A mile across the scorching desert two hundred french foreign legionnaires scurry through the ruins of the old city of Hamunaptra, preparing for the onslaught that was fast approaching. Up against one of the ancient walls was an Equestria soldier. A Dashing and handsome man named Discord Chaos, the man had black hair slicked back and two strands of hair that was silver and light blue.
"For more than three thousand years, men and armies fought over this land never knowing what even lay beneath it"
A great distance away, seven cloaked figures watched the approaching conflict as it inched closer to Hamunaptra
"And for three thousand years, we, the Medjai; the descendants of the Pharaohs sacred Bodyguard have watched over his unholy resting place"
Across the sand, a Southern Equestrian army bellowed a war cry while racing toward the foreign legion on horseback, taking shelter at the ancient city.
As the war band drew closer, the commander in charge threw down his saber and raced toward the relative safety of the city. As the men watched their commander leave, a man named Golden Bit, better known to his friends as Bitty, looked over to Discord. "Looks like you just got promoted."
"I knew this was gonna be a lousy day." Discord loaded his rifle before shouting to the rest of his garrison. "STEADY!" the black-haired man then looked at his friend next to him. "You're with me on this one, Right Bitty?"
"Your strength gives me strength Discord," Bitty said nervously as he watched the horde approach
Unfortunately, his will broke as he swiftly threw down his rifle and followed after his former commander. "Wait for me!"
"Coward," Discord sneered as he returned his sights to the problem ahead of him. "STEADY!"
The horsebound men set their rifles and took aim at the soldiers, Chaos steels himself as the placed his finger on the trigger.
"FIRE!" Discord shouted as he pulled the trigger
The Legionnaires on the ground fire their rifles, and the wave of bullets hits their mark on a vast number of their targets. The legionnaires blow dozens of enemies clean off their mounts, the prone Legionnaires quickly begin to reload. The kneeling Legionnaires fire again causing more of their enemies to fall to the sands of Southern Equestria
The remaining warriors opened on the uniformed soldiers, their bullets ripped through the hot air before a third of the Legionnaires were killed instantly.
The remaining standing Legionnaires fired a second time, this time knocking their foes off their mounts. Then the entire force plows into the ruins and through the Legionnaires, Discord grabs the barrel of his rifle and starts clubbing the riders off their steeds, and fighting like a man possessed.
Discord managed to get off one last shot with the rifle before throwing it to the ground. As the Legionnaires fall dead all around him, Discord reaches for his belt and goes for his guns. He cross-draws with a gun in each hand and starts blowing riders off their mounts.
The Equestrian backed away toward the temple before throwing down the now empty revolvers and drawing a second set of guns from his back, Discord spun around and began running at full speed. The Equestrian was soon chased by four of the raiders, Discord jumped over one of the fallen columns and stopped his friend Golden Bit near one of the temple doors.
"Run Bitty, Run" Discord shouted as the horsemen follow behind. "Bitty, get inside!"
Bitty scrambled for the door just as Discord was halfway to him and without hesitating he began to close it.
"Hey...Don't you close that door! DON'T! YOU! CLOSE! THAT! DOOR!!" Discord yelled just as the door slammed on him and he found himself dodging bullets left and right. "I'm going to kill you Bitty!"
Discord turns and bolts off around the rocks as he runs for his life from the raiders. Weaving through the ruins, Discord jumps over another stone column. Unfortunately for the Equestrian, he had dropped his guns. Discord scrambled to his feet to reach for the closest firearm, unfortunately, the raiders fired their rifles which forced the Equestrian to leave the gun. The southern Equestrians were getting closer and closer, The pounding of their hoofs getting louder and louder.
Discord continues to run only to find his path blocked by a buried statue of Anubis, the Equestrian lets out a breath before he spins around and faces his attackers. The four massive horses crash to a stop in front of him. The vicious raider raises their rifles to finish him off.
Discord just stands there both exhausted and beaten, then he slowly lifts his right hand and gives them the bird.
Out of nowhere, all four of the raider's horses start to go ballistic. Two of the Riders were violently thrown to the ground, The horses screech, bellow, and snort in fear before they buck like fury and hauled ass away as if the devil himself had scared them. The thrown Riders get up and race off after their mounts.
The stunned Discord just stands there before he lifts his right hand and checks out his middle finger. The Equestrian then felt a chill down his spine, and turns around and looks at the shattered, decrepit statue of Anubis.
Suddenly, the sand begins to shift under Discord's feet. The Equestrian starts to back away, keeping his eyes on the transforming sand. Discord assumed there were huge snakes wiggling and writhing beneath it until they started forming lines and shapes, It was drawing a picture.
Discord quickly turned and ran off through the ruins, unaware that the sand had stopped moving. The sand itself had shifted in a way where it looked like a face etched in torment.
Up on a ridge, The Madjai watch Discord stumbles clear of the decrepit city.
The Medjai leader is a fierce woman in black robes, with dual scimitars across her waist. Her face is both beautiful and horrible, with a black and white mohawk and tattoos on her body and face. Her cyan eyes watch Discord stagger off into the open desert
"The creature remains undiscovered," the Female Medjai said with relief.
Discord felt a mysterious presence and looks up, on the ridge a distance away Discord found several figures. Looking away Discord hurried off through the desert
"Zecora, what should we do of the survivor?" one of the Medjai asked "Should we kill him?"
"No" the Medjai known as Zecora said shaking his/her head "The desert shall kill him"
Cairo; a city so old that the stars have actually changed their positions in the sky since its birth. A city teeming with every form of life. A strange, mysterious, wonderful city. Within the city sat the Museum of Cairo, a vast wealth of knowledge to all who cross its threshold.
Deep in the bowels of the museum lie the stacks. Rows upon rows of towering bookshelves were filled with literature on Southern Equestrian Antiquities, History, and Language. Standing at the top of a tall ladder between two of these rows and leaning against one of the bookshelves, is an Equestrian who had aqua-colored eyes which had a pair of pink reading glasses over them, long pink hair that was styled in a bun, and wore a white blouse, black skirt with heels.
Her name was Fluttershy; the Librarian of the Museum and currently, and this woman was sorting out the books. Fluttershy pulled out a book from a stack under her arm before blowing the dust off it, then places it on a shelf with other books whose titles all begin with the letter "S".
"Sculpture Aesthetics" Fluttershy then grabs another book out from under her arm and reads the title. "Tu..Tuthmosis?... Now how did you get up here?"
Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she looks over her shoulder to the bookshelf behind her, where all the titles begin with the letter "T". Then she looks down and takes note that It's a long way to the bottom, Fluttershy gently sets the other books down on the top shelf before turning and gingerly starts to reach across the aisle with the Tuthmosis book. It's a little far out of her reach, so she stretches to reach the bookshelf, holding the top of the ladder with her fingertips.
"Almost there," Fluttershy said as she began to feel the shelf with the book
Unfortunately, the ladder pulled back causing Fluttershy to yelp and drop the book, the ladder stands straight up with pink-haired woman trying desperately to keep it's balance
"H..Help" Fluttershy meekly yelp out
Evelyn clings to the top of the ladder as she struggles for balance, The ladder teeters out of control which caused Fluttershy to lose balance and crash to a stop at the top of a bookshelf. Fluttershy holds her breath waiting for the Bookshelf to topple over, after a minute Fluttershy then sighs heavily.
And that's when the bookshelf starts to fall forward and crashes into the next bookshelf.
Fluttershy slides down the ladder and plops to the floor, the pink-haired woman quickly jumps to her feet and watches just as the domino effect kicks in. Each bookshelf crashes into the next, Bookshelf after bookshelf topples over as thousands of volumes fling off shelves and scattering across the floor. It finally ends as the last shelf crashes into the first bookshelf. Fluttershy closes her eyes and prays that this is just a dream, She then opens one eye, Looks left, Then right, Then opens the other eye and stares at the huge mess.
"Oops," Fluttershy said removing her reading glasses
Before Fluttershy could ask how this could get any worse, in comes the Museum Curator who looked around in horror.
"What...What happene..." the Curator then spotted Fluttershy. "I don't believe this!" the curator stomped over to the librarian. "By the Sons of the Pharaohs, Give me Frogs, Flies, Locusts anything but You!" the curator stopped right in front of Fluttershy. "Compared to you the other Plagues were a joy!"
"I'm very sorry Mr. Neighsay it was an accident" Fluttershy apologized as she started to gather the books off the floor
"My Darling girl," the curator said in a softer, nicer tone. "When Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident." Fluttershy shrank back realizing he was faking his nice tone "You are a catastrophe!"
"Look at my Library!" Curator Neighsay gestured to the destruction still fuming and mad. "Why do I put up with you?"
"You...You put up with me because I can read and write ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphs and hieratics," Fluttershy said as she started to raise her voice. "And I'm the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalog this library."
"I put up with you because your mother and father were our finest patrons," Neighsay said soon regretting bringing them up. "Faust rest their souls."
The Curator calms as he rubs the temples of his head. "Look I don't care how you do it nor how long it takes" the curator then looked back at Fluttershy. "Just clean up this mess"
After the curator had left, Fluttershy heard a noise from the exhibit next door and was a bit startled.
"Hello?" She called out to see if anyone else was in the museum and began to walk towards a sarcophagus at the center of the exhibit.
"Muhammad? Abdul?....bob?" She called out to her fellow coworkers but was once again met with silence until.
SCREEE!!
"AAAAH!!"
The mummy inside the sarcophagus suddenly sprang up giving her quite the scare before she heard a very annoying and familiar laugh.
"You...! YOU...!" Fluttershy shouted as she watched her brother pop his head out of the sarcophagus
"Drunkard? Fool? Rat-bastard?" Fluttershy's brother grinned. "Please call me something original."
"Have you no respect for the dead Zephyr!?" Fluttershy shouted at her older brother
Zephyr Breeze was a tan-skinned man who had Pale, light grayish-gold hair which was pulled back into a high bun. His eyes had a Grayish cerise color to them, the man wore a Teal suit and pants with a grey undershirt.
"Of course, I do Flutter Butter but sometimes.." Zephyr said as he places the mummy's arm against the sarcophagus. "I'd rather like to join them"
Zephyr grins as his younger sister punches him hard in the chest.
"Well, Sometimes I wish you'd do it sooner rather than later," Fluttershy said putting the mummy back in its resting place. "Before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours."
"My dear, sweet, baby sister," Fluttershy's brother began as he got out of the sarcophagus "I'll have you know, Oof" Zephyr stopped talking as he felt a numbing pressure coming from his groin. "That at this moment my career is on a high note."
Zephyr laughs as he then falls back and sits on the edge of the exhibit.
"A High note? Ha!" Fluttershy laughed at her failure of a brother "Zephyr for the last five years you've been scrounging around Southern Equestria, and what have you to show for it? Nothing."
Fluttershy unleashed all her frustration at her brother before leaning against an ancient statue. "Zephyr please I am in no mood for your games today," Fluttershy said almost on the verge of tears "I've made a massive mess in the library and the Celestial Scholars have rejected my application form for the ninth time," the Pink haired woman said as tears began to form. "They keep saying that I lack experience in the field"
Sensing the distress of his younger sister Zephyr knelt in front of her and took her hands in his.
"You'll always have me Flutters," Zephyr said with a warm smile which Fluttershy returned. "Besides I've got something that will cheer you up"
Zephyr excitedly started scrounging around in the Sarcophagus.
"Oh no Zephyr" Fluttershy groaned still holding her smile. "Please tell me it's not another worthless trinket"
"Trust me this time Flutters you won't be disappointed," Zephyr said with pure confidence
"You said that the last time and it was junk" Fluttershy said as her brother found what he was looking for. "Zephyr, if I bring one more piece of junk to the Curator to try and sell..."
Fluttershy was stunned at what she was looking at, it was a small, black, ancient box. Fluttershy is instantly curious about the item as she grabs the box out of his hand.
"Zephyr, Where did you get this?" Fluttershy asked as she looked over the box
"On a dig, down in Thebes," Zephyr replied sitting next to his sister. "My whole life I've never found something like this," the older brother said as Fluttershy rolled the box around in her hands, mumbling to herself as she translates the hieratics and hieroglyphs covering it. "Fluttershy. Please Tell me I've found something."
Fluttershy's fingers play with the various little slats on the box, shifting them this way and that way, like it was a puzzle box. Then suddenly the box opens up, and sitting inside the open box is a folded piece of golden papyrus.
"Zephyr?" Fluttershy said taking out the paper and unfurling what looked like a ancient map
"Yes?"
"I think you found something."
The Curator sat at his desk as he stared at the piece of papyrus, Fluttershy hovered behind him with an excited look plastered on her face.
"See the cartouche there," Fluttershy pointed to the seal on the map "it's the official royal seal of Solarius the First, I'm sure of it."
"Perhaps." Neighsay mused before setting the map down
Zephyr leaned in from across the desk. "Two questions. Who the hell is Solarius the First? And was he rich?
"He was the last Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom," Fluttershy said before noticing the look her brother was giving her. "He was also said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all."
"Ohh..ho ho I like this fellow, I like him very much." Zephyr grinned as he thought of the riches
The Curator picks up the map and began to look at it through a magnifying glass
"I've already dated it!" Fluttershy exclaimed in excitement. "This map is almost three thousand years old." The pink-haired woman then pointed to the corner of the map "And take a look at the hieratics over here...It's Hamunaptra.
"My dear girl, don't be ridiculous, we are scholars, not treasure hunters," Neighsay said giving a disapproving look at Fluttershy. "Hamunaptra is a myth told by ancient storytellers to amuse greek and roman tourists"
"Look I know all the blabber about the city being protected by a curse of a mummy nonsense," Fluttershy looked at the curator with a fierce gaze. "However, my research has led me to believe that the city itself Did exist"
"Are we talking about The Hamunaptra?" Zephyr asked his younger sister with a curious look on his face
"The very same Zephyr," Fluttershy said with joy and pride in her voice. "It was also known as The City of The Dead and was where the early Pharaohs were said to have hidden the vast wealth of Egypt.
"Right, right, in a big underground treasure chamber," Zephyr said with excitement which made the curator laugh
"Spare me" Neighsay shrugged at the brother's excitement
"Come on, everybody knows the story," Zephyr exclaimed with passion in his voice. "The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch! And the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes with the treasure in tow."
"Well be that as it may," The Curator holds the map closer to the burning candle lamp. "As the Americans would say: it's all fairy tales and hokum."
Curator Neighsay yelps in surprise as the ancient map catches flames, the Curator wasted no time in throwing the papyrus to the floor. Both siblings drop to their knees and quickly puts it out. Zephyr lifts up the remains of the map with horror in his eyes, the fire had claimed the left third of the map.
"You burned it!" Zephyr croaked out. "You burned off the part with the lost city!"
It's for the best, I'm sure." the curator said earning a glare from Fluttershy's older brother. "Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra, no one has ever found it, and most have never returned."
"You killed my map!" Zephyr said raising his voice
"I'm sure it was a fake, anyway," Neighsay then turned to Fluttershy. "I'm surprised at you, Miss Shy, to be so fooled.
"The Curator reaches for the box only to have Fluttershy quickly snatch it off the desk and gives him a very angry, suspicious look.
"This belongs to my brother," Fluttershy said as she left the office followed by her brother
Once out Fluttershy began to fume. "Unbelievable, our one chance to find the lost city and it's gone"
"Umm... Flutters I think I need to tell you something about where I got that Box" Zephry said with a sheepish grin