Author's Note

I'm sorry I couldn't do an editing pass just yet, see the end of chapter two as to why.

The Journey Begins

Part 1. The journey

High in the sky, the fires of Ra beat upon the travelers, weary and trudging they made their way up the steps to the pyramid, looming overhead and casting shadows for miles.

Their breaths are dry, and their steps slow, but they are smiling, sweaty and holding hands as they climb into the shade of its entrance.

“Look at it, all this preserved for years!” Twilight exclaims, seeing for the first time in her life, the murals of a pyramid in person.

“Try not to get carried away twi, this place has been abandoned and looted long ago, who knows what state it’s in.” Sunset walks forward, torch at the ready, wearily observing the path ahead through the pyramid.

Twilight rambles on at length at the meaning behind the hieroglyphics, oohing and ahhing over preserved carvings, taking notes in her book. Sunset idly taps her foot, she reaches out to touch twilight, but hesitates, before moving alongside her again.

“what do you see in all this anyway twi?” Sighing, she gestures to the remanants of wreckage in a room they come across. “nothing but dead civilisation and lost power.”

“The Egyptians had such knowledge Sunny, you wouldn’t believe.” Twi beams at her, face flushed and eyes twitching. “Imagine if those stories weren’t all myths? We have magic, why couldn’t the Egyptians?”

“Your magic leaked in through the portal Twi, this world is as magically dry as this dessert.” Sunset glances around uneasily, she can hear the sand howling, but there was no sandstorm on today’s forecast.

Enquiring, she learns twi doesn’t hear it, and soon enough it fades away.

Behind them, sand creeps in through the entrance, sliding up the walls and settling into the engraved glyphs.

Part 2: the heart.

Sunset is downcast, silently following behind twi. Twi bables on about every new discovery, on the remains of would be looters, and squeals at a new sight.

There, golden and shining in front of them lies some kind of enclosure, bands of golden metal swirling around a red gem, shaped like an hourglass.

Sunset starts at the sight, her eyes glimmer with the jewel, but she grabs twilight by the shoulder. “twi, this can’t be right, we should go,”

“but sunny! What if this is it? What if we could learn the secrets of the Egyptians? I found you when I went looking for magic, what if this is destiny too?”

Sunlight winces behind twilight, remembering the promise made, so many years ago.

She looks up again at the find, her eyes open, but her grip remains firm. “Twi, what if it’s not for us?”

“Well lets at least look around, who knows how this hasn’t been-“ There is a crack of sound, a familiar hum fills the air as the gem begins to glow, and the ground shifts beneath them both.

They cry out, reaching for each other, as they fall.

Twilight comes to in a large room, furnished with colour and scrolls of all sizes, hanging on the walls, spilled onto the floor from shelves, and laying half done on a table. She picks one up immediately, before dropping it and looking for her companion.

“Sunset!?”

There is no reply, and she rushes out an entrance, eyes wide, movements jerky.

-Meanwhile-

Sunset wakes up battered and bruised, her head sore and her arms scraped.

The rooms is some kind of jewellery store, she thinks at first glance. Pedastals dot the room at odd locations, upon each a collection of gems and gold.

Getting up, she looks around for twilight, but finds no sight of her duty. “no, no no no no!”

She’s stumbles around in panic at first, when something she sees horrifies her.

There, sitting unadorned with gold, on a wooden pedestal carved with symbols of ponies, is a familiar crown.

-Meanwhile-

In a dark room, the moonlight shining in from windows high on the back wall illuminating the silhouette of a figure on the throne, eyes glowing red in the shade.

In one hand, he holds a set of scales, in the other, a jade sceptre adorned with a stylised eye.

His face moves into the light as he leans forward, and a jackals head looks piercingly through the walls, his ear’s twitch, hearing sounds never made nearby.

"For centuries, I have watched."