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NiktoBarada

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Posts posted by NiktoBarada

  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.

     

    Spoiler

    "I keep forgetting that, essentially, everyone is a Pillar of Equestria - and I am a Stygian !


    The Forgotten One.


    Who made the mistake of trying to become more than he was WITHOUT the Pillar's consent.

     

    And was cast out for it.

     

    But the story had a happy ending.  Eventually ....


    Hmmm.  Perhaps the lesson needs to be taught once again.


    Now - how to do that ...."


    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. Quote

    As Twister answered her question, Nightmare Moon would chuckle. "A useful trinket in deed, however, if I where you, I would start earning some candy soon. Not having a large enough tribute... perhaps all your travels have seasoned you well, for when the time comes, you may end up the second course." Laughing, she'd look to Anwir then back to TT. "No trinkets can protect thee from my wrath."

     

    "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.

    • Like 1
  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.

     

    • Like 1
  6. On 10/21/2023 at 1:23 PM, Blueblood said:

    Relieved to hear that the many relics brought out of TT's cloak were museum replicas, Star had to give a twisted little smirk at the spiel concerning the total grift that was the Alicorn Amulet.  "All sales final, no returns I take it."  She had to appreciate the elegance of the self-contained rebuke to the conceited and megalomaniacal magic users.

     

    "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 !

    • Like 2
  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 ... !"

     

    • Like 2
  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 ?"
     

    • Like 2
  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.

    • Like 2
    • Hearthoof 2
  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. 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 !"
     

  13. 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 ...
     

  14. 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.

  15. "Wonder how Iggy and those STAR agents are doing." TT mused to herself, [i]"That old abandoned lab was rather decrepid, but there was still quite a bit of sellable stuff in there !
    Those labs had equipment that could fetch quite a few bits.  And that automaton has many parts that researchers might be interested in.  Somepony could benefit from recycling and stripping down that place; whether it is a team from a 'secret' agency or some civilians, it matters not.


    Do hope they returned those animate statues to their countries of origin, or at least to reputable museums.  Otherwise, we may have to track them down and deal with them ...."[/i] she mused to herself as she set out for the first of her destinations.
    ---

    old hidden cave in Northern Solstice Heights, near source of Delamare River :


    Tongue Twister squinted at the barely legible scrawlings on a rockface near the mouth of the cave.  It had once been used for storage during the construction of Canterlot Palace, but apparently they stirred up something, and so had to trap somethingin there.


    The writings were in a lesser known variant of Northern Old Ponish, but one she'd studied way back in grad school.


    She sighed as she rolled her eyes - they were a long winded description of a sealing spell some unicorn used to keep something contained deeper inside this exact cave long, long ago.


    It specifically stated that the Threat would be contained for 'as long as the great and wondrous magiks of the wondrous and great unicorns flowed through the world'.
    But for almost three days, there WAS no unicorn magic.


    And since the writings were just a description of the binding spell and not the spell itself, it meant that something could have gotten out.


    Extending a small bit of the alchemic mercury her wings were now composed of forward through her mane like a tentacle, she held a light crystal up as she carefully trotted deeper into the cave.


    There was what looked like a gigantic smudge on the back walls.  It was all that remained of a spectral entity that no longer had the power to maintain its cohesiveness - it had 'died' of old age or 'starved' from lack of whatever energies it fed upon a very long time ago.


    "Well, that's one less thing to worry about." TT noted to herself as she scribbled a note in her journal, then headed back out.


    In the Well of Shade, the Hollow Shades


    Keeping to the shadows, Tongue Twister looked up through the giant hole in the cavern's ceiling.  It used to be a standard well; now, it's a giant buckin' hole !


    That was a rather common fate of most wells - given enough time, for any underground system, the ceiling will fall unless propped up somehow.


    But this was NOT a natural collapse - the Elements of Harmony AND the Pillars of Equestria had battled the Pony of Shadows here, where he had retreated to recover his power.


    This place had been designed to collect and store negative energy, because if the energy is stored here, it isn't somewhere else causing trouble.


    The only problem was that if too much was collected, it could - and did - become a sentient entity.  An echo or projection of all those who supplied the energy.  Since most were ponies, the astral echo would be quite equine.  A morbid, dark and evil equine presence, but equine nonetheless.

     
    But one that needed a host to actually be able to do anything or go anywhere.


    The last time that happened was about a thousand years ago, and the Pillars with Starswirl dealt with it by tossing the Pony of Shadows and its host into limbo, taking all the energy with it.


    Then the complex accumulated power for a millenium, ready to be taken if/when the Pony of Shadows was released.  Or some other fool stumbled in and fell for the entity's sales pitch.


    The original host - Stygian - was returned to Equestria and took all that freshly accumulated power to try his luck against both the Elements AND the Pillars.


    The host was seperated from the entity, which was then shoved into limbo once again.  Leaving this place completely drained. 

     

    Hopefully.


    TT took out a small crystal sphere filled with equal amounts of clear and inky black fluids and gave it a shake.


    The liquids seperated smoothly as small glints of light flickered and swirled in the dark half.


    "Completely drained.  As expected." she noted to herself, before scribbling in her journal, then heading out one of the secret exits.  She figured it would take centuries or more for this place to recharge.  


    Assuming, of course, it could stay intact that long.


    Caverns beneath Mount Faba, Long Guo


    Tongue Twister marveled at the scene before her - a pefect miniature of the First Emperor's city.  With flowing rivers of mercury.


    It was the epitome of ancient spellwork and craftsqilinship.  A thing of pure beauty unseen by any mortal eyes for millenia.


    "Too bad I can't tell anypony about this place !" she groused to herself as a slight wind picked up.


    The air became cloudy, which then swirled into the ghostly form of a gigantic Longma.


    "WHO DARES DEFILE THIS PLACE ?" it bellowed with a voice loud enough to rattle the walls before it glared down at Tongue Twister.


    "Oh.  It is just you." it stated as it reverted to a Longma ghost of normal proportions.  "Looking to acquire King Faba's pearl ?"


    "No."  TT replied, "That is for a Longma to find, not us."


    "I do not recall any specific restriction on who is or is not worthy to receive it." the ghost stated, "The Worthy can use the pearl.  Do you believe you qualify ?"


    "We didn't qualify the last five times we were here !" TT stated, "So WHY would we qualify now ?"


    "I do not know." the ghost replied, "Have you done any legendary deeds since you were last here ?"
    .
    .
    .

     

    Both TT and the ghost started laughing at that joke.  Even the giant guardian statues animated for a few moments to enjoy some levity before resuming their eternal, silent vigil.


    "You know that's not allowed !" TT replied (once she got her breathing under control), "Besides, the treasures of the Long Guo belong to the Long Guo.  Taking things that don't belong to you has always seemed wrong to us."


    "And that wisdom is why you are allowed to even be in here." the ghost stated as he wiped a spectral tear from his ghostly eye, "So, WHY are you here ?  And why are you now a Many Who Are One ?"


    TT sighed.  "Well, some time ago a pegasus filly used a ritual that came with minutes of permanently draining away all of Equestria's magic !  Since ancient unicorns banished and bound threats with magic, there was a chance that something might have gotten loose !  


    Like, some of the horrors in here.


    We've been checking a few accessible sites and, so far, nothing escaped."


    "Ah.  So THAT'S what that was." the ghost replied solemnly before asking "Would you happen to know what the ritual was ?"


    "From what we've heard, she gathered six ancient artifacts from the six allied nations - a helm from the yaks, Clover the Clever's cloak from the ponies, a talisman from the changelings, an amulet from the hippogriff/sea ponies, Grover's crown from the griffins, and a shell to summon a dragon to represent the dragons, we guess.
    She put them in an arcane circle to dump all that power into the Void.  Came very, VERY close to removing all Equestrian magic permanently."

     

    The ghost pondered a bit.  "If she was using those artifacts as foci, then only creatures symbolized by those artifacts would be drained.  Unaligned creatures would not be affected as badly, if at all."


    "Well, THAT'S good to know !" TT remarked, "That means we don't have to check every site in the world; just mainly Equestrian ones.  And a few in Yakyakistan.  And Seaquestria.  Not exactly sure how we're going to do that last one ....


    But we're sure the locals will notice something is up in time to do something about it."


    "It is pleasing that you have a sense of your destiny." the ghost stated, "But you have not answered all my questions as of yet."


    TT thought for a moment.  "Oh.  We had an extremely unpleasant encounter with an extremely unpleasant millenias old Fenghuang sorceress.  Tried to corrupt our mind, body and soul, just to see what would happens if you corrupt someone with a partitioned mind.  An experiment at OUR expense.


    Our soul is balanced, so the influx of dark energy was rebalanced.


    Our mind is like a jigsaw puzzle - no matter how many times it is blasted apart, we can always put it back together exactly as it was before.  More or less - the spell bonded to one of our shoulder angels.  As long as we keep the parts of ourselves seperate, we are fine.


    Were we to fuse back together, we would be lost within our own, now MUCH greater darkness.


    We can't do anything about the body alterations, but we were able to copy a bit of her hydrargentum spells.  We now have some special abilites, but the skies are lost to us !"


    The ghost nodded forlornly, knowing what flying means to pegasi.


    "Do you know the name of the sorceress that did this ?"


    "Yes.  Hou Shuren.  Ever hear of her ?"


    "No."


    TT shrugged.  "Ah well, it was worth a shot."
    ---
    Bleary-eyed, Tongue Twister trudged her way to the last place she had to check this month : the Ponyville Post Office.


    She knew there was a slim chance that she'd get a response from the Devil's Business Card enchantment her dad set up for her, but a slim chance is better than none at all.


    There was a response !  Somepony had sent a response to the Letter, and had need of her talents !


    It was an archaeological dig on the coast of the Sparkling Sea, east of Wakr in Saddle Arabia.


    Apparently somepony found some old ruins, inquired at a museum, and was setting up an expedition to figure out what is still there, and needed a linguist with experience.

  16. After nearly an hour of searching the various local vendors, she found somepony that had Klein bottle necklaces for sale.

     

    After purchasing one, she filled it with a blue fluid that had a slight glow.  It was just a few ounces of liquid, but it could be converted into a respectable amount of vapor with minimal mystic effort.  

     

    She wasn't sure what tulpamancy combined with standard pegasus weather control (both boosted by ancient dark magics) could do, but it might be interesting to find out.

     

    One good thing about Las Pegasus is that you can buy nearly anything there, if you know where to look.  Even wagons and vardos.

     

    Tongue Twister was looking at a slightly larger, oddly aerodynamic model.   

     

    Since she had to pull the darned thing herself, she tried on the harness and pulled - and was surprised that the wagon wasn't quite as heavy as she thought it'd be.

     

    She checked its walls - it was composed of solidified clouds !


    "This is a pegasus built vardo ?" she asked the used wagon salespony, "These things are rare !"


    "Tell me about it !" the earth pony salespony groused, "If they're not maintained, they disintegrate within a month !  That's why you never see one for sale on the ground !"


    He sighed.  "I've had to hire a pegasus to come in and keep it intact every other week !  Honestly, it is becoming more trouble than it is worth.


    Especially with the prices he charges for such simple work !"


    TT smiled.  "We do believe we can make a deal !"

  17. Tongue Twister was always ambivalent about hot air balloons.  They could fly great distances, and were the easiest way to reach pegasus cloud cities, but they moved very, very slowly.


    When her wings were still flesh, feather and bone (seemingly so long ago), she could have easily flown thrice as fast as a balloon; maybe even four times !


    But after that encounter with Hou Shuren near the Whitetail Woods ?  She couldn't even get off the ground, since wings made of alchemic mercury were too heavy and too insensate to use for flying.


    So she kept her altered wings under a short, dark blue cape (with a string of text in an unknown language embroidered in a spiral), held together with a ying-yang clasp.


    Once the balloon landed, she headed to a STAR front to give a debriefing - her latest 'mission' was an abject failure, since there was no conceivable way anypony could have succeeded.


    Hou Shuren has a friend and accomplice - of unknown actual appearance and species.


    Shuren was looking for something in one of Saddlelon's libraries - no conceivable way of ever figuring out what (short of a wish or high-level divination).


    She is obviously up to something, but there is no possible way to ever figure out what in time to stop her.  So they'll have to do things to standard way : LET the villain become ridiculously powerful, and ONLY fight back when she has her hoof on the world's throat !


    What's the point of being a hero if you can't heroically save the world by heroically doing something heroic and the last possible moment, winning against NOW impossible odds ?


    TT had a few other things to do while in town (like see if she could get a good price on a vardo, and maybe look for a glassmaker that has Klein bottles for sale for a tulpamancy project she was planning), and while she was working out where to go next, she was interrupted by two very well dressed ponies asking if she was Tongue Twister - a tan pegasus mare and an offwhite earth pony stallion.


    TT was trying to figure out who would want to talk with her (since the Devil's Business Card enchantment her dad cast for her was still running, they might be customers !), but then she noticed the well-hidden dark glasses in their pockets.


    Her mom Shady Dealer had warned her about ponies like this : they were S.M.I.L.E. agents !


    Zap-happy morons who didn't know the meaning of 'subtley' or 'competence'.


    Who relied on their memory-altering spells to cover up their indiscretions and fumblings.


    "Yes.  Who wants to know ?" TT replied warily.


    "The Canterlot Revenue Service." the pegasus mare stated while flashing a badge (much too quickly to be read) while her partner stood there, looking stoic and menacing, "We have some questions we need you to answer." she continued.


    "Ah.  Well, we don't have any of our financial records with us at the moment, but we'll do our best to answer whatever questions you have." TT replied.


    "Uhm, sure.  Please follow us to the office." the pegasus stated, looking a bit confused as to why TT was referring to herself in the plural.


    The 'office' was a small room on the first floor of a strip mall that had seen better days years ago.


    "This is not a CRS office."  TT noted after a quick, furtive look around, "And you are not agents from Internal Revenue.  So, what do you really want from us ?"


    "What makes you say that ?" the stalliion asked with an evil glare.


    "There is enough legal money flowing through Las Pegasus to support an actual office." TT noted, "And the Revenue Service works for the Crown - you have essentially unlimited funds !


    So there is no reason to take anyone to a virtually abandoned office in a strip mall !


    So, again, what do you want from us ?"


    The agents looked to each other for a moment, before the pegasus mare nodded, then pushed aside a picture on the wall and pressed the disguised panel hidden behind it.


    The whole floor slowly dropped until they were in a new room with a single door opposite them.


    They headed through the door, and the 'office' rose to its previous position.


    They passed half a dozen armed guards in the hallway to an interrogation room.


    "You wanted to know what we wanted from you ?" the stallion asked gruffly, "What do you know about a unicorn mare named Hou Shuren ?"


    "What makes you think we know anything about anypony ?" Tongue Twister asked as she took a seat and sat down.


    "S.M.I.L.E. has eyes everywhere." he replied, "You've been acting rather suspiciously for the past few months.  That's why we intercepted one of your letters addressed to a non-existent recipient here in Las Pegasus.  You mentioned this 'Hou Shuren' while you were in Saddle Arabia.  Seemed to think it was important enough to write somepony a letter about her."


    Exactly as I expected !" TT mused to herself with a smirk.  "Fair enough.


    We encountered the sorceress Hou Shuren a few months back.  She was in a magic duel with Sombra out by White Tail Woods.  She was concerned there was a slim chance he might go to Canterlot, where there was a slight chance he might accidentally stumble upon one of her schemes.


    So she just slapped him around for a bit to delay him until her scheme was done before letting him go.


    Have you ever encountered magic so concentrated in one spot that you could HEAR it ?  THAT's the levels of power we're talking about here !


    We were passing by overhead and noticed the battle starting.  We thought it best to observe and gather some information more useful that 'GAAAAH !!!! EVIL !!!!!!' " TT continued, waving her forelegs about in a mock panic.


    "After she trapped us in some sort of spell, we tried to escape.


    We failed.


    Then she said : 'When sentient life will forget what Equestria or Long Guo were, I will be there. When Equinekind will leave it's cradle, and spill to the sea of stars, I will still be there. When this universe collapses unto itself and gives birth to a new one. I. Will. Be.There.


    Now be silent, or I will rethink skipping dinner.'


    We remember that, for some things are just too horrible or too strange to forget, even if you want to.


    Planning to out-live the entire universe sounds rather dangerous to me !


    And it turns out Shuren is a soul-eater.  And our soul was the only other one in the area at the time of the battle.


    So she noticed we were watching, and decided to do an experiment on corrupting somepony with a partitioned mind or something.  It did not go well for us ..." TT stated as she extended one of her wings.


    She'd shifted it to look like a collection of partially melted bones barely held together by some sort of slithering silverish liquid.


    The earth pony stallion grimaced and stepped back; his pegasus partner barely managed to not throw up before TT refolded the wing back under her cape.


    "Things were rough for us for a few months." she began, "So we went to Saddle Arabia for a vacation.  To get away from all the drama.


    It was purely bad luck that Hou Shuren was in Saddle Arabia at the time.


    From what we could find out, she was looking for something in one of the four city-sized libraries in Saddlelon.  No idea what she was looking for.  Nor any idea if she was successful or not."


    "Why didn't you tell anypony about any of this ?!" the pegasus agent asked.


    TT smirked.  "Who would we tell ?  The only organizations that could do something about her insist on working in absolute secrecy !  There is no way to contact them about anything !  If they had their way, nopony would even know they exist at all !


    If we were to go spouting off about universe-ending unicorns to anypony else, we'd probably get stuffed into a psych ward somewhere !


    And Shuren most likely has spies everywhere.  If we become the nail that sticks out, she'd be the hammer that beats us down !  We suspect we'd perish from some 'unfortunate accident'.  Or just disappear off the face of the world.


    And why would anypony believe our tales of terror ?" she continued with a sigh and a shrug, "We are not one of Harmony's Chosen.  We are nopony important.  There is no reason anypony would ever take us seriously.  Until it is far too late.


    We're just an employee at the Natural History Museum.  Or, at least we were ..." TT continued, wiping her eyes and secretly tapping the left hinge of her glasses three times to activate one of her enchanted glasses' defensive spells (just in case).


    "Well, S.M.I.L.E. knows about her now." the pegasus mare agent stated, "We've taken down threats far greater than a unicorn sorceress trying to become immortal !"


    Tongue Twister laughed derisively.


    "Oh, you think so ?" she began as she looked off into the distance, "The Light has burned away all Darkness.  So The Wheel must turn once again to restore balance.


    The Script has been written; Hou Shuren's ascension to godhood cannot be stopped.  By anyone.  Without her permission.


    Then The Darkness shall reign.


    Then The Wheel will turn once more.  And The Light shall reign.  Then The Wheel shall turn once more.  And so on and so on and so forth.


    Nothing lasts forever, for only The Nothing is forever.


    And as the bard once said : 'Life is a poor player that struts and frets its hour upon the stage, then is heard no more.
    It is a tale told by an idiot.  Full of sound and fury - signifying NOTHING.'


    Now, if there are no further questions, we'll be leaving now." she stated as she stood up.


    Only to be pushed back by the earth pony agent.

     
    "I don't know WHO you think you are, and frankly I don't care !" he stated, "WE decide when the interview is over !  NOT you !"


    TT smirked at him, knowing full well what was coming next.


    "No, we don't think so.  We have rights !" she stated plainly.


    The agent snorted.  "This is a secret organization.  We are ABOVE all laws.  You only have whatever rights WE feel like giving you !"


    "Well, that was rather blatant." TT replied with a smirk, "But, then again, why be subtle or competent if you' re just going to rip 'inconvenient' memories out of our head ?


    You could torture and abuse us for weeks to get the information you wanted, then just wipe our memories and toss us in a ditch somewhere with the implanted suggestion that we were in an accident !"


    "Why would you think we could do anything like that ?" the pegasus agent asked.


    "S.M.I.L.E. isn't as secret an organization as you think it is !"


    The earth pony stallion agent grumbled.  "You may know more about our organization that a civilian should." he stated as he put his dark glasses on and pulled out a tubular device, "But that doesn't mean you can do anything to stop us !"
    There was a bright flash of light as he activated the device to cast the Reflection Deflection spell.


    Tongue Twister's glasses were now burnt black and smoking from bouncing the spell and changing its polarity.


    The two agents were now stunned, since their glasses only blocked their memory-altering spell in its original polarity.
    TT tossed her destroyed glasses into a nearby waste bin before rummaging around in her mane to find a pair of enchanted glasses. 


    (her glasses have a minor hex on them - a hexed item cannot be lost or destroyed, for that would make it far to easy to evade the effects of other curses placed on the same item).


    It was easy to 'convince' the agents that the interrogation had gone well, and that she'd been properly dealt with.
    Now back in an alley a few blocks from where she started, she looked around as she tried to decide what to do next ....
     

    • Like 1
  18. Manehattan Museum of Natural History, Antiquities Division, one month later ...


    "You managed to get those scrolls open without destroying them ?  Impressive !" Tongue Twister stated to Cracked Pot as he unrolled four loosely wound rolls of paper.


    "Well, sort of." he replied, "I managed to get them safely rehydrated so they weren't as fragile, but there's a limit to what could be done.  They cracked into long fragments, but they could be put back together.  Like a two thousand piece jigsaw puzzle.


    Annnnd the inks faded in a few places.  Plus diffusive bleedover - when scrolls are wound that tight for very long periods of time, ink can diffuse from one layer to another.  Producing ghost images."


    Past Echoes squinted at the sheets.  "Considering the sheer age of these documents, I'm surprised there's anything here to read at all.


    So, what do you think TT ?"


    Tongue Twister looked at the scrolls carefully and adjusted her glasses.  "The writing near the ends is at right angles to the rest - read from bottom to top, farmer's plow style." she began, "It says 'Stalking Heron of Akkadia, report to World's Custodian, a date, and then a description of how much iron ore a nearby kingdom is buying, how many blacksmiths and metalworkers have emigrated, and how the last harvest went."


    "You have obviously misread those documents." a sand-colored unicorn stallion pompously announced, "Writing from that age have a very specific format.  And what you described is not it.


    And names like 'Stalking Heron' ?  'World's Janitor' ?  Seriously ?"


    "Well, these aren't standard documents." TT replied, "These are espionage reports !  Some pony was spying on a nearby kingdom, and transferred the reports via dead drop.  THAT is why they were in that statue's hidden compartment. 


    It's just that nopony picked them up.  Hmm - losing hidden items because an agent got 'dealt with' before the item could be picked up probably happens fairly often.


    And they wouldn't use their real names on anything that could be found; 'Stalking Heron' and 'World's Custodian' - NOT 'Janitor'  - are obviously code names.  Heron was the spy, Custodian  was the superior reported to."


    The unicorn smirked.  "And here I thought Cracked Pot was the one that came up with ridiculous, far-fetched scenarios !"


    This earned a growling glare from both Tongue Twister and Cracked Pot.


    "And you are ... ? " TT inquired.


    "Cunieform Curio." he replied, "One of the ponies hired to replace you when you were let go."


    "Actually, we resigned when we took another job in Las Pegasus." TT replied.


    "You 'resigned' ?" Curio scoffed, "Was that before or after they found out you were incompetent ?"


    "We were translating ancient Sumareian while you were still learning the Ponish alphabet !"


    "Well, at least I know how to use pronouns properly... !"


    "THAT'S ENOUGH CURIO !" Past Echoes interjected, "You may come from a wealthy family and graduated top in your class in linguistics from Canterlot University, but Tongue Twister has far more real-world experience than you.


    And for your information, she DID resign.


    And if she asked for her old job back, I would give it to her and make you her assistant in a heartbeat.  IF I was in a good mood.


    Have I made myself clear, Curio ?" Past Echoes finished, nose to nose with the offensive stallion.


    "Crystal, sir." Curio grudgingly replied.


    TT looked over the other scrolls. The second scroll was an economics report describing what the observed kingdom was spending money on, how much money was coming in, and roughly how much they had.


    The third scroll began "Stalking Heron of Akkadia, report to World's Custodian, on the Land of Pharoahs, continuing  incident four hundred sixty six : Theth'Ka."


    "I've never heard of him." Cunieform Curio announced.


    "We would be surprised if ANY pony heard of him !" TT replied, "These events were thousands of years ago; between erosion, decay and recycling by later ponies, not much remains from that time.  Plus the fact that THEY ERASED HIM FROM THEIR HISTORY for committing as yet to be determined crimes would make it kinda difficult to find anything about him."

     

    She turned back to the scroll.  "Hmm - it says that Theth'Ka inherited property and his outlook from his grandfather, Teti-Ra.  Specifically, his habit of doing magical experiments on his subjects."


    "What ?  Was he turning them into rabbits ?  Or statues that strolled across the ocean floor to other lands, just to stand around and erode like Cracked Pot suggested when he found those lumpy rocks in Maretonia ?" Curio simply had to ask.


    TT glowered at him before looking back to the scrolls.  "Nope.  It says he was experimenting with memory alteration spells."


    TT thought for a moment.  "Ouch !  THAT would explain why he was Erased !  He as violating the Ka !"


    Curio sighed.  "And that is ?"


    TT raised an eyebrow at him.  "Most ancient magical theorems split ponies into three parts : Mind, Body, and Soul.  The ancient Saddle Arabians had the Mind and Soul in one container : the Ka.  That was considered the eternal part of a pony.


    IT WAS NOT TO BE MESSED WITH !!


    Either only the gods would wise enough to violate somepony's Ka - in which case Theth'Ka and his grandpa were committing blasphemy, or not even the gods would mess with somepony's Ka.  In which case they committed a crime beyond all mortal comprehension.


    Why did you not know what the Ka was ?  Did they stop covering comparative religions and worldviews in those 'higher than thou' schools or something ?" she asked Cunieform Curio.


    "A translator translates.  Nothing more.  Nothing less." he stuffily replied.


    "Huh ?  Without knowing the historical background, you'd have no context to translate correctly !" TT stammered, "You're ignoring the nuance and most of the beauty ancient texts provide !"


    "Hmph !  I do not concern myself with the silly superstitions and foolish beliefs of long-ago cultures." 


    TT's right eye twitched.


    "You don't 'concern yourself with silly superstitions and foolish beliefs' ?" TT replied, "We live in a world where the sun, moon and stars don't move unless a pony wills them to !  


    A world where a unicorn would develop a spell to turn apples into oranges - just because !


    Where things can be turned into teacups on a unicorn mare's whim.

     
    Where spirits capable of freezing the world are held at bay by friendship and unity.


    We were almost conquered by a magic-stealing centaur, the queen of the changelings and a pegasus filly that became an alicorn from using magic stored in the 'mythical' Grogar's bell.


    And you think some of those ancient stories are just too fantastical to be believed ?


    Seriously ?


    We will admit that it can be quite difficult to determine what stories are possibly accurate, which may hold just a grain of truth, and which are pure folklore." she continued, "But to dismiss all old knowledge right off the bat ?  Not the smartest move.  It is, at the least, a hint on where to look for more accurate knowledge."


    "So, what's on the fourth scroll ?" Past Echoes inquired, trying to divert attention into a more productive direction.


    "Oh, right !" TT replied, before reading the last scroll.  She tilted her head.  Then squinted a few times.  Then looked confused.


    "It says that Theth'Ka died and was entombed as was the custom of his people." TT began, "His final resting place is not to be disturbed, for there are many terrors and dangers buried with him.  If the sun scarab can fly between Nethos and Heptas in nine days, then his tomb is located fourteen days as the sun scarab flies from Nethos, six days as the beetle flies from  Heptas, seven days flight from Dem'ma, and three days as the scarab flies from Wep.


    I - have NO IDEA where any of those locations are !" TT whined as she rubbed her forehead, "And I doubt anypony else does either !  All those locations are code words !  Only someone in World's Custodian's organization would know what they refer to !


    They could be cities.  Or natural landmarks that may or may not still exist."


    "Soooo - there's an undisturbed ancient Saddle Arabian tomb of terrors out there, but nopony will ever be able to find it because the mapmaker used code ?" Cracked Pot asked.


    "Yeah.  Pretty much." TT replied, "Unless we get really, REALLY lucky and stumble across something relevant ...."
     

  19. TT looked between Iggy and Cloudy.  Cloudy did not look well.


    "Are you sure there's any point in doing whatever you're planning Iggy ?" she asked, "It's trapped in a pit, and lacks the intellect to get out.  Sooner or later, its boilers will quit, and it'll run out of power.  We're not even sure there actually is a spirit powering it - it IS a mechanical monstrosity crafted by paranoids to deal with possibly magical intruders."

  20. It ended up a 'Good News/Bad News' scenario.


    The good news was Iggy's spell worked - the animating spirit controlling the automaton was drawn out.


    The bad news was Iggy's spell worked - the animating spirit was only controlling the automaton, not powering it.

     
    As there was currently no one driving, the automaton barreled forward in a straight line, glancing off the walls. 


    There were a few loud scraping noises around the corner, then a loud smash.


    "Well, there goes the other door." TT noted.


    There were a few more scrapes as it continued around - the lair is a ring, and the golem is trying to move in a straight line.


    It barrelled around again as everyone dodged (easy to do since it was now incapable of any kind of thought or planning), and started another lap.


    There was a loud crash, then no more scraping sounds.


    "Well, sounds like it found that pit." TT noted as she went around the hall a bit.


    Sure enough, the golem was stuck in the pit, its legs moving with all the purpose and thought of a wind-up toy, but finding no purchase whatsoever.


    Tongue Twister turned and glared at Iggy; it may have been a trick of the light, but TT's coat looked a bit darker than usual.


    "That was a rather brutal spell there Iggy." she stated coldly, "You haven't practiced that on ponies or other living creatures, right ?" 


    [ooc : the last soul manipulating pony TT encountered was the evil sorceress Hou Shuren.  It - did not go well for her ....]

  21. Tongue Twister took a few steps back, given that a DRAGON and a KIRIN NECROMANCER were powering up to do some potentially grievous harm to the automaton, and didn't want to be caught in the backblast.


    The bear golem took a step back to disengage from Jasper's sword - then breathed out a massive gout of superheated steam !


    At Jasper the dragon.


    A creature that can eat diamonds and swim in lava ....


    "Hmm - looks like that thing has extremely primitive reactions." TT noted to Cloudy, "Didn't even try to identify what it's fighting.  Probably limited to either brute force or that steam blast.  We doubt the steam could hurt a dragon like your friend Jasper; not sure what it would do to a kirin.  But we do know what it could do to ponies !"

  22. Quote

     

    The trio glanced at each other, they knew they'd been caught, but at the same time, TT said they outranked her... not to mention the captain herself had told them to continue on as they had before, so... better to ask forgiveness than permission!


    Iggy sighed


    Jasper and Cloudy both gave her a look


    Iggy looked like she might be about to say something, but just smiled "Your right, we should probably check that other door, as interesting as this is, we should leave it for singlestone"


    The pair looked relieved... it wasn't like they'd pocketed anything particularly valuable anyway, they knew where the line was... hopefully...


    Iggy's eyes flashed that dark energy as the skeleton turned, stepping off the rusted-shut trap and heading to the other door


    "Once we finish exploring, we need to make an inventory of everything here so we can relate it to the regional commander" added cloudy, no doubt either trying to sound less shady or possibly making a list of things to nab before the commander got there... hopefully the former... though with these three it was questionable...
    ((you know... its funny when the "Pirate" is the more upstanding and honest agent XD ))

     


    "And then they'll come and take everything that can be reused, saving STAR's finances quite a LOT of bits on items they won't have to buy." TT stated, "Then sell off or recycle everything else.


    Honestly, stripping this place down and selling off every single bolt is probably the best thing that could be done with an abandoned lair like this !  It's not like any previous owners could ever be tracked down, given the degree of secrecy they used, and the time.


    Many ponies and creatures will make quite a bit of money from this - there's no reason YOU three can't be among them."


    Then she sighed heavily.  "But those guardgoyles require proper handling.  We've worked in a museum for years, so doing anything BUT taking appropriate actions are things we cannot do." 


    As she turned for the door, there is a sound like a steam engine powering up from somewhere down the hall.


    Going out into the hall, Iggy's skeletal servant stepped through the door of the room the group was going to investigate - when what looks the jaws of a mechanical bear slam down on the skeleton and grind it into dust with its serrated metal teeth !


    This thing is a mechanical marvel.  Its pistons and rods move flawlessly.  Its many gears spin silently and easily.  You can catch the glints of the gemstones it uses in its joints (because they are perfectly smooth, for efficient and fast action !)  It would be easier to admire the genius and pure engineering skill needed to make it if it wasn't programmed to attack anyone who ISN'T a member of L.O.V.E. !


    The mechanical beast turns it head and looks to the STAR agents.  There is a series of ticks as its mechanical mind decides who to go after first.


    TT quirked an eyebrow at it before sighing.  "When poking around in ancient tombs or old lairs, it's ALWAYS something !  If it isn't a giant snake, or a frog/crocodile monster, or big spiders, it has got to be something !


    But a steam-powered golem ?  We knew golems can be made from many things, but we have to wonder WHY someone would make this ?"

  23. Quote

     

    At first, as TT said her dad could teach iggy the spell, her eyes lit up and her legs twitched like she was trying not to dance back and forth in excitement, but when their new friend brought up money, the joy and excitement melted from her eyes as she sighed "we're in debt" she explained "untill we get our next payday from the commander we barely have the bits to scrape together for lunch..."


    Jasper snorted "I had to eat squirrels! do you know how lanky and tough they are?!"


    Cloudy nodded, no doubt having a similar experience...


    As the conversation turned to harley, the three exchanged conspiratorial glanced, clearly they were a part of this story


    "lets just say her luck has turned around" said Cloudy "...and sadly its ex-fiancé - turns out he was just as bad as his parents in all ways except slander... she also found out he was cheating on her... but she's gotten a lot of help now" he said with a slight smirk... yeah, these three clearly were instrumental in this story somehow but weren't going out outright say... though then again, they were part of STAR so it wasn't too surprising that the organization had poked its proverbial snout into the business of an infamous sky pirate...


    Iggy stared stupidly as TT picked the lock "...I could have just used knock..." she said, more to herself than TT, which made jasper's lips curl very slightly upwards in a light smirk, while cloudy quietly chortled

     


    "We don't get much practice on modern door locks." TT replied with a shrug.

     

    Quote

     

    When they entered, all three stared in awe at what they saw. 


    Iggy commented "Golemancy was never an interest of mine - I just summon up a skeleton or a zombie- but I bet Singlestone would love to see all this, I'm sure he said his friend dabbled in golemancy"

     


    TT mused for a bit.  "Well, it certainly looks like they were trying to figure out how the guardgoyle enchantment works, judging by the different samples here.


    And we suppose that 'thing' in the corner was the practice dummy.  Why carve a new golem each time when you can just reuse something ?


    Your friend might get to see all this - the best thing would be for STAR to impound all this stuff and then demolish this old lair.  We're honestly surprised the ceiling hasn't collapsed yet, going by all the water damage over about fifty years."

     

    Quote

     

    Jasper walked over to one of the gargoyles, looking at it from an angle "This one reminds me of an albatross" he commented, though his eyes flicked to something on a nearby table.


    Cloudy walked over to the dragon, though if TT had paid very close attention, she would notice that as he passed one of the tables, an object on it mysteriously vanished.... "I guess if you squint hard enough" he commented


    "your both crazy" said iggy "if anything..." she walked over to a different gargoyle "This one looks like an albatross!" though her gaze at the statue seemed a little off...
    This time Jasper passed a table and an item on it vanished "yeah, I guess your right"


    (Though the trio was extremely good at their trade, it would be painfully obvious to any con-artist (or daughter of a con-artist....) that 'albatross' was a codeword and they were using the word and their glance to tell the others of items to stelthfully pocket... given the trio's earlier mention of money problems, it wasn't exactly surprising though...)

     


    "What the heck are they talking about ?" TT wondered to herself, "One looks like a blocky pegasus, one something like a griffin, and the Saddle Arabian one looks like a lion with wings ...


    Oh, RIGHT !  In Mom's 'family', 'albatross' was a term for stolen goods - because they're such a burden until you can fence them !"


    "It looks like we got three 'International Incident' level thefts here." TT stated, "Best to call in someone to secure this place before the golems can be returned to their countries of origin.


    Especially that Saddle Arabian one !" she continued walking closer to it for a better look, "Constructs of this quality and preservation are extremely rare.  There are only two others of this age known, and they were eroded so badly it was difficult to even tell what they were.


    The black market value for something like this is probably one or two million bits, so we're pretty sure the Saddle Arabians would like it back.


    But everything else here that is not a golem is technically salvage.  Though getting that alchemic forge out to sell it would be quite the challenge !


    We suspect there may be something else here, since all those rods, cylinders and pistons do not belong to any construct in this room."
     

  24. Quote

     

    Iggy shrugged "mostly true, though from what I heard there is one organization that's been around a while that even attempted a coup, but despite failing and losing a lot of members its still around" she explained "Though statistically speaking it will depend less on the alignment and more on the size and the dedication of the members, there are some large groups that have a constant turnover, so they only seem to be consistant despite there only being a couple 'core' members who are there from the start, and likewise there are some small groups who are very dedicated and despite having only a few members they never disappear"


     


    TT mulled that over for a bit.  "All very important factors that can be hard to quantify.  Plus you have luck - one group could do better than expected just because they got lucky.


    We've seen the math used to make predictions about long term group stability.  It is not pretty !  It is beyond the use of numbers and letters; the equations look more like abstract doodles than math.  Well, at least to those that don't understand math that advanced."


    Jasper nodded "good to know" he said simply when TT explained the pocket dimensions did not overlap the vast majority of the time.

     

    Quote

     

    "Bigger on the inside?!" asked iggy with a slightly insane grin "you have GOT to teach me that spell!" her enthusiasm making her completely forget for the moment that the pony she was talking to was a pegasus and couldn't have taught her the spell even if she somehow knew it...


    Jasper just rolled his eyes at iggy, clearly this was a common occurrence.

     


    "Well, Dad would probably be glad to explain that spell to you Iggy," TT stated, "Ya got a LOT of bits ?  Dad may be a unicorn, but he could put some greedier griffins to shame !"


    Cloudy shook his head "sadly it was her fiancé's parents who were slandering her, making sure her 'evil image' was kept in the public zeitgeist" he explained "even though last I heard the ponies responsible were... well they're not around anymore, there's been so much damage I question if her reputation will ever recover"


    TT shook her head sadly.  "That's rough.


    Having her own in-laws doing that !  We've faced grief from both the unicorn and pegasus sides of our family, but NOTHING of that magnitude !
    We honestly hope that things become better for her.  No one deserves that sort of treatment."


     

    Quote

     

    Iggy walked over to the trapped skeleton and shook her head, her horn glowed and the skeleton's bones fell to the ground in a pile, then sank down into the floor as she ended the spell, slightly dramatically. "well if at first you dont succeed..." once again the black energies swirled around her as another skeleton burst from the ground, though this time it put a more noticeable strain on her, making it clear she could only do this a few times... why she wasn't tapping the layline instead of using her own magic was up for debate, though perhaps she had a good reason...


    The skeleton began walking around and gently hitting the doors to see if more pits opened or other traps were sprung.

     


    Once the left door was jostled, a pit sort of opened up in front of the door, the hinges so rusted the pit doors only dropped an inch before grinding noisily to a halt.
    The trap in front of the center door didn't move at all, being completely rusted shut !


     

    Quote

    "If they boobytrapped this area, there must be something important or exciting behind one or more of those doors!" she grinned, thrilled at the idea of possibly learning new, maybe even forbidden, knowledge! "Once we get through these doors we'll try the one in the back, though I may have to upgrade this skeleton so it can actually interact with the doors... I'd rather not risk a trap targeting ME instead of the skeleton standing in front of the door if I were to just cast Knock"

     

    TT took a close, careful look at the bottoms of the three doors.  Only the center one had waterstains at the bottom.


    "It looks like the left and right doors are fakes." she stated, "Any picking of the locks would set off the traps.  Fortunate the trap in front of the real door no longer works.
    This - is rather competently devised security.  We may know a few ways around it."
    TT continued as she rummaged through her bags to retrieve a small L-shaped piece of thin metal and another bent into a tight U-turn loop attached to a rubber handle.


    She slipped the devices into the lock and carefully 'twanged' on the U-loop with her hoof (normally a pegasus would use their wings for this, but TT isn't, and seems a bit clumsy).

     

    The vibrations of the U-loop pushed all the lock's pins up at the same time, and with tension supplied it was easy enough to turn the cylinder.


    "Since this place should be condemned and demolished, it would have been easier to simply destroy the lock or the door.  But best to do it safe anyway." TT stated as she put her tools away and pushed the door open (being sure to be standing to the side of the door - just in case there was another functional trap).


    The room inside was lit by still functioning emergency light crystals.  There were large chalkboards on the left and right walls, beside massive benches.  
    The chalkboards were covered in glyphs and notes, and mostly overgrown with mildew.


    On the benches were what looked like statues - to the left were two pairs  of guardgoyles : one pair were the blockier Tenochtitlan guardgoyles.  One intact, the other dismantled.  The other pair were sleeker Maredripoorian guardgoyles - one intact, the other dismantled.   


    On the right side bench near the entrance was a single statue - an intact Saddle Arabian guardgoyle.  Tongue Twister was grinning like an idiot, since it was the earliest known version of the enchantment, and finding one in such great condition was extremely rare.


    The other half of the bench was covered by gears, rods, cylinders and pistons of various metals, and a few bowls of gems of various types, polished into perfect spheres of various sizes.


    On the back wall was an alchemic forge, the magic fire still going after all this time.


    There were crucibles with the residue of different metals in them.


    In the right back corner was something that looked like post modern impressionistic statue of a pony.  It's body and head were just two large metal ovals the shape of grapes the color of tarnished steel.  The neck was a piece of thick wire.


    The legs were slightly curved long cones.  The tail was a single piece of thick wire bent and curved into a three dimensional scribble taking up the volume an actual tail would.


    There were two oval dents where the eyes should be.  No ears, mouth, or mane.


    The body looked like somepony had carved glyphs into it then filed them off several times.


    It was standing in what looked like a containment circle mostly obscured by a fine layer of silt.

     

    "Looks like they were busy doing something about a half a century ago ...." TT noted.

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