Vela paced back and forth in the hallway, in front of a large door. She held her brother’s sobbing form in her claws; her every nerve was on a razor’s edge as they waited for word from the doctors. It had been like that for the better part of the day. After dealing with the fallout of the attack and subsequent examination by the doctors, the sheer amount of time spent not knowing was especially grading; even more so on the hippogriff.

Ana was sitting on the window ledge with Starlight. Flash had tried three times to comfort Vela and end her pacing, but every time he did, it only lasted a few minutes before she started pacing again.

Blaze sat by Taz and Nighttide, unsure what to make of this strange development. Nighttide glared at Taz. He had stopped her from chasing after her mom, but despite her wanting to know the reason why, he had thus far been… unforthcoming with the information.

Nighttide wanted to be mad, but there was something sexy about him keeping the information from her. It was proving difficult to be angry and horny at the same time, especially when her mind already made plans in how to devour him that night.

Vela stopped pacing when the doctors came out of the room. “Empress Aurora—”

“Empress Princess Aurora,” Vela corrected.

“Empress Princess Aurora will be fine. The wounds were closed before she was brought to us. We healed the rest of the damage, and she’s resting comfortably.”

“Mum’s going to be okay?” Dayspring asked.

Vela hugged him tighter. “Mom’s going to be just fine!”

Flash ran up and hugged them as well, something that was more than welcome by Vela and more than noticed by the others.

“That’s good to hear,” Taz said with a relieved smile.

Just then, three royal guards ran up to the group. “Prince Taz, the Night Guard has reported back. I regret to inform you that Nightmare Moon has escaped capture.”

Taz looked at him, confused. “W-why are you telling me?”

Nighttide grinned, remembering Twilight’s words. “Because you’re in charge now.”

“WHAT‽”

“Yeah, dummy, think about it. Twilight and Rainbow aren’t here. So command would go to Dayspring Gleam first, then Aurora, then Night, and then you.”

“But Aurora... Night!”

“Both incapacitated.”

“I-I…” He paused, and then smiled as he realized just how well this fit into his idea. “Thank you, good sirs. Your new orders are to secure the palace. Double—no, triple security around my sisters.”

“Understood, your highness.” The guards turned and left, ready to relay his orders to the rest of the guard.

“What was that about?” Ana asked.

Taz grinned. It was the sort of grin one has right before they admit to some hair brain scheme with almost no chance of succeeding, and every chance of backfiring and blowing up in their face. “I… have an idea.”

“We’re finally going to get your idea, huh?” Nighttide asked playfully.

Taz looked around at everyone, but his eyes stopped on the doctor. The unicorn took the hint and went back inside Aurora’s room. When the door was closed, Taz cleared his throat before speaking.

“During the battle, Luna said something that took me by surprise. She said that she hadn’t forgotten about the power of friendship, but that this time wasn’t like last time.”

“Yeah, I mean what happened almost a century ago with grandma is nothing like the situation we’re in now,” Starlight replied. The young mare was well versed in the history of Equestria.

“Why not?” Taz asked with a shit-eating grin.

“What? What do you mean, Taz?” Ana asked. “

“Why isn’t it like last time? Think about it. Sure, Nightmare Moon might just be a toy of Red, but she’s still Nightmare Moon, she’s still the same princess Luna that she was back then, still possessed by the same creature that she had been for almost a thousand years. Why can’t we defeat her in the exact same way?”

Ana started, “You mean—”

“Use the elements of harmony?” Starlight finished.

“Yes,” Taz said with a smile.

“Taz, the elements only worked because they bonded with the six ponies that best represented the characteristics of friendship. We’re not those ponies,” Flash stated.

Everyone turned to look at him, surprised he knew that.

“What? I thought the story was interesting.”

“Besides, we now know that the Tree of Harmony is nothing more than Gaia’s Occulous,” Starlight added, slightly impressed with Flash’s knowledge but wanting to fill in the small gap.

“But we are those ponies, in a way anyway,” Taz stated. “Flash, who’s more loyal than you? Starlight, name me one mare or stallion without phenomenal god-like power that’s better in magic than you. Even my brother says one day you’ll surpass him. Blaze, who better represents laughter than you? Vela who’s more honest than you? And Dayspring, name somepony more generous than you. Ana, name me a pony more kind than you.” He didn’t point out her behavior over the last few months. “And as far as it being the Occulous of Gaia, I say, so what? With mom cut off from Gaia’s power, I say we could use another source. It could even help us defeat Red.”

There was a potent silence before Flash broke it. “Anyone else got a bad feeling of Déjà vu?”

“This is just like when we followed Starlight’s plan to hunt for you in the north,” Vela stated.

“No, it’s not.” Taz protested. “There’s one major difference this time.”

“What?” Vela asked. “The way I see it, it’s the exact same. We’re being lead on a hunt by information gleaned from the enemy on a wild-goose chase in the slim hope of finding something useful. That was then and this is now.”

“Since when did you run from a fight?” Nighttide asked.

Vela scowled. “Since it directly involved my little brother.”

“Sure you’re not referring to your coltfriend over there?” Starlight asked, giggling a little as she looked at Flash.

“Starlight, shush or should I remind you on a certain bat-pony?” Ana cut in with a smile.

“What bat-pony?” All of them asked in unison, turning their gaze to Starlight.

The blue unicorn’s cheeks turned beet-red. Taz opened his muzzle, and then shut it when he recalled the clean-up after the battle. He didn’t get a good look, but now, with hindsight, he remembered a grey bat-pony in the purple of the night guard standing next to Starlight.

Taz cleared his head with a shake. While it was undoubtedly a juicy piece of gossip, but it didn’t relate to what they needed to do. “It’s different now because I’ll be there.”

“Correction, we’ll be there,” Nighttide said.

“So, your game plan is just to leave the palace unguarded?” Starlight asked, grateful the others weren’t looking at her anymore.

Starlight smiled. “Who says unguarded? We have the Royal Guard and the Night Guard on watch, should something happen.”

“Besides,” Nighttide added, “I know my mom. She’ll lick her wounds before trying anything and my… fa—Red can’t produce another revenant for a long time. I’m actually amazed he managed to produce that one after Fire and Ice.”

“Could Red come here by himself and try to finish what Luna started?” Vela asked.

“I doubt he’s that dumb. I know for a fact that creating revenants weakens him. And I doubt that Nightmare Moon will flee to him and plead for him to get revenge for her defeat,” Nighttide replied.

“I think… I think it might work,” Starlight said, causing the others to turn to look at her again. “Listen, the Winter Moon Festival is tomorrow. Remember what mom said? Whatever they’re planning, it has to happen in those twenty-four hours. I don’t know why they wanted Shimmering Night, but now that they were defeated, they’re not going to have time to wait for another attack, and they’ll, naturally, expect us to be on our guard.”

“So we go on the offensive instead?” Vela asked.

“Exactly,” Taz said. “But… for this to work, we all have to go.”

“Not you, or Nighttide,” Blaze said. “Isn’t this just us?”

“Oh, like hell I’m staying behind,” Nighttide growled. “I have four-hundred years of abuse to settle with that bitch.”

“Nighttide said a bad word,” Dayspring muttered.

“I’d feel safer with Taz there anyway,” Starlight replied. “His ability truly is our trump card.”

“My ability is not impenetrable,” Taz said. “Luna flung a brick at my head during the fight. Had it hit, I’d be dead. Thankfully she missed.”

“I’ll slit her throat for that,” Nighttide growled.

Taz turned to her. There was no love lost between Nighttide and her family, but that comment seemed more akin to something a serial killer might say than the mare he knew.

“Please, calm down,” he whispered, nuzzling her gently. “Focus on us, what we’re about to do, and not on her. Please, for me.”

He turned to the others. “I’m going, and you all know that you can’t stop me.”

“You do present a problem though,” Starlight said. “I can teleport us, but not you. You’d slow us down.”

“I’ve actually been working on that,” Taz said as he grinned at Nighttide. “Our… um…”

Nighttide chuckled. “While we were fucking the other night, he figured out that he can stop his ability, or at least he can keep it down for a while if he concentrates enough. That should allow you to teleport him as well.”

The group of ponies blushed, with Flash, Vela, and Ana as the exception. They just scowled.

“I’m not going!”

They turned to the speaker. “Ana, this only works if we have all six, you have to go or nopony—forgive me, no one can,” Taz started.

“Still,” she glared again at Nighttide.

“C’mon, Ana, where are we going to find another pony that represents kindness as well as you?” Taz asked.

“How about you take miss shadow-bitch here, maybe that’ll work,” Ana muttered.

“Sis! She said a nasty word!” Dayspring cried.

Vela placed Dayspring down on the floor and walked up to Ana’s side. She leaned in and whispered, “But just think; if you go you’ll have the Element of Kindness while Nighttide doesn’t get one. It’ll be something you can hold over her.”

Ana was taken aback by that. She opened her muzzle and shut it a few times, unsure of what to think.

“Well, if Vela’s going I’m going too,” Flash said.

“You two have become smitten, haven’t you?” Starlight teased.

“Oh, I’m definitely going.” Vela stated. “I owe that fucker.”

“Vela, you said a—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“I’m going too, I want to help out!” Dayspring said.

“I’ll go,” Blaze said, “anything to put an end to this.”

All the eyes turned to the sisters. Reluctantly, Ana was about to say yes, but then she noticed a little nervous twitch coming from Starlight. What’s wrong with… oh… Echoside.

“I’ll go on one condition.” Ana stated. “We take somepony with more experience with us this time. Somepony who’s trained, like one of the guards.”

All of them looked perplexed. “Ana, we can’t tell anypo—anyone what we’re doing, they’d try to stop us.”

“Yeah, we’d have to find one that would willingly go against orders and can keep this a secret,” Vela stated.

“We’d need a guard that’s trustworthy,” Ana stated, hoping her sister would get the hint.

Starlight smiled. “I think I know the perfect guard for this. One who is trustworthy.”

Taz facehoofed. “Starlight, I—”

“I pinkie promise that we can trust her. And as Ana said, it’s the only way she’s going.”

Taz was about to say something, but then sighed and relented. “If I agree, that means you’ll both go?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison.

“Fine. Starlight, fetch that guard.” Taz grumbled.

Nighttide couldn’t help but notice the pent up eagerness in Starlight’s walk. She tried to hide it, but it was obvious this had been something the sisters had set up.

“Everyone go pack, meet in the courtyard in thirty minutes,” Taz said, loud enough for Starlight to hear. The blue unicorn mare took off running after that. It wasn’t so much because there was now a time limit, but now she could do it without attracting undue suspicion.

As the others left for their rooms, Nighttide walked up to Taz’s side. “You think this will work?”

Taz leaned into her touch. “I can’t explain why, but yes… I think it will.”

“Good enough for me,” she replied, kissing him for luck.

Starlight was out of breath when she reached the Night Guard’s barracks. She burst in. “Echoside!”

Her words were only echoed back to her.

She looked around, the barracks were completely empty.

Starlight facehoofed. [iThey’re either on alert or getting food; I doubt even they would be able to go back to sleep after that attack, she thought.

Starlight made her way out and took another route, one she knew led to the mess hall were the bat-ponies met and ate their meals. She was right. As she reached it, the whole hall was full to the brim with the Night Guard. They were all in a rather somber mood while they drank cider and ate.

As soon as Starlight stepped in, everypony went silent.

“What can we do for you, princess?” a black mare with a green mane asked from her side. It was clear they were on alert for another attack.

“Do you know where Private First-Class Echoside is? I need her for a task,” Starlight blurted out.

“I think she’s in the showers,” a stallion said before laughing. “Third door in the next hallway.”

Starlight blushed, but turned to leave. In the showers? Oh Celestia… “Thank you. Enjoy your meal,” she said before the doors closed.

She followed the hallway and found the door pretty easily, but hesitated.

Can I really just go in there?

She’s your marefriend!

That doesn’t mean we’re that far yet.

Just go in. She’s a mare, you’re a mare, and it’s a shower for mares.

Starlight shook her head before knocking on the door, but no answer came. Sighing, she pushed it open and walked in. The common showers for mares were open with a huge locker room. The room itself was void of any other pony—that’s not to say that there were no ponies in there. Starlight, hearing a shower, walked around the corner to see who it was.

Echoside was under a shower, washing her mane while her eyes were closed. Starlight couldn’t help but stare at her, taking in her body, her well-toned flanks, and the strong muscles of her legs. The young unicorn felt enraptured, aroused, and perverted all at the same time. She gulped, a little louder than she meant to.

The bat-pony opened her eyes at that noise. “Starlight! What are you doing here‽”

“Searching for you.”

Echoside chuckled and smiled. “Well, you found me. How about you come closer and you tell me why you were looking for me?”

Starlight’s mind told her to simply tell the mare, but keep her distance. It was just unlucky for her that her heart made another decision. Without conscious thought, she took step after step until she was close enough for Echoside to pull her under the shower with her wing.

“Now, where were we?” Echoside answered gently while nuzzling Starlight lovingly.

“I-I, um, I mean, I uh…” Starlight stammered, lost in those gorgeous lavender cat-like eyes.

“No thanks necessary, my princess,” Echoside cooed back as she leaned down and kissed the mare on the lips.

“I… I need to ask you for a favor,” Starlight breathed out once they broke. “I need you to come with me.”

Echoside smiled. “Gladly.”

Starlight blushed. “I mean… umm… To Ponyville, with… with my friends.”

Echoside sighed at that, clearly disappointed. “Why?”

“Because I want you at my side, and you know, you’re healing...”

Echoside paused, and then smiled. “Well, princess. I think you have to earn my company.”

“H-how?” Starlight asked.

“How long do we have?”

“Twenty minutes,” Starlight answered, confused as to what Echoside had planned.

“Well, that’ll have to be enough. Let’s see if you can earn it,” Echoside purred as she pressed against Starlight, forcing her up to against the shower wall.

Starlight felt like it was happening to somepony else, which was… strange, because it was happening to her. She felt water hitting her coat, wetting her fur, washing off the makeup that had so elegantly hidden what they had done last night. She felt Echoside pressing herself up against her, her forceful, take-what-I-want ways causing her to melt at the mare’s voice. But it couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be happening to her because, if it was, she’d put an end to it. She’d tell her to stop, she’d be offended, reminding her that she was a princess and not to be used in such a manner. And because she didn’t want any of that, in fact, she wanted MORE. The only logical conclusion was that it was happening to somepony else.

Echoside gently nipped at her muzzle and then down her neck, caressing the wounds she had caused the other night. Starlight melted at the touch. Her heart wanted more and more; she ignored her mind shouting at her that they didn’t have time for this. Echoside moved back up to her muzzle and kissed her again; passionately, lovingly, and lustfully.

The young mare had no idea how long they held that kiss. It felt like a lifetime and an instant all at the same time. The nagging voice in her mind went silent, the emotion, the kiss; they were all that Starlight knew; they became her whole world.

When Echoside pulled back, Starlight was left gasping, wanting, and needing. “Are you… are you going to feed from me again?” Starlight asked with nervous apprehension and just a hint of longing.

“Yes, but not in the way you imagine,” Echoside gently replied before pulling her into a third kiss.

The kiss started simple, but soon turned passionate. Echoside caressed Starlight’s lips until she opened them, she quickly moved her tongue inside and playfully rubbed along her lover’s tongue. As soon as Starlight fought back, quickly brushing her tongue onto Echoside’s, the mare retreated, coaxing Starlight’s tongue into following her. Starlight’s eyes went wide as she understood the plan of the bat-pony.

Echoside gently closed her muzzle, capturing Starlight’s tongue, just before slowly piercing it with a fang. Starlight moaned upon the small feeling of pain and the far greater pleasure—the latter easily winning out in her mind as Echoside gently sucked the blood from the wound.

Starlight was lost in her feelings, so much that she almost didn’t notice Echoside’s hoof going up the inside of her hind legs. She felt it by the way it lightly brushed her inner hairs. It moved up, from her knees, up her thighs, with only one possible destination in mind. A destination Starlight both longed for, and feared.

The bat-pony played it cool and slow, so much so that Starlight’s doubt was all but forgotten. She wanted it, she yearned for it. However, as quickly as the moment began, it ended; the mysterious hoof that Starlight only felt—or only imagined she felt—was gone. Echoside pulled her fang out of Starlight’s tongue and pulled back, smiling at the confused, lust-filled look on the young unicorn’s face.

“Why… why did you stop?”

Echoside smiled. “I’d say you more than earned me coming along now, but it’s been more than twenty minutes.”

“What‽ That can’t be,” Starlight replied, shocked.

“Thirty minutes to be exact. We should get ready and grab my armor,” Echoside said before moving closer, nipping at Starlight’s ear while whispering, “If you’d like more of that, ask me again tonight.”

“O-okay,” Starlight said, then shook her head clear as Echoside turned off the showerhead and started for her armor.

“No time!”

“What?” Echoside turned to see Starlight powering her horn. Both mares soon found themselves and every scrap of armor in the room teleported to Echoside’s bunk. Surprisingly, they were both dry. “How did you—”

“What do you need?” Starlight asked, looking around the still empty barracks.

“Starlight, calm down!”

“We don’t have time!”

“Calm down,” Echoside growled before smiling. “You have to stop freaking out. That you should leave for bed.”

Starlight opened her muzzle for a retort, but shut it quickly, shaking her head with a blush and a smile. “You’re one of a kind, Echoside. Now please get ready, they’re waiting on us…”

“Let me get my armor on and grab my bug-out bag.” Echoside gestured to the bag under her bunk. The gesture turned out to be a mistake, as, in two flashes of magic, she found herself fully armored and the bag strapped tightly to her back. “You’re a bit crazy, you know that?” she asked Starlight.

“Get used to it,” Starlight replied with a raspberry and then teleported the two straight to the courtyard.

Of course, they were all fully packed and waiting on her.

“Where the heck have you been?” Taz asked, before stopping. “Who is that?”

Ana, in the meanwhile, had eyes for something else. “Starlight, the makeup is gone,” she hissed.

Oh buck me, Starlight thought before smiling. “This is Echoside, she is our guard for the journey.”

“Our guard or your guard?” Vela asked with a grin.

“And what happened to your neck?” Blaze asked as he spotted the two puncture wounds.

“Mhh, you don’t know bat-ponies well, do you, little one?” Echoside asked with a smile.

Starlight simply couldn’t hold herself. “Alright, stop it! We’re not talking about that!”

“Oh yes we are, just not now,” Taz said, “let’s go, we’re already late.”

“Who does he think he is?” Echoside asked Starlight.

“My uncle,” Starlight admitted as everyone gathered up around her. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her destination: Ponyville.

And then she thought of Echoside biting her tongue like she had, how there was almost no pain, how good it had felt, how genius of an idea it was—after all, tongues are very hidden, and they heal quick, even for non bat-ponies, and how she really wanted to do it again.

“Are we going today, Starlight?” Vela asked in a huff.

“Uh… yes, yes, of course.”

She removed the thoughts of Echoside from her mind, something that proved incredibly difficult to do as the mare was standing right next to her. Power began building up around the group; enough power to teleport all nine of them. It took a while for Starlight to build it up around Taz, but the stallion quickly reacted and pulled his ability back, enough for Starlight’s magic to be able to grab him.

In a flash of light, the odd group of one earth pony, two unicorns, three pegasi, two hippogriffs, and one bat-pony were teleported from Celestia’s Place to Ponyville.

“We there yet?”

Dayspring rubbed his temples. “Ataxia, I swear to Luna if you ask that question one more time.”

“Well if you didn’t suck so bad at tracking a bucking sphinx I wouldn’t have to keep asking!”

“I’m sorry; we’re in the middle of the San Palonimon Desert for bucks sake! Maybe you’d like to take over if you think you can do a better job.”

“Dayspring, Ataxia, enough!” Twilight shouted at the two. “Ataxia, Dayspring’s doing the best he can based on rumors of rumors of rumors of legends. Cut him some slack.”

Ataxia huffed, but shut her muzzle. She focused on her own magic and doubled the strength of the shield protecting the group from the sun’s heat.

“That being said, this is unusual for you Dayspring,” Rainbow added. “We’ve been to four different locations now; you’re not usually one prone to making such mistakes.”

Dayspring growled, “That’s just it, I don’t think I have.”

“You mean…?” Radiant Star asked.

Dayspring nodded. “I think it knows that we’re after it. I think it’s been leading us on a wild-goose chase.”

“Night would have caught it by now,” Ataxia mumbled.

“Night’s NOT here.” Rainbow glared at her. “And you’re not making the situation any better!”

“Mother, lay off her, she’s just stressed. Would you be any different if it was mom and not Night?”

“Last time she slayed a god, so I’m going to go with no,” Twilight said, wrapping her wing around Rainbow and kissing her on the cheek. Rainbow huffed, but, notably, didn’t pull away. Twilight nuzzled her again before turning to her son. “Dayspring, what are you sensing, exactly?”

“It’s strange, the sphinx is strong, but not overly so. It’s like I can sense its presence all around me at times, and at others she’s on the other side of the continent.”

“That’s why you teleported us four bucking times already?” Ataxia asked. The last time she hadn’t been able to hold in her lunch.

“Ataxia, I’m sorry,” Dayspring said; his eyes downcast. “I know this is rough for you, I—”

“As long as it’s worthwhile, I don’t need an apology from you. Just find it.”

“I think we’ve been looking at this the wrong way,” Rainbow said, her eyes focused on something... up.

“What do you mean, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t think we can find it; rather, I think the sphinx will find us.”

Twilight looked at her confused until she saw that Rainbow’s gaze was focused on something else, something in the distance, something up in the sky. Twilight’s eyes followed the gaze to a cloud floating high in the sky at least five miles away. She could just make it out, there was a… a lion's head poking over the side, staring right at them.

Twilight blinked, thinking it was just a mirage. It wasn’t. In that one blink, the sphinx was five miles closer, right next to their group.

Ataxia lowered her horn and made to attack. Dayspring let out a surprise gasp as he started raising shields. Radiant Star broke out three magical blades. Twilight yelled, “Hold!”

They all paused. The sphinx chuckled. Rainbow took a moment to admire the creature before them. It resembled a large lioness with golden fur and the great brown wings of an eagle. Its physical impression was… lacking, being lesser in size than Luna or Celestia back in the day, or even Shimmering Night now, but it seemed to make up for that with an other-worldly presence. It just seemed… more.

The sphinx admired each of the ponies in turn. Its sky-blue eyes took in each and every pony, one at a time. Almost as if it could see what normal eyes could not, as if it could peer into each pony with abilities far beyond mere magical ones.

In a way, it was doing just that.

The sphinx opened her muzzle, and in a soothing, motherly voice, spoke, “The seekers of knowledge have finally found me.” Ataxia went to speak, but before she could, the sphinx raised her right lion’s paw to silence her. “Before you speak, know that I have what you seek. Answer three riddles of mine and my knowledge will be yours. Fail… and I shall take what I seek.”

“Oh dear Luna, she speaks in rhymes,” Rainbow said as she raised a hoof to rub her brow.

The sphinx chuckled. “No, just something I’ve been working on.”

Radiant glared at the sphinx. “Can we at least know what you seek from us? Or are you just going to leave us in the dark?”

“Those who fail, well, they shall be my next meal.”

“Now I really wish those stones would fall off from our hooves so we could simply kick her ass,” Rainbow mumbled to Twilight.

“Even at your peak of power, you might not defeat me. My power is strong beyond your knowledge, even myths and books don’t know me well,” the sphinx said.

Twilight stepped in, knowing that when it came to some of these ponies, it was better to simply not let them poke the bear. “We’ve come with a question. According to the legends you know the answer to any question asked of you. As such we’ve come to solve your riddles to get the answer we must know.”

“My, my, such an eager princess; usually ponies ask a wide range of things about me before moving onto to their question, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Avatar—excuse me, Mortal Incarnation of Gaia.”

Ataxia laughed. “Are we supposed to be impressed that you know her name? She is a princess after all.”

“Maybe not, Princess Ataxia, born a unicorn, but now living on as a dragacorn. I’m a bit curious about you, I have to say, but I think there is something else you would love to tell?”

Ataxia’s eyes grew wide. She backed down, not wanting to hear that spoken.

The sphinx chuckled softly. “While I know what most of you seek, the question in your heart is different, Ataxia. I have to warn you. I only answer one question after you solved my riddles, so choose well. Both questions are important and will have an impact on the world you know.”

Twilight looked at Ataxia. “What does she mean?”

Ataxia turned away, not wanting to say.

Radiant moved to her side. “Ataxia, what are you—”

“Are you ready for the first riddle or no?” the sphinx asked.

“Of course we are! Bring it on!” Rainbow shouted.

“No need to make such a loud drama of it, Princess Rainbow Dash with the magical, golden wing.” The sphinx chuckled before her expression turned serious. She rose into the air on wide-spread wings before saying:

Radiant’s jaw dropped. “What?”

Twilight frowned, rubbing her jaw in concentration. Something about it felt familiar, but like it was from a lifetime ago. It was as if it she knew the answer, but from another life.

Rainbow looked on, lost. “Umm… how long do we have to solve this?”

“Take your time, but you cannot progress to the second until you answer the first.”

“So we have, like, endless time?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, but let me make one thing clear. One of your questions, if not asked soon, will lead to the death of one dearly loved by you,” the sphinx spoke softly.

“Dayspring,” Ataxia growled as she looked up and broke the light-purple unicorn’s concentration. “Please, you can do this.” There were tears in her eyes.

The unicorn nodded and went back to his thoughts. Radiant whispered to Rainbow. “Hey, come over here.”

The cyan mare followed, the two stopped to collect Ataxia and then walk out of what he hoped was earshot of the sphinx. “What do you want?” Ataxia asked.

“Let’s face facts, the three of us aren’t going to solve these riddles,” Radiant said. Rainbow and Ataxia could only nod. “So we need to let Dayspring and Twilight think without us butting in.”

“And?” Ataxia asked already seeing the wheels in his head turned.

“And we need to have a plan B. Just in case they answer… wrong.”

“She said we might not be able to defeat her. Especially not while Twilight and I have these bucking stones,” Rainbow huffed.

“But even if we could, our answer would be lost,” Ataxia mumbled.

“Given, but this is only for if they fail to answer correctly,” Radiant said.

Rainbow turned to see Twilight and Dayspring discussing the riddle. For her part, the sphinx was sitting down, her front paws folded calmly underneath her; as if she hadn’t just threatened to take everypony’s life if they failed to answer her questions correctly.

“Ataxia, if it comes to it, do you think you could...”

Ataxia looked up at Radiant confused; that is until she realized just what he was asking of her. “No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!”

“Ataxia, it’s been years,” Radiant said.

“And we’ve all lived happy in that time. Key word there, lived.”

“And if they get it wrong, we won’t be living.”

“She knows what I am and said we probably couldn’t kill her. I doubt she didn’t take me into her calculations with that,” Ataxia said.

“How strong can such a bucking…. sphinx even be? I doubt stronger than a dragon!” Rainbow blurted out.

The sphinx licked her front paw before saying, “Underestimate me at your own peril.” She said it loud enough for all to hear.

“Oh, buck it,” Ataxia growled. “If it comes to it, I’d love to wipe that smirk off her face.”

“Hey, retards!” Dayspring yelled out. “It’s not an issue of power; it’s an issue of control. As soon as we agreed to it and she asked the first riddle, we were all placed under her control. Failure means she has power over us, regardless of how strong we are!”

The sphinx chuckled. “Somepony’s done his research.”

“We’re bucked, aren’t we?” Radiant asked.

“No, I’ve been in worse situations. We just gotta put our faith in Twilight, and my son,” Rainbow replied.

Ataxia whispered, “Well, I could think of worse situations to be in.”

“You’ve indeed faced a lot, but compared to what’s to come, what you’ve faced will seem like foal’s play,” the sphinx said.

“How can you hear us?” Ataxia growled.

“Because we’re under her control! She can always hear us, even feel what we’re feeling or thinking, if the legends are true,” Dayspring shouted. “And now please, shut up so we can concentrate.”

The purple mare blushed and shut her muzzle. Still, with what the sphinx had said, Ataxia couldn’t shake a very strange thought. She said what’s to come; does that mean… she knows we’ll answer her riddles? Does she want us to? Is she… is she doing this to help us?

As if in reply, the sphinx smiled directly at her.