This chamber stretched almost to the very top of the pyramid, and was filled with statues. But that wasn't the only thing in there. Inside the chamber was a massive creature that had purple fur and inner fur in a stripe that was of a lighter shade. Attached to the right foreleg was a purple amulet, and on the left a golden one. It wore an elaborate golden headdress, a gold and black collar around its neck, and golden earrings in its ears. Its bronze eyes glared down menacingly. It also had the face of a humanoid, the legs and many features of a cat, and a purple tail that swished about.
And it was very angry.
The Sphynx looked down at the soldiers there before it, and screeched at them. "Miss me?" she asked, with a snort.
"How?" Somnambula asked. "I saw you die! You were no more!"
"You cannot kill that which can control life and death itself," the Sphynx replied. "I can control such things, so therefore that is of no concern to me. Besides, whereas you ungrateful ponies fail to pay me homage when all I did was protect you and keep you safe, Project 722 saw it fit to revive me. I serve them now."
"How can you serve a group of monsters like them?" Flash demanded, his voice never quavering or shifting, looking on with a determined look on his face.
"Says the Legionary with his armour and uniform," the Sphynx cruelly mocked. "Your empire swept across the world looting and killing those who got in your way. You may look like a soldier, but in reality you are nothing but thugs to do the Emperor's bidding. Project 722, on the other hand, has noble aims indeed. They don't want to destroy or conquer. They merely wish to save humanity, and push it further on its course of evolution."
"How does subjecting them to drugs achieve that?" Somnambula demanded. "You have killed thousands as part of your little pet project!"
"THEY DESERVED IT, NOT THE OTHERS!" the Sphynx bellowed, her voice angry. "But there has been quite enough talking. We shall settle this, not with words, but with the blade and the claw. This should, I hope, be a far easier fight, given you haven't got tanks or elemental powers or even the terrain to back you up. How interesting it is to fight inside the structure that I died on outside." She lunged with her claws at a group of Legionaries, most of whom dodged out of the way in time. One, however, was not so lucky, and he was squashed under her paw, leaving a bloody mess where a pegasus had once been.
Flash waved to the others. "To the skies!" he called. "She may be fast, but we can outfly him!" He took off and he and the others flew upwards into the air. Somnambula hovered in front of the Sphynx and fired off the Glowpaz necklace, trying to do what she had attempted the last time they had fought.
It had no effect whatsoever on the creature, who simply smirked. "Nice try, but you must know I have learned from that engagement. After all, the very same officer who oversaw that battle is now in command of this very program!"
Somnambula was distracted. "Who?" she demanded.
"Why, Colonel Peterson of course," the Sphynx smiled. "But the Evil One will not permit me to tell you any more." She swiped at Somnambula, who dodged and flew up as high as she could.
Meanwhile, the Legionaries continued to lead the Sphynx on a merry chase up the walls, seemingly gaining ground as they flew up, and up, and up, and to the roof of the chamber. Unfortunately, it seemed as though whomever had designed this chamber had thought of that very possibility, and there was a series of loud bangs as a series of shotguns discharged. There was such a cloud of fire that many of the Legionaries were turned into bloody pinatas and fell to the ground and into a pit filled with a green liquid. A green liquid. A green liquid.
Flash himself was injured, and felt his own blood upon his fur as he fell downwards, cartwheeling uncontrollably as he approached the floor. He tried to move his wings, but when he tried unbelievable agony ran through them, causing him to cry out. He was now unable to fly as his wingbones were broken, and he crashed onto the floor in a heap, dazed and confused.
He shakily got up, and turned to face the Sphynx, which was now facing him. She laughed. "Time to die, Flash Magnus. Your legend ends hear!"
"Come and get me, you bastard!" Flash said, his face cut and marked from the Sphynx's talons, his fur drenched in his own blood. With a warcry, he flew forward and prepared his javelin.
He never reached it, as his hind legs exploded in pain one after the other. He collapsed to the floor with a scream and was unable to move. "Gagh! Fuck!"
He suddenly heard a weapon cocking, and a group of soldiers emerged from the darkness. They belonged to Project 722, and were the ones who had retreated into the pyramid. Another group closed in from the main entrance to the chamber, and fired tranquiliser darts that immobilised Somnambula.
"What- how?" Flash gasped. As he looked on, he saw the lead soldier from the door remove his helmet and look up.
"Excellent work, Sphynx," he said. "No we have two more out of the way. The Benefactor will be very pleased with your work, I think."
"Thank you, Colonel Peterson," the Sphynx replied. "They may have uncovered the truth of what was going on, but the truth dies with them." She indicated to the corpses of Legionaries bobbing up and down in the green liquid. The green liquid. The green liquid. "As for the others, they are Pillars. What should I do with them?"
"That's entirely your prerogative," Colonel Peterson smiled. "I need to call this in. Level 5 purification will be needed."
Flash regained consciousness inside a large, abandoned building. He was stuck, on the floor, with broken legs and wings, and barely able to think straight as the pain was clouding his mind and ensuring that he couldn't make a single coherent thought or word or even a sound. He groaned, and looked about. It was then he heard Somnambula tending his wounds.
"Try to keep still. I can't help you if you don't keep still."
"Can you fix broken limbs?" Flash asked, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"I can stabilise you long enough for help to get here," she replied. "Assuming help ever finds us."
"What's the point?" Flash replied. "The Sphynx has won. The secret of what Project 722 is doing will die with us. Go, and save yourself."
"I'm not giving up hope of rescue, and I'm not giving up on you either," Somnambula replied. "We have to keep hope."
"How can I keep hope?" Flash replied. "There's nothing to hope for!"
"I know," Somnambula smiled. "It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Flash, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."
Flash smiled as he recognised the quotation. "That's Lord of the Rings," he said. "What are we holding on to?"
"That there’s some good in this world, Flash… and it’s worth fighting for.”
Flash got an idea. "Wait. If we send out a message, we can get help! We may be immobilised, but we can get others to continue the fight." He groaned as he touched something on his belt, and a magical interface started up. He selected 'send message' on wide bandwidth, although the device locked him onto some place in the frozen north.
He then began to speak. "To all units receiving this transmission, I am in need of support. Somnambula and I were... able to survive her wrath, but now we're trapped. If you can't find us, you have to stop him and ensure he never finds the device, or he'll become unstoppable. I have no idea how long I have left. We were so close to finding the-"
And then the feed cut out.