Twilight could scarcely believe her eyes. The items Sand Scout had laid out in front of here were, to say the least, striking. Why didn’t the princess ever tell me about this? Unknown items don’t just show up at random, somepony has to make them first, which mean they have histories, or even uses! Perhaps, she mused, this venture really is worth supporting. Studying is what I do best, after all, and the items Sand Scout has in her possession are… incredible! Maybe this can be my first assignment as a princess! Twilight jerked slightly as a sharp claw prodded her side.
“C’mon Twilight, concentrate!” Spike quipped, looking annoyed. She grinned sheepishly, muttering a quick apology before turning her attention back to the table. Sand Scout had laid the various contents of the bags out as she explained how she came to be in her current predicament. While Scout’s story had been interesting, and Twilight had listened to every word intently, the stolen artifacts were what had held the bulk of her attention throughout the exposition.
It wasn’t the items themselves that interested her; at least, not what they looked like. Most of them were little more than dull-gray, angular boxes of some kind, barely larger than her hoof, and almost all of which were empty. Some of the boxes had no openings, and she could find no obvious way to open them, so Twilight could only guess that they were locked in some manner she was unfamiliar with. The other items appeared almost identical to tools that could be commonly found anywhere in Equestria. There was even what seemed to be a typical claw hammer, Twilight noticed, although when she picked it up, it felt far too light and fragile to be of much use.
No, it was what was on the items that had captured her attention, for written across each item, in what appeared to be Old Script, were labels. Labels that she could clearly read, because, of course, she had studied Old Script; half the books she read were written using it, after all.
Most of the labels were words like ‘nails’, or ‘welding torch’. Which is extremely odd, she thought, considering the welding torch was only invented about ten years ago. Some bore even stranger titles than those, like ‘incendiary packets’, ‘spare nano-cores’, and one of the sealed boxes even said ‘Ferrofluid’. She shuddered at the mess that would create if the box were opened.
She was startled once more out of her thoughts by the small sting of a claw in her side. “Sorry,” she muttered. Spike huffed, crossing his arms and turning back toward Sand Scout.
“As I was trying to say,” the dragon grumbled, “while all this stuff looks cool, how do we know you aren’t just making it up?”
“Well,” began Sand Scout, but then she stopped. She didn’t actually have any solid ‘proof’ that the objects were legitimate archeological finds and not simply mockups she and her team had made to look like real artifacts. Unfortunately, she hadn’t really considered that while she knew the items were legitimate, anypony else might be skeptical of their origin, especially now that she was in jail. She looked over at Twilight, who seemed to be making a conscious effort to not split into a wide grin. “I guess… I don’t, really,” was all she could say. She could only hope they would give her the benefit of the doubt.
Spike huffed again and turned back to Twilight. Leaning in to her ear, he whispered, “I don’t know, Twilight. I mean, she seems nice and all, but she is in jail for breaking into royal land and stealing.”
“Yes,” Twilight whispered back, “but these artifacts are a potential gold mine of information! They have Old Script writing on them, and that’s been obsolete for almost eight hundred years!” She ruffled her wings excitedly, hooves nearly lifting off the ground. “There are some odd inconsistencies, but they’re almost too odd to be faked, if that makes any sense.”
“It doesn’t really, but if you’re gonna go ahead with this, I won’t stop you,” Spike sighed. They both turned to face Sand Scout again, who was visibly shaking with nervousness. Twilight suddenly
{{Aaaand... CUT! That's it. The End. Roll credits. Also, just noticed that when I said 'sudden stop' up there, I was unknowingly being literal. Huh.}}