It was always hard waking up.
To go from the messy and magical machinations of one’s own subconscious to the real world and its many strict rules was always jarring to the mind, no matter if one was ejected from a lovely dream or a horrific nightmare.
For herself, she usually found it tended towards the latter, with regrets from her long past creeping up on her. No matter how well she handled things, she always felt like she could do better, with the pain of her many mistakes always making her think about just how many more she may be making and not even realize it.
During this day in particular, though, she found those nightmares appearing as if consequences from a failed trade deal between the starving Changelings, which had resulted in hundreds of their kind dying off. It was only by the good grace of her sister, with her much vaster regrets and wisdom thereby, was able to tame that diplomatic leviathan and actually get everypony and everyling on the same page.
Those political relations were never the most glamorous or interesting things she’d had to do, but the harsh reminder of why exactly it was all so important stung deeply into her, making her regret how she really should’ve realized how bad it was sooner to keep those ‘lings from dying. There were so many things she could’ve--should’ve done, but every single one of them was left by the wayside, even simply just letting the argument she had with the undiplomatic Queen settle down first...
Sighing and pushing herself up to hop out of bed, she knew that trying to dwell on her regrets and the disappointment of her family wasn’t going to be helpful, so she just decided to clean herself up and get ready for the long day ahead of her.
Trotting into the dining hall, now wearing her trademark paraphernalia, she found her sister sitting at her usual place on one side of the central table, reading a book she held before her in her magic. Her sister’s obsidian tiara was placed on the table beside a cup and pot of coffee, with the strong bitter scent wafting across the room into her own nostrils, forcing a faint wince out of her.
Heading up to the table and pulling her own usual seat out with her magic so she could sit on it, a server already coming up from another door to set her own set of tea on the table before her, then retreating to whence he came.
The two sisters sat in silence for a moment, occasionally sipping at their drinks for a moment, while she picked up on the mild annoyance from her sister, which seemed to be pointed at the book she was reading.
“What’s that book you’re reading, Lulu?” She asked, pulling the attention of her sister.
Luna sighed and snapped the book shut, looking at it for a moment before addressing her sister, “I can tell you’ve had a nightmare, ‘Tia. Would you like to talk about it?”
Celestia looked down at the tea in her magic, gazing at her reflection in the creamy surface of the fluid for a second, and then stated, “I should’ve been more careful.”
“Mm,” Her sister grunted in agreement, then added, “You’re dwelling on it. Recollection and reflection is acceptable, but bathing in that dread will only punish yourself more than the required penance.”
Celestia smiled faintly. “You sound like mother.”
Luna smiled in return. “She knows quite a lot.”
Silence returned for several seconds, and was only broken by the timely arrival of two servers, each carrying a plate of differing colours and carrying different foods; one being of light pastels with fluffy pancakes atop them, and the other in darker tones with tofu and sushi laid across them.
After the servers placed the delectable, yet regular meals in front of the sisters, they then left through the doors they came from, letting the two sit there, taking some time to continue talking before actually digging in.
Luna floated the book still in her magic over to her sister, showing its cover to her, with the prominent title of ‘Daring Do and the Ring of Eternity’ as well as the titular ring front and center, golden in colour and etched with multiple tiny wings, as well as the tan-and-grey pony grasping for it, all in front of a massive pyramid in the background. “This story is dull and derivative, with mere action and mayhem and little connective tissue, filled with clichés and exaggerations that any creature can tell as unoriginal and uninspired.”
“And yet it is a bestseller,” Celestia took note of the golden sticker planted on the bottom-right of the cover. “I believe normal ponies appreciate the fun and exaggerations, rather than deadly seriousness and complete adherence to historical truths.”
“Ponies are quite foolish, then.” Luna was clearly miffed by the prospect. “‘The Art of War’ has been read much more often by other species. Perhaps our subjects are overly squeamish and unable to accept the real violence that exists.”
“Perhaps you are merely jealous, sister.”
“...Perhaps.”
The two’s smiles grew a bit, and Luna took the book back and placed it on the table a short ways away from her food, and the two begun to eat.
Unfortunately, they were left to do so for little time, as green flame soon emerged from the ether and formed into a wrapped-up piece of parchment, bereft of any binding ribbon, and was then caught by Celestia’s magic before it fell even a centimeter.
Taking her face out of her pancakes and using a napkin to wipe the mess off, she unrolled the parchment and read the oddly messy writing for a few seconds, and noted the lack of any words before the signature of ‘--Twilight Sparkle’ at the end.
“...I am going to teleport us outside, sister,” Celestia said with worry clear in her voice, standing up from the table.
Luna, having already set down her silverware when the letter arrived, simply nodded in response and placed her tiara on her head behind her horn, and stood up as well.
Celestia waited until her sister got up before lighting her horn and flashing a quick spell, and suddenly they were outside, pleasant orange and purple dawn light casted over them as they stood on the edge of Canterlot that overlooked Ponyville far below.
“Ah, I suppose that would cause her worry,” Luna noted, observing the large purple cat with wings and Egyptian makeup and jewelry that was wandering around the small town, peering into buildings as if to try and find someone.
“...I will go and speak with her,” Celestia informed her sister, then quickly charged her horn and teleported straight over to Ponyville, trusting that Luna would deal with the concerns of anypony in Canterlot that noticed it.
Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Twilight found herself oddly awake. Looking at the small clock on her ever-so-slightly out of place bedside table, she noticed the time to be 7:41, which was 19 minutes before she was supposed to wake up.
Turning her gaze the blinds-covered window in the wall near her bed, she saw morning light starting to peek through, which made enough sense with the Sun being risen at about 7:32 given the time of Summer it was.
She may have not always been one to wake up exactly at 8:00, but it was usually around then, and with the current discrepancy, she quickly determined something was off. Maybe it would be something mundane, like Rainbow Dash blasting into her Library despite knowing full well she wasn’t able to get that new Daring Do book yet, or perhaps it would be much more catastrophic, like a bunch of dragons raiding and burning down the town to get their lost child, Spike, but Twilight knew something was going to go wrong.
She facehooved, hard, and shook her head to try and push away those thoughts. “Just because you woke up a little early doesn’t mean there’s a disaster coming,” She quietly chided herself, “You need to listen to your therapist more.”
Sighing heavily, Twilight pulled the covers off her and hopped out of bed, then looked over at Spike, snoozing away in his much smaller ‘bed’. She debated for a moment letting him sleep until their typical wakeup time, but eventually dismissed it, knowing that she’d have to wake him up regardless, and a hoofful of minutes wasn’t that big of a deal. Well, and she also wanted some breakfast, and didn’t trust her own lackluster cooking abilities to make something actually palatable.
Magically grabbing his shoulder and shaking him slightly, she let his consciousness slowly come up from his own cover of sleep, and smiled at him as his eyes opened. Deciding to let him do the rest on his own, she headed over to the door to her bedroom and opened it, trotting down the hallway and then down the stairs to the lower floor, hooves carrying her down by instinct while she rubbed at her eyes and yawned.
Arriving at the ground floor, she took a glance at door and the windows beside it to take in the certain light of sunrise that would be coming beyond it, and kept trotting over towards the kitchen, but suddenly froze, and then did a double-take at the window.
What would usually be a lovely mix of orange and purple that came over the many other buildings in Ponyville was instead replaced with a circle of orange with a black oval inside, a white area outside of it that itself was contained inside a backdrop of a fuzzy purple, lavender and black masking the top and bottom of its edge.
Twilight heard some steps coming down the stairs she just did herself, and knew Spike had woken up and was wandering down the stairs without even having to look at him, which she didn’t find herself able to do anyway, as the strange view through the window consumed her attention.
Ever so slowly, the gears in her brain turned as she processed what she was looking at, but any satisfaction of figuring it own on that shape alone was shattered when the lavender top and black bottom of the shape snapped shut for just a moment, covering everything under it with those colours, before opening back up, and Twilight quickly understood that she was looking at a giant eye.
“Spike,” She said on reflex and without emotion, causing the young dragon to stop moving, right around the bottom of the steps from what Twilight could hear. “Get to the basement.”
“Whah, why?” Spike muttered in confusion as he went down the rest of the steps--
“PONY!”
Only to get frozen in place as a booming voice shook the building, and, immediately startled fully awake, looked out through the window to see the giant creature outside.
“Get to the basement, Spike!” Twilight shouted at him, forcing a wobbly nod from him as he darted over to one of the doors in the main room, almost slipping and tripping over his own paws as Twilight ran towards the door as well, throwing it open with her magic while looking over at Spike.
“Come back, Pony!” The voice boomed at them again, seeming slightly despondent as Twilight and Spike sprinted through the basement door and down the stairs, too much fear and adrenaline coursing through them to even process anything but the giant creature loudly speaking at them from outside.
Almost tripping and tumbling all over the floor as she arrived at the basement, Twilight swiftly looked back up at the door up the stairs and magically slammed it shut and locked it, simultaneously flicking on a light in the basement itself to let herself and Spike see down there. She continued to stand there, staring with dread and terror at the closed door above as Spike arrived at the floor himself, then looked around and ran towards one of the desks that made up the elaborate testing laboratory that was the basement, and opened of the drawers in it, sharply drawing Twilight’s attention.
“Spike, what are you doing?!” She shouted at him, quickly trotting over as he pulled out some parchment from the drawer.
“Getting a letter,” He replied with the same level of fear as her, but more focused. Pulling open the drawer further, he pulled out some quills and an inkpot, then laid them and the parchment on the mostly empty desktop above.
“Okay...” Twilight muttered in response, then quickly uncorked the inkpot and picked up a quill and a short length of parchment with her magic, then frantically wrote a plea for help from the giant monster outside to Princess Celestia, rolled the parchment up, then tossed towards Spike, who exhaled some of his magic dragon breath on it to send it to its recipient.
Landing from her teleport quietly on the grass in the middle of Ponyville, Celestia observed from a distance the side of the large female cat as she pressed her face close to a building to look through its window, and snarled in frustration before pulling away, then seeming almost desperate as she looked around some of the other buildings in the area.
Deciding to cut this off at the pass, Celestia called out after her using her Royal Canterlot Voice, “Sphinx!”
Seeing an ear twitch on the Sphinx as she registered the noise, then swiftly turned around to see the alicorn looking at her. “Celly!” She called back in response, a smile of her incredibly sharp teeth mimicking the happiness and relief in her voice.
“It has been a while,” Celestia said as Sphinx approached, each step subtly shaking the ground beneath them, “What are you doing here?”
“A pony has stolen something from me!” Sphinx replied, her volume toned down while her tone was clearly offended at the prospect, “I saw this town on my way to you, and wanted to ask if somepony here knew about them.”
Celestia nodded in understanding, and quickly realized that Sphinx knew it was a bad idea to go straight to Canterlot, as many more ponies would see and flee from her if she did. “Who was this pony?” She decided to ask of the Sphinx, and added, “And what did they steal?”
“I do not know the pony’s name,” Sphinx replied, “But her fur was the colour of sand, and her mane of coal and ash. Her mark was that of a ‘compass’, and she was always shouting about taking my Ophanim of Elysium and putting it in a museum, ‘where it belonged’.”
Freezing for a moment as she recalled the Ophanim in her mind, Celestia knew of the three nested golden rings that spun and turned independently of each other, each ring spotted regularly with eyes and wings across its circumference.
“Mother will be angry...” She muttered to herself, before taking a deep breath and thinking on what else the Sphinx spoke about, easily telling the disgust and hatred the Sphinx spoke about the pony with, and given the description, she swiftly figured out who it was. She was thankful for the reminder she was given of them only a few minutes ago, with that book...
Pausing again, she recalled the image she saw on the front of that book, and then sharply inhaled as she realized what that adventure was about, even if it did leave her with an odd question.
“Sphinx...” Celestia spoke carefully, seeing the intrigue and annoyance rise on the massive creature’s face, “How long ago did that pony steal the Ophanim?”
The Sphinx’s eyes averted for a moment out of embarrassment, then she muttered in disappointment, “About two months, I think.” At the confusion in the Alicorn’s gaze, she continued, “They used an explosive device in my mouth, and I took some time to heal and rest.”
Celestia pulled back and her eyes widened somewhat in surprise, realizing how much of an issue Daring Do was starting to become for her and Sphinx, even if it shouldn’t do that much damage to her. “I do not believe you would need that much time to heal that injury...”
Sphinx just looked back at her and stated, “I can’t tell how much time passes out here from within that temple.”
Celestia nodded as she remembered that fact from previous conversations the two have had, and grimaced before saying, “Sphinx... that pony is known as Daring Do, and she just released a book about her theft, where she exaggerates the events for readers’ entertainment.”
Sphinx’s face slowly fell as she processed that statement, then blew up in a righteous rage with bared teeth. “That pony is going to DIE!” She shouted, her voice booming across the entire town.
Not even flinching at the volume that flung her mane and tail back, Celestia knew that she wouldn’t let that ‘adventurer’ get away with it either, and charged her magic, quickly pulsing it in a specific manner to act as a beacon while her eyes turned back up towards Canterlot.
Soon, she cut her magic off as she Luna jump out of a window of the Castle, flapping to quickly get out of the city, and swooping down the mountain to care just above the ground as she flew towards Ponyville, and finally sharply dug her hooves into the dirt to stop just before the Alicorn and Sphinx in the middle of the town.
“Hello again, Sphinx,” She called out towards the massive cat, who acknowledged her with a nod, and then turned to Celestia and ask, “What is it?”
“Luna,” Celestia started with a hint of graveness as she recalled the conversation she had with her sister mere minutes ago, “That book you were reading isn’t just fiction.”
The other Alicorn tilted her head as she processed the statement, undoubtably thinking back to the Daring Do book with the wing-clad ring on its cover... “Oh,” She said flatly as she understood, but her voice held clear anger just under the surface.
“I believe Daring puts her ‘finds’ in Museums in Manehattan,” Celestia informed her sister, “And Sphinx and I need to speak with her as soon as we can.”
Luna swiftly nodded, knowing exactly what was asked of her, and declared firmly, “I will find her.” Turning around and jumping up into the air and flapping her wings, she was off again, darting up into the sky and then off towards her destination.
With just herself and the Sphinx again, Celestia knew they were both able to take long silences in stride, but not that didn’t mean it was something they necessarily liked, and so she saw fit to fill the current quiet by starting, “How have you been, Sphinx? It’s been a while since we’ve last met.”
Sphinx nodded and replied calmly, “About three years, correct?”
“Try five, dear,” Celestia shot back with a small smirk.
“Hmm,” The Sphinx grunted in a mix of annoyance and amusement, but soon shook it off. “Well, anyway, there have been some more ponies than normal visiting me, in groups about a half-dozen strong, and they always seemed so excited...”
Celestia tilted her head, confused. “‘Excited’?”
Sphinx nodded, some level of confusion in her squinted eyes as well. “There’s always that awe and dread as they gaze upon me, but the shock and fear ponies usually have was covered up by eagerness. I don’t know how... but I think they may have been expecting to see me.”
“For how long has that been happening?” Celestia asked of her, already having a hunch on the reasoning behind it all.
“Hmm...” Sphinx paused and closed her eyes to think for a moment, eventually opening them back up and saying, “Some months, at least. It was definitely before that ‘Daring’ pony stole from me.”
“Interesting...” Celestia muttered to herself, looking downward for a moment. “I’m not certain,” She spoke and looked back up after a second or so, “But perhaps they had heard of rumours of Daring’s next expedition to your Temple, and wanted to see if they could get there first.”
Sphinx pulled back slightly in surprise and confusion. “Really? Are there so many ponies that think they could get to me and escape alive?”
Shrugging, Celestia let her eyes wander around the empty town the two stood in, musing, “My little ponies, for how kind they can be sometimes, can also be just as stubborn and foolhardy.”
“Methinks that’s the same thing, Celestia,” The Sphinx stated with a grin, getting a sharp and rather annoyed--though partially assenting--look from the Alicorn. “Honestly, I just thought Somnombula was having some tours, and there were rumours coming from that...” She added, then put a forepaw up to her chin and muttered, “At least they weren’t perverts or anything; I could tell that much from their screams as I ate them...”
“Um,” Celestia sputtered, raising an eyebrow at the appalling, yet hardly unexpected behaviour from the giant cat.
However, that response only made said Sphinx start to giggle in a gleeful and partially malevolent manner, but she shook her head and turned the conversation away from that, saying with a large, almost frightening grin on her face, “Well, that’s enough about me. What have you been up to recently, Celly?”
The Alicorn in question sighed in beleaguerment as she knew those hapless adventurers weren’t ever going to come back, and begun, “Well, I’ve actually been rather preoccupied with the Changelings lately. I’ll spare you the details of our politics, but quite a few of Chrysalis’s children have been spotted in large Equestrian cities during the last few years. Normally they’re better at hiding than that, but...”
“They’re getting reckless,” Sphinx continued the thought, getting a nod from Celestia. “Perhaps their starving nature is making them act faster?” She asked, though she sounded sure that that was what was happening.
Celestia just nodded solemnly in response, knowing firsthoof why they were acting so fast and loose. “Chrysalis herself has hardly been eager to agree to get any help from my Ponies; her pride keeps her from accepting such pity.”
“Well, and she’s hardly ever trusted any of you little fools,” Sphinx added with light humour, getting a roll of the eyes from the Alicorn. “I presume you’ve worked your little ‘friendship’ magic and gotten her to agree on something, at least?”
With a sigh and shake of the head, Celestia replied, “No, it was my sister that did.” An amused, though not entirely surprised raise of an eyebrow came from the Sphinx, but Celestia just went on, “She managed to get their love-thieves to arrive at a scheduled time and place, allowing them on their paths freely and getting them more love more easily, as well as keeping our Ponies safer with the open knowledge about what the Changelings were up to.”
“Ah, she’s always been better at understanding nuance...” Sphinx mused, looking down at a slightly peeved Celestia, and stated deadpan, “You really can’t keep thinking every single creature is either completely good or utterly evil, Celly. You can’t possibly think me simply eating some foolish subjects of yours is good, hmm?”
Closing her eyes and taking a slow, deep inhale through her nose, then slowly letting it back out, Celestia stated quietly, “I’d rather hold out hope for them, Sphinx.”
Sphinx snorted and took a moment before speaking, “You’re conflating ‘hoping a creature is different than you thought’ with ‘knowing a creature has more than their first impression’, Celly.”
“I concur,” Another voice spoke before Celestia could open her eyes back up, but she didn’t need them to know Luna had arrived back from her short flight to Manehattan and was standing a short ways to her side. “Other creatures have different cultures, and you’ve always been slow to agree to parts of them that clash with our own.”
Celestia let her head fall lower in guilt, having known of those issues with herself for most of her life, but... with the current circumstances, it hit her rather hard this time. “I really should try and be better at that, shouldn’t I?” She asked herself quietly, and took another deep breath before opening her eyes back up to see Luna and Sphinx looking at her with sympathetic smiles.
“I suppose we’ll deal with that in due time,” She stated, hardening her expression, making the same happen to the others’. “Lead the way, Lulu.”
A curt nod returned from Luna before she flapped her wings once more and shot up into the sky, waiting for the other Alicorn and Sphinx to do the same--the latter’s massive wings sending a giant gust across the ground of Ponyville and shaking its buildings as the Sphinx rose into the sky, then followed Luna as she shot forward towards their destination.
“Phew...”
Laying back on a lawn chair in the backyard of her mansion, which was on a cliff that overlooked the ocean, Daring Do relaxed as she took in the sight of the Sun rising over the horizon, the dark sky above lighting up from below, the bands of orange and purple skipping their light across the sparkling far below. A cool breeze swept across the mare’s fur, soothing her from the aches of her travels, and dealing with her prissy editor and publishers that kept trying to pry more information out of her.
At the very least, it was a job well done, and a story well made, with the truth of what she managed to do hidden once more. That, in particular, was important this time around, given the artifact she got and the massive thing that almost got her killed on her way out, but like hell was she going to let this discovery slip through her hooves! That artifact had so much value in what it could tell ponies about the past, as evidenced by the six-figure sum the university paid her for her find, and that was on top of all the possible entertainment she could wring out of her adventure, even with the liberty she took with some of its elements. What that giant cat said did make her a little wary about a couple rather authoritative figures finding out about what she took...
Regardless, it was over, and she could bathe in the peace and prosperity brought about by her deeds, and so she closed her eyes and prepared to go to sleep amidst it all...
BOOOOM!!
At least, until the earth suddenly shook below her with a massive sound wave blasting past her home and almost sweeping her off her hooves, after she’d already shot up and fell off her chair in shock.
“W-what the hell!?” Daring sputtered as she fumbled back up to her hooves, swiftly turning around to see that, just next to her mansion stood that very Sphinx she stole from, and flying on either side of her head, were the Princesses of Equestria, all of them staring down at her with anger.
“Aw, crap...”