I stared at the sight before me. Melandra had landed and put the sphinx, who was now nursing her broken wing, down. I was a little surprised at the size of the sphinx; she was over a head taller than me. And that is slightly impressive since she walks on all four.

“Please elaborate on why you decided to bring a sphinx home. I thought you were going hunting.” I cast a glance at the lion hybrid. “You’re not going to eat her are you?” the thought of eating things that could talk did not strike my fancy.

Fear was clearly evident on the sphinx’s face as I said this and she tried to run away, only for Melandra to bite down on her tail and drag her back.

“No, of course not. It’s only that sphinxes are extremely rare, and I got a little excited. When I found her she was sitting by a riverbank tending her wing, so I decided to take her back here so we could help her. She wouldn’t stop nagging about those riddles though. I’ll head inside and try to find some bandages.” She explained before heading off into my home.

I should probably have mentioned that I did not have any bandage or anything even close to that, but it would be fun to see how long it would take before she gave up. The moment she went into the house I could see the sphinx relax. “So, what’s your name?” I inquired.

She looked like she was lost in thought for a moment before answering. “Cleo. I am called Cleo.”

Sure, why not I thought. “I’m Jake, nice to meet you. What happened to your wing?” I asked. I know that there are several nasty beasts lurking inside that forest, but I doubt that anything short of a hydra would even try to attack something of her size.

Cleo looked a little embarrassed and pawed at the ground. “I was sleeping in a tree, but managed to fall down during my sleep.” She nudged her limp wing. “This was the result. It was not a high drop, but my wings are rather delicate.”

I nodded in understanding. “But what were you doing in that forest? It’s not exactly the safest of places.”

She looked even more embarrassed, like she just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. “I… got lost. We Sphinxes usually travel a lot in search of knowledge. And I had planned a route, but somehow I ended up here… wherever here is. It all became harder once I damaged my wing, but luckily she found me. It’s strange though, I never expected to meet a dragon in a place like this.” She eyed me curiously. “And whatever you are”

I was a little shocked to hear her say that. “Wait, you think that she’s a dragon?” I could not imagine that Melandra had transformed back into her original form, or revealed her secret to someone else. “And what do you mean whatever I am? I mean I may be a little off but I look close enough to resemble a dragon right?”

Cleo gave me a deadpan stare. “I’m not stupid. A Pegasus half my size would never have been able to carry me. I sensed her power as soon as she came within my range. That and she actually told me. Unfortunately we sphinxes are rather proud beings and I felt insulted when she refused to answer my riddles so I may have resisted a little when she tried to help me here. As for you, I’m not sure what you are. I can sense two different energies from you. You are something new.” So she can apparently sense the fact that Melandra is a dragon and the other soul inside of me… neat.

I sat down in front of her. “Why were you sleeping up in a tree anyway? No, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Let’s just take care of that wing of yours before we do anything else.” I got up and walked over to her to inspect how bad it actually was. She flinched as I ran my hand up along the edge of her wing. I did not know much about wing anatomy, and most ponies in town will probably be more than a little apprehensive about her. “It would probably be best if we let Melandra take a look at it.” I muttered to myself before I turned around to go and get her since she still hadn’t returned.I was however, stopped as Cleo slammed down a paw in front of me.

“No, she basically spat on the ancient tradition of us sphinxes. I will not let her near me again.” You just have to be difficult about this don’t you.

“You need to get your wing healed dammit.” She just huffed and looked away. “How about this. Will you let her help you if I answer your goddam riddles?” It was a little tempting to just send her back into the Everfree forest without helping her because of the way she was acting, but Sphinxes are prideful creatures. And I just couldn’t let her leave without at least trying to help her. Even if it was Melandra’s fault, not mine.

I could see the smile growing on her face. “That would be perfect. There are three riddles. You get three chances at each one, deal?”

“Seems good to me. What happens if I lose though? You’re not going to kill me or anything?” I did not remember much about the mythology concerning sphinxes, or if it was even relevant in this world but I remember that if you failed the riddle you got killed.

She flinched and looked almost disgusted. “NO, why would you think that? If you lose you have to do me a favor. Why would you think that I would kill you? I-I’m not that scary am I?” and now I made her sad, dammit.

I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down. “No, you’re not scary at all. It’s just a silly myth back where I’m from. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so.” She still sounded a little hurt. “First one, what is as big as you are but weighs nothing?” Heh that is an easy one. I have lost count of how many times I have heard that riddle.

“My shadow. Come on now. Throw me something harder.” I could hear the door to my house open again and could see Melandra in the corner of my eye.

“Very well, you brought this upon yourselves.” She raised her head high and her voice changed a little. “I welcome the day with a show of light; I stealthily came here in the night. I bathe the earthy stuff at dawn, But by the noon, alas! I'm gone.”

That… was indeed much harder than the first one. “Do I have some sort of time limit?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “No you may take your time. The only rules are that you only have three guesses per question and that you may not receive any help.” She cast a glance at the now approaching Melandra.

“Hey Melly.” I waved at her as I sat there, thinking about the riddle. “Don’t worry. I got things under control here. I’ll just have to answer her riddles. She has agreed to let us help her if I succeed.” I turned towards Cleo once again but could clearly hear the sound of Melandra facehoofing behind me.

Melandra came over and sat down beside me. “I did not think that even you would be so stupid to actually agree to answer a Sphinxes riddles. Did you even listen to the rules?”

“Sure I did. If I lose I’ll have to do her a favor… whatever that means. And if I win she has agreed to let you take a look at her wing. I don’t mind but this is sort of your fault. It was you that insulted her by refusing to answer them after all.” I said while still thinking about the riddle. *The sun? No, the sun is definitely still here by the noon.*

Melandra let out a long sigh. “You airhead. She already agreed to let me help her; it seems that she managed to trick you. I did not decline to play her game because I was afraid of losing. It’s what happens when you win that I wanted to avoid. But since you have already started this pointless game, you might as well finish It.” she said as she trotted over to Cleo with a bandage roll. Where the hell did she find that?

What does it matter if she tricked me into answering some silly riddles anyway; I’ll just solve them and be done with it. It’s a fun little challenge anyway “Err, is it the morning sun?” I tried.

Cleo just shook her head. “Afraid not, two guesses left” she said as Melandra treated her wing. I guess I should feel a little cross about the fact that she tricked me, but I would probably have done the same in her position.

I looked around me. What comes in the night but are gone by dawn? And; I bathe the earthy stuff by dawn…. What the hell does that mean? I stood up as nothing came to mind. “Well since you are taking care of Cleo here, and didn’t actually bring anything that we could eat back from that hunt of yours. I might as well go and get something myself.” I said as I brushed myself off.

“But what about my riddle?” I heard behind me, as I had already started walking back towards my home to get something to hunt with.

“What about it?” I said, looking back at my two guests. “You said that I don’t have a time limit. So since I can’t think of an answer right now, I might as well go hunting while I try to solve it.” I turned around and headed inside my cozy little home to decide what I would bring with me.

I picked up one of my newly crafter spears, and felt the weight in my hand. It was decent enough but I hadn’t had a chance to actually test it out yet, this would be its time to shine. Normally I would take a couple of rations with me, but I wasn’t planning on being gone for that long anyway. If I didn’t find anything worthwhile in a couple of hours I would just quit and go back. This was more for the purpose of giving my mind some space to think instead of actually looking for food. So I just picked up the spear and headed off into the forest.

“Son of a… how, I don’t… WHY?” I had found my prey, alright. It was currently in front of me. My spear was sticking out of its chest. And it had completely turned to stone. I had spotted it rather quickly after I entered the forest, it was like a hybrid between a lizard and a chicken, and apparently that’s what goes for a cockatrice in these lands. I had read up on them as I had for most of the things that I could encounter in this forest, and had acted accordingly with caution. It was slow and predictable in its movements and I thought that it would be an easy prey. But as soon as I stabbed it through its chest it fell to the ground and looked up at me and stared me directly in my eyes and let out something that could loosely be interpreted as a laugh, before completely turning to stone. I knew that the cockatrices ability to turn its victims to stone would be negated by the cockatrice dying so I wasn’t really afraid of being turned myself but I never imagined that it could do it to itself.

`If that little fucker thinks that he got the last laugh on this one, then he is sorely mistaken. ` I thought as I started dragging the statue back home. My weapon was stuck in him anyway, and I wanted it back.

I was hoping that I could get out of this forest without any interruptions or complications, but that was just too much to ask for. I was alerting all kinds of creatures with all the noise I made, dragging that god damned statue. After a little while I started hearing something behind me. I could not spot anything but if one of the predators of this forest had chosen me as its next meal, they would not reveal themselves until they were upon me and ready to strike. I was in their element after all.

I really did not want to leave my weapon, as I put a lot of effort into making it. But there was no way that I would be able to escape whatever was following me while dragging a statue. I let go of the spear handle and let the statue fall to its side. I did not have another choice so I simply left it there and picked up my pace. Melandra had accompanied me on a couple of these hunting trips and she had taught me a thing or two. If I started running right now, they would abandon their hiding places and take chase. So I had to try to get as close as possible to the outskirts before that happened, steadily increasing my tempo.

I did the only thing reasonable and went into full sprint almost immediately, ignoring all and every tip she had given me in the past. There were a magnitude of nasty creatures living in this forest and most of them would make short work of me. I rushed through the foliage at the forest floor as I desperately tried to get away, but by the sounds I heard behind me they were catching up, rather quickly too.

I really hope it’s a manticore, if it is then this should stop it in its tracks I thought as I took a deep breath before spinning around. I let out the breath I had been holding, spewing out an incredible amount of mist, filling a good portion of the forest behind me. I took a few deep breaths before I started running again. While creating mist normally wasn’t taxing, but making an amount that big took a lot out of me. Panting I ran along while taking the occasional glance to see if something was still following me, just as I thought that I had actually managed to lose whatever it was, a loud howl echoed throughout the forest. I knew what it was, and it was anything but good news.

“Timberwolves”, I muttered under my breath. They weren’t particularly strong creatures, I was confident that I could take down one or two of the things *if I still had a weapon* but the things always hunted in packs… large packs. I could hear some of them crashing through the bushes and different foliage behind me. *They are catching up on me* I thought as I bypassed a line of trees that let out into a clearing.

I stopped abruptly once I came to the middle of the little opening in the otherwise dark forest. I could see several figures moving in the shadows on that side too *fuck they have me cornered*. I could see the Timberwolves emerging from the tree line on the other side too but they almost stopped immediately, just staring at me and the flowers that covered most of the field before disappearing into the shadows once more.

`Why are they just standing there? Not that I am complaining but still. ` I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth but it seems a little strange that they would just give up like that. I could still see some of them lurking in the shadows so I sat down in the flowery field and decided to try to wait them out, not like I had a whole lot of other options. I picked up one of the strange blue flowers as I laid on my back and looked up at the sky. It was unlike any other flower I had seen, some flowers are rather hard to notice because they blend in with their surroundings and most others have some color to them, often a couple ones that blend together harmoniously to attract insects and things like that. This one on the other hand is completely blue, not the soothing kind of blue either, it’s like it screams out.

I sat there with the flower in my hand for a good while, just staring at the morning dew as it dripped down the sides of it before I tossed the flower into my mouth and started chewing. Since I am part dragon, I can eat almost anything, and most ponies eat flowers regularly so I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

It actually wasn’t that bad. A little bitter and it left a weird sort of tingly sensation in my mouth, so I probably wouldn’t try it again but I could see it being decent for brewing tea. With that thought I scooped up a couple of flowers and stuffed them into my pockets. Maybe it would be good, maybe not. Nevertheless I wanted to try it out.

I could neither see nor hear the timberwolves anymore, *guess they finally gave up on me… I would like to know why they didn’t chase me into the clearing though.* I thought as I headed home. I already knew the answer to Cleo’s second riddle. It came to me while I was chilling in the clearing and I felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner.

I didn’t realize how much time I had actually spent inside the forest until I got out; the sun was already hanging low in the sky. I could see Melandra and Cleo sitting in front of the smithy just relaxing by the looks of it. Her wing was patched up nicely by the looks of it, *I still want to know where she found that bandage though.*

“Hey girls” I waved at them to catch their attention. Both of them looked up, Cleo with what seemed to be a glint of playfulness in her eyes and Melandra with her usual neutral look.

“Hey there, how did the hunting trip go? Ohhh did you catch something already or-“

“Morning dew.” I interrupted Cleo’s barrage of questions. “The answer to your riddle is morning dew.” I was way too tired to play her games right now.

She seems stunned but quickly gathered herself again. “Aaaaawh, you got it already? That’s no fun.” She gave me a small pout; it actually made her look adorable, despite the fact that she was a huge lion hybrid who could probably crush me at a moment’s notice.

Melandra took this opportunity to join our little talk. “You were unsuccessful in the hunt then?” I could feel her eyes scanning me. “Lost your weapon, but you seem to be unharmed. What happened?”

“The hunting did not exactly go as planned. I found a cockatrice and I had almost killed it when it decided to fuck me over by turning to stone, bastard laughed at me as it did it too. You told me that they could turn others into stone, not the other way around, what gives?” I was almost shouting at her. It would have been a nice thing to know beforehand.

“I said that if you find one you should aim for the head to kill it immediately, this being the reason. It’s a clever little defense mechanism they have. You probably noticed how easy it was to sneak up on it; this is because it had no natural enemies. What’s the point in hunting something that you can’t eat because it turns to stone?” She had a point. It had been laughingly easy to sneak up and stab the thing. And I could vaguely remember her mentioning something about needing to kill it instantly, so I guess I just had myself to blame for this one.

“After that I got chased away by some timberwolves. I got away, as you can see but I lost my weapon.“ I was going to continue but Cleo interrupted my by showing her face into mine.

“Thiiiird riddle. What-” I put my hand on her face and shoved her back, or I tried to.

“Two words, personal space. And your final riddle can wait until tomorrow. I’m exhausted after that little game of tag I had with those timberwolves.” I turned to Melandra. “I have some extra blankets inside; I don’t think sending Cleo into town will be such a good idea so she can sleep here. I’m sure you can find place for her somewhere inside. So if you’ll excuse me, I have a bed to faceplant into.”

I left my two guests to do whatever they wanted to do and went inside my house. I could only hope that the nightmares wouldn’t return but I had to get some rest nonetheless. After the chase and my little mist trick I was simply exhausted.

Need to check out those weird flowers tomorrow though with that thought and heavy eyelids I let myself fall into the bed, preparing myself for some much needed rest.

Author's Note

This chapter was supposed to introduce a new arc in the story, but I decided to cut it short so you guys wouldn’t have to wait even longer (sorry for that).
I’m sure you all can guess that the flower he ran into was so. What do you think the poison joke will do to him?