//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2. Four thousand, eight hundred and forty-nine years later 
// Story: A Long Sleep 
// by SilverEyedWolf 
//------------------------------//

Celestia stirred at her desk, looking out her window towards the rising moon. She smiled over the glasses she wore while filling out paperwork. Even though Luna had recently returned to her spot beside Tia, the mare's face remained on the celestial body, a reminder of sadder times.

A trail of green magic interrupted the Princess's thoughts, and she lowered her horn to receive her student's letter. It plopped gently onto the desk, and Celestia widened her eyes at the seal around the scroll. Twilight almost never bothered to actually seal her letters, unless she was formally requesting more books for her libraries.

Celestia broke the seal and skimmed through the letter, than reread it much more carefully.

"An expedition?" she asked the letter, confused. Her student had never shown any curiosity in ruins, or treasures, yet this letter was pretty much asking for the Princess's permission to go with her five friends and Spike on some sort of hunt for some long lost treasure pit. And for freedom to obtain her opinions on any… elder objects and texts?

Celestia grinned when she figured out what Twi was asking her. Picking up her quill, she dipped it in an inkpot and scribbled back, "Twilight, you don't even have to ask. I will be more than happy to help you with any questions you may have about what you may find. Just be careful my student, and be sure to ask me if you need an escort. Remember, you're a Princess now, and shouldn't worry about bothering me or the guards. It's what they're paid for, you know."

She sent off her reply, with a timer to make sure she didn't go running of into the night, and returned to the paperwork in front of her, wishing everything in front of her was as easy to deal with as her student's requests.

"Uggh, Luna!" she shouted suddenly, directing her frustration through her wall towards her sister's room. Banging on the wall, she yelled, "Switch me, I'll go hold night court and you can do this infernal paperwork!"

"Not for one million donuts, dear 'Tia!"

"What about two!?"

"No!"

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Twilight paced around the table in the middle of the library, wearing the circle further into the floor. Spike watched her loop, wondering absently if he could commission a circular piece of floor from a carpenter, or if he'd have to have them cut up a bunch of planks for it.

"Should I be worried, Spike?" Twilight asked, worriedly.

"Not at all," he answered without pause. "You know she put it in a timer spell, so that you wouldn't go off into the night."

"That's ridiculous, Spike. What makes anypony think I would do something so reckless, so…."

"The fact that you've done it before, combined with the fact that you were studying lighting spells not too long ago," he interrupted, pointing at the tome on the table. Its title was simply Light.

She walked over and frowned at the book, as though it had betrayed her. She snapped it up in her magic, shoved it rudely back where it belonged, and then resumed her circling.

“Stop worrying, Twi, I’m sure it’ll be here any….”

Spike paused, looking strangely around the room, as if expecting something to happen. As he looked back to Twi, he opened his mouth to finish his sentence.

"I'm sure it'll be here any minute."

Twilight stared at Spike's odd behavior, then continued on her path. "It'd better be, I'll... I'll…"

"Yell at the Princ…?" His sentence was interrupted by a puffing of his cheeks before a large belch of green fire, and the apparition of a scroll.

Twilight squeed and snapped the scroll out of the air, unrolling it with her magic and scanning it quickly with a large grin.

"Round up the girls Spike," she said as she levitated her backpack over to her, loading it as it was being summoned. "Tell them it's been green-lit."

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"Ah dunno Twi, are ya sure this is the right mountain?"

Twilight quintuple checked her map, comparing it to one of her books.

"I am eighty-seven percent sure, as long as this map has no errors and this story is more than just a story," she said confidently, looking at the mountain rising above her. "And it should be, considering how many people wrote about this place, and how little the stories varied."

"And… and you said this was a… a dragon's trove, yes?" the shy pegasus asked from behind Applejack.

"Yes, Flutters," Twilight said, smiling brightly. "A very abandoned trove. Supposedly, a great unicorn knight came and the dragon who lived here did battle with him. They fought to a tie, and the dragon agreed to give the knight all of its treasures in exchange for its life. The knight agreed and lived in a great mansion for the rest of his days."

"How romantic," Rarity muttered dreamily, fluttering her eyelashes at the mountain.

"If he took all the treasure, what are we even doing here?" Rainbow complained.

Twilight gave her a blank look, then simply said, "The books. Rumor has it that the knight left behind a massive library that he couldn't read, all in dragon's tongue."

Looking vaguely annoyed but unsuprised, Rainbow slapped her forehooves into her eyes and drifted over towards the mountain.

Trudging up the first few foothills, Twilight continued to field their questions as she looked about for the magically hidden doorway. She had taken care to study up on old magic, and dragon's magic as well, and soon spotted where the door had been.

"Uhm, Applejack? Feel like doing a bit of manual labor?" Twilight asked, staring at a large boulder sitting defiantly in front of where her magic said there was a door.

She walked up to the boulder, looking at the front and both sides before grinning. Tilting and setting her back hooves on the rock, she sort of walked until she found a spot she liked. Pulling her legs in, she shot them back out like a cannon.

The result was largely the same, too. A large chunk of danger, flying through the air.

She swaggered back towards the wall, keeping her face as blank as she smugly could. Until a patch of dirt latched itself around her middle, forming a rough circle where she happened to be standing. Her startled scream was the source of much bullying from a certain pegasus for many months.

"I think that's just a door, AJ!" Pinkie spouted brightly, bouncing in place.

"Ah know it's just a bucking door," AJ responded crossly, walking the rest of the way through it and giving it the dirtiest look she could. The door did not respond to her look in any way.

Twilight cut off the source of the door, dispelling it permanently. "If we're all done screaming at doors, ladies?" she quipped as she walked past Applejack, allowing a small grin as she walked into the tunnel. She quickly pushed magic into her horn, spinning it in the appendage until it glowed. She then pushed a little more, creating a floating ball of light. Seven times the light floated free, and then the group entered the ancient den.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Spike shivered as they walked deeper into the damp, looking around as the ball of light kept pace with his line of sight. Suddenly, Twilight hissed and extinguished all of their orbs… and then shushed the startled mares.

"Look," she whispered, pointing ahead. "Light. Someone's already here, look at that firelight."

There was indeed orange light dancing on the wall ahead, coming around a corner. It seemed to flicker, as though there was not only fire, but an airway ahead.

The group looked around itself, then all eyes rested one the quietest member.

Fluttershy looked around, saw the entire group matching her stare, and meeped. "But, but, I'm no good at scouting…."

"It's either you or Pinkie, and right now Pinkie has two more strikes against her than you do," whispered Twilight. "Please, Flutters? Just a peek around the corner?"

She thought about it for a few seconds, then sighed, giving in. "Just a quick peek?" she asked meekly. Everyone nodded enthusiastically, and she slowly nodded herself, showing her acceptance.

Creeping slowly, she made it halfway to the light before she started shivering. Another halfway point, and she had to stop and take several deep breaths. Reaching the corner, she turned to see everyone smiling at her, Spike giving her his patented Thumbs Up. A stupid gesture they hadn't been able to talk him out of. With a last breath, like a tankless scuba-diver, she slowly tilted her head around the corner… then left out her breath with a gust.

"All clear!" she yelled back to the rest of the group, reaching almost fifty decibels. The rest of the group shared a confused look, then trotted up to share the view.

A near-collective gasp worked through the bunch, as everyone besides the yellow mare took in the cavern for the first time. Undisturbed for centuries, the piles no longer looked like hills of treasure, just mounds of dirt. The large pit in the middle of the room was still filled with liquid fire, something Twilight recognized as an old dragon spell, barely remembered.

"This was a total waste of time!" Rainbow muttered sullenly. "There's no treasure here, no books, just this puddle of fire and these mounds… of… dirt?"

She'd walked over to the nearest pile and punched it in the middle of her quiet tantrum. The blow went through the dust easily, to be stopped quite suddenly by something much more solid in the middle. She clenched her hoof and pulled it away. With the dust disturbed, some of the solid inner material showed, looking like a dull glimmer under the dirt.

She rubbed the chunk against her coat, leaving a dirty patch on her chest. When she finished, she held a gleaming chalice up to her eye level, mind completely blank. She then turned to the rest of the group, who'd been looking around despairingly at the cavern. "Hey, guys?" Rainbow held up the cup. "I don't suppose Twi has a vacuum spell handy, huh?"

After one matter-displacing slash tornado spell and a lot of flapping from those with wings, the ponies were significantly more impressed with their find. The winds had displaced all of the dirt, leaving behind only the valuables. And two strange things that did not really belong anywhere except a knight's tale of valor.

The dragon's skeleton was the bigger of the things, attracting awe and wonder though it was half sunk into the gold. "I thought the dragon was spared," Spike said quietly. Twilight stood next to him and pulled him in close.

"So the legends go, but they are only legends." She was the first to notice the knight in the corner of the room, and she silently pointed out the burnt metal and white remains of a unicorn horn. "It looks like they both died during the battle, likely finishing each other off…."

There was silence, until a showering of gold coins drew their gaze beck to the dragon's skeleton. Spike had climbed up there and was looking into the empty eye of his elder.

"Dovbormah," he said aloud, looking up as the group approached. "I'm not sure how I know, but his name was Dovbormah. It echoes in the air around here."

Twilight shivered slightly in the presence of such arcane power. "It was likely his last words as he died," she said sadly. "Most dragons announced their rest to the world when it's their time to leave."

Spike nodded, looking back into the eye. He frowned slightly, looking deeper inside the remains. Placing his hands on the socket, he leaned into the skull and pointed. "Twi, what is that? Right… there?"

Looking into the depths, Twilight sent out a small beam of probing light. When she saw what he'd seen, she gasped and ran around the skeleton's side. There was what looked to be a large chunk of dark ruby, within the ribcage.

"Girls, come over here! Help me dig this out!" she called excitedly, using her magic to funnel coins away. Applejack ran over, pulling a few collapsible shovels out of her pack and handing them around. Rarity joined Twilight in moving the almost liquid mass away magically, and soon the group had a small pit dug. Motioning the rest of the group back, Twilight strained at the jewel in the pile until it floated free of its prison.

Back on actual ground, Twilight unceremoniously dropped the heavy object on the dirt, panting at the energy used. Ignoring Rarity's fussing, she walked around the stone, admiring its smoothness and size. Easily six feet tall, a few feet more around, this was the second largest gem she'd ever seen. Looking closer, she noticed what appeared to be a lattice of scales covering the surface. Nodding, she walked over to a large, ornamental hammer.

Admiring its shape, she brought the steel and gold monstrosity over to the jewel. Most of the mares saw her contemplative look and scattered, but Rarity stood in front of the jewel, eyeing her warily.

"And what, pray tell, are you going to do with that?"

Twilight looked Rarity straight in the eyes and grinned benignly. "Science, of course."

Rearing back, hammer in magical grip, Twilight crashed forward, hammer smashing solidly into the top of the jewel, just over Rarity's head. A clear sound rang around the cavern like the sweetest bell ever made. The fashion pony, looking wide eyed at the handle reverberating above her horn, fainted.

"Twilight, why would you try to break such an awesome, such a beautiful, such a priceless…!" Pinkie started, then faded into silence. The stone was unmarked, the hammer bent almost in half. Twilight looked over her impromptu instrument, frowning slightly, before she tossed it away.

"This is a Dragon Heartstone, a Sil Golz. It's what happens to a dragon's heart if left undisturbed for long enough. It's harder than diamond, and much less brittle. Magic is the only way to shape the stone, and it can only shape it, not cut it. Only five unicorns alive today even know the spell, and only four of us can use it."

Fluttershy had been fanning Rarity, and her eyelashes fluttered as she regained consciousness. "Fluttershy?" she asked weakly. "Tell her to warn a pony next time, or my heart may give out."

Twilight huffed, looking at the large, oval gem.

"Okay, girls," she said militarily, turning to the group. "Who wants to help me get this thing out of here?"

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

A bell woke me. I felt my eyes stirring beneath the lids, dreamless and stirring. I shivered when I remembered what had happened to me before I was put to sleep. While it had been one of the most relaxing things I've ever lived through, being pushed into the heart of another being was not an experience I wanted to live through again.

I started to stretch, then realized that I was immersed in stone. Strangely calm, all I could think was, "How am I entombed, and still alive?"

Thinking slowly, I realized that I didn't need to breathe, or rather, that my lungs didn't bother me for not breathing. I opened my eyes, and was greeted by six, no, seven ruby figures. Looking around, I realized I'd somehow been encased in a dark red stone. I wriggled one of my forelegs experimentally, smiling to myself when I heard the ruby powdering underneath my skin.

Pushing around, I eventually freed myself of most of the jewel immediately around myself, forming a hollow within the stone. Looking out again, I saw five, no, six sets of eyes peering in at me. I really needed to start looking down for that short one…

I picked up my hoof, smiling and getting ready to wave… and froze when I saw the claw in front of me. Not moving my eyes, I told my hoof to slowly turn. Slowly, the claw turned, palm now to me as I stared at the charcoal digits. Tracing the deep green filaments with my eyes, I followed the pattern down from the new wrist to the elbow, to my shoulder, and to the rest of my body.

A series of small raps pulled me out of my self-physical, and I looked up to see a very fluffy earth pony waving ecstatically. Smiling once again, I waved what was now my claw. Then, very gently, I put my claws to the wall of my current room and pushed. With small, short cracks, the stone around me split and powdered away. Looking up to make sure the ponies were clear of the door I was about to make, I finished my rebirth into the world.

Standing on all four legs, I started to shake myself, attempting to rid myself of the ruby dust in my mane. An alarming noise ceased my attempts, and I looked up to see a white and blue unicorn scuttling forward with a velvet drawstring bag.

She looked me in the eyes and held up a brush and a fine comb, looking at my coat and mane. Realizing she wanted the gem dust, I chuckled and stretched my neck out and down… then realized I was still a bit too tall. Kneeling down, I folded my legs in front of myself and nodded at her, finally eye level. I'd gotten significantly taller, apparently.

Brushing the dust slowly into her bag, the unicorn hummed contentedly to herself, smiling as she worked. I looked around, taking in the rest of the group. They didn't look like treasure hunters, or even scholars. I chalked them up to general adventurers, then eyed the tall… Alicorn in the middle. Alicorns were a rare sight, wandering peace-keepers who didn't care to make themselves seen in most cases.

“Drem, viingaal geinzahkey. Nox hi kren dii laag…” I stopped, licking my lips confusedly. The Alicorn's face broke into a broad smile, and answered me in the same tongue.

"Of course, noble dragon. I apologize for waking you; I," a search for some word, "did not see through you the gem…?"

I nodded, letting her know it was okay. Concentrating, in Equestrian I asked, "What year is it now?" A small puff of smoke rose from my mouth, and I gazed at it until I remembered I had more to ask. "Do the tribes still war among themselves?"

All seven shared a surprised look, then six of them stared at the purple Alicorn, who seem to be doing some sort of advanced arithmetic. "Uhm, which calendar were you using at the time?"

I furrowed my brows, thinking hard. "I remember hearing of such calendars… they were an instrument used by Alicorns, correct? The unicorns were actually negotiating for one… eight winters before my sleep."

She blinked, then pulled out a piece of scroll and what looked like a stick that had been burnt on the end. After several moments of scratching, she met my gaze, a new sort of awe on her face.

"By Celestia's flowing tail," she breathed.

One of my eyebrows lifted.

"Who?"