Blaze Trails piled gear onto Melonwater's back, then turned to assist the sphinx, letting the strange creature place a wing on her back. Reef Skimmer and Grenelda limped in together, both the worse for wear after their exploits. Set Sail took the lead, trotting through the tunnel to join Cloud Cutter at the base of the ramp, with Azure and Clashing not far behind.

Azure Feather was relieved that there wouldn't be any laser-dodging, but still, she was out of her element here. Underground, blasting their way into an abandoned pyramid built by an alien civilization using strange magics... she could only shake her head, and keep watch for any creatures that might be lurking in the shadows.

Once they were all in, Cloud Cutter showed the captain the control plates, turning the defensive statues back on to demonstrate. “And I think this one is the lights,” she explained, “It should be safer than using me for a light, but I wanted to check first.”

Blaze Trails trotted over with lantern in mouth, eager to check out the mechanisms. "...Yeah, I'm no Summer Scribe, but that looks like a pleasant bath more than a laser of death. Plus, the pictograph is carrying a torch, I think? I'd go for it too."

Reef Skimmer ambled over. "Ah, so this is the key to those murderous statues, is it? You got them back on? Wonderful, should make the spider-taurs think twice before trying to follow us in here."

"I don't want to get ambushed again," Set Sail said, reaching forward with a hoof to press the plate. With a soft click, the engraving lit up green. Golden light burst out of crystals all around, on walls and pillars along the ramp, dispelling the gloom. The explorers were indeed at the bottom of an very deep shaft, extending at least 200 metres above their heads. The side chambers lit up too; from where they stood the ponies got a glimpse of boxes, crates and shelving.

"Woah, this’s huge!” Sprocket declared. The sandy mare was staring up into the shaft overhead as she slowly walked around the chamber.

Grenelda snorted, anticipating the looong climb the shaft represented - damn, if only she could still fly! Well, whatever. She cocked her beak over to Azure, "You wanna flap up there and check it out?"

"Could go have a look, but one creature likely knows this place way better than any of us... and that's..." She tapped a hoof against the ground softly as she struggled recalled the name: "Te'summi, if I'm not mistaken..."

The sphinx stared around, happy to be within the mysterious pyramid at last. "Caution must be our watchword, for the mystics took many measures to protect their places of power," she warned them. "I have not the strength to fly, yet... no, my magic is drained dry. Unless one of you has mana to spare?" The winged feline looked hopefully at the ponies, unsure if any would be so generous.

Set Sail hesitated a little too much in her smile, asking the sphinx cautiously, “How exactly would we... spare this mana? You know the spidrow were trying to capture us and take it from us too, right?”

"I cannot take it unwilling, or would I, from creatures who saved me from a fate worse than death." The sphinx looked down. "I wish to aid you, yet without mana I can do little."

Blaze Trails looked sheepish, thinking she was not exactly a font of mana, while Grenelda tried to figure out if she should be offended.

"Mana..." Azure started, tilting her head. "Right... stored magical energy. How much are we talking about? Feel like I've drained most of my reserves." The pegasus looked to the Captain, her expression uncertain. "I will do what is necessary, but likely I will forego any further use of Air magic... not certain I could even fly if I was drained completely." She paused, sighing as she weighed the positives and negatives.

"I have never performed transference with a creature other than a sphinx," Te'summi said uncertainly, "but I am certain it will have no permanent effect. If you are blessed by the Elements, you may find them out of reach until you are rested." She held up a lion paw, the soft pads facing the ponies.

Set Sail’s eyes softened at that, as she said, “That’s all we’re really worried about. My ma used to talk about a terrible monster named Tirek who... well, you might be in luck because we are actually magical creatures. We don’t need to take magic from others, since it’s just part of what we are. I never thought that a magic eater would... ask permission. If you think it will help, I can’t say it’s a bad idea. I never thought of us ordinary ponies as the ones with magic to spare.”

Te'summi looked shocked at Set Sail's accusation. "Oh no, we do not consume mana as the spidrow do! Transference is merely a way to... redirect our own energy, to one who is in need, or who can do more good with it." She cocked her head. "Though in truth, there are some sphinxes who seek to take it further, to drain power and knowledge itself from the unworthy." Her eyes widened. "You must not tell Ne'kuno I shared this!"

Azure Feather hung her head in resignation, then looked Set Sail in the eye. "Captain, with your blessing... I'd rather be the one to give up my magic. If it's temporary, then, let's not waste time. Te'summi knows this place far better than us... and could help us more than I could in this situation. Let's face it, I'm out of my element... but it's your decision."

“W-wait, but we need your magic!” Set Sail protested, “You’re the best fighter we have! I meant she should take mine. Or any of ours - except Reef, he's still healing up. You could part with some magic, Melonwater, right?”

"Me?" Melonwater gulped. "I d-don't have a-any magic!"

“We all have magic, Melonwater,” Set Sail said, “Why wouldn’t you? It keeps you strong, makes your cutie mark apparent. Lets you do all that... weird stuff that earth ponies do. It’s been keeping us alive here. That's why the spidrow are so dangerous to us. You're just as tasty a meal as Azure or Reef Skimmer.”

Azure's frowned at Set Sail's hesitance. Te'summi was their best chance to get out - plus, rescuing a lost sphinx... surely that would do something good for diplomacy. This mention of meals... could they really ask a civilian to let his magic get drained? No, she should be the one, but... look what had happened the last time she'd spoken up against Set Sail's will.

Melonwater sidled over to the sphinx, clearly unhappy about this idea. "W-Will it hurt?" he asked pathetically.

"It is painless." Te'summi tried to smile, but she seemed uncertain. "For a sphinx at least."

"A friend of mine once said that pain is what you feel when something is taken away from you," Cloud Cutter said, "But when you give it freely to help someone, then it's not pain anymore. I forget exactly how they put it."

Azure nodded quietly in agreement. She had to force herself to stay silent, seeing Melonwater so nervous. Yeah... she was just the guard.

The young stallion held out a shaking hoof to meet the sphinx's paw. Te'summi's eyes closed as she concentrated on the transference. "You resist," she said calmly. "You must trust me. I will not drain you dry." Then the earth pony shuddered, nearly collapsing under the weight of his saddle bags. The sphinx took a sharp breath, and when her eyes opened they seemed brighter. "You have my thanks, pony," she said. "Now, let me be of service to the group."

“Lemme at least take your saddlebags,” Set Sail said worriedly, crouching beside Melonwater, “Don’t worry - we’ll be right as rain by the time we’re out of here.”

Te'summi turned to face the bottom of the long stone ramp. She raised her wings and began to gleam, light flowing over her form and then moving forward, congealing into another sphinx - a translucent duplicate of Te'summi that walked slowly forward up the ramp. Nothing happened until it reached the first landing, then after a few seconds there was a sudden metallic shing as a forest of metal spears burst upward from the floor.

The projection was unharmed, waiting patiently until the spikes dropped back into the floor, then another minute until they thrust upward again. Te'summi nodded, and bid her projection to continue. The second landing drew gouts of flames from the wall, and the third a crackle of electricity. The fourth and fifth drew no response; by this point Te'summi was straining with the effort. Her projection reached the limit of its range and dissolves into motes of light.

"The first three landings are trapped," she told Set Sail, apparently the leader of these 'ponies'. "They take between forty-eight and seventy-three seconds to reset. If I send a projection ahead to trigger them, we can pass through while they are dormant."

“That’s amazing!” Set Sail said, staring up at the image’s progress in awe, “All the magic in the world couldn’t have saved us from that, if we didn’t know how to use it like you do, Te’summi!”

Grenelda wondered for a moment how mana must taste; though she's not sure how she'd acquire that appetite. Tirek wasn't in any condition to ask! Dismissing the notion, she sat back and watched the show, whistling as the sphinx's doppelganger travelled higher and higher, triggering the traps and passing through unharmed. "Someone taking notes? Don't want those spikes up my ass," she chortled. "Nice assist, sphinxy. Good to know someone around here can show this place who's boss!"

“Time for me to shine, I guess,” Sprocket said, looking up beside the captain, “I’ll see about getting those things up there to stop doing whatever they’re doing.”

Blaze Trail trotted up alongside Set Sail. "Sounds like we have everything set to get goin'. Shall we go by the book? I s'pose fliers can fly up if they want to, not like the air itself is trapped, but some of us have to take the long way up."

“Weren’t you and Summer Scribe both trapped in the air itself, back at that temple on the surface?” Cloud Cutter remarked.

Blaze Trails sweated, looking up and down. "S'a good point, but it'd also be the biggest trap I've seen in my life. If you wanna play it safe I'm not complaining, though. With Te'summi here we have this down to a science."

The group proceeded to make the dangerous ascent. Te'summi used her projection to trigger the traps, and Sprocket was able to jam the spikes as they began to retract. Alas the flamethrowers were beyond the unicorn's ability to disarm (and in truth, she preferred not to destroy such a wonderful application of flame). The group hurried through while the flames were recharging, and proceeded to the third landing where Sprocket managed to track down and short out the power feed. From there it was smooth sailing, trotting, padding and limping up the ramps, spiralling upward until they were in the heart of the enigmatic pyramid.

Author's Note:

This story is a collaboration between myself (playing Reef Skimmer, Melonwater and Te'summi), Ferret (playing Set Sail, Cloud Cutter and Sprocket), Patashu (playing Grenelda and Blaze Trails) and Spearmint (playing Azure Feather and Clashing Gale), based on an online RP.

This chapter is based on the second half of 57th session plus most of the 58th session. After six weeks (of real time) trekking through the mine, we all wanted to pick up the pace, so I limited the trap puzzles to the first chamber. Also we hadn't actually seen the sphinxes do any magic (save for Ne'kuno's laser-mask) and I wanted to show they really are mysterious magical creatures, and give the players an in-game reward for rescuing Te'summi.

Diagrams by me as usual. Again with the pacing contrast vs a regular story - usually when writing you'd cut out all that prevarication and hesitation as the characters work out what to do, but that's kind of an acceptable break from reality - the RP is closer to how things would actually go.

Anyway, that's it for this sequence. The next run will cover what the ponies find in the pyramid, the resolution of the whole Fellis arc (including Summer's ascension) and the preparations for the showdown with the air pirates.

P.S. For anyone reading along, I've added a new illustration to chapter 61, by the talented Calena.