> A Long Sleep
>  by SilverEyedWolf
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: The Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I ran from them, as fast as my four limbs could carry me. I couldn't believe they'd found me out after so long, after I'd kept my secret for years. My horn, something for earth ponies to fear, always under some hat or another. But of course the one day I stepped outside with a cover that didn't strap around my jaw was the day the gods themselves breathed their ice across the plains, throwing my cap to the sky and my thin disguise along with it.

I wouldn't have even been in the damned village if I hadn't stuck up for that mare in my own hometown, a poor wretch that had been as well as dead when she walked through the gate. None of the other unicorns would even look at the "mud-pony", but I couldn't have left her on those cobbles.

I stumbled over a stone, ripped from my thoughts as rocks ripped into my skin. I stood again, quickly looking over my shoulder. Most of the party stayed further down the plains, four or five still pursuing me up the mountain. A stone smacked into my flank, tearing my mark as it flew away.

Suppressing the pain, I moaned between my teeth as I turned back to the slope that inclined before me and my nonstop flight. Every now and again a stone would zoom by my ear or shoulder, but I was lucky enough to have most of the projectiles miss. I crested the slope, looking down into the ravine as I pushed ahead.

The rocks below me were quite loose, and I quickly lost control of my descent. Gravel and dirt followed me down as my slide began. I put out a rear leg, hoping to break my descent into the opposite bank. Instead I broke through a thin layer of dirt and into the opening of a tunnel. Landing again on my face, I feel the grainy dirt of the tunnel floor become intimate with my previous cuts and scrapes.

Looking behind me, I watched in awe as the dirt door reestablished itself. I held my breath, waiting for the Earth ponies to find it and come through… breathed again after a minute… three minutes… five…

After I'd waited ten minutes I breathed freely again. Looking around, I let magic flow into my horn, trapping it within the appendage and sending it spinning. After longer than it should have been, my horn started glowing faintly, lighting the dirt walls around me.

It almost looked as if a snake had been through here, slithering scales gouging the walls smooth. Besides a strange furrow along the top of the passage, and a few strange scratches along the floor at almost equal intervals, the walls were smooth and almost glassy. The floor was strangely dark, and crinkled a bit when I walked over it. From top to bottom, I guessed the height to be forty-five hooves tall, three times my height or so. Almost fifty-three hooves in that furrow.

A strange breeze of air flowed over me, smelling of cloves, rosemary, and char. I looked further down the tunnel, and realized why the breeze was so strange. It came from within, leaving the deeper recesses for the outside. After looking back to the entrance, I headed forward, into the scent and the darkness.

The floor always sloped downwards, sometimes twisting but never raising. Deeper into the earth I wandered, following my sinuous path. At some point I noticed it was getting warmer, and when I turned another corner, I noticed light dancing on the wall ahead. Wondering if I'd stumbled into a volcano and chiding myself for being silly, I sat for a minute and watched the glow flicker on the walls.

"Tiid los nahlrii sizaan, what are you waiting for?"

I jumped backwards, completely surprised by the rich voice emanating from within the cave. A chuckle followed me, and more words.

"Nid faas, don't be afraid. Come to me and make yourself comfortable, Joor. I'll not bite."

I regained my feet and crept to the turn in the wall, peaking gingerly around the corner. I withdrew my head much quicker, my heart pounding.

Around the corner sat a large cavern, certainly large enough to hold all the wealth I could hope to imagine, as it did. Gold coins and other trinkets were pooled everywhere like liquid, gleaming red in the light of a pit full of self-sustained fire. On top of the pile reclined a dragon, cream and brown mottled with green eyes. Ivory sabers gleamed behind a grin, lava tongue dancing in laughter.

As soon as my heart slowed, I peeked back around my corner, matching gazes with the monumental beast.

"Stiildus, joor. As I said, I'll not bite ye. Come closer; let me spend my last moments speaking with another mindosil." He beckoned with one claw, and then replaced it on his chest. It was then I noticed the silver gleam between his digits.

"You're…" I started, interrupted by my own dusty throat. He glanced over to a wall where a still pool shone, fed by a crack in the wall. Warily I walked over to it, keeping my eye on him at all times; which seemed only to fuel his amusement. Drinking, I felt the dust wash down into my body as I relieved the dryness of my mouth.

"You're hurt," I said, lifting my head from the water and glancing again between his claws.

He glanced down, grin becoming bitter. "Indeed. Some ponies seem to think it honorable to slay creatures of power, such as I. Some horned knight seeking a name and treasure." He flicked a claw towards a pile of blackened armor lying against a wall. A blackened unicorn's horn poked from the helmet, and I turned from it.

"Were this not an enchanted blade, I would be fine. Unfortunately it has been formed with some sort of taint forged into the metal. My slen, my flesh cools beneath my scales. I am dying, even now."

I walked over to the dragon's trove and climbed it slowly. As I approached, the dragon rolled slowly, bringing the wound down to a level I could see. His trunk was the size of the cottage I'd lived in at the unicorn village easily, and I figured out the source of the furrow along the tunnel's roof. His back was lined with spikes, coming up and arching down his spine.

As he rolled he hissed in pain, and a fresh font of blood pulsed from his wound. His hot blood splattered my muzzle and back, and I twitched violently. He eyed me regretfully, but I shook my head and leaned closer.

A silver sword glinted from a crimson gash in the cream skin, almost rapier-like but for the massive blade. Unicorn by design, unwieldy by anything not using magic. I sighed deeply.

"Is it very deep?"

The dragon shook its head. "Only faazaal, hurting. The magic in the blade is the only thing actually killing me, and I cannot undo whatever spell it is."

I nodded, and then glanced around the room. Grabbing a large gown of purple silk in my magic, I pulled it close to me. "I'm sorry for this."

The dragon looked curiously down at me for a moment, then nodded. Reaching out with my magic, I took the handle of the sword and pulled slowly as I kept the cloth pressed on either side of the gash. Soon the silk was soaked, but it seemed to staunch the worst of the blood flow. The dragon had tucked his head around the other side of his body, but I could still feel his rumbling through his ribs.

The release was unexpected, and I went tumbling down the treasure slope with the sword flying away behind some pile or another. I looked up to see the dragon inspecting his wound, then blowing fire to stop the flow.

"My thanks, joor, but all you've done is stall the inevitable. The enchantment lasts within me, and soon my heart will stop." He looked down at me, a gleam in his eye.

I stood, looking nervously up into his eye.

“Joor, do you know, I have had no broods? Vrah, no mate and no children. I have no one to receive all of my inheritance." He looked around him slowly, taking in the horde he slept on. He snapped his head back to me, eye blazing.

"Joor, I wish to give you a gift. Something very special to me, lorot. Something even more valuable than the gold I sleep on."

Looking around, I fidgeted. "I would be honored, great one, but please don't think it necessary…"

His rumbling laughter shifted the pile towards me, and I was soon ankle deep in gold.

"Come closer. Meyz het, joor." When I was close enough, he put his claw to his chest, laying it over his heart. Listening, I realized I could hear the heavy rhythm of his heart.

"You must do only two things for this gift, joor." I met his eye once more. "First, swear to me that you will never use this gift against the innocent, or for your own gain. Say Zu'u vaat if you can agree."

Looking into his eyes, I thought about it for a second, then repeated his phrase.

Looking pleased, he nodded. "Now comes the hard part. You must sleep for this, many and more years. You have no love for these times, I trust? For if you accept this gift, everything you know will change, and you will be rid from the world for thousands of centuries."

I looked up, confusion apparent on my features as I stared into the reflection in his eye. "But, how could I live?"

He smiled. "This gift comes with a long life, joor. You will no longer be joor, but Dovah kiindah, of my flesh. You will be of my heart, mindoraan."

I thought of my parents, killed by pegusi in some raiding or another. Of the earth pony I'd nursed back to health, only to have her head cut off and be chased from my home. The earth village I'd eventually found and then been chased from, by some I thought of a friends no less. I looked up, tears in my eyes.

“Zu'u vaat, great one. I have no love of this place."

Nodding, he sighed. "Joor, I name thee Dovah. Climb now into me, and sleep away the injustices of this time."

Moving his claw, he cut open his chest, baring a beating heart. I gasped and watched in horror as he cut shallowly into the muscle, baring the walls inside. He scooped me up with his claw and inserted me into the bloody room, hot liquid almost burning me.

Almost immediately I found my panic draining away, slowly feeling my consciousness falling away from my mind. The last thing I heard was the dragon, speaking a final time.

"I am now Dovbormah, and I will now sleep in the rock of eternity."
> Chapter 2. Four thousand, eight hundred and forty-nine years later
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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?"
> Chapter 3. Through the Woods
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Five thousand years,” I said again, staring up at a patch of cirrus cloud. The colors seemed brighter than they had before, the sky a deeper blue than it had ever been.

“A little under, but yeah. You don’t remember anything about the time passing?” The purple one stood beside me. Twilight. The Scholarly Princess, one of four rulers of a united land called Equestria. My head spun a little, but I ignored it.

“No my lady,” I said, ignoring her flush. Apparently no one  acknowledged royalty as anything other than ‘Princess’ now, but it felt wrong to call my awakener anything besides Your Highness, which she wouldn’t allow. “I only remember faint dreams, and some of Dovbormah’s memories. Mostly what it is to be a dragon, and how to use certain abilities.”

“How to project your… soul?” she asked again, still doubtful.

Sighing, I looked at a nearby tree, dead in the heat of the summer. “Yol,” I whispered, concentrating on a certain branch. Instead of that one branch catching, the entire tree burst into whirling flame.

We watched it burn for a few minutes, the intense flames quickly turning the tree to ash. When it collapsed, Twilight turned from it to look closely at me.

“Is that some other form of lost magic, or is that..?” She looked away for a second.

“Dragonfire,” I answered. “I don’t know how I learned it, or how I know how to use it. It just feels like something I’ve always known.”

Twilight stared into the mid distance, and I thought she was lost in thought until she whispered to herself something that sounded like “Fire”. I watched the bush she was staring at nervously for a minute before chuckling.

“Sorry Princess,” I said, “but I think it’s a Dovah thing.”

She nodded ruefully, then looked into my face.

“How are you feeling? I should have asked first, but… Anyway, surely you’re feeling at least a little displaced?”

I smiled, looking across the plains I’d ran across, only barely similar to the ones I remembered from what was yesterday. “I have always felt displaced. Why should now be any different?”

Twilight nodded, understanding showing through.

We turned to the entrance as several large thuds alerted us to the other mares joining us. They each had several large bags near or on them, bulging with what could only be gold. I felt a tick take over my eye, and rage slowly built in my chest.

Realizing what was happening, I shook my head and grinned. “Now, who said you could have all my stuff?” I teased.

The five shared a startled look, then shameful eyes all glanced at the floor. “We’re all sorry Mr. Qilin,” started… Flutershy. “We didn’t mean to take your gold, we kind of just…”

I laughed softly and shook my head.

“Take no more, please. Call it a finder’s fee. But I think I’ll need gold soon. The cave is nice enough, but I think I’d like somewhere closer to civilization.”

“You don’t need gold for that silly!” The one who knocked on my jewel piped up. Pink Posey? Pink… something. “Twilight has Royal pull; she can just get you a house!”

Twilight looked uncomfortable, but I quickly waved my claw. “I would much rather buy my own residence, thank you. Although, I wouldn’t know where to go, especially with my current… form. I imagine I would startle quite a few ponies as is.”

With a shared look, the group broke into a collective grin.

“You know, I hear the house on the corner…”

“The stone one?”

“Of course darling, no other one would do for a fire-breather.” The gem collector looked me over. “And I think it was even designed for ponies of his… stature.”

I looked between them, scaly eyebrow…

I reached up and felt my eyebrow, confirming it did indeed crinkle with scales. Gods, but this was strange.

Realizing I was standing there feeling up my face for other changes, I dropped my claw and looked sheepishly at the group.

“May I assume there is a house I may be able to acquire?”

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

“Are you completely sure that no one will be startled by me?” I asked again as the town popped into sight. “I mean, a dragon-pony twenty-one hands…”

“Two-hundred ten centimeters,” Twilight corrected.

“A tall dragon-pony wandering into town would have caused chaos and panic in my day,” I finished, ignoring Twilight’s muttering about centimeters.

“It will likely cause a small panic,” Rarity said blithely. “They’ll calm down soon enough when they see Twilight with you.”

“Hopefully,” Pinkie said joyfully, bouncing along beside Rainbow… Her first name was easy, but I still can’t remember… Dash! She was bouncing alongside Rainbow Dash. Twice as impressive, when you considered all the trees lining the path.

I reached back to hitch at the saddlebags, hoping along on one hoof… paw for a second while I adjusted the weighty load. Twilight was a genius, but even with shrinking she couldn’t take the weight away from the horde currently stashed in my bags. It had taken a bit, and a siphon to direct all the coins into the bags as they shrunk, but it had been much quicker than making the eight trips Twilight had estimated we’d need.

After we’d cleared the gold the cave had been eerily empty, only the char of the knight left. Rarity was a bit of an earth magic expert, and had made the floor of the cave liquid to bury Dovbormah. I’d used some of the ruby I’d been borne in to inscribe a small epitaph in, just his name and how he died.

Apparently the stone was quite valuable, and Rarity had nearly passed out when I’d told her she could have most of it. I’d kept a small stone, half the size of my fist, and tied it around my neck with a cord. As my mind wandered back, it sounded like she was trying again to explain to me what I was giving her. I shook my head at her, smiling.

“All the money in the world it may be worth, but all it’d remind me of is my birth. It’s basically a large doorstop to me, you can have it sweetie.”

Cocking my head, I looked around the group, then to Applejack.

“I think we may near Zecora’s,” she had said, shrugging. “Maybe her magic is messing with yours?”

Keeping my mouth shut, I nodded and continued on the path, hitching at the bags again. It was strange, walking through an old forest that hadn’t been here last time I’d passed through. The girls seemed agitated and high-strung the entire time, but I enjoyed walking through the old trees. I could almost feel them breathing, as they took in our breath and exhaled air for us…

Dizzy, I sat down suddenly and shook my head, trying to not think about the trees anymore. The girls stopped, picking out their own spots and joining me on the ground. Rarity bothered to spread a cloth that seemed to be for this explicit service, but everyone else ignored the dust of the path.

This was the fourth time I’d experienced this kind of vertigo, the first being the moment I’d seen the sky again. Then again when I’d realized that I could feel the earth moving, spinning on two axis tied to each other. That one had almost made me vomit, until I realized that I didn’t have anything to throw up. Then again when I felt the grass breathing, and now another sort of plant life.

“What was it this time?” Twilight asked, bemused. She’d been fascinated when I’d revealed that I could feel Equis turning, and that I felt it turning multiple ways. She’d attempted to explain the physics of gravity and how the earth turned around the sun and its poles, but I’d shaken my head.

“Not always,” I’d said, memory stuttering. “I think, long ago, the sun merely scorched the earth while it sat, stagnating. The dragons of old… Much bigger than the ones today… pushed…?”

I’d lost my train of thought then, and was unable to recover it. Twilight had been extremely interested, and mentioned a couple of spell she used on herself whenever she couldn’t remember something, but I’d hastily declined and staggered to my feet, walking around to get air. She was still obviously interested in everything I had for her, and I had a feeling she always would be.

“It was like the grass this time, but all the forest fauna. The trees release much more oxygen, comparatively.” I shook my head gently, almost feeling the vapors of thought clear away. “I’m okay to walk again, whenever you ladies are ready.”

We stood up, everyone eager to be home, when there was a tearing noise and my saddlebags fell off of my hips. Looking down, I saw that the top halves of the strap looked ragged, like someone had been sawing at it.

“Was that one of Pinkie’s practical jokes you’ve been telling me about?” I asked Twilight, who looked at the just as confused pink mare.

Shaking her head, Twilight gently pushed me out of the way and stared at the frayed cloth, examining it almost microscopically. A spark in her eye, she reared up and placed her hooves on my flank, moving my shaggy coat around. Craning my neck, I watched as she moved the fur away from my spine, revealing a row of short spikes. Gingerly she ran a hoof over one of the spines, observing her hoof as blood slowly filled the small cut.

Shaking her head, she put some sort of magic covering on her hoof before letting herself fall from my back. “Rarity, can you use your sewing kit to fix his bags? You’ll need to look at his back first, so you can design the bags around… well, around him.”

Confused, Rarity walked up to me and eyed my flank. Quickly, I laid down again, and the rest of the group assembled around me once again as Twilight pulled my coat away from my spine again. “Careful,” she said as Rarity reached forward to touch one of the spikes. “They’re incredibly sharp.”

“But mine are dull!” Spike pouted, staring back at his own spine. “He’s not even a real dragon, why do his get to be sharp?”

I felt a twitching in my shoulders, and I lowered my face until we were eye-level.

“I am four thousand years older than you, plus some,” I informed him icily. “Next time you want to point out that I’m not a dragon, do so in our language.”

Spike looked away, and I thought it was from shame at first. Then I noticed the lacy ice that covered his scales, and I pulled away. “Sorry,” I gasped, breathing deeply and looking into the woods. “That wasn’t intentional, I swear…”

“I know,” he said stiffly, still looking away. The ice was already melting, and it pooled in his eyes as it ran down his forehead.

“I think I can fix this,” Rarity broke in nervously. “But, can you please sit still while I measure…?”

Nodding, I lowered my head while the seamstress went to work, measuring around and between the spines as I laid there, watching as Twilight walked over to the sulking dragon sitting against a tree.

“This may be uncomfortable,” Rarity said, stirring me out of my thoughts, “But can you go lay on the saddlebags? That’ll make it easier…”

I stood up and walked over to the bags on the ground, laying between them and lifting the strap over my back with my magic. Looking up, I met two startled glances, and four vaguely surprised faces.

Pinkie was in the middle of a long drawn out gasp, and Spike was just looking fairly disgusted. “So, what’s weird now?” I asked wearily, letting the magic out of my horn.

“You’re not only using dragon magic, but unicorn as well?” Twilight asked. My nod brought her closer, with her peering at my forehead. “Well, we all thought it was decoration, like with larger dragons. We didn’t think you were a unicorn…”

I nodded, smiling. “That’s how I was born, a forest green unicorn.. My coat was a little lighter than it was, now, and the charcoal tinges weren’t here,” I said, motioning to my fetlocks, “but my mane was always pretty dark gray. Never was this shaggy, though.”

“Well, you have been out of it awhile,” Rainbow said, shrugging. “I almost always let mine get like that, then chop it all off. If you like, I could help out with yours?”

Rarity looked like she was about to say something, clearly scandalized, but I interrupted her with my own declination. “I think I like my mane and tail long, thanks. Although I may get some of my actual coat shortened.”

Rarity nodded her acceptance, humming absently to herself as she sewed the strap around the spikes. Rainbow shrugged and floated off towards Twilight, who was now talking to a slightly smiling Spike, joking with him about some growth spurt he’d had.

“All done!” Rarity called out, tugging absently on the strap as she tested it. It held under her magic, and she nodded. I stood up and shook my hips slowly, testing the weight.

“It’s not as shifting anymore, and it’s definitely more comfortable. Thank you, Rarity.”

She smiled and muttered something along the lines of ‘Of course, darling’, but she was more preoccupied with putting her sewing kit in her own saddlebags and making sure everything was straight inside.

I left her to it, walking aver to Spike and Twilight. Twilight looked strangely at me, and Spike met my eyes nervously. Slowly, I kneeled and lowered my neck, until we were eye level again, though I was much farther away than the first time. “Spike,” I started, but he held his paw up to me.

“Mine first,” he said, embarrassed. “I overreacted, especially when you couldn’t have had anything to do with your condition. I shouldn’t have been jealous, and I’m sorry.”

Smiling, I touched my horn to his topmost spike. “I’ll accept your apology, if you’ll accept mine. I was far out of line, and I shouldn’t have reacted in that way. You at least have youth on your side. I have no excuse.”

Spike smiled, and gently laid his palm on my forehead. Every nerve tingled and my mind tried to wrench me away from the subservient position, but I held on for a minute before slowly getting to my feet.

“Come on then ladies, I think it’s time we were at your homes.” They nodded, and we continued down the forest path.
> Chapter 4. Into Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity had been correct when she’d told me that there would be a small panic once we hit town; slightly less correct when she said Twilight’s presence would smooth things over quickly.

As soon as the first pony, a pink earth pony with yellow hair, saw me, she ran screaming into town. Rarity rolled her eyes and sighed, muttering something about lilies. Twilight touched her shoulder to my leg, and I smiled faintly.

“Don’t worry too much about me, girls. Remember, I was a unicorn in earth pony territory. I’m used to ponies thinking I’m a monster.” The girls looked uncomfortable, but Spike nodded. The tale of his growth had been one of our road stories, and I knew he at least understood what it was like to be considered a villain.

“You’re not a monster, Mr. Qilin…” Fluttershy started, but she squeaked when I cut her short with a chuckle.

“I know, I know. I was saying, I’m used to it. And that’s not my name, you know.”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash. “Uhm, no, we didn’t,” Rainbow said. “You, uh, haven’t told us your name yet. We weren’t sure you had one, honestly.”

I cocked my eyebrow. “Of course I have a name, it’s… it’s…”

I frowned, thinking hard. I know I had a name, something singular… something to do with trees? Forestion? Faunus? I shook my head.

“Uhm, call me….”

Wracking my mind, I eventually shrugged. “Call me Kiirdotiid. Kiir for short, if you like.”

“Kiirdotiid, huh?” Twilight nodded, smiling wryly. “Child of time?”

“Might as well,” I said brightly, continuing the walk into town. The others nearly had to run to catch up with me, and the subject was successfully dropped, for the moment.

When we reached the edge of town, a large bell started tolling. Twilight screwed her face up, eyes closed, and counted to ten under her breath. When she finished, her eyes opened and she stared into town angrily.

“I told them to only use that bell in emergency,” she said between clenched teeth. “I’m going to have to take it away, aren’t I?”

Rarity nodded, a grimace painted across her face as the splitting bell tolled through the streets. “Or at least give it to one of us. I can put it in the top of my boutique.”

They chattered back and forth, making plans as we walked through town. Soon though, we walked towards what seemed to be a market, though all the stalls were currently lined up in front of the entrance.

“Halt, vile beast!” a voice called from behind the blockade, quivering. “We shall not allow you to raze our town and eat our foals!”

I lifted an eyebrow and called, “And how do you plan to stop me, foolish mortal!?”

The voice squeaked and started stuttering something about untold magics and a lake, and about various foes she’d truly, really defeated before.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Dizzy Twister! I thought better of you, than to try and scare a new resident!” A tan coated pony popped up from behind one of the stalls, staring  with wide eyes at the Princess. “I know you’re very brave, but shouldn’t you ask questions first?”

“Twilight?” Dizzy asked, still stunned. After a minute or two, she turned and yelled, “All clear guys! It’s with Twilight!”

A line of ponies all poked their heads up from behind the stalls, and many windows pulled their shutters aside to peek. I turned slowly, waving to the ponies I could see behind the blockade. Slowly they walked out of their houses, and the stall owners all moved their shops back out of the way, turning the space into a market once again.

A small crowd gathered, oohing and awing as I greeted them, introducing myself and shaking hooves. Quickly tiring, Twilight verbally broke the crowd apart, annoyed and ready to go home.

“Actually dear, I think I’ll take my leave here,” Rarity said, looking towards a taller white and purple building. “I’m quite tired, and it’ll be nice to get a bath after all of that dirt.”

The other ponies agreed, and Twilight, Spike, Applejack and I split from the rest of the group, heading for Twilight’s library. I saw a large tree in the middle of the town, and assumed it to be someone’s personal undertaking; not many trees grew to that height by themselves, not in the middle of a city like this.

When I noticed we were heading straight for it, I wondered if it was one of Twilight’s projects. When we got closer, I stopped and craned my neck up, staring at the balcony and assorted windows in the trunk.

“This is a house,” I said, looking at its imposing height as Applejack made her goodbyes.

Most ponies, even the unicorns, would never have thought of using a tree for anything but a temporary residence, if that. This one was the size of a mansion, easily.

“Yeah, it’s a bit smaller than what I was used to in Canterlot, but it’s comfortable enough for Spike and I,” Twilight said, grinning and unlocking the door.

I walked inside and was surprised again when I noticed how smooth it was inside. I’d expected the inside to have been carved out, but instead it looked like someone had grown the tree into a building. Like they had used extensive magic to shape it.

Twilight closed the door and sighed happily, dumping her luggage on the floor and walking into another room while Spike started to pick up her bags thoughtlessly and put them away. Starting to pick them up, he seemed to notice how much heavier one was, and called for Twilight to come back.

“Where do you want me to put your collection?” he asked, hefting the heavier bag by its strap. “I think this is the one with the scrolls…”

“Oh my gosh, I forgot!” Twilight yelped and grabbed the bag in her magic, toting both it and the dragon over to a nearby table. “I need to catalog these right away! Spike, would you please…?” She trailed off, looking around for the dragon.

Pointing a claw at the bag Twilight was holding, I directed her attention to the assistant she was currently dangling. Frowning, she loosened his wrist and set him down.

“Tea?” he asked, and her face lightened as she nodded.

“Snacks?” Another nod, and he was off into the room Twilight was just in.

Popping his head back in, Spike frowned at me. “What do you eat?” he asked, and I cocked my head.

“Uhm, it used to be whatever I could get my hooves on, but I have a feeling that’s not quite the case anymore…” I thought about it on length, then shrugged. “Can I just try whatever there is here for you?”

Frowning slightly still, Spike disappeared into the kitchen for a minute or two. While he was working, I took off my saddlebag and set it off to the side of a chair. I then discovered that I couldn’t use said chair without my ears almost brushing the ceiling. Scooting it away, I sat on the floor instead, feeling slightly like a domesticated dog, but much more comfortable and actually near Twilight’s eye-line.

During this Twilight seemed to forget that I was even here, instead pulling out a small drawstring bag full of shrunken, silver scrolls. Concentrating, she separated one from the rest, then restored it to its full length of roughly seven hooves. Dropping it very carefully on the table, Twilight slowly looked over the scroll while summoning one of her own with a quill in tow.

She spun it slowly while she looked it over, quill annotating her observations as she spoke them out loud. After a few seconds Spike trotted over with a pot of hot water on a tray, with many other little pots covering it and two cups. Showing me how the strainer worked and what was in all the pots, he set Twilight’s tea to steeping and returned to the kitchen.

Working the tops and bottoms of the scroll, Twilight twisted one end off and slowly pulled some very yellow parchment out. Eyes widening, she gagged slightly and slid the roll back into its container. Taking a sip of her tea she made a face and dunked the silver basket a couple of times and sipped again. When I reached toward the scroll she made a face.

“That’s made of vellum,” she said distastefully. When she saw my blank face she shook her head. “It’s, uhm, very distasteful to say the least. Long lasting, but horrible.” Nodding, I slipped off the lid and tilted the scroll into my claw, careful to keep my new talons away. Twilight gagged slightly again and looked away as I slowly unrolled the scroll. It crinkled a little and cracked once, but mostly held together well.

Twilight couldn’t be kept away long, and she was soon gazing over my shoulder as I looked over the ancient runes spaced on the scroll, basically one large square block of ink. Confused, Twilight brought her face closer and traced over one of the runes with a hoof.

“Spike, think you can send one of these to Celestia?” she asked, hefting the silver container. Spike peeked in from the kitchen, then shook his head.  

“Too heavy, and metals just don’t transfer very well. You’ll either have to ship it, or take it to her yourself.” Looking up at me, he said, “You should also tell her about Kiir here; she’d be interested in him too.”

Twilight looked up at me, then grinned.

“I know we just got here, but how do you feel…?”

I started shaking my head almost immediately. “Sorry Twilight, but as you said, I just got here, and everything is still so very new. I have no qualms with meeting your ruler, but I would much rather get some mental rest first.” I looked down, into her table. “But if she doesn’t want to wait… This may sound very conceited of me, but do you think she would make time to come here instead?”

Twilight’s eyes widened, then narrowed as she looked at some paper thing on her wall.

“Uhm, actually, I think she’s supposed to be visiting town tomorrow, something about officially looking over how I’m doing as the fourth ruler of Equestria… which means she’ll be sending me some of her less pressing paperwork, and visiting while she’s showing me how to do it.” She floated another piece of paper over and scribbled on it quickly, then rolled it and handed it to Spike.

“Go ahead and send that now, and we’ll see if she wants to come earlier.” He nodded, then blew out a small line of flame, incinerating it into a whirling line of ash that flew beneath the crack under the door and off into the sky.

“We shouldn’t be waiting for the reply too…” Twilight started before being interrupted by a scroll flaming itself out of Spike’s mouth. Catching it in her magic, Twilight quickly unrolled the scroll and looked at it, before flipping it and showing us the one word hastily scribbled upon it.

Coming.

Looking around it, I asked, “What did you tell her?”

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

Luna caught the scroll that had been sent to Celestia, wondering who was writing to her currently napping sister. Opening the letter, she skimmed through it until a certain word caught her eye.  

Slowly putting down the small cake she’d been snacking on, she carefully reread the letter.

Dear Princess,

I have wonderful news! Not only was the site the maps and stories spoke of there, it was in much better shape than I could have hoped for! Full of piles of gold and many wonderful trinkets, it is very surprising to me that no one has ever looked for it before. And not only that, but we found a pony in there! Technically a Qilin (this was the word to give Luna pause), but he’s still a very nice pony. He’s been asleep for almost five thousand years! I also found multiple scrolls that I just can’t read. I know your visit isn’t supposed to be until tomorrow, but if you want to meet this pony he’s here with me until we can get him a home.

Fondest regards, Twilight Sparkle.

Hastily scribbling a word upon a nearby scroll, Luna shook her sister until Celestia’s eyes opened, very confused.

“Awaken quickly sister,” Luna said, striding over to her sister’s closet as she sent the scroll. “Twilight Sparkle has found something…” She paused, thinking carefully. “Rather, she has found someone that requires our immediate attention.”

Opening the closet, she dug through the deepest shadows before she pulled out two traveling cloaks, ancient and patched, along with two scarves that matched. Looking at them, Celestia sat up as she met her sister’s eyes, confused.

“Why are you in my room? Luna, what are you doing with those, I haven’t seen them in hundreds of years… Are you eating my cake!?”

Casting one cloak around herself and tossing the other around Celestia, Luna grinned. “Sister, we haven’t had need of them for thousands of years. Celestia,” she whispered, “Twilight has found a Dovah Kiindah, a true Qilin!”

Without another word, Celestia jumped out of her bed, throwing her cloak over her head and taking the letter Luna shoved her way. Reading it over, she nodded before walking out of the room, Luna on her heel.
> Chapter 5. A Meeting Unprepared For
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight immediately began scrabbling around the room, wings fluffed and outstretched as she rushed up the stairs. There was instantly a loud clanging and a muttered, “Horsefeathers!”

Spike sighed, reaching up to look at the single word and raising an eyebrow. “Can you get the door?”

Turning his head, I raised my own eyebrow back at the dragon.

Before I could say anything, two solid knocks sounded from the door, and Spike’s face became almost unbearably smug.

Chuckling, I stood up and walked over to the library’s door as the littler draconic being waddled towards the kitchen, muttering about having to find the fancy cakes and the ground coffee.

As I neared the entry, I paused, paw outstretched towards the knob.

I didn’t know anything about these princesses beyond that Twilight was very fond of Celestia, and the seven of them had done some great things to impress these two rulers. I didn’t know this kingdom, this era, or even these mare’s last names! What would I do if these two beings were here to destroy me like some sort of monster, or—

Another set of knocks, perfect copies of the first two, gave my anxieties a swift kick.

Taking a deep breath, I continued reaching out and turned the knob.

Two ponies stood there, and to my complete and utter shock, I recognized them. Their garb, at least.

While back in my time, most alicorns had considered themselves far above the ponies surrounding them, their true rulers, or found them completely inconsequential either way. A select few wanted to help those around them, either elevate them to their station or, much more frequently, make those around them happier and friendlier to their fellow ponies.

And since these two didn’t have giant scissors or needles and weren’t covered in blood, I assumed they were the latter sort.

The white one on the left cleared her throat, but the shorter blue one beat her to it, enunciating something in a deep voice. My fur stood on end but I was pretty sure she wasn’t trying to stop my heart with a spell.

Pretty sure.

“Uh, hello?” I asked in Equish. “My name’s Kiirdotiid, uhm, for now.”

They stared at me for a moment before I remembered something Twilight had taught me and awkwardly put my paw out for a shake.

Both rulers looked down at my paw as I extended it, gazed at it for a beat, then looked back up into my face.

“Oh, you’re new to this,” Celestia mono-toned. Then with a sharp glance at the other princess, she reeled a hoof back and punched her in the shoulder. “He’s new to this!”

“Ow!” the princess muttered, punching her sister back as she said, “I didn’t know! Stoppit, ow—”

I watched, speechless, as the two rulers of the most prosperous kingdom in all of Equus per Twilight devolved into a flurry of strikes and name-calling.

There was a crunching noise beside me, and I looked down to see Spike standing there, eating a darkly golden cookie and watching the wrestling match with faint amusement.

“Do they do this often?” I asked.

Taking another bite, Spike thought about it for a moment before deciding, “They don’t usually hit this hard.”

“Ah,” I murmured, before returning to watch as the princesses of this land, raisers of the celestial bodies, etc., wrestled in the dirt.

The dark one had the other in a headlock.

“What are you two doing!? They’ll be here any second now, and I need to make sure my room is completely spot—”

Twilight shoved her head between us, saw the dust cloud in front of her door with a random blue wing and golden hoof shoe showing briefly, and sighed. “Oh, they’re here. And fighting. In the dirt. Like foals.”

We waited and watched for a little bit before Twilight sighed deeply.

“D’you wanna—?” Spike started to ask.

“I’ll go get the garden hose!” Twilight half yelled before cautiously edging around the flurry of blows on her doorstep.

Two minutes, quite a bit of yelling, and a drying spell later, the two rulers of all ponydom were sitting beside each other, sipping at cups of cocoa and pretending not to elbow each other whenever Twilight looked away.

“So,” I said, placing a paw on the table. “My name is Kiirdotiid, or Kiir. As you’ve gleaned from my name, apparently, I’m new to….”

My eyes tried to lose focus again as I looked at the ceiling for the words, but I ended up shaking my head.

“So I’m new to being alive again,” I said, waving the same paw around before snagging a cookie from Spike’s plate, ignoring the “Hey!” as I munched on it. “Especially like this,” I said, gesturing at my chest and waving the cookie up and down in the air.

Gingery. That brought back memories of certain actions undertaken by unicorn nobility.

Scandalous.

“Well,” the white one, Celestia seemingly, started, “there are a few ways that beings such as yourself arise. The most common one is, well, conception. But then you’d have parents around, and you wouldn’t normally sleep for centuries, much less millennia.”

“Normally?” Interrupted her sister, looking over at her with white froth covering her upper lip.

“One happened, but it was more of a Cockatrice thing,” Celestia said quickly, glancing at her sister. Luna made a small ‘o’ with her lips before nodding.

“In your case,” she said, returning her gaze to me, “it’s more likely one of two things. Back, way back in times before even we were born, draconic mages created homunculi with spells to intertwine their ‘essences’ with that of other creatures. At the time, the conception of children between dragons and ponies was known, although highly taboo for both races, so most mages didn’t bother with this form of a homunculus.

“But it’s not unheard of,” Twilight murmured, starting to pull a thick tome off of a shelf across the library.

“Mmm, that’s not what happened,” I interrupted, holding a paw up.

Twilight still brought the book over, but she placed it to the side instead of diving into it.

“I was,” I started, but paused when I saw Spike perk up.

“I’m, uhm, not sure as to how suited this story is for younger creatures,” I murmured, looking apologetically at the dragon.

Spike, to my surprise, didn’t complain, but immediately both Twilight and Celestia began protesting.

“Ah,” I said, holding up my palms, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell him, just that I wasn’t sure.”

Both mares looked at me unhappily, but Spike put his paws out and touched them gently. “He doesn’t know,” Spike said softly, smiling up at them, “and I’ve been pretty childish today. Don’t worry about it.”

When Spike nodded at me, I nodded back slowly, then began telling them of how I’d stumbled into Dovbormah’s cave, finding the dragon wounded. I spoke about how I’d assisted the dragon, but when I began to tell of how the dragon had wanted to pay me back, both of the older alicorns drew in a breath and sat fully upright.

“No,” Celestia said, aghast, almost terrified. “No, no dragon has been named as a Creator since—“

“Dovbormah,” Luna breathed, “Dragon Father. He didn’t mean metaphorically, he meant it literally,” she said, glancing wide-eyed at Celestia.

Celestia and Luna both shared a look before glancing around the room. Their heads snapped back together, and they began speaking at intense speed, in a language no one else in the room recognized, I guessed by Twilight and Spike’s looks. It was strange, rapid-fire, almost like a gust of wind but with more structure. Listening closely, I could barely make out strange, song-like consonants and lingering vowels.

“Spike,” both spoke simultaneously, causing the dragon to jump in place as they whipped their heads toward him together.

“You can’t—” Luna began to say breathlessly but paused when Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder, biting her lip. Actually biting it, Kiir could see it bruising and healing in waves.

“Spike,” she said, slower and measured, “what you are about to hear… It’s a deep secret of the world. Normally I would never allow it, but….” She looked at Twilight, then at me. “But I trust you.”

Looking between the larger beings in the room, Spike seemed to shrink in on himself, his thumbs twiddling as he looked between Celestia, then me, and finally at Twilight. Taking a deep breath, he visibly steeled himself, then nodded.

“I won’t tell anypony,” he started to say, but Celestia shook her head.

“Not only can you not tell anyone,” Celestia said sadly, gazing deeply into his eyes, “but you are never, in any circumstances ever, to duplicate what you are about to hear. Not only is it lethal for the dragon involved, but….”

Luna looked at her as she trailed off before saying, “It has only been done three times before in the history of the world.

“This action that Kiir describes has resulted in three beings of unnatural power and ability,” she continued. “The first time, completed with twins, begat the beings who would grow to give their lives to become Sun, and Moon.”

Twilight inhaled sharply, looking at her teacher. “Wait, the sun and moon…?”

“No, Twilight,” Celestia said rather forlornly. “Not the sun and moon. Properly, Sun and Moon.”

Luna nodded sadly before going on.

“The third was….” She sighed deeply, shifting uncomfortably, before saying, “The third was a mistake. One of my and my sister’s designs.

“Back, and before even then, we tried to… force, the transformation. We found a dragon, unwilling, and used the process to attempt to turn one of our most trusted friends, a pony, into what Kiir has apparently become.

“We created Discord, the first Draconequus,” she murmured, looking at her sister, the both of them nearly in tears.
> Chapter 6. Nah
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I heard Twilight gasp and Spike inhale sharply. Glancing at them, I saw they were staring wide-eyed at the sisters and sighed sharply.

“It sounds like that was quite the confession,” I said, my neck cracking as I put my face in my paws, “If you knew who or what a ‘discord’ is. A draconequus? A dragon pony? Is that what I am, then?”

I heard some muttering from across the table before Celestia said, “Discord is the only known example of a Draconequus. He is the spirit of chaos itself and ruled over all of the world until my sister and I vanquished him with the powers of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Okay, so I’m not one of his race?” I asked into the palms of my hands.

The muttering happened again.

“No,” Luna declared before saying, “at least not yet. Discord transformed as soon as the ritual began, but as the ritual has only been completed successfully twice, we cannot say for sure what it is you will become over time.”

“Okay,” I sighed. “That’s fine. But you mentioned Sun and Moon underwent the same process before they were placed above us?”

“Yes, though we weren’t there at the time,” Celestia said. “It is told in stories passed down through alicorns, most of which we have not written down to keep from the hands of those who would do evil with the knowledge.”

“Which is why Twilight does not know of them yet,” Luna chimed in. “We have not gifted her the knowledge yet, as she is new to the transformation.”

“Do you know any of the specifics behind their transformation or ascension?”

“We know the process, and that they did great things on the planet before rising,” Celestia replied. “They are responsible for many of the race’s creation, except the dragons and alicorns. Including ponykind.”

“Which is why we’re unsure as to you, Kiir,” Luna said before she could continue. “The other two who underwent this transformation were alicorns, according to the tales and our own knowledge. But since we did not hear of an alicorn’s disappearance, we assume you were a pony?”

“Yes,” I murmured into my hands before looking back up and across the table, “a unicorn. But wait, how did the dragons and creatures of the world live before there was Sun and Moon? I was taught that Sun gives us all the warmth and light, and Moon gives us the required rest and good dreams in our sleep.”

“They do, now,” Celestia said, nodding, “but before their ascension, our planet merely had a star and a satellite, the original sun and moon. A heinous villain known only as Grogar, an evil sorcerer,  banished both of these to a realm of unknown shadows and deepest darkness before following them. Many learned alicorn magicians theorize that he created his own world, but didn’t have the power to mimic a star or another body such as the ancient moon.

“The leaders of the alicorns and the dragons called together a council, putting aside generations of fighting and death, to save this world from the blighted void and murderous cold of space.”

Taking a breath, Celestia gently coughed. Her horn lit before there was a noise from the room Spike had brought food out of before. A tall glass of water floated to her from within, and she drank half of it before continuing.

“For a year, our planet cooled, while the dragons used their fires and magics to keep it from freezing over completely. At the end of it, a singular theory was put forth by an oracle of the alicorns. Only the purest of blends of our magics could save our world.”

Luna took the glass and finished off the water before she took over.

“There were no hybrids of our races at the time. After some trials, it was found that the natural genetics of our races were simply incompatible.

“Some magical hybridization was attempted,” Celestia muttered with a frown, “but none of these homunculi were….”

She twirled her hoof in the air, searching for a word or term before Luna said outright, “They did not come out right. They were either outright evil in nature, or stunted in growth or intelligence. These failures were cast out, and many became the progenitors of our modern-day monsters.”

“So instead of saving the world, this council further blighted it?” I asked, frowning heavily.

The alicorns shared a look.

“We do not condone or forget the failings of our ancestors,” Celestia sighed, hanging her head, “but they did what they thought they had to do.”

“And in the end, they succeeded,” Luna said, sighing. “A process was theorized wherein the souls of their people could be mixed and used to create a pure, massively powerful being. But throughout the many trials, only more failures were conceived.”

“In the end, it was a mother that finally completed the theory,” Celestia said bitterly. “She held her daughter to her chest and felt some maternal magic flow between them, comforting them both.”

“Scholars, learned magicians, and philosophers on both sides tried to make sense of this new discovery, but the world was freezing. Death for all was imminent, and action was required,” Luna took up for her sister. “Acting on instinct and following the paths of magic that their hearts sang to them, the mother and father of dragons gave their lives to become one with the twin leaders of the alicorns.

“Through their sacrifice, the four souls were entwined, and Sun and Moon were given life.”

“On the surface of the planet?” Twilight asked. “But the— I mean, Sun has been magically recorded to be millions of degrees hot. The planet would have been incinerated!”

“Sun and Moon were new to their birth, and their powers were rawer and less concentrated,” Celestia told her. “Their magics were tied directly into the planet’s veins of magic, what we call the ley lines. With much of their magic being pulled away and into the freezing world, they were well and able to walk the earth.”

“For a while,” Luna put in. “In their time remaining, they performed many arcane feats, according to the tales. Such as creating many of the intelligent creatures of the world, to balance the evils accidentally unleashed upon it by their progenitors. They even changed how magic assists the creation of viable children, enabling offspring between alicorns and dragons, and many of the other races as well.”

“But then?” I asked when the alicorns were lost to their thoughts.

“But then,” Celestia said agreeably, “their magic grew. Where Sun walked the planet, the very life around them flourished, blossoming the world’s forests and gardens, until the warmth of their heart grew into the heat of a million furnaces, and they burned the very life they sought to progress.”

“Where Moon walked,” Luna intoned, “all of life grew weary, rested well, and dreamed of their heart’s wishes and wants. But those rests grew longer, and those dreams became dark with nightmares that snuck between the thin places in realms. The weather began to sleep and dream dark dreams, creating the seasons as Summer’s death became Autumn and Winter, and upon waking, lead to the birthing Spring and growing back into Summer.”

“And then, upon the place of their meeting, the world itself was thrown into chaos, as life and dreams and summer and winter and heat and cold all fought for dominance.” Celestia sighed. “They planned there, as the world around them died and lived, and then sent out dreams to the remaining alicorns, telling them their plans and how to enact them.”

“With great beats of their mighty wings, the two masters of the world left it,” Luna sighed, gesturing to the sky. “And thus, Sun and Moon move in an eternal dance, across from each other, around the world, to give life and rest in cycles. But they require tuning to not give too much of themselves to the world, which is what we do, my sister and I. Speak to these ancient powers of our world, and adjust them to best grow the garden of Equus.”

I stared at the two sisters for a long minute.

“But is that going to happen to me?” I asked.

The two looked at each other before shrugging.

“We have no idea,” Luna replied bluntly.

“But in case it does,” Celestia said, her horn lighting up as she seemingly pulled a thick sheaf of papers from the ether, “we have a plan in place. Just in case something like this happens, alicorns have passed down their tests on both themselves, and Sun and Moon after their ascension.”

“In paper,” I said, watching as Celestia carefully set the stack on the table, obscuring herself almost to the tip of her horn.

Leaning around the shifting stack, she said, “Well, I’ve transcribed it a couple of times whenever court gets boring. I keep the first bit with me to look busy when the nobles try to talk me into something stupid.”

“Wait, we didn’t even go into the process,” Twilight said, raising her hoof into the air. “How do we know what Kiir went through is even the same process as what Sun and Moon used?”

The sisters shared a look, pushing aside the pile of papers before nodding to Kiir.

“Oh, uh,” I said, blinking as I tried to remember where I’d been. “Well, when he said he wanted to reward me, he talked about how I would sleep for years. Thousands of centuries, he told me. After he made me swear an oath never to misuse this gift, he cut into his chest and then into his heart. Picking me up, he placed me into the chamber and invoked a phrase. Uh, he named himself and said, ‘I will now sleep in the rock of eternity’, whatever that means.”

“The names of the four original leaders are inscribed in the foundations of the world, forever living on in the memory of the earth,” Celestia filled in. “It sounds like since he knew and used this process, his name was somehow added? And perhaps yours as well.”

“But this doesn’t sound right,” Luna said, shaking her head. “The process was a full ritual, with chanting and promises to each other, sworn in the language of the planet itself. It sounds as if he merely followed along in the pattern of the ritual and didn’t fulfill it entirely.”

“Or he used an altered version of it,” Celestia said, chewing on her bottom lip. “Even five thousand years ago, the ritual was ages old. Maybe this new Dovbormah was one of the ancient sages that assisted with the ritual and altered it? Or perhaps he just didn’t know the full scope of it and went through with what he knew?”

“We’ll never know,” Luna sighed. “He’s long dead, and we don’t even know his previous name to attempt to find a relative of his.”

The five of us were silent after this proclamation. Spike was particularly still, his head lowered, gaze staring into the table as he thought.

“What about this Discord?” I asked, gaze flicking up to the sisters. “You said he was a pony?”

The two sisters instantly looked away, down and to the side.

“We will not speak at length about what we did to him,” Luna said, tone rigid. “We tried to force another ritual with a dragon who was unwilling, to confront a force more powerful than any other we’ve ever faced.”

“The disharmony between the two souls crystallized,” Celestia whispered.

“Discord did as we initially planned, sealing away the force that eventually became Tartarus,” Luna continued, “but after he did, he was consumed by the newfound power he controlled, the very spirit of the chaos that was born from the place where Sun and Moon sat together.”

“It’s why I asked you to reform him, Twilight,” Celestia admitted. “I had hoped to find our old friend again.”

“While you have succeeded,” Luna sighed, “he refuses still to be in our presence. Doubtless he knows of this new qilin, you, Kiir,” she nodded to him, “but he’s keeping his distance until he figures out more about you. And until we leave, he’ll keep this distance.”

“But he’ll show up eventually,” I guessed, sighing. Once again lowering my head into my paws, I groaned slightly as I tried to press back the growing headache.

“Kiir?” Twilight asked, gently placing a hoof on my shoulder.

“I just woke up,” I said, chuckling weakly, “and already I’ve had three royals come after me for information, with another ex-royal spirit of a basic worldly force on the line-up. I’ve heard the true telling of the formation of Sun and Moon and learned that I might follow in their hoofsteps. I need to buy a house and figure out if I even want to settle among a race that, last I remember, couldn’t even look at each other without fighting, though that seems to have been put to rest, judging by your group of friends.”

“It has been,” Twilight quickly interrupted, everyone else in the room nodding.

“Good,” I murmured before continuing, “I was also… I guess conceived? Reconceived? Reborn through some ancient ritual that, apparently, only produces godlike beings. And on top of it all, I’ve got a twelve-hoof tall pile of paperwork to read through.”

“And initial,” Celestia said apologetically.

Taking a deep breath, I stood up, pushing the cup of cold tea away.

“No.”

Shaking my head, I turned and headed towards the door.

“No?” Twilight asked, and I heard her stand from the table, her chair scraping. “Kiir?”

Laughing, I turned my head and looked over my shoulder.

Celestia had a stunned expression, and Luna looked at me like she was waiting for a punchline. Spike looked amused and had a little smile.

Twilight looked uncertain, one of her hooves resting on the table; the rest of her turned towards me.

“Twilight, no,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m going to go find someplace to sleep for the night, and then I’m going to find somewhere to live. After that?” I sighed, shaking my head. “I’ll figure that out after I wake up. For now? Goodnight.”

Grabbing my altered saddlebags from the peg beside the door, I left, closing the door behind me.

“Wonder if I can find an inn around here,” I muttered, glancing around the area before heading off toward where I’d seen the market.

Maybe I could find somepony sane there.
> Chapter 7. Starting Over, Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I frowned at the double doors before me. I’d thought that asking, “Excuse me, do you know of a place to stay in town?” would lead me to an inn or at least a tavern.

Instead, it had led to a couple of giggling mares, a blushing stallion, and hooves pointed to what had been called ‘the Town Hall’.

Either the mayor had rooms to rent, or the ponies of this town were quite presumptive.

Still, I didn’t have any other leads, and the sun was setting, so I opened the door and poked my head into the large space. Glancing around, I noted a large board that seemed to be made of cork with pages nailed into it. Beside it was a door labeled “Mayoral Office”.

Walking to it, I knocked gently, smirking slightly when I heard a sigh.

“Yes, hello?”

“Hi, sorry,” I started slowly, but I paused when I heard the mare on the other side clear her throat.

“You can go ahead and open the door,” she said with a bit of a smile in her tone.

Snorting, I grasped the handle and turned it, poking my head in.

“Oh,” she murmured, straightening as she saw me, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting the newest guest of Princess Twilight. What can I do for you… sir?”

“Well, I’m sorry to bother you with this,” I said, slowly opening the door and sitting just inside the threshold, “but I’ve been trying to find a place to rest the night, an inn or tavern, and everyone kept pointing me your way….”

“Oh, are you not staying with Twilight?” She looked me up and down swiftly. “Ah, never mind, I see the problem myself.”

“You do?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, that tree house of hers is only so big,” she said, waving a hoof from my paws to the top of my head, “and you’re a larger creature, no offense. That said, our only inn was closed years ago, and we haven’t had a tavern in a century or so.

“That said,” she said, leaning over her desk, “if Twilight’s sent you off with some sort of stipend, we do have a couple of places for sale if you’d like to take a look. But of course, she didn’t give you enough to buy somewhere outright, did she? We can always discuss a lease-to-own contract if you’re interested?”

Frowning, I started to correct the mayor before mentally shrugging and reaching into my enchanted saddlebags. Fetching out one of the many simple gold coins, I set it on the desk before her.

“I have some, uhm, foreign coins. Are they worth anything?”

The mayor hummed, picking up the coin and cocking an eyebrow at the muted gold shine. Muttering to herself, she pulled a set of scales from a shelf behind her and placed it on the desk. Pulling a coin of her own, she plopped it on one side before placing my coin on the other scale.

Raising both eyebrows, she pulled and placed another of her coins, then one more before the scales evened out.

Roughly.

“Mmm, yes,” she murmured, picking up my coin and looking at the stamped rim before holding it back out to me. “I’d say they’re worth three bits apiece. That said, the apartments I have open at the moment are all around three hundred bits a month, and the smallest house I have on the market right now is priced at twenty-three thousand bits.”

I sighed, scratching my head as I tried to remember what I could about buying a place to live. Usually, it was more about buying a patch of land and building on it, but I’d never had enough coin to worry about it before.

Mentally calculating what I remembered of my hoard, I nodded to myself before recalling a detail from the walk back into town.

“Miss Rarity mentioned a stone abode currently unused?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s one of the ones I had in mind as well,” the mayor said with a nod, opening a drawer in her desk, pulling a thick piece of paper, and unfolding it to show more sheets of the stuff, though they were thinner.

“That’s Matilda’s old house; she sold it to me after she moved in with Cranky. Apparently, it was planned and built by a minotaur who didn’t realize that the house was for a donkey and made it to his measurements, so it should be nicely sized for you.

“Although it is made of stone, so it apparently gets quite cold in the winter,” she read from the pages before looking over my thickly furred chest. “Mmm, not going to be an issue,” she murmured, looking over the scroll. “That said, it was a custom-built house, so Matilda will be looking for complete reimbursement of that on top of the standard price of a house here. It’s a little pricier,” she said when I gave her a blank look.

“How much more?”

Shuffling through the pages, she turned to the last one and glanced at me. “She sold it to the town, at a fair price by the appraisers hired, for one hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred bits.”

I breathed in softly, letting the number wash over me as I thought about the coins in my bag.

“I don’t suppose you have some weights for your scale?” I asked, pulling my bags off of my flanks.

Turning around in her chair, the mayor made a puffing, huffing noise as she picked up and placed a large wooden box on the desk. Lifting the top, she gestured to a series of gleaming steel cylinders.

“Would you like me to set up the scale for you?” I asked, lifting a paw and gesturing at the largest weight.

She nodded with a smile. “Thank you. This one weighs at what is essentially three hundred coins, one kilogram,” she said, pointing at one of the middling pieces. “Those big ones came with the set, and I honestly believe they’re just for show,” she said, giving them a dirty look.

Chuckling, I took out the weight and placed it in one of the dishes carefully.

“Do you have a bag?” I asked the mare. I watched her flick her ear and glance up at me.

“How big? Are you… Do you have enough for that house in there?” she asked, looking at my saddlebags with a large crease between her eyebrows.

“Princess Twilight enchanted it for me. It’s bigger than it looks.”

The mayor gulped, her irises shrinking as she said, “Ah.” Glancing at the office’s one window, she gave me a look before nodding. Getting to her hooves, she drew the blinds, then the heavy curtains over the window, before trotting to the shelves behind her chair.

Pushing over what seemed to be a random combination of books and trophies, she pushed aside three of the shelves to show a heavy safe. Looking over her shoulder, she raised an eyebrow at me.

I cocked my head at her before she gestured at the bunch of numbers on the door. “Oh,” I said before lowering my head and hiding my eyes behind my paws.

There was a rapid-fire clicking along with five clunks before I heard the door open and close.

“Alright, so I’ve got a few different bags,” the mayor said. Raising my head, I looked at the three burlap sacks on the desk. “This one’s unenchanted and can hold nearly two months’ rent. This second one is big enough to hold enough to buy one of the cheaper houses, about fifty-thousand bits. The third is enchanted to hold larger amounts. Twilight gave it to me in case I ever needed to evacuate town hall, but had enough time to save the finances.”

Reaching into my saddlebags, I pulled out a pawful of gold and set it into the scales, instantly tipping them to my side.

The mayor sighed, looking at a clock on the wall. “Understood,” she muttered, gathering a paper and quill. “The big bag it is. Let’s grab a bigger weight as well,” she said, waving a hoof at the box.

After a series of mathematics and a page full of notes, the mayor threw the bags and a copied sheet into the safe, withdrawing a scroll case from it before closing away the shelves covering it. Giving me the scroll and something called a ‘receipt’, she popped the end of the case and withdrew a key from the top of it.

“Alright, so here’s the key and the deed,” she said, closing the simple case and holding both out to me. “Your receipt is simply proof of what you’ve paid; the stamp marks it as official,” she said, pointing out the small red crest in the bottom middle, “and the house is yours. I believe it’s unfurnished, but….”

She trailed off, looking at the clock. “Ah, I’m sorry, that took longer than expected. Most of the stores in Ponyville have already closed. But I can offer you a cot in our emergency gathering area for the night. It’ll be warm, and we have some emergency blankets here.”

I hummed as I placed the items in my bags, thinking about it, before shaking my head. “I’ll be okay spending a night on the floor. Won’t be the first,” I chuckled. “Ah, but would you mind showing me the house? When you’re done here, of course,” I said, looking at the desk as I waved a paw around the office.

Looking around the room, she sighed before standing from her chair and pulling a pair of simple saddlebags from a peg near the door. “I think I’m done tonight,” she said, opening the door and holding a hoof towards it. “I’ll follow you out; it’s near Sugarcube Corner.”

“I haven’t been there,” I told her as I left the office, pausing near the front doors as she locked the door with a ring of keys from her saddlebag.

“Oh? I’m surprised Pinkie Pie didn’t mention it,” she said, trotting towards me as I exited through the front doors, surprised by how dark it had gotten while I was inside.

Closing them, she locked them as I muttered, “Oh, she mentioned it. And a few other things.”

Chuckling, the mayor nodded before gesturing towards the west. “That does sound like Miss Pie. It’s almost a straight path; just follow that road there.”

We made small talk as we walked, mostly about where I’d come from, until she realized I didn’t want to share too much. I wasn’t sure how much Twilight or Celestia wanted everyone to know after all, and even if they were completely out of their minds, I didn’t really want to anger them.

As we rounded a strangely constructed building that seemed to be made of frosting and smelled heavily of vanilla, a sharp note sounded. Looking around the open space, I saw Pinkie herself standing on top of a statue in a fountain, wearing a strange rounded black cap and blowing into a silver whistle.

“Pinkie!” the mayor shouted, shaking a hoof at her, “I’ve told you no standing on the fountains! You’re too heavy and won’t pay to fix them!”

Pinkie visibly gulped before…

I blinked, raising a paw before rubbing my eyes and looking at the little hat rolling on the ground.

“Did she just…?” I asked, pointing at it.

The mayor snorted and nodded. “Yes, she just jumped into it. Don’t bother trying to pull her out. She’s gone by now anyway.”

“I…” I started, looking back at the round checkered black cap before shaking my head. “Anyway, what do you think the whistle—“

“There he is!”

I sighed at the familiar voice, glancing up as a blue and rainbow streak raced overhead before a purple streak knocked into it. There was a pair of shrieks before one of them landed face-first in the dirt, and the other splashed into the fountain Pinkie had just been balanced on.

I heard the mayor sigh and mutter something about royal compensation before Twilight flung herself out of the shallow pool of water and into the grass surrounding the monument.

“Kiir!” she gasped, flipping herself right-side up before she galloped across the open square, skidding to a stop in front of me and the mayor. “Mayor Mare!”

“Princess,” the mayor murmured, dipping her head.

“Your name is Mayor Mare?” I asked, ignoring the alicorn in front of us as I looked down at the mayor.

She sighed, straightening her neck to look up at me. “It’s a long story that involves a few lost bets, but yes, that’s my current, legal name.”

She looked back at Twilight, putting on a warm, slightly forced smile. “I’m sorry, Princess Twilight. How can we help you?”

“Right, uhm!” she said, stomping her front left hoof. “Kiir! That was extremely rude! I need you to come back to the library and apologize to the princesses, now!”

I felt my eyebrow cocking even as I raised my jaw, looking down my snout at the tiny pony in front of me. How dare she attempt to command me, how dare—

I snorted, blinking and shaking my head.

Looking back down, I frowned at Twilight, meeting her gaze evenly.

“Twilight, if I go back there, then you, Celestia, and Luna are going to attempt to coerce me onto some sort of massive, royal undertaking, spanning the lengths of decades and calling upon previously untapped sources of power and altruism as you attempt to raise me into some sort of celestial good guy instead of allowing me to fall to darkness. Is that wrong?”

Her ears folded back. “I, uh, don’t know for certain?” she muttered weakly, trying to smile at me.

“Uh-huh,” I replied in a monotone. “Regardless, I’m uninterested. In either direction, to be clear. I don’t want to rise, or fall. I want to live.”

I shrugged, raising a paw to scratch at the base of my neck.

“That’s something that I never managed to do before. I even have a house!” I told her, gesturing to the mayor. “Before, I was just another lump of a pony with a horn. But now I have a chance to live among a town of ponies that couldn’t care less what’s on my head or back. I’m not going to give that up lightly, Twilight. Not right now, at least. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’ve got a house to look over.”

I glanced down and to my right, nodding at… Mayor Mare.

By the sun and stars, that name.

She glanced at Twilight before nodding towards a house across the square from where we were. Straight across from the bakery, nearly.

The rest of the five-second walk was quiet. Even the dirty pegasus settled for a scowl as she walked past us, mud-caked from her chin down her chest.

Pulling the key from my bags, I opened the door and glanced down at the mayor. “Thank you for showing me the way, Mayor Mare. I appreciate it.”

“Of course, uhm, Kiir?” When I nodded, she smiled before nodding across the square. “Well, I’ll be on my way home then. If there’s any issue with the house that I can assist with, feel free to stop by the town hall anytime during regular business hours.”

She put her hoof out, and I gave it a firm bump along with my smile. I watched as she walked away before my eyes were drawn to the three ponies talking rapidly near the bakery. Pinkie’s tail jittered when I glanced at them, and they all three slowly turned to look at me.

“Fantastic,” I muttered, stepping into the house and closing the door firmly, locking it behind me.

Turning around, I got my first good look at the house since I’d been too busy to actually look at the outside.

The inside, as several ponies had mentioned, was surprisingly made almost wholly of stone. That included the mantel and some shelves built right into the walls.

What they hadn’t mentioned, or known about more likely, was that it wasn’t regular cobbled stone or even bricks, but large slabs of artistically arranged single pieces of marble and granite. I got close and ran a claw over the mortar that’d been used to glue the pieces together, finding glittering flecks of quartz in the pale clay.

“No wonder that lady paid for the house anyways,” I muttered, scraping some dust off the top of the mantel.

In the end, the house was, while pretty, empty of any furniture besides the oven and icebox built into the walls of the kitchen counters. Setting my bags by the door leading into an empty room I decided would be the bedroom, I sighed when I heard a gentle knocking from the thick wooden front door.

Walking over, I unlocked the door and raised an eyebrow at Celestia, still robed in her old traveling cloak. Luna was behind her, a slightly grimmer version of Celestia’s sorrowful expression on her muzzle.

“We’re sorry,” Celestia said, bowing her head. “We were surprised by the realities of your being and overreacted. I believe we may have put a bit too much weight behind the stories we told. We don’t expect anything of you, Kiir.”

I waited a moment before raising an eyebrow. “Yet,” I said evenly.

Luna’s expression took a sharp turn towards harsh, but Celestia held up a hoof as she opened her mouth.

“Yet,” she chuckled, nodding. “I’ll admit, not even we have the power to know the future, and the time may come that either your power is too great for us not to ask for, or there arises a need that only you can meet.

“But even then, the only thing I expect— No, the only thing I hope for is that you listen to our request,” she finished, bowing her head.

“Request? Not order?” I huffed.

“No, Kiir,” she said, raising her head to shake it. “Never order.”

“Unless you join the Guard,” Luna clarified.

I looked at her sharply, but Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Unless you go out of your way to choose to join the Equestrian Guard,” she corrected. “We have never ‘drafted’ for our numbers and never will, so you don’t have anything to fear there.”

I relaxed slightly, nodding sharply. “Good.”

Celestia paused for a few more moments before nodding deeply. “With that resolved, I hope that you will not turn away Twilight? She is monumentally curious and wishes to ask—“

I held up a paw, shaking my head. “Perhaps later. For right now, I need to find a clean spot to sleep for the night. Even with my recent awakening, I’m extremely tired.”

“Of course,” Celestia murmured, dipping her head. “Then I wish you a restful night.”

“And you,” I murmured quickly, slowly closing the door so as not to insult them further, before locking it again.

“They’re going to be a problem later,” I muttered out loud before turning and walking back towards the bedroom.