The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Over 3000 Years Later . . .

Over 3000 Years Later . . .

“Magnificent, isn’t it Princess?” the charcoal gray earth pony mare asked as she trotted along next to the lavender alicorn.

“Magnificent indeed,” Twilight Sparkle replied, “There’s so much to learn from this place. Hopefully enough that we’re able to fill in the gaps in our history books.”

“These murals on the walls have told us so much about ancient earth pony art and culture already,” the mare said as they entered another hallway filled with archaeologists busy cataloguing everything, “I’m curious just what you think this place might have been once.”

“Well, the upper levels resemble a keep, but the lower levels are tombs,” Twilight replied as she scribbled her thoughts down on a piece of parchment clipped to a clipboard, “I would simply say this was a fortress if it weren’t for the overlarge crypts. Of course, it could still be a fortress and not a barrow if the ancient earth ponies tended to have mass graves for their dead.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” the other mare said, nodding, “We’ve yet to decipher the name or any of the writing within the ruin, but we’re working on it.”

“A certain passage of your report piqued my interest enough to warrant a personal visit,” Twilight said, flipping through the pages attached to her clipboard, “Do you think I might see the specimen?”

“Of course,” the gray mare said, “Right this way.”

She led Twilight through the dark and abandoned tunnel of the ancient ruin her team had been excavating for the past few weeks. At last they made it down to the very bottom of the ruin, where a large cavern dwelled beneath the mountain the ruin was built within.

“Hello River; your Highness,” a pale blue unicorn said, rising from his chair and giving a bow as the two ponies entered the cavern.

“Anything new down here?” River asked.

“Nope, it’s just as boring as ever,” the unicorn replied, “The equipment’s registered a few times, but nothing out of the ordinary. It’s probably just picking up background magic and vibrations.”

“Remarkable,” Twilight said, gazing upon the “specimen.”

There was nothing overly remarkable about the light grey unicorn that lay in the stone sarcophagus, except that she was perfectly preserved. Twilight could almost believe she was only sleeping, ready to wake up at any time.

“What kind of preservative did they use?” Twilight asked.

“We’re really not sure,” the unicorn said, “It must be some kind of magic, because her flesh appears by all accounts to be living. Yet, we’ve registered no brainwaves, heartbeats, or breaths. In fact, she registers no life signs at all.”

“And this here?” Twilight said, pointing to a small gem within a candle holder next to the sarcophagus that flashed irregularly from within.

“We have no idea,” the unicorn replied, “But it contains an extreme amount of magic, enough to short out our sensors and prevent us from examining it with a spell without being blasted back.”

“The power source preserving her, perhaps?” Twilight asked.

“That’s possible,” River said, “In fact, we’ve considered it, but we can detect only a weak linkage between the gem and her body. It’s not nearly strong enough to transport the amount of energy it would take to preserve her body.”

Twilight stared inquisitively at the body, willing it to give up its secrets. Her attention was broken as a crackling met her ears, and she turned back toward the archaeologists.

“Did you hear that?” she asked them.

The instruments are just picking up background information,” the unicorn said that, “They come and go every few hours or so.”

A few seconds later the same machine crackled again.

“That’s not normal,” River said, trotting over to one of the machines pointing at the specimen.

Soon the crackling sound picked up, until the machine was printing out a steady signal.

“We’ve got brain activity,” River said, “Do we have any researchers on the other side of that wall?”

“None that I’m aware of,” the unicorn replied, “But, we haven’t really managed to get a full map of this place made yet.”

Another of the machines beeped, and he trotted over to check it out. Soon the beeping increased and bunched into groups of two beeps at a time.

“A heartbeat?” he asked, double checking his equipment.

“I’m getting mana readings over here!” River called out, looking at the printout from another machine.

“Respiration!” the unicorn said as he checked another of the beeping machines.

Twilight stood over the specimen, watching as life slowly seemed to flow back into her. As the archaeologists scrambled around checking their equipment and trying to make sense of the sudden influx of data, her eyelids began to flutter. Then they popped open completely, and her icy blue eyes stared up at the lavender alicorn standing over her.

Sapphire was awake.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

that ending almost demands a sequel...DOITDOITDOIT!

[FireOfTheNorth]

7013684
All I'm saying is that it's a possibility...

[FireOfTheNorth]

7010087
Yeah, I'm kind of bummed that they're pretty much considered all dead. One of the genres I find most interesting is retropunk (steampunk with fantasy elements like magic as well) and I think the Dwemer could fill that capacity well in the Elder Scrolls with the Elder Scrolls as a whole still being truer to fantasy. Sadly, I suspect all we'll see of the Dwemer in the future is what they left behind.

[Enderstorm]

Take your time with this sequel. There's no rush.

But I still want it. :P

[Constellation]

Wow, it's bitter sweat. But the ending has my attention. Sequel?

This has been a true pleasure to read, thank you for your time writing this.

[Night_Moon60606]

7013831 yeah, the thing about the Dwemer? one of their number kinda, sorta...pissed off the Deadric Prince Azula...and i dont think shes stopped being mad yet...

[FireOfTheNorth]

7126881
Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying what I've done and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

[Kingmoonwar19]

7131902 if you make a sequel I will be so happy

[FireOfTheNorth]

7202838
Wow, you certainly read through that quickly! I'm impressed, and thanks for the watch and comments by the way.

[Teh BlazeKin]

Oh boy! I called it so hard man.

Anyway this was really good and I'm amazed this doesn't have way more views, well I guess that's because mlp is slice of life and this was adventure. But still man wow. Probably the best crossover/ Alt universe fic on here. Only two things wrong, it got really repetitive sometimes and it doesn't have a sequel... yet! Please don't sequel bait and not deliver, so many people have done that. Break the cycle!

[FireOfTheNorth]

7706920
Welcome back Wubs and Waffles! It's been a long time and I'm glad to see you've returned.

[ItsNyeTime]

8954274
Okay thanks, because my story just takes place in that region still not mapped in the official FiM map. While referencing canon locations with altered names. :)

[Alot Master]

Is there any possibility of a sequel to this story?

[Toaster Strudel]

This was an absolutely great story. My only regret in finishing it is that I can't read it for the first time again.