Sphinx (My Little Pony)

"I shine brightest in the dark. I am there but cannot be seen. To have me costs you nothing. To be without me costs you everything."

- The Sphinx's riddle

The Sphinx is a minor villain in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, appearing only in the episode, Daring Done.

Appearance and Abilities
The Sphinx is similar to the traditional sphinx in Greek mythology: The body of a lion, wings of an eagle, and the head of a female, except that the face resembled that of a mare rather than a human woman. Also, she was mostly purple and her head had sharp teeth, yellow eyes with slits, and an Egyptian headpiece with earrings.

The Sphinx was large, quite strong, and had wings to fly. She also knew magic, that allowed her to conjure a blidfold and cast a powerful spell that prevented any pegasus from flying in her temple, which lasted over a millennium.

Role
Long ago, an unnamed village was terrorized by the Sphinx, who demanded a tribute of crops in exchange for sparing them of her wrath. It wasn't until a pegasus by the name of Somnambula started giving up what little she had to give the ponies food and hope that the son of the pharaoh, Prince Hisan, mustered the courage to stand up to the beast. Enraged, the Sphinx grabbed the sphinx in her paw and whisked him back to her pyramid as her prisoner, and declared to his father that she will only set him free if anyone can solve her riddle.

Somnambula was the only one brave enough to volunteer to save the prince. Upon reaching the pyramid, the Sphinx gave her the riddle, to which Somnambula correctly answers, "Hope". The Sphinx became so enraged that it was likely that she would not release the prince, so Somnambula asked for one more challenge, and that if she succeeded, the Sphinx would leave the kingdom for good.

The Sphinx then declared that the challenge was simply to "walk to the prince", but across a deep chasm while blindfolded and unable to fly. Despite these conditions, Somnambula never gave up hope, and allowed the prince's voice to guide her to him. Defeated again, the Sphinx lept into the skyline in her pyramid and flew off, never to be heard from again.