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NiktoBarada

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NiktoBarada last won the day on October 24 2023

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About NiktoBarada

  • Birthday 06/14/1965

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  • Main Character
    Tongue Twister

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    Science, science fiction.
  • Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
  • Gender
    Colt

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  1. "Well, any ideas about how to get past that seal ?" her younger employer inquired after TT had been investigating an instant photo of the seal for a few minutes. "Despite its immense size, it's just a cylinder lock." she replied, "The key used to fit in that triangular recess right there. But they broke the key off inside the lock ! To ensure any tomb robbers would have a difficult time proceeding further." Her elder employer mused for a bit. "You say it's just a cylinder lock ? Meaning that if the cylinder the lock fit inside could be turned, the lock would open ?" "Yes." she replied, "But getting enough leverage to turn the cylinder in such cramped space will be rather difficult !" "Well, if all that is required is simply turning a cylinder, we should have enough unicorns to do the job." the younger employer stated. "Ah. Good point." TT stated, before asking how far away they could stand and still do the job. Turned out that, with enough lighting, they could all see down to the alcove and just make out the lock. "Do you suspect yet another trap ?" the younger employer inquired as she was still snooping around that seal. "This would be the perfect place for one." TT replied as she retrieved a tool she bought from a dentist friend - a small mirror on a short, thin rod. Just the thing to look behind close or tight corners. "Yep. One more trap." she stated after a few more moments of checking. "There are four very large springs behind this seal. As soon as it's opened, the restraining bars retract, and the springs shove the seal violently forward, shoving anypony standing in the way either down the shaft, or crushing them into the opposite wall. So NOPONY MESS WITH THE LOCK UNTIL WE GET UP THERE !" Once safely on the surface, she stood back while the unicorns in the group focused on turning that cylinder. After a few moments of turning the cylinder with great difficulty, the trap activated, slamming the gigantic metal seal into the opposite wall with enough force to make the ponies topside wobble a bit. Tongue Twister was listening, waiting to hear the sound of the the seal falling into the pit; but all got quiet once the echoes died down. Looking down the shaft showed the seal was embedded in the wall. True, the stone was one of the softest stones, but it was still stone. She headed back down the shaft, and into the alcove where the warning seal used to be. There were four holes on the back wall where the springs powering the trap used to be, and on the ceiling a crack just big enough for a pony to fit inside. "That would be the way to the vault." TT stated, "In order to find the way in, you have to set off the main trap." She investigated a bit, and found the route was truly horrible - the shaft was just barely wide enough for a pony to squeeze through, without a millimeter to spare. No room to flap wings. Or even turn around. And since it meandered in slow curves, there was no way to see what was ahead, so no way to teleport. No way to tell where an unexpected sound came from. Or what made it. Or how badly echoes are altered - a gust of wind could sound like breathing right behind you. No way of knowing how far the shaft went; could be in there for minutes or hours. And with no light, it would be home to any number of spiders, scorpions, centipedes, snakes, or other vermin ready to scamper unseen over your hooves. Or drop on you. There don't need to be any traps in the tunnel, since the intruder's own instincts, paranoia and claustrophobia are the traps. The tunnel will give you the willies so badly that no one would willingly venture into it. "You going to have enough room to use a light crystal or a safety line in there ?" the elder employer asked, looking to Tongue Twister.
  2. Two days later TT was writing down all the measurements she'd taken in her journal, and organizing the rolls of film she'd taken (to be developed later when she had the equipment and time to do it right. The other workers were pulling out buckets full of sand - the quarters were too tight to take more than a little at a time. It was a primitive measure to ensure ponies would have a really hard time reaching the vault proper, but an extremely cheap and effective one. She noted the laborer's safety line on the floor. Not tied to anything. TT sighed. She warned them there might be more traps, but no pony seemed to listen. Suddenly, the worker at the bottom of the shaft screamed, and his safely line began rushing down the hole ! TT just mananged to grab it with her teeth and brace herself for the slide - hooves don't get much purchase on polished stone floors. She managed to catch herself at the lip of the shaft and hold on for a few moments for help to arrive. "What happened ?" she asked the fortunate worker once he'd been pulled up. "I don't know !" he replied while still catching his breath from the fright, "I just relayed up another bucket of sand, then the floor fell away !" Tongue Twister turned on her lamp and tried to look down the shaft. She didn't see the bottom where it should be. So she rummaged through her satchel and pulled out a flash grenade. She centered it in the shaft, then let it fall as she began counting. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four seconds. Five - then a flash of light. "Hmm. Distance roughs out to sixteen feet times seconds, squared. Sixteen times twenty five is four hundred feet. More or less." she stated, "The safety rope was only a hundred feet." "So ?" her younger employer asked. "It was another trap." TT replied, "A drop shaft at the bottom of the access shaft. Any worker not tied off would have fallen three hundred feet. We wonder if the bottom of the trap is just sand, stone, a pool of acid, or has metal spikes ..." "WHY do you want to know that ?!" "Morbid curiosity." TT replied as she scribbled a few more sentences into her journal. "I thought you were an expert at this sort of thing !" another laborer stated, "You OBVIOUSLY missed a trap !" Tongue Twister glared at him. "Did we ? Why do you think we insisted on everypony going down the shaft to dig wear a safety tether ? Floor collapses are very common, even if they weren't a purpose-built trap !" Her employers glanced at each other before the elder spoke up "Perhaps you should investigate the site further ? Ensure there are no other traps ?" "Well, that is what you hired us for. Be right back." she replied as she jogged outside, to return a few moments later with a large rectangular suitcase. She opened it. Inside were two crystal balls on a velvet pillow - one bigger than a pony's head, the other the size of an orange. Both had one half painted flat black. She took the smaller one in hoof and held it aloft, moving it around while watching the scene in the larger crystal. It was displaying what the smaller crystal 'saw'. "A remote viewing crystal set ?" the elder employer asked, "Didn't know there was such a thing." "Well, it's a moderately difficult spell, with exacting material components." TT replied, "It's a niche item, so not many ponies would know about it." she continued as she put on a pith helmet, then carefully stuck the smaller crystal into a clamp mounted on the helmet. She lit up an illumination crystal and carefully rappelled down the shaft. About a hundred feet down, she encountered a ring of stones where the floor used to be. There were deep alcoves opposite each other. The one to the back just had old ropes and the dusty remains of chisels and hammers partially buried in sand. The other alcove led to a pair of doors made from a pale greenish-gold metal. The doors were sealed with a pair of thick bars going through a gigantic disk. There was a symbol on the disk. Her employers yelled down to her, asking if she knew what that symbol was. She climbed back up to tell them. It was the sigil of the Unnamed God, Keeper of Secrets and Mysteries. The ultimate 'DO NOT ENTER !' sign. "There must be something really valuable down there !" her younger employer stated with a flicker of greed in his eyes, "Why else go through all this trouble ?" "To protect ponies from something dangerous." TT replied, "A vault can hold many things. Sometimes, it's riches. Other times, it's death and misery." "A vault, you say ?" he asked as he mused about riches beyond imagination. "Yes, a vault !" TT answered. "Most constructions like this are either tombs, temples, or vaults. Temples are places constructed for worship. As such, usually every square inch is decorated with iconography. There is no sign of that here. A tomb is the final resting place of some creature's body. As such, they are usually decorated with stories of the entombed one's life, prayers to the dead and so forth. There is no sign of that here. That leaves vault." she continued, "A place to keep very valuable or very dangerous things. Although at this point it's hard to tell which it is." The younger employer sighed. "Daring Doo never had to deal with stuff like this !" Both Tongue Twister and the older employer sighed. "I keep telling you that those Daring Doo stories aren't real !" the elder said. "Well, that's not entirely true." TT replied, "We've spent most of our career studying the languages of the Tenochtitlan basin. Many of the places in those books exist. So did many of the artifacts. We've seen them, but had the sense to leave them alone. Since, you know, they don't belong to us ! The point isn't that the stories are made up or overly exagerrated - it's that Daring Doo isn't an archaeologist. She's an adventurer. A completely different thing !"
  3. She waved her hoof to dismiss the tulpa, and it dissolved back into mist. And for a very brief moment, it formed into something truly terrifying, but who would care about such things ? She looked down field, estimating the distance, and she continued to muse to herself. TT smiled as she set up the device to toss a pumpkin at the bullseye while quietly singing a song for the Nightmare Night season. She managed to get the angles right, but didn't quite know how strong the launch springs were - the pumpkin hit the target, but well below the bullseye.
  4. "Perhaps." TT replied after a bit of thought, "But after that encounter with Hou Shuren, we may be too foul and toxic for even you." "As for a candy treat ..." she rummaged through her satchel to see if her dad packed any treats (instead of eating all of them). She found a large bag, looked inside, and grimaced. He'd packed animated gummy critters. The candy insects and spiders will animate and skitter away if out of the bag for more than a minute or so. Generally grabbing a piece of candy to take back with them when they returned. "We'll be getting to earning some candy now !" she stated while shoving that bag back into her satchel and backing towards the pumka pults.
  5. TT mused a bit at Luna/'Nightmare Moon' 's question. "Wandering merchants do need to protect themselves from all sorts of things." she finally replied, "Not sure if we have anything for vampire ponies with us ..." She rummaged through her satchel and pulled out a few packages of salt and pepper that you find in at a fast food restaurant. "Well, salt is good against certain kinds of ghosts, but not vampires. We doubt this is sufficient even against a ghost sensitive to it.." she stated. She briefly examined a sphere the size of an apple, with a slide switch and numbers in a ring around its middle, but put it back in - pretty sure a grenade designed to release smoke that irritates the eyes and nose would really be the best thing to use in a friendly crowd. "Ah ! We got it !" she exclaimed before taking a few deep breaths and placing a hoof on her Klein bottle necklace then concentrating for a moment. Thick, dark smoke poured out of the odd bottle and formed a diffuse cloud around TT. Every once in a while, a tiny portion would condense into an eye, which would look around before dissolving back into mist. Occassionally a strand of mist would condense into a long mouth filled with shark-like teeth, only to vanish again. "Would this be sufficient defense against a mere vampire pony ?" Tongue Twister inquired smugly.
  6. "For unique, one of a kind items, you pretty much have to take what you can get." TT replied with a shrug, "So 'no refunds' is sort of standard practice. If a customer notices something wrong with an item, dad will most likely give a discount. But once the sale is made, any and all problems are then the buyer's responsibility. As they say : Caveat Emptor - 'Let the buyer beware.' So far, nearly all of the creatures that bought an 'Alicorn Amulet' from dad are in prison. They tried something nefarious, believingthey were nigh invincible. They weren't. And so were readily caught and arrested. Apparently, the fact the amulet was a fake does not diminish the intent behind using such a thing very much." TT listened to the instructions of the pumka-pult. There were a row of bullseyes set up quite a few dozens of yards away. And nothing behind them - the last thing anypony would want is a stray pumpkin launch splattering against their house. Or going through a window and splattering all over their living room !
  7. Upon seeing Luna, TT bowed her head for a moment to show respect to one of the ten most powerful beings in Equestria. Upon hearing Star Crusader's statement, TT's left ear twitched and her smile tightened a bit. "We can assure you that both this Deck of Calamity and this Alicorn Amulet are merely museum quality replicas." TT stated as she retrieved it for Nightmare Moon/Luna, "We can say that because we used to work in a museum, making replicas ! Dad has five more amulets just like that one in a drawer back in his shop. The profit margin on that item is, well, monstrous ! Put it in a case without a price tag and, within a month or two, a few minutes before closing time some pony in a hooded cloak points to it to buy it. It costs twenty bits in material to make half a dozen 'Alicorn Amulets', and dad would sell one for ten bits or so, but they never ask how much it costs ! They just toss a huge bag of bits on the counter right after dad says 'the amulet can grant great power, but such power comes at a terrible price.' And hey, if they want to toss a big bag of bits his way, he is certainly not going to stop them ... !"
  8. TT listened as the teenager conversed with the 'minions' of Nightmare Moon. She seemed to know one of them. Upon Sehkmet's question, TT replied, "In all honesty, all that we could offer her dark majesty in this case are some antacid tablets. To ease her stomach from eating such a spicy meal.", indicating Moonlight Glitter. "I must say that the detail on your Sehkmet costume is top notch ! Museum quality ! You a member of Blueblood's entourage ?" she asked Star Crusader. But, if you're looking for esoteric or exotic items, we at Caveat Emptor's Discount Emporium specialize in exotic and esoteric items !" Tongue Twister announced melodramatically, "Strange and unusual gifts for the strange and unusual creatures in your life. Such as : " she states as she rummages through her satchel to find items to show off. A candle made from smoky blue wax, in an elaborate candleholder with an inscription in an unknown language around the rim "A Neighpalese Candle of Illumination." A heavy silver torc necklace with a sea green cabochon, "A Melodian Voice Tuner." "Geniune imitation glowpaz, in various shapes and sizes !" A golden disc with a grinning stallion and the word 'YES !' on one side, and a grumpy scowling unicorn's face and the word "NO !" on the other, "Dither's Disc of Divination." A coin-sized disc, made of darkest blue crystal, with the word 'Caput' on one side, and 'Cauda' on the other, "Rattail's Disc of the Heart's Revelation." A deck of playing cards, with the tattered pack displaying an unknown language, "The Deck of Calamity. Its cards bring random misfortune to all who dare deal from it. Perfect for folk who like to live dangerously. Or a thoughtful gift for ponies you really don't care for." A polished oval of smoky quartz, about the size of an apple, "The Wandering Eye gem." TT looks through it, and all can feel like someone is watching them from the balcony behind. (If anyone looks, they'll see an eyeball of black smoke looking at them. Which vanishes the moment TT stops looking through the gem.) A medallion made of grey metal, shaped like a broad pair of wings and a unicorn stallion's head and neck, a blood red gem in the center. "An Alicorn Amulet." she states with a roll of her eyes before dropping it back in the satchel. A twisted piece of wood with two prongs at the top (longer than the satchel it was pulled from). "Starlight's Staff of Sameness. Now, if this were an actual artifact, it could rip the cutie marks off even an alicorn's flanks, stripping them of all special powers, skills, and abilities. Those wares exotic enough for ya ?"
  9. TT was outside Canterlot castle, doing some finishing touches to her costume. It was a rather short trip from her parent's home, where she'd spent a few days catching up with what had been going on - an unfortunate side effect of spending weeks (or MOONS) researching obscure languages in obscure places was becoming totally out of touch with current events. Now reasonably up to date, she was going to the Nightmare Night party as a Manechurian curio merchant. She hid her altered wings under a heavy, wide dark blue cape with silver embroidery that went in a wide spiral, looking like a turtle's shell. It was a minor magic item - a Second Chance Cloak, made by Manechurian folk magic. Held closed by a ying-yang clasp. Underneath the cloak, she'd put on a white vest with many visible pockets (and twice as many hidden ones). One of her mom's uniforms when she was a cardsharp in Las Pegasus. TT had even more trinkets and knicknacks in her satchel - her dad, being a curio merchant, added the stuffed full satchel as a last minute touch. Plus he had some stock he wanted to get rid of, so why not accomplish two tasks at the same time. Of the four necklaces she was wearing, two were minor magical items : a small Klein bottle enchanted to make any liquid inside it glow faintly, and a Fair Play amulet made by artisans from the Tenochtitlan basin. It was rather ugly - like the sculptor started carving a jaguar, then changed his mind halfway through to make a pony, and while trying to fix it accidentally carved a sort of frog-like thing that flowed into coiled up snake. Sort of. The other two were the first place medal of Ponyville's Running of the Leaves, and a luck amulet from a vendor in Saddle Arabia that she picked up on a STAR mission. Or believes she did. The fine silk Winged Slippers almost didn't clash with the rest of the outfit. But then again, a wandering merchant without a wagon would have to carry all their esoteric goods on their person, so the clutter made her more authentic. After all, even the largest backpack can only contain so much ! And it is much easier to display and sell your wares if they are within reach. *** "A rather large turnout." she noted to herself as she looked about, wondering if anypony she knew was here. She noted that at least two groups of ponies had coordinated their outfits : one group of three looked like the snowpony Olaf, Anna, and an Elsa (being portrayed by a grumpy unicorn stallion). It looked like the filly dressed as a snowpony had horns AND wings - must be the newest alicorn. Not sure of what; need to investigate later. The other group was a small pantheon of Neighgyptian deities in nigh perfect, museum quality costumes - the judge of the dead and protector of tombs Anubis, the lioness-headed Sekhmet, and the feline-headed Pasht ('Night Huntress with sharp eye and pointed claw'), a small colt dressed as a pharoah, and an actual sphinx ! Who cast a glorious illusion of a primordial deity. "Glad that's an illusion ..." TT mused to herself, "Primordial deities showing up is never a good thing. They're either evil, and want to destroy everything. Or they're good, and want to make the world better by destroying everything and rebuilding it from scratch." she recalled from the plots of many stories over the ages. "Those must be Prince Blueblood, his wife, and his other wife, and his son there with the sphinx." she figured once she recalled what her mother had quizzed her on earlier. The sphinx seemed to be watching over the little earth pony 'pharoah'. "Oh, right ! Blueblood became a dad recently ! Dang ! I really need to spend more time in Equestria if I needed mom to tell me that !" she noted as she wandered into the courtyard to see what sort of festivities had been set up.
  10. Upon entering the opulent lobby, TT was faced down by an indescribable eldrich entity glowering down at her. "WE HAVE A LIBRARY CARD !" she shrieked at the hulking thing, rummaging around in her mane before pulling out the card for the Wanderer's Library and presenting it. The thing looked at her for many tense moments. "We had an unfortunate meeting with an unpleasant ancient sorceress who decided to use us for an experiment. That's why we're not like we used to be when we got the card." The thing looked at the card for many tense moments, before giving it back to her and shuffling off. TT had noticed that the Abomination in her head had been very quiet, for quite some time. "What IS this place ?!" it finally inquired. "The Wanderer's Library." TT replied to the voice in her head, "An extradimensional space that is the seed of ALL knowledge in ALL universes. It has a copy of every book ever written anywhere in the omniverse. Every book that will EVER be written. And some that never will be - due to a universe being erased. There are an infinite number of bookcases of unknowable length. There is no ceiling, for the shelves extend hundreds of miles high. It would take a lifetime to read even one shelf in one bookcase. If knowledge is power - BEHOLD INFINITE POWER !" she continued, laughing maniacally in her head. Abomination was actually boggled trying to imagine what could be learned here, before noticing that Tongue Twister (the host) was looking for something. "Ah ! The next issue of the Power Ponies graphic novel series is in !" she thought to herself as she grabbed at copy and sat down in one of the comfy beanbag chairs nestling in an alcove. "WHAT ?!?!" Abomination exclaimed, "You have access to INFINITE power, and you're wasting time reading a COMIC BOOK ?!?!" "It's a graphic novel." TT sniped back. "WHO CARES ?! Why aren't you utilizing this library to its maximum advantage ? You could become nigh omnipotent with the knowledge in here !" "Omnipotence is boring!" TT noted to it, "There are no worthy challenges to a being that can literally do anything by simply wishing to. Besides, I'd never know a moment's peace. Once other creatures realize what power I have, they'd either try to take it for themselves, or eliminate me to stop me from maybe, possibly using it against them someday. And the more power I'd need, the longer I'd have to research to get it. I figure a few decades might be enough. Assuming those in the outside world don't increase in power at an equal or greater rate. Besides, I am a Nothing." she continued, "Thanks to the curse of En P'e Ce, I am simply not allowed to do anything useful or important. Or anything at all really, if it would draw attention or glory away from a 'more important pony'. And ALL ponies are considered 'more important ponies' when I'm around." Abomination raged and cussed, for being essentially a manifestation of Shuren's dark magic inside TT's mind, she could do nothing else. An hour later, while putting the graphic novel back, she ran into an older, storm cloud gray mare with a blue and white mane and glasses - Tongue Twister ! And another older, storm cloud gray mare with a blue and white mane, wearing what looked like a silver body suit - Tongue Twister yet again ! Tongue Twister 1 noted the other two looked a bit older than her, and thus inquired "So, we surmise you two are from the futures ?" "Yeah, I'm from a time about twenty years ahead of you." TT 2 stated. "Your present is ancient history to me." the eldest TT 3 stated to TT 1, "I took the Nap Eternal, and woke up about a thousand years later. I think. This hydrargyrum is fascinating stuff !" she continued as the silver outfit she was wearing slithered about her for a moment. "Ohhhhhkay." TT 1 replied flatly, "So, why are you two here ? Trying to alter the timeline for our mutal benefits ?" All three laughed at that joke. "Nothing so grandiose." TT 2 stated, "Just trying to catch up on some light reading. Things are so chaotically wonderful in my time, I can hardly find a quiet place to study !" "How so ?" TT 1 inquired, while TT 3 looked confused. "Decades of peace and unity." TT 2 stated, "The lessons of Friendship took root everywhere !" "Really ? Not like that when I'm from." TT 3 groused, "The magic of friendship was nothing but a memory of old, nearly forgotten stories." "How bad was it ?" TT 1 asked. "Pretty bad. Unicorns lost most of their magic. And spent most of their time being gloomy, living among the trees for some reason ..." Both TT 1 and TT 2 snorted at that amusing image. "But it wasn't just the unicorns that lost their magic - pegasi lost the ability to fly !" TT 1 and TT 2 gasped in horror and took a step back. "What happened ?" TT 2 asked, "Everything was so wonderful in my time !" "I don't know." TT 3 shrugged, "Very few intact records remain. All that is known are just vague folk stories. Like how only the pegasus royal family could still fly. Turns out they were faking it for generations." TT 2 looked heartbroken, until TT 1 reminded her that TT 3 was from A future, not necessarily THEIR future. TT 2 rubbed her forehead. "Multiple universes and time shenanigans are SUCH headaches ! I'm - just going to go over there and browse some feel-good literature." she stated as she wandered off. TT 1 watched her leave and, once she was out of earshot, asked TT 3 why SHE was there. "I was looking up anything available on ancient Equestria - ie, YOUR time." TT 3 stated, "And I just ran into the middle copy of us by the Neighponese graphic novels. She remembered that you might be here too, so we went looking for you." TT 1 sighed. "I'm not even going to try to think about any of this." she stated as she walked off, "Be you later !" TT 3 smiled and waved back as she turned to the stacks. After a few hours of light hearted reading to calm down, Tongue Twister headed for the exit, but upon leaving, was overtaken by a brief sensation. It was like her body was being shifted, and everything tasted sort of harpsichord C3# purple for an instant. "Not this again !" she groused to herself. "What 'Again' ?" the Abomination asked - once he managed to pull himself back into shape. "That was a dimensional reset." TT stated, "Someone must have tweaked reality while we were in the library. We were outside the universe when it was changed. So now we no longer quite fit. That sensation was reality making us fit !" "How could you POSSIBLY know that ?!" "I read a lot of speculative fiction." TT stated calmly with a mental shrug, "As well as theoretical thaumaturgy. And anything else any pony hired me to translate into a different language over the years." "But what did you mean 'Again' ? You've gone through this before ?" "Hard to say." TT replied in her head, "Anyone inside a universe when its tweaked would have no way of ever knowing it happened. The only reason I noticed this time was because we weren't in the universe when it happened. And given the sheer number of powerful unicorns, alicorns, ancient and forgotten magics (and magicians), the odds that THIS was the only alteration is astronomical !" Tongue Twister sighed heavily. "Since there is no way of knowing how big a change has been made, NOW we have to check some records to make sure we still actually exist in this new universe ! As a pegasus mare Equinologist with a linguistic Talent. And still the daughter of Caveat Emptor and Shady Dealer - a unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare respectively. I may have to quite literally find myself !"
  11. Site : edge of the Petite Desert, Saddle Arabia "Are you SURE you got your measures right, Miss Twister ?" the younger unicorn growled, " There is absolutely NOTHING out here by this giant outcropping of rock except this outcropping of rock !" "Perhaps the Saddle Arabians didn't want anyone to find whatever they built out here." TT replied, "We still don't know exactly what project they were working on. Could be a tomb for a king they wanted to forget. Or a vault to contain something too dangerous to be in the world. So hiding it makes sense." "Or it could be like the underground city of Derinkuyu" the elder chipped in. "Yes. We suppose it could." "Darrin Kuya who ?" "Derinkuyu was an ancient city built underground." TT began, "It was inhabited - more or less - until a few centuries ago. Had eighteen levels, and they estimated it could support around twenty THOUSAND ponies. And you'd have difficulty knowing they were even there, given that the city was intended to be a sanctuary from the constant battles back then. But an undertaking like that required two factors to be true : little to no rain, and volcanic tuff to dig into. Care to guess what this outcropping is made of ?" she finished with a smile. The younger unicorn looked at the small hill - it was nearly two stories tall. If it were hollowed out, several families could live in there in near complete secrecy. "Okay, I'll admit there COULD be something here." he replied snidely, "But if the ancient Saddle Arabians didn't want it to be found, how are we supposed to find it ?" "By looking and listening very carefully." TT replied as she started gently tapping on the hill, taking a few steps, then doing it again. After about fifteen minutes, she found a spot that sounded different. Careful examination revealed a seam - there was a hidden door big enough to let the average Saddle Arabian through. And given that the average Saddle Arabian was nearly twice an Equestrian pony's height, it was one really big door ! It took some digging, a lot of rope and quite a bit of pulling, but they managed to wrest the door free. Turned out it wasn't a door - the lack of hinges, a lock and a doorknob meant it was a plug meant to seal the entrance so no one could ever get inside. At the end of long squeeze, the group entered a large perfectly hemispherical chamber over one story high. The ceiling had stactites, and the floor was smooth tile set in a pattern of many concentric rings. "This - doesn't make any sense !" TT noted, "No one tiles a floor like this ! The difficulty in cutting all those curves for a site that no one is ever supposed to see makes no sense !" "Maybe there is something special about this site then." the younger unicorn stated as he wandered about inside, before stepping on a loose tile. "Oh ho ! A secret door perhaps ?" he stated, before powering up his aura to lift it. "WAIT ! DON'T MOVE THAT TILE !" TT yelled at him from outside the room, "It is most likely a trap !" "Oh ? How do you figure that ?" he asked in a condescending tone. "You see those stalactites on the ceiling ?" "Yes. So ?" "Stalactites only form in limestone caves, from the action of water over millions of years. This room was carved a few thousand years ago in VOLCANIC rock. In a desert." He thought about it a moment, then carefully backed out the chamber. Once safely outside, he used his telekinesis to lift the stone - it was indeed a hinged circular door that blended in perfectly with the floor pattern. But once lifted far enough, long spikes erupted from the centers of the other circles. Then the 'stalactites' broke free, crashing down to crush anyone not impaled on the spikes. Everypony sighed with relief, but TT could hear the faint sound of sand falling as flakes of some black substance fell from the ceiling. "It's not done yet !" she exclaimed as a few laborers tried to get in; they backed out just before large, heavy spears were spring propelled from the ceiling to imbed in the stone floor (seems the stalactites were crafted to hide the chambers). After a few tense minutes, she carefully went inside and looked around. "That should be the last of the traps in here." she stated while examining one of the spears. It was of the highest craftponyship, and not the least bit tarnished after a millenium or two. Or dented or scratched from embedding itself an inch deep in solid stone ! She noticed a slight, oily discoloration along the blade - the darn thing was poisoned too ! "Well, they sure didn't want anyone in here !" TT noted to her elder employer, "We're not even inside the vault yet, and the traps tried to kill us five times already !" "Wait ! FIVE times ?" the younger inquired, "I only counted three attempts ! The spikes from the floor. The ceiling dropping. The spring propelled spears. That's three !" "The spears were poisoned. That's four." "Not sure that counts as a seperate attempt. But what's attempt five ?" "We suspect those black flakes are what's left of an alchemical mixture after centuries of drying out. We think it was supposed to be a mist. Any pony have a glass and some water ?" One of the workers found the requested items, and TT used some tweezers to place a single flake into the water. The flake instantly dissolved, turning the water a pale slime green. Thinking a moment, she placed an apple she had in her pack on the ground, then carefully poured the mixture on it. The apple began to dissolve and melt into a puddle. "Is that - alchahest ?! The universal solvent ?" her elder employer asked. "Almost. Probably an incomplete formulation, meant to only dissolve organic materials. Like skin, bone, blood, hair, paper, etc. This formulation is very weak. Probably a millenium beyond its expiration date. All the traps would go off, then the victims would be dosed with alchahest and cleanly dissolved. No corpses to stink up the place and attract scavengers. Which might lead to the entrance being discovered. And no real clues left behind. This was a very neat and tidy death trap !" "Well, I'm SO glad you approve !" the younger employer snarked, "How can you be so casual about all this ?" "We've been doing this for years." TT replied with a shrug, "This is towards the higher end of security that we've seen though. On a scale of one to five, this is about a four. Most vaults rate about three, maybe three and a half. But, then again, this is just the entrance. We suspect there might be more and even worse traps inside the vault proper." she continued as she wrote all this down in her journal. "This might make a great dungeon for an O & O adventure ! But we'd really need to tone it down ..." "So where is the vault all these traps were protecting ?" the elder employer asked. "Probably down that shaft." TT replied as she pointed to the door the other employer had opened. The door was covering a shaft wide enough for two ponies to barely squeeze in - but it was completely filled with sand ! The younger employer groaned. "It's going to take days to dig all that sand out of there !" "At least." TT replied. "That is a standard blocking technique though. They worked from the inside out, blocking the way in as they went. Thus the entrance is the last way out, and the last thing to be blocked. Be thankful that it is just sand - some pyramids have their hallways blocked off with massive granite or basalt blocks three or more meters thick !"
  12. Oh, this does sound interesting. Tongue Twister can show up for events in the courtyard. Have a few ideas for some costumes ...
  13. On the beach of the Sparkling Sea, north east of Saddlelon "What ARE you looking for ?" the younger unicorn stallion asked Tongue Twister with a bored tone, taking his attention from overseeing the workers taking stuff off the ship. "A slight difference in plant life." she replied. "Sand may cover everything, but if covers anything like non-local stone, minerals from the stone can alter the soil quality. Which can alter what can grow there. Or how fast or some other difference. It is part of the Eternal Cycle. Ponies build a city, and keep the sands of the desert away with constant work. When the ponies leave, wind and sand bury everything. Then, centuries or so later, conditions change and the winds blow the sand away, revealing the city again ! What was once revealed, becomes concealed; what was concealed is revealed. And since the city was covered in sand, the preservation of the site can be surprising." "That's all well and good, but how do such mystical musings help us ?" he inquired snidely. "They can point out buried objects." she replied as she trotted over to a slight rise in the sand, that had a few scraggly plants on it. More plants than the surrounding sands. After a few moments of digging, her hooves hit stone. With some digging, she revealed a rectangular column of what appeared to be marble. Further digging revealed some stone tiles. "Why are you digging in the dirt like an Earth pony ?" he asked, "I know a spell that can solve the problem readily !" With that, he took a few steps forward, powered up his magic and cast "Sirocco !" Winds began spiralling around his hooves, then whirled outward and upward, scouring the earth while hoisting cubic meters of sand directly into the air ! A few seconds later, the winds stopped and the sand fell well away from where he cast the spell. There were no other ponies visible. Until a small hill of sand started moving, and Tongue Twister dug her way out. Soon followed by the dozen or so workers he'd hired. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT ?!" TT asked as she shook sand off of her, "Excavations must be done properly ! THIS WAS IN NO WAY PROPER ! The placement of artifacts is important in interpreting the site ! Their location and depth can tell us quite a bit about what happened - and you may have just blown them all away !" "A worthwhile risk." he smugly replied, tapping a hoof on a paving stone. His spell had cleared a circle nearly fifty yards across, and had revealed an area paved with large, precisely cut stones. There was a carefully constructed ring around the column that TT had uncovered earlier. "Can you tell anything from this ?" the elder unicorn inquired. TT lowered her head to get a closer look at the stonework. "Hmm - carefully cut, but large, simple squares. No fancy shapes or ornamentation. Suggests a large but short-term project, taking up to one, maybe two years to complete. This was a pre-staging area. Material would be delivered by ship, then unloaded here to be accounted for, before being packaged for delivery to the worksite." "Could they have been building a temple or tomb out here ?" the younger unicorn asked. TT looked around a bit as she set up her surveying equipment. "Those would be some of the few projects that would require this much setup." "So you're saying there could be an undiscovered tomb loaded with gold, jewels and artifacts somewhere nearby ?" he persisted. TT sighed before answering "Yes. That is the most likely option." "Well, then I guess this wasn't a complete waste of our time and money after all." he replied in a condescending tone as he walked towards the tents that were being set up. The elder unicorn ambled over to TT. "I do apologize for my nephew's behavior Miss Twister." he stated, "He's always been fixated on money and getting more of it. I honestly wonder if he can actually see the value of anything that can't be sold in a store for profit." "Thank you sir. We are quite familiar such views." she replied, recalling her mom's more than slightly criminal background and family, and her dad's Talent for seperating fools from their money. "So, would this be considered a noteworthy find ?" "Oh, MOST definitely !" TT replied, "This site alone could be written up in textbooks for generations to come ! Finding undisturbed sites with this degree of preservation is extremely rare ! And not much is known about this part of Saddle Arabia - everypony knows about Saddlelon and Pharoah's Vale because that's where the money and power were, but up until now there has been little interest in this region ! This - is an uprecendented view into a part of history unseen until now !" "Good to know. I shall leave you to your work then." he replied, grinning ear to ear. A few hours later (after TT had photographed, measured and documented everything she could as a mortal being), she put the column she'd found back into the hole in the center of the ring. "We wish you'd brought that sundial crystal you found on this expedition." TT stated to her employers, "We suspect it belongs on that pedestal." "Why would we cart that heavy thing halfway across Equestria into the middle of a desert ?" the younger unicorn scoffed. "It's in one of the trunks." his uncle replied, "I'll have it brought over here." "WHY did you drag that thing all the way here ?!" "So I can see it in its historical context." The younger unicorn rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Its 'historical context' was buried in sand thousands of years ago ! There is nothing more that could be learned by putting it back !" Once the workers put the large crystal on the pedestal, the sunlight refracted inside it, casting a large circular pool of light with hour marking of shadow inside the circle of stones. The biggest shadow indicated one mark past noon. The younger unicorn looked at the illuminated clock, confused. "It appears the Saddle Arabians weren't as smart as you think they were Miss Twister." he stated as he looked at his pocket watch, "That clock says it is one in the afternoon; it is nearly six !" TT looked and, much to her chagrin, noted he was right. Then she took out her compass to check something. "Ah ! A sundial only gives the correct time if the gnomon points true north." she stated, "The stone is misaligned." With that, she turned it until the black streak in the center of the stone pointed north. New refractions cast a circle of text and two spots of light on a ring. TT smiled broadly before stating "It says 'the measure to your site of labor is seventy six rods along this line. Now get back to work !' " After consulting her notes (and using a slide rule to convert the units), she placed the surveying equipment and lined it up with the spots of light. There was an outcropping there, so she centered the equipment's view on that. She then retrieved a chain precisely ten meters in length, and strolled ten meters away, exactly perpendicular to the sightline. She set the equipment at that spot, and took another measure of the angle to the outcropping. After a few moments of looking through the telescope and noting the calibrations, she asked her employers "Do you see that outcropping of stone in the distance, near the horizon ? That is the worksite !"
  14. Desert outside of Las Pegasus, far away from any witnesses : Tongue Twister had purchased the vardo, and noted that it has some features the used cart pony either hadn't known about or failed to mention : many secret compartments ! Each wall, floor and ceiling had a hidden space large enough to hide quite a bit of stuff. She suspected the previous owner may have been one her mom's relatives or 'business acquaintances' that might have used it to run contraband, but that didn't matter now. It took a few hours, but she'd managed to fit all her belongings into the wagon (plus her notes and journals in the hidden compartments), increasing its weight by a sizable bit. She could still pull it; it would be slow going, but she could now go anywhere. It's not like she needed a fixed address or needed to be anywhere in a hurry or anything. "Now, for some experiments ..." she mused to herself as she got atop the vardo, sat down and started concentrating. The liquid inside her necklace bubbled, and impossible amounts of very dark clouds poured out of it and gathered beneath the harness. The clouds condensed into the shape of a rhinoceros, which then started pulling the wagon at an ever increasing rate of speed. "Since when are rhinos this fast ?" Abomination asked within her mind as the desert scenery blew past in a blur. "It's not a real rhinoceros." TT replied, "It is a figment of my imagination given solid form. It is as fast or as strong as I want it to be. Well, as long as I can maintain focus. And within the limits of the material and energy used and so forth of course. Being imaginary, a mental construct is not constrained by mere reality - BEHOLD !" With that, the rhino sprouted a gigantic set of dragonfly wings and took to the skies at a forty five degree angle. And increased speed. "... Okay, that's wrong on so many levels." Abomination noted flatly as they flew along. "Yeah. Can't argue with you there." TT replied in her head, then changed her mind about what form the mist she was shaping with tulpamancy was - the rhino with dragonfly wings shifted into a gigantic dragonfly. "Why are you doing this ?" "What ? Why should I pull this wagon all the time if I don't have to ?" she replied to the voice in her head, "Besides, I can't get better at tulpamancy if I don't practice." She was able to maintain speed and distance for almost half an hour, before the headache that was building got too strong for her to take. So she returned to the ground rather far east of Las Pegasus and recalled the 'vaporous servant' back into its bottle. "Probably best to do that on a limited time basis !" she noted to herself before she got into the wagon, took some aspirin and layed down for awhile. Until a random memory floated into her consciousness. "I wonder if it is still there ...." she mused to herself as she stepped out into the desert and looked around to get her bearings before heading out into the night on hoof. "What are you looking for at this hour ?" Abomination inquired after what seemed like an hour of meandering. "A Way to the Wanderer's Library" TT replied, "I think there's one marked by a circular outcropping of thirteen stones around here somewhere. It was rather hard to find the first time, even from the air ! AH ! There it is !" As TT had stated, it was a roughly circular collection of rocks of various sizes, with graffiti of unrecognizable symbols on them. The tallest stone was easily twice the height of the average pony, while the smallest was hoof-sized, barely big enough to trip over. "I do not see a door to anything !" Abomination growled inside TT's head. "That's because that if you want the Way to open, you have to knock first !" "?!" "A 'knock' is a simple ritual that has to be performed at the site to open The Way." TT explained, rubbing her chin as she tried to remember the specifics about THIS particular way. Oh, right. The knock for THIS door had some rather specific and peculiar requirements. So she faced the largest stone, and began singing to it in Italeian She quit after the first eight verses, but that was enough to satisfy the conditions of entry. The symbols moved around on the stone, and a door made of finest mahogany appeared like it had always existed there. She opened the door and trotted inside ...
  15. Inside a meeting room of the Grand Canterlot Hotel : After examining a map of the area, it turned out the 'coast of the Sparkling Sea, east of Wakr' site was on the EASTERN side of the Petite Desert, closer to Saddlelon than Wakr. It was practically as far from Wakr as one could get while still being in Saddle Arabia ! When Tongue Twister inquired as to HOW anypony could be that bad at navigation, the younger of her potential employers told her it was a security measure to have any potential claim jumpers looking in the wrong spot. TT shrugged and then began examining the artifact they'd brought in. "This is the face of a sundial." TT stated to her potential employers as she looked over the large transparent oval stone with gold inlaid lines, "By the inscriptions, Second or Third Kingdom by the looks of it. Extremely well preserved ! Where did you find it ?" "About a few hundred meters from the shore of the Sparkling Sea." the elderly tan unicorn stallion stated, "The early Saddle Arabian empire was vast, and the Petite Desert is part of Saddle Arabia. There should be quite a few temples and finds of great archaeological significance out there, just waiting to be discovered !" "True enough." TT replied, "But that area is vast. You could search for decades and spend millions of bits combing the area and not find anything." "Yeah, that's what I told this old coot !" the younger peach unicorn stallion stated with a huff, "Why should anypony think there is anything valuable out there ?" TT glared at the younger unicorn for a moment before collecting her thoughts. "Well, the Saddle Arabians were - and still are - a very well organized nation. A sundial of this size and quality would usually be found at the center of a medium sized village. Or a transportation hub. And given an object this size couldn't have been moved very far by normal winds and shifting sands, the rest of any ruins should be nearby." "So there really is a chance of finding gold, gems, and valuable artifacts ?" the younger unicorn inquired with a bit too much glee for TT's tastes. "More likely just a temporary village or a work camp." TT replied, "But given that undamaged sites that age are rare, there could be much more new knowledge available to learn !" "But there could be uncounted riches there, right ?" he asked again. "Yes. But we won't know until we go there and search." "So, how long would it take to set up an expedition ?" the senior unicorn asked. "Hmmm. Not long. About two weeks to contact my contacts in the area to get supplies." TT noted, "Maybe a note to the Manehattan museum so any students that want or need to go on an actual dig for school credit to graduate can sign up. And we need to send a request to the College of Antiquities, in Manephis. So the locals know we're there. And don't try to arrest us for tomb robbing." "But then they might try to horn in on OUR discovery !" the younger exclaimed. TT's left eye twitched a bit, before she face hoofed. "It is THEIR country !" she replied, "Saddle Arabia is a seperate kingdom, and not part of Equestria ! They have every right to every thing in their OWN country !" The younger unicorn grumbled, but went along with the plan since his eccentric uncle was totally on board.
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