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Som-Mama

by Shadowmane PX-41

Chapter 8: Som-Mama's Home...

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Somnambula finally saw a village appear in the distance and zipped forward, not letting the winds or the sandstorm ahead faze her. Gliding over the buildings, she saw a palace at the end of it, surrounded by a moat with crocodiles in it. With twin obelisks pointing to the skies like massive spikes bursting out of the ground and large braziers lit brightly around them, it was none other than the pharaoh's temple. And, likely, where Fwynxie and the queen had been taken by Howling.

"What horrific acts is that stallion doing to the two of them?" Somnambula asked herself as she approached the temple, making sure not to fly too low and disrupt the ponies in the village. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure that I can talk to the pharaoh about his acts and see if we can resolve this like diplomats. There is no way the pharaoh would allow such barbaric trafficking and experimenting in his Southern Equestria..."

As Somnambula came to the temple walls, she watched the guards patrolling. Armored from the neck down and carrying spears in one hoof while shields sat daintly on their arms, they were nothing but the best that the country had to offer. Some had horns, others had wings, but she knew that they were all a force to be reckoned with.

She landed by the entrance to the temple courtyard and walked up to the guards, who both bowed and nodded before her before stepping aside. Winking at both of the guards and patting them on the back with her wings, she made the walk across the courtyard, past the four square fountains before walking up the stairs to the chambers of the temple.

"Thank the gods that the guards still appreciate me after all I did for the country..." Somnambula muttered to herself as she went inside the building. "Now, I just hope that Howling hasn't wormed his way into the pharaoh's mind and agreed with him on experimenting on Fwynxie and the queen. I won't ever let a child like that be hurt; especially when they've imprinted on me!"

Somnambula passed by many rooms and chambers on her way to the pharaoh's throne. All of them lined with carpet and decorated with trinkets of all shapes and sizes on each wall, ceiling, and corner. There were sometimes ponies talking to others, and some rooms were empty, but they were all the same; and none of them got her any closer to her baby and her queen.

Eventually, Somnambula came to a larger door with a gold frame and hieroglyphs on the panels. Two handles stretched across the doors and ran parallel to each other. Though it looked heavy and hard to open, there was a small crack in the middle. Pressing her eyes to it, Somnambula listened to the conversation inside.

"With all due respect, Howling, there really is no need for all of this," the regal voice of the pharaoh spoke as he paced back and forth in his chambers. "Sphinxes really need not bother us after we both agreed not to invade each others' lands."

"Tell that to the sphinxes that did invade mine. After the agreement was made, no doubt!" Howling grumbled and stomped his hoof on the ground. "My pharaoh, as much as I appreciate your decision, this is a personal issue for me. How can we just let powerful beasts roam free when we don't even know what they're capable of? We need to study them and make sure that we know everything about them, just in case that they try to break the deal and start pillaging our homes again."

"Howling, I cannot ever undo the damage those creatures did for you and Topaz Eye." The pharaoh put a hoof on Howling's shoulders. "And at the same time, I can never show anything but sadness and pity for you and your wife. Still, we provided you with a home here, along with all of the finest fruits and delicacies we can offer."

"Which I am still grateful for, but that doesn't change the subject matter. Sphinxes. Need. To. Be. Understood. If not, they could plan an attack and wipe our country off of the map without us being able to do a thing about it!" Howling's hair drooped as it absorbed sweat. "Plus, I delivered two to you. Myself, I might add. No mere medjay or party of ponies could accomplish such a task. A baby and a grown-up too. That way, we can examine the differences in power, physical attributes, and so much more.

"Even if you think me a barbarian and a monster for this, surely, nobody would want to pass up this opportunity. And if you do shut this operation down, some other ponies will come across and agree with me." Howling turned his back and began to walk out. "Better to accept before someone else scoops up the idea and does more... horrific things to them. It's your choice, my pharaoh. Either you agree and we safely work on them before letting them go, or we give them to somepony else, who decides to go a bit... further with their experiments."

"Wait, Howling!" The pharaoh jabbed a hoof to reach out for him. "Maybe I... will accept your offer. But I will need time before I can agree completely. I will also need your word that you will be humane when dealing with those sphinxes. Hypocrisy is reserved a place in Tartarus, after all."

"Trust me, my pharaoh. I will do no more than analyze their magic and bodies. Nothing extreme like dissection." Howling Dune knelt down and bowed before the pharaoh before making his way to the door. "You are a very wise pony for agreeing to this. I can guarantee you Southern Equestria will benefit from this research."

Somnambula quickly flew up to the ceiling and pressed her body against the roof as Howling Dune stepped out of the building and walked off. Once he left, she silently dropped back on the ground and closed her wings up, rubbing sweat off of her head.

"I'll deal with him later. For now, I must find the sphinxes." Somnambula went into the pharaoh's chambers and shut the doors behind her. "Before Howling finds me..."

"Somnambula. Where were you?" The pharaoh asked once the doors closed up. "After you went off to save the prince, you didn't come back for the rest of the night!" He quickly ran up to her and pulled her into a hug. "It's good to have you back anyway."

Somnambula just let out a sheepish chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck as the pharaoh embraced her. She wasn't that much of a hugger around the royals, but she did like hugs nonetheless; preferably when they weren't crushing her lungs into pancakes. Still, she blushed at his hug and smiled once he finished.

"Sorry I'm late. I ran into some... traps when I made it to the temple." Somnambula idly tapped her front hooves together, trying not to sound too obvious as she tried to conceal the fact that she fell in love with a baby sphinx. "They even cut off my power of flight, so it was an extra-tough challenge to make it back out."

"I see. But what matters is that you're back. Safe and sound. And so is our prince." The pharaoh's warm smile landed in her heart as he patted her on the chest. "And just in time too. I need your help to guide me through a rather difficult decision."

"Howling wants to study the sphinxes, but he's not exactly the kind of person I would trust with such a task." Somnambula shook her head as she looked down at the ground. "Knowing his spite and rage, he's probably going to archive Fwynxie and the queen's knowledge, fill a book, then dispose of the two of them before going on to do the rest to every other sphinx in his path."

"He does have some home issues. That much is true," said the pharaoh as he turned back to the throne and took a seat. "But still, sphinxes are a danger to our lands. Even with the peace accord we made with them, they are still very powerful. Not many ponies can answer their riddles, for they always try to throw them off with a multiple-answer riddle every now and again, yet only accept a very specific answer..."

"Whatever happens to them, I need to see Fwynxie and the queen. Before Howling gets any ideas on what to do with them." Somnambula's eyes glinted as the light from the flames hit them. "Do you know where he put them when he delivered them to you?"

"Yes. Beneath the temple, in an underground vault capable of containing even the strongest of beasts. Both magically and physically." The pharaoh tapped the ground with the palm of his hoof. "You'll need to go downstairs in order to find it. It should have a sigil like this." And he grabbed a piece of papyrus and showed off a picture of chains wrapping around a minotaur in a circle format. "Just tap it, and the vault should open. Knowing him, the sphinxes will have been chained up to prevent moving, and sealed with a magical dampening spell that should curb their powers, but not diminish them."

"Thank you ever so much, my pharaoh. I shall go there immediately." Somnambula smiled and started to walk off.

"Before you do, Somnambula, I must ask you to show even some of the slightest bit of mercy towards Howling if you do find him and he freaks out about them being set free..." The pharaoh trotted over and brushed her back as she touched the door again. "Howling lost his home to sphinxes, with one of those specific-answer riddles. Naturally, he was furious. Especially since the answer he gave was also valid, but the sphinxes refused to accept it. And if you must battle him... just please don't think of him as a barbarian. He does mean well, after all."

"Hmm..." Somnambula let the thought run through her mind over and over again as she thought back to when Howling battled Fwynxie and the queen. The tears of Fwynxie also echoed in her mind as an image of his ferocious glare burned into her. But as she added the new story the pharaoh gave to her, she couldn't help but feel confliction in her soul. His acts were deplorable, but he was fighting because they had taken from him and he was simply returning the favor. But would it really be considered good if he was committing the wrong act for the right reasons? "I will see. No promises, though. Prepare the dungeon for him if we cannot reason with him."

"I understand." The pharaoh nodded. "Be careful down there, Somnambula."

Somnambula just gave a nod as she ran out of the room and dashed down the halls towards the underground vault. Now that she knew where Fwynxie and the queen was, the next task was to figure out a way to free them without being seen, and before Howling executed his plans.


As Somnambula ran down the stairs, the light around her began to grow thin. If not for the few torches burning at the walls on these lower floors, the whole place would have been enveloped in darkness. There were a few piles of sand sitting at the walls, but nothing too major. Spider webs and crumbled stone could also be seen, giving the illusion that the place was more haunted than it had been made out to be.

"Fwynxie... Queen... I'm almost there." Somnambula ran to the end of the short hall and saw the sigil at last. Jumping up, she gave it a hoofbump and pushed it into the door. It rotated and glowed, sending magical veins across the stone, before sinking into the ground and disappearing from sight. "I just pray that I'm not too late."

The vault was much more expansive than she thought. With how wide apart the walls were and how tall the ceiling was, the place almost looked like an abandoned coliseum more than a prison. The ground was slightly curved at the edges of the circular room, and the only light source was a red crystal that shone down and emanated a similarly-coloured spotlight down on Fwynxie and the queen, who were both cuddling each other while chains adorned their neck, legs, and wings.

"Fwynxie! Queen!" Somnambula flew into the room and landed by the two incapacitated sphinxes. "Thank the stars you're alright!"

"If by, alright, I've been stripped of my magic, and Fwynxie's been crying non-stop since we arrived, yeah, I'd say that it's been just peachy." The queen groaned and slammed the ground with her paw. "Not to mention my crown, which is the only source of my power, is gone. Blast that accursed pony for locking us up down here!"

"I'm going to free you from this place, but getting out is the next question..." She looked back at the door and watched as it closed up behind her. "I can easily push the sigil and leave, but you two won't be able to squeeze through that hole in the wall. We'll need to find another way out for you two."

"I've already checked the whole room, Somnambula. The only way out is if we find a secret passage. And judging from how this room's built, I don't think there is one." The queen lifted her head from the ground and promptly lowered it again. "But... I guess this is also a blessing in disguise. This place dampens magic, so that pony can't use his magical papers to get us out either."

"Som-Mama. Now we twapped..." Fwynxie sobbed and pulled Somnambula in close, her body still flat on the ground. "But at least, we twapped with yoo." Her smile came back, even though her tears still flowed.

"Trust me, my little Fwynxie." Somnambula put a hoof on Fwynxie's muzzle and rubbed her belly with the other. "I will free you from this place. And when I do, I'll set you free, so you can go live with the rest of the sphinxes."

As she finished talking, the door to the room began to open again, and Somnambula dived behind the body of the queen. Poking her head out from the side, she watched as Howling Dune walked into the room, grinning as he looked up at the sphinxes.

"So. You've no doubt seen what this vault can do, accursed ones." He spoke, much calmer and more confident in his voice, rather than venomous and hate-filled. "Those chains have been galvanized to hold many a beast. From Set, Apophis, and many more before them. They cannot be broken. Under any circumstances."

"We figured." The queen deadpanned as she glared into his eyes. "What more do you want with us, pony? You've already broken my magic and trapped us here. What do you want after you've learned about us?"

"I want my home back. The very same one your kind swindled away from me with a devious, underhanded riddle with many right answers." Howling growled and gritted his teeth, scraping his hooves across the floor. "A riddle should accept ALL the correct answers; not just think only one is the answer and make the other ones invalid when they really are not."

"You a meanie." Fwynxie whimpered as she looked at him. "Leave us awone, or Som-Mama will hurt yoo."

"You're so attached to that pony you ensnared, child." Howling walked up to Fwynxie and booped her nose. "Just let her go. She is free. Free to live her life like every other pony on this planet. Why, I bet that, by now, she's forgotten all about you and your friend over here." He patted the queen's nose left, quickly pulling back his hoof as she tried to bite it.

"We will be leaving this room, monster. One way or another." The queen clawed up sand around her. "And either you'll let us free, or we'll break out."

"The second one is impossible, sphinxes." Howling shook his head. "No matter what underhanded tactics you use, the only real way to escape this place is through the door behind me. And as you can see—" He lifted his hoof to the closing door. "It only opens to a pony's touch. You're never leaving this place." And he walked back to the door, opened it, and glanced back. "Not without paying the price for taking my home away from me!" He snarled before running out.

As soon as the door closed, Somnambula jumped out from behind the queen's back.

"He speaks lies. There will be a way for us to leave." Somnambula looked up at the crystal. "Though it weakens you, this vault will still let you use magic. But only the most basic of spells there is. Nothing major like taking me to a hide-and-seek maze or anything like that."

"We'll find a way." Somnambula smiled and rubbed the queen's cheek, before doing the same to Fwynxie's. "You still have magic, little one. And you might also have a spell that will free you and the queen."

"Huh?" Fwynxie opened her eyes.

"I was once read a bedtime story when I was a foal, about a graceful sphinx who wasn't a riddle-obsessed one like all the rest. About how she could use magic to shrink and grow whenever she wanted to deal with an evil sorceror who had enslaved the ponies of a faraway village." Somnambula looked into Fwynxie's eyes. "The spell was based off of a real-life spell that a pony once saw with his own eyes. He said that every sphinx; even baby ones could do it if they concentrated hard enough."

"But... the cwystal." Fwynxie pointed up to the magic dampener. "No mowe magic. Plus, me baby."

"It's a simple spell, Fwynxie. But first, I'll need to get something to carry you and the queen out." Somnambula's grin stayed as she nuzzled into her neck. "I'll be back by nightfall at the very latest." Somnambula turned back to the door and pushed it open. "Be safe for me until then."

"Okay, Som-Mama..." Fwynxie waved her off, but didn't show as much energy in her voice as usual.

"Come back quickly now. That Howling Dune could come back and take us away any minute." The queen added, lifting one of her paws.

Somnambula gave a nod and ran back out, flying as fast as she could. In the process, her wing gusts blew out the candles, blanketing the whole place in a thick, shadowy veil of pitch-black darkness.

Next Chapter: The Plan Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes
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