//------------------------------// // Waking up // Story: The Greatest Treasure // by Evowizard25 //------------------------------// Curiosity killed the cat. That’s how the old saying goes. I should know better than most seeing as I was old when the story was first told. I still don’t understand why everypony was so adamant at being so dark in those times. I had a half a mind to ban those stories forthwith. Thankfully, they’ve been watered down over the generations. No longer would foals have to listen about stories where they’re hooves are cut off if they keep sucking on them. But none of that really matters. No, what really matters was the pain in my skull. It had been ages since I’ve last strained my magic reserves. I had thought lessons had been learned from those mistakes. Apparently, I was wrong. It wasn’t just my head that hurt, but everything really. It felt like my body had been put through a wringer and thrown against a wall. The ground beneath my hooves felt odd. It wasn’t polished marble, fresh grass, or the comforting embrace of a hospital bed. No, it was cold and lumpy. As I stirred I felt the ground slip and slide away, revealing it to be little bits and pieces of something. I opened a wary eye. Had my plan worked, I was not going to be in Equestria. Well, not my Equestria to be specific. I could honestly be anywhere and I do mean anywhere. If my travels with Starswirl taught me anything, it was to expect the unexpected. I could be greeted by cute little aliens who want nothing but my happiness. I could be inside a sterilized room, run by hairless apes wanting to study me in the name of science. I could be assaulted by ninja zombie kangaroos with rocket launchers for legs. No matter how ludicrous the idea, it was possible. Experience has shown me more than my share of wackiness. Still, I had to get a bearing on my surroundings. So, I steeled myself as I rose my head. I couldn’t depend on my magic, since I had no idea how it worked her nor how the locals would react. Some creatures feared magic, or worse, would become deathly ill just being near it. ‘Mother forbid if I harm a creature just to sate my curiosity.’ I finally took a good look around and was honestly surprised by where I found myself lay. I was sleeping on a mountain of gold and other gems. A giant hoard. My eyes widened as my back stiffened. I may have been jumping to conclusions, since this may just be some kings or nobles bank of some sort in this world. Yet, I knew only one creature on Equis that collected this much gems: A dragon. Panic swept over me like a river over-flooding its banks. I may be a god, but this was still a dragon. They were no laughing matter. Unfortunately, I was still weak from my trip here, so I fell back down in a pained grunt. Letting myself catch my breath, I tried to stand again. Slowly but surely, I rose upon my weak knees. The pain, while excruciating, wasn’t the worst I’ve felt so I powered on through it. I needed to get out of here, fast. So, I tried walking. Easier said than done. While I may have experienced worse pains in my life, they were all far back in my past. My body wasn’t as used to it anymore so it was a chore to even lift my hoof, but that’s what I did. Step after step I walked through the hoard. Keeping my hoofing was exceptionally hard given how small pieces of gold and gems don’t exactly make for the best floors. Still, I was an alicorn. We are creatures of grace and beauty…. FEATHERING BULLS, I LOST MY HOOFING! The sound of my body crashing into gold filled the cavern. “OW!” Repeatedly. “BUCK!” Smash. “MY!” Crash. “CURIOSITY!” Bash. Yes…I could have worded my frustration better. Thankfully, nopony was around to hear me say those things. I have an image to uphold. Of which my ‘image’ just painfully crashed back first into a pillar. I groaned in agony as my spine felt like it was breaking in half. I laid there for several minutes, trying to block out the pain. ‘That could have gone better.’ After the pain subsided into just bearable territory, I tried to rise again. Taking a risk, I tried to feel out with my magic. A simple healing spell would work out my joints and issues….My head exploded in pain! I fell back to the ground, clutching my skull. I couldn’t help, but curl into myself. ‘I used up too much of my magic.’ It made sense really. I had basically ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe and fluttered through. That took an immense amount of magic to make work and I had done that all by myself. I would’ve been proud of myself, if I didn’t realize how vulnerable that made me. My fear tripled. Facing a dragon was one thing. Facing a dragon in my condition? ‘Hopefully, he’s taking a hundred year nap right now. I don’t feel like being someone’s breakfast.’ I hoped against hope that that would be so. A deep chuckle echoed above me. I stopped squirming and sighed. ‘It’s times like this that I remind myself. I’m not exactly on best terms with Fate. A sore loser, she is.’ _________________________________________________________________________ *Smaug* It would seem fate deemed my slumber of little consequence. I should be resting in my vast hoard, but I could not. My curiosity would not let me. Not while this creature lay within my grasp, so to speak. So I laid upon an old dwarvish piece of ruin, looking over my precious gems. I pondered and pondered about where she came from. Surely, she was not native to Middle-Earth. The magic around her when she first came to be was too strange, too foreign. My first thoughts went to those retched elves. I would not put it past them to create new life. A creature pleasing to the eye and no doubt majestic when in motion. Oh, her form screamed perfection to an almost unfathomable degree. Quite like my own, in that regard. Of course, I pushed that thought aside. She did not reek of elf, nor man. Not even the putrid aroma of dwarf tampered her scent. No, she was unique…And smelled of purity. Not even the unicorns could have matched her in any regard, be it form or scent. I idly wondered if she rivaled them in taste, but I was not going to test that. She was a part of my hoard now. I was not a foolish dragon. I did not waste pieces of my hoard just to sate my curiosity. My musings were cut short as I heard something stir in my gold. Lifting my head, I spied the winged unicorn try to stand. She was weak. That was as plain as a sunny day. She wobbled on her knees and collapses in on herself. I wondered if she was injured. That wouldn’t do. A broken prize wasn’t a noble one, even with its rarity. I would have to keep an eye on her to make sure she recovered. If she was to be in my hoard, she would have to be in prime condition. Nothing less would suffice. Eventually, the winged unicorn fought through her pain. Standing on her hooves, she tried to walk. Pitiful really. She struggled with the simplest of motions, nearly taking eons to put one hoof in front of the other. It was amusing to watch, for the most part. With any other creature, be it dwarf, man, elf, I would have gladly sat in silent joy as they stewed in their own agony. Seeing my trinket however in such a state didn’t exactly fill me with the same feeling. It felt…wrong, in some way to see her like this. Not wrong like her very self being out of place, but wrong in every other sense of the word. Surprising myself, I wanted to see her get better. I snorted in agitation.  ‘Perhaps this feeling will go away in time. It is annoying.’ So, I laid upon the ruin, watching my lovely new addition stumble about. I made it a game for myself to guess how far she could go. My guess was slightly off, when she lost her footing upon my hoard. “OW!” With that utterance, my eyes widened in shock. ‘She can speak?’ In all my life, I had never seen such a thing. Besides dragons, only the two legged vermin could speak, with the exceptions none withstanding. Given her appearance, I expected some contempt remark akin to the elves. An eloquent poem about her pain, or some nonsense like that. “BUCK! MY! CURIOSITY!” Or that….That was new. I did not know why she was wanting to ‘buck her curiosity’, but I did not care. I was too busy silently shaking with mirth. While I may have wanted my crown jewel to get better, that did not mean I was above seeing her agony. I was still Smaug the Terrible. My pity did not last, nor did my kindness. I hoped that my trinket would understand. I smirked. ‘She will have to get used to staying here.’ When the winged unicorn finally smacked into the pillar, I lowered my head in curiosity. I hoped she had not broken her back in her ill-advised venture across my hoard. ‘I will be assuredly put out if she broke herself.’ I watched her with an intensity only known to my gold. Thankfully, she wasn’t broken, for she tried to stand. That attempt did not last long, but it put my fears to rest. I did not spare her life just so she could stupidly end it. Only I had that right. But then I felt it: magic. Not the kind that resides within myself and Middle-Earth, but something else. My magic was akin to the earth: strong, steady, and took effort to sculpt. Hers was like air. It flowed effortlessly around her and with freedom. Except for now. I only felt it for a fleeting moment, before it vanished. My trinket curled up into herself in pain, more so then any other injury. A deep chuckled escaped my throat as I watched the creature fail utterly. Her movements stopped. I knew she had heard me. ‘Good.’ A deaf creature was an annoying asset. One I may have had to end just for the sole reason of ridding this world of such an inept beast. For her sake, she was not. Still, she was new here and I was anything but a bad host. I would give her a warm welcome, unlike any other. It would be like nothing she had ever experienced, for how many have claimed to be welcomed into the lair of Smaug the Magnificent, chiefest and greatest of calamities, and to become a part of my hoard. What more could a female ask for?