“Moondancer, I am offering you the trip of a lifetime!” Raven explained, rather confused as to why her friend had been so dismissive at such an amazing opportunity. Out of all of her friends, Raven was sure that Moondancer would be the first to jump on the opportunity presented to her. But instead it was slow going. The cream-colored mare had been holed up in her small rental home the once clean-living room was stacked floor to ceiling with books and the teen in question was rather disheveled. Her mane and tail were a mess, her favorite sweater was dirty and stained from the rapidly gathering stack of dirty cereal bowls resting next to the mare.

The stack started from the floor too...

Moondancer let out an exhausted sigh from her spot at the desk in her living room. She decided to just stay quiet as her friend spoke.

Raven sighed, rolling her eye as she further explained her offer. “I know you’re mad at Twilight, I am too. But this is the opportunity of a lifetime!”

Moondancer didn’t answer.

With one last, longing sigh, Raven stepped forward and placed a small sheet of paper on the desk next to the mare's left arm. “Aunt Luna and I are leaving in three days to Somnambula to investigate the pyramids there. You’re free to come if you’d like.” With that, Raven left the building and her friend behind to unfortunately wallow in her misery and self-destructive behavior.

Moondancer just continued to stare at the book before her until she heard the front door shut with a click. When she was assured that she was alone did she reach out and grasp the slip of paper and hold it to the light, slightly adjusting her glasses as she read the ink.

It was a train ticket for three days from now…

Princess Luna stood next to her slightly taller armored niece, dressed in the more casual clothes her family had helped her pick out after her return. She was very fond of the more comfortable, yet breathable clothing that she had picked out. She loved the light blue short sleeve shirt that was just a shade darker than her coat and the emblem of her moon stitched into the left sleeve only added to its appeal and she also loved the flexible, but breathable black shorts she was wearing too. Luna also wore a tan backpack that carried most of the supplies that she would need for this expedition, mostly extra clothes, water, snacks, and the like. Out of everything she had though, she was not a fan of the new modern invention called ‘underwear.’

The young princess found herself needlessly adjusting and pinching at her bra and panties in the areas where they pinched and binded against her skin and fur. “We do not see thine reasoning for wearing clothing under thine clothing,” Luna whined as she pried her panties out from where they were binding between her butt cheeks.

“So, you don’t chaf in those tiny shorts and you’ll appreciate the bra if we end up going for a jog,” ~Raven~ explained from her position next to her smaller aunt. Between the pair, the warframe might as well be twice the size of the lunar princess, but Luna really appreciated its looks. She liked the colors that reminded her of her night skies that she had once worked so hard to protect. Right now, the suit was carrying the rest of their supplies that would get them through their month and a half long trip.

All that was left was for their train to arrive and they would be off.

But as they waited, both human and mare eyed the crowd, opting to just pony watch from their spot near the tracks as they waited for their train to arrive here in the next couple of minutes. There wasn’t much else to do since the pair had spent so much time since Luna’s return to get to know one another. Raven really wanted to get to know her other aunt as well, but currently, Nightmare Moon was content with staying locked in her room in the castle, refusing to do much talking outside of her room. Raven had extended the offer to come on this trip as well, but Nightmare politely refused and that was that.

Eventually, the tenno spotted something interesting and familiar. “Well I’ll be damned,” ~Raven~ stated when she spotted a familiar red maned mare approaching her. Moondancer blushed, averting her gaze once she realized that she was being watched by her taller, armored friend. Even though it was not able to be seen, Raven was beaming within her suit. “Glad you decided to come.”

Moondancer smiled softly as she gazed up at the helmet of her friend's armor while Raven rested an appreciative hand on her friend's shoulder. “Since you were offering, who was I to refuse a princess?” Moondancer said playfully.

~Raven~ laughed, squeezing her friend's shoulder lovingly in the process. “Glad to see you cleaned up as well. Come on, I want you to meet somepony.” The warframe was quick to lead her friend over towards the younger of the two -well technically three now- celestial sisters. “Aunt Luna, this is Moondancer. Moondancer, this is my Aunt, Luna.”

Moondancer gave the royal a curt and respectful bow as her greeting, but the lunar princess waved it off. “Nay, any friend of Niece Raven is a friend of ours!”

“Thank you, Princess,” Moondancer thanked.

“Name as well,” ~Raven~ added. “Just feel free to call her Luna. This is a casual trip after all.”

“What are we doing anyway?” Moondancer asked, just before the train pulled into the station and started to offload its guests.

All three females eyed the train as it finally arrived before Raven decided to wave them forward and towards their staging area. “There is a temple, or a pyramid in the badlands,” ~Raven~ shouted over the loud, exiting crowd working its way off the train while simultaneously pulling her pack around and reaching inside, pulling out the white and gold book she found, offering it to the shorter mare. Moondancer opened the book to the book-marked page, eyeing the hieroglyphics on the paper and the one page that was dedicated to the God King named Inaros. “It was built to honor him,” Raven explained, pointing to the hieroglyph of the God King.

“I know his story,” Moondancer said as she flipped through the book. “Inaros, the great God King of the sands and one of the kings of the earth. It was said that in times of great desperation he aided and protected the ancient ponies of the badlands. He would provide water when there was none and it was said that he could control the sands themselves, often creating haboobs as big and vast as the very deserts he controlled. No mortal could ever best him in combat lest they suffer his wrath. And the only creatures that could best him in combat were the other god kings and queens. But they all lived in harmony, so there was never violence between the gods.” Moondancer lifted her head and eyed her friend with furrowed brow. “But why are you after him? Or more importantly, his tomb? Everypony knows that the god kings never existed.”

“Neither did Nightmare Moon up until recently,” ~Raven~ added, effectively derailing that argument.

“But still,” Moondancer stated, doubling down, closing the book and handing it back. “The gods are ancient and mystical beings of immense power and far older than even Celestia. They created the earth and inhabited it with their respective people. It had long since been considered that they had abandoned us as a whole after the planet was set and sustainable, going back to heaven to watch over us, or to plan their next creations. A so called ‘miracle’ hasn’t been performed in well over a millennia,” Moondancer finished with air quotes around the word miracle.

For Raven, the coincidence was too much for her to question. But she wasn’t going to explain that to anypony, not now at least. “Yeah well-where did Luna go?” ~Raven~ questioned, causing both girls to quickly look around the station for their missing compatriot. But just as they were about to start searching for the missing mare, Luna approached the duo, nursing a warm cup of something. “Aunt Luna what are you drinking?”

“It’s called coffee,” Luna explained as she sipped from her paper cup. “We like this drink!”

For some reason, Raven was expecting her aunt to huck the cup against the floor, demanding another. But that action never came.

“ALL ABOARD!”

All three females turned towards the train expectantly. “Come on,” ~Raven~ ushered towards the train, transitioning the conversation else where. The three were quick to board their train and find their car and bunk. As of right now, the trio were going to be stuck on the train for the next couple of days before they reached their destination. So, they picked their bunks in their suite and got comfortable for the upcoming ride.

The sprawling town of Somnambula was much older in style and livelihood than that of most of modern day Equestria. But what could you do when your biggest resource was sand? Wood was a resource that came in limited quantities and water even more so. Why any creature at all would want to live in such a harsh environment was a mystery in and of itself. But the vast outer walls of the village stood tall and imposing, made from thick sandstone built to hold even the worst of marauders at bay. Couple that with the ruthless rays of the south Equestrian sun, and it would make any siege all but impossible.

As far as the town itself, buildings were made from the very same sandstone that the external wall was built from. Stalls lined the buildings, each one mared by a stallion or a mare selling some form of food, pottery, or exotic good. But the market wasn’t bustling like one would expect, it was rather tame all things considered, with only pockets of buyers here and there discussing trade deals. Thankfully though, the trio would not have to trek long into the desert, risking their lives to robbers and limited resources. The town had weathered time itself, standing tall next to the last standing pyramid dedicated to only one who was worthy of its honor.

The great God King of the sands, Inaros.

The trio eyed the large stone statue dedicated to the very mare the town was named after as they passed by it in the city center. Moondancer was quick to snap a few photos from her camera, making sure to document everything she could for her own personal research. Much like the kings story, the teen mare knew some of the heroic mare’s story. Somnambula, the mare, not the town that was named after her, saved the son of the pharaoh from a ruthless sphynx.

But right now, Moondancer was more interested in a glass of water…

Wiping what might as well be a river of sweat from her brow, Moondancer fell back into step with her compatriots. “How can anypony live, let alone operate in this heat?” It was confusing to Moondancer how just about everypony was donned in long robes. It seemed counterproductive to trying to stay cool in the heat.

“You guy’s may want to go into the market and change your clothes,” ~Raven~ offered her friend and aunt. “Something about ventilation.” The young princess was lucky that she was contained within her warframe. At least she didn't have to suffer in the horrendous barren landscape.

It was going to be a bitch when she transferred out of Frost…

“I’ll go get us a room at the inn,” she said while she turned towards the two mares. “Maybe try and find a change of clothes.”

“Come friend Moondancer!” Luna said excitedly, even though she to, was looking rather disgusted in her sweaty attire. “We shall find appropriate robes post haste!”

Before Moondancer could even protest, she was being dragged off into the market by the much stronger and very eager alicorn. Ignoring them, ~Raven~ continued on towards the building with a large wood sign that read ‘INN’ in big white letters. She quickly checked in with the mare at the front desk, grabbing each her friend, aunt, and herself a room. Fron there, the tenno girl was quick to drop off her bag in her room before she decided to hit the town, maybe find her friends in the process.

The rest of the day would be spent with the three girls exploring the moderately sized village and spending a fair amount of bits on exotic goods. Luna and Moondancer were glad they had opted to find appropriate robes that helped immensely with the volatile desert heat. Luna was all too thrilled to go ‘commando’ as she had heard by some of the castle staff.

Raven was not as thrilled to tell her aunt that it was information, she didn’t need to know…

When the sun finally fell, and the temperature became much more tolerable that the trio spent their time by themselves. Moondancer opted to call it a night while Raven -now out of her warframe- opted to share stories and learn more about one another over a few drinks at a local bar.

The next day.

The loud click and the bright flash of a camera both echoed and illuminated the vast hall of the pyramid. Moondancer stood up from the shattered pottery she had been examining before turning around and facing the rest of her group as she waited for the picture to develop. The pyramid had long since been abandoned and was nothing more than an archeological site these days. But that was something that they had been expecting. The pyramids were built as a tomb to essentially be abandoned once the dead were laid to rest. Then they were sealed off and protected heavily by the locals. The Tomb of Inaros was the only pyramid that had not been raided by scavengers and tomb raiders, but she was still raided…

By historians and different ‘ologists’ that came to study the remains.

Most of the gold, gems, and historical artifacts still in -or mostly intact- were in a local museum set up by a historian who, in conjunction with the locals, made it his goal to preserve everything he could within the pyramid. But even after consulting the stallion earlier that morning, they were no closer to finding anything not already known within the structure.

“Anything?” Moondancer asked as she approached her friend while sliding the now developed picture into a special book she brought to protect her photographs.

“Aunt Lu?” ~Raven~ shouted towards the mare hovering higher within the room. The mare in question glanced down at her niece, shaking her head. “Damn,” the girl cursed under her breath. “There has to be something else here…”

“Like what?” Moondancer replied skeptically while raising an equally skeptical eyebrow. “Raven the ruins have been picked clean! What exactly are you looking for?”

“Something!”

“Something?” Moondancer replied a little more frustrated and skeptical. “Look, I don’t mind the fact that we are here. I’m grateful for the opportunity, really! But there is nothing here!” Moondancer shouted, turning around and holding her arms out as she vented her frustration to the large room, her voice echoing off the sandstone.

~Raven~ sighed…

Luna came to a hover, kicking up a slight plume of dust before her hooves touched down on the cool sand. “Friend Moondancer, forgive our niece but she is correct.”

Moondancer blinked, leaning in and cocking her head to the left slightly. “She is?”

“I am?”

“Yes,” Luna nodded. “Does thou really think that such a structure would be created like such?” Luna turned and keenly ran her eyes across the room, searching for some stand out that would give her the clue she was looking for.

Moondancer and ~Raven~ shared a confusing glance before the latter stepped closer to her aunt. “Aunt Lu, what are you talking about?”

“Did thine niece miss thee fact that a sarcophagus, let alone thee body of which this ruin was constructed for. Is missing?” Luna asked, glancing at her niece from over her left shoulder.

Both teens paused.

Luna was right. Out of all the artifacts, pottery, and other objects recovered from the ruins, the main reason why the pyramid had been constructed had never been recovered, let alone found. Even if the tomb had not been built for the God King, it still didn’t explain the lack of a mummy.

“Somepony... is not accounted for,” Luna added before he turned back to face the duo, further explaining her reasoning. “Somepony did not want to be found.” A half smirk wormed its way upon the lunar mare’s muzzle. “Perhaps we should find him?”

Without another word, the three girls were quick to break off to different parts of the main room with a renewed sense of enthusiasm. Luna took off towards the east wall, Moondancer the west and ~Raven~ towards the southern wall. The southern wall was where the entrance point to the pyramid was located, but all three walls had a small tunnel that led to other, underground rooms within the ruins. The southern tunnel, as mentioned, was the entrance tunnel. The east tunnel had led to a small room that once held the vast wealth that had been buried there. Luna pursed her lips inwardly as she crawled into the tiny room and began using both her hands and magic to look for any sort of secret that may lay contained within. Moondancer did the same in the sister room to the west, the room that once held the sacred death artifacts such as pottery, animal remains, and other personal objects. Much like the mare in the room opposite her, Moondancer began examining the room with her magic.

~Raven’s~ sensors were coming up blank within the southern tunnel. She groaned in frustration, deciding it best to just meet up back in the main room. The frustrated teen crossed her armored arms and let out yet another long, exhausting sigh. She tapped her foot in thought, her boot padding softly against the sand as she waited for either a scream or her friends to exit their respective tunnels. Thankfully it would be the latter of the two options. Luna was the first to crawl out of her tunnel, wiping off her hands and clothing of any excess sand once she stood up. Moondancer didn’t suffer getting sand in places she didn’t want as she came out hunched over from her tunnel.

“Well that was a bust,” Moondancer said, defeated before gathering up with the two royals.

“Something isn’t adding up,” ~Raven~ muttered softly, more to herself. “Moondancer? Do you still have that map of the other pyramids?”

“Yeah?” Moondancer replied with a slight hint of confusion. Removing her backpack, the redhead unzipped her pack and rummaged through the bags main compartment momentarily before removing a small stack of paper. Placing her bag back on her back she began unfolding the large map of a different pyramid ruins located several kilometers from the village. Moondancer fully flattened the paper with a few swipes of her palms across its surface as she rested it a top a large chunk of fallen sandstone. “Here we are.” Moondancer pointed towards the central room on the map. “Most of them are the same in design, the only changes that are really prevalent are differences in size to the superstructure. Tunnels longer, rooms bigger.” The mare leaned back and crossed her arms, holding her elbows. “It was both a mixture of a lack of ability to measure properly or how renown a pharaoh was.”

Luna leaned over the map and examined the layout. “Did anypony check the north tunnel?”

All of them shared a look of confusion.

“There's a north tunnel?” ~Raven~ asked.

Moondancer quickly swiped up the map in a shuffle while Luna and ~Raven~ rushed towards the north end of the room, jogging towards that area of interest. In the dimly lit room, the two family members were quick to start their examination while Moondancer examined the map.

“It should be right here,” she pointed towards the center most part of the wall before lowering the map. “But there’s no tunnel,” Moondancer added with an upward, confusing, horizontal swipe of her palm.

“What about a secret entrance?” ~Raven~ asked, looking towards her aunt.

“We and Tia used to love playing with the traps within thee old castle,” Luna added, looking back.

~Raven~ had an idea, giving her wrists a flick and wiggling her armored fingers, she stepped up towards the wall and rested her palms flat against the sandstone before her suit glowed, flowing with energy as she channeled her energy against the cold stone. Specks of ice began to form on the surface of the wall before it began to expand from her touch, rapidly encasing its surface.

“Raven you can’t just break down the wall!” Moondancer protested. “This is a sacred site to these ponies!”

“I’m not going to break it down,” ~Raven~ dismissed with that tone that usually led to disaster or serious injury. “I’m just narrowing down our search.” Once ~Raven~ was sure she had covered a decent surface area, she stepped back and held up her right hand, palm up. Clenching it, the ice shattered into tiny snowflakes that slowly drifted towards the floor. All three of them carefully watched the cool sparkles drift towards the sandy ground for several tense seconds.

“There!” Luna suddenly pointed.

A cavern, a vent, that was gently pulling at the cold flurry. Both warframe and mare jumped at the opportunity and ran their fingers across the stone, tugging and pushing at the blocks to try and find the one that either worked as a pressure plate or that could be removed. They slapped and pulled at cold stone, knocking up centuries of gathered dust.

That’s when Luna felt one of the smaller bricks give way under her right palm. She paused, holding her hand back as if the brick was a deadly snake before going back in yet again. The mare pressed a little harder against the surface and this time, she could hear the muffled grinding of millennial old gears behind the wall. As the machinery went to work, both girls stepped back and waited expectantly as the wall began to separate.

It was, a hidden entrance never once been discovered.

The two unprotected mares gagged, wincing at the musty stench of death and wet sand that seeped from the newly discovered tunnel. They pinched their noses, waving their hands to try and fan away the disgusting stench as it began to settle. All three of them were going to have to be strategic about this.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Or Moondancer would be the first to be reckless!

The excited mare was quick to enter the abandoned tunnel, igniting the way with her horn as she ran inside. The sound of her friends’ frantic shouts for her to stop landed on deaf ears. She could see it now, being the first to find artifacts never once seen before and having the distinction of unveiling the lost sarcophagus to the world!

That’s when she found the pressure plate…

There was a loud hiss and a small puff of dust as her right hoof sank slightly into the floor. The poor girl went pale, her life flashing before her eyes…

That’s when she heard the snap of a bow string…

She snapped her eyes shut, hoping that her death would be painless. The seconds were tense as she waited… and waited… and waited…

But death never came.

Slowly, the poor redheaded nerd opened her left eye, then her right. She looked left, not finding anything other than bare sandstone. When she looked right, her heart sank, and her pupils shrunk to the size of a pinhead. There, just centimeters from the tip of her muzzle was the large obsidian broadhead of an arrow that most certainly would have killed her if it had struck her in the side of the head. Moondancer slowly craned her head back over her shoulder and stared at the armored helmet of the friend that had just saved her life.

“I tried to tell you to be careful…”

Moondancer gulped, eyes darting to the arrow briefly. “Duly noted…”

~Raven~ lowered her outstretched arm and stepped forward, easing and guiding her friend back to safety. “Aunt Lu,” she asked, holding up the arrow in her open palm for her aunt to see. “Thoughts on what we could be expecting in there?”

“Arrow traps. Spikes. Pits. Crocodile pits,” Luna listed as she eyed the hallway carefully. “We can safely say that thee crocodiles may hath died long ago.”

“How reassuring,” ~Raven~ added sarcastically. “Other than flying how do we get across?”

“Nay. Thy tunnel is too small to fly,” the lunar princess said with a shake of her head. “Magic too. We must find the path or activate the traps.”

“Why would a tomb have a path?” Moondancer added, causing both human and mare to look towards her expectantly. “I mean think about it,” she further explained, holding up her still shaking hands animatedly. “Why make a path when everything here is designed to be shut off when the dead are laid to rest. Who are they expecting to be visited by? Their grandchildren?” Moondancer held out her right arm towards the end of the tunnel and probably the room that lay at its end. “They’ve been buried with most of their riches. No pony would dare to let anypony, creature, or otherwise in there.”

~Raven~ nodded. “Right… so…”

She snapped the arrow she had been holding in half so that it could never be repurposed. The warframe began to back up several meters, rolling her neck in the process.

“Niece Raven, what art thou doing?”

“Going for a jog,” the girl in question replied rather casually.

Just before Luna or Moondancer could respond, ~Raven~ took off in a sprint, running right between the two mares, the younger of the two holding her hands to her muzzle as she gasped in horror. The sounds of pressure plates decompressing, gears grinding, the snap of bowstrings and the whoosh of razor-sharp arrows sailing right behind the tenno. Like a familiar scene in a Daring Do book, the ancient trap was triggered with each step, arrow after arrow firing from the right hand wall as dozens of dozens of arrows clicked, clattered, snapped, and stuck into the adjacent wall for the near probably fifteen or twenty meter length.

It had been a tense couple of seconds before ~Raven~ finally came to a small jog at the end of the trap before she turned around waving her friends forward. “Okay! Come on over!”

Both Luna and Moondancer shared a look of concern before Luna was the first to step forward, easing her hoof onto one of the recessed pads. When an arrow never fired, the mare eased her way forward a couple of tense steps. “Say close, friend Moondancer.”

Moondancer nodded, slowly easing her way closer to the princess as they eased their way forward. After several careful minutes, the pair had reached the other end where ~Raven~ had been waiting and looking for more traps. Luna for her part, picked up a few arrows in her magic and jammed them into cracks on the floor and each wall as a reminder that there is a threat just after that.

~Raven~ was the one to lead the way.

But nothing had happened for some time. They had stumbled across one of those aforementioned crocodile pits that Luna had mentioned, which was really just a low point where the path descended into a low divot that was nothing but sand and sandstone. Luna was right as well, the pit had long since dried up and the skeletons of dead crocs could be seen buried within the abrasive sand.

After that, Raven spotted a strange change in the architecture. There was a wooden panel on the ceiling that had never been there before. She held up her hand, halting the progress of her friends before carefully approaching the panel. She eyed the floor cautiously before she spotted a slight glint just off the floor.

A tripwire.

Holding tight to the wall, she approached the wire before dropping onto her hands and knees. Once she was within arm’s reach, she laid completely flat against the sandy floor, making herself as small as possible. Reaching out, she carefully grasped the wire and gave it a jerk. There was a loud thunk as the trap was activated. With a rush of air, the spiked drop trap slammed forward, the aged wood catching nothing but air. ~Raven~ could only see the back of the trap and released the wire in her grasp.

Only for the trap to reset.

The warframe watched as the door closed with a click before she set it off a second time. However, she made sure to cut the wire, which seemed to work as the trap did not reset. ~Raven~ stood up but winced at the sight before her.

“Ugh…”

“Looks like we are not the first to visit this place,” Moondancer commented as she eyed the impaled, dried corpse of a pony still stuck to the many wooden spikes.

“Nay. An unfortunate slave or worker,” Luna clarified as she eyed the body. “Thine clothing doth not match that of a thief." Luna turned, glancing down both directions of the hallway before pointing towards the direction they had come from. “Probably either a test subject for thine trap. Or was caught in thine construction.”

“Either way, we don’t want to get caught in anything like that,” ~Raven~ commented before turning to leave the poor bastard to his resting place. “Poor bastard.”

“Agreed,” Luna agreed as she stepped past the corpse.

Moondancer snapped a quick photograph and slipped it into her book.

They continued to follow the seemingly never endless tunnel further into the crust of the earth. As far as anypony knew, they had been lost to the sands of time. What should they have expected to come next?

A giant rolling boulder?

A rolling metal gong?

A face melting gold box?

Killer kittens!?

...

The sad part was that only time would tell.

They had to be getting close.

They could hear air rushing towards a large opening, clearly that was the end of the line, hopefully. But now was not the time to rush, they still needed to keep their eyes open. One step at a time. They eased their way forward, expecting to find that one…

Click…

~Raven’s~ eye went wide when her foot depressed into the floor. Her head snapped towards her boot, watching as little bits of sand cascaded into the depression like water.

“Raven duck!”

The girl in question’s head snapped forward before she dropped to the floor, just barely missing the gargantuan metal saw nearly slicing her head off. She yelped, not even having time to breath as another razor-sharp blade nearly sawed her in two as it came from the floor beneath her, forcing her to roll to avoid it!

Raven panted, gulping horrifically as she held a hand to her chest. The two saws continued to bob in and out of their recesses in the wall and floor for several seconds before ~Raven~ spotted the wooden gears moving in the corner of her eye. Angrily, she smashed one of the gears with her fist, silencing the blades. Her friend and aunt were quick to embrace her once it was safe, much to her and her friend's relief.

Once their panic had subsided, the three girls turned around towards the seemingly endless darkness. Luna created a bright magical ball before sending it off into the abyss in search for some source of alternative light source. It took them a second to find it in the dim light, but Luna was quick to point out a large metal basin that was attached to a series of small aqueducts. ~Raven~ grabbed her Javlok, extending the weapon, taking aim and firing a single flaming shot. The bright orange projectile impacted just above the basin, dozens of sparks showering through the darkness. Many of the sparks were snuffed out when they landed, but a few hit where they needed.

Both the basin and a few of the aqueducts as well suddenly ignited as the oil within burst into flames, burning brightly and illuminating the area. The trio waited patiently as the flames revealed the hidden room within. Jaws slowly dropped in awe at the vast sight before them.

“By the gods…” Moondancer cursed at the absurd size of the chamber hidden deep underneath the sand of Southern Equestria. “The pyramid wasn’t built to honor the king. It was created to hide this temple!”

Columns of bright red sandstone, in various states of disrepair stood tall, lining the main road that headed straight for the large, square doorway that was cut into a solid wall of sandstone. Even from their position within the cavern they could see the remnants of other buildings carved into the stone. There were windows and doorways cut into the very walls, where some time ago, ponies inhabited this land. They could see the bustling market, ponies and other creatures would exchange their goods and wares as families traversed in and out of their homes. The remnants of an ancient civilization long since lost to time.

Moondancer was quick to start snapping photographs as Luna and her niece descended the steps that led to the ruins. “Aunt Lu, what do you know about this place?” ~Raven~ asked.

Luna’s head examined the ruins, looking high into the dark windows, reminiscing to a more familiar time. “Not much we can say,” Luna admitted. “Thine sister and us never visited such locations. They never warranted thine attention, especially thee attention of a young royal.”

The pair had finally reached the bottom of the steps and onto the sand that had covered the forgotten pathway that led to many of the homes and the temple itself. Moondancer was in heaven, lost in her blissful activity of knowing that she had been one of the few that had discovered these ruins!

The only sound that filled the air was the soft pats of hooves and boots on the cold sand and the incessant clicking of Moondancer’s camera. Like a foal in a candy shop, the teen mare frantically documented everything she could, even changing her film a couple of times, making sure to capture every nook and cranny. It had been centuries since anypony had been there and she intended to write a long research paper on this topic!

~Raven~ and Luna waited patiently, watching as Moondancer gushed over sand, broken and barely holding together pottery, and forgotten ruins. ~Raven~ opted to watch her friend run around the courtyard clicking away while Luna casually looked around herself. After a few minutes, ~Raven~ finally roped her friend in, dragging the poor mare like an errand foal towards the main ruins of the temple. At the entrance were two tattered drapes, hanging between the entrance columns and the walls of the temple entrance and a third just above the door. When they finally entered the temple, the initial expectations were immediately dashed as they entered into yet another long tunnel, this time, it was covered with spiderwebs.

They followed it for a few minutes before they entered the main chamber, that’s where the real awe and power of this place really laid.

Moondancer let out a long and equally excited gasp.

At the center of the main chamber was an elevated platform where four main, square support columns sat around the circular dais while a fifth rested in the center, guarded by four statues of the god king himself. The two statues facing to the north and south respectively stood at arms, ready to battle with their imposing, split blade polearms jutting forward slightly while they held heir left hands out, palm to the sky as if he were granting mercy upon ones souls. All the while the two statues to the east and the west stood like mummies, arms crossed over their chests, resting patiently for their long-awaited return to the living. Two more torn, triangle shaped drapes hung from the external columns, attaching themselves to the central most column.

Moondancer was quick to snap a photo before she quickly caught up to her other two friends as they ascended the steps to the dais. That’s when the trio learned just how imposing those sandstone statues were. They were tall, going up several dozen meters well over their heads. They had been so lost in examining the imposing architecture, they failed to notice the lone sarcophagus waiting patiently at the top of the steps.

Moondancer was the first to take notice, gasped excitedly yet again, only this time it turned into a very girlish squeal as she held her hands close, prancing on the tips of her hooves. “Oh my gosh! It’s him! It has to be him!” she gushed, rushing towards the coffin like box. Much like everything else in this area, it too, was made from sandstone. The redhead’s eyes sparkled with mysterious wonder at the contents that laid within. The sides of the sarcophagus were elegantly painted with various hieroglyphs and depictions of the god king and the life he once lived. Moondancer leaned back, and took a quick, calming breath and gently waving her hands as she did. “Okay…” she bent over to gently observe the sarcophagus and adjusting her glasses. “We need to be careful when opening-”

A loud metallic bang echoed off the walls as ~Raven~ jammed a crowbar between the lid and the side of the sacred object.

“Raven!” Moondancer shouted, glaring at her friend. “Do you have any idea how old this thing is!?”

The girl in question paused, leaning against the crowbar ready to pop the lid like a can. “No…”

Moondancer pursed her lips out indignantly.

“Look, I don’t care that much,” ~Raven~ admitted, much to Moondancer’s transgressions and inner researcher. The tenno leaned on the metal bar, partially lifting the lid off the coffin. “I have to know what is in here. Now either help me or get out of the way!”

Luna was quick to join her niece as they struggled a bit to remove the lid before they finally got it loose with a hefty jerk. The stone lid banged loudly against the edge of the sarcophagus once, revealing a dark sliver of the unknown. With one last, strengthened push, the lid was finally pushed far enough for it to slid off the opposite end of the coffin, banging loudly as it landed against the stone and sand. It was so heavy that it even shook the ground beneath their feet.

Slowly, the three eased their way forward to look into the darkness.

“Bah!”

“AAHHHHHH!!”

“BAHAHAHAH!” ~Raven~ didn’t hesitate to bust out laughing, holding her bursting sides with both arms as she doubled over in her hysterics. Moondancer had stumbled back when the noise and the feeling of something suddenly touching her shoulder had caught her terribly off guard whereas Luna had shot off straight towards the ceiling in a blue blur. As the instigator leaned back in her revelry, she caught a glimpse of her aunt clinging tightly and shivering violently to one of the drapes above. “What were you expecting? A living mummy?” ~Raven~ giggled.

Moondancer gulped as her fears began to subside and were quickly replaced with anger. The mare grit her teeth as she stood up and wiped off her clothing, grumbling under her breath as she slowly worked her way back to the object of her desire. Luna -after making extra sure that the dead were indeed still dead- fluttered back down towards the ground, the ghost of a smile gracing her lips. At least one of them thought it was funny.

Eventually, all three of them leaned over the edge and stared into the sarcophagus. Inside was indeed a mummy, dead as a doorknob. The body was wrapped in traditional wraps and buried with a few rare coins and gems. ~Raven~ reached inside and pulled out a single, gold coin, examining its surface before she slipped it into a small pouch in her backpack.

“Oh wow...” Moondancer said, breathless. “It’s him… it’s really him… Inaros, God King of the sands!” She squealed, immediately grabbing her camera and snapping numerous photographs.

~Raven~ however, was still a bit skeptical. She eyed the body for the distinct physical features of an Inaros Warframe. But the cloth wrappings were impossible to see through. Other than the gold coins and numerous gems, there was a mask covering the head of the mummy. It was made of some type of bronze or brass like metal and was in the shape of a jackal's head. Reaching out, the tenno gently grasped the mask and lifted it from the mummy's head.

Revealing the wrapped head of a stallion.

“It’s not him,” ~Raven~ stated, defeated and disappointed.

Moondancer looked away from her camera while Luna looked up from where she had been squatting at the head of the sarcophagus. “What do you mean?” the former of the two asked in confusion. “Of course, it’s him. Look!” Moondancer paused, closing her eyes briefly, feeling kinda bad for having to break the bad news. “Okay look, I know how much this means to you and we did find the tomb! I’m sorry, but it’s pretty obvious that the God King was nothing more than another normal stallion…”

~Raven~ knew otherwise though, this was too big to be a coincidence. There was something that she was clearly missing. Resting the mask back in its place on the mummy's clothed skull, the human turned towards the statues. Lifting her hand, she rested it against the shin of one of the statues.

There was a bright light as the energy within her Warframe suddenly transferred into the statue.

Then came the cracks of stone breaking and the sound of sand falling, showering the trio in dust.

That’s when the leg on the closest statue suddenly jerked, then bent at the knee before its gargantuan foot smashed down between the three females, catching them all terribly off guard. Its arms jerked violently as it pried its weapon from the earth while years of dust build up cascaded down its form, making the statue look even more fearsome.

“PROTECT THE TOMB!”

“Raven what did you do!?” Moondancer screeched before her attention was pulled towards the second Guardian that jerked its arms and weapon free before stepping from the platform and eyeing the two mares maliciously. The ground shook violently with each step of the earthen golems palmed their weapons in preparation to attack their respective targets. “Run!”

Luna immediately took flight, igniting her horn and firing blast after blast of magical attacks. But her attacks seemed to do nothing against the stone golem as they flashed against its rock-hard hide, barely chipping away at its surface. The golem swung its weapon at the lunar mare, forcing the princess to dive to avoid the massive weapon while Moondancer made a run for the entrance tunnel. She didn’t make it far when behind her, the golem smashed its weapon deep into the sand, violently shaking the earth. Moondancer lost her hoofing, throwing her arms out to try and catch herself.

The sound of her head cracking against the floor was the precursor to her suddenly losing consciousness and rolling the last couple of steps before coming to a sliding stop, face up in the sand.

~Raven~ continued to cautiously back away, never taking her gaze away from the golem. Oh yeah, she was in the right place. The golem spun its weapon in its hands before bringing it down towards the warframe, trying desperately to spear her. The girl dove, dodging the strike before drawing her Javlok and taking aim. The explosive round struck with enough force to cause the golems head to recoil back in a plume of black smoke. The golem paused, slowly turning its head towards the human, revealing the jagged and newly broken hole. With a full body jerk, the golem pried its weapon from the ground and stood up, charging towards the tenno.

Raven reached out, drawing deep into her reserves and pulling at the moisture trapped within the ruins. Her arm tensed as the wetness within the sand froze, just in time for the golems massive foot to step on the frozen patch, causing it to slip violently, smashing down back first into the ground, tumbling like an out of control boulder before smashing into the temple wall, shattering the sandstone in a plume of sand and dust.

~Raven~ waited with bated breath as she watched the remnants of parts of the wall clatter and roll along the rubble.

“Well that was anticlimactic…”

Just as she turned around, she yelped when a hand wrapped around her entire torso and pulled her off her feet and into the air. Frantically looking towards the ground, she saw the upper half of the surviving golem. The statue's grip tightened around her torso, causing the girl within to wince in pain as she felt her warframe’s back crack loudly. She screamed out, pushing as hard as she could but it was all in vain. ~Raven~ screamed, flooding her systems with every bit of remaining energy she had.

Ice immediately expanded from her palms, quickly spreading across the surface of the stone and fully engulfing the entirety of the golems clenched fist. Once the last few cracks of ice filled each little crack and deformation within the stone, ~Raven~ lifted her right hand high over her head, clenching her fist and smashing it flat against her captor’s grip, spider webbing the surface immediately with a near deafening crack. She did it again and again before finally smashing right through the golems fist.

Now free from the guardians grasp, she landed on all fours before grasping her Javlok that had landed nearby, spinning on her heels and firing a single shot straight at the golem's head, which exploded, shattering into dozens of small pieces of debris.

Luna dove under another swipe from the stone statue, firing a beam of magic from her outstretched arms that dug a deep trench into the golems side and upper right shoulder. Unfazed, the golem spun with such force that it kicked up a thick wall of sand that blinded ~Raven~ who had been going after Moondancer. Luna generated a thick magical shield around herself and deflected the next strike, then dove a second time to dodge the next subsequent swipe. Even though the mare had a bit of combat experience, she was very rusty!

"Niece Raven! We needeth help!"

Just then, a loud metallic clunk filled the air as the golems head recoiled to the left. Luna just barely caught glimpse of her nieces’ pole-mace before it suddenly exploded in a flash of blinding flames. The golem stumbled back from the explosion, smashing back first through one of the stone support columns before toppling over and sliding part way down the dais. Both Luna and her niece watched the golem as the latter of the two approached her Javlok, pulling it from the sand before loading it with another magazine.

When it didn't move after several seconds, only then did the two look towards each other.

"You okay?" ~Raven~ was the first to ask.

"Verily," Luna replied. "How art tho-"

~Raven~ gasped in horror as the stone hand of the golem swatted her aunt like a pesky fly, sending the mare sailing through the air where she smashed back first into the wall with such force, that she cratered in the stone and hung there limply. ~Raven~ barely had enough time to jump under the swipe from the massive stone blade and had to jump a second time when it nearly came down on top of her. When she came down, she landed firmly on the stone blade, immediately running up the shaft and latching onto the golem's arms. The stone creature swung its body like mad trying to flick her off like a scared mare to a spider.

The tenno frantically held on with all her strength. Burmt her right hand gave way, causing her to spin on her left before she drew her sword in the chaos and buried it deep into one of the recesses within the stone. She climbed like a raccoon trying to get away from a rabid hound, pulling herself up with her legs and left hand while using her sword as an anchor.

Under the shadow of the colossus, ~Raven~ clawed her way up and onto the golem's shoulder and towards the creature's shattered head. She jammed her sword into the side of the beast's head, holding on for dear life with her left hand while she drew her Javlok with her right hand. She speared the sandstone with the armored head of her weapon before extending the weapon fully.

She dumped the mag.

Large chunks of debris, sand, and sandstone sprayed from the wound with each shot, violently chipping away at the weakened stone. The remnants of the golem's head finally shattered with the eighth shot, bringing the guardians reign of terror to its inevitable end. The statue swayed listlessly before it finally dropped to its knees and tilted forward. ~Raven~ rode the body like a surfboard as it slammed down, shattering at the joints into several large boulders that rolled several feet away from the impact zone.

~Raven~ took a few exhausted steps away from the center most boulder and bent over, resting her hands on her knees before connecting to her warframe through her somatic link. She was quick to ask him how he was doing, to which he replied slightly damaged, but fine. Nothing some time to let his body heal, would do. Just as she was about to go and help her friends, a voice, low, deep, and very imposing spoke.

"You have violated this sacred place!"

~Raven~ spun on her heels, drawing her sword out of reflex as she faced the threat before her. His dark armor glinted in the dim light, jet-black in color with blood red highlights. Head shaped like the jackal, the exact same shape as the mask from the sarcophagus. He was gangly and thin, emaciated if anything. The way he shook like a zombie did not add anything to how imposing the man should be.

"Inaros…"

"Silence!" The God King bellowed as he descended the steps of the dais on shaky legs. "You have violated this sacred place. Explain yourself!"

Raven stepped out from within her warframe, narrowing her eye at the Egyptian warframe. Inaros paused, tilting his head curiously.

"You are Orokin…" he mused. "What is an Orokin doing here!?"

"I'm here for-"

"Silence!" Inaros bellowed a second time, pointing a gangly finger at her. "You are human. You are Orokin! You have violated this sacred place!" Reaching across his body, the warframe drew a hooked, wickedly curved sword from his left hip. To anyone else, he wouldn't have looked that threatening, like a twig in a windstorm. "I will not let you ruin the life we have created here!"

Raven furrowed her brow.

"We? What do you mean by-AH!"

Raven grasped at her face from the surprised strike, sand immediately burning at her only good eye. She stumbled back, immediately transferring into Frost. That was one of Inaros' dirty abilities, but she didn't have time to whine as she drew her sword, blocking the incoming strike from the charging warframe. Through her warframe's augment optics, she glared at the man opposite her.

They pushed away from one another, but just as quickly, clashed weapons yet again. Raven knew that one should never take anything for granted. Even as weak and emaciated as Inaros looked, he was still a warframe, built by the Orokin to combat humanity's greatest enemy.

The two warframes clashed in blurs of steel and ice, frantically striking at one another, desperately trying to probe for any weaknesses in one another’s defense. The hooked blade of the Sand King's weapon was ruthless with each imposing strike. Both the tip and the hilt were much closer to cutting the young princess than the weapons main cutting point. Her straight sword, dagger like design was more in line with stabbing and almost put her at a disadvantage.

Inaros drew back, spinning wildly with a downward strike. The princess blocked the strike with a clang from her opponent's sword as she held him at bay yet again. She continued to glare at him before she noticed the chip in her cryotic blade. It caught her by surprise, as no other weapon could hold up to her frozen sword. But Orokin craftsmanship was the true test of the war-smith’s art. Weapons sharp enough to render steel useless. A true force to be reckoned with.

The tenno drew back, thrusting her armored knee forward and finally breaking Inaros' defense and catching the warframe right in the gut. The god king doubled over briefly, just enough for the princess to strike again, elbowing him on the back of the head before she scrambled away, trying to gain enough distance so that she could explain herself. But just as she opened her mouth, Inaros was on her like a jackal to a carcass.

Steele and ice collided with a bang, forcing the ice frame back yet again. Just as fast as they collided, they broke apart, this time however, Inaros went for the strike, lifting his weapon high over his head, ~Raven~ thrust her left hand forward and fired a blast of arctic wind, catching the warframe terribly off guard. Inaros flailed his limbs as he sailed through the air before landing square on his back, digging a small trench in the sand as he slid.

"I'm not Orokin!" The God King heard the deceiver say from within the chamber.

"You lie in this sacred place?" Inaros spat as he stood up, using his hooked sword as a crutch before he started walking down the steps of the dais, the tip of his weapon dragging at his side and tinking with step it dropped. "No human has set foot on this planet in over a millennia! You are not permitted here…"

Hidden in the shadows behind one of the pillars, ~Raven~ eased her way to peek around the stone column as she raised her sword. But before she could do anything, the princess jumped with a squeak when the hooked blade smashed around her neck. ~Raven~ thrust her fist forward, cocking her aggressor across the jaw, sending Inaros tumbling backwards and off the podium. Prying the weapon from around her neck and tossing it aside, ~Raven~ jumped after the warframe. But when she landed, she couldn't find him anywhere.

The tenno took a few tentative steps across the sand, searching for the errand and elusive warframe. As she went the princess failed to see the very sand below her feet moving to a nonexistent breeze. A body began to form behind her, materializing into the shadow of the God King himself.

She spotted him on her radar just in time.

Metal rang out as they locked blades yet again, trying desperately to out strength the other. "You have defiled this place! This land! And you will perish for it!" Inaros seethed, pressing firmly on the tip of his blade. ~Raven~ held him back by mirroring her opponent's action. "You have corrupted their minds!" Inaros spat, referring to both Moondancer and Luna. "They cannot be permitted to live lest they spread your lies!"

Reaching out, the sand-frame pulled at the sandstone ceiling, the stone cracking violently, bits of stone and sand fluttering to the ground below. It was as if he was pulling the very stone itself free before a substantial chunk of stone finally tore free, dropping like brick right towards Moondancer!

~Raven~ was quick to reach out with her left hand, quickly encasing her friend in a thick dome of ice, protecting her as the wagon size chunk smashed down, bouncing off the surface of the frozen dome. Instead of focusing on a lost cause that he would try to come back to, the God King reached out towards Luna, a square column of stone protruded from the wall with the lunar princess at the tip. ~Raven~ was equally as quick to manifest a ring of ice around the unconscious mare’s torso, firmly holding her in place. Inaros retaliated with a low growl, pulling his weapon back and going for the slice, but ~Raven~ was just as quick, catching the warframe's hand by the wrist. The princess mirrored the action herself, only to end up in the same position of her aggressor.

The two fought for dominance knowing full well that if they relented, their opponent would gain the upper hand. But unbeknownst to the God King, the demon had a secret weapon of her own. A hidden power. Raven transferred from her warframe, reaching out from her suit as her upper body and right hand extended out towards her opponent. She palmed his breastplate, tendrils of energy radiation from the source of light that had manifested from her open palm.

Raven blinked in confusion before her head snapped side to side as she tried to take in her sudden change in surroundings. She was in a building, Orokin in design, the pristine white walls and gold trim of the tower is always too familiar. She was in the weave, but it was a stark contrast to the weave between her and Frost. His was a white void, this had context to it.

It was a memory.

And an incomplete one at that. The closer the young woman looked, the more she could see the blurred and cut edges of certain spots on the walls and the fading objects such as plants, doors, and smaller details. She took a few tentative steps forward before the princess heard an ear-piercing screech. But instead of running, or trying to hide, the teen ran towards the noise. The hallway was long and the door at the end was the traditional gold and white oriental automatic door. With a hiss, the door opened and the human jogged inside.

Towards the center of the room, Inaros was hunched over a bloody corpse, sobbing loudly. The woman was dressed in an elegant white dress stained crimson with her blood, her hair hiding her face and upper body, and most likely whatever wound had caused the large pool of blood oozing from her corpse. Raven took a tentative step forward before she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

Her blood was boiling hard.

The man may have been out of a nightmare. His body structure was the only human looking part of him. His skin grey, much like that of a stone statue, a stark contrast to the gold and white silk toga, socks and solid gold shoes, a traditional garb of the Orokin hierarch. His right arm was hidden, -as it should be, the man is a freak. He wore a gold necklace and his eyes, those empty white voids that pulled away from his snake like hair.

Ballas…

She watched him like the snake in the grass he was. But the Orokin High Executor didn't speak, he just watched, like a buzzard to a gut pile. That's when she could hear the warframes sobs. That woman meant a lot to the warframe. The girl watched on as Inaros' tremors and sobs came to an end.

It was dead silent.

Then in the blink of an eye, the warframe drew his hooked sword and thrusting it towards the executor’s stomach.

"No…"

Inaros froze, an invisible force holding him at bay. But the warframe was resilient still, shaking violently as he attempted to break free and strike down the man that did that to him!

He was a mutant, a monster, and a freak.

Inaros continued to struggle as he was forced to stare at that stupid smug smile!

Ballas took a step forward, inching ever closer towards the tip of the jagged weapon as he slowly lifted his arm.

Then out of no where, Ballas gagged.

Both beings slowly tilted their heads towards the weapon now buried deep into Ballas' gut. The Orokin hierarch slowly lifted his head as Inaros did the same, but the Orokin Executor wasn't looking towards the warframe. Inaros was surprised to see the Orokin girl standing next to him, her hand grasping the metal man's wrist.

"Rot in hell you sack of shit…" Raven spat.

"But… I created you…" Ballas gasped.

Raven grit her teeth before she pried Inaros' weapon from his grasp and hooked the blade around the man’s leg, jerking his feet out from underneath him. Ballas landed hard on his back and before he could even bag for mercy, the tenno spun the hooked sword in her grasp before she crossed her body with it and threw the weapon, spearing the executor square in the chest.

Inaros was dumbfounded.

"I told you I'm not Orokin," Raven told the still frozen warframe as she slowly turned towards him. Reaching out, she gently rested her right hand on the warframes wrist. "You have relived this moment countless times. But our minds are linked now. We'll face this together. You were a victim as much as she was."

The warframe turned back towards the woman, who was now standing, unharmed. She was gorgeous, deep blue eyes, and immaculate skin. Her smile melted his heart.

"You didn't do this… Ballas did."

Inaros began to shake violently, his fingers clenching around the handle of his sword. He tried to fight it! He couldn't! Not again!

But it was too late…

She screamed…

Drugged, tortured, eviscerated, and brutalized minds…

But nothing ever seemed to work.

For what seemed like the millionth time, Inaros dropped his weapon and fell to his knees… and crawled towards his murdered wife.

He embraced her…

It was not through force of will -her void devilry -not alien darkness … it was something else. She had learned to see inside an ugly, broken thing.

And take away its pain.

"I… want it to be over!" Inaros sobbed as he eased his wife onto the floor. "What's done … is done…"

"We accept this memory and move beyond its reach."

Slowly, both warframes released one another from their vice like grips. Frost watched on tentatively as Inaros slowly stepped back, examining his arms and weapon within his grasp. When he was finished, Raven transferred herself from the sand king before turning to face the warframe.

"I told you I'm not Orokin," Raven stated in Orokin to the warframe.

"But you are of their design," Inaros replied as he sheathed his weapon on his right hip.

Raven pursed his lips inward indignantly and rolled her eye. "So are you!" she countered.

"Not by choice…"

She sighed before she glanced up towards her aunt, who was just now coming into consciousness. The warframe took note and with outstretched arm, eased the mare towards the ground. Luna was surprised at first, but relaxed when she saw that the fighting had come to an end. Raven snapped her fingers at Frost and swiped her arm towards her aunt, silently ordering her warframe to release the blue mare. Frost clenched his fist, the ice around Luna cracking before shattering completely. Then he did the same with Moondancer's ice dome as well.

"What happened to your operator?" Raven asked, grabbing the attention of the king.

"My what?" Inaros replied in a confusing matter.

"Your operator," she repeated. "Someone like me. We control the warframes."

"Nobody controls me!" Inaros spat.

Raven gave him a bemused expression. When the shaky warframe refused to respond, the girl immediately transferred into him. Inaros was caught desperately off guard as he suddenly lost all motor functions. He felt like a prisoner in his own subconscious.

"If there is anybody on this planet that you don't want to fuck with, it's me," the tenno harshly countered.

She transferred out and gave the being his body back.

Inaros did a full body shudder as his mind regained control of his systems before falling back into his usual tremors. That was extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant. "What are you?"

"I'm a Tenno," Raven replied, holding a hand to her chest. "Have you not heard of us?"

The god king shook his head. "I have been here for some time, locked in stasis until you freed me."

"Niece Raven?"

The girl and the warframe both turned towards Princess Luna, who was kneeled next to a shivering Moondancer. "How doth though knoweth the language of the gods?"

Raven paused, a shiver running up her back. But she swallowed down her nervousness before replying with a point of her finger towards her aunt, "I'll talk about that later," she brushed off before turning back to the warframe. "How did you get here?"

"I will not answer that."

"Okay… why are you here?" she tried a second time with a different question.

"I will not answer."

The girl threw her arms into the air annoyedly. "Is there a question you will answer?"

"You ask too many questions," Inaros replied as he turned to walk away.

"I know you came here from the Origin System," Raven stated, causing the warframe to pause. "You are an Orokin weapon designed to fight in the Old War. A failed experiment that brought nothing but death and destruction in its wake. I know what you are, and I know that you are not like the one standing over there!" She pointed at Frost who was helping Luna and Moondancer. "You're not the only thing the Orokin abused to fight in their war. So tell me Inaros… what, the hell, happened!?"

Inaros narrowed his eyes at her as he turned to face the human woman. "I do not trust you!" he aggressively admitted. "You are of Orokin design. Unless you prove yourself to me, you will not receive the answers to your questions."

Raven took a deep breath, calming her rising frustrations. "What must I do?" she asked, then quickly added in, "Lest I remind you who saved you from your eternal turmoil?" The human stepped forward and pressed her pointer finger flat against the warframes, cold, red helmet. "I hate them as much as you do…" she whispered.

Inaros stayed silent.

He was under no obligation. No order or requirement. But he still felt compelled to at least tell the woman something.

So, he did.

"The answers you seek. You will find through the mist. Only then, will you find the will of the wisp."

"The answers you seek- ACHOO!" Moondancer sneezed, shuddering as she wiped her running nose. "I'm pretty sure you gave me pneumonia, Raven…" Moondancer snorted, nice and wet too. "Ugh… Anyway, the answers you seek. You find through the mist. Only then, will you find the will of the wisp."

The three females were on their way home after their little adventure, hold up in their train cabin on their way back to Canterlot. Moondancer was currently huddling under as many wool blankets as she could, with history book in hand, while Raven was above her friend on her bunk and Luna was opposite them, on the bottom bunk.

Neither of them were under their blankets, it was still too hot. But the lunar princess was reading a letter and the human was staring at the roof with her arms resting behind her head, lost in thought.

“What do you think?” Moondancer asked nasally.

“Well… what do you?” Raven asked as she leaned over her bunk to look down at her friend.

Moondancer snorted as she wiped her muzzle with the back of her sleeve. “Well…” she started before she flipped through her book until she found what she was after. “Wisp is one of the ‘Butterfly Queens.’ She’s known as the monarch, because of her signature black and orange coloration.”

Wisp was yet another warframe.

The will of the wisp. Wil-O-Wisp was one of the frames abilities. But that may or may not be part of the riddle. But what was certain was that Raven would need to find Wisp. But the second part of the riddle was the most confusing. Through the mist? What did that even mean?

“Through the mist is the part I don’t get,” Moondancer mused. “Luna? Do you have an idea?”

Luna lowered the scroll she was reading, rolling it up as she spoke. “We may have an idea… but we are not sure. Perhaps our sister will know?”

“Well, I still got about a month left on this trek, if you guys are still interested,” Raven offered. With still a lot to think on, the young princess leaned back onto her mattress, resting her head onto her cool pillow and closing her eye.

“I’m sick as a dog…” Moondancer sniffled.

“And Tia wishes for us to come back to Canterlot,” Luna added.

“Alright,” Raven shrugged as she hugged her midsection, relaxing and let the train lull her into a state of blissful numbness. “Anypony have any plans for when we get home?”

“Bed…”

“Whatever Tia wants us to do,” Luna replied before she rolled over onto her side so that she could better see her friend and part of her niece. “What about you niece Raven? Art though still courting that young stallion?”

“Indeed, I am,” the girl in question answered. “Maybe I can get him to come with me?” she mused softly to herself. “I am eager to see him.” Internally, she was squealing and extremely excited to see her coltfriend. But externally, she kept face.

“Has he made you a mare yet?” Luna teased with the same smirk.

“Ha!” Raven laughed as she opened her eye and rolled to face her aunt, matching her smirk with one of her own. “You kidding me? First thing I’m going to do is ride him like a bull! We fuck like rabbits just about every chance we get.” The girl laid back, then waived her left arm towards her aunt. “Don’t tell mom.”

Luna giggled as she too, rolled onto her back. “As long as you don’t tell Tia about how we occasionally grab a guard and ‘lock his world’ as it is now said.”

“It’s ‘rock his world,’” Raven clarified. “And deal!”

“Can we stop with the sex talk?” Moondancer whimpered with a blush, causing both royals to openly laugh at their embarrassed friends' expense.

“Moondancer… we need to get you laid!”

“We agree!”

Moondancer squeaked.

Then sneezed.

Author's Notes:

So there is another warframe in Equestria.

But what do you guys think this means?

You will find through the mist. Only then, will you will find the will of the wisp?

What do you thinks this means for Equestria?

Leave your thoughts and theories below.

If you enjoy the story, like that smash button!