Chapter 14. "The mouse smiled brightly; It outfoxed the cat!..."

Ten months later...

"Go on. Come to mama. You can do it little Orion." Hena said as she stood a small distance from her youngest cub, who was still learning the finer parts of walking longer distances. Little one visibly still had some work ahead, but was clearly motivated its mothers encouraging tone, if the effort in put in the attempt in walking. Even little ones small wings tried to flap to give a tiny boost.
"Very good. Mommy is so proud of you." she praised her youngest, as it reached her with a happy little chirp and received a loving snuggle.

"Were we that happy from a simple walking practice when we were little?" Yulthi asked, while looking up from her casual sketching. Antheia was reading a tome from the library, while Hesperus and Adlar where playing a round of cards.

"Oh yes indeed. All four of you actually. Even made a habit of instinctively racing for the first hug or nuzzle."

After having a kind chuckle for nostalgic bits of memories, the older siblings returned to their small hobbies, as their sphinx mother lied down to let the little one cuddle in her mane, while they all waited a visit from Hermes, who had promised that he had potentially big news of his new private research, which had followed after the re-discovery of 'Titan-class' of golems.
Apparently Wissen had managed to build a 'basic' model of those bipedal, 40 feet tall, arcane constructs. And luckily for the city, it walked around lightly enough to spare streets and building from any accidental damages after several tests. Work was still being done to manage two so called 'advanced' models, named 'Storm' and 'Lightning' variants. Apparently they could conjure localized thunder storm and shoot lightning respectfully.
The only active one was also used to aid in some large construction efforts, since giant of such size could lift a lot of materials with ease.

And due to all this benefit to the city coming from research Hermes was spearheading, he received permits to conduct private research in one of the organizations bigger secure facilities, nicknamed 'The Vault'; a closed and secured section in the vast cave system within the mountains the city was carefully spreading its building efforts on.
Even got a special enchanted membership brooch for his efforts, which would enable him to sound an alert if anything bad happened to him.

Hermes had mentioned there was already some 'wizard towers' being built on the surface levels for those who want to research arcane secrets in private. Hena sometimes wondered why magic was often, or sometimes even exclusively, studied in higher elevations. Maybe the air quality affected to flow of mana or something?
And of course to even receive a spot in line to have one of those secure and private facilities, one had to be a member of Guardians of Knowledge, have a good standing by actual work, honest loyalty to their cause of securing, containing and protecting knowledge (some in their possession being legitimately dangerous and now locked up tight), go and get permits from administration building designed by archivist Grogar, and finally take few mystically enforced oaths.
The oaths were meant to ensure that nothing overtly vile or malicious was happening behind any of the Vault doors, which were also much more than just thick, rune decorated, metal doors.

The musing and hobby workings were interrupted by a specific knock on the lair doors. With one psionic motion from Hena, the doors opened, revealing her mate, Hermes. On him was his dull-grey researchers cloak and he was carrying an odd cane or a short staff of sorts; it looked like it was made of carefully carved, slightly curving bone, said carvings forming a webwork of lines, all centering to the obsidian stone set at the top of it.
Even the stone had some work done to it, clearly set in specific manner on its side, with a sharpened point extending a little bit. The other end was visibly smoothed and polished, like both ends of the stone had some specific task to them.

"Hello dear. How was the research today?" Hena asked with a kind smile. she would have stood up, but little Orion was still cuddled up i her mane.

"Wonderfully. My 'Vault-work' is actually only needing some purely cosmetic work done. And it would have taken much, much longer without that rod of stone shaping-designs our searchers dug up some time ago."

"Oh? Used it to shape the walls in order get little bit of extra room by few inches in your private Vault, did ya?"

"... Yes... Maybe... Can't really say..."

"It's quite alright dear. I have heard that Vault oath makes you unable to actually tell anything about whats happening in there, unless some terms are met."

"Indeed dearest. But what I can do, is to give you this staff and some easy instructions for its use. Basically just point the sharp end of the obsidian stone at the threat to your life. And it has to be an actually genuine threat for it to work. That is all I can tell you." Hermes explained, as he offered the obsidian tipped bone(?) staff to Hena, who gladly accepted it from her position.
At this point, little Orion noticed that papa had arrived and visibly wanted 'uppies'. Something Hermes was more than happy to offer.

"Now that you're here, how about I go get us some food for lunchtime this time? I think we all could use some fresher meat today. Even you dear." Hena suggested as she put the staff away in a pocket dimension storage of sort for a later use. A useful little spell from the depths of the Library, that was even being researched in Wissen.

"Hmmmm... All right darling. Just try to make a clean kill this time."

"I will certainly try. Just hope it will be only one trip with something filling. " Hena said, as she stood up, then proceeded to give both her griffin mate and their youngest a little kiss. Other four kids just received a kind gentle flap on shoulder from their mothers wings. Some seventeen year old's don't take kindly to kisses from parents.
"Be back soon darlings."

With that, the sphinx mother walked out and took flight, heading to her usual hunting grounds. As she flew over the rocky peaks surrounding the mountain path, she failed to notice something camouflaged behind a sharper turn of the path.

"Is it gone?" came a voice, seemingly from a rocky wall.

"Hold on... Okay, send the signal." said another voice, which was revealed to be a pegasus talking to a unicorn, as the illusion surrounding them faded. Both of them wore the 'pony-piercing-a-skull-with-a-lance'-emblem of the 'Equines Concordiae' on their light armors.

While the pegasus kept watch just in case, the unicorn took out an amulet and with a flick of their horn, activated it. Soon after the amulet shot out a spark, that soon grew into a swirling portal, from which soon stepped out more ponies, two dozen to be exact. All of them wearing the same emblem. And among them also stood a certain red pegasus with a black mane.

"Alright then listen up. Our mission is simple; get in, secure the specimens and get out, pronto. If there are any witnesses in the way, deal with them. And remember; Pure Line wants them alive and unspoiled. Otherwise you end up on his table..." the red pegasus said to the rest the group in a serious and commanding tone, with a small twisted smirk tugging the sides of his mouth.

"Yes sir Crimson Wing."

"Good. Now move in."

"Come on now... Just a liiitle closer..." Hena whispered to herself, as she laid low in a thicket, waiting for a wild deer to graze closer for a successful pounce... Then her 'eye'-necklace, given by Hermes years back when they became a couple, began to make a demanding beeping sound, spooking the deer away.

'Drat. Still, I better answer just in case something happened' She thought as she began to reach for one of her necklaces. After the beeping one, she proceeded to lift it to her mouth.

"Hermes? Dear, is something wrong?"

"Hena... Children... Danger.... Equestrians..."

Griffins raspy-sounding words suddenly were cut short by a sound of something shattering, and sphinxs necklace went silent... That and the message were all she needed to torture her wings get back home and fast. Fear and dread she was feeling of not making it in time far surpassed any pain coming from her muscles and bones.

Finally she managed to get her lair in her sights from very high on the pass. Oddly the winds had been quiet the entire hurried flight. What Hena saw twisted her stomach; Four ponies dragging one of her children, with some visible difficulty into swirling portal, two more seeming to kick someone laying on the ground and a third one clearly keeping the portal open.

All that made the world in Henas vision turn crimson... And she took a sharp dive towards the offending equines, claws coming out in force...

"Come on you two! Stop beating up that feather duster and let's get going!" a unicorn keeping the portal open called out to the two pegasi, both of which took a one last kick at the beat up griffin, who was seemingly still breathing, but just barely. All the other non-ponies had just been secured, so it was time to leave. No matter how tempting the two artifacts and the treasure pile were, orders were orders.

"Ugh, fine. Still pretty sure we could have taken on that big kitty. I mean reports say its basically a slightly smaller manticore without a dangerous behind." mare of the two pegasi complained out loud, followed by a remark from the pegasi stallion.

"Well maybe it could be dangerous if it has gas?"

This caused both them have a short laugh, much to the annoyance of the portal keeping unicorn.

"Seriously! Hurry up both of you, or you find your head on a plat-" *SPLAT*

Unicorns word died quickly, as set of sharp claws of a predator, filled with absolutely murderous wrath, came down from above and proceeded to press down his head, and made his face and rest of the content of his skull intimately familiar with the hard stone surface on the ground in a terminal velocity. This left quite a stain.
The two pegasi did not have time to react as the owner of the claws rushed past them, clotheslining them on the ground with her wings, dazing them for the moment, as the portal the unicorn had kept open fizzled shut and disappeared.

Ignoring the two for the moment, Hena hurried to her mates side, face beyond worried. Hermes was beaten and bruised in ways no living being should be. One look told her, that what little healing magic she knew would not help in any meaningful way.

"Hermes? Darling? Please say something..." the sphinx begged half-whispering.

"I'm sorry... Could not... Stop... Alerted... Town..." was all he managed to wheeze out for the moment. Clearly there was serious internal damage.

Mild groaning of the two pegasi coming out of the daze drew sphinx attention away from her injured mate. The very second they saw the fury in her eyes, they knew they had get out there yesterday. Unfortunately for the two, the sphinx was ready for them to try escaping, but as they spread their wing to take flight, she called out at their direction in a powerful tone, that made it clear it was a verbal spell via some unknown tongue.

"MAA, KAHLITSE!!"

Following the powerful sounding words, the stony earth beneath the pegasi seemed come alive, shooting out several tendrils of solid stone, almost as thick as their own hooves, which started whirling around the two, tying them to the ground. The pegasi duo started to show visible signs of panic as the sphinx approached them.

"You two are not going anywhere... Yet..."

As Hena turned back to watch over Hermes, several members of the Guardians from Wissen arrived, geared up and ready for plenty of things. Including combat.

"Lady Hena! What happened here? Hermes alerted us via his membership brooch that equestrians are here." a minotaur, visibly a commander, asked while looking at the two stone-bound pegasi and the smash-faced unicorn remains. Few had already went to check on Hermes, even pulling out a stretcher.

"It was that blasted 'Equines Concordiae' group. Must have been just waiting for a chance to make a move. Just help Hermes, please... I will deal with these two, personally. Then I have children to save."

"...Very well, lady Hena. Should we send some of our order as assistance with you?"

"No... Those equines would definitely use your presence as an excuse to come after your town and its knowledge. This is a family matter. And as painful it is to me to admit... Hermes was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Our children were clearly their target... And I'm going to get them back..."

Having heard her piece, the commander gave a humble nod and went to help with prepping Hermes to travel to Wissen for any medical help they could muster. Before Hena could go deal with the two pegasi, Hermes managed beckon for her to come closer, which she complied.

"Try to... Save the kids... As for... Ponies... Give'em HELL..." he managed to croak out.

"I most definitely will dear..."

With their exchange done, Hermes was taken to towns direction in a visible urgency. After they had disappeared from sight, Hena turned to the stone-bound pegasi, both of them seemingly trying to not show fear. But sphinx could smell it.

"Now what to do with you, in order make you sing?" Hena pondered, while adjusting her glasses in a menacing manner.

"Hah! You'd never make it through the Harmony Citadels defenses, even if we'd tell you about them or where to find it!" pegasi mare boasted, receiving a glare from the stallion.

"And now I have a name of your base. And I already have the means of finding it. I'm sure you have heard of the Mirror I guard here. And now I have an actual reason to utilize it."

She could not help but smirk at the stumped expressions on their faces, soon morphing into visible fear as her smirk began to turn more toothy and animalisticly predatory.

"Which means I don't need you, or your pals corpse, anymore. But I think I'll leave you both with a final question... How fast can pegasi hoof dig through five hundred feet of solid stone, before air runs out in the sad hole they are buried in?"

Both of the ponies looked absolutely terrified as they realized what sphinx was planning for them, amplified by near full toothed grin on her face, as she spoke out another spell in an unknown tongue.

"Maa, ahmaise..."

The pegasi duo had barely enough time to scream in terror, as their stony binding began to melt back into the ground, taking them along with them. Like the ground itself was pulling them down, down, down to the lightless depths to be buried alive, along with the corpse of the unicorn, leaving behind only a smooth stone surface. Hopefully the ground would not get any aches from them.

Now with that little unusual execution of filth done, Hena hurried inside or her lair, not even sparing a glance at her untouched treasure pile, being solely focused at the Mirror. Already it was swirling with mist, like it was waiting for her.

"Mirror, mirror, hear my plea! My cubs and citadel, where they be?!"

And so the mists withing the Mirror swirled and parted, showing a landscape around her lair, then zooming away with great speed, like it was showing the way, finally stopping at a well fortified castle on top of a rocky hill...

Harmony citadel, Main 'research room'...

"Hey, Stone Leg! A little help with these 'specimens'?" Crimson Wing called to the stone face earth pony, who simply grunted a bit and just casually picked up one of the still struggling specimens, called aetherwings according to their latest report, and just tossed it in the holding cell. Cell was maybe too comfortable word, since it was mostly a set of thick, enchanted bars, with a study door, set in front of depression in the wall on the side of the larger stone room, with nothing lay upon or to relieve oneself.

As the rest of children of the sphinx where being locked up with visible effort from the rest of the guards, the pale grey unicorn Pure Line was simply preparing his many tools, mainly varying types of knives and tweesers, to do some tests on his new research subjects, while his assistant, a darker grey unicorn, wearing a peculiar looking headband, was cleaning up the massive operating table equipped with straps and chains in the center of the room.
Even though the assistant was doing work diligently, his eyes did not seem as sure about doing what he was doing.

"There, all five of them secured sir Pure Line." Stone Leg said to the pale grey unicorn, while locking the cell-door for now.

"Excellent work. Now then, guards? I would like to have a perfectly uninterrupted research session. Do raise the citadel security to the maximum for now." unicorn requested from one of the guards still present.

"Yes sir. How high exactly?"

"Hmmm... I have a hunch that we may have to let the specimens Uno, Due, Tre and Quattro of the 'god kin project' to watch the door. Tell them they just might receive an unruly guest soon. They may deal with them however they like."

"Yes sir."

With the orders given, all the guards left the room, leaving Pure Line with his two closest associates, Crimson wing and Stone Leg, and the five aetherwings in the cell. And the band wearing assistant.

"So which one of those feather dusters goes on the table first?" Crimson asked with barely held glee in his voice. This question also caused visible fear to settle on all of the sphinxs children.

Pure Line simply looked them over in a thoughtful manner, like he was going over somethings in his mind.

"Well, I think we do need at least two of them alive for later use. The breeding program is in need some new material. but that is to decide after the first full examination."

Back to sphinx...

"Oh, the bloodiest of hells no..." was all Hena could mutter in a mix of worry and fury, as the Mirrors vision faded back to the mists. She did not need to read lips to know that her children were in more than serious danger. But she also had another problem in her claws.

She had the location, but her wings could not carry her there fast enough. And then there was whatever security those equines had in there. She knew she could kill several of them with relative ease, but just going there as she was a suicide. If only she would have a boost of power outside of her work, but it would need to be from something beyond potent...
She then had an sudden idea, her gaze being drawn to the Magic Mirror and the Tablet of Secrets. In the back of her mind ringed with the warning so long ago that they should not be used in conjunction, unless the situation was truly serious, and even then it carried a penalty... And she was more than willing to pay that cost.

With the decision made, Hena proceeded to carefully pick both the mirror and the tablet from their floating-spots, and gently embraced them; Tablet close to her chest and Mirror held close to her head.

"I know this was not advised, but please... I need your aid..." she whispered.

-

-

"The process will be agonizing..."

"I know and willingly take all of it... As long I can save my babies..."

No more words and thoughts were needed, as Hena felt power to flow into her body. Then came the pain... Like someone was pressing a grand weight upon her very being, as the Tablet proceeded to somehow mold itself into her, feeling like sharp stones being forced through her flesh, while making golden writing to burn itself on her skin. At the same moment similar thing was happening was happening with the Mirror. Its reflective surface visibly melting off from its golden frame, right onto her face, feeling colder than anything she had ever felt. And it was flowing right into her eyes; both onto and behind them.
All this and much, much, MUCH more made her scream through gritted teeth, just barely managing to stay in standing position, as the artifact granted her power and form to save her little ones...

Author's Note

Happy new year! And apologies this took so long. Life and especially inspiration to write stuff were a b to me.
Also tried to make a triple update. Might have overestimated meself, but it happens... Pst... Actually writing the third one while the inspiration is hot...