Spike arrived when they had just started preparing the excavation site.
“Here are the books you wanted, Twilight. Also, hay sandwiches. Something tells me you might have skipped lunch again.”
The unicorn pony’s treacherous stomach growled as if to confirm Spike’s suspicion.
“Thank you, Spike. What would I do without you?”
“Starve. That’s my guess. Uh?!”
The nerubian archeologist had spotted the little dragon, and was now bowing before him in a ridiculous gesture of reverence.
“Well, well, well. Now that’s the sort of appreciation I appreciate.”
“Oh hail thee, scaly one! What a great honour to be in the presence of a representative of a nation as ancient and noble as yours!”
Twilight couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“Ancient and noble? Are you sure you got the right library assistant?”
“Assistant? You have degraded this splendid creature to the rank of assistant? A creature who’s ancestors have ruled this continent for countless glorious millenia?”
Spike chuckled.
“Yeah, Twilight. What gives?”
Twilight decided to shift the subject to more constructive grounds.
“You know a lot about ancient history, don’t you? I’m sad to say that the works I have studied were usually quite sparse in regard to the fates of non-ponies.”
“Hmpf! Silly pamphlets of equine propaganda, I presume.”
That stung. Twilight had practically grown up in Canterlot’s libraries. These books were like family to her.
“You know, there is no need to be rude.”
Applejack was bucking apples nearby. Officially, she was working harvest and left the supervision of the foreign excavation to the librarian. But the work horse was still very uncomfortable with the situation, and preferred to stay close to the action.
Her eyes and those of the nerubian met.
The arachnid shivered and seemed to remember that the fate of his whole expedition lay in the hooves of his equine hosts.
“I implore your forgiveness, Miss Sparkle. The fact remains that you are a very young race in a very old land. The ruins I hope to uncover might predate even my own ancestors. Countless nations have settled in the shadow of this pyramid before it fell into oblivion.”
“Tell me more about this pyramid. Who build it? What was its purpose? And why is your people so interested in it?”
The archaeologist was clicking his mandibles.
“Part of the reason I am here is to find answers to these very questions, Miss Sparkle. My country has sent out expeditions into every corner of this continent. During the last decades, there has been a rising interest regarding the rise and fall of ancient empires, and the parallels with modern developments.”
“Modern developments such as what?”
“Why, the creation of ‘Equestria’, for instance.”
“That was thousands of years ago.”
“Modern developments. I’m afraid you still fail to realize what time scales we are working with.”
Twilight fell silent. She still wasn’t sure she liked this strange foreigner, but there seemed to be much she could learn from him. If nothing else, she had found new questions to ask.
“Boss! Boss! You might want to take a look at this!”
A dog hurried towards their position, a piece of rock in his claws. He proudly presented it to the nerubian. The archaeologist thanked him by beating him with a stick.
“Foolish mammal! Don’t just displace items like this! Oh well, let us have a look...”
The arthropod’s limbs shivered in anticipation as they were gliding over the surface of the rock. Then they found what had gotten the dogs so excited: a set of complex runes.
“Heureka! I knew it! I knew it was here!”
Twilight Sparkle leaned forward.
“Can I see? Do you really think this is evidence for your pyramid?”
Applejack appeared and asked what the ruckus was all about. When Twilight showed her the rock, the work horse merely snorted.
“That thing is what got our oversized spider so excited? It’s just a rock.”
“Just a rock?! It is clearly an indicator of the countless treasures hidden under your land!”, the arachnid protested.
“If you say so. But the only treasure we care about is the land itself. Why, we have been using funny stones like this one to build our wells ever since we got here.”
Twilight was shaking her head in disbelief.
“You have been stumbling on things like these for years, and you didn’t tell anypony about it?”
“Look, how was I supposed to know someone would go crazy over a piece of rock just because there are funny signs scribbled on it?”
“Grrgl! FUNNY SIGNS?! You ignorant donkey...!!”
The nerubian was moving his front limbs in wild gestures of anger and frustration.
A second later, he was flying through the air until he hit a tree. It wasn’t Applejack who had delivered the blow, though, despite the fact that she had already moved her legs into position. It was Rainbow Dash, who had been observing the situation from above, like a hawk.
“WHAT did you just call her?”
The arachnid was raising his legs to protect his face from what he thought to be another imminent attack.
“Please, settle down!”, Twilight pleaded.
“First this creep has to apologize to Applejack!”
“S-sorry...”
“I can't hear you!”
“Sorry!”
“I said...”
-”Rainbow Dash, that’s enough! We’re all a little tense, but no one got hurt, so...”
Twilight gulped. She turned around to see if the archaeologist was alright. He seemed to be doing fine, but still, she was shocked by her own lack of empathy. ‘No one got hurt?’ Why had she said that? Because a giant spider didn’t count? Because she had felt insulted as well when he had insulted another equine?
The nerubian seemed only hurt in his pride, though. He sniffed and crawled away.
"No matter! Soon, this site will recieve the academic recognition it so truly deserves!"
Applejack frowned.
"You better watch out for this one, Twilight. I sure as hay don't like his attitude. If the likes of him are interested in these rocks, perhaps they are better left underground."
"Thanks, Applejack. I think I know what I'm doing."
Applejack's expression softened.
"Sorry, sugar cube. I reckon I'm not being very likeable today. It ain't easy for me to watch creeps like these digging through my land. But I will trust your judgment on this, even if it turns out to be a mistake. I love mah land, but I love you too, sugar cube. Don't you ever forget that."
"Pff! This is getting too cutesie for me. I'll go check on the creeps", Rainbow Dash said.
"Gotta make sure all these pesky traumas are still in place."
-
Twilight was looking over the arachnid's... well, let's call it a 'shoulder'. He was currently studying the runes unearthed so far by his assistants.
"Have you managed to translate the signs yet?"
Without turning around, he said:
"As a matter of fact, I have. They are fairly recent, carved by the last generation of diamond dogs to inhabit this area."
"So... what do they read?"
The spider made a snorting sound.
"Let's see... 'Students are half-price, children go free. Authors of fan-fiction pay double'."
Twilight's confusion seemed to amuse him.
"You see, it's a fragment of a chart detailing entry fees. Like many monuments they had inherited from earlier cultures, the pyramid was a tourist attraction in the days of the ancient diamond dogs. I am very pleased with this location, it would seem we are very close to one of the entries of the pyramid, just as I had expected."
And really, soon the dogs proudly declared they had made another find. It was a large, vertical plate of white stone that looked like marble. It was surrounded by smaller stones made from polished granite.
"Excellent!", the nerubian exclaimed, "This must be the entry now! It would seem they have sealed it to protect the pyramid from the calamity which had befallen the city. There! The runes read: 'Pyramid of the Sun currently closed due to impending doom. Thanks for your understanding'. Very well then. I believe we will need the advanced equipment for the next part."
The diamond dogs put on their helmets and started breaking the seal with what appeared to be jackhammers, the nerubian hitting them with dead branches whenever he thought they were coming too close to the surrounding substance of the pyramid.
"I have never seen diamond dogs using tools like these!", Twilight yelled over the dim of the hammers.
"These are ancient, gem-powered dog artefacts! My knowledge concerning these tools was the very reason this tribe agreed to assist me in the first place."
"Great. Now we have diamond dogs with power tools. I'm overcome with joy."
And then, with a final crack, the seal was broken, and the expedition was staring into a place of darkness and silence which had not been disturbed for millenia.