The Sleeping Hero

Present time in Luna's private chambers

She opens the door and enters, stepping to the side to shut the door once they are inside the room and sees a dark spot showing through some covers. Assuming she threw up again she asks, "Did it occur again, dear sister?" Once she sees Star Swirl walk past her, she shuts the door saying, "Twilight has found a couple old books in the library of our old ruined Castle of Two Sisters, I tried to read what they said but couldn't. I sent a letter to Star Swirl requesting his presence, when he appeared I asked him to try to read them and he said that the first book had a prophecy in it. He says that it may have already came to pass many, many years ago, while the other one also had a prophecy that sounds like is coming true already. He has also informed me of a ruin that was discovered that has nine glowing runes on it matching our Cutie Marks, the Element bearers, and Star Swirl's as well. I do believe that we must go take a look at it and find out what it means, do you agree with me sister?"

Princess Luna stares in amazement at what she just heard from her sister's lips, pauses and thinks for a moment on it before saying, "Yes it has sister, I will never be able to forget the things that I saw in that place. As for what you just told me sister, I agree with you. Let us prepare and make haste to discover what this means." She then makes her way towards her closet to find something suitable for wearing outdoors with a possibility of getting dirty.

Celestia ushers everyone out of the room in a hurry so she too can prepare for the journey saying to the others, "Luna and I will gather a few guards to come with us and bring a carriage large enough for all of us to ride to the ruin and meet up with you at your castle in Ponyville. Please gather the rest of the elements Twilight so Star Swirl can get a brief nap to lead us to where it is, oh and please tell Rarity that getting a little dirty is expected on visiting a ruin as old as this one is."

Twilight chuckles and says, "I will get on that as quickly as possible, but will not hurry to do those tasks so Star Swirl can get some sleep. What happened to Princess Luna, she looked a little unwell."

Celestia sighs and answers her, "She's been having the same dream for the past three nights and it is taking a toll on her, but she shall be fine because I will keep an eye on her."

Twilight smiles saying, "It is good to hear that she is in capable hands, Princess Celestia. We shall be waiting for your arrival!" She then looks at Star Swirl and nods, and then they teleport to her castle in Ponyville.

As they reach the castle, Twilight enters and leads Star Swirl to the closest guest bed, laying the two books beside her backpack on the map table to finish cleaning and sorting later. As she reaches the guest room she calls her assistant Spike over and says to him, "Please make sure that Star Swirl is given food and drink and make sure he is comfortable for when he decides to lay down, and then don't let anypony bother him. He needs all the sleep he can get for the journey a few of us are going on to visit an old ruin that is over seventy thousand years old, I wonder what we will find there. Oh the possibilities! Ok, well I am off to gather the rest of the Element Bearers. I will be back in about an hour or so Spike, so take good care of Star Swirl while I'm gone."

Twilight exits the front doors of the castle and heads towards Rarity's boutique, only to run into the CMC's discussing how cool it would be to see a volcano erupt. She greets them saying, "Hello girls, how is your day going?"

Apple Bloom replies, "Our day is great so far! In class we learned of a volcano that blew itself to smithereens, changing the shape of the world to what we see today."

She giggles and says, "And what might the name of this volcano be girls?"

Sweetie Belle is the first to answer, looking to Scootaloo saying, "Umm...I think it was called Mist Mountain?"

Scootaloo answers the question next saying, "It's name was Fireholm I believe."

Apple Bloom face palms herself in frustration, correcting them saying, "No, girls it was called Mount Rifthelm, remember? Miss Cheerilee told us that recent studies proved that the first time it erupted was about seventy thousand years ago."

Twilight cocks an eyebrow saying, "Excuse me Apple Bloom, how long ago did you say this volcano first erupted?"

As Apple Bloom repeats what she said, Twilight's jaw opens slightly saying, "Wow, that prophecy may actually be true."

Sweetie Belle cocks her head in curiosity saying, "What prophecy is coming true Twilight?"

She shakes her head clear of the thoughts and sends the girls back on their way saying, "Oh nothing girls, it's nothing important I'm sure. Go back to enjoying your day, I have errands to run."

As the CMC's group hi five each other saying, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Volcano Researchers!" They then all hop onto Scootaloo's scooter and zoom off into the distance towards their clubhouse.

Twilight walks into Rarity's boutique saying, "Rarity, are you home?" when she hears Rarity say from somewhere inside, "Greetings darling, I am just finishing up an order for a client. What can I do for you?" As she spots her at the sewing machine in the boutique, she says to Rarity, "Hey Rarity, Star Swirl found an ancient ruin that has nine glowing runes on it that matches Cutie Marks belonging to Celestia, Luna, Fluttershy, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, You, Star Swirl, Pinkie Pie, and me. I am gathering the rest of the Element Bearers for a journey to the ruin, so Celestia suggests that you should dress up in something that can be expected to get dirty."

Rarity's eye twitches uncontrollably saying, "Dress in something that can be expected to get dirty?!" She huffs and puffs at the thought of allowing herself to get dirty, stomping around the boutique in irritation at the thought of getting dirty. She calms down a few minutes later, re straightening herself and says, "If I must come with you darling and get dirty, I will have to bear it for the benefit of all."

As Twilight turns to leave Rarity's boutique, she says to her, "We are going to be traveling with Celestia and Luna within the hour, so please meet us in front of my castle when you are ready to go. I doubt we will be there long, so please try to pack light."

Rarity chuckles and laughs saying, "I don't know what you mean darling, I always pack light. I will meet you there, don't fret Twilight."

Twilight then exits the boutique and heads over to Sugar Cube Corner to inform her friend of the discovery and meeting. As she finally arrives at Sugar Cube Corner and walks inside saying, "Pinkie Pie are you here?" She jumps as her unpredictable friend pops up out of nowhere.

Pinkie smiles at her saying, "Hi Twilight, did you know that a new ruin was discovered not too long ago and that a few of us are going to go and check it out in about an hour?"

She looks shocked and says, "H-How did you know that Pinkie? I have only told Rarity about our adventure so far, and she was less than thrilled about getting dirty."

The unpredictable party pony replies, "Well, I saw you go into Rarity's and a window was open and overheard what you were talking about. You don't have to worry about telling Rainbow Dash because she was pranking me when you started talking. We both will be there in about an hour so, see you soon!" she then vanishes into thin air and returns to her room to prepare for the Journey.

Twilight then exits Sugar Cube Corner and proceeds to head to Fluttershy's house next to tell her about the adventure that she is required to go on. Arriving a few minutes later, she sees her tending to her animals. When she tells her about the recent discovery of the ruin, she is surprised to find out that she was wondering when the next adventure with all her friends would be.

She then leaves Fluttershy's house and makes her way towards Applejack's. As she reaches the front gate, she spots Applejack waiting for her at the gate, waving to her. As she walks up to Applejack she says, "Let me guess, Rainbow told you already?"

Applejack laughs and pats her friend on the back saying, "Darn tootin' she did, Ah could use a bit of a break from farm work fer awhile. This adventure will be the perfect remedy for that, let's git goin' or we might be late."

Twilight turns around and walks with Applejack to her castle, making conversation as they walk. The castle finally comes into view several minutes later with her friends standing in front of it and a carriage flying through the sky towards her castle to land.

The pair arrives in front of the castle as the carriage touches the ground and rolls to a stop with a small group of ten Pegasi guards and ten Lunar Thestral guards accompanying them as Princess Celestia steps out of the carriage and greets the group saying, "It is good to see you all again my friends, please feel free to just call us by name while we are on this journey together. I ask this because we are not going on this mission in an official matter, I am just going as a regular pony much like yourselves. It pleases me to see that you all were able to make it within the hour, shall we get ourselves on our adventure then?"

They all agree and then enter the carriage as Celestia is the last one to get in saying to a guard pulling the carriage, "We are ready, please listen to the directions that Star Swirl gives you." As the carriage starts moving, the ponies inside the carriage strike up conversation with each other to fill in the time until they arrive at the ruin.

After about a half hour of traveling, Star Swirl looks out the window and spots the ruin they are looking for. With a smile while pointing a finger at the ruin he says, "There it is girls, this is the ruin that I discovered about a week ago, It took a while to get A.K. Yearling to help me on this expedition."

They all look outside at where he is pointing and Rainbow speaks up first saying,"THAT is what we're looking for? It is just a hole in the ground! I bet anypony that all it is is just a garbage pit!"

Applejack smirks and says, "I'll take that bet, I bet you a hundred bits that it's somethin important." She then spits in her hand and holds it out for Rainbow to shake.

Rainbow grins wider, spits into her own and shakes her hand saying, "HA! Easiest hundred bits I ever made, you are on Applesmack."

Everypony laughs at their banter exchange as Star Swirl points out the location where the camp is so they can land. As the guards pulling the wagon start heading in for a landing, Twilight is deep in thought trying to figure out who or what the last part of that prophecy was talking about saying out loud, "Hmmm...An ancient hero, from the old shall they rise, to do battle with the one that came before. I really want to find out what that prophecy is talking about with that last part, it is really bugging me that I can't figure it out."

As the carriage touches the ground, Star Swirl looks to Twilight and says, "Don't worry Twilight, I am confident that you will figure out what that last part is talking about." Just then he remembers about the strange thing about this ruin that makes it so different from the others and says, "Oh one more thing I forgot to mention girls, is that the area all around the ruin has a very high density of magic in the air and the soil. So you may feel a bit weird til you get used to it."

When the carriage comes to a stop, the group hastily exits it. They find themselves all too eager to find out what that ruin is hiding. As they walk through the camp, all eyes are on them as they make their way to the magically sealed door. Fluttershy gets a bit nervous and says, "Umm, I am not too sure about this, but it somehow feels that everypony's eyes are on us for some reason."

Princess Luna looks around and sighs saying, "We'd hate to admit it but we have to agree with thou on that Fluttershy. I believe they are just as anxious to find out what is behind the door as we are."

They walk up the side of the mound of meticulously stacked carved stone and down the stone stairs and stare at the door bearing their Cutie Marks as Rarity asks, "Does anypony have a clue as to how to unlock this seal?"

Twilight steps forward saying, "Hmm, I'm gonna take a closer look at it and see if I can get a clue as to what we are supposed to do."

Rainbow snickers and says, "You have been spending too much time with Zecora, Twilight. You are starting to sound like her."

She blushes and glares softly at Rainbow and studies the door for a moment before trying to touch her Cutie Mark rune. As a few moments pass with nothing happening, she tries firing a beam at the door to blow it off the hinges. The crowd gasps behind her as her Cutie Mark on the door starts glowing brightly and shatters, vanishing into nothing as it is removed. At seeing this, it comes clear as to what they must do and says, "It appears to me that we are required to cast our magic at the door to remove each of our Cutie Mark rune seals from the door." To prove herself right, she asks Fluttershy to try casting her magic at the door through touch.

Fluttershy nervously steps up to the door and tries using her magic on the door but only succeeds in placing Twilight's rune back onto the door in the same spot and says, "Oh dear Twilight, I didn't mean to do that. I was just doing what you asked me to when that happened."

Rainbow gets frustrated and tries to break down the door by performing a flying kick on it saying, "Watch out everypony! I'm gonna smash right through that hunk of old wood!" When she takes to the air and lands a solid kick to the door, she is rewarded with a mild electric shock, making her say, "YEOUCH THAT SMARTS, STUPID SEAL!! So much for your idea, Twilight."

Twilight frowns and takes a closer look at the door and notices a series of lines indicating a specific pattern beginning with hers and says, "Looks like there is a specific pattern we need to follow here. If I read the pattern right, it appears that I have to go first, Princess Celestia second, then Star Swirl followed by Luna. Rarity goes after Luna, then it is Pinkie followed by Rainbow Dash, then it is Fluttershy followed by Applejack." She starts off the sequence with her blast of magic, removing her seal once more.

Celestia steps forth and gives it a shot saying, "Let's see if your theory is correct, Twilight." She then fires a beam of magic at her cutie mark and gasps as it shatters and vanishes as well saying, "You are right Twilight, your theory seems to be working."

Star Swirl casts his magic at the door next saying, "Please don't shock me, I'm too old for it." He winces in anticipation of a shock and is shocked to see that the seal vanished.

As Luna casts her magic at her rune she says, "I sure hope this continues working." She smiles as her rune shatters and vanishes like the three before.

Rarity casts her magic to her rune saying, "Please have lots of gems and new design inspiration, maybe a expensive necklace or two." She beams with pride as her rune also shatters and vanishes.

As Pinkie aims her party cannon at her rune she says, "Give me even more party ideas! Fire in the hole!" She then fires her party cannon and watches as streamers and confetti pepper the whole door. After it shatters and vanishes as well, she prances in a small circle saying, "It worked!" She then puts her party cannon back into her hair somehow and resumes watching the others break their own seals.

Rainbow Dash flies into the air once more and performs a flying kick saying, "Now this time, DON'T SHOCK ME!" As her hoof lands on her rune, it shatters and vanishes. As she throws her hands into the air saying, "I did it, I did it!" the door sends her a mild shock anyway, making her say, "Yeouch, stupid door!" causing the others to laugh at the prank the seal pulled on her.

Fluttershy nervously approaches the door and flies up to her rune saying, "Please open for me this time." The gentle touch of her hoof causes the rune to shatter and vanish, leaving her to inhale as much air as she can and very quietly yells, "Yay."

Applejack trots up to the door with pride saying, "It's finally mah turn, ah hope there's somethin' ah can use on the farm." She raises a hoof up and kicks her rune hard, making it shatter and leaving only the glowing circle with a few short lines at the very top with a bar just below it saying, "They're all gone now, let's git this door open!"

The group starts to celebrate at the runes all going away, Pinkie and Twilight approach the door with curiosity as Twilight tries to open the door. Finding herself still unable to open it and the large glowing ring with several lines up top and a bar below it still remaining she says, "Umm, I don't think this seal is finished yet." As she watches the shorter lines disappear she says, "Does anypony know what this means?"

As a few of the ponies approach and look at it for a few seconds, Pinkie suddenly receives a pinchy knee, double ear flap, a bendy finger, a shaky tail and another pinchy knee. She then smiles and says, "Oh don't worry. It is already done, that is just a countdown indicator until it disappears."

A few ponies sigh in relief at hearing that and start talking among themselves when Star Swirl walks up the steps and walks away from the door in a trance.

Twilight spots Star Swirl going up the steps and turns to walk away and calls out to him, "Hey Star Swirl, don't you want to wait for the seal to disappear?"

The group all stops to turn and look at Star Swirl as a voice not his answers, "The time has come at last. Come, all of you, listen and understand that which you shall find inside ancient Ustengrav."

They follow after him and stop on the side of the ruin he called Ustengrav and see the entire camp and every single guard standing in three separate groups with Star Swirl standing close to the mound facing them as a slow and steady drum beat sounds, followed swiftly by a soft horn gradually rising in pitch as they fill the air with music when no instruments are around, he says, "I shall tell you in your tongue what is being said so you will hear the words and understand them." He then waits in silence for his cue.

Rainbow raises her voice in anger yelling, "Who are you and what have you done with Star Swirl!"

Star Swirl glares at the pony that just spoke and reprimands her saying, "Do not interrupt me pony, for I am known as Akatosh. Your friend is just in a trance right now, he shall return after this song ends. The Goddess Harmony that watches over your world allowed and aids me in performing this task, so be silent and listen well." He goes back to listen for the cue to him start speaking.

She cocks her head and drops her fists quietly, looking at Twilight asking, "Who is Akatoosh?"

Twilight snaps her head to Rainbow and says, "It is Akatosh, not Akatoosh. He is an old god from ancient times before Equestria even existed. Now please shush, I need to write this all down." She then pulls out two pads and two quills, holding one set in her magic to automatically write down what is being sung and use the other to write down what he says to them.

Harmony magic still has a firm grip over the other ponies as they begin performing together as an orchestra, their hums increasing in volume and finally start singing. Her magic and hand start furiously writing down what Akatosh says, flipping pages over as she runs out of room to write.

As Akatosh speaks through Star Swirl, saying the final verse of the song that is sang. As the song begins its ending, he says to the ponies, "Fear not young ones, for when things are at their darkest, there will be hope for you. My message to you is over, I shall depart now and return your hero. Farewell and have faith in each other, live your lives and we shall see you again in Aetherius." He then departs Star Swirl's body, leaving it to the current owner's control.

Twilight tries to ask, "Hey, please wait! I have so many questions I need answered!" Her eyes watch as Star Swirl stumbles forward as exhaustion takes over his body, but catches himself and stays upright.

Star Swirl shakes the fuzzy feeling from his head and asks, "Oh wow, what happened? I don't remember walking up here."

As Twilight relates what happened to him, she notices Luna trembling out of the corner of her eye saying, "Princess Luna, what is the matter?"

Luna's eyes shrink to pinpricks as she holds herself to try to stop her body from trembling in fear at the mention of the large black dragon and its name. She is unable to remain silent about the dreams anymore and says, "So that is who I saw in those terrible dreams these past few nights." She runs up to her sister and holds onto her tightly for comfort as sobs begin to overwhelm her saying, "I sure hope that this Alduin doesn't come here, for there is nothing that we can do to bring him down. I saw what he alone did to a small town called Helgen, so much fire and screams of agony. Death was all around with no hope in sight to defeat him, even archers could hardly do much damage to him."

Celestia holds her sister tightly saying, "Worry not sister, if they come here we will find a way to get rid of him." She then caresses her sisters cheek to soothe her sobs and looks to the others, nodding her head in the direction of the door to have a few seconds with her sister to calm her down.

Twilight and the others get the hint and make their way down the stairs to see if the seal is gone yet. She looks up at the seal and watches as it first fractures, then after a few seconds, it fractures again. Finally shattering a few moments later, it vanishes as an audible click is heard as the door finally seems to unlock. She steps towards the door and tries pulling on it, finding it being stubborn saying, "Hey Applejack, can you help me get this open?"

Applejack steps forward and pulls hard on the door handle with Twilight, sighs and gives up saying, "I don't understand, it should have opened by now with how strong we are together. How can it still refuse to open?"

Pinkie Pie laughs and jogs forward and turns the handle and pushes in on the door hard. She stands firm as air rushes past her into the depths saying, "You girls are so silly, you should have tried to push instead of pull on it. Now come on, our adventure begins from here!" She then jogs past the door and into the entrance.

Twilight and Applejack look at each other and laugh at their foolishness as Twilight calls out to the others saying, "Ok guys the door is open now, let's go explore it! Hey Celestia and Luna, are you two going to join us?"

Celestia looks at her sister, wiping a tear from her eye and says, "Now that you are calmed down Lulu, shall we join them on this adventure?"

Luna smiles back at her sister and says, "Of course we shall join them, it is boring to stay behind and let the others have all the fun, race ya there!" She then takes off for the door with a laugh.

She turns and chases after her laughing sister, feeling glad that she has cheered up. She passes through the door of Ustengrav when a tingle runs through her body as she passes through a barrier spell and stops briefly to check it out, and discovers that it is complex and ancient. She decides to leave it be as it poses no threat to them and returns on her way to catch up to the others.

As Celestia runs into Star Swirl she says, "Oh sorry Star Swirl, I was looking at that barrier spell we just passed through at the door. You noticed it too, haven't you?"

Star Swirl smiles and says, "Yes I have noticed that. It is a harmless preservation barrier, one that is quite old and remarkably complex. I look forward to studying it and learn what I can from it."

Twilight overhears them talking about the barrier spell they passed through at the door saying, "If you learn anything new from the spell, please inform me."

Rarity looks at the barren rooms they pass through, a feeling of disgust overwhelms her as she sees old corpses laying all around the room in various places. She gags for fresh air as she says, "Buck, it really is disgusting in here! Couldn't they at least try to keep the place a bit cleaner! It really smells bad in this Ustengrav you know, I don't think I will ever get the smell out of my fur even if I wash it a thousand times!!"

As Rarity rants on about the state of the ruin, Twilight sighs and says, "This room is thick with the stench of death Rarity, these are probably refugees that were trying to find safety from the volcano that erupted about seventy thousand years earlier. Mount Rifthelm appeared and plunged the world before into chaos as it nearly wiped them out, with its first eruption."

Celestia looks at all the bodies lying about the room and says, "I remember hearing about that volcano in history Twilight, we should arrange a proper burial for them once we finish exploring Ustengrav. Let's pass through this room and continue going farther in, the faster we finish exploring, the quicker we can start trying to rid Ustengrav of this horrid stench."

As they pass through a series of twists and turns, the group comes to a tall black, double stone door with intricate detail carved into them. Rarity looks at the designs on the door and gets new ideas for clothing saying, "Oooh, new ideas are coming to my head!"

Pinkie pushes the door open wide and enters the next room, passing through more twists and turns. As she comes to a large open room, she gazes into the massive cavern in awe saying, "Wow, what a view!"

Everyone follows behind Pinkie and look over the edge of the path and at the vast expanse of the cavern. They see carved pillars acting as supports for the roof. Some are no longer connected to each other by pathways leading to a hole in the wall, appearing to be a room of some sort. In the distance they see flames shooting up out of the floor for some reason and marvel at the size of the room they found.

Pinkie continues onward with the group following close behind, leaving the cavern behind to resume exploring. She then turns a corner and sees some stairs with four square stones on top with five holes in each one. She then looks further back and sees a few more corpses severely burned saying, "Wait! Don't come any farther, my Pinkie sense is telling me that something is off here."

Rainbow scoffs saying, "What? They are just stones with holes in them, they are harmless."

She looks at Rainbow with an evil grin saying, "Oh really? Then what do you say to this then?" She then steps on one of the stones, keeping her body at a distance as gouts of flame shoot up from the five holes in the 'harmless' stones. She then takes her hoof off of it and the gouts stop and says, "Well Rainbow, do you wanna go first?"

She nervously chuckles as everyone gasps saying, "Nah you go first Pinks, you have a better sense for avoiding danger."

Pinkie then smiles and says, "I thought so. I wonder if the other one is the same way." She then moves in front of the other stone and sets a hoof down on it, once again keeping her body away from it. When nothing happens, she then sighs in relief saying, "Phew, now let's try the next one. Hopefully it doesn't shoot flames." She then does the same thing again and to her relief, it does nothing as well and proceeds forward down the corridor and waits for the others to cross over it and join her.

With the last pony of the group caught up, she presses on down the path as she steps onto a pathway leading across a big room below them filled with more corpses and she sighs then continues on through the corridor and into the big room. She begins heading towards the other side when she spots a corpse sitting in a chair wearing strange armor with two horns sticking upwards off the helmet it wears.

As the group continues on its path, Fluttershy's lip quivers and to keep herself from crying she says, "Oh my, I feel so bad for these poor refugees that wanted to find somewhere safe to hide, only to find it and slowly starve." She nearly faints as she spots a table with a corpse on it with what appears to be bite wounds all over its body saying, "Oh how horrible it must have been to be forced to resort to cannibalism to survive."

Pinkie continues going through the corridor ahead and follows the twists and turns, coming to another room with a few more corpses. She then looks around for the door out and sees a couple gates to the left and says, "Hmm, I wonder what is beyond these gates?" She then walks up to it and pulls the handle next to it, but does nothing so she tries again and tries turning the handle after pulling it. After she succeeds, seeing that it raises the inside gate she says, "Somepony please look for another handle like this one that opens this other gate here. Make sure to pull and turn it, for it to do anything."

The group wanders around the room making various minor discoveries as Fluttershy says, "Here is one Pinkie." She then takes hold of it and pulls and rotates it, hearing something happen she asks, "Did that work Pinkie?"

Pinkie replies back, "Yep that worked Fluttershy, good job at finding it!" She then enters the dark room and sees a strange table with a glowing orb on it with long since burned out candles asking, "Can somepony please shed a little light in here, I can't see my hand in front of my face."

Star Swirl casts an illumination spell and spots something interesting at the back of the room and says, "Oh that is interesting, I wonder what they used this magical device for."

Twilight enters the room to look at the device, guessing as to what it is for. Pinkie exits to look for a way to another room and says, "Aha! The way forward is over here guys, we can come back and study things more after we get this awful smell out of this ruin."

The group then catches up to Pinkie again and she leads them further in, looking up to see no way further ahead there. She then looks down and sees another room, walking through it to find that they are back inside the large cavern but on a lower level. She looks around for a path and says, "Watch your step here guys, it is kinda narrow here." She then makes her way across the path, finding a very steep part leading to the floor below and says, "It is very steep here, so it will be tricky to get down having hooves for feet."

Twilight then smiles and says, "I can help with that, I was messing around with a spell the other day and came up with this new spell that increases traction on any surface that our hooves come in contact with." She then casts the spell on everypony's hooves saying, "Okay Pinkie, is it easier to go down and come back up?"

Pinkie nervously makes her way down the collapsed, near-vertical pathway and tries to make her way back up. At finding it easier she says, "Yep it works Twilight, that is a very handy spell you discovered." She then goes down to the bottom and sees even more corpses around the floor of the room.

The group carefully makes their way down the steep pathway and join Pinkie at the bottom with Rarity saying, where do we go now Pinkie darling?"

She looks around the area and sees a main gathering area filled with a few benches, some of which are broken in half. Several corpses sit on the benches with another corpse sitting on a throne, up on a raised platform looking out on the benches, she notices that it has the same helmet that the one from before was wearing and says, "I do wonder what the significance of that helmet is, because that is the second one I have seen like the one from before."

Celestia looks up to see a few corpses lying on a couple plates at the top of the stairs and sighs, then uses her magic to lift them up and off of the plates and set them down onto the floor below saying, "You all have suffered enough, your bodies don't need to be treated like this any longer." As the last body is moved off, the flames stop roaring through the plates and leaves the cavern silent.

Fluttershy smiles and says to Celestia, "That was a very kind and thoughtful thing you did for them, if I could use my magic like you I would have done the same."

As Pinkie walks towards a path that leads down she spots something large made out of stone saying, "Oooh, what is that thing down here!" She then jogs down the path and stops before the structure, seeing a few carvings and some weird, organized scratch marks etched into the stone.

As the rest of the group catch up to Pinkie, Star Swirl looks at the writing and smiles saying, "I haven't seen writing this old since I found one of my ancestors books containing it, telling how it is written and shows what the translations for each letter, and even how a few combinations of letters appear. It is the written form of Dovahzul, it is a pain to learn. Almost as much as the spoken form. It would take me a few hours to translate what is written here, so I suggest we move on and I will come back to this later."

The group then follows after Pinkie again as she starts to head up the path and across the stone bridge that lays across the gap as Rarity says, "Are we almost to the end of this place yet? My hooves are beginning to ache from all this walking and climbing we are doing."

Pinkie laughs and says, "Don't worry Rarity, we are nearing the end as we speak." She walks past a stone with a flat side facing towards her as she hears a dull bell sound from behind her as the first of three gates rise and fall a few seconds later. As she passes by the second stone, the same thing happens again saying, "Now this is a strange puzzle, each stone reacts as you pass in front of it, raising a gate. But it falls briefly after you pass by it, maybe this is a timed puzzle where speed is important?"

Before Rainbow can respond, Applejack steps forward saying, "Ah'd like to give it a try, I have been wantin' to try out this technique using my earth magic to increase my strength through my hooves." She then drops down into a race take-off stance and uses her magic to enhance her ability to move faster, channeling it to her hooves. She takes off at a fast sprint, lighting up all three stones. As she keeps the technique channeled to her hooves, the first gate falls shut and she runs right into it and falls on her rump. As she rubs her sore nose, she gets up and returns to the group. A few ponies start asking her if she is ok and she says, "Ya, ah'm okay. Just bruised mah pride is all."

As Applejack sighs she says, "Hey Rainbow, ah think that since you claim to be the fastest flier in Equestria, you should try it next."

Rainbow beams with pride saying, "Oh yeah, just you watch. I'm gonna zip right through these stones and pass through before those gates fall. Watch out guys, it's gonna get a little dusty in a moment." After she drops down into her stance, she takes off like a shot. She passes through the stones, lighting them all up and raising the gates in return. As she zips past the first gate, the rest begin to fall back down. The last gate nearly comes in contact with her wings, making her double check herself for injuries and turns around saying, "Phew, what a rush! I was nearly a gonner for a moment there!"

Twilight calls out to Rainbow, "Yeah and now you are stuck there with no way back out." Just then, the three gates rise up together and stay there.

She grins saying, "You were sayin, Twilight?"

The group walks around the stones and joins Rainbow as Pinkie takes the lead once more saying, "Okay, now that we are past that, we can continue going further in." She then proceeds down the corridor to find more of those gout spewing pressure plates with holes and says, "Here we go again with the fire plates."

The group then sighs in grief and follows Pinkie as she carefully tests the stones for the right path, it takes a half hour for them to reach a safe spot. Only for Rarity to spot a big hole closed up with spider silk and screaming, "EWWW! I am not going any further until those vile things are no longer able to touch me! They will ruin my hair by getting all tangled up in it!"

Twilight chuckles as she marches to the front, and casts a spell to conjure a small stream of fire with her horn. She aims it at the cobwebs on the floor and closing off the corridor before them, burning off the cobwebs so they don't harm Rarity's precious hair.

As Twilight burns away the cobwebs for Rarity, Fluttershy gets an uneasy feeling that something is very wrong with this room and looks around not seeing why she says, "Umm, does anypony else get the feeling that something is off here, or is it just me?"

Applejack looks around saying, "Y-Yeah, I thought it was the cobwebs and the fire spewin plates that got to me. Now that ya mention it, somethin does feel very wrong here in this room. Hey Twilight ya almost done, this room is givin everyone the willies."

Twilight releases the spell and opens the door to the next room, pushing it open and then says, "Yep, I just finished and the next part is open to us." She then turns to look back at them and her eyes go wide with fear as a massive spider silently begins decending to the ground yelling, "Everypony, run through the door now! There's a massive spider coming down from the ceiling!"

Everypony in the group look back at the spider and start running for the door screaming as a glob of drool falls from its maw onto Fluttershy's shoulder. Fluttershy keeps calm and simply turns around and tries talking to it saying, "Why hello there mister Spider, I am so sorry that we disturbed your slumber. Please accept our humble apologies for the interruption."

The massive frostbite spider slowly lumbers towards its long past due meal, making a few repetitive noises with its mouth.

Fluttershy begins backing up slowly as she understands it as it continuously says, "So long I starve...thank you for being my next meal." Her ears pin back against her skull and she turns around and sprints towards the door as fast as she can.

The ponies call from the other side of the door to Fluttershy yelling, "Come on Fluttershy, run faster!" You are almost there girl, just a few more steps!" Their hopes turn to despair as the spider leaps towards Fluttershy and it catches her arm in its mouth.

She screams in pain as the starving spider's fangs pierce her skin, sending a chill creeping down her arm. With no other choice for escape, she turns around and pokes it in an eye yelling, "I'm so sorry, but I will not be your dinner because my friends need me more!" As the spider screams in pain, Fluttershy starts sprinting towards the door into the arms of her very worried and scared friends.

They all pepper her with questions asking, "Hey are you going to be fine Flutters? Why did you try talking to it at all instead of just running to safety first? Is your arm feeling any different?"

Fluttershy takes a breath and says, "Yes I will be fine. I thought that I could talk to it and get it to forgive us for waking it so rudely. My arm feels a little cold but it is cold down here, so I think that it will be fine."

Pinkie looks at Fluttershy and says, "Do you want to rest for a bit or do you want to keep going, Fluttershy?" She glances nervously between her arm and her face while waiting for an answer.

She smiles and stands up saying, "Let's keep going, there can't be too much more after this. We can get this looked at when we return to the camp or Ponyville."

She looks at Fluttershy with a smile and says, "Ok then, let's get this gate open and continue on!" She jogs up to a chain hanging from a metal object, seeing as it must be pulled, she gives it a strong pull. As the chain is pulled down, a click is heard and the gate rises up to allow further exploration.

The group walks into a room having a large pool on either side of it with a large object at the end of the path, and a large set of doors beyond it. Luna looks around the size of the room, laughs and says, "Well sister, this room may be bigger than the throne room in our castle at Canterlot."

They walk down the path towards the object as Celestia responds, "I tried to make it as big as I could with what funds I could gather, it took me three years to get enough bits to get the castle to be livable."

The group laughs as they come to the object, looking at it from various locations as Twilight eyes it curiously asking, "I wonder what this creepy thing could be?"

Star Swirl looks at the object closely and sees some scratches in the middle of a flat part and brushes it off revealing a line of ancient carvings and attempts to read it saying, "If I understand this line correctly, I think this is a tomb for someone named Jurgen Windcaller. Whoever that may be, and for some reason I feel some sort of reverence towards them. I don't know why that is though, this really intrigues me. Let's move on and keep searching for a safer way back out."

The group agrees and follows Pinkie as she goes up to one door and Applejack goes to the other and push it open together with some effort as everypony behind them gasp in surprise at what they see laying on the floor. Celestia is the first to walk up to the strange, pitch black Thestral having long thick-bodied wavy black hair and tail with a red streak running through them, and larger than normal black, bat-like wings accompanied by very large hooves for feet with black fur feathering covering them. As she kneels down beside them, clearly identifying them as a female as she sees the above average chest size. She tries to wake her by softly caressing her cheek saying, "Wake up my little pony, for it is daytime and the time for slumber has long since past."

A few minutes pass by uneventfully as the female pony remains motionless. Celestia then sighs and looks to Rarity saying, "Can you please find something suitable to use as clothing Rarity?"

Rarity smiles and looks around at the various stuff in the room and the only thing she finds that barely qualifies as suitable are ancient rolls of linen that lay around the room, she growls in disgust saying in a threatening manner, "Don't expect something marvelous, Celestia. With what I have to use here, nopony better breathe so much as a syllable of what I'm going to do. If they do, I'm gonna sew their eyelids and lips shut!" She then gathers up the rolls of linen and pulls out a tape and takes a few measurements and gets started on making something that will work for now until they bring her back to Ponyville. As she finishes the makeshift outfit and fastens the back together, she slides the short skirt into place on her lower half saying, "There, this hideous makeshift outfit shall burn once I make something proper for her when we return to Ponyville."

As a bright glow catches her eye, Celestia turns her head and spots a glowing necklace sitting around a neck of another corpse lying in an alcove with a slightly different helmet than the other two had, with two large jars to either side of it. Curious, she steps away from the strange pony they found and makes contact with the necklace. She picks up the piece of metal hanging about its neck with her fingers and examines it closely. As she looks at it with interest, she notices that it's shape matches the general shape of the symbol on the two ancient books Twilight found. With her curiosity of why it is glowing, she says to herself out loud, "Why does this piece glow on its own when it's owner is dead?"

She is caught by surprise as something enters her mind saying, "Worry not, O loving one. I have need of your aid in my task, will you aid me in completing my duty to this world?"

Celestia answers the voice mentally saying, "What is it you wish me to do, stranger?"

The motherly sounding voice answers her saying, "I have sought the aid of the Goddess Harmony as well, but it is your body that I require to go through with my task of rousing one who refuses to answer me. My name is Mara by the way."

The princess thinks for a moment before asking, "How long do you require the use of my body?"

Mara replies back to her, "For only a few minutes, O valiant one. Do I have your permission to proceed with my task?"

Celestia sighs and says to the group, "I will be right back everypony, somepony requires my aid in their task that will only take a few minutes." Before they have a chance to protest, she answers Mara mentally saying, "Yes, you may use my body to complete your task. All I ask in return is that you allow me to see what is happening."

She sighs happily and says, "Thank you. Very well, I shall grant you that small request. Enjoy the show, princess." Before her host can ask, she takes hold of her body as the necklace stops glowing. As Mara turns towards them, the long hair starts to float out to the side of her head as if a breeze is blowing it. She smiles and looks at the group saying, "Greetings, young ones. My name is Mara and I am wife to Akatosh, I hope he has treated you all well with that song. I hope you all wouldn't mind joining me in singing a song to wake one that is far away in slumber."

Rainbow winces at the thought of singing another song, and sighs saying, "Isn't there any other way to wake them than to sing a song?"

Mara chuckles and says, "There is but you would despise it more than singing, I assure you."

She cocks her head and knows she's gonna regret hearing the answer but asks anyway, "What would that be?"

The old goddess replies saying, "You would have to give him the soul of a dragon to wake him. Which would you prefer to do?"

Rainbow grunts and blushes saying, "I guess singing another song doesn't sound too bad." She crosses her arms and waits for her to get it over with already.

Mara looks up into the air and says, "If you would be so kind, Melody." She then waits for her magic to take hold of the group as the song begins.

As the magic takes hold, the song begins as they burst out singing in unison as Mara lets herself sing along, but sings it as a lullaby she sang long ago to help him sleep.

The song begins to wind down to just the instrumental, Mara turns and starts to slowly stride towards the body that lays on the alcove and begins to draw the excess magic in the air into the borrowed form saying, "I do apologize for what I must do to wake the stubborn one, young ponies. The time for slumber is passed, my son. It is time to continue your duty to Mundus."

As the magic in the air begins to make it tough to breathe properly, Twilight tries to regather her strength and breath and says, "What is going on Mara?"

When a stream of white and blue mist starts flowing towards Mara, slowly turning her hair and tail from a gentle rainbow color into a bright and pure white, she closes her eyes and breathes the mist deeply, and focuses it to a spell that she has to construct from scratch.

While the stream continues to flow into Mara's mouth, Rainbow crawls up to Twilight and says, "Hey Twilight, Is it just me or is everyone seem to be very weak right now? Do you know what she is doing, sucking all that magic in? Can Celestia's body even handle that much magic flowing into her?"

Before Twilight can answer, Mara says, "I am gathering the magic necessary for breaking the spell that is suspending time here as well as preserving some of the things that are in here, you have been away from the outside world for two weeks right now. This body was the only one capable to handle the amount of magic I must draw upon to break this spell we placed on him." As the next stream of magic flows in through her mouth.

As Twilight tries to ask something else of Mara, she is cut off by a very pale looking Discord appearing in front of her. She looks at him in amazement at how he is barely able to crawl and asks, "Why are you here and what in Celestia's name happened to you Discord, why do you look so pale and weak?"

He looks at her with an annoyed glare saying, "I didn't want to be left out of an adventure again, so I just followed the magic to here and sensed you guys. Once I entered this ancient ruin, somepony stole the majority of my magic and strength, If I find out whoever did that, I'll..."

Mara finishes taking in the last of the magic necessary for the spell, hearing someone threatening her and glares at them saying in a deafening, booming voice, "What shall you do to an ancient god of old, you puny little pissant!?"

Discord litterally turns white as a sheet as he sees the brightly glowing, flowing white hair and brightly glowing white eyes and realizes who is before him now saying, "My apologies, I did not know you were making a trip to Equus so soon Aunt Mara."

She stomps over to him and pulls him up by one horn saying in her godly voice, "Don't you dare call me Aunt, you failed experiment! If you call me that one more time, so help me I will tear you limb from limb and part by part and send you to Oblivion!" She then drops him unceremoniously to the ground and moves back towards her son in the alcove.

As he transforms himself into a sheep saying, "Awe, you make me feel so baahhd. It really does make me feel sheepish at times, you know. At least you still care enough to insult me. I am glad I made it in time for the big moment, oh how I love watching the birth of brand new chaos. Oh, this is gonna be good!" He then returns himself to normal to watch the show.

Mara face palms herself, still very irritated at her nephew's appearance. She ignores him and clears her mind of her current emotions and focuses on the feelings and emotions she had before and begins forming them into the spell, focusing on placing the spell into her lips.

Everypony watches with great interest, captivated by how ice cold vapors are coming off of her hair, tail, lips, and eyes. With each step she takes, the ground under the hoof frosts over as she continues towards the body in the alcove. One of them asks, "Anypony have any clue as to what is she going to do to that corpse?"

As she stops before the resting body of her son she says, "Are you ready to wake up, Ysmir?" She then leans down and pulls his body away from the wall and takes his face into her hands and lovingly looks upon him as only a mother could.

Luna sees what she is doing as everyone is wondering who Ysmir is and struggles to get to her feet. As it takes great effort to not fall down due to fatigue she yells, "Please don't do it Mara, My sister will never be the same after that!"

Mara looks briefly to the pony that just spoke and says, "I wish there was another way to break the spell, but this is the only way I know that will be guaranteed to break this spell. I hope you and your sister can forgive me for having to do this, you must understand that I have not been allowed to look upon the face of my own child since birth. So I will do this so that I have something to remember our first time meeting face to face in seventy thousand years since being born on Mundus. That was before this world began to become known as Equus when species already here began evolving on their own without our aid. After I cast this spell, your princess will be returned to you in a exhausted state. She may even be unconscious for a bit, but she will need rest and is not in any danger." She then turns back towards her son, removes his helmet and sets it beside him saying, "It's time to carry on my wayward son. For there shall be peace once you are done, Bayott. I will always be watching over you. Farewell, for I must return to Aetherius. Know that I will always love you" She then leans further in and plants a kiss directly onto the body's lips, casting the spell and making the spell appear on the walls of the ruin.

As Luna sobs for her sister's first kiss, everypony else looks up at the glowing purple ceiling as the spell appears all over the walls, running along the floor to the other rooms of the ruin. They watch in awe as fractures appear along the barrier and gradually turn into large cracks that honeycomb the barrier. Their eyes are blinded as they look back to Mara, finding her whole body shining brighter than the sun and explodes in a flash of light, releasing a shock wave of magic that passes through the walls of the ruin, causing the barrier to turn into dust with a sound of shattering glass.

As their vision slowly returns, Twilight sees Celestia laying across the corpse's lap unconscious and runs up to her saying, "Princess Celestia, are you alright?! Can you hear me?!" After pulling her off of its lap, she sits on the floor holding her mentor's body close to her, hoping she will answer her soon.

Celestia slowly comes to saying, "Yes I am alright Twilight, I'm just a bit tired is all and can't seem to use much magic right now. Can somepony tell me what in Tartarus just happened?" As she tries to remember what happened, everything comes back all at once. As she recalls the part before the flash, her face and entire body turns a bright red begging to know asking, "Please tell me that that didn't really just happen?! Did I really just say I love you and then lovingly kiss a corpse!" She starts to giggle as her eyes shrink to pinpricks, descending slowly into despair and misery at her first kiss being with a corpse.

Discord saves her saying, "Oh don't worry Celestia, he wasn't actually dead. In your defense, she called him son. He was only just asleep for seventy thousand years, and I have a beautiful photograph to make a copy for you to remember it by."

Her eyes snap back into focus as her hair and tail begin to smoke saying, "Don't you even dare think of keeping it! When I get my magic and strength back I will hunt you down and send you to Tartarus! Better yet, I will turn you into a living punching bag and give you to Applejack to use to relieve stress if you make copies of that. What do you mean that he was just sleeping Discord, nopony can live that long while they sleep!"

He sighs and says, "It is a story that I was told by my father, an insanely powerful Daedric Lord named Sheogorath. Don't you remember when Mara said that it was her and her other fellow gods that cast the complex spell protecting this place by suspending time and preserving some of what was in here?"

Celestia sighs and says, "Yes I remember when she said that, what of it?" she then casts a wary look towards him, waiting for him to tell his story.

As Discord is about to speak, a barely understandable gargling voice says sleepily,"M-Mother?" All eyes turn to the Thestral laying on the floor, finding red eyes with vertical black slits with a slightly large pair of fangs looking up at all of them shaking her head side to side saying, "It wasn't me that spoke, so buzz off weirdos. Woah, why in Oblivion am I talking now? And what in Oblivion happened to my huge body and my four hooves!?"

They turn to look at her with Celestia saying, "You have the appearance of a Thestral pony now, wait...you mean that you weren't born this way? Did you come here with someone?"

She looks at her and says, "No I wasn't born this way, and I came here with my master. At the time he and I got here, I once had four legs and he rode me from place to place but I enjoyed his company, the traveling, and the fighting we did together so I tolerated it. It is going to be strange getting used to this new form."

She looks at the Thestral and says, "That means that something altered your form while you too, were a slumber? Don't worry my little pony, we will help you get used to your new body. What is your name? And why do you call him your master?"

Shadowmere looks at Celestia saying, "We were called horses back then, and we were used for working fields, pulling carts and wagons, and transporting a rider to distances far away. I was lent to him by my previous owner, she let him use me for a mission to kill someone. When she and her husband died at the hands of the Penitus Oculatus, I was given to him, My name is Shadowmere, what is yours?"

Everypony is shocked at what she tells them with Applejack saying, "Now you listen up here missy, things is diff'rent nowadays, so you are your own pony. No longer are you a mere servant and slave to them, you can think and do things that you want to do. You are not a beast of burden that can be used to ease their own way of life, you are your own pony now."

As Celestia smiles at the others as they help her get reacquainted with her new body as she looks back to the body as it once again says something as she thinks, 'Oh heavens above, I sure hope that this isn't a hostile being.'

Their eyes turn to the only other possible source of the voice and see the body looking around for something and says, "Where are you Mara? I can't see very well right now."

While the others struggle to form a single thought at seeing the corpse moving again, Twilight says, "I'm sorry but she isn't here anymore. Maybe I can be of some assistance to you, what do you need?"

As Luna watches him fumble around for a bit, feeling his face and body as if checking its state, she says to Twilight, "Uh Twilight, I don't think that he can either see nor hear anything right now if he was asleep for that long. It may take awhile for them to return, we should try to find a way out of here."

His hearing or sight haven't fully returned yet, so all he hears and sees is greatly muted and blurred as he raises his hand and holds the emblem. As he tries to take a deep breathe, he coughs and dust flies from his mouth as he says once again, "Mara? Mother, where are you?"

Twilight sighs and says, "You are right Luna, we should look for an exit. Though I don't want to leave them behind, we should take them with us." She looks around and looks for anything that might lead to an exit, spotting a lever on the wall and walks up to it and giving it a pull. As a stone rises off the floor, revealing a hidden passage saying, "Aha! I found the way out girls, lets get out of here." As she walks towards the door, a loud crash is heard followed by a snap as the door falls down to the ground heavily, shaking the room with how much it weighs saying, "Great, there goes that idea."

Bayott feels the ground shake and says, "For the love of Talos, how long with that shaking keep going on I only just sat down when it began. Will you speak to me and explain what is going on Mara! And why did you take off my helm, If it is gone I will be very unhappy." He then begins feeling around with his other hand, moving and patting around to locate his helm. His hand strikes something hard and uses his fingers to identify the shape, finally finding his helm saying, "Ahh there you are, time to go back to where you belong. I can't believe I look like a fucking draugr, I hope there is a way to return me to the way I looked before. Since you refuse to answer me, I will call you by name instead, Mara."

Fluttershy shakes from seeing a corpse moving on its own and then rubs her arm, trying to warm it back up thinking, 'Oh why won't my arm warm back up! It is really starting to hurt and throb now, my whole body seems to be getting colder too. What is wrong with me?' Fluttershy starts to shiver as her body keeps getting colder.

Applejack notices that Fluttershy is shivering and rubbing the arm the spider bit and asks, "Hey Fluttershy, are ya feelin' awright? You look like you are freezin down here, but it is rather cold though."

She smiles and reassures Applejack, "Oh, I will be fine Applejack. The quicker we can get out of here the sooner we all can warm back up."

As the rest of the group begins to get nervous and slowly start backing away, Luna says to them, "Keep calm and stay still girls, he may ignore us if we just stay still and keep quiet." Their hope is quickly shattered when his head snaps towards them.

His ears finally stop ringing as he heard someone say something, raising his suspicion and calls out, "Who goes there! Speak before I kill you in response to your continued silence! As I cannot see much at all, I must be cautious you understand." As he tires of sitting any longer, he moves to get up and leans forward onto his arms for support, filling the air with sounds of joints popping after years of disuse. He then applies his weight to them and pulls himself towards the edge of the alcove. The screeching sound of metal on stone makes everyone in the group pin their ears back and cover them as his feet finally find the edge and go over it, as he continues pulling himself to the edge he stops when his knees are off the corner of the stone.

Luna sighs and says, "So...your hearing has finally returned I see, old one. What is it that you wish to know? To answer the question you asked before, Mara, your mother, is not here any longer. She came here and left right after removing the spell protecting this place and a few of the things within it."

Bayott sighs and says, "I'm sorry for my appearance, do not be frightened of me I am not an undead draugr that leaves a tomb to find and kidnap the young while they sleep and eat them while they still draw breath to restore themself. Do you know how long I have slumbered here to be in this state?"

She looks at him and answers him, "You have been a slumber for seventy thousand years. I am sorry, but there aren't any others like you on Equus."

Just then, Fluttershy starts to feel tired and lays down for a short nap thinking, 'Maybe I can warm up if I can catch a few moments of sleep...' and closes her eyes to drift off to sleep.

He leans forward, laying one arm in front of him across his thigh for support. He then grunts out of mock surprise and says, "Well that title now suits me just perfectly, now that I am the last Nord in existence as well as the last Dragonborn. Ain't life grand..." He is interrupted by a very foul stench filling the air and rises to his feet suddenly saying, "I know that smell anywhere, you were bitten by a frost spider weren't you?"

Luna looks up at the Dragonborn that towers above her by a few feet, she stammers out, "W-W-What! U-Umm no...no I wasn't bitten, but Fluttershy was. I-Is t-that b-bad?"

As Bayott curses not having his sight he says, "Yes it is bad, because the poison isn't guaranteed to kill unless the spider directly bites their victim. There is a cure for it though, but I can't see to identify the bottle the cure is in. Someone will have to look for a light blue bottle with a light green label with the name Cure Poison written on it."

Twilight quickly speaks up saying, "Which container is it in, we will look for it!" She anxiously waits to hear his reply to locate the bottle quickly to save her friend.

He looks towards where the new voice came from and says, "Umm...well...I'm sorry I don't know where they put everything I had brought here. You would have to look through the various containers and locate the bottle I described. Be careful when you move things around though, I have no idea if they are brittle from age or not."

She turns back and looks to the group saying, "Alright everypony, let's look for that bottle he described and give it to Fluttershy to drink it and get rid of the poison in her system. Make sure to be careful when you move things around in search of it, for time may have made them very fragile over the years they were here." They all then scatter around the room and look through the various containers in the room.

As Bayott hears the sound of them searching through the containers, he glances towards the shadow before him saying, "Just having her drink the potion won't be enough I fear, It has to be administered with the magic that I have." He then sighs and says, "OK now that they are searching for the cure, please inform me of what you know of the past and inform me of recent events."

Luna looks to her sister who is looking at a sword made of metal and bone, having a sharp, slightly jagged edge with a ring at the bottom of the hilt with disgust on her face and gets her attention saying, "My sister would be able to fill you in on that better, she has always been better at remembering things. What is your name by the way? Mara never really did tell us what it was aside from calling you Ysmir."

He chuckles and says, "Even the gods are calling me by that now? Please, my name is Bayott. What might your name be?"

Celestia's and Luna's eyes snap back to the one now known as Bayott. As the pieces finally fall to fill in the puzzle, Luna speaks first saying, "Y-You were the one whose eyes I have looked through during my time in the dream realm. Why did you kill so many that were only trying to find safety and escape Helgen like you were?"

Everypony's ears turn to listen to Luna talk about a dream she had and stop what they are doing to listen in as Twilight finally understands the prophecy a little late saying, "Oh so you are the one that the prophecy mentions in the book, now it all makes sense when I think about it another way."

Bayott fights the urge to search for his Greatsword and cleave her in half saying, "Are you related to the Daedric Lord Vaermina, Weaver of Dreams? How do you know the name Helgen? What prophecy do you speak of?"

Luna takes a deep breath, fighting the rising fear and says, "As far as I know, I am not related to them, and I know the town of Helgen from a dream or vision I have been having for three nights in a row, which always begins at the moment I come to inside of the transport."

Twilight speaks up saying, "There are two prophecies that were in the books, and the first one says..." As she states what the first prophecy she goes onto the second saying, "When the land falls to the rule of madness once bright rain falls from the sky and smoke fills the air. When light and dark work together to wrest control and mend the broken. When family turns on itself and the world is less bright. When the young go forth and save the darkened moon. When the one achieves enlightenment and is granted a new perspective on life. When the enlightened one receives a gift of crystal and the legends of old are free again. An ancient hero, from the old shall they rise, to do battle with the one that came before."

He rubs his chin with his free hand saying, "Well they both do mention me at the end, but I will need to understand what happened while I was slumbering. Go back to searching for that bottle, your friend doesn't have much time left. To answer your other question, it is because the time I come from, if you don't fight to survive you will die."

As Twilight turns to go back to the container she was digging through, she spots something laying beside a chest and exclaims, "AHA there it is!" She then grabs it gently and brings it over to Bayott, grabs one of his hands and lays it there and closes his fingers around it saying, "There you go, now please hurry and save Fluttershy!"

Bayott straightens his back and says, "Please guide me to where she is and I shall begin."

She takes him by the elbow saying, "Right this way Bayott, watch your step because there is debris all over the floor."

He follows in the direction she pulls him to, cautiously feeling the ground with each step before committing to it. He arrives at Fluttershy and gets down on his knees and feels around for how they are oriented. As he finds her soft body and starts to feel along her body when he bumps into something soft and round, squeezing it before letting go saying, "That is not her face, but I am getting closer." As he finally finds her face, he feels around and finds her mouth and says, "Alright let's get this over with shall we?" He then holds the bottle in one hand and uncorks it and channels a heating spell to his lips and pours the potion into his mouth and tosses the empty bottle to the side and picks their head up into his hand, cradling it while parting their lips open. He then lowers his head and seals their lips together in an open kiss and begins to administer the potion.

Twilight's face turns beet red in embarrassment as he gives her the potion through his mouth, also taking her first kiss while Discord snaps another photo saying, "Oh how you have grown up, Fluttershy." and wipes a tear away. She watches as Fluttershy swallows the potion down in small amounts, hoping she wakes up soon.

Bayott finishes administering the potion as she swallows down the last bit of the potion and pulls his lips off of theirs and sits upright and waits for the potion and magic to take effect saying, "Now to wait for the potion to kick in and the magic to take effect and start working."

Fluttershy feels her body start to burn up and gasps as her arm feels like it's on fire and grabs it to try to calm it down. As her body stops thrashing around, sweat starts to run down the fur on her face. Her eyes open to see the body kneeling beside her and scoots away from him quickly. She hides her face with her long hair and starts to shake in fear of him being so close squeaking out, "Who are you and what did you do to me?"

He cocks his head to the side saying, "I'm sorry, what did you say I couldn't hear you at all."

Twilight steps forth and says, "I'm sorry, but Fluttershy is extremely shy around those she hasn't seen before, and with the way you look right now, you are quite scary. She is asking who are you and what you did to her."

Bayott realizes the way he looks and says, "Ahh, now I understand why she is so scared of me. Worry not Fluttershy, I will not harm you. I am Bayott and I was just forcing you to swallow a potion and casting a spell on you to help cure you of the poison from the Frostbite spider that bit you. I do apologize for having to feel my way to your face, I cannot see much at all right now."

Fluttershy starts to warm up to him and says, "It is nice to meet you, Bayott. I feel much better now, and not shivering from the cold anymore, what happened?"

He sighs and says to her, "Well, you were bitten by the fangs of a Frostbite Spider, which is deadly and can only be cured by administering a potion mixed with old magic. If the victim should fall asleep after being bitten, death is almost certain unless they are forced to swallow the potion through the contact of lips while the spell is cast upon contact."

Her face turns beet red after hearing what he said and pokes her forefingers together quietly saying, "So...umm...are you saying that we umm......kissed?"

Bayott sighs and says to her, "Unfortunately there was no other way to force you to swallow the potion and cast the magic at the same time, so yes we did. Though my tongue stayed out of your mouth through the administering of the potion."

Rainbow watches as Fluttershy turns red in embarrassment and hides her face with her wings and tries to hide herself. Shaking her head of the moment, Rainbow says, "This is touching to know that Fluttershy is a bit embarrassed, but alive due to his having a cure and giving it to her. What is more important here is how are we going to get out of here! The door fell down to the ground and I thought I heard the tunnel that led out of here collapse! What are we gonna do now, walk back out the way we came in?"

As Shadowmere sees her master is done saving the pony's life, she smiles and says, "It is about time you woke up Master Bayott, did you enjoy that kiss?" She then taps her hoof irritably on the stone waiting for his answer.

He chuckles and says, "Is there any other way that you can think of that leads out of here?"

She sighs and facepalms saying, "Ughhh fine we will go out that way, but there is a big spider out there that tried to eat Fluttershy. How will we deal with that thing?"

As Bayott answers who answered the question before he says, "Umm, sorry I was focusing on trying to save Fluttershy's life. So I didn't think about the kiss really. Anyways, has anybody seen my horse anywhere, I haven't heard him walking around or making any noise."

Shadowmere's red streaks glow in agitation and she stomps up to him, then raises a leg up and kicks him hard in the posterior, sending him flying into the wall and yells, "Your horse is right here! I woke up here in a different body that I have to get used to now. Now that you can finally understand what I have been telling you from when we first met, I will tell you this...FOR THE LAST TIME...I AM A GIRL, NOT A GUY! SO STOP CALLING ME A HIM OR HE!" She then raises her leg to kick him again and then lashes out.

He senses she is about to strike at him and spins around, catching her outstretched leg in his arm and sidles up next to her and feels the warmth coming off her body and says to her, "You know that you have been my most trusted companion and friend that any man or woman could have, right?"

She huffs in annoyance and says, "Of course I know that! I just couldn't tolerate you calling me a him any more." She blushes at how close he is and how he holds her leg in the air and whispers up to him saying, "You know that when I first woke up here, I wasn't wearing anything...but I still am not wearing much of anything now."

Bayott blushes furiously (but no one can tell with how his body looks right now) and lets go of her leg and hears a heavy thud as it lands saying, "You still have big feet for a...whatever you are now, and uhh...please stop stepping on my toes when you follow me." He leans in close and wraps his arms around her and says, "No I didn't know that, I look forward to seeing what you look like now." He decides to tease her a little and bends down, kissing her squarely on the lips. He laughs as she fights to get free of his embrace.

As she punches his chest in agitation at him teasing her like that, she calms down and says, "I can't help having big feet, you oaf! You definitely need to do something about your look, or some poor pony is going to die of fright at first sight of you. Looks like the two of us will have to fight our way out of this place." The red streaks lose their glow as she calms down and her smile screws up in anticipation of a fight.

As he sighs and feels around the room to say, "What is one more dungeon to clear? Has anyone seen any racks here with weapons on them?"

Twilight cocks her head saying, "Why will we have to fight our way out of here? Everything we passed by was dead except for that spider. There are a couple racks of greatswords and regular swords near where you were resting, one really sinister looking one was just laying up against the wall beside a shorter one. Are the blades made of bone?"

He lumbers back to where the alcove is and feels down the wall for the hilts of the two blades, he finds one that is different from the others and knows it is the battle axe he crafted from the bones of a legendary dragon he slew long ago and says, "Yes they are indeed bone, dragon bone to be precise. I crafted these all myself from the dragons that I slew and devoured the souls and knowledge of the dragons that were returning to Skyrim from not being slain by a Dragonborn."

He picks up a regular sword and calls out to Shadowmere and says, "Hey Shadowmere, do you know how to hold and use a sword?"

Shadowmere smiles and calls back, "Of course I know how, I have watched you fight countless battles with your foes. To this day, you have never lost a single fight, unless you think of that one encounter against that bastard Mercer Frey. Toss me one and I will help you out during the fight."

Rarity scoffs at how he tosses her the sword, letting a lady fight with him and says, "How garish of you, allowing such a pretty female to fight by your side and get all dirty and cut up over nothing of importance."

Before Bayott can speak, Shadowmere interrupts him, twirling the sword in her hand while saying, "Hah, there were many female fighters back then. There were a few that had real talent for it, and took great pride in honing their skills to being known as Battle Maidens."

As Bayott readies himself to proceed, he says to Shadowmere, "Yeah, that bastard Mercer Frey really did a number on me, attacking me from behind like that. I am glad that I was saved by Karliah with that poison she used." He sighs and adresses the group saying, "I shall have to return to this place to recover my things from here after we get some fresh air. I hope one of you have an idea of how to possibly restore the way I currently look?"

A few of the ponies share ideas and opinions with each other as Celestia speaks up saying, "There perhaps may be a way at the spa in Ponyville, but will need to ask for some help from friends that we know. Please lead the way out of here, we will be keeping out of the fight because we do not take life."

He looks back at the group saying, "That is a wise decision indeed, for I am Dovahkiin. My voice alone can affect the world before me as I command it to." He then turns around and exits the room at a walk, remembering the way the tomb was laid out from when he was here the first couple of times.

As they follow him past the door, several statues depicting dragons rise up out of the floor as he passes by them. Rarity then says, "What are these fantastic carvings all over the place? They are in such intricate detail, and how are they rising out of the floor like that?"

The Dragonborn continues to pass by and answers her by saying, "These statues are carved to look like dragons, they only rise out of the floor when a Dragonborn passes by symbolizing their fear of him. In ancient times when Dragons ruled over man with an iron fist, demanding sacrifices to show their devotion to them. Until man was taught the voice of the dragons and began to fight against them, eventually winning when Alduin was cast out of their time by using an Elder Scroll." He then continues down the path and up the other side to the other room.

The group looks at each other confused at what he meant by that and proceed to follow him out of the room. As they reach the room with the spider, they watch as he steps out past the doorway and waits for the spider to descend.

Bayott listens as he hears the spider start to descend from the ceiling and says back to the group, "This is going to be a little loud if you have sensitive ears. " He then turns back to face towards the spiders sounds and readies the shout he is going to use. As he hears the spider getting close enough he channels his power and yells, "FUS RO DAH!"

A loud sound like thunder echoes off the walls while Twilight watches in awe as the spider is flying away from him in an aura coming from his mouth and lands on the fire spewing pressure plates, triggering several of them, causing it to flail and thrash wildly. As the spider falls silent she says, "What was that you just used, a magic spell?" She instinctively pulls out a pad and a pen and is ready to write down every word.

He replies simply as the spider's corpse roasts in the fires from the pressure plates saying, "And the weak shall fear the Thu'um. No that is a skill that very few can learn, even fewer master, it is called The Voice. It is used by the dragons of old to communicate with each other. I can learn the words of power written on walls located all around Skyrim in the day almost without effort, which I know almost all of them. Words of Power are always in threes, forming what I have just used, called a Shout. It is called Unrelenting Force, it's three words are Fus, Ro, and Dah." He walks ahead and uses his greatsword to locate the path that leads out.

The group frustratingly follow him out of Ustengrav when they come close to the room with the three gates and pass through them without issue as they hear shuffling and grunts coming from the other side of the cave. Able to catch a few phrases here and there, Star Swirl says, "I will tell you what those things are saying so you can understand." As Star Swirl listens in he hears one say, "Mu los faan wah ahmik ont zos. in uth ont krii faal Dovahkiin tol uloz ok mein us ahst Sovngarde. (We are called to service once more. The master orders us to kill the Dragonborn that wrecked his plans before at Sovngarde.)" As he translates it for them, he notices them staring at the once dead bodies that somehow walk once more.

Bayott calls back to the group as he runs ahead, "Stay there and do not move! Shadowmere you stand at the end of the path, slaughter all that get past me!" As a horde of undead Draugr run towards him, he pulls out his greatsword and tips it to the side to shout, "YOL TOOR SHUL!"

Everyone watch in horror as the numerous corpses they saw have come back to life as Celestia says, "Keep close girls, he is strong enough to keep them away from us." There are a couple shrieks from the girls back behind her as a shout is unleashed upon the foes. A wall of flame roars forth, returning a dozen back to the dead, others burn and fall off the edge.

Luna watches as her mouth hangs agape at how easily he can slaughter his own people and yells, "WHY DO YOU KILL YOUR OWN PEOPLE SO EASILY!?" Tears fall from her eyes as she watches him cleave one in half and behead another.

He continues to cut through draugr after draugr and finally kills the last one, kicking its corpse as well as any others that didn't fall off the path to clear it for them to walk across without tripping. As he looks back to say, "These things used to be my people, they stopped being my people when they returned from death as slaves! All clear you can move closer now! Shadowmere, please come here and guard the other end of the path. Trouble is still around somewhere, I will check it out."

As the group moves up closer, Shadowmere moves to guard the other side of the path and keeps watch for anything that moves saying, "I'm ready whenever you are!"

As Bayott hears a grumble coming from somewhere followed by something getting up, he hears, "Ahst dii drogro uth, hi fent aav dilon! (At my lord's command, you shall join the dead!)" followed by a sound of something running towards him and hears them begin shouting, "FUS...RO DAH!" With a quick roll to the left, he barely gets out of range of the shout.

After hearing the translation from Star Swirl, Celestia watches as another creature uses a shout that Bayott knows and watches as it strikes a pillar supporting the roof, and sends it crashing down to the room below as large fissures open up in the ceiling, threatening to collapse if another is lost and asks, "Is that another Dragonborn like you Bayott? Please don't let him use that again. If he hits another pillar, the roof will collapse on us all!" They huddle together in a group for safety from the fight.

When he hears her, he replies saying, "No he is not a Dragonborn at all, that is a Draugr Deathlord. He was likely alive during the time that Mankind was nothing more than slaves and food to the unimaginable cruelty of the Dragon's rule over Mundus many, many years ago. It takes time for the body to use another shout. Worry not, for this fight is nearly over." As he readies his next shout, he sighs saying, "I wish I didn't have to use this shout, but you have threatened my newfound friends. And that is unforgivable. KRII LUN AUS!"

Luna watches as a sickly pinkish purple wave races forward, hits the deathlord and dissipates, leaving the enemy with a purple haze around their body. It stabs the ground to keep itself standing as Bayott walks towards it with his greatsword in hand.

Bayott raises his greatsword above and to the side saying to the defeated deathlord, "Sovngarde awaits you at long last, be free from your enslavement to the immortal Dov." He then brings his greatsword down, cleaving him almost in half.

She sees him in a new light as he shown mercy to the enslaved warrior. She smiles and says, "Ok girls, the way forward is safe. Let us move forward and get out of this tomb." As the group cross the path slick with blood, Rarity refuses to cross it.

As Rarity nearly faints from seeing all the blood on the path across, she says, "I absolutely will not stain my hooves with blood, it is near impossible to get it out of whatever it stains!" She looks forward to see Shadowmere approaching her with a soft smile and asks her, "Ahh, my savior! Have you come to take me across the filthy path?"

Shadowmere's red streaks glow as she leans into her ear and whispers, "If you think I am going to carry your prissy ass to the other side, you are sorely mistaken. If you don't move your ass right now, I am going to chop off your hair and tail, tell everyone that you have mange, and inform them that you made this sexy outfit for me out of kindness. If you get over there before I count to three, I will forget everything I said." She then smirks and begins counting.

She hears her say one and takes off like a shot with tears streaming across her face as she starts bawling, running directly into the open arms of her waiting friends and tells them what she threatened her with as Twilight scowls at the offending pony.

She defends herself saying, "You know I only said that to make you move your flank, right Rarity? I would never actually do that to somepony, especially one that takes such good care of her hair, tail, and coat."

Twilight then scolds her saying, "You didn't have to be so cruel about it you know! Her fashion career is her pride and joy, she makes fashions that appear all around Equus!"

Shadowmere then replies back, "I know, but I just couldn't help myself. I am a bit of a sadist after all, I enjoy causing a little misery once in awhile. It helps me keep my sanity."

Bayott chuckles at her antics and says, "Try to keep your threats to a minimum, alright Shadowmere? If you don't, I am gonna give you a longer kiss than the one I gave Fluttershy, I will even include using my tongue."

She shudders in fear as she hears that and says, "You, wouldn't dare!"

He puts on a serious look and says, "Try me." As he turns and heads up the path out, he makes his way through the room with the enchanting table in it and heads up the stairs and down the path and hears a draugr walking about in the room before him and quietly says, "Keep very quiet here or the one roaming around may hear us." He then sneaks forward as quietly as he can onto the path with his greatsword drawn, waiting for the right time to strike. As the draugr passes under him, he turns his greatsword upside down and hops off the edge. Plunging the greatsword through the top of the draugr, he pulls it out and says, "Hold on a moment."

Discord watches the battle in earnest saying, "Oh the fun chaos you will wreak when we get out of here, Mortal."

As Bayott finishes up the fight he chuckles saying, "When you called me mortal, you reminded me of a Daedric Lord I knew back in the day. His name was Sheogorath, Prince of Madness. I met him twice, once in Solitude and once in here just before I walked to the back of the ruin and fell asleep. He was a real pain in the ass to deal with."

His jaw literally hits the floor at hearing he knew his father back in his day, he then picks up his jaw and returns it to his mouth saying, "Y-You knew my father, Bayott?"

He replies saying, "Wait...he had a child! I haven't seen him since that day, how about you?"

Discord smiles and says, "Of course he had a child! How else would I have magic similar to his!" He sighs and continues, "But he has been far too busy with ruling his kingdom in Oblivion to pay attention to me lately, I miss him rather terribly."

Bayott sighs and continues on saying, "Don't worry Discord, I'm sure he hasn't forgotten about you. Ok everyone, let's continue on and get out of here shall we?" He then turns and walks down the room, up the other set of stairs and across the path to the room before it.

As the group hurries to catch up to him, Celestia says, "So you really knew Discord's father, Bayott?"

He sticks to the wall and crosses the pressure plates saying, "I sure did, we only met a couple of times though. I am sure that Discord is a chip off the old block, aren't ya Discord?"

He looks up to the ceiling and whistles innocently as a halo appears over his head saying, "Nah, I don't cause trouble nowadays because it is wrong."

Bayott walks down the path saying, "Uh huh, sure you don't." He then chuckles and continues down the tunnels to the doors and pushes both of them open. As he passes through more corridors, he eventually comes to another path whispering to the group, "Stay here until I say it is safe to move forward."

As the sounds of more fighting erupt, Celestia says to Luna, "I sure hope we are doing the right thing in bringing him back with us sister." A couple minutes later, the sounds of battle stop and he calls them to catch up to him.

Rarity grumbles as they come across more mangled corpses and says, "Yay, more blood stains to wash out of my fur and off my hooves." As she steps on corpses to keep clean, one corpse's rib cage gives way, causing her hoof to sink down into a chest full of goo saying, "EEEHEEEEWW!! Now I will never be able to get the stench of corpse off of my hoof."

Shadowmere giggles and says, "Worry not princess, just lather rinse and repeat as many times as necessary."

The group snickers behind their hands at the exchange between the two as they make it to another room where a few more bodies lay in pieces. As they go up the stairs to the next room, Bayott stops them for a moment.

He looks to the group and says to them, "Whatever you do, please try not to make any noise because these things react to the slightest thing that comes from any direction." He then turns and goes through a corridor and sees several roaming around and gets their attention by yelling, "Come and get me, Sovngarde awaits any who dare to try to kill me!"

As the draugr go after him, Bayott uses another shout saying, "IIZ SLEN NUS!" A white wave races forth and freezes over half of the draugr solid, making the battle go easier until hearing one say, "ZUN HAAL VIIK!" sending his greatsword out of his hands, and skittering across the floor. With no other option, he calls upon his magic to dual cast Ice Spike at his enemies saying, "That was your biggest mistake, now die in despair at the onslaught!"

As the group stares in awe at him dual casting one spell with two hands, killing several draugr faster than with his greatsword. Twilight finds herself wanting to know how to do that saying, "I would love to know how he casts magic with his hands, it would make doing multiple things at a time easier."

Bayott looks and sees one draugr trying to escape outside and quickly dispatches it by riddling its body with ice spikes. He then sighs saying, "Someone please find my greatsword, one of these bastards knocked it out of my grasp with that damn shout they used."

As Twilight quickly finds it and brings it over, she says, "Can you please try to teach me how to shout and cast magic the way you do?"

He searches around in the air for his greatsword and after grabbing it he says, "I may not be the best teacher, but I could try my hand at teaching you if you insist?" He puts the greatsword back into place on his back and waits for them to respond.

She quickly nods her head saying, "Oh thank you, thank you! I will study hard to learn everything you try to teach me, I will surprise you at how quickly I can learn things."

Bayott is about to head outside when he remembers that he may give others a heart attack when they see him and stops saying, "Could any of you tell me if there are any others outside of Ustengrav?"

Celestia steps forward saying, "Yes there are several others like us outside this ruin, why do you ask?"

He sighs and says, "Well you see, when something scary and terrifying was seen near any citizens, warriors or guards were called to take care of it. So some of you might wanna go outside before me and let me know when it is safe to come outside."

Celestia smiles and says, "I can understand that and agree to your request. OK is everypony ready to get out of this ruin?"

Everypony in the group is eager to get out into fresh air and get to know their new friends. They all make their way up the stairs and out of the large door to inform the others of what they have found in there. As they walk up the spiral steps and gather in front of the ruin, Celestia steps forward and says in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "Gather round, my little ponies, for we have a tale to tell you involving the past, present and future!"

Bayott stands beside Shadowmere and cracks the door to listen to what she says as well as wait for their cues to step out of the shadows. He quietly says to his companion, "So Shadow, do you feel ok with going through with this? Can I get the sword back so I can use it to go up the spaced steps?"

She silently answers back, "Sure here you go, thanks for letting me use it. Look who's talking, I will be fine. It is you that should be a little nervous at the moment they first see you. Oh they are going to totally freak the fuck out when they see a walking corpse."

As they both listen to the story being told, it takes an hour of explaining and answering questions before Shadowmere is called up with Bayott saying, "Thank you and good luck out there, you crazy horse."

Shadowmere glares playfully at him and swats him with her tail as she walks by and goes up to join the rest mouthing, "You're welcome, see you soon corpse."

He patiently waits another half hour while they explain Shadowmere to the group and answering questions when he hears one of them call him forth, saying to the crowd, "Please do not be scared by this next being's appearance, for he will not harm you without just cause. He also ensured that we escape this ruin alive by using his abilities to fight and defeat the numerous dangers inside, even without his sight he still fought remarkably well. Please step forth Bayott, also known as Ysmir, The Last Dragonborn, and he is an ancient hero from times before we came to be." He sighs and opens the door wide and steps out into the light.

When Bayott slowly makes his way up the stairs, using his one handed sword to find steps with one hand while the other feels along the wall. As he gets to the top, he hears many gasps and shrieks coming from the crowd as they all begin to discuss what they are seeing. He tries to alleviate their fears by saying, "Yes, what this group tells you about me is true, I am an ancient hero from long ago that is called by the gods in time of great need. My current appearance is because of how long I have been in slumber. As you can see, the seventy thousand years have not been kind to me at all as I hope there might be a way to restore my appearance to how I once looked long ago. I also advise that you seek shelter in strong secure places that do not burn or crumble easily, should any Dragons from long ago make a return and attack. I will speak to the leadership and ask them to fill me in on what has happened during my time a slumber. You will be informed when an accurate description of how the dragons of old looked back then..." Remembering the name of an old friend of his that he could use for a description and then says, "Where are you wise one? I have an idea on how to show them what a dragon from my time looks like if I can get your permission to summon him?"