Ramil Sable

Chapters

The meeting between the two young mares
The unmasking
The difficult decision
The challenge of the gods
The first weapons and the first powers
Mukhtar is exiled
The house of the seer
Anansi

The meeting between the two young mares

The Chronicles of the Dragonheart Pegasi
Ramil Sable

The meeting between the two young mares

Twilight was very busy with her new role as princess of Equestria, but there was always something to do and she often didn't know where to start,

-“I have to do a lot of things this week, Spike is it possible that some paper is missing? ”-
-“ Don't worry Twilight, the sheets are there, I counted them three times, after all it's only the Equestria's anniversary party”-
-"Only? Do you realize it's an important anniversary? Celestia and Luna have always done a great job for this day, and it's in exactly three days, I have to check the guards, visit the various clubs in the cities, and who knows what else"-
-“Relax Twilight, maybe you should take a nap, so your mind will be fresher”-
-"But I can't sleep, there's a lot of things to do"-,

Twilight returned to her papers, while Spike didn't know what to say or do, then he heard a knock on the door and went to open it.
And it was an unexpected visit,

-“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what a surprise”-, the two former princesses were dressed in holiday clothes, Celestia was happy to see her palace again and also Spike.
-“Hi Spike, it's good to see you and Twilight again”-, but Twilight was so busy with her papers that she didn't notice anything,
-"Why are you here? Are you visiting to check out Twilight's work?”

Luna corrected him
-“Actually we are here for the Equestria's anniversary, and we would like to help Twilight”-
-"She is going crazy for that anniversary, as you can see she doesn't give up"-
-“Maybe you should talk to her, sister”-
-“I'm going, Luna”-,

Celestia approached Twilight and called her, when Twilight saw her, she hugged her former teacher tightly,
-“Princess Celestia, what a surprise, what are you doing here?”-
-“I think you and I will have to talk”-.

So in front of a good tea and biscuits they started talking,

-“Everything is so complicated, I know that being the Princess of Equestria wasn't easy, but I didn't expect so many complicated things for an anniversary”-, Celestia smiled,
-“Dear Twilight, you can't hope for everything to go well, after all your coronation didn't go as you planned either”-
-"It's true, but what if I fail this event?"-
-"You don't have to think about it, rather Luna and I are here because retirement is very boring, and we wanted to spend some time with our subjects"-
-"But I can't ask you to help me, I have to do it by myself"-
-“ Twilight, you don't have to ask for anything, we'll be the ones to help you, we really miss life here at the palace”-, Luna then had an idea,
-“I have an idea Celestia, why don't we take Twilight's place for a while? She's already been on the throne for a long time, and you didn't want to go back to our holiday resort" -
-“ It's a wonderful idea, Twilight, you go to rest, take a trip, we will be here as soon as you return, we will take care of the anniversary of Equestria”-
-"But I can't ask you to….."-
-“Silence, as your teacher I'm sure of what I'm saying, now go pack your bags and Spike will help you, a little distraction will do you good, we'll take care of talking to the citizens”-.

Celestia insisted so much that Twilight finally gave in, so she and Spike said their goodbyes and left Canterlot on a train.
The journey was long and Twilight had brought several books, while Spike took a nap.
After some time he woke up, and he spoke to Twilight,

-“Tell me, Twilight, which destination did you choose from the ones I gave you in the brochures?”-
-"Actually none, because I chose a destination that I've never had the chance to go there, one of those"-
-“And which one did you choose, then?”-
-“The Somnambula village, it will be beautiful, it is such a characteristic place, and there will be no need for a guide, we will ask Somnambula to guide us”-
-"But she is busy in that village, wasn't it better to send her a message before?"-
-“Then it means that we will stay in a hotel, what's the problem? I always wanted to see that village”-
-"In fact, it could be an excellent distraction from palace life"-.

After a few hours they arrived in the south of Equestria, right at the stop of the Somnambula Village.
Twilight and Spike packed up and looked around for their pegasus friend, the village wasn't huge but it wasn't small either so they didn't know where to start.
They asked to a pony if he knew where Somnambula was, and he pointed to a temple to the west where she was praying.
Twilight and Spike went to that temple, then they saw with surprise that there was Starswirl near it.
The old wizard turned and saw Twilight,

-“Oh Princess Twilight, how nice to see you”-
-“ Hi Starswirl, what are you doing here?”-
-“I'm here because I have to talk to Somnambula, I'm waiting out of the temple, and what are you two doing here? ”-
-“ We are on holiday, to distract ourselves from palace life, and I thought of visiting the village of Somnambula, I know little about this village”-
-“ Then you should visit the museum and the library there are still some old ancient papyri, you just need someone local pony to translate them for you”-
-“But what is Somnambula doing in that temple?”-
-“She is praying, once a month she goes to that temple and prays”-
-“Pray…for whom?”-
-“For a friend of hers, a dear friend of hers, a friend she never saw again, and she is buried there”-,

Twilight saw a sign near the temple, she went over and read it
-“Temple of Ramil Sable? Normally there should be temples dedicated to gods, who was Ramil?”-
-"I told you, she was Somnambula's best friend"-
-“But I know the stories of her, and none of the stories mention the name of Ramil Sable”-
-"Somnambula had promised to tell me her story and in fact today I asked her to tell me, maybe she will tell you"-,

Twilight climbed the stairs, but two guard ponies stopped her,
-“Sorry, no one from outside the village can enter”-
-"What? But how dare you, I'm Princess Twilight”-
-“I'm sorry princess, but we have rules, no one except the villagers can enter this temple”-.

Twilight felt offended, but at that moment Somnambula came out, who had heard those voices, who spoke to the guards, and asked to let her friends pass this time.
Twilight saw how beautiful the temple was, filled with hieroglyphics and lit by flaming torches, then she saw weapons in display cases.

-“but….but these are divine weapons, they belonged to the great Equigyptian gods, what are they doing here?”-, Somnambula explained to her,
-“These weapons, dear Twilight, I handled who knows how many years ago, and they are here because they belonged to my friend Ramil”-

Twilight was impressed,
-"But you've never had a weapon, in all your stories you've never used weapons"-
-"You are always full of questions, before clarifying the matter first let me finish praying in front of this sarcophagus"-.

Somnambula stood in front of an Equigyptian sarcophagus and opened it, then joined the hooves and prayed, Spike looked inside the sarcophagus, inside there was a pegasus mummy with an amulet.

-“Ehm…Somnambula? Is that a real mummy? Isn't there a danger that it will wake up and hurt us?”-
Still keeping her eyes closed she replied,
-“Don't worry Spike, she won't wake up, and then she couldn't hurt us, this is my friend Ramil Sable's mummy”-, Twilight also saw the mummy, and noticed the amulet around her neck,

-"That's a really nice amulet"-
-“That my dear Twilight, is a unique amulet in the world, it is Khepri's amulet”-
-“Khepri? The famous scarab god? How did she get it?”
-“I'll explain everything to you when we get to my house, first let me pray for her, once a month I come to this temple and I pray for her, who will now be among the Equigyptian gods”-.

After two minutes Somnambula closed the sarcophagus, and then escorted everyone out of the temple, and then led them to her house.

-“Dear Twilight, would you like a good tea? ”-
-“I would love to”-
-“Then I'll prepare it for you, Spike and Starswirl”-.

Somnambula brought a tray with sweets and teas after about ten minutes, then she sat down at a table with them, and asked Twilight a question,
-"So dear Twilight, what leads you to my village?"-
-“ I'm here on vacation, the princesses are back for a while, so I thought of visiting you, but I didn't expect to find Starswirl as well”-
-"He is here because I promised him some time ago to tell him the story of my friend Ramil"-
-“Now that I've learned these things, there are many questions I'd like to ask you, who is this Ramil Sable? And if she really was your friend why doesn't she appear in your stories? And then….did you really meet the Equigyptian gods?”-,

Somnambula was happy with all that curiosity, so from a wardrobe she took some papyri with drawings, several ponies were drawn, she pointed to herself then there was a pegasus next to her, she was light green, she had green eyes, the mane was orange, and the tail was orange with a blue center line, she wore a forehead covering on her head, and a blue cloak on her back and her cutie mark was a green beetle, also Twilight saw a strange thing, the pegasus had red stripes on her head, muzzle, body and legs.
Twilight saw that drawing

-“ How strange, a pegasus with stripes, very particular”-, Somnambula added something,
-“It is particular because Ramil was a half-blood, her father was a pegasus, a Gallic warrior from Gaul, while her mother was a zebra ”-
Twilight was incredulous,
-"What? A zebra? But I've never heard of situations of zebras and ponies having children”-
-“Nowadays it doesn't happen, yet at the time when the zebras came to our village many ponies married zebras, and Ramil was one of these crossbreeds, but the children that were born were either zebras, or they were ponies with black stripes, but she was the only pony with red stripes, because her father had a red mustache and mane”-
-“In which village sorry? I can't understand anything, weren't you born in Equestria? ”-
-“ No Twilight, I was born in Equigypt, in Zebrafrica”-
-"How is it possible?"-,

Starswirl laughed,
-"Eh eh, dear Twilight, I too was incredulous like you, but then Somnambula explained me better"-.
And Somnambula clarified the conversation better to Twilight,
-“See Twilight, all the stories they tell about me are true, but I lived in Equigypt, I had adventures there too and with my dear friend Ramil”-
-"But how come they don't talk about her?"-
-“You see Twilight, the legend of Ramil is handed down in this village and only in this village, because she was a heroine for us and if her weapons and her temple were known, some thief with bad scruples could steal them, even if those weapons are protected by strong magic, only Ramil and I could use them, in common pony hooves they would become normal weapons” -
-"But Ramil why is she dead?"-

Somnambula grieved,
-“ It's a very sad thing, when the gods told us to leave Equigypt to come here to Equestria, she had to leave and I had to come here, but she promised to come back, and in fact she did come back, but unfortunately I wasn't here waiting for her"
-" How come?"-
-“ You should know, I was already chosen by Stygian to be part of the Pillars of Equestria, and so when we trapped the Pony of Shadow I ended up with my friends in Limbo, and when I returned to my village after you freed us I found out from descendants of Ramil that she came here, she kept her promise, sadly she couldn't know where I was, people told me that she searched all over Equestria even in the Duat, but she didn't find me, then she gave up looking for me and ruled the village in my place, to protect what I had left, she made other adventures without me, adventures that are written in the papyri of the temple and in the house of her descendants, she also discovered that the Sphinx that I had exiled had returned, unfortunately that time I was not there, Ramil slew the Sphinx with her weapons”-
-“With her weapons? Your friend was a bit violent”-
-“Yes, it's true, Ramil used her brain but often preferred to use her muscles, but if she killed the Sphinx it's because that beast had insulted my name”-
-“Ah I see, so Ramil just defended you, I guess it must have been hard for you to find out that when you came back that your friend had come looking for you but she didn't find you”-
-"Yes, for me it was a bad strike to the heart, that's why once a month I pray in her temple that the inhabitants at the time built for her, however it is now I tell you her story, and believe me no one will tell you it better than someone lived with her, that is I her best friend, we just have to take a long leap in time, in the ancient Equigypt”-.

In the past

We are in Zebrafrica, in an unspecified point of Equigypt, when the territory was under the influence of the Greyks and Roarmans, we are in the original village of Somnambula called Harim, the village is very large there are pyramids, a royal palace, a large city of Equigyptian houses, a large market, the river Nile which runs through the village makes the nearby land fertile.
In all the streets there were several ponies and unicorns and pegasi, but they weren't the only ones there were also several male and female zebras, they all wore light clothes to protect themselves from the heat, and in the streets and in the markets you could see other creatures, like the Abadas, unicorns that resembled antelopes with two horns, one on the forehead and the other near the muzzle, then the Kelpies, ponies with a mane made of water, and also the Okapis, who were often merchants.
Somnambula was a filly at the time, she was not so small, but not big either, she was walking through the streets with her mother, they approached a stall run by an Okapi, they had to buy food, the Okapi illustrated his food ,

-"Please ma'am, today I have some good fruit, dates, coconut, desert berries, cactus water, I also have seaweed that some fishermen gave me, if you are looking for fresh fish I could direct you to a friend of mine further on ”-,

Somnambula's mother agreed, however she chose some food from the okapi, however when she took the bag two hooded ponies appeared and with part of the hood covering their muzzles, they had daggers with them, they intended to make a robbery,
-“This is a robbery, p
ut your hooves in sight, we want your money”-, the okapi gave up,
-“Okay, okay, I'll give you the money, but don't hurt me”-, one of those ponies saw Somnambula's mother's bag,
-“Hey you pegasus, give us the bag”-,
-“No, stop, you can't do it, I know there are guards around here”-
-“Give me the bag I said”-, the pony forcefully took the pegasus bag, then they both laughed and ran away, Somanmbula was incredulous,
-"It's incredible, how can some people behave?"-, but a scream was heard from a rooftop,

-“DON'T BE AFRAID, PONY, THE WARRIOR OF SEKHMET IS HERE TO HELP YOU”-, Somnambula looked up and saw on the roof a pony with a white dress that covered his hooves and body, also wearing the mask of a gold lioness and his voice sounded modified.
The so called warrior of Sekhmet jumped to another roof, and ran fast to chase the two thieving ponies, the villains hadn't noticed him, meanwhile he was catching up with them, then he jumped to another roof, then jumped on them, he thumped them with his hooves, then another pony came around the corner,

-“Hey you, warrior of Sekmet? Leave my boys alone”-, the pony took a dagger, the warrior looked at him,
-“Stealing is wrong, didn't they teach you that? ”-
-“ They didn't teach me anything”-, the pony charged and tried to hit the warrior, but he dodged, so he took another weapon, an axe, the warrior began to look angry,
-“ So you seek war, and let it be war ”-, the warrior took from his belt a khopesch, an Equigyptian curved golden sword, there was a good confrontation of slashes and the thief pony seemed in trouble, in the end the warrior he hit several times and knocked him down, all three thieving ponies were down, at which time some royal guards arrived.
Somnambula and her mother and the okapi had seen the scene, the warrior approached them,

-“Here, this bag and this money are yours, the warrior of Sekhmet greets you”-, after saying that phrase the warrior pony made a long jump and ran away across the roofs,
Somnambula was incredulous,
-"Who was that, mom?"-
-“I don't know, Somnambula dear, I don't know”-, one of the royal guards in armor approached, it was a male zebra, who explained everything,
-“That one there, is the warrior of Sekhmet, he wears the mask of the goddess Sekmet, to bring justice to our city, no one knows who he is, or where he comes from, he suddenly appeared, and since he has been here our work it's easier"-,
Somnambula's mother recognized the guard,
-“ But I know you, you are Hamzah, one of the pharaoh's guards”-
-" Exactly ma'am, and I know you since your husband is a scribe of the Pharaoh"-
-"But since when did that warrior appear?"-
-" For a few days, no one has known him yet, and we don't know anything about him, we only know that he is our ally, and he knows how to fight well, he has already stopped several thieves"-
-“He must be one very dedicated to the gods if he wears the mask of the goddess Sekhmet”-
-“It must surely be like this, now I'll leave you to your errands, while I go back to the palace”-.
Somnambula saw the zebra go away,
-" Mom? But who was that zebra? ”-
-“ His name is Hamzah, and he is one of the pharaoh's guards, also he is one of the prince Hisan's guards, since dad works at the palace we will introduce you to the pharaoh and his son, it will be convenient for you, if we talk well you could one day take your father's place and become a councilor to the pharaoh's son"-
-"but I….I don't know if I can become a councilor"-
-"You are already very wise dear Somnambula, you will be an excellent councilor, now let's go back to the shopping"-.

Once back home, Somnambula saw from outside the window the palace of the pharaoh, and she noticed something strange, she saw the warrior of Sekmet jumping from one roof to another, and then entered the palace through a window.
For young Somnambula it seemed strange so she went to tell her mother, who didn't know how to answer,

-"I don't understand, my baby, maybe he went to talk to the pharaoh, or he saw a thief entering the palace, I don't know, why on earth should this new hero enter the palace?"-,

Somnambula didn't know what to think, also because she had met this hero only today, but she thought of going in the afternoon to talk to her friend Hisan.
Luckily thanks to her parents, Somnambula and Hisan were already friends so she was allowed to go around the palace.
Somnambula went to the palace in the afternoon, the guards let her through, she then looked for Prince Hisan, the servants told her that the prince was studying in his room and could not be disturbed, but Somnambula knocked on the room, and Hisan went out,

-“ 'awh marhaban Somnambula (Oh, hello Somnambula) ”-
-“marhaban ya 'amir (Hail, prince)”-
-“What are you doing here?”-
-“You see….I'm here because I would like to talk to you”-
-"No problem, I talk to my teacher and ask her if I can take a break"-. Hisan closed the door, then after a while he came out and closed it.
-“She said yes, I can rest for a while, so what did you want to tell me?”-
-“Come with me, it's better to find a place just for the two of us”-, Hisan followed the pegasus and they walked around the palace, Somnambula told the prince about the Warrior of Sekhmet,
-“I understand, I heard about him, or rather, the guards informed me about him, he seems to leave a message to the guards to know where to meet them to catch evildoers, but I have never seen this warrior”-
-“ I wanted to tell you that just this morning I saw the warrior jump between the roofs and sneak into the window of your building”-
-"Are you sure? I didn't see anything, did you try asking the guards? They are the ones who have to control intrusions into the building”-
-"Now I'm going to ask the guards, will you come with me?"-
-"Certainly"-.

Somnambula and Hisan went to some guards, she said about the warrior's intrusion into the palace, but no guard had seen him, it was very strange, but then the zebra arrived that the pegasus met at the market, he replied,

-"Dear Somnambula, don't worry, I met him"-
-"Seriously? And you didn't do anything?”
-“Why should I? The Sekhmet Warrior is on our side sometimes he stops to chat with me, but I don't know his identity either, then he goes away, he doesn't do anything wrong, he just searches the palace, that's all, like us guards do " -.
At that moment a female zebra as big as Hamzah arrived, she wore a green cloak on her back, gold earrings and rings on her neck,

-“ Hey, Hamzah? Have you seen your sister?”
-“Oh, no mom, she right now… .. she should be with Hisan”-
-"But I see that the prince is here, so Ramil where is she?"-,

Hisan explained himself,
-"Excuse me Mrs. Mimea, I asked your daughter if I could take a break, now I'm in the company of my friend Somnambula"-
-“How are your studies with my daughter, prince?”-
-“They are fine, I don't want to create an accident between our races”-
-"And it won't happen, but if you need advice just know that my son and my daughter are always there to help you, I have to go, see you Hamzah"-
-“ Tuonane baadaye, mama (See you later, mom)”-,

the two zebras left, only Somnambula and Hisan remained.

But she wanted to know some things,
-“Sorry Hisan? But may I know who those two are?”
-“ Does that mean you've never met Hamzah? He is my father's only zebra guard, and he is perhaps one of the strongest, the other zebra is Mimea, she is his mother"-
-“ I had never noticed the zebras here at the palace”-
-"You're not a good observer, they live near the palace, and sometimes they live here with my father's request, they were part of a tribe of zebras, who however decided to come and live here in Harim, Mrs. Mimea is a kind of doctor, she prepares potions and ointments made from ingredients that only her people know, she is the family doctor, and my father allowed her son Hamzah to become his guard, for being a zebra he is very strong and trained a lot”-
-"From the first dialogue it seems that they have another member, who gives you lessons, a zebra gives you lessons?"-
-“Well, she's not really a zebra, she's a female though…it's better that I let you know her, I've known her for much longer than you”-.

Hisan accompanied Somnambula to the royal chamber,
-“Here she is, Somnambula, she is my teacher”-,
Somnambula saw a pegasus who was looking out the window, and then she turned towards them, she was light green in colour, she had green eyes, the mane was orange, and the tail was orange with a blue center line, she wore a forehead cover on her head, and a blue cloak on her back, and had red stripes on her body, Somnambula was surprised, she had never seen a pony like this, Hisan introduced her to she,
-“Dear Somnambula, this is Ramil Sable, dear Ramil, this is Somnambula, she is also my dear friend”-,

the striped pegasus approached Somnambula,
-“So you are Hisan's friend? Nimefurahi kukutana nawe”-
-"What? I don't think I understand."
-“It is a phrase in the Zwahili language, it means Nice to meet you”-, Hisan explained to Somnambula,

-"Ramil is teaching me the languages of her people and in the meantime she makes me revise Equigyptian"-
-"I don't understand, why should you know the languages of zebras?"-
-“It's my father who wants it, he wants me to have good relations with other races, not everyone speaks our language in the city, so sometimes I need Hamzah or Ramil, they know different languages of these lands, and Ramil she helps me, and although she is a foreigner she is much better than me with hieroglyphics”-
-“But…I don't understand”-, Ramil approached the prince,
-"Dear Prince, I left a papyrus with some exercises, I'll leave you alone and you will do them, while I go around the palace"-
-"Go ahead, Ramil, I'll try to make fewer mistakes"-
-"Mistakes are made because then they can be corrected, practice makes perfect, now I'm going"-,

Ramil went away, and Hisan sat on his bench.
-"Somnambula sorry, but I have to do my homework, see you another time"-
-"Okay, in the meantime I have to go one way"-.

Somnambula closed the door and then started looking for the striped pegasus, she found her walking along a terrace with plants.
She walked up to her and spoke to her,
-“ Hey sorry? You are…..you are Ramil…..right?”-, the striped pegasus turned towards her,
-"Of course, and from what I understand you are Somnambula, I already knew about you but it's the first time I've seen you, Hisan told me about you, you're his friend"-
-"Exactly, but I would like to ask you some things"-
-" What is it about?"-
-“ I met your brother and your mother, but…..there is one thing that intrigues me”-
-“Is it about the fact that I have a zebra mother and a zebra brother while I am a pegasus with stripes?”-
-"I didn't mean to insult you, it's just that I've never seen a pegasus like you"-
-“Let me explain, my mother was married to a zebra chief named Ghassan, but then they moved with their people here, my brother was little, when they came to live here Ghassan decided to be a gladiator in the various arenas of the Equigypt"-
-"And where is he?"-
-“He….he always carried a lot of money for his family, unfortunately years ago he was killed by a gladiator fire dragon and died”-
-" Oh sorry"-
-"I never knew him, but Ghassan wasn't my father, my real father was a Gallic warrior from Gaul, my mother saved him from a Roarman ship because he had been captured as a slave, she hid him here, then love was born between the two, and then……after many months I was born, my father had a red mane and mustache, that's why I have red stripes, it is not a common thing that the pony son of a zebra and a pony has colored stripes, they are usually black, mine is a special case”-
-“Your father must surely be a lucky guy to have known your mother”-
-"He was, my brother didn't consider him a stepfather, on the contrary they trained together, and I trained with them too, unfortunately he died three years ago too"-
-"I'm sorry, your mother has lost two husbands"-
-“ And my brother and I lost a father, my father decided to be a gladiator too, he brought a lot of money too, but unfortunately he too lost his life against a gladiator fire dragon”-
-“What a bad choice”-
-"My father decided so, but the will to fight is inside me as well as in my brother, Hamzah has never considered me a stepsister, but he loves me even if I'm a half blood, maybe sometimes he loves me too much, he and I often train, after all I being a pegasus half zebra I'm fast, agile and resistant, and honestly I would like to do more for my people, I usually help my mother to get the ingredients in the desert and in the oases, at sometimes we have to travel far to reach the savannah and look for ingredients there too, fortunately we zebras have the knowledge of various Zebrafrican languages, and modestly I was able to learn Equigyptian in a short time, after all my name is partly Equigyptian and part Prench, since my father was from Gaul, I am lucky to have my brother, and also to have my mother, but I would have liked to fight together with my father”-
-“Fighting is very dangerous”-
-“I know, but I am very strong, I train with Hamzah's friend guards, and then many other zebras have chosen to fight in various arenas, especially my aunt zebra Nyasi, she is a strong gladiatress and no one has yet defeated, she is my mother's older sister, but my mother doesn't want me to be a gladiatress”-
-"After what happened to your two fathers, it seems normal to me that your mother is worried"-
-"but I don't want to be a gladiator, I want to be a guard, protect my people, protect the pharaoh and the prince and...and if I had friends I would protect them too"-
-“ Does that mean you don't have any friends?”-
-“ My only friend is my brother Hamzah, I've never had the chance to make friends, apart from Hisan, but I don't know if he can always be my friend, he's still the prince, some ponies and okapis look at me strange maybe because I'm a pegasus with stripes”-.

Ramil was silent and thoughtful, but Somnambula wanted to talk to her,
-“Ramil?”-
-" What's up?"-
-“ I also don't have any friends, except Hisan, and from the way I see you, you look like you are one year older than me, I mean, I don't care about your stripes, I think you are unique and that makes you special, and then…..is your cutie mark a beetle?” -, the striped pegasus looked at the cutie mark which was really a green beetle,
-“ Yes, in my tribe we didn't worship your gods, when we came here we converted to your religion, there are many gods we pray to, such as Horus, Thoth, Isis, Osiris, Sekhmet and also Khepri, the scarab god, one day when I was little I prayed in front of the statue of Khepri and the cutie mark appeared, I think it represents my connection with the gods”-
-“ It's a cutie mark with a nice meaning, I'd like to know more about your people”-
-“I think we will have to make the presentations better than we did”-, Ramil handed the hoof to Somnambula,
-“Dear Somnambula, I am Ramil Sable, and both of my names mean sand”-
-“ And I am Somnambula, in the ancient language it means she who walks in the dark”-
-“ I hope this can be the beginning of a new friendship”-
-“I hope so too, by the way do you know anything about the Sekhmet Warrior?”-.
-"I only know him by reputation, he is a very agile avenger"-
-“Your brother said he met him several times”-
-“Every pony has his fortunes”-

To be continued.....

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

The unmasking

The unmasking

In the present

After a good night's sleep, Twilight, Spike and Starswirl woke up, and they smelled a good smell coming from the kitchen, they went to check, and they saw that Somnambula had prepared several dishes including pancakes and brioches.

Twilight was dumbfounded
-“Did you really do everything you Somnambula?”-

And the Equigyptian Pegasus laughed back
-“ Eh eh, let's say yes, the fact is that I never have the opportunity to have guests and then I got help from a friend of mine, here he is”-.

From the kitchen stood a light green pony in merchant robes.
-“ Good morning everyone, hello Princess Twilight”-
Somnambula introduced him to her friends
-“ This here, dear Twilight he is one of Ramil's descendants, his name is Dune and he lives in my same neighborhood”-, the pony turned to Somnambula
-“ Did you tell them about my ancestress?”-
-“ Almost, I've just started, for the moment I've only said about when I met her”-
-"But they know that the legend mustn't leave the village, right?"-
-“ Of course they know, I told them, we certainly don't want thieves to steal from your ancestress temple?”-
Twilight noticed that the pony had no stripes and told Somnambula,
-“ It's true Twilight, but not all Ramil Sable's descendants have stripes but some do, when she returned here she married and started a family, and Dune is part of the thirteenth or fourteenth generation”-
Twilight then said her promise
-"I promise you that I won't say a word to anyone about her story, but we are eager to know how it continues"-.
-“Okay, I'll tell you about when Ramil and I met the Warrior of Sekhmet”-
-"And did you also find out who he was?"-
-“ Yes, actually, I found out”-

In the past

Somnambula and Ramil began to go out together often, their mothers were happy that each of their daughters were friends with each other.
Somnambula often took Ramil through the streets of the city, and Ramil let her watch the training with the guards, and Somnambula could see how strong Ramil was, she was agile and fast with different weapons, she never lost against the guards except with her brother Hamzah.
But the brother was always happy and proud to be able to be with his sister even in combat, after all they both trained thanks to their fathers.

Even then, Hamzah congratulated his sister.
-“ You are always the best, little sister, with the khopesch you have always made progress, but I would like to see you often fight with the spear, after all it was the favorite weapon of the zebras”-
-"You're right brother, I'll use the spear more often, but I don't want to hurt you"-
-“ Then use the training spear, because you've always been good with the spear”-

Ramil wiped off the sweat a little with a cloth, then returned to Somnambula
-“Somnambula? I trained a lot, do you want to go to the spa?”-
-“The baths? I only went there with my parents, I've never gone alone”-
-"And you won't go alone, you will come with me, a good hour at the spa will do us good, my mother often takes me there"-.

The Equigyptian baths were copied from the Roarman ones, there were beautiful giant hot tubs, with nice decorations and even a place used as a sauna.
Once the clothes were off, the two Pegasi put on a towel and then entered the water.
Ramil was happy every time she entered the water,
-“ Aaah, what a relief, this water is hot at the right point”-
-“I like staying here too, this place is relaxing”-
-“Tell me, Somnambula? What is your relationship with Prince Hisan? Is he by any chance your close friend? In the sense is he your future coltfriend?” -,
Somnambula blushed,
-“No, no, what do you think? We are just friends, if I know him it's because my father works for the pharaoh, you rather, I think you spend more time with him, aren't you in love with him?”-
-“ I'm not the type of the mare who thinks about love, he's just a pony I give lessons in zebra language and history, maybe one day when I'm older I'll want to look for a good pony to have a family, or look for a zebra coltfriend”-
-“What do you plan to do in the future?”-
-“ It's not something I like to say, my mother is against it”-
-“And what would that be?”-
-"I would like to become a royal guard, I am strong in combat, and I could protect the pharaoh, Hisan and also my people, i.e. both ponies and zebras"-
-“ I've often seen you in training, I think you could be a good guard, but maybe your mother wants you to become like her”-
-"But I'm already like her, I know perfectly her recipes, her medicines, the ingredients, believe me I know many things about my people, i.e. the zebras, it's hard to go unnoticed if you have stripes and you're a pony, especially one like me with the red stripes”-
-“I like your stripes, I like these colors of yours”-
-“ People sometimes call me half-blood, or half-breed, that I'm not pure, that I'm neither pony nor zebra, only the royal family doesn't judge me”-
-"I'm not judging you either, just because you're different doesn't mean you have to be weird"-
-“Yes, you are a friend”-
-"Wait, did you say friend?"-
-"I thought we were friends"-
-"You know it? It's the first time since I met you that you call me friend, I'd really like to be, you'd be the sister I never had”-
-"I think the same too, you would be my sister that I couldn't have, but I love Hamzah, I'm proud that he's my brother"-
-"I like him too, he's a nice zebra"-
-"After the spa, would you like to come with me?"-
-"Where do you want to take me?"-
-“Take a ride on the Nile”-
-“ Flying?”-
-" You'll see"-.

After the baths, Ramil took Somnambula close to a part of the Nile, they saw a male zebra standing on an Equigyptian boat made of papyrus plants.
The boatman approached, Ramil introduced him to Somnambula.
-“Dear Somnambula, this is my uncle Hakim, my mother's brother, he is a fisherman”-
-“Oh, hello Mr. Hakim”-, the stallion didn't understand,
-“ Wewe ni nani? ”-, Somnambula made a strange face,
-“What did he say? I don't think I understand."
-"Don't worry, Somnambula, unfortunately my uncle only speaks Zwahili, he only said who are you?"-,

Ramil talked to her uncle,
-“ Mpendwa Mjomba Hakim, huyu ni rafiki yangu Somnambula (Dear uncle Hakim, this is my friend Somnambula)”-
-“ Ah, sikujua una rafiki, nafurahi kuwa una rafiki (Ah, I didn't know you had a friend, I'm glad you have a friend)”-, the two relatives talked and even laughed, while Somnambula didn't understand anything of that they said.

Then Ramil turned to her friend,
-"Come Somnambula, I'll take you on a boat ride"-
- “Is that what you wanted me to see? A boat?"-
-“My uncle usually uses this boat, however, sometimes I come here and help him fishing”-, Somnambula sat down in the boat,
-"I didn't know you were fishing"-
-“It's just to help my uncle, and sometimes he gives me part of the catch to take home”-, Hakim took the oar and went to the bow, while Ramil put the oar to the stern and they both started rowing.
-“You will see Somnambula, it is very relaxing to row on the Nile, you will like it”-, and in fact Somnambula liked the trip on the Nile very much, it was really relaxing to travel on the Nile.

The journey was long, and Somnambula liked to see the landscape through the journey on the Nile, on the way she also saw some large equigyptian boats where various ponies and various zebras loaded the stones to build palaces.

At one point, Somnambula turned to Ramil,
-“Tell me a little, Ramil, which gods are you closest to?”-
-"But I already told you when we met"-
-“ Yes, but…..don't you have any favorite gods? ”-
-“Let's see……there is Osiris, Isis, Ra, Khepri, Sekhmet, Sobek, not counting Thoth, the god of wisdom, I don't think I have any favourites, however my mother often makes me go to the temples of Khepri and Thoth's and Sekhmet's, when we arrived here, or rather before I was born my people converted to your religion, as well as your language, my mother and my people already had gods”-
-"Really? Ah yes it's true you told me, and what gods did your people worship before?"-
-“Let's see….let me remember…..ah yes, in the religion of my people there is Olorun, he is a zebra god, his name means The lord of the sky, he is comparable to Ra, he is the god of peace, of harmony and purity, it is associated with the color white and controls everything that has this color, such as bones, the brain and the clouds, according to his religion Olorun created the universe, fixed the day and night, ordered the seasons and established the fate of the ponies, it was he who created the orishas, i.e. the saints, who in turn created the ponies and the zebras”-
-“It sounds interesting, so also in your religion you have many gods?”-
-“From what I remember there is Ogun, orisha of iron and war, Logunedé, young orisha of hunting and fishing, Xangô, orisha of fire and thunder, protector of justice, Xapanã, orisha of skin and of sores, Oxumarê, orisha of rain and rainbow, Ossaim, orisha of herbs and medicinal secrets, Iemanjá, queen of the sea, Oyá, female orisha of winds, lightning and storms, Oxum, female orisha of rivers, of gold and love, and then Yemaja, female orisha zebra of lakes, seas and fertility, mother of the other orishas, there would be others but I don't want to fill you with information”-
-“ You have a very interesting religion”-
-"Yours is also interesting, my people did not find it difficult to adapt to the new gods, but some zebras continue to pray to the old gods of their villages, but my mother wanted her children to be of the Equigytian religion and so it is now"-

During the journey on the Nile the chat was long, until they arrived near the city and Ramil and her uncle approached the shore, it was now time to go ashore, first Somnambula then Ramil went down, who thanked her uncle Hakim,
-“ Asante mjomba, tutaonana (Thank you uncle, see you) ”-
-“Tutaonana hivi karibuni, mjukuu (See you soon, granddaughter)”-, the two pegasi headed to the middle of the city to go back to their homes.

Arriving at the market they saw that there was a pandemonium, it really seemed that there were bandits, they were five okapi bandits equipped with scimitar who were robbing the various stalls,
Ramil turned to Somnambula,
-“Hey, Somnambula? You can go home, I have to get some things here at the market"-
-“Try to watch out for the bandits”-, Somnambula got into the crowd, to avoid the okapi bandits, then when she turned around she saw that Ramil had disappeared,
-“But where did she go? Who knows which stall she had to go to? ”-.
The bandit okapis aimed at some ponies with their scimitars, telling them not to move, all the while stealing food and money.

But there was no danger because from the roof of a house the Warrior of Sekhmet appeared, he jumped from the roof and went down to the ground to give a warning to the bandits.
-“Stop, or in the name of the zebra god Olorun I will punish you in the name of the gods, if you surrender I will be merciful, otherwise I will punish you”-, the chief Okapi warned him,
-"Hey you fool, we're here to work, we don't need a clown to tell us what to do or not to do"-
-“ I repeat, if you surrender, I won't do anything to you, otherwise I will use force”-
-"Use your strength, fool, do you think we are afraid of a masked stallion like you?"-
-“ So you have chosen violence, in the name of the goddess Sekhmet, I will punish you”-, the okapis went towards him, but the warrior jumped, and avoided them, then took his khopesch and struck them, when an okapi hit the warrior, he always parried and gave him a kick, or a slap with the wing, the warrior was much more agile than the bandits and after a few slashes of the khopesch he had beaten them, at that moment the royal guards arrived with Hamzah with them, the warrior jumped and returned to the rooftops to run away.

But Somnambula wanted to follow him, the warrior was faster and he also jumped on the roofs, but she followed him from the streets then she called him,
-“Wait, warrior”-, the warrior stopped and looked down to see who had called him,
-"Who are you? What do you want from me?"-
-"I know little about you, but I wanted to know one thing, why do you help people?"-
-"I don't do it to have honors or glory or money, where there is an injustice I am there, if I am there the bad guys have a short life"-
-"But where are you from? I didn't remember you were a pegasus"-
-“ Dear Somnambula, I cannot tell you where I come from, because I have an identity to protect, but know that I am not your enemy and that this is not the last time you will see me, hataa naltaqi mujadadan (Goodbye)”-, and Sekhmet's warrior immediately vanished and Somnambula saluted him,
-“Hataa naltaqi mujadadan (Goodbye), but…….now that I think about it, how does he know my name?”-, behind her was Hamzah who answered her,
-“ No need to ask questions, she knows everything about many of us”-
-"She?"-
-“ Ehm….I'm referring to Sekhmet, she's the one who speaks for the warrior, so it's normal that the warrior knows some names of the inhabitants of Harim, and then I told you you can trust him”-
-“Now that I think about it, he mentioned Olorun with the bandits, is it possible that Sekhmet's warrior could be a zebra? Ramil told me about your old gods”-
-“ Um…..and who knows? All the zebras that moved here knew the god Olorun, it could be any zebra, now if you don't mind I have to look for my sister, my mother forgot to tell her to buy some coconuts too”-, Hamzah walked away towards the market, but Somnambula began to think,
-"It's strange, Hamzah made some strange verses, as if he were lying, or as if he was hiding something, that he is the warrior of Sekhmet? No, impossible, when he arrived the warrior was still with the crowd, and then he couldn't be on the roofs and then behind me, but who knows who could be the warrior of Sekhmet? ”-.
The next day Somnambula went to the pharaoh's palace, where she was supposed to meet with Ramil, but she didn't find her, she found Mimea instead, Ramil's mother zebra, Somnambula greeted her,
-"Hello Mrs. Mimea"-
-“Oh, dear Somnambula, how nice to see you, come, come to my room and I'll offer you a drink”-.
Mimea took Somnambula to a room that the pharaoh had assigned to Mimea for when she was in the palace, Somnambula saw the strange decorations that were in that room, there were plants, cacti, tribal masks never seen before, various caskets, containers with strange liquids, and in the middle of the room there were a large and a medium pot set on fires, also there was a table with books and papyri.
Somnambula sat down on the floor near a table, while Mimea put a small pot on another fire with some liquid and some leaves inside her.
-“ What are you preparing, Mrs. Mimea?”-
-“Oh, nothing special, it's just an infusion of leaves that gives you energy, it makes you feel better like a good night's sleep, Ramil drinks it often, that's why she is full of energy"-, after a while Mimea put the infusion into two small bowls, it was hot, but it was drunk like this, Somnambula sipped, it was good,
-“Mmmmh, it's delicious, Mrs. Mimea”-
-“Please Somnambula, just call me Mimea, I'm so glad you're here”-
-"How come?"-
-“Because you gave Ramil something that she didn't have, that is a friend, usually she only spoke with Hisan and Hamzah, she didn't have female friends, you are like the sister that she couldn't have, besides, I'm in my age, and I wouldn't be able to find another husband"-
-“ I'm also happy to meet Ramil, my parents didn't give me a brother or a sister, so I too found a sister in her”-
-“Do you two talk often?”-
-“Yes, we often talk, and she is very cultured, she told me about your old gods like Olorun, but she knows a lot about your new gods, as symbolized by her cutie mark”-
-“And she's very attached to Khepri and Thoth, she also loves beetles, when she was a filly she liked to observe beetles”-
-"She is also very strong, furthermore she introduced me to her uncle Hakim, but she only spoke to him, since he only speaks Zwahili"-
- “Among our people we speak Equigytian, but there are also members who speak only other Zebra African languages, such as Zwahili, Zulu, Yoruba, fortunately I among our people we spoke all three, and others too, and I taught these languages to Hamzah and Ramil, they are both good with languages, Hamzah is now learning to handle with potions, but Ramil is better than him, also because she started before her brother”-
-“She also told me about the gods that you have been praying to since you came to this village”-
-“Ramil in my opinion didn't tell you that only half of the zebras converted to your religion, the other half continues to pray to the Yoruba gods, my husband still prayed to Olorun, I converted instead, and Hamzah did too, he was small, instead Ramil who was already born here I immediately gave birth her in the name of Ra, we zebras have a good story behind us, we know a lot about the other zebras that inhabit this continent and therefore we know many legends and many stories"-
-"You really have a fantastic daughter and also very strong and very intelligent"-, however Mimea changed her attitude at those words, from happy to sad,
-"And this is the point, Ramil is very strong, she often trains with Hamzah, and also with the other guards, unfortunately she is stubborn, like her father was, but actually Hamzah is stubborn too, myself at their age I was stubborn, so it's also my fault they took this bad quality from me too, I don't know if she told you, but Ramil would like to become a royal guard”-
-"actually yes, she mentioned it to me"-
-“Being a royal guard can be very dangerous, Hamzah became a guard because the pharaoh consulted with the god Horus to know if Hamzah could be a good guard, Horus said to trust him and in fact my son is one of his best guards, but my daughter has always had the idea of protecting people in her head”-
-“I don't see what the problem is, it's a noble cause”-
-“ I can't bear the idea that my children could die fighting, I've already lost my two husbands, I wouldn't bear to lose my two things I care about the most, Hamzah is strong, but my daughter, I wouldn't know if she could do it , furthermore there are no female guards, not to mention that she has always trained since she learned of Sekhmet's warrior, she would like to become like him, but it is dangerous to be an avenger, even if you are masked, it could happen that someone will snatch your dress and see your stripes and there are no Pegasi with red stripes like you, they would recognize you immediately, and they would kill you" -
-"But Ramil would only like to help the innocent ones, she would only like to help the ponies and zebras and other creatures, her dream is noble, you should support her"-
-“the fact is that……Ramil told you about Nyasi?”-
-"Yes"-
-“She is a zebra, she is my sister, my older sister, since she moved here she has decided to become a gladiatress, she has always been strong and has never lost, she has been in different arenas on the continent she currently lives in the south from this part of the continent to Ingwenya, sometimes she travels with her colleagues, other members of our old tribe live there, and unfortunately in one of the arenas of that city I lost both my husbands, Nyasi had warned them, but both wanted to earn money for their family, I often told my children about my sister, sometimes she also came to visit us here and brought money and gifts for her two nephews, she is good with spears, swords and shields , I think it is also because Nyasi is important for Ramil that my daughter wants to fight, luckily Ramil never thought of being a gladiatress”-
-"But her sister Nyasi is strong enough, has she never lost?"-
-“Dear Somnambula, there's one thing I never told Ramil and Hamzah, even Nyasi and Hakim never talked about it, but when we were in our old village, me, my sister and my brother made a potion that it allowed us to travel to the dimension of the gods, to receive advice, we even met the zebra god Olorun himself, it was on that occasion that the gods told us that our destiny was to leave for Equigypt in our future, we received three magical amulets, Hakim received the amulet of Onilé, god linked to the cult of the earth, with which he could use the power of the earth, Nyasi received the amulet of Eleguà, the messenger of the gods, who gave her good speed, and I received the amulet of Orula, the orisha of divination and destiny, which allowed me to foresee the future”-
-“And you three still keep these amulets?”-
-“No, the gods said that if we stayed with them the amulets would always work, but when Hakim and I converted to the new religion the amulets didn't work anymore, but Nyasi still prays for our old gods, so her amulet works again, indeed me and my brother Hakim gave our amulets to Nyasi, and all three amulets worked on her, that's why Nyasi never lost, because she has divine amulets, Ramil instead has no protection from gods by amulets, so I would never be happy knowing that my daughter could die at any moment, you must try to understand me Somnambula, you are her friend you would never want anything to happen to her, right?”-
-"Yes, it's true, I would never want her to get hurt or die, she is my friend, I could never bear the thought of losing her, she is my best friend, in fact I consider her like a sister, I would never want to lose her , I would never have another friend like her, I agree with what you say, Mimea, but then again I don't want to be responsible for Ramil's unhappiness, if she wants to become a guard, then…..wait a minute , but then your sister Nyasi uses divine magic to fight? I didn't think it was allowed in fights ”-
-“Actually the use of magical objects is not forbidden, and then Nyasi is not that she makes an exaggerated use of them, she is strong enough, but the amulets protect her from certain deaths, if one day you have to go to Ingwenya you should go to see the fights that my sister Nyasi does who also uses the magic that we zebras produce with potions”-
-“ I would like to know a lot about you zebras, I don't know much about you”-
-“We zebras come from various places in Zebrafrica, my people come from a distant part towards the center and the south, and we have often had to deal with other tribes for this we know many languages, in fact many Harim's zebras act as guides to some inhabitants of the city in case an interpreter is needed, don't mind my brother Hakim, he only speaks Zwahili but he knows a few words in your language, it's just that he wants to stick to his original language, that's why he only speaks to those of his race, or with his family”—
-"Excuse me for asking, but could I take a look at your room?"-.

Somnambula was curious to see part of that room, she was especially curious about the masks, Mimea told her about them,
-“ These masks are handed down in our family, I know magic formulas for various diseases in different languages, and I have written in some books some medicines and magic formulas of our people and some peoples”-, Somnambula saw a book,
-“And this book is written in Zwahili?”-
-“Not really, that book is written in my original language, Yoruba”-
-“Ramil didn't tell me that she had an original language”-
-“Maybe she didn't tell you about it because in our family we always spoke Zwahili more, but our original language was Yoruba, my husband Ghassan and I knew it, and Hamzah knows it, but between us zebras we talk more with Zwahili and Zulu to better understand each other, in my tribe we spoke both Yoruba and Zwahili”-
-“So Ramil doesn't know Yoruba?”-
-"Not entirely, she knows many phrases but I didn't teach her everything, but I taught her the others to talk to with other cities and to other zebras"-
-“And what are those things?”-
-“Oh, those are all musical instruments, some of our people's, others instead are Equigyptian ones”-, Mimea took a large lira,
-“ This is a simsimiyya, you should have seen her in the city”-
-"I don't know about music, but my mother says I should learn to play something, also because usually I'm always out, or I read or study, maybe playing an instrument would help me avoid boredom"- Mimea then took a big instrument similar to a large maraca covered with beads,
-“ This is a shekere, an instrument that is played by striking it on the hoof, we used it in our village”-, then she took a small drum,
-“ And this is a darbouka, we used various instruments for ceremonies, weddings, or parties, I'm happy that Hamzah lived in my village, but I'm even more happy that Ramil was born and raised here, and this flute you see is called ney , and this is a simple lute, I sometimes dabble in music, either for relaxation or for therapeutic reasons”-
-“Do your children play these instruments?”-
-“Hamzah can only play the ney and the darbouka, while Ramil is the most cultured and attentive, she can play all the instruments we have, she learns very quickly, she is excellent at playing”-
-"She never told me that"-
-"Maybe because she usually only plays with her family, or if I ask her, next time you try to ask her to play in front of you, I'm sure she will"-
-"It was nice to talk to you, now I have to go back to my home, I hope to talk to you again how do you say goodbye in your languages?"-
-“In Zwahili we say Mpaka tukutane tena, in Zulu we say Size sihlangane futhi while in Yoruba we say Titi ao tun pade”-
-“ I hope I remember it, I want to see how Ramil will react if I tell her”-.
Somnambula came out of the palace, and she started walking back home, but she saw Hamzah that was entering home,
-“Shouldn't Hamzah be on duty at this time of day? Why is he going home? Maybe he knows where Ramil is ”-.
Somnambula followed Hamzah without being noticed, the house in question had two floors and close to the royal palace it wasn't very big but it wasn't small either, it was the first time she had seen Ramil's house.
Somnambula followed Hamzah to a room and she heard that he was talking to someone so she tried to hear, she heard perfectly two voices,
-“Even today went well, thanks to you the city is a little safer”-
-"But even you guards do your duty, you can't always count on me, but sometimes I have to go beyond the city to try to help other people"-
-“The important thing is that no one knows, especially mum, you are important to me little sister, as you are important to the community ”-, Somnambula understood that Hamzah was talking to Ramil, but that was not her voice, so she looked into the room, she couldn't believe it, Hamzah was talking to the warrior of Sekhmet, but at that moment he took off his mask, and what's even more incredible, it was her friend Ramil, it wasn't a male it was a female, at that moment she couldn't shut up and entered the room.
-“Ramil! Hamzah!”-, the two brothers got scared to see Somnambula at their house, Ramil asked her
-“Somnambula? What do you do here? Were you spying on us?”
-“ I didn't want to spy, I just saw your brother entering and I wondered what he was doing since he was on duty, and then I saw this scene, I can't believe it, you Ramil are you the warrior of Sekhmet?”-, Hamzah was sorry,
-"I'm sorry little sister, I didn't realize I was being followed"-
-“You have to pay more attention, if it was a scoundrel? Luckily it was only Somnambula”-, Ramil went to Somnambula,
-“Well... yes, I am the warrior of Sekhmet, I have chosen to play this part to help the people of Harim, and as you have seen I have done my duty with all those who were in danger”-
-“ But you could have gotten hurt, you could have been killed, what would have happened to you if someone had recognized you? What if, for example, one had seen your stripes and understood who you were?”
-“Oh, but please, you look like my mother, you talk like her”-
-"Actually I went to her, and she told me these things, so Mimea doesn't know anything?"-
-"No, and if she knew, she would lecture me that would last a month, it's better if she doesn't know anything"-
-“What if you were dead? Your mother wouldn't bear your or your brother's death, you are the only things more important for her than her life, and you are important to me too ”-, Hamzah interrupted the pegasus,
-“Don't blame Ramil, see Somnambula, it's all my fault, it's me who convinced Ramil”-
-"You? Are you the one who convinced her? But you are her brother, how could you?”
-“You see…..the fact is that I once went to the temple of Sekhmet, and her statue spoke to me, it made this mask appear, it is a magical mask, able to hide the voice of the wearer, that's why Ramil's voice was different and looked like a male one, Sekhmet had asked me to give it to a deserving warrior, who would help me in my guard work and so I thought of giving it to Ramil, in this way she could help me and help people in danger, but nothing dangerous has ever happened to her, try to understand, don't go and tell mom"-
-"I won't tell her, I'm not a spy, but I want Ramil to stop being a warrior, she could get killed, and you who are her brother should pay more attention to her safety, and instead it was you who made her do this madness" -
-“But Sekhmet never said anything about my choice so everything was fine”-
-“ I know I'm blaspheming a goddess, but I don't care if Sekhmet told you, I want Ramil to stop, I don't want her to die, and if she dies it will be your fault, and what will happen if your mother finds out? I mean what if she knew the idea was yours?”
-"But listen, Somnambula ......"-, Ramil however stopped her brother,
-“La ya 'akhi hadha sahih (No, brother, it's true), I don't want you to be responsible for the choice you gave me, if I have to die I want it to be for my choice, so I give you the mask and also the white dress, I stop being the warrior of Sekhmet”-
-"But... but little sister, you can't, you are very good as a defender of the law"-
-“I did it to show that I could do it, but I don't want mom to know, I didn't even want Somnambula knows it”-, but Somnambula replied,
-"I told you, I won't snitch, I just want you to think better, if something happens to you, what will happen to your mother? She also told me about your aunt Nyasi”-, Ramil understood,
-"My aunt Nyasi is an example, if I thought about fighting it's thanks to her example, she has never lost in her life, she is a very strong zebra gladiatress"-, then Hamzah spoke,
-“Yes, but thanks to the amulets”-, Ramil looked at him,
-“What amulets?”-, Somnambula was amazed,
-“You Hamzah, do you know about the amulets?”-, all three sat around a table, and Hamzah confessed everything, after the explanation he clarified everything,

-“It was my uncle Hakim who confessed everything to me, as long as Ramil didn't know anything, but I couldn't keep this secret from her for too long, Aunt Nyasi always had the help of the amulets of the Yoruba gods, if only Ramil had amulets, perhaps Mom would let her fight”-, Ramil was furious, pounding her hooves on the table,
-“Siwezi kuamini kwamba mama alikuwa na siri hii kila wakati”-, Somnambula did not understand,
-“What did she say?”-, Then Hamzah translated,
-“It's zwahili, she said I can't believe mom always had this secret”-
-“Actually your mother should have told you, so Ramil wouldn't have tried to be a paladin”-, but Ramil didn't agree,
-“ I won't be Sekhmet's warrior, but one day I will become a guard, whether my mother wants it or not”-, Ramil ran out,
-"Little sister, where are you going?"-
-“I'll go talk to her”-.

Somnambula ran out, and saw Ramil on the roof of the house, so she flew and came close to her,
-“ I'm sorry Ramil, I didn't want to find out your secret, it's just that I'm worried about you like your mother is, if something were to happen to you I think I wouldn't be able to live without my best friend”-
-"Am I your best friend or am I your only friend?"-
-"Who cares? If I had other friends you'd be the best, and it's because you're the best that I don't want to lose you, so will you be more careful with evildoers? I don't want you to die, but I also don't want to stop your dream of becoming a guard, what kind of friend would I be if I did?”
-“So you believe in me?”-
-"Of course I believe in you, I just want to know if you could really make it against the bandits without getting hurt, I've seen you in action, and you're good at fighting, and I wish you'd become stronger"-
-“You are a true friend, and I would never want you to worry about me”-, Somnambula hugged her,
-“ I would like you to fight to make our city safe, but I would also like you not to get hurt”-, then Somnambula broke away from Ramil and a question came to her mind,
-“By the way, how did you manage to contact your brother when you captured the bandits?”-, Ramil showed her a small golden bottle,
-"Inside this bottle there is a special potion, which I made, thanks to my mother's teachings, with this potion the bottle becomes a tool to call my brother, he too has one, you have to pour the potion into all and two bottles, so you can only communicate in two parts and no more bottles, my mother used to make this potion to talk to Ghassan and my father even if they were miles away from here"-
-"It's amazing"-
-“By the way, I had come home not only to take off my disguise, but also to come to your house to give you this gift”-
-"A gift? For me?”-, Ramil took a pearl necklace and put it around Somnambula's neck,
-"A necklace? Where do you find it?"-
-“Uncle Hakim often finds shells on the seabed with pearls inside, he usually sells them for money, but he put some together and gave them to me, but I don't want it, I prefer to give it to you, you are the best friend I have, you will be the only one, but I'm sure if I had other friends you would be my favorite”-
-“ I like it, Ramil, I will keep it jealously, can I ask you something?”-
-"Please ask"-
-"Your mother showed me the instruments you play, would you show me how you play?"-
-“I don't like to brag about my musical talent, but since it's you, I'll show you how I play, come on in the house”-, Somnambula followed Ramil to her house so she could hear her play.

To be continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbr

The difficult decision

The difficult decision

In the present

Twilight was increasingly interested in the story,
-“So the famous necklace you had before the glowpaz one was a gift from Ramil?”-
-"It was a hard choice for me to part with that necklace, but when there was the danger of the sphinx I had to sell it to buy food for a family, it was a gesture of Ramil's friendship, but I'm sure she would have accepted my choice, at least I think, but I'm sure she wouldn't have been angry for that altruistic gesture"-
-“And how did Ramil play?”-
-“ Oh, she was very good, she could play any instrument she had, but over the months she continued to train, she could no longer disguise herself, however she could warn her brother of possible villains in the city, but in any case she continued to create potions and training with weapons, as well as with the khopesch she also used the shield, the sword, the spear and the bow, she was very good with the bow, also because among the zebras it was normal to know how to use the bow, even if Hamzah didn't used to, six months went by and one day my parents took me before the pharaoh for something important”-
-“What was it about?”-
-“Now I'll tell you about it”-

In the past

Somnambula was in front of the pharaoh and the prince, she was together with her father Jalal and her mother Afrah, but near them there were also Mimea, Ramil and Hamzah.
Somnambula didn't know what was going on and she asked her father,

-“ Baba alfatikan? Limadha nahn huna eind fireawn? (Dad? Why are we here at Pharaoh's?)”-
-“ 'iinah shay' muhimun (It's an important thing)”-, the father turned to the pharaoh,
-“Oh noble pharaoh, I'm here to talk to you about something important”-
-“Tell me, my dear scribe”-
-“I wish my daughter Somnambula would follow my path, that she could be a scribe like me, and I would like her to become Prince Hisan's adviser”-, Somnambula was amazed, it was true that her father made her study to be like him, but he did not expect that sentence, but the pharaoh had other things to say,
-"Dear Jalal and Afrah, and dear Somnambula, I would love to satisfy you but I can't because I have already promised it to someone else"-, Somnambula's parents were amazed, and Mimea came forward.
-“Dear Jalal and Afrah, I'm sorry, but I had already asked for a long time that my daughter Ramil could become Hisan's advisor, after all, Ramil is one year older than your daughter and has known Hisan for much longer, she also knows many languages, but not your daughter”- Afrah was a little angry,
-“But how dare you talking about my daughter Somnambula like that? Just because Ramil knows more languages does that mean she has more chances to become a councilor?”
-"I know it seems unfair, but that's how it is, in life if you don't know languages you can't do everything"-, but Ramil didn't agree with her mother,
-"Mom? You've never told me about this, I don't want to become a councilor"-
-"Remember my baby, you can't keep giving lessons to Hisan"-
-“I could give them to other ponies”-
-"Maybe, but I prefer that you work here at the palace"-
-"Mom, I told you, I don't want to become a councilor, that place belongs to Somnambula, I want to become a soldier"-
-“Don't start over with that story, I won't let you become a soldier”-
-"And then I don't want to become a councilor if only you want it"-
-“You will do what I want for you, I will no longer allow you to go around being an avenger like you did with Sekhmet's mask”-, Ramil, Hamzah and Somnambula were amazed,
-"mom? How did you know? Who told you?"-
-“Your brother”-, Hamzah was amazed,
-"No, it's not true, I've never told you about it"-
-"In fact I found Sekhmet's mask by chance, when one evening I gave you some beer I put a potion in it that would make you tell the truth in your sleep, in fact when you slept I asked you questions and you answered in your sleep" -, Hamzah was upset, but Ramil was angry,
-“Did you drug your son? How could you mom?”
-"I just wanted to know the truth, if I had known it earlier I would have never allowed you to become a paladin"-
-" Oh yes? And you never told me that you, Uncle Hakim and Aunt Nyasi had amulets of the Yoruba gods”-
-" Who told you?"-
-"It was Hamzah, you had the power of foresight and you never told me"-
-"I lost it when I converted to the Equigyptian religion, and it was better this way, those amulets belonged to Nyasi, instead you don't have the protection of the gods, so you couldn't become a soldier, my little one"-
-"Stop calling me my little one, I'm no longer a filly, I'm grown up now, I'm now close to becoming a mare"-

The pharaoh spoke with Jalal
-“I would like to make them stop but it's too funny”-, Somnambula was sorry that Mimea and Ramil were arguing, and they hadn't finished yet, Mimea started to cry,
-“ You are not yet a mare, you will always be for me my little pony, and your brother will always remain a little zebra too”-, Hamzah blushed, instead Ramil got even more angry,
-“ So it's like that, huh? You consider him a zebra, and me? Am I a pony to you? Just you, my mother, you don't consider me a zebra, so you're the same as all those who look at me strange because of my appearance and my stripes, for you I'm not a zebra, I'm just an ugly crossbreed"-, Mimea hadn't noticed of the words she had said and tried to make up for,
-“No, no, my child, what did you understand? You are not a bad crossbreed, your stripes are different from those of other zebras because you are special, your father had a red mane, the other half-zebra ponies have black stripes because they have zebra fathers, there are not many female zebras married to ponies and their children are either zebras or ponies with black stripes, but you are special Ramil, and I always think so, it's just that I want to protect you, I thought you didn't want to become like me, using magic potions and medicines"-
-"but I love helping you with the potions and medicines, mum, I myself read the ones you create, in fact I have a papyrus where I write the potions I create, and I wanted to show you, I have several papyri with various magic potions with ingredients that I find in the desert, I want to become like you, but I thought that being a zebra I could be strong and being a pegasus I am fast and agile, but you don't seem to understand it" -,
Pharaoh stepped in to speak to Mimea,
-“ Your daughter Mimea is right, my son Hisan and I have often seen Ramil training with the other guards, and she has always won against them, except against her brother, but I think it's normal, because he's the one who trained her ”-, but Mimea was worried,
-"But….but…I just want her to be safe, I don't want to lose my children like I lost my two husbands"-
-“Mimea, you are a wise zebra and my personal doctor, and you are always right, but you cannot stop your daughter from following her path, I think she could be more useful as a soldier than as an adviser”-, at that moment a light brown unicorn with white clothes and pieces of armor entered the hall and wanted to say something,
-“I object, noble Pharaoh, I do not agree on this matter”-, Somnambula saw the unicorn, and spoke to her father,
-"Who is that guy, dad?"-
-“ Haven't you ever seen him? That's Mukhtar there, he's the captain of the guards”-, Hamzah approached them to speak softly,
-“If I have to give my opinion, he is the worst captain of the guards I have ever known, he doesn't even want to retire, I don't even know how old he is, the pharaoh was still young when Mukhtar was already in service”-, Mukhtar went close to the pharaoh, had only heard the last words,
-“Noble pharaoh, a pegasus cannot be a guard, it is not her place”-, Mimea felt offended for her daughter,
-“ But how dare you judge, Mukhtar? Among the guards there are two pegasi, a unicorn and a pony, and with my son also a zebra”-
-"But they are all males, no female will be part of the royal guards, the place of a female is to look after the house and not fight"-
-“Look, there have been warrior zebras among my people, and my sister Nyasi is also a gladiatress”-
-"And it was a bad idea, females have to do housework, I will never admit a female among my guards, after all I agree with you, Mimea"-
-"Yes, that's true, but in a racist way, how dare you judge me, my sister, my people and my daughter only on the basis of gender?"-
-"Because only boys are strong, I accepted your son because he proved to be strong, and also because he is a boy"-
-“You filthy racist of an old man…..”-, the pharaoh stopped them,
-“That's enough, I don't want to hear any more quarrels, hsnan ..... hadha wade saeb (Mmm..... this is a difficult situation), on the one hand I would like Somnambula to be my son's advisor, however, Ramil knows many languages of this continent, but I have seen her fight several times, so she could also be an excellent royal guard, in this way she could protect me, my son and the people, and I would have another guard as an interpreter of languages as well as Hamzah, however Mimea is worried for the safety of her daughter while Mukhtar does not accept females among the guards”- Prince Hisan was worried,
-“But can't they both be my advisers? They are both good mares”-
-“It could be a solution, but maybe I know how to solve the situation”-
-"And how, father?"-
-"I will do as I did for the inclusion of Hamzah in the guards, I will go to the temple of Horus and I will pray that he can help me find a good judgement, in this way no one will be able to complain because an Equigyptian god will give the answer"-.
So the pharaoh followed by some guards headed towards the temple of Horus which was not so far from the royal palace.
Once there he went in alone, walked and got down to business and before the statue of the god, and prostrated himself on the ground,
-“ 'awh , huras al'iilahi (Oh divine Horus), I am here before you to ask you for advice, Somnambula's parents would like their daughter to become my son's advisor, but Mimea would also like the same fate as hers daughter Ramil, however Ramil would like to become a royal guard, I have seen her fight and she is very good, for me she could be an excellent guard, but her mother is worried because she could die, and then there is my captain Mukhtar who doesn't want females among the guards, I don't want to displease anyone, I thought you could help me, what can I do?”-.
At that moment, there was a light, the pharaoh stood up and the god himself appeared before him, he was an anthropomorphic white falcon with a magic stick in one hand and large golden wings, it was not the first time that the pharaoh saw the god appear to him, it had happened before, Horus spoke to him,

-“Noble pharaoh, I have the solution to your problem, so you don't have to rack your brain”-
-“And tell me, divine Horus, what is the solution?”-, Horus stretched out his arm and made a golden rolled papyrus appear and handed it to the pharaoh,
-“Inside this papyrus is the solution to your problem, you just have to read it”-, the pharaoh took it and looked at it,
-"Why did you write me the solution instead of telling me?"-
-“ Because you will have to open this papyrus only in front of the two families so that they can understand too, they will have to see it too, I recommend you not to open it before the time, you have to be in front of the two families to be able to open it, so don't peek, the message will have to be understood in order to understand the answer, it's a very important thing, so don't peep”-
-“That's fine, thank you divine Horus”-
-"We don't say goodbye, we'll see each other soon"-
-"In what sense?"-, but before the pharaoh could finish the sentence, Horus was gone, the pharaoh headed towards the entrance, but curiosity forced him to read the papyrus so he tried to open it, but a voice screamed ,
-“DON'T PEEK!”-, the pharaoh got scared and then he went out of the temple, took another look at the papyrus, and the voice of Horus was heard again,
-“DON'T PEEK!”-, the pharaoh then decided to leave the papyrus alone and take it to the palace, the guards took him there.
Finally the pharaoh returned to the throne room where both families were hoping for an answer, he told of the sudden appearance of Horus and then of what he had said, so he brought the two families closer and finally he was able to open the papyrus, but there was nothing written but a white light appeared, the papyrus remained in the air and launched a ray of light from which a magical hologram of Horus appeared, everyone was amazed.
Horus spoke,
-“Listen to me everyone, I will be able to solve your problem, Jalal and Afrah want Somnambula to become Hisan's advisor, Mimea instead wants her daughter Ramil to become one, but Ramil wants to become a royal guard, but Mukhtar does not accept females among the guards , well I have an idea I want to test Ramil and the other guards, I want you to come the day after tomorrow in the morning to my temple, all the guards must come and also Mukhtar, I will test, the gods will test, who will win not only he will become the new captain of the guards, if Ramil wins, she will become a guard, if she loses, then she will have to give up fighting forever, the test will be held in the realm of gods, so you must be ready and trained, Jalal, Afrah, Somnambula and Mimea will have to be together with me to cheer on the participants”-, Mukthar was worried,
-“Hey wait, Horus, what would it be like whoever wins will become the new captain of the guards? I am the captain of the guards”-
-“ Dear Mukhtar, you are now old, you have to retire, whoever wins will take your place”-
-“What if I win?”-
-"Then you will stay in your place, but wherever Ramil arrives, she will have to give up fighting, or she will arrive first or nothing if she is good, she will be the new captain"-
-"I refuse to accept a proposal like this, you Horus can't make decisions like this......"-, Horus got angry,
-“SILENCE MUKHTAR, how dare you question my decision?”-, the pharaoh also scolded Mukhtar,
-“ It's true Mukhtar, how dare you answer Horus so rudely?”-, Mukhtar kept silent, but Mimea turned to the god,
-"Divine Horus, I don't want my daughter to win, I don't want her to fight, she is too precious to me"-
-"The way you talk about it, it's as if you already know that your daughter can do it, does that mean you trust her?"-
-“ No, no….the truth is……”-
-"I am not the goddess Maat, but I can recognize the truth in you mortals, if you said those words it means that you trust Ramil and you don't want to tell him"-
-“But what kind of challenge will it be?”-
-“ A test of strength, intelligence, speed and above all heart and brain, it will also be forbidden to fly, I can't tell you the details, so I say goodbye, see you the day after tomorrow at my temple, I will open the way for you to the world of the gods" - having said this, the hologram disappeared and the papyrus vanished into the air.
Everyone was confused but others happy, Pharaoh spoke first,
-“What an honor, Horus wants to test my guards, and in the world of gods, it will be a fantastic thing”-, Jalal expressed himself,
-“But what we have to do? I mean……for Horus we should just be there cheering”-, Somnambula spoke to Ramil,
-“Ramil? I'll cheer for you, if you don't make it you don't have to give up you'll still be very strong, indeed we could travel together across the continent and you'll be my guide"-, Ramil was moved and hugged Somnambula, then Mimea wanted to talk to Ramil,
-"My daughter, I know I should be worried but I want you to make it, and if you don't win you can always help me with my work"-
-“Are you really going to teach me the other spells in your books? And the other potions too?”
-"I would have done it anyway, your brother is denied for spells and potions, and then even if you've grown up, you will always be special to me, don't listen to all those who look at you strange because of the color of your stripes or because you're a pegasus with stripes"-, Mimea hugged her daughter, and then Hamzah also wanted to hug her sister,
-" However the challenge should go, you will still be able to train together with me and the other guards, maybe you could train other soldiers"-
-“You too will have to compete, if you win you will be the new captain of the guards”-, the pharaoh called them,
-"So it's decided, when it's morning we'll all meet at the temple of Horus to see who will win the challenge in the realm of the gods, check your sundials"-.

To be continued......

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

The challenge of the gods

The Challenge of the Gods

In the present

Twilight was amazed about the appearance of the god Horus,

-“I didn't think the gods appeared so easily for mortals”-, Somnambula answered her,
-“In this village it doesn't happen anymore, but they still listen to our prayers, in the original village of Harim it could happen that the statues spoke or that the invoked god or goddess appeared, and in any case on that day my life and that of Ramil would change"-
-“ And how would they have changed? Did Ramil make it?”-
-“Now listen to me and try to imagine how it went”-

In the past

The day had come, the pharaoh together with his son, his guards and the two families went to the temple of Horus, the guards were made up of Imad, a blue unicorn with a green mane, Iqbal and Ishaq, two male pegasi, one orange and the other one was green, then there was Kaliq, a big strong red pony, and then there was Hamzah, these were the pharaoh's most important guards, his most faithful Medjays, the other soldiers were either at the palace or around Harim, but besides the guards there was also their captain Mukhtar who wasn't really happy with the situation.

The pharaoh prayed to invoke Horus, and the god did not take long to appear, indeed he immediately addressed everyone,
-“Listen to me everyone, now we will go to the realm of the gods, or rather to a part of it, you guards and Mukhtar and Ramil will have to take a test, come with me, all the others will cheer”-, Horus with a wave of his hand opened a portal, and everyone entered it.

They had ended up in a large desert, with golden palaces, rivers of water and a lava river, mountains, some oases and many palm trees, there were also large holes, which were actually huge brown worms without eyes with jaws.
Horus made stone stairs appear for the audience,
-"Everyone who doesn't have to participate in the race can sit on those stairs, you can't intervene, you can only cheer, while the participants have to listen to the rules"-, so the guards, Mukhtar and Ramil positioned themselves where the god pointed and they listened to the rules.

-“Listen everyone, it is strictly forbidden to fly, and therefore I will take precautions”-, Horus snapped his fingers and all three pegasi had their wings tied with a shiny golden string,
-“Unicorns on the other hand cannot use magic, except to take objects, you will all have to rely only on your speed and strength, and also your mind, the goal is to cross the desert and reach the golden palace in the middle, there you should look for my mother Isis' sword, I can only give you a hint, what you see is not ugly but only what you like is beautiful, having said that I start the race, you can start at my 3….2…1… ..go” -, all seven participants ran on the sand, but Ramil knew that that place was not what it might seem, she had a yellow bag with her, where she usually kept the potions, and she had prepared herself for various eventualities, walking on sand was no problem for Hamzah and Ramil, their people were used to walking in savannas and deserts.

All participants were almost even, Ramil and his brother were fast, but then they saw that Mukhtar was proceeding at a fast pace, Hamzah had never seen Mukhtar run so fast,
-“It can't be, Mukhtar has never been so fast, at least I think”-, but Ramil thought of something and said it to Hamzah,
-“Hapana (No), it wasn't true he was fast like now, didn't you notice something?”-
-" What?"-
-“While he was running, under his hooves there were green lights, it is obvious that he drank our mother's potion of speed”-
-"I didn't notice it because he was throwing sand while he was running, I don't think mom gave him the potion, and mom didn't say the speed potion was missing"-
-“Mukhtar asked her weeks ago, mum had given him two small bottles, he evidently kept some, and he used it now”-
-"Are you sure?"-
-"These are only hypotheses, but since I saw the lights of the potion there is no doubt that he drank it"-
-“But then Mukhtar is cheating, I have to reach him”-, Hamzah snapped and tried to reach Mukhtar, meanwhile Ramil had to pay attention to the pitfalls of that desert.

Suddenly she heard a rumble below her, she dodged and she did it in time, because a geyser of hot water appeared, the jet of water hit a beetle that was flying, the beetle fell on the sand completely dead and burned, Ramil had to be careful where she went, she put her ear in the sand and she heard that there was another geyser closer, she had to be careful, the other guards passed her, but she stopped them by telling them about the geysers, everyone saw the other geyser erupting, and they saw more scarab beetles, and they got scared, but Ramil had an idea,
-“ Don't worry, everyone drink this potion”-, Ramil took a small bottle from her bag, and everyone including her drank it, the pony Kaliq was curious,
-“ What potion is it?”-
-“ It's a potion that shields you from heat, usually there's only one version to save you from fire and lava, but I modified this potion, it works if you come in contact with hot water” -, all of them were surrounded by a blue outline, Ramil was happy that the potion was already taking effect,
-"Good, the effect has started, but now start running, the effect lasts only 10 minutes"-, everyone started running again, they crossed the oasis, but there was something strange, Ramil saw some palm trees, everyone ran but the pegasus Iqbal noticed something strange, those small palm trees had very large coconuts, Iqbal approached and saw that the coconut opened, it was a mouth with big teeth, Ramil saw the scene,
-“ Hiyo mitende( They are not palms) they are carnivorous plants”-, the palm immediately swallowed poor Iqbal, who wriggled and was unable to get out, Ramil saw that the other ponies hadn't noticed his companion in danger, so she had to take care of it, she took her khopesch with her hoof, and with a precise blow she cut the coconut of the small palm, the mouth opened and Iqbal came out of it, the palm instead dried up without her mouth,
-“Shukran ya Ramil , laqad 'unqadht hayaati(Thank you Ramil, you saved my life)”-
-"You have to be careful, this place is not what it seems, it is still the realm of the gods"-
-“How did you know about the geysers and carnivorous palms?”-
-“The pharaoh has texts about the mysteries of the realm of the gods, so I already knew the traps that are here, in fact I prepared myself with some potions, now it's better if we go”-, Ramil and Iqbal ran trying to reach their mates.
When they came out of the oasis they saw them from a distance, and they saw that Mukhtar was in front of them, but Ramil did not see her brother,

-" Where is Hamzah? He was following Mukhtar”-, then Mukhtar started shooting beams with his horn in the middle of the sand, Ramil didn't know what he was doing, then she heard her brother's voice,
-“MSAADA! MSAADA! DADA MDOGO! (HELP! HELP! LITTLE SISTER!)”-, Ramil stopped and looked around, then behind a dune she saw a hole, which was actually the mouth of a giant worm, Ramil looked out and saw her brother clinging to a thin tooth of the worm,

-"Big Brother? What are you doing there?”
-“It was Mukhtar, I told him that he was cheating, and he got angry, and then he threw me in here, you have to help me, I don't know how long I'll be able to hold on to this tooth”-
-“But I can't fly, Horus blocked my wings with a magical string”-
-"Do something, if you can't use your wings help me in other ways, otherwise I'll fall into the stomach of the giant worm, and who knows how long I'll fall"-
-"Wait, I have an idea"-, Ramil took a bottle and poured the contents into the mouth of the worm, Hamzah didn't understand,
-"What are you doing?"-
-“I used mom's potion to cure a cold”-
-“ Do you think it's time to cure the worm?”-
-“Kijinga! (Stupid!) Have you forgotten what happens to someone who takes the potion without a cold?”
-“Ndio, nakumbuka hilo (Yes, I remember it), it happens that whoever drinks the potion without being sick starts to sneeze”-, in fact at that moment Hamzah felt a wind blow from inside the worm,
-“ Hold tight, big brother, you're about to come out”-, Ramil walked away, the worm was about to sneeze, it came out of the sand and made a strong sneeze on the sand and Hamzah came out,
-“You're safe, big brother”-
-"but I'm full of mucus"-
-“But you're safe”-
-“You are right, now we have to reach Mukhtar”-.

Both ran, but another surprise awaited them, the two pegasus Iqbal and Ishaq were sinking into the sand, they couldn't get out of it, both of them were asking for help, Hamzah didn't know what to do,

"What are we going to do little sister? You can't fly and there are no ropes to use" -
-"You go ahead, I'll take care of them"-
-“But if Mukhtar wins? You can't be a guard”-
-"This is not the time to think about the consequences, if you run you can even beat Mukhtar, now the priority is that he doesn't win, now run"-
-“Okay”-, Hamzah ran fast while Ramil took another bottle from her bag and poured it on the quicksand, the two pegasi were now immersed up to their necks, then the sand stopped moving, then it moved again but this time the sand flowed backwards, and the pegasi instead of sinking they went up again, until they could not get out, Ishaq thanked Ramil,
-"Ramil, you did great, we were doomed, but how did you do it?"-
-"It's a potion I invented some time ago, and my mother said it was useless, I called it the kinyume potion"-
-“Huh?”-
-"In the Zwahili language kinyume means opposite, anyone who drinks this potion is forced to speak backwards and walk backwards, if poured on a flower it returns to being a seed, if poured on quicksand instead they bring back the fallen inside”-
-"But it's a brilliant potion, but I would never want to drink it"-
-"Don't worry, the effect lasts seven minutes, and it's better if we leave, but it's strange, I didn't know there were quicksand in the realm of the gods"-
-“In fact, they are not there, it was Mukhtar who created them”-
-"That damned unicorn, he wants to cheat, unfortunately Horus didn't cast spells to block the magic, he threw my brother in the mouth of a worm"-
-“I don't care who wins, you have to beat him, and if you beat him it will be a big win for you and also for us”-
-“Then we have to stop him, let's run”-,

Ramil ran again, the golden palace was almost close, then she noticed something, some very big green beetles in danger, a big scorpion wanted to eat them, Ramil stopped and jumped on the scorpion, the arachnid began to freak out but she held on tight, the beast wanted to hit her with its sting, but Ramil had foreseen this reaction, so she clung to the base of the tail, Ramil told the beetles to run away, the insects understood and flew away, but Ramil was in danger, the scorpion caught her with one of its claws, the poor pegasus was stuck, the scorpion wanted to eat her, even if stuck, Ramil used her tail to rummage in the bag, she managed to get a right bottle, she threw it at the scorpion's claw, the bottle broke and the liquid was a lot, the scorpion brought Ramil to his mouth, but his claw turned to stone, first the base and then the whole claw became stone, the claw detached from the body and the scorpion howled in pain, while Ramil managed to break the stone claw, then went away,

-"I was really hoping that the stone potion could be useful to me, and unfortunately for that scorpion there is no time limit, just an antidote"-.

Ramil immediately ran towards the palace, then she saw the unicorn Imad blocked by roots sticking out of the sand,
-“Help me Ramil, I'm stuck, Mukhtar stuck me with roots with his magic”-,

Ramil immediately thought of a solution, if she had used the khopesch it would have taken more time to cut the roots one by one, but she had a faster solution, she took another bottle from the bag and threw the contents on all the roots.

-"What have you done?"-
-"Don't worry, this potion has no effect on living beings, it's the sand potion, it's perfectly useless, but it's perfect for these situations"-, Imad saw the roots turn into sand, and was immediately free,
-"Thanks Ramil, but now I wasted your time, you could have saved me later"-
-“Leaving you here? At the mercy of giant scorpions and sandworms?”-
-" What did you say? Giant Scorpions? Help!”-, Imad immediately ran towards the palace, Ramil arrived immediately after him, and she saw that there was only a wooden bridge over a lava river that separated her from the golden palace, she crossed quickly as the bridge was firmly.

Ramil entered and saw a beautiful palace with golden statues depicting equine gods, but in front of her she saw a myriad of weapons well arranged on shelves, all the participants were looking for the right sword, Ramil started looking for it too, Hamzah gave her some help.

-“Come on little sister, if I help you too we will find the sword faster”-, both of them looked for the right sword, but many weapons were in very bad condition.
Then suddenly Mukhtar shouted,
-“I found it, I found it, I have the magic sword of Isis”-, Mukhtar raised with his hoof a long triangular sword that shone with white light, then he addressed everyone,
-“I'm sorry dear Ramil, but your dream of being part of the guards ends here, and when we return to Harim, all of you will be kicked out of the palace, and I will look for new guards, guards who will be worthy of being pharaoh's guards”- , Mukhtar ran out, Kaliq was disappointed,

-"I'm sorry Ramil, because of us we made you slow down, maybe Mukhtar is right, we are not worthy of being guards if we don't know how to defend ourselves"-, but Ramil wasn't sorry,
-“ You mustn't think these things, Mukhtar cheated, he used magic to cheat, he may have also taken the sword of Isis, but I'm sure Horus will know that he doesn't deserve to be a captain”-, then the unicorn Imad raised a sword,
-“Hey look everyone, even this sword lights up”-, and it wasn't the only one, other swords taken from others also lit up, Ramil then expressed,
-“Guys, take those swords and run out, maybe the last word is not said, I don't mind losing, as long as one of you beats Mukhtar, take your swords and run out, now”-, the guards thanked Ramil and they ran out, only Hamzah remained with his sister,
-" It is very noble of you to make this choice, Ramil, but…. what are you doing?"-
-"There's something I can't understand, I don't remember Horus' words well, he said what you see isn't bad......"-
-“But only what you like is beautiful, what do you think it could mean?”-
-“I don't know, but you'd better take a sword, the more swords we'll take, the easier it is to be the right one”-, Hamzah took a very long sword, and that too shone with light, then ran out.

Meanwhile Ramil tried to better understand the words of the god Horus, she took a sword and it shone, all the swords she took shone, some a little less, but she still did not understand the meaning of the words of the falcon god.
Then in a gesture of anger she threw swords on the floor, and thought that perhaps she would not have finished the race, she had to leave the building with a sword, she leaned her elbows against her throat on a table, then looked at the ground, among the many swords that she had thrown there was one completely rusted, she took it and saw that it was really badly damaged, she lifted it and the weapon did not shine, she remembered the phrase of Horus, and so she put the sword in the bag, so she went out from the palace.

But when she came out she saw that the guards had not returned to their starting point, and she saw that the bridge had disappeared, Hamzah explained to her,

-“ It's terrible little sister, Mukhtar has cut the other side of the bridge, and we can't cross, you and the others can't even fly, we're doomed now, Mukhtar won”-
-"Hapana (No) I don't give up, there will be a way to cross, I could use the fire shield potion to protect us from the lava, but I don't know if it will be enough for everyone"-
-“Then you drink it, then you will get Horus to help us”-
-“ Hapana (No), I won't leave you here and…..”-, Ramil saw some beetles on the other side of the bridge, so she made a whistle with her hoof to call them and the beetles flew to her, she couldn't be wrong they were the big beetles she had saved from the giant scorpion, some of them were rubbing against her.

-"Listen to me, my friends, I need some help, my friends and I are stuck here, and some of us including myself can't fly, can you help us?"-, the beetles then flew and chose a pony for each and with their paws they grabbed them and sent them flying, and then carried them to the other side of the cut bridge.

Ramil spoke to the beetles and took a bag from her bag,
-"Thanks beetles, thanks for the ride, keep, these dates are for you"-, but one of the beetles spoke to Ramil, she listened to those strange verses, Hamzah asked her
-“What's going on Ramil?”-
-“They are saying that they saw Mukhtar who cheated, and they want to help us again”-
-“Since when do you understand the language of insects?”-
-"I don't know, I've always understood it, but I've never told my mom, nor you, or anyone"-
-“What can they do?”-
-“Listen to me carefully”-.

Mukhtar meanwhile was returning to the starting point, he was now close,
-“Ah, ah, ah, ah, now I've won, I'll remain the captain of the guards, and no one, not even the pharaoh will be able to change his mind”-, in the rocky ramparts many weren't happy with what they saw, Mimea spoke to Somnambula,
-“I don't see my children, Somnambula”-
-“Me neither, does this mean that Ramil lost?”-
-"Poor little girl, I really wanted her to win, but I also wanted her to give up, if she lost because I hoped she would lose, I'm a terrible mother"-
-“Don't say that Mimea, I'm sure…..hey, what are those things over there?”-, at Somnambula's words everyone looked towards the desert, they saw the other participants who were flying over big green beetles and flying overtook Mukhtar , who was amazed, they all landed at their starting point, they were evenly matched, then after climbing a bit Mukhtar came, and he moaned,

-“It's not valid, this is unfair, they flew, it wasn't allowed”-, Horus calmed him,
-“The rule was that you could not use wings or magic, and none of them used magic on these sacred scarabs”-, Ramil gave dates to all the scarabs, then stroked them and waved goodbye before they flew away .
Horus pointed his finger at Mukhtar,

-“But you cheated Mukhtar, furthermore by cheating you endangered the lives of your soldiers, what do you think I didn't notice what you did? I am a god, and there are magical eyes scattered across the kingdom, I could see everything you did, for your every misdeed there was Ramil to fix the situation, she saved your soldiers, you even pushed Hamzah in the mouth of the sandworm, also I saw that you drank a magic potion”-, Ramil interjected,

-“It is true I recognized the effects of the potion, he drank my mother's potion of speed”-, but Mukhtar was not worried,
-“It's true, I cheated, but that doesn't mean that I won, I may have finished last, but the sword of Isis is in my hooves, and you lost Ramil, so you can forget your dream of becoming a Medjay”- , Mukhtar took the sword and Horus saw it,
-“There is no doubt, the way it is made, this is really the sword of Isis”-, Ramil then thought she had lost, even if it was arrived among the first, the mother wanted to console her, and hugged her,
-“ Don't be sad, my child, I saw what you did, you saved your brother and the other guards, it's fine, you won't become a guard, but I saw that you have a great talent for potions, you used potions more than your strength, and of this I am proud”-
-"So my place is in front of the big pot?"-
-"Your place is not only in front of the pot, you will help me get various ingredients, and if I'm in danger you will protect me, I should have had complete faith in you, you are still a zebra, maybe you are more zebra than pony , but still you and your brother are the best spells I have ever created”-, Ramil cried a little, and cuddled up to her mother, Somnambula also wanted to console her,
-"You were great Ramil, you would have been an excellent soldier, because Mukhtar put his soldiers' lives in danger in order to win, but you wasted time because you helped those in difficulty"-, but at that moment Hamzah asked one thing,
-“One moment, divine Horus, are you really sure it is the sword of Isis? The swords that we soldiers took have the signature of Isis” -, the soldiers took the swords and Horus looked at them all, touched them and looked closer,
-“Though they have my mother's signature, none of them are my mother Isis's sword”-, Mukhtar gloated at the news,
-“You are failures, I have the sword, the real one”-, but Horus interrupted him,
-“Mukhtar, why do you think yours is the real magic sword of Isis?”-
-“But it is obvious, because the sword shone when I took it”-, Hamzah then replied,
-“Even our damaged swords shone”-, Horus took Mukhtar's sword and cast a spell, the sword melted into sand, Mukhtar was amazed, Horus pointed again,
-“This was not my mother's magic sword, if it was real, my spell would not have melted it, none of you won the contest, therefore there are no winners”-, but Hamzah went to his sister,
-"Divine Horus, there is still a sword, the one that took my sister"-
-" Really? And show me the sword”-
-“Go little sister, show him the sword”-, Ramil took the completely rusty sword from the bag, and handed it to Horus, who looked at it well,
-“ Tell me Ramil, why did you take this sword?”-
-“ Because I reflected on the words you had said, and I thought that maybe it wasn't so easy to find a well-made sword among other well-made ones, I searched….or rather I saw that sword which was the only one in bad shape among others, and so I took it”-, Mukhtar taunted her,
-“And do you think that could be the sword of Isis? You are such a fool, that rusty stuff is not even good for cutting bread”-, Horus turned to Mukhtar,
-"Shut up Mukhtar, it's up to me to judge, let's see, it's true it's completely rusty, and it's not good for fighting, but you listened to my words and thought carefully"-, Horus made a spell, the sword it shed its layer of rust and revealed itself for its true nature, a sharp sword of light, and Horus handed it to Ramil,
-"This is the real sword of Isis, hidden by the ugliness that its beauty actually conceals, and you, dear Ramil, using your mind to reflect, have been able to see beyond the illusion, you are the real winner"-.

Everyone was amazed and applauded Ramil, except Mukhtar who was incredulous, Hamzah took his sister on his shoulders in triumph,

-"Well done my little sister, you succeeded in your mission, you are the winner"-
-"Hey, take it easy, Hamzah, I'm not so small anymore that you can carry me on your shoulders"-
-“For me you will never grow up”-, Hamzah let Ramil get off and Horus wanted to compliment,
-"Dear Ramil, you won, I knew you would make it, and from today on you will be the captain of the guards"-, but Mukhtar didn't agree,
-"Hey, wait, you may have won, you may have found the sword of Isis, but you don't have the experience to be a captain of the royal guards"-
-"She helped whoever was in danger, but you endangered your soldiers to win, so you mustn't speak"-
-“I rebel, Horus you can't afford to make these decisions…… ”-, at that point Horus got angry,
-“YOU DARE JUDGING MY WORDS? THE WORDS OF A GOD?” Mukhtar fell silent,

-“ Now dear Ramil you will be the new captain”-, but Ramil was not happy,
-"Divine Horus, thank you for this opportunity, but I'd rather be a normal soldier and leave the captaincy to my brother who deserves it more"-, Hamzah was amazed,

-"Little sister, but you struggled to win, it's right that you accept"-
-"But I just want to be a soldier, it's better if the captain is one of you more experienced, and then now that I've made mum understand that I like creating potions, I can also help her"-, Mimea was happy,
-“ My child, I'm happy for you, but I'm also worried, because and if something were to happen to you I wouldn't know how to live, you and your brother are precious to me”-, Horus however had more to say,
-"You will never have to worry Mrs. Mimea, because this race was also a test to see if your daughter was worthy of the gods"-
-“What do you mean, divine Horus?”-
-“ You know the god Thoth, right?”-
-“Of course, he is one of my favorites, even from my daughter”-
-“Well he told me one day that I would find a new messenger of the gods, it would be a half-blood, a pony and a zebra, and your daughter Ramil will be our new messenger”-, everyone including Ramil was surprised,
-“What does it mean that my daughter will be a messenger?”-
-“It means just what you once were before giving up, Ramil will have to perform missions for the gods, missions that will be useful for the community, and don't worry about her life, Ramil will have various powers and spells from us, and also weapons, and in fact the sword of Isis will be her first divine weapon Ramil”-
-"I? With divine weapons? But will I be worthy?”
-“You will surely be, and then you won't be alone, Thoth told me that you will have an assistant and that is her”-,Horus pointed to Somnambula, the god asked her to approach, the pharaoh, Jalal and Afrah were amazed by that sentence,

Somnambula was a little confused,
-"but divine Horus, I have not done any tests to become a messenger of the gods"-
-"Thoth told me that the best friend of the chosen one would be her helper, you too will have access to divine weapons and magic, for the moment you will have to settle for using the sword of Isis, however you two will be the ray of hope of your people, indeed of your peoples, you will be able to help people and fight the evil ones, and I am not referring only to normal thieves, evil and powerful creatures will soon arrive and you will have to fight them, but before that can happen you will have more weapons and spells, you will be able however to do your normal life, also you will be contacted by us gods sometimes I will contact you, other times I will contact you from the other gods, as for the soldiers who took the swords, you can keep them they are not magical but they are very resistant since they come from the realm of the gods, now it's time to go back to Harim”-, Horus snapped his fingers and all the ponies returned to the temple, the pharaoh spoke,

-“Well, since everything ended for the best, we need to have a ceremony for Hamzah and Ramil, if Mimea agrees”-,
-“I was so worried for my children, especially for Ramil, that I didn't think I would be happy to see her as a soldier, but since she will have the powers of the gods like it happened with me I can rest assured”-.

Arrived at the palace, the pharaoh decided it was appropriate that in the afternoon a ceremony was done for Hamzah who would become the captain of the guards, and for Ramil who would become a soldier.
Mimea was excited, she helped her daughter getting ready, she also helped her son even though he was reluctant since he was older than her sister, but a mother's word is unquestionable.
After an excellent bath, Mimea gave Ramil a long white typical Equigyptian dress, which covered the whole body and protected from the heat, Hamzah instead put on a male dress that covered part of his body, from the bust to the hooves, Mimea was excited, she could not believe that honor for her sons, and since Ramil would have the magic of the gods she could let her do the royal guard.
When the afternoon came, everyone was present at the throne room, the pharaoh stood up and took a golden sword to touch Hamzah's shoulder as a symbol of his new title.

-“So, listen everyone, with the power that the gods have granted me, I now appoint these two bold young ponies, dear Hamzah, you will be the first zebra in Equigypt to become captain of the guards, I know you will do it, you are strong, since you are a zebra, you have always been very strong, you defended me and my son flawlessly, the other guards did it too, but you worked harder because you were different, you were a zebra , for me it is an honor that from today on you will be the new captain of the guards”-, Hamzah was happy and the other guards wanted to embrace him, they were happy to have him instead of the tyrant Mukhtar, then the Pharaoh turned with his sword in Ramil.

-“ And you dear Ramil, you have always been strong and intelligent, you will continue to help my son with the languages of the zebras, and when we do missions outside Harim you will always come with us, you and your brother will be our interpreters, I hope you will continue studying the potions of your people, because what you did in the realm of the gods was fantastic, I always saw you at training, and now with the permission of your mother and the gods as you and Somnambula will also be messengers of the gods, and for me it is an honor that you have had this title, you dear Ramil from today on you will be a royal guard, I hope you can become one of my most successful medjays and who knows how many other things you will be able to do, and since we are all one big family here, I want that from today on you can be your brother's assistant so as to help him” -, everyone applauded, then the pharaoh turned to to Somnambula telling her to approach,

-"Dear Somnambula, I can't offer you much, but you too will be a messenger of the gods, and therefore I want you to help your father Jalal here in the palace from now on, to become my son's advisor, after all, that was what they they wanted, didn't they?”

Somnambula was embraced by her parents who were happy for the future of her daughter, Ramil also went to embrace Somnambula, then the guards wanted to embrace Ramil, especially her brother, then Mimea embraced her children,
-“My children, this is a special day, if only your fathers were alive”-, Hamzah was a bit embarrassed by his mother's reaction,
-"Mom, please, not in front of the Pharaoh, and then you don't have to worry, I'll take care of Ramil, but maybe it won't be necessary, since she will now have the support of the gods"-
-“I didn't think I would cry with joy for Ramil becoming a guard, and I didn't think that the gods had chosen her as a messenger, as happened with me and my brother and sister Nyasi, but she was never contacted by the Yoruba gods again , what Ramil has is a special gift”-, given that the ceremony was short, the only witnesses of the title of messenger of the gods knew only those who had witnessed the race or who had participated in it.
Hamzah and Ramil walked a bit together,

-“Remember just because I'm your brother doesn't mean I won't be strict with you”-
-“You were serious even when we trained”-
-“Do you think next time you will fight me with your magic sword?”-
-“It wouldn't be fair, I prefer to use it for other occasions, I will continue to use training weapons if I want to defeat you”-
-"Hey slow down little sister, just because you're now a messenger of the gods you don't have to feel so bold"-
-“I don't know, I don't know if I'm worthy of that title, but if Horus said so, then I must be ready already”-, Somnambula joined the group.

-“Hi, Ramil”-
-“ Hey Somnambula, in the end your parents are happy, you have become a royal councilor”-
-"For the moment it's just a promise from the pharaoh, I have a long way to go to become a councilor, but do you feel ready to be a soldier?"-
-“ I will be one of the pharaoh's most faithful medjays”-
-"And...doesn't that thing scare you?"-
-"What do you mean?"-
-" The fact that you and I have been appointed messengers of the gods, doesn't it scare you?"-
-"Maybe a little, but if it will be you and me, then I don't have to worry, because I'm sure everything will be fine, I can't wait to know which gods will help us, and who knows what weapons or powers they will give us, and how they will contact us, we will have to do a little in between you and me with the weapons”-
-"But I don't know how to fight, I don't know how"-
-"Hey, don't worry, I'll help you, you'll learn soon, maybe the divine weapons would benefit you more than me, but if Horus has chosen us two, it means that we are the ones most suited to this role, also because it is Thoth who said those things to Horus, and Thoth is the god of wisdom, so he can't be wrong”-
-“I could never doubt Horus or Thoth, but I don't feel ready”-
-" You mustn't be nervous Somnambula, at the moment we are still apprentices, the days will come when we will be ready, and then if there are two of us we will defend each other, it may also be that you will be better with magic than with weapons, and then with soldiers with me all of us, by the way big brother, what happened to Mukhtar?”-
-"For his bad behavior, the pharaoh demoted him to a simple soldier, now he is guarding the royal treasury"-
-"It doesn't seem right to me, after all all this change must have been bad for him"-
-“Ramil, he tried to kill me, and threw two of his men into the quicksand, have you forgotten that already? Not to mention the fact that he has insulted you several times, are you going to forgive him?”
-"No, but….but in fact he didn't want all this, he was just desperate to lose his job, maybe that's why he decided to cheat"-
-"But that doesn't mean that he behaved very badly for a captain of the guards, but let's not think about it anymore, since you will be my assistant you will help me both with the pharaoh's guards and with the other guards scattered around the palace and you will also help me with crime in the city, but it's best that no one but a few of us know that you are a messenger of the gods, there are always the envious ones, especially the followers of Seth"-
-“ Those are the worst, it is said that one day Seth will return from his exile inflicted on him by Ra and that he will return for his revenge, yet there is still someone around the Equigypt who prays to him, Seth has had many dangerous allies, as if he wasn't a god strong enough already."

That evening, Somnambula and Ramil were staying watching the sunset descend on Harim and wondering how their lives would change.
-“ Do you know, Ramil? I don't understand why they chose me, I wasn't tested”-
-“I remind you that the Yoruba gods didn't test my mother and my uncle and my aunt, they just chose them, evidently Horus and Thoth have chosen you for your personality, and if they have chosen you it means that you will be able to fight"-
-“ I wish I was strong like you, and also confident like you, you seem to have no problems with this situation”-
-“This is because I have always trained, and then being half zebra and half pegasus I have the skills of both races, now if you don't mind I have to go home”-
-"What are you going to do?"-
-“I want to illustrate the potions I brought for the test, and explain to my mother that I talk to beetles”-
-“But since when did you have this ability?”-
-"I don't know, I remember that since I was little I understood the language of scarabs, I don't know if it can be useful, and I don't understand the reason why I have it, maybe my cutie mark is not only linked to the god Khepri , but to beetles in general, see you Somnambula”-,

Somnambula stood looking at the stars, and wondering how her life would change from that moment, then someone called her, it was her father Jalal calling her to come home, so she spread her wings and flew towards her father.

TO be continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

The first weapons and the first powers

The first weapons and the first powers

In the present

Twilight was always surprised,
-"A messenger of the gods? Are you a messenger of the gods?"-
-"Not quite Twilight, I've been a messenger of the gods, now I'm not anymore, I still pray to my gods, but they don't always answer, except sometimes in dreams, and they told me that if I took the weapons of Ramil's temple , those would work again, however I was curious about what weapons we would have, and Ramil was much more curious than me"-

In the past

Ramil was excited on her first day of guard duty, but before going to the pharaoh's palace, she went to the temple of Horus.
She placed in front of the statue and began to pray, and the god appeared to her,

-"Dear Ramil, I have to talk to you, you will be most responsible for the gifts that we gods will give you, but you will also give them to Somnambula, when you want you can also give them to the other guards, because what I will tell you is something special, you and Somnambula you are the hope of your people, and you will have to bring hope to your people"-
-"I'm ready Horus, what should I do?"-
-"Now I will give you some first weapons"-, Horus joined his hands and a round golden shield appeared which flew from Ramil and she took it,
-"This I gave you is the shield of Osiris, this shield will protect you from any danger, from fire, from magic, from anything and it will never get scratched, it will never be able to destroy it"-
-"Wow, that's beautiful, thanks Horus"-
-"And there is more, come with me"-, Horus opened a portal to the realm of the gods, Ramil followed him.

Horus took her to a very large building, the building was a library, there were papyri and books as far as the eye could see.
Horus told her one thing,

-"I brought you here because I want you to meet Thoth, he will explain you many things"-, Ramil was surprised,
-"Thoth? the god of knowledge? The god of the moon? The creator of writing? Just him?"-
-"It is right that you know him, he knows you, since you were little and you prayed in his temple, he knows you are a pegasus who adores knowledge"-.

Both of them arrived at the center of a library where there was a chair, Horus called Thoth who was sitting on the chair, Thoth turned around and stood up, he was a big anthropomorphic blue ibis, he wore white clothes and an Equigyptian headdress, he approached greeted Horus and then saw Ramil.

Ramil was excited in front of her there was one of her favorites, she nervously knelt down and put her face on the ground,
-" Oh great and divine Thoth, it is an honor for me to meet you, you wanted to tell you that....."-, but Thoth was not the kind of god who appreciated certain things,
-"Get up Ramil, you don't have to kneel, and you don't even have to call me divine"-, Ramil got up,
-"Sorry, but for me this whole situation is new, I didn't think I would have to deal with the gods"-
-"I know everything my dear, I knew that two pegasi would be the hope of the city of Harim, and you and Somnambula were the chosen ones, and I have many things to tell you, even if it's early now, take this anyway"-, Thoth made a papyrus appear in his hand that glittered and gave it to Ramil,

-"What is this?"-
-"This is the Seshat's Papyrus, my wife's creation, with this papyrus you can communicate with me, I can write to you and you and Somanmbula can write to me, it's much more convenient than always going to the temples to find out about your missions, if I have to tell you something the papyrus will begin to write, you can use any type of medium to write, if you have questions I will answer them, you will have to keep it, and then communicate the missions to Somnambula, you can carry them out both in pairs and only one of you, but I would prefer that you go together, to keep your friendship high, you can also go with a royal guard" -
-"It's a good way to communicate with the gods, thanks Thoth"-
-"That's not all, I have to take you somewhere, you Horus can go, I'll take care of her"-, Thoth accompanied Ramil out of the library, to take her to a palace of gold and emerald,
-"This is the palace of Khepri, you will have to enter"-
-"Khepri? The scarab god? But you don't come, Thoth?"-
-"I have to go back to writing and translating things, you can come and see me whenever you want if you come to my temple, but only if I call you, in other cases just use the papyrus"- Ramil then greeted the god of wisdom and entered In the building.

It was full of coins and precious gems, and there were beetles of different colors, some of them gold or emerald.
Then Ramil got a little scared, in front of her there was a giant beetle, with big legs, it was golden in color, and his eyes were bright blue, the beetle spoke to her,

-"I've heard a lot about you dear Ramil, you're a half-blood, you passed the test of Horus by locating the real sword of Isis, you even saved beetles in danger, and you slowed down to help them, even if your enemy was one giant scorpion"-
-"Divine Khepri', can I ask you a question?"-
-"Well, I'm not as wise as Thoth, but say your question"-
-"Can you explain the meaning of my cutie mark? I always believed that it represented my bond with the gods, especially with you"-, Khepri approached and saw the cutie mark, which was a green beetle, the god already knew the answer ,
-"you weren't wrong Ramil, the cutie mark represents your bond with the gods, but it also indicates that you can talk to insects"-
-"So....I can talk to beetles thanks to my cutie mark?"-
-"Exactly, and now pay close attention, because since you will be a messenger of the gods, you and your friend will have help from me, now take this"-,

with a paw Khepri gave a medallion to Ramil, it was a medallion golden round with a green beetle set in the center.
The scarab god explained himself,

-"This is Khepri's amulet, since you will have weapons, you will be able to keep them inside this medallion, just say the name of the weapon and it will appear, and the medallion has a particularity, you will be able to summon big scarabs with which you will be able communicate, they can be used to infiltrate a place, or to develop strategies, you will have your own mini personal army, they can also draw you a map, however you are the only one who will understand their language"-
-"Beetles at my orders? Fantastic"-
-"That's not all, I was just finishing up one thing for you and Somnambula"-, Khepri gave Ramil a long golden scepter, topped with an ankh and a green stone set,

-"You will also receive some spells, when you receive them you can keep them in here, take care of this magic scepter, it is a blunt scepter that will never break, and it can do powerful magic, this is Ptah's scepter"-
-"The legendary scepter of Ptah? The god of creation? I can't receive it if it belongs to the god Ptah"-
-"Don't worry, this is not Ptah's only scepter, he has others, but this is one of his best, when the gods will give you weapons, they won't be unique but they will still be strong and always divine weapons, and within this scepter Ptah wanted to give you one of his spells, the Barrier of Ptah, it is a spell that creates a transparent barrier that will protect you and whoever you want, just move the scepter according to how big you want to make the barrier, remember that all these weapons Somnambula can also use magic, sometimes you can use weapons and she can use magic, you'll be a good team"-
-"Thank you divine Khepri, I will make good use of these weapons and magic, but now I have to go home, do you know how I can get back?"-
-"I will open a portal for you that will transport you in front of the temple of Horus, you go inform Somnambula and the pharaoh, may the gods be with you, Ramil"-, Khepri opened a portal and Ramil entered it and greeted the insect god.

Ramil found herself in front of the temple of Horus, and immediately ran to the palace, went to the throne room and found the pharaoh, Hisan, Somnambula and her father.

Ramil immediately spoke to everyone about the gifts of the gods received, the pharaoh was intrigued,

-"And so they also said that there will be other gifts?"- and Ramil then answered him,
-"That's right, Pharaoh, there will be other gifts, weapons and magic to protect our city, to protect the people, Thoth himself said that Somanmbula and I will be the hope for our people"-
-"Hope for our people? I like this sentence, but Somnambula doesn't know how to fight"-
-"I'll help her, I'll teach her many things, and then we could share the weapons, I could use the sword and she could use the magic, who knows what magic we'll have"-, but Jalal wasn't happy,
-"I don't want Somnambula to fight, she is not made to fight, she is made to learn, and now she will have to learn to become the royal advisor"-, however the pharaoh did not agree,
-"Think about it Jalal, your daughter was chosen by the gods, she will be the royal advisor, but Thoth said that she too will be the hope of our people, so I don't see why she shouldn't learn to fight, and if she learns to fight she will be able to defend herself alone"-, Jalal looked at his daughter,
-"Somnambula, my little one, what do you think? I know it's something decided by the gods, but the choice must still be up to you"-, Somnambula reflected on it, but she replied immediately,
-"I know it's dangerous dad, but if Thoth said that I am the hope for our people, then I have to learn to fight, I won't be as strong as Ramil, but I want to learn to defend myself, without Ramil defending me, I could be useful to her, fight the bad guys, I would be both an advisor and a warrior"-, Ramil approached,

-"And if things go badly I could protect her, we will protect each other, we will never be alone, and then the gods said that we could also do the missions together with some of the soldiers"-, Jalal was hesitant, he didn't want to that Somnambula used violence, he too had never used a weapon, but after all this was a decision of the gods, and he could not refuse, so he said his answer,
-"All right , Somnambula, you can also train together with Ramil"-, Somnambula was happy, because she and Ramil would have been together also as messenger of the gods.

At the training ground, Ramil gave the sword of Isis to Somnambula, and told her to hit the dummies for training,
-"Come on, Somnambula, take the sword in the hoof and then strike"-, the pegasus did her as her friend told her and so she took the sword and hit the target,
-"Not bad, you just have to put more strength"-, Somnambula hit the dummies several times, and Ramil applauded,
-"You were good Somnambula, if you continue like this you could already be able to fight"-, but the pegasus didn't agree,
-"Ramil.....I don't know how to tell you, I don't know if I will ever be like you, I could never fight like you, I could never use weapons perfectly like you do"-, Ramil understood and smiled, and spoke to her ,
-"Hey, my friend, you don't need to be good with weapons to defend your people, you are a pegasus, you are fast and agile, maybe it's like Khepri said, I could fight and you could use magic, now take this"-, Ramil gave Ptah's scepter to Somnambula,
-"Now you just need to draw a barrier in the air and say Barrier of Ptah"-
-"Okay, let's see how it works, Barrier of Ptah"-, Somnambula moved the long scepter in the air and a semi-invisible barrier appeared like a wall which, however, could be seen in yellow with some hieroglyphs drawn, Somnambula had succeeded, but she didn't know what else to do,
-"And now?"-, Ramil took the sword of Isis,
-"Let me check"-, Ramil jumped and hit the barrier, but there was a big impact that made her jump backwards, then she got up and threw some stones, then she took her bow and shot some arrows, nothing to do, the barrier was not affected.
-"I would say that you succeeded, Somnambula, you created a nice barrier at the first hit, and it doesn't break, moreover you could also use the scepter to strike enemies"-
-"Maybe the gods are right, I could help you with magic, but if it's a question of helping the defenseless I could think of using weapons to fight, but who knows what spells we'll get from the gods"-.

Ramil also taught Somnambula to use other weapons like spear and bow, however Somnambula seemed not to be good at shooting arrows instead Ramil was surprised how her friend knew how to handle the spear, she handled it very well, she pointed it at the dummies and spun it with her hooves, Ramil was dumbstruck.
-"How can you be so good with the spear,Somnambula ?"-
-"I....I don't know, when I got it in the hoof I started using it, but I never learned"-
-"So this is good news, yours is a natural talent, the spear is your ideal weapon"-
-"Do you really think so?"-
-"Hey, but have you seen yourself, you know how to spin it as if you had handled it since you were little"-
-"Maybe Thoth is right, maybe I can really help my people, I could really be an advisor and a warrior"-.

The next day Somnambula headed to training ground, still couldn't believe how well she handled the spear, evidently hers was a natural gift, and if she continued she would help the weakest ones and fight with her best friend.
Then when she got to the field she saw Hamzah, she spoke to him,

-"Hello Hamzah, where is your sister?"-
-"She was called by Thoth to go to the realm of the gods, it seems that she will receive other gifts, and Thoth also wrote to her that she will be there with the god Anubis"-
-"Anubis? The patron god of the dead? What gifts can he ever give?"-
-"Ah, I don't know, I'm really curious to see what the gods have given my sister this time, the gods have said that even some guards in the future will be able to use weapons, but only if Ramil decides, it will be cool to be able to use divine weapons"-
-"Remember that it shouldn't be fun, but an honor that the gods give us their weapons"-
-"Yes, sorry, you're right"-.
A portal opened and Ramil came out with a bag, Somnambula approached her,
-"Dear Ramil my friend, how did it go? Did you really meet Anubis?"-
-"Yes, Somnambula, and he is not at all grumpy as the other gods describe him, he is a good jackal, and now see the weapons he gave me"-
-"Are they in the bag? It looks very heavy"-
-"Oh no, in the bag there are ingredients that Thoth illustrated to me, they are various ingredients that can be used in potions that are found only in the realm of the gods, Thoth said that when I go there I can take all the ingredients I want, and maybe one day he will teach me a spell to go to their realm, the weapons are in Khepri's amulet, the spells instead are in the scepter" -.

Ramil aimed the amulet on the ground and three weapons appeared, two golden scimitars, two iron claws and a long wooden bow with gold ends and a golden disc in the center and the threads were three and they were also of gold.
Somnambula observed the weapons curiously,

-" What are they, Ramil?"-, the striped pegasus took the scimitars and put them on her back,
-"These are the blades of Osiris, Thoth gave them to me, he said that he saw with his powers different swords from ours in the distant land of Persia, and so he drew them and illustrated them to Osiris, so Osiris asked Ptah to create them and he enchanted them, it seems that they make fast those who use them, now I want to see"-, Ramil took the scimitars in her hooves and aimed at the five dummies, she snapped and disappeared, Somnambula and Hamzah only saw Ramil's movements when she struck the dummies, then returned to them.

-"See? They're really fast, they're great if I have to run and fight, Thoth told me that there are also spells that make you agile so I could be even faster"-, Somnambula was amazed,
-"It's extraordinary, you were so fast that we didn't see you, just when you attacked"-, Ramil then took the iron claws and put them on Somnambula's hooves, the striped pegasus explained them to her,
-" These instead are Anubi's gift and are called Anubi's claws, they are used to attack, Anubi told me that they are also magical, but he didn't tell me anything else, the magic will appear by itself, and these also make you fast, they are for mostly used for assassination"-
-"I....I don't want to assassinate anyone"-
-"There will be no need, but try the claws"-, Somnambula got ready pointed towards one of the dummies and then ran fast and hit a dummy several times with precision, after a few hits she stopped, and she seemed to like those claws,
-"They are fast and they are strong, who knows how they will be with magic...and that bow?"-, Ramil took the bow and showed it better to Somnambula,

-"This, my dear, is Neith's bow"-
-"Neith? The goddess of hunting? Then it's a strong bow"-
-" Not only is strong, but in its quiver the arrows never run out, and Thoth told me that sooner or later he will teach me how to make magic arrows, which are the work of other gods for Neith, also this bow doesn't miss a beat, in my hooves it will be terrible, but it will be strong even if you use it, since you are not good with the bow, come on, give it a try"-, Ramil gave the bow to Somnambula, who was a bit nervous about using a bow, that's why she could never make a good shot, but Ramil helped her,

-"So...put the left hoof here and the right one like this, then draw the bow, with the other hoof hold the arrow and try to keep the string taut, you can't go wrong, this bow has three golden strings" -
-"Why does the goddess Neith need three strings?"-
-"She's a pony goddess, she'll know how to use all three together, maybe shoot three arrows at a time with her powers, but you're not Neith, so try to concentrate and aim at that dummy's head"-, Somnambula did how Ramil advised and tried to pull the arrow, let go of the string and the arrow went fast and hit the dummy's head precisely, and with a strong blow.
Somnambula was incredulous, she managed to shoot an arrow, and also to hit a target, Ramil hugged her and congratulated her,

-"You did it Somnambula, you did it, jayid ya sidiqi (Good, my friend)"-, Somnambula still couldn't believe it, then she moved a bit and tried to throw another one, this one too she hit the dummy,
-"I did it again,Ramil, the bow really works"-
-"Did you have doubts about the bow of the goddess Neith?"-
-"No, I had doubts about me, if I can use it, then it must be very strong in your hooves"-
-"Exactly, now I'll show you"-, Ramil took an arrow and the bow and shot an arrow, made a very fast shot and her arrow passed through the dummy and hit the wall, Somnambula was not surprised because her friend she had been trained with weapons for a long time, so it was obvious that she was stronger than her.

Then Somnambula asked Ramil,
-"What other things did the gods give you?"-
-"Oh, it's true, they have already put two of them in Ptah's scepter, while for the other two spells we have to go to the temple of the goddess Bastet"-
-"Why should we ask the cat goddess to activate those powers?"-
-"Because they are gifts from her"-, Ramil took Ptah's long scepter and illustrated the two gifts of the gods,
-"The first is a gift from the goddess Khensit the goddess of crowns and fire, and in fact the magic is called Fire of Khensit, now I'll show you..... Fire of Khensit"-, from Ramil's right hoof appeared a flame, Somnambula was frightened,
-"But doesn't it hurt you, Ramil?"-
-"No, this fire doesn't burn his allies, but his enemies, I can use it to illuminate, or I can throw it from the scepter, or from my mouth, actually this power is already inside me, I don't need to use the scepter but you need it instead"-,
Ramil gave the scepter to Somnambula, and she tried to pronounce the name of magic,
-"Fire of Khensit"-, and from the scepter a great flame was shot and hit a wall, Ramil gave her advice,
-"You must aim the scepter at a target, otherwise you risk hurting someone"-
-"You could have even told me earlier but, I have to practice this magic"-
-"The second won't hurt you, it's great for you to give help to other ponies, it's Sekhmet's Cure"-
-"And what's the use?"-
-"To heal injured allies, to heal wounds, I can't use this spell without the scepter, but now none of us are injured so it would have no effect"-
-"I think I will like this spell, I will be able to help those in difficulty and those who are injured"-
-"Now follow me"-, the two pegasi walked towards the temple of the cat goddess Bastet, it was a little far from the royal palace, but not too far, so the two of them walked in and prayed in front of the statue, of course the goddess appeared immediately, it was an anthropomorphic cat goddess in fine clothes, and addressed the two pegasi,

-"Dear Somnambula and dear Ramil, I know exactly why you are here, after all I am a goddess and you will have to help me too, but above all you will have to be the hope for your people, fight the bad guys and kill the evil creatures"-, Ramil answered her ,
-"For both of us it is an honor to be able to help you Equigyptian gods, and it is an honor to make use of your powers"-
-"If you use them for good these powers will never leave you, but we gods know we have chosen the right messengers so you will be mortals with divine powers to help your people, and maybe even some other cities, now please, give me the scepter of Ptah"-, Somnambula gave the scepter to Bastet, the goddess made a gesture with her hand and there was a yellow light then she gave the scepter again to the two pegasi.
-"Now my dear pony, you have to keep the hooves attached to the scepter, then you have to lift it"-, the two pegasi did as the goddess said, and there was a light that surrounded them, and then their eyes shone, then the light ceased and the two of them returned to normal, Bastet explained to them what had happened,
-"I just gave you two special gifts that only I possess, both are spells that don't require the use of the scepter, you can activate them with your voice, the first is Eyes of Bastet, your eyes will be able to see in the dark , even in the most complete darkness you will be able to see the light, just like a real cat, the second spell is Bastet's Invisibility, with this spell you will be able to make yourself invisible, and no one will be able to see you, you will be able to see each other only if you are invisible, however it has a duration of seven minutes, when the spell is about to vanish your eyes will begin to shine intermittently, to recharge the spell just stay in the shade or in a place without light, and you can continue to be invisible, this will be useful for secret missions or to kill dangerous enemies, now you can go, I wish you the best of luck" -.

The goddess disappeared, then Somnambula and Ramil left the temple, Ramil was very happy and hopping,
-"Wow, what about that Somnambula? We will be able to see in the dark, it will be useful for me in night patrols, and we will also be able to become invisible, we are really lucky, fantastic! Or as we say in the Zwahili language, Ajabu"-, Ramil stopped jumping and then she saw Somnambula worried,
-"Hey Somnambula? What worries you?"-
-"You see Ramil....I had never thought about it, the gods speak of killing evil creatures, I always thought of defeating the evil ones, but I never thought of killing them, I don't want to be a murderess, I just want to protect our people"-, Ramil understood her friend's point of view well and so spoke to her to console her,

-"Hey Somnambula, listen to me, I know it looks bad to me if the gods told us this then we have to do what they want"-
-"but....what if we weren't capable of killing?"-
-"Do you know? In the Zwahili language we have several proverbs, and one of them is Elimu ni maisha, si vitabu"-
-"And what does it mean?"-
-" Literally it means You learn from life, not from books, we must first know who deserves to die, if he doesn't deserve it we just have to send him to prison"-
-"But I'm not capable of being able to kill"-
-"And no one will ask you, if in case I have to kill someone then it will be me who will do it, or my brother, or another guard, but not you, you then stay behind me and think of a strategy, or heal the wounded afterall as we say in Zwahili, Ajidhanie kasimama, aangalie asianguke"-
-"And that is?"-
-"He who feels steady on his feet, he should be careful not to fall"-
-"You zebras have some nice wise sentences"-
-"Hey, for the first time you consider me a zebra"-.

Somnambula as always even if she was now a messenger of the gods she helped her father with her work in the palace, and Ramil went around the palace or in the city with the other guards to shop for the pharaoh.
Somnambula was still uncertain about having to kill someone, she didn't want to do it, but Ramil told her that she didn't have to, but she wondered if really there was some villain around who deserved to die, and so it worried her, but she knew that she could count on the help of her friend Ramil and some other guards.

The next day Somnambula before going to the palace went to the training camp and there she sees a young zebra who was training with a spear.
Somnambula had never seen her, she approached her,

-"Excuse me, did you happen to see a pegasus with red stripes around here?"-, The zebra didn't say anything, as if she didn't understand,
-"Excuse me, maybe you don't speak my language, let's see.....maybe you speak Zwahili, as they say....Umeona rafiki yangu wa Pegasus Ramil?(Have you seen my pegasus friend Ramil?)" -, the zebra still didn't seem to understand, Somnambula didn't know what to say,
-"Maybe she doesn't speak Zwahili, I don't speak it very well, maybe I don't have the right pronunciation, or she doesn't know Ramil"-, however the zebra spoke to her,
-"Not at all, your pronunciation is good, I can hear the foreign accent, but you can improve"-, then the zebra did a strange thing, she opened some wings that she had at her sides, Somnambula was surprised,
-"How is it possible? A zebra with wings? Wait a moment...that voice....Ramil?"-, the zebra smiled and turned out to be Ramil, however she had black stripes and a gray coat, how was that possible? Somnambula looked closely at her from the front, back and sides of her,

-"I can't believe it, but how can it be? It's really you, and yet..... how can you have the colors of a zebra?"-, Ramil revealed her secret,
-"It's one of the many potions that Thoth taught me, thanks to a cactus powder from the realm of the gods I can prepare a potion that allows me to take the colors of a zebra, I drank it before, and not even my brother recognized me"-
-"Really? Not only did you deceive me, but you deceived your brother?"-
-"Come with me, my mother saw me making a potion this morning, but she doesn't know what kind of potion it is"-
-"But....what's the use?"-
-"To nothing, just to mingle among the zebras"-
-"But I don't think it works at all, you still have wings"-
-"Unlike the stripes, I can always hide wings under a dress, but if a bandit looks at me like that then he doesn't recognize me, because for many ponies zebras are all the same"-
-"Rather, I wanted to ask you what is that golden spear?"-, in fact Somnambula's eye was focused on the spear it was a nice long and pointed spear, Ramil showed it to her,
-"Early this morning the papyrus of Seshat communicated to me that at the temple of the lion gods I had to receive a gift, and I went there, and this is the Spear of Anhur, the lion god"-
-"Nooo, I can't believe it, is this one of Anhur's spears? It must be more than a common spear"-
-"indeed it is capable of breaking any protection, and flies far if thrown, look now"-, Ramil hurled the spear which ended up in a sandy point, then Ramil raised her right hoof, the spear disappeared and then reappeared in her hoof,
-"Did you see? If you throw it you can recall it, I bet you would like to try it"-, Somnambula took the spear and began to rotate it and point it in some directions, she seemed to like it,
-"Anhur has good taste in weapons, so this weapon is really cool, let alone when facing an enemy"-
-"But this morning Anhur gave me a spell from Horus"-
-"Really? And which one?"-
-"It's a spell, but I can summon it whenever I want, without needing the scepter, they are magical wings, now I'll show you....Wings of Horus"-, Ramil opened her wings and those began to shine, they turned into long golden wings, Somnambula touched them,
-" They are....they are big wings"-
-"Exactly, with these wings I can reach a place in an instant, and I can fly much faster than I already do, and I can also fly where there are curses that prevent flight, now I'll show you"-, Ramil got ready , and then she ran, Somnambula couldn't see her, she only saw the dust that her friend kicked up with her run.
-"Hey Somnambula, I'm here"-, but Somnambula didn't see her,
-"Here where? I don't see you Ramil"-
-"Niko hapa juu, niko juu ya pyramids, I'm up here, I'm above the pyramid"-, Somnambula looked up and in fact on a pyramid near the palace there was Ramil on top in perfect balance.

Then she made a run and came back in front of her friend,
-"What do you think?"-
-"They look like nice wings to me, but do they look dangerous if you bump into something?"-
-"It's just nonsense, I've been training with my wings since I was little, I'm used to running fast and flying fast, it's convenient for mom that in our tribe there is a member with wings, do you want to try them too?"-
-"I don't know, I'm not trained like you with speed even though I'm a pegasus"-, then Ramil closed her wings, and they returned to their natural state,

-"You don't have to, but if you want to try tell me I can train you, now come with me let's go play a joke to my mother, let's see if she can recognize me looking like this"-
-"I say that she will recognize you, she is the one who brought you into the world, how does a mother not recognize her daughter? Her only daughter then? How long does the potion last?"-
-"It has no expiration"-
-"Does that mean you'll stay like this forever?"-
-"Don't be scared, just a sip of milk and I return to my natural color"-
-"Don't scare me so, Ramil"-
-"Why? wouldn't you have accepted a zebra friend with wings?"-
-"I don't care what color you have, but I don't think your mother would have accepted your new color"-
-"And why not? So the ponies, the Abadas and the Okapis wouldn't have seen me strange for the color of my stripes"-
-"You don't have to be influenced by others just because you have different color stripes, or because you're a pegasus with stripes, you're my friend and I don't care about your color"-
-"You know? People should do as we say in Zwahili, Ukiona neno, usiposema neno, hupatikani na neno"-
-"And what does that mean? That they should mind their own business?"-
-"More or less, it means If you see and keep quiet, you won't have any trouble"-
-"More or less I was close"-

To be Continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

Mukhtar is exiled

Mukhtar is exiled

In the present

Every now and then Twilight interrupted Somnambula to ask her questions,

-"It seems a little creepy to me that the gods asked you to kill someone"-
-"Not just anyone, just the bad guys who deserved to die"-
-"And have you ever killed someone?"-
-"If I have to tell the truth, I did it even if I did it later, the words of the gods are not discussed, and Ramil had said that she would have killed the enemies in my place, but when I got in the hooves that scepter, those claws and especially that spear, I didn't feel weak, I knew I could help others with those weapons, believe me when I took that spear I felt unbeatable, after all it was the spear of Anhur, and I loved that spear, without speaking about the scepter of the great god Ptah, he is one of the strongest in our religion and his creations are magnificent, he is as powerful as Ra or maybe more, and for his creation abilities he can be compared to the Greyk god Hephaestus" -
-"I can't believe you killed someone"-
-"Later, it's something that was necessary, but now we haven't reached that part yet, however with Ramil among the soldiers there were modifications, changes"-
-"What kind of changes?"-
-"She looked for new guards for the pharaoh, but she looked for females, and found them, and tested them by fighting them, and all three were very resistant"-
-"Did she find three that can fight?"-
-"Exactly, there was a celestial pegasus named Akilah, she was fast and strong with the khopesch, then she found an orange pony named Isra, she wasn't fast but she was strong, and then she even found a zebra willing to be a guard, she was from another tribe than Ramil's family, and she wanted so much to fight as she was also raised in a tribe of strong zebras, her name was Fadilah, and she was strong and tough, she wanted to increase her speed, unfortunately she didn't know potions, therefore Ramil proposes to help her to learn the various potions she knew"-
-"But then Ramil managed to deceive her mother?"-
-"Yes, I don't know how but Mimea didn't recognize her daughter, except when she looked into her eyes and realized it was Ramil, after all you can't fool your own mother, however there was a bad experience after Ramil became a guard, Now I'll tell you....."-

In the past

Ramil was training Akilah, Isra and Fadilah who were fighting with other guards,

-"Very well girls, you are doing well, I knew I would have chosen well when you introduced yourselves, you Akilah are very fast, while you Isra, even if you are not fast you are very strong and you are also very resistant, you have to take advantage of this strength to do do your best, and then there's Fadilah"-, the zebra stopped and looked at Ramil,
-"What should I do?"-
-"You are a zebra, so you must be strong and certainly fast, what do you remember about your village?"-
-"I grew up in a village in central Zebrafrica, and my job was to pick fruit from the trees, I was a little older when I came here, in my village we only spoke Zwahili and or Zulu, then we came here, I live in Harim for years now"-
-"When you came here did you convert to the Equigyptian religion?"-
-"Actually we didn't have a real religion, when we came here we had our first religion"-
-"Being a zebra so you will know other things, like potions"-
-"Unfortunately not, it was my mother who made the potions, I never tried to make them, and she didn't want to teach me, and we didn't use books to write down our formulas"-
-"So you don't know how to make potions?"-
-"No, sorry"-
-"No problem, my mother and I can teach you, you will make potions in no time, and since I can get hold of special ingredients I will teach you special potions"-
-"I would be happy to learn"-
-"And I'm happy to be able to have female guards in the team, I'm sure that with a little training you'll be perfect, we can show everyone that you're fantastic as a male guard, now the pharaoh will also have mares to protect him, and having an extra zebra will come in handy, also because you'll learn potions, while my brother isn't good at potions"-.

Ramil watched from afar the trainings that were going well, now she wasn't the only female to protect the pharaoh, and surely Mukthar wouldn't have accepted, but now he was no longer the captain of the guards.
Ramil went to her brother,

-"Habari kaka mkubwa (Hello big brother), are you proud of my work?"-
-"You're doing a great job sis, we even have females to fight with us"-
-"They're the only ones who showed up, or rather they're not the only ones, they're the only ones who agreed to fight with their own energies, the other mares gave up saying they wanted to stay with their families or do the houseworks, or to think about their children"-
-"You can't blame them, many mares are mothers or have a boyfriend and don't want to leave their beloved ones, the three of them have parents but no children yet"-
-"I checked, all three have a sister who got married, instead Fadilah, is betrothed to a male zebra, but she wants to be a guard because she has never fought in her life and wanted to use her energies to protect the pharaoh"-
-"Each of them wants to play her part, it's great that we have at least them, and I think you're doing a great job in training them, I'm sure they will be very good guards"-

-"Mukhtar came to know that we have females now in the team?"-
-"Yes, and he's not happy, he's very angry"-
-"I'm sorry for him, but he cheated, I don't think he deserved to win"-
-"He didn't deserve to win at all, you didn't break the rules and deserved to win more than me, you should have been the captain"-
-"Big brother, it's better if that place belonged to you, I don't know if I would have managed to do it well, so I preferred that you were"-
-"I don't know what I would do without you"-
-"You only say that because now I have the favor of the gods and their weapons"-
-"That's not true, I've always believed in you, you were strong before and you're strong now, and you're even faster than me"-
-"I'm sure you'll be as fast as me too"-
-"Anyway, would you like to keep me company on the night watch tonight too?"-
-"Okay, it's not a problem"-
-"We will sleep more in the morning"-
-"It's true, but mom created a special potion to stay awake, follow me and I'll show you"-.
They both went home and Mimea was writing some things, then Mimea saw her children enter,
-"Enyi wanangu, nini kinaendelea? (My children, what's going on?)"-, Ramil hugged her mother and then answered her,
-"Habari Mama! (Hi mom), I wanted to show Hamzah that potion you created"-, Mimea turned to her son,
-"Actually I didn't really create it, it was Ramil who found me the ingredients, with her speed she went to the desert where she found a village of nomadic zebras, and discovered some berries that the camels ate and were relaxed , so she brought me some"-
-"And did you make the potion with the berries?"-
-"Not really, practically you take the seeds and then put them to boil, the liquid becomes dark in color, and then you can drink it, if you have to do the night watch you should drink it before doing it, because it is very strong, it'll keep you awake for quite a while."

Mimea and Ramil could not have known that those seeds were coffee beans, they had discovered coffee without knowing it.
When evening came, Ramil and Hamzah drank the potion and began to prepare for the city's night patrol.
Hamzah turned to Ramil,

-"With the power that Bastet gave you, it will be easy to patrol"-
-"Are you talking about her eyes? I tried them once in the evening, it's like seeing during the day, they are very useful in the dark"-.

The two of them left their house, and started walking around the city, Ramil got ready,

-"Now that it's almost dark I can use them, Eyes of Bastet"-, Ramil's eyes turned bright yellow and she could see perfectly in the dark as if it were day, no detail could escape her, and so she could better help the brother.

Ramil was armed with a khopesch and a shield, and she tried to be careful in various corners of the city, Hamzah also had a khopesch and also a spear and made sure there were no thieves or dangers.
However Hamzah bumped into someone,

-"Oh excuse me, who are you? Oh"-, even if it was dark the flames of the torches allowed to see, so Hamzah discovered that the pony he had bumped into was Somnambula.

-"Somnambula? What are you doing around at this hour?"-
-"Sorry Hamzah, I just wanted to try these Eyes of Bastet, and I thought I'd show Ramil how I used them, they're perfect, I could go around at night without problems"-
-"But it's not safe if you go around at this hour, you have to be careful, there may be bandits, or worse wild animals"-
-"Oh come on, what kind of animals could I meet?"-
-"We are close to the Nile, you could meet crocodiles, hippos, lions, or even worse or werehyenas"-
-"Were hyenas? What are they?"-
-"They are creatures that we zebras know well, they are big hyenas, sometimes they look like normal hyenas, but then when you let your guard down they reveal their true appearance, they grow big and become bipeds"-
-"Oh please, as if these creatures really exist"-
-"When I was little, in my village my father killed one, and two years ago when I was in a village I met another, it was behind me and it scratched me but my sister Ramil killed it immediately, she has had more courage than me"-
-"Ramil never told me about this story"-
-"Because you didn't ever ask her, she knows creatures better than me since she reads more, also now that she has access to Thoth's library she can learn many things, so it's better if you go home, I'm sure Ramil would tell you the same, please Somnambula"-
-"Okay, I'm going home, don't say anything to Ramil"-
-"I won't tell her anything, but it's better if I take you home by myself, I don't want you to encounter dangers on the way"-
-"Thank you Hamzah"-,
so the zebra accompanied Somnambula home, but before heading there Somnambula noticed Ramil who was standing near a house and was observing a well, but Somnambula looked up and saw a hooded guy on the roof who took in the hoof a dagger, he jumped, but Somnambula called Ramil,

-"RAMIL! BE CAREFUL, ABOVE YOU"-,

Ramil immediately turned around and rolled on the ground dodging the pony who sank the dagger into the ground, but he tried to stab Ramil again, the pegasus then took Osiris'shield and defended herself, the pony hit her several times but the shield was divine therefore impenetrable, so Ramil hit the pony with the shield, he backed away then she hit him again with the shield, and he fell to the ground, he tried to take the dagger but with the khopesch she parried him and hit him with her hooves, the pony was down, and Ramil unmasked him, Hamzah and Somnambula approached, but none of the three ponies could believe what they saw, it was not just any pony but the unicorn Mukhtar.
Hamzah called him,

-"Mukhtar? What were you doing? What did you want to do to my sister?"-, the unicorn stood up indignantly,
-"And what do you think I was doing? I was trying to kill her"-, at that sentence the male zebra got angry,
-"Kill my sister? Are you maybe crazy?"-
-"How am I supposed to be? Because of her I lost my place as captain of the guards, now I'm a soldier guarding the royal treasury, and furthermore she allowed mares to be admitted to the guards, and that's a real shame"-
-"It was you who cheated in the challenge of Horus, and would you even be right? You even threw me into the mouth of a sandworm"-
-"You have to do everything to be the best, even sacrificing a soldier"-
-"ENOUGH THIS, for the powers that the pharaoh has given me I declare you under arrest, now I'll take you immediately before the pharaoh"-.

Hamzah took a rope and tied Mukhtar tightly, then took him to the pharaoh who had not yet gone to sleep and was delighted to hear the music played by some female ponies while some of them danced.
Pharaoh was surprised to see that little group, and asked what was going on, Hamzah explained everything, and Pharaoh was angry too.

-"By the Gods, what came into your mind, Mukhtar? Did you want to kill Ramil? You're lucky that her mother is sleeping now"-, the unicorn tried to justify himself in vain,
-"Pharaoh, I have always served you and your son, do you really want that stupid pegasus to defend you instead of me?"-
-"Horus spoke clearly, and then Ramil is the real winner, not only she found the sword of Isis, but she also saved the soldiers you put in trouble"-
-"I DO NOT CARE WHAT THE GODS HAVE SAID, especially that stupid Horus"-,

all those present ones were amazed, the pharaoh was indignant,
-"How dare you blaspheme against the gods? Let his head be cut off"-, but Ramil didn't agree,
-"No, Pharaoh, it doesn't seem right to me, he just went crazy, he didn't want to accept losing, but he served you for years, I don't see the need to cut off his head"-
-"Ramil? Why are you defending him? He tried to kill you"-
-"It's true, but if we killed him, we'd be worse than him, I say at the most to imprison him, or put him to train recruits"-,
the pharaoh thought about it for a while, then formulated his answer,
-"By Orisis, you are right, indeed....then instead of cutting off his head, he will be the new trainer for the recruits"-,
but Mukhtar got angry, his dagger came alive and cut the ropes, then cast a spell of green smoke against the pharaoh and Hamzah, then he threw the dagger at Ramil, but Somnambula stopped it parrying herself with Anubis claws, then she jumped on Mukhtar and wounded him, then Ramil, struck him with a hoof blow.
Mukhtar was down.
He was bound again and then taken to the edge of the city, the pharaoh decided to condemn him,

-"Mukhtar, you were a good captain in your best days, but in the last years you became a real torment, and for attacking us I don't forgive you, I had offered you a chance, but now I've decided, and not even Ramil will save you, I condemn you to exile, you will no longer be able to set hoof here in Harim, and if you dare to return, you will be whipped and then killed, and then Osiris will take care of you"-,
but Mukhtar was not scared or worried.
-"I won't come back, and if I come back I won't be alone, you've seen what I'm capable of, haven't you? And I don't need a magic dagger, you will bitterly regret making me your enemy, goodbye"-.

Mukhtar thus fled to the dark desert, and the pharaoh decided it was time to go back to the palace and sleep.
Somnambula saw Ramil standing behind her who looked down,

-"Ramil? What's wrong with you? Are you thinking about Mukhtar?"-
-"Actually yes, I tried to reason like you Somnambula, I didn't want to use violence, that's why I wanted to spare him"-
-"But he tried to kill you, maybe this wasn't the time to forgive him"-
-"But one thing worries me, did you notice his eyes? And that spell he cast?"-
-"What would you say?"-
-"When he tried to kill me he had a green flame in his eyes, and that spell too was a kind of green fire cloud, and I know I've seen that dagger before somewhere"-.

The next day, Somnambula went to Ramil's house, and she found her while she was reading some papyri,
-"Hello Ramil, what are you doing?"-
-"As soon as I woke up I looked for information on some papyri that Thoth gave me, and I found information on Mukhtar's dagger and magic"-
-"And what did you find out?"-
-"Not good news unfortunately, that dagger is made of an iron that comes from the realm of the gods, but it's a material that makes magic bad, and only Seth's followers can use it, and that green magic was Seth's Rage, a spell of offense created by chaos, a spell from Seth, and the green flames I saw in Mukhtar's eyes, that's a sign of one who has agreed to become a follower of Seth"-, Somnambula was incredulous,

-"You mean that Mukhtar was a follower of Seth and we never knew?"-
-"If Mukhtar has become very severe in recent years, in my opinion it is from that moment that he became his follower, and this means that he has contact with Seth, perhaps it was a mistake to let him go, perhaps he has already found refuge somewhere in a hidden temple of Seth, and if he is not the only one and said that he would return with allies, then it means only one thing"-,

Somnambula had already understood, and she answered instead of her friend,
-"It means that Seth is preparing to return from his exile"-
-"Or maybe he is looking for allies, if he was yet ready to come back, then the gods would have already told us"-
-"Do you think it's dangerous to keep the dagger?"-
-"I don't think so, at least I thought so before, but I checked, there is no more magic inside this dagger"-
-"Are you sure? How can you tell?"-
-"I can sense magic, it's something my mother knows how to do and she passed this ability on to me and my brother, it seems that Seth's magic has disappeared"-
-"And how is that possible? Seth's magic should stay in the dagger until he decides it"-
-"I have read that there are various gods who can cleanse weapons of the evil magic of Seth, and those gods are Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Anubis, Thoth and Ra"-
-"But none of them were here to purify the dagger"-
-"But yesterday you used Anubis claws to stop the dagger, this made Seth's magic vanish, because even if they no longer belong to Anubis those claws still have his magic, so by hitting him you purified it, maybe I could do it too with the other weapons"-
-"It's lucky then that we are messengers of the gods, but if Seth comes back what will we do? We can't fight against a god, he's evil, but still a god, let's not forget that for decades he helped Ra in his solar boat to fight the serpent Apophis"-
-"I....I really don't know what to think, I don't know what I would do if I found myself in front of Seth, but if the gods were to order me to kill him, then I think I would have no choice, I hope to have more magic and weapons, I don't know what to think, I don't know what to say, I just hope it's just my opinion, but if he really were to come back it would be a disaster for all of Equigypt"-, Somnambula consoled Ramil,
-"Listen Ramil, I won't be able to fight, but you will, if that day comes, then I will help you, I will be with you, I promise, I don't know what we will do but I'm sure we will invent something"-
-"Hey, thanks Somnambula, whatever happens, then we will face it together"-, at that moment Mimea arrived,
-"Do not talk about possible divine and evil conspiracies, think about having breakfast with a good honey cake"-, Ramil loved her mother's cakes, especially the ones with honey,
-"You're great mom, I'll take a slice right away"-
-"I still can't believe that crazy unicorn wanted to kill you, he deserved his exile, and if he's a follower of Seth, well I hope that sooner or later someone will kill him, Somnambula? why don't you have a slice of honey cake ?"-
-"Thank you Mrs. Mimea, whatever Mukhtar does Ramil and I will face him even if it means killing him"-.

To be continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

The house of the seer

The house of the seer

In the present

Twilight was surprised by Mukhtar's bad reaction,

-"I never liked that unicorn, it was one thing to cheat, but he tried to kill your friend"-
-"Ramil wanted to make a choice that she wouldn't have wanted, she wanted to make a choice that I would have made, because of the words I said to her, but a follower of Seth is very dangerous, and who knows what trouble he could get, especially with the danger that can make a god of chaos"-
-"I think so, like what Discord used to do"-
-" But Discord is a creature of chaos, he defines himself as a lord of chaos, Seth instead even if evil was a god, and I don't know if Discord could have stopped him, he was a dangerous god, since he was the lord of deserts and storms and had also killed Osiris in the past before Ramil and I were born, it is said that he possessed a dagger created by him that only those with his power could wield, a dagger so powerful that it would kill any god, and not just an Equigyptian god, a dagger so powerful it could easily kill even an alicorn"-
-"I hope this dagger is well hidden"-
-"Unfortunately Ramil and I never found it, maybe it's still in the realm of the gods, but no one knows where it is, however Ramil and I made a strange discovery days after Mukhtar's exile"-
-"And what did you find?"-
-"A house, Twilight, a very special house"-

In the past

Somnambula went to Ramil's house, she entered and found Mimea and Hamzah having breakfast, the mother zebra greeted her,

-"Good morning dear Somnambula, I guess you are here to visit Ramil"-
-"Now we are like sisters, she is my best friend, indeed if she is here I don't need any other friends"-
-"I'm happy with your good friendship, but right now Ramil is studying"-
-"Studying? What is she studying?"-
-"She seems to be obsessed with a dream she had last time, but she didn't tell me what it was, yesterday she went to the god Thoth to ask him for papyri to understand dreams, and others to learn the greyk"-
-"Why should she learn greyk? We don't talk to various Greyk people here in Equigypt"-
-"I was hoping you could convince her to leave the room, so we could all talk together"-, Hamzah got up and greeted the two ponies,
-"See you mom, I'm going to work, see if you can get Ramil to come too, because I need her"-
-"Okay, Hamzah"-,

Somnambula then went to Ramil's room, and saw her concentrated with several papyri on a table, the striped pegasus hadn't noticed her friend, so Somnambula made a coughing sound, and Ramil turned around,

-"Oh Somnambula, I didn't hear you"-
-"Hello Ramil, what are you doing? Your mother told me that you had a dream, would you like to talk about it with her and with me?"-
-"All right, but first look at these letters"-,

Somnambula went to see on a papyrus some letters that she had never seen before, they were these πέτρα Ξιφος.

-"What do they mean, Ramil?"-
-"It's Greyk, the first one reads Petra, and means stone, the second one reads Xiphos, and it's the name of a Greyk sword, but they don't make sense, I haven't found anything in the Thoth's papyri, it could mean a sword of stone, or it could be the name of a spell, or a curse........"-
-"Or the name of a pony"-
-"It could be, come with me, I'll tell you about my dream"-.

Mimea was right that Somnambula would get Ramil out of the room and so Ramil sat down at the table to eat, and Mimea and Somnambula listened to what she had to say,

-"So, this had happened, I was in a temple I've never seen before, which I had never seen, then there's a long corridor with female pegasi statues, and dragon statues, then there's a giant book on a pedestal and a skeletal dragon hand, pointing to a blank page, then a feather from my wing comes off, and starts writing my name, and next to my name is what I wrote in a papyrus, the name Petra Xiphos, and then I hear a voice behind me talking to me and saying Your destiny is fulfilled, Ramil"-

Mimea was curious,

-"Were you able to see who was?"-
-"Yes, she was a light green pegasus, blonde and in a white dress, and she said her name was at the top of the book, and it was Solar Calendar"-, Mimea and Somnambula were amazed, her mother answered her,

-"Are you sure of the name you read, my child?"-
-"Yes, mum, I'm sure, it was Solar Calendar"-, Somnambula then replied,
-"This name was told to me by my mother, it was the name of a pegasus seer"-, Ramil was confused,
-"In what sense it was?"-,

Mimea replied,

-"Ramil, my baby, Solar Calendar was a pegasus seer who lived here in Equigypt many years ago, I met her and she lived in this city, she died five years before you were born, that's why you couldn't know her , the description you made also matches"-
-"Wait, is she dead? So I dreamed about a dead pegasus?"-
-"She was old in your dream?"-
-"No, she was young"-
-"It's strange, why would you have dreamed about a pegasus that you've never met? Hamzah had met her, but only once, instead I spoke to her many times, but she was a strange pegasus, she came from a distant land, but she never revealed where, no one knew anything about her, she wasn't even of our religion, she belonged to other gods, it is also said that she came to this village aboard a flying green snake with feathers, she didn't speak our language, but she was able to speak with the people of this place thanks to magic crystals, she earned a living by making predictions for the people and the pharaoh, before she died, was over 150 years old, had no children or descendants, had no never married, she was always shrouded in mystery, no one knew anything about her, also the day she died no one found her anymore, her body was missing, it is said that another pony visited her, a female pegasus with a white dress, but then no one has seen her or the foreigner, I can't tell you anything else, because that pegasus was a good person, but no one spoke to her outside of her profession, she told me she had taken refuge here because in her continent there was a threat, but she didn't tell me anything else"-
-"But why should I dream about a pegasus that I've never met?"-
-"Maybe you should visit her old house, it's near Hatmehit's temple, just by the river, maybe you could find something there"-, Somnambula spoke to Ramil,
-"If you like, dear Ramil, after your shift we will go together to check that house, I don't know why you had that dream, but I'm curious too, my mother also met her, and told her she would have a daughter special, destined for great things"-
-" That Solar predicted your birth well"-
-"I'm sure she would have said that about you too"-.

So Somnambula went to the royal palace to help her father with his work, while Ramil thought about her work, but both waited to finish to go to the seer's old house.
When the time came, the two pegasi headed for the temple of the fish goddess Hatmehit.
Arrived on site they noticed a house, it was abandoned, it seemed full of dust and cobwebs, Ramil was uncertain,
-"Do you think this is the house? Somnambula?"-
-"It must be this one, many say it is still inhabited by the seer's spirit, but I don't know whether to believe these things, no one has ever wanted to live there after her, at least that's what my mother told me"-
-"We need to check inside, maybe we will find something interesting"-, Ramil tried to open the door but it seemed blocked,
-"By the wings of Ra, it looks like something is blocking the door"-
-"And now what do we do?"-

-"I'll show you something the goddess Ta-Bitjet taught me"-
-"The scorpion goddess?"-
-"Behold, Blades of Ta-Bitjet"-, having said that phrase Ramil's front hooves turned into scorpion claws, Somnambula was impressed, Ramil hit the door and broke it down, and hit it until she knocked it down, then the claws disappeared and hooves returned,

-"Very cool, eh? Somnambula? They are very strong blades, the goddess Ta-Bitjet also said that they are excellent for striking the enemy by surprise"-
-"I don't think I like having scorpion claws, that makes me a little impression"-
-"The choice is yours, I'll search the house"-,

Ramil immediately entered the house, then Somnambula followed her, Somanmbula saw that there were several papyri, she opened one and saw the drawing of a green pegasus in a white dress nearby to a green serpent with four red wings and a crest around its neck.
Somnambula called Ramil,

-"Hey Ramil? Come here come and see what I found"-
-"What did you find?"-
-"Some drawings, but it's not written in our language and therefore...."-, Somnambula turned around but didn't see anyone,
-"Ramil? Where are you? Where are you hiding?"-
-"Nowhere?"-
-"But are you invisible? Why can't I see you?"-
-"Why wasting Bastet's gift? I'm not invisible"-
-"And where are you?"-
-"I'm here on the ceiling"-, Somnambula looked up and got scared, Ramil was really on the ceiling, but she was hanging upside down, her hooves had become legs of a scorpion and her tail was that of a Scorpion.
-"AAAAH, what have you become?"-
-"Sorry, I wanted to try this new power"-, Ramil got down on the ground,
-"Now I'll explain, Somnambula, this is a gift from the goddess Serqet"-
-"the pony goddess of scorpions?"-
-"This technique is called Serqet's Poison, it allows me to climb ceilings and the poison in my tail allows me to paralyze the enemy"-
-"So now you have two techniques related to scorpions"-
-"Not only that, Serqet and Thoth are teaching me different antidotes and potions against various poisons of various types, if I'm good with potions one day I'll be immune to any poison, would you like to know this technique?"-
-"No, thanks, I don't think I like it, even if it's a gift from the gods, but it will be useful for me to have a friend who prepares antidotes"-
-"What did you want to make me see?"-
-"This papyrus, look at these drawings, it's not written in our language, look at these strange symbols,ራሚል ሳብል"-, Ramil looked closely at those symbols, but he was amazed,
-"but this...this is Amharic"-
-"Amharic?"-
-"It's a Zebrafrican language, but it's not widespread here in Equigypt and those symbols you saw are my name in Amharic"-
-"Is your name written on it?"-
-"Yes, it says Ramili Sabili, and...I don't know how she knew Amharic, since she was a foreigner"-
-"Can you by any chance read what is written there?"-
-"Yes, dear Ramil and dear friend of Ramil, if you are reading this papyrus I have long since died, however I wanted to warn you, that I Solar Calendar come from a very distant land, one day a threat coming from the crystal invaded my country and I had to take away the treasure of my people, a seed, a seed that would grow a tree that bears fruit that whoever eats it can command any dragon, you will not find this seed in your land, because I buried it in another continent , unfortunately as you already know I am a seer, and I already know that the threat will come from you too, so you will have to be strong and protect your people, create a team of masked heroes to protect Equigypt, I know your friend doesn't like to kill, but this threat does not deserve to live, I had to abandon my family, I could not return to my land, the snake you see in the drawing I drew is Kukulkan, a divine snake of which I was his favorite priestess, I left this message for you because I knew you would find it, or rather it was Somnabula who found it and then called you Ramil, I just want to tell you that the gods are right you will do great things, and you will be ready for various difficulties, also a person dear to you will die, well you will have to be careful because many will stop you but one of you will save that person thanks to hope and you two have a lot of it, never doubt your precious friendship, never....."-, Somnambula was surprised,
-"She wrote everything down, she even predicted that I would find the papyrus"-
-"But who was this Calendar? I wonder if the other papyri can answer, I mean we know that she came from another land and that she had other gods, but what do we have to do with it?"-
-"She spoke about a crystal threat, what does it mean?"-
-"I don't know, can you give me a plinth with the other papyri?"-, the two pegasi checked the other papyri, but they were written in another language, but Somnambula found some drawings,
-"Look here, Ramil"-, Ramil saw the drawing,
-"What will it be?"-, Ramil tried to understand, but Somnambula already had a hypothesis,

-"It seems that Solar had a large crystal, here a pony is drawn that is about to be crushed by a boulder, in this part the pony is dead, but we see that in this part of the drawing she uses the crystal to save his life, it might be silly but I think that is not a normal crystal....."-
-"I believe it well, there is an Amharic writing that says Gīzē kirīsitali"-
-"And what does it mean?"-
-"It means, Crystal of the time, and look at the bottom of the drawing, there are several statues, probably of the gods of the land of her, they throw a light at her, and from that light the crystal is created"-
-"What do you mean?"-
-"I think that crystal was created by her gods, and that she can use it to manipulate time, but if so, then she can travel through time, and look what I found in this papyrus"-,

Ramil showed Somnambula a drawing of two pegasi dressed in white, one young and one old, and the young mare stood in front of a grave,

-"What do you want to say, Ramil?"-
-"Mom said that a stranger visited her before the seer died, I think she wasn't a stranger, but she was the same pegasus"-
-"Do you mean that she was the seer?"-
-"I think she traveled in the past, or in the future to meet herself, but it doesn't seem like an evil pegasus to me, I also found a papyrus where she met a blue pegasus, but in an unspecified time in the future, and it seems that even that pegasus had to do with gods"-
-"Do you mean that there are other pegasi messengers of the gods like us?"-
-"It's plausible but not in this era, so you know what I do? I take all the papyri and bring them to Thoth, maybe he will be able to translate something, even if it's a foreign language"-
-"Are you sure you want to know something else? I mean we've already discovered several things so far, don't you think that would be too much?"-
-"She was talking about a threat from the crystal, what if it was our enemy as well as an enemy of the seer? We need to know more"-
-"I don't know, it scares me, but I'm with you, it's not the first time they tell us that we two are hope for the people, so maybe if we prepare ourselves we could face this threat"-
-"This is the right spirit, Somnambula"-.

Somnambula returned to her house while, Ramil passed by the temple of Horus to go to the realm of the gods to speak with Thoth.
When she came to him she handed him the papyri, the ibis god looked at them,

-"MMMmh, very interesting"-
-"Can you translate those writings, Thoth?"-
-"I don't know, even if I'm the god of knowledge I also have my limits, I can tell you that it's a Mayan language, which comes from the distant land of Equestria"-
-"Equestria? And where is it?"-
- "Now I can't tell you, one day I'll tell the Pharaoh myself, you don't have to think about it now, I'll see what I can decipher, I'll let you know"-, Ramil left, but then she returned immediately to a question to the ibis god,
-"Sorry god Thoth, can I ask you a question?"-
-"What is it about?"-
-"I discovered that Mukhtar was a follower of Seth, and that when he was exiled he said he would have allies, is there any danger of a return from Seth?"-, Thoth touched his head, then after a couple of minutes he gave her an answer,
-"In my immense knowledge I know that there will be a return of Seth and if you are not ready you will perish under his spear"-
-"So Seth will kill me"-
-"I can't know everything, but there are various possibilities that can happen so one can happen and others not, it depends on your training, you are hope, Ramil, as is Somnambula, if you are strong, you can face Seth"-
-"How do I deal with him if he is a god?"-
-"I can't tell you this, I can't know certain things if you are uncertain of yourself"-
-"Thank you Thoth"-
-"But don't tell anyone about Seth's return, nor about the fact that one day you might face him"-
-"The only thing I can do is training, just so I'll know if I'm ready"-.

Ramil left the ibis god's library to go home, of course she didn't say a word to anyone about Seth.

To be continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

Anansi

Anansi

In the present

Twilight was increasingly interested in the story and before Somnambula continued she was always asking questions.

-"So you're telling me that the pegasus Ramil dreamed about was a seer who could travel through time?"-
-"Ramil met her in one of her adventures, I've never met her, as far as I know she was a pegasus who came from Equestria and came from the Mayans"-
-"And did you then find out what was the threat that came from the crystal?"-
-"Yes, we found out some time later, but I won't tell you now, because a few days later I, Ramil and Hamzah together with Hisan had gone to a nearby city to take care of royal matters, simple diplomacy, but when we returned to Harim we found a nasty threat, it didn't have to do with crystals, but it was still dangerous, now listen up everyone" -.

In the past

Somnambula, Ramil, Hamzah and Hisan returned to Harim after the diplomatic mission, they couldn't wait to go back to their homes.
Hisan was pleased that he had spoken to the pharaoh of the other city, to maintain good relations, and was also pleased with his following, Ramil spoke to Somnambula,

-"Arrived in Harim, how about a good day at the hot springs, Somni?"-
-"Somni? Did you find me a nickname?"-
-"You don't like it? If you want to reciprocate you can call me Sand"-
-"No, no, Somni is fine, the fact is that my mother calls me that, but you couldn't have known it"-
-"Sorry, in fact it's better if I continue to use your name, however would you like to go to the spa?"-
-"A little relaxation is needed, in fact I would like to get wet after all this sand"-, Hamzah suddenly stopped everyone,
-"HALT, stop everyone, there's something wrong"-, Ramil didn't understand why his brother made that move,

-"What's going on, big brother?"-
-"Look around little sister, don't you notice anything strange?"-, Ramil looked around and in fact he saw that the streets were deserted, there was nobody, not even in the market which was usually crowded with people,
-"It's true, there's no one around, what happened?"-
-"I don't know and I don't like it, take your weapons, there might be an enemy around here, or maybe just some wild beasts"-,
Ramil summoned the spear of Anhur, and then gave the claws of Anubis to Somnambula, and this the latter also took Ptah's scepter.
All three tried to protect Hisan, they walked slowly trying to look around, but they didn't see anyone, Hamzah had his sword ready to strike, but he didn't see anyone,

-"Everything is too quiet, I don't understand what happened, where will everyone be?"-, then they saw a small group of Okapis standing in front of a stall, Hamzah went towards them to ask for information,

-"Excuse me, do you know why the streets are deserted?, where is everypony?"-,
the four Okapis turned towards them, but their eyes were illuminated by a white light, our heroes got scared, and as if it wasn't terrifying enough they were repeating a strange phrase,

-"Inkosi yethu ifuna wena, inkosi yethu ifuna wena, inkosi yethu ifuna wena"-, Hamzah decided that it was better to flee, so they decided to reach their house and hide there.
When all four arrived at home, Hamzah decided to barricade it with a table, Somnambula could not understand,

-"Hamzah, what happened?"-
-"I don't know, but those Okapis seemed to be under a spell, it wasn't the time to fight them, so I preferred that we flee"-
-"but what kind of sentence did they say?"- Ramil then answered,

-" Inkosi yethu ifuna wena, is a sentence in Zulu, it means My king wants you"-
-"What does it mean?"-
-"I don't know, Somnambula, but I noticed one thing, those Okapis had spiders on their necks"-, at that moment Mimea came down from the stairs,

-"Mom? Are you safe?"-, Hamzah and Ramil hugged her, Mimea was happy that her children were fine,
-"My children, I'm glad you're fine, haven't you found any dangers?"-,

Hamzah answered her

-"We found some Okapis under a spell, they chased us, but we lost them, don't you know what happened here to Harim?"-
-"A tragedy happened, we were attacked by Anansi"-,

Ramil and Hamzah were worried, but Somnambula and Hisan were curious, Somnambula then spoke to Ramil,

-"Ramil? Who or what is Anansi?"-, and the striped pegasus' answer was not good,

-"He's a giant spider god, he's known in West Zebrafrica, usually zebras see him as a hero, but he's actually a trickster god, once he tried to steal wisdom by locking it in a jar but then slipped and made it falling into water which became rain, however it is a deceptive god to avoid, now I understand the reason for spiders, Anansi uses spiders to command his slaves, when they spoke of the king they referred to Anansi, it is a big problem, because given that Anansi can command the spiders we are not safe anywhere"-,
at that moment Hisan screamed, everyone turned to him, unfortunately a spider bit him and the animal leaned on his neck, Hisan's eyes began to shine, and he said the horrible sentence:

-"Inkosi yethu ifuna wena"-,

Mimea was scared,

-"Oh no, they took over Hisan"-, Ramil saw the spider and approached,
-"I'll pull the spider off, so he'll be free"-, Mimea stopped her daughter,
-"You can't do it Ramil, you would risk hurting Hisan, we have to get out of here"-,

the two zebras and the two pegasi ran away from another door, then they went to the royal palace, trying to avoid finding other victims of Anansi.
Somnambula was worried about her parents,

-"What if my parents were bitten? How do we do it? Mimea? Is there no way to save our people?"-
-"There would be one way, there is always a big spider that controls the small spiders, if we neutralize that spider the small spiders will die, but I wouldn't know where to look from"-,

Ramil asked his mother something,

-"And how is this spider made?"-
-"According to the legends of the zebras, the spider in question is a big spider of green color that shines and....."-, Hamzah stopped his mother,
-"Mom? Somnambula? Little sister? Don't be alarmed, but you better look up very slowly"-,

the three mares looked up, there were various cobwebs and many spiders with them, the beasts began to fall on the floor and go at the four ponies, they screamed and ran away.
In her haste, Mimea crashed into a column and fell, Hamzah ran to help her mother, a spider had already hit her, Hamzah hit it with his hoof, but other spiders arrived, he took a spear and hit them all, Ramil helped her mother up,

-"My son, what are you doing?"-
-"Go ahead, run away, I won't be able to hold them all, run"-, at that moment some spiders climbed on his hoof, he shook them off, but one of them managed to bite Hamzah,
-"My son!"-, Ramil pushed her mother,
-"Mom? We have to go, we have to find a safe place, so we have to run"-,

without hesitating the three ponies ran away, they reached the throne room, where the pharaoh was.
Ramil spoke to him,

-"Pharaoh, we have to take you away you're in danger, a spider just bit your son, it's a matter of time before Anansi is here"-,

the pharaoh turned around and he had a spider around his neck and his eyes were shining, Ramil got scared ,

-"Oh no, he is under the spell too"-, the pharaoh attacked her, but Ramil dodged him, then the three ponies ran away again, Ramil spoke to the mother,

-"And now what do we do, mom?"-
-"We have to find Anansi, he controls all spiders, if we hurt him, all spiders including the ones that control other spiders will die"-, but Somnambula didn't agree,

-"But how do we hurt him? He's still a god, we can't compete against a god"-
-"I know Somnambula, but if there is someone who can do it, it's you and my daughter, after all, you are the hope for Harim, you have to find Ananzi and hit him and only like this......aaaaahhhh"-, Ramil wasn't realizing that a spider had leapt on her mother's rump, so she too was bitten, Ramil took Somnambula by the hoof,

-"Let's run Somnambula, we have to find Anansi"-
-"And how do we do it? Where could he be?"-
-"It's a giant Zebrafrican spider, it can't go unnoticed, if we find it we'll help the other ponies"-,

the two mares left the palace, but they found various ponies, zebras, abadas and okapis that blocked the way.

-"And now what do we do Ramil?"-
-"I have an idea, come on me"-, Somnambula did as Ramil told her,
-"I beg you, hold on tight, Wings of Horus"-, Ramil summoned the divine wings and leapt into the sky, from there they could both observe the city of Harim,

-"Sorry if I didn't warn you about my plan, but at least up here we are safe from spiders"-
-"It doesn't matter, Ramil, maybe from here we can see where Anansi is"-
-"I'm flying around the city"-, Ramil did as told, Somnambula looked around, then called her striped friend,
-"Ramil? I found it, it's over there"-, Ramil saw where Somnabula was pointing, near a house there was a giant light brown hairy spider,
-"It's him, it's Anansi"-
-"Are you sure it's him, Ramil?"-
-"Even though I've only ever seen him in drawings of zebras, I can't be wrong, since he's the only giant spider on the whole continent"-.

Ramil swooped down, positioned herself with her friend behind a house, they both glanced at Anansi who was weaving a cobweb, it seems he was wrapping something.

-"What do you think he is doing, Ramil?"-
-"I don't know, now I'm getting closer to hear what he's saying"-, Ramil got closer and saw the big spider that was wrapping something and spoke,

-"Mmm, yeka ukudla okulula (Mmm, what a snack)"-,

Ramil saw the cocoon moving, then she returned to Somnambula,

-"He is definitely wrapping some creature to eat, I have to go there and free him, it could be a pony"-
-"Are you crazy? I won't leave you alone against that huge beast, Why don't we use Bastet's invisibility?"-
-"It would be useless, Anansi has eight eyes, and each of them has a specific power and one of these eyes is able to see heat, so he can also see who is invisible, unless you hide behind a wall"-
-"Then give me Ptah's scepter, maybe I'll distract him"-,

Ramil, thanks to Khepri's amulet, summoned the scepter and gave it to Somnambula, then she wanted to give her something else too,

-"I'll give you an extra help"-, from the amulet seven big green beetles came out,
-"What are those?"-
-"They are my helpers, they will follow you, if you have to distract Anansi let them help you"-, the beetles flew near Somnambula,
-"Be careful Somni....that is, sorry Somnambula"-
-"Be careful you too, Ramil"-.

Somnambula circled a house, aimed Ptah's scepter at Anansi's abdomen,

-"Fire of Khensit"-, a flame struck Anansi, who complained of pain, he turned around,

-"Ouch, who dared to burn my ass?"-, Somnambula had already hidden behind the house,

-"I didn't know he knew my language, at least I won't need Ramil as an interpreter"-,

Anansi started walking to look for who had burned him,

-"Who are you? Where are you? You don't know who I am, no one has ever allowed to hit Anansi with fire"-,

Anansi looked around, but he didn't see anyone, Somnambula was hiding inside a house, Anansi then he looked elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Ramil had reached the cocoon, she took Isis' sword and cut it, she couldn't believe what was inside, it was not a pony but a magical creature, it was a big leopard with a long neck and tail, it was a Serpopard.

-"I don't believe it, it's a Serpopard, what are you doing here? You should be in the wild nature"-, the Serpopard emitted both hisses and roars, and somehow Ramil managed to understand him,

-"I see, Anansi captured you, he brought you here, you escaped, but then he captured you again, well maybe you can help me"-,

Ramil took the Serpopard with her, she had to try to find Somnambula, but he looked around and did not find her but only other inhabitants who stopped her,

-"And now what do I do?"-, Ramil ran away, the Serpopard followed her, in an alley she found Somnambula unconscious, Ramil went to meet her.

-"Somnambula? Somnambula? How are you? What happened to you?"-,

Ramil took her, suddenly the Serpopard roared, and Somnambula opened her eyes, they were bright and she made a nasty evil grin, Ramil immediately understood the reaction of the animal, she had been bitten, but could not free herself from the grip of her friend, the latter put a spider on her shoulder which bit her,

-"Ahi, buibui aliyelaaniwa(Damned spider)"-, Ramil pushed Somnambula and tried to get the spider off immediately, the Serpopard took the spider with his fangs and chewed it, Ramil touched the wound and saw a green liquid, and behind a house Anansi appeared.

-"But look what a strange thing, are you a colored zebra or a pegasus with red stripes?"-
-"Anansi? Kwa nini uko hapa?(Anansi? Why are you here?)"-
-"A pegasus who speaks Zwahili? Anyway to answer your question I was here just passing through, I felt a strong divine magic, I know the magic of the gods is strong here"-
-"It's strong because there are messengers here, and I'm one of them"-
-"Very well, it will be convenient for me to have a messenger of the gods among my slaves, however don't hope to save yourself, even if you have removed the spider the poison will still have an effect on you, and I see that you have freed my lunch, but I think I will eat you first, because I think you will be more useful as a meal than as a slave"-,

Ramil summoned Anhur's spear, Anansi approached, but the Serpopard launched a purple ray from his mouth that struck Anansi in some eyes.

-"AAAAH, you damned beast, you hit me in three eyes"-,

Ramil turned around and saw that the Serpopard launched another beam, at that moment she had forgotten about it, but the Serpopards have the magic of chaos in their bodies,

-"Excellent"-,
Ramil got on the back of the Serpopard, she had found a way to escape without hurting people physically,

-"If you will use the magic of chaos you will confuse them, now go"-, the Serpopard threw purple spheres at the people who seemed confused, and they ran away together with the animal, Anansi screamed,

-"GET HER! CAPTURE HER!"-.

Ramil bolted through the city, saw a barricaded warehouse, and saw the scarabs she had summoned who were trying to remove the barricading wood at the door.

-"What are they doing? Hey Serpopard, can you knock down that pile of wood?"-,

the Serpopard took a run and with his head threw the barricade down, Ramil summoned a flame from her left hoof, and looked around, there were foals and fillies, Ramil get off from the beast,

-"And who are you? What are you doing here?"-, one of the foals approached, Ramil saw that it was a green foal with black stripes,
-"It was our parents who put us here, when they saw the big spider they hid us here"-
-"And you were left alone?"-,

Ramil noticed that other foals also had stripes, and towards the corners there were also small zebras, Ramil wondered one thing,
-"But....are you half-bloods?"-
-"Only some of us, my mother is a zebra, my father is a pony, others have a zebra mother, the others have a zebra father but not all of us are half-blood"-
-"Have any of you been bitten?"-
-"Yes, me and three of them"-
-"And you're not under a spell?"-
-"No, after a while the spider we had detached, and we trampled them"-, Ramil touched the wound with her wing,
-"It's strange, now I should be under the influence of Anansi, yet I don't feel any symptoms, tell me little one, are all those who have been bitten half-breeds?"-
-"Yes, but there were other foals that instead were bewitched by poison, they weren't half-breeds, I know because they are my friends"-
-"Is it possible that the control poison has no effect on the half-bloods? This would explain why I don't feel anything, it's just a hypothesis, but in fact I should talk about it with Thoth"-.

Ramil had to find a way to make Anansi lose control,

-"Listen to me foals, you stay here, you Serpopard, come with me"-, Ramil went out and invoked a barrier of insects thanks to the amulet so that no one entered, after which she summoned five beetles,

-"Listen friends, I want you to find the control spider, it's green and shiny, if you find it let me know, I'll look for Anansi instead"-,

the beetles separated, Ramil invoked the shield of Osiris, so if she had met someone she would not kill him but it would only hit him.

-"Dear Serpopard, we have to work together, maybe I know where to hit Anansi, he seems to be weak on the abdomen"-, the animal seemed to understand what Ramil had said.
Ramil invoked Bastet's invisibility, so even if it didn't work on Anansi at least it worked on the people of the village, in fact no one paid attention to her, it was her that Anansi wanted,

-"Serpopard, when you are ready you must use magic on Anansi, and if he should attack us we must separate"-, were the famous last words, because Ramil heard Anansi's laugh,

-"Silly striped pegasus, nothing escapes before Anansi's eyes"-, Ramil saw that Anansi was standing on a house and then jumped into the middle of the road,

-"Did you think you could escape from me? I see what is invisible"-, Ramil became visible again,
-"In fact, I didn't want to escape from you but from them, instead it's me you want, so face me"-
-"You dare to challenge me? A god? You're not brave, you're just crazy.....but...now that I think about it, why aren't you under my control?"-
-"Maybe your poison isn't that strong"-
-"How dare you insult my poison?"-,

Anansi spat some cobwebs, Ramil dodged them, and summoned Ta-Bitjet's blades to strike Anansi on the head,

-"Ouch, I hate scorpions, and also those who use scorpion claws, even if this is the first time"-,

a ray of fire came out of Anansi's eye, Ramil parried herself with her claws,

-"If I can't control you, I will kill you with my poisonous spiders"-, two red spiders came out of one eye, Ramil aimed the amulet at the god's eyes,

-"Swarm of Khepri"-, various beetles and locusts came out of the amulet on Anansi's eyes,

-"Ouch, get them off me, stupid pegasus"-, the insects blocked the vision of the spider god, and in that moment he was struck by the magic of the Serpopard,

-"Ouch, not on the abdomen"-, Ramil withdrew her claws to get her hooves back, then she jumped, and noticed something, the scarabs that she had called long before were buzzing around her,

-"What are you doing here? Have you found the control spider?"-, Ramil saw that on the tip of the abdomen there was a green spider that was shining, it was the one her mother was talking about, she took the sword of Isis to kill it, but at that moment Somnambula arrived and wanted to stop her.

-"Somnambula, please, I don't want to fight against you"-,

But Somnambula pointed the scepter at her to launch a flame, Ramil used the shield of Osiris to block the flame, she didn't want to hit her friend, but maybe she had an idea.

-"Come on, Somnambula, hit me"-, the pegasus hit her with Khensit's fire, but Ramil dodged and changed places, then Somnambula got up and tried to hit Ramil with the scepter, Ramil dodged and Somnambula hit the control spider, Anansi got angry,

-"No, stupid slave, what have you done?"-, when the green spider was hit, all the spiders around the ponies' necks loosened, and all the people present returned to normal, Somnambula was confused,

-"But what happened?"-, Anansi answered her,
-"You stupid slave, you ruined everything, and because of that....hey where did she go, the other pegasus?"-,

Anansi hadn't noticed that Ramil was under him, she transformed her tail into scorpion tail and stung Anansi, who moaned, then he used the blades of Osiris and quickly struck all his legs, Anansi was about to fall but then Ramil struck him in one point of his body with the spear of Anhur, Anansi made a flight and ended up upside down, Ramil was on top of him,

-"Anansi, you are not welcome here, if you dare to come back we will fight you again, as you could see you weren't lucky, indeed it is better that you don't try with any other city"-

-"Okay, okay, let me get up and go, I was only here because that stupid Mukhtar told me that this city was defenseless, but he was wrong"-
-"Let me give you a hoof"-,

Ramil grabbed Anansi by the legs, spun him and threw him away from the city, he only managed to curse a sentence as he flew away,

-"You'll pay me this, striped pegasuuuuuuuus"-.

The city of Harim was free and everyone was delighted with Ramil's success that they embraced her.
Mimea hugged her daughter and cried,

-"My daughter, if I knew you were so strong I would have let you become a soldier long ago"-
-"Mom? Please, you're choking me"-, Somnambula saw the Serpopard,
-"And who is he?"-
-"Oh, he would have become Anansi's lunch if I hadn't saved him"-
-"So it was him in the cobwebs?"-
-"He helped me defeating Anansi, honestly he could be useful to me, I could ride him, and he could help us with the powers of chaos"-, Mimea was amazed,

-"But it's strange, Serpopards are wild animals, they don't get attached to anyone, yet he seems tamed, perhaps he has recognized some power in you, Ramil"-, the Serpopard put his head next to Ramil and purred,

-"Can I keep it mom? He seems to like me"-
-"I don't know, a Serpopard is a big responsibility"-
-"In the realm of the gods there is the right food for various magical creatures, I will feed him with divine food, bathe him and keep him in training"-, Hamzah agreed,

-"He could stay at the royal palace, we could use a magical creature to keep watch, I'll help Ramil, if the Serpopards are well trained they can be strong magical allies, and are immune to various magic, and know how to foresee dangers"-,

Mimea reflected,

-"in fact, I could also make him drink some cacti juice that I keep at home, the Serpopards love it, and it could also be useful for me with potions, the roar of these creatures is magical and could make my potions much more effective"- ,

Somnambula petted the beast, which seemed to like,

-"What name will you give him, Ramil? By now he has grown fond of you"-
-"I'm not very good at giving names, but.....I think I'll call him Hiss"-, the Serpopard made a hiss with his forked tongue,

-"He seems to like it, somehow I can understand what he says"-, Mimea had an explanation,

-"That is a family gift, many female zebras in our village could understand the language of some animals"-
-"Is that why I talk to beetles?"-
-"Perhaps, yes, I never told you because no zebra knew how to talk to insects"-, Somnambula noticed the bite on Ramil's neck,

-"Ramil? But were you bitten?"-
-"Yes, I was bitten"-
-"And how did you not fall under Anansi's spell?"-
-"I don't know, or rather, maybe I have a hypothesis but I have to go to Thoth"-.

Ramil went to the temple of Horus to go to the library of Thoth.
Arriving at the library she looked for the ibis god, who as usual was at his desk reading,

-"Thoth?"-
-"Oh hi Ramil, I still haven't translated what you gave me"-
-"Yes, fine, but I'm not here for that, I have to tell you something"-, so Ramil told her whole experience against Anansi,

-"So I wonder, divine Thoth, is it possible that Anansi's poison didn't have any effect on me because I'm a half blood?"-
-"You already know the answer, and it's yes"-
-"How is it possible?"-
-"The answer is in your DNA"-
-"DNA?"-
-"It's something that ponies will discover centuries ahead"-,

Thoth made two identical dnas appear in his hands,

-"Let's give an example, your friend Somnambula has the DNA of her father and that of her mother who are both ponies, and this allows the poison of the control to have an effect on her"-,

then Thoth made a striped DNA appear and a red one,

-"You instead in your DNA have the information of your mother and your father, a zebra and a pegasus, in that case the poison recognized that there were two different DNAs instead of one, and therefore it destroyed itself, doing so you are immune to that poison, like those foals you met, but I don't think you are immune to Anansi's other poisons, so you must learn to create antidotes for magical poisons as well"-
-"Anansi nominated Mukhtar, do you think it could be an attack by Seth?"-
-"I don't think so, I don't perceive his presence, however now that you've faced Anansi, you should be able to be already strong to defeat very strong creatures, but I suggest you don't do it alone, next time you come here I'll teach you a spell to teleport you, so you don't always have to ask the statue of Horus to come here"-
-"Thank you Thoth"-,

back to Harim, Ramil thought about having lifted Anansi, in the evening Ramil and Somnambula went to the Equigyptian baths,

-"It was a bad experience, wasn't it Ramil? I'm sorry I attacked you"-
-"It wasn't your fault, you were under the control of Anansi's poison"-
-"It's strange to discover that you are immune to it, even if I didn't understand this DNA thing"-
-"Forget it, Thoth said that they will discover it in several centuries so it is useless to puzzle over, however Thoth said that he wants to teach me a technique that will allow me to teleport"-
-"What magic is it about?"-
-"I have no idea, but if it worked I could go to the realm of the Equigyptian gods whenever I want"-
-"You know, I was thinking about when you called me Somni"-
-"I did not mean to offend you"-
-"No, it's okay for me if you call me that"-
-"Are you sure?"-
-"I am sure and as you said, can I call you Sand?"-
-"That's fine for me, it's a nice nickname, and it's the meaning of my name"-, Somnambula laid down in the water, but then she thought of something and said it to Ramil,
-"I'm thinking about when Anansi nominated Mukhtar, do you think we should expect more attacks from that evil unicorn?"-
-"I have no idea, but Thoth said that for the moment he doesn't perceive Seth's presence, so we are safe at the moment, and then if we had to face other enemies we could defeat them, now that I know that I can defeat even a giant spider god, and then we also have Hiss as an ally, a Serpopard is an excellent battlemate"-, Somnambula heard a roar and looked where it came from,

-"I think Hiss is here, Sand"-, Ramil looked,
-"Oh no, Hiss, I told you that you have to stay at home"-
-"I think he follows you like a domestic cat, he is fond of you"-,

Hiss threw himself into the tub and seemed to enjoy the bath,

-"What.... Hiss? Did you think you could dive? At least a cat is afraid of water"-
-"Leave him alone, he's nice, I've never seen a Serpopard so close, and so docile"-
-"I hope it won't give me any hard training"-

To be continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro