Y’know, I sometimes wonder why I keep writing in these things. It’s not like I’m doing any real science. Not anymore. Guess it’s just habit. All my years in the field and in front of the classrooms sticking in my head like a damn sickness. I tried so hard to forget my old life, but I keep doing this, the one thing I still have left from that time. Well, that and Boomer.

Can’t get rid of Boomer, though. Old friends and all that.

All my life, I’ve lived by one simple rule: roll with it. Some of my former students would have scoffed had they known my motto, especially with the tests I gave. Still, it’s not like I was mean. I just had high expectations. Archeology is not a field for the faint of heart. It’s hard, slow, tedious, and it pays diamond dog dung unless you make a big find.

I’m thinking about it again. About her.

Not going there tonight.

—Cruelles Caballeron, Book of Shadows XLVIII,

December 20, 1002

Excerpt from personal diaries, translated from Palabras del Sur, June 16, 1007

The Magnetic Enchanted Microscope, or MagEM, was a clunky thing. It took up a third of the flimsy folding table, which bowed under the weight. It cost a fortune, and if it got damaged the repairs would put the entire expedition behind for weeks. It had to be handled in a magic-free environment to protect the special enchantments that made the whole thing work. Just transporting it had required a specialized wagon, the design of which would make any seasoned offroad traveler laugh hysterically. It was, put simply, a pain in the flank.

And yet this was the finest instrument for specialized macro-and-micro observation the Third Academy of Sciences in Estéril Pezuñas had ever produced, and if you babied it then you’d never get a better view. And for this reason did Cruelles Caballeron endure all the trials required to bring it to this remote site in the middle of some of the most challenging terrain outside of the Burning Lands. It was also why he only permitted himself and two other members of the expedition to enter this tent. The students can mean as well as they want, he wasn’t going to put this on hold because of their clumsiness.

The air was cool thanks to an enchantment on the tent. Another expensive luxury, but it had little to do with comfort and everything to do with protecting the delicate equipment. A shard of pottery lay under the microscope’s receiving lens, its surface covered in faint engravings. As Caballeron looked through the eyepieces, he was treated to an up-close view of one mark that looked not unlike a bowed pony.

A curious mark, the Syen-Tak. In common pony it could be translated as the letter ‘d’, although a few outliers argued it might be better to think of it as ‘t’. This letter of the ancient Jackal alphabet was solely responsible for the common misconception that the jackals enslaved ponies. The more knowledgeable knew that the appearance was entirely coincidental, but this didn’t stop the occasional conspiracy theorist or crackpot from writing some bestselling piece of ‘non-fiction’ that spread the idea like wildfire. The true tale of Clawpatra was so much more fascinating, and those foals made their wealth on clichéd tales of slaves romancing queens and fighting wars in her name.

He shook his head, dispelling thoughts of amateur paperback archeologists, and shifted the shard of pottery until his view was between two characters. His attention settled on the striations. He smiled at the smoothness of the stone and the parallel formations of the cracks that, even at this magnification, were barely visible. It was everything he could have hoped for.

Pulling away, he took the piece of pottery as gently as he could and set it in a thin, padded box along with five other shards. With the box full, he carefully set some foam pellets inside, then closed and sealed the box. He still had another dozen pieces to go through, but thus far this expedition was proving fruitful. Sure, it wasn’t the lost city of Rohtwa Liur, but it was certainly enough to justify the trip.

His ears perked to the sound of shouting. He sighed and turned to the rest of the finds, trusting in one of his three team leaders to settle the dispute. Probably one of the minotaurs getting defensive again. He hadn’t wanted those giant brutes along for the trip, but his colleagues talked him into it. In their defense, they were only half as troublesome as he’d come to expect.

The shouting didn’t fade. Indeed, it grew louder. Now that he paid attention, he realized there wasn’t anger in that voice, and it was especially familiar. He turned his head to the tent entrance, which had been zipped closed to keep the sand out. Yes, someone was calling for him. With a sigh, he abandoned his precious relics.

The flaps zipped open just as he reached them. “Cruelles!” A large white unicorn with a chestnut-brown mane burst through, nearly slamming into the archeologist. She jerked to a stop, rearing her head back and whinnying at the near collision.

Caballeron barely reacted beyond a dull stare, taking in her hard features and pink eyes. “What is it, Silty?”

She caught her breath in one instant and was grinning with the next. “We found something.”

One raised eyebrow later, Caballeron gestured his head to the artifacts resting on the counter behind him.

Silt Eyes waved a dismissive hoof. “Forget that. Forget all of it! This is big.”

Caballeron didn’t move a single leg muscle. “You’ve said that before, Silty. Remember two years ago when you insisted to me and Dr. Seco we’d discovered a legitimate Felid burial site?”

“This is different, I swear!” She sat back and clapped her hooves together, expression imploring. “Please, just come take a look! The worst that’ll happen is you saying ‘I told you so.’ ”

“And your reputation falling further than it already has.” At her pained expression, Caballeron sighed. “Look, Silty, I’m sorry. That might have been harsh, but there’s a reason you haven’t risen above the apprentice level.”

Silty’s ears folded back, but she didn’t break eye contact. “I know I’m on thin ice with the Academy. I know that. And I’m really grateful that you were willing to bring me along on this expedition. It means more to me than you know. But Cruelles, I swear, Celestia’s name, you need to see this.”

Cablleron, his face stoic, studied his friend’s pleading expression. It was so strange, seeing those big eyes on that hard face. The poor thing could hardly be called physically appealing with those pointed features, but even she knew how to be cute when the situation called for it.

And he was hardly made of stone. With a sigh, he nodded, to which the pony squealed in delight. She bolted out of the tent; he followed at a steady trot.

The bright sun nearly blinded Caballeron as he stepped outside, a problem readily remedied by the placement of a pith helmet atop his short-cut mane. Everypony agreed that he looked terrible in the things, but they had their uses. The blistering heat, on the other hoof, wasn’t so easy to escape.

The camp consisted of a dozen large tents and a similar number of covered wagons. Most of the team he’d recruited were out at the five dig sites, although a pair of earth ponies and one minotaur were still present and going over the supplies. Deciding what to cook the team for dinner, no doubt. The camp rested at the foot of a squat sandstone rock formation composed entirely of vertical cliffs. The only landmark in sight on the endlessly flat horizon, the formation was inaccessible to all save griffons and pegasi, who claimed the roof of the thing was as flat as the surroundings.

The Dingo’s Overlook. One of the few notable landmarks of the Badlands, and a perfect place for a campsite, if only because it provided plenty of shade at the right time of day. Alas, in this camp the ‘right time of day’ meant the afternoon, and it was still morning.

They trudged out of the camp and turned west, their hooves crunching in the red desert pavement and kicking up dust. The gritty sands left stains on Silty’s typically pristine white coat, giving her the appearce of having a faint red underside. Once they were well away from the camp, Caballeron asked, “How many have you told about this?”

Silty rolled her eyes. “What, did you think I circled the entire overlook in this heat just to blab to all the other dig sites?”

He gave her a wry smirk. “Knowing you? Maybe.”

With puffed cheeks, she lowered her head and glared ahead. “That hurts.” Then she shook her head forcefully and began to prance. “And you’ll be apologizing for it in a few minutes! Now stop crawling along like a snail and let’s go!”

She burst into a gallop, not bothering to check if he’d done the same. Caballeron held his breath until the dust and sand settled, then increased his pace to a canter. He didn’t like the idea of moving so quickly in this heat, but he guessed that the sooner he disproved whatever Silty thought she’d found the sooner he could get back to his real work.

Then again, the pottery pieces weren’t going anywhere. Maybe he should go ahead and walk the circuit of the Overlook. It would take him half the day to check in on each of the digs, longer if they found anything new, but it wasn’t like he’d be wasting his time.

It took another half-hour to reach the first dig. It was situated several hundred yards from the base of the overlook, making it much more out in the open than the others. This one was also rather unique in that it was set next to a deep impression in the otherwise flat desert landscape. Lake Dingo, although it hadn’t possessed any water in at least fifteen hundred years by most archeologists’ estimates.

It was also one of the smaller digs, possessing only a half-dozen earth ponies, two diamond dogs and lone unicorn – which would be Silty. Most were gathered around something, although what was beyond Caballeron’s view. Not a soul noticed as he approached, their heads all downturned at the same thing. Murmuring apologies, Caballeron pushed his way through until reaching the front of the crowd. What he saw made his jaw drop.

Silty and the two diamond dogs were in a deep depression that had been dug some nine or ten feet deep. The dogs were using their soft paws to carefully brush away sand from something long and flat. Silty had her dimly glowing horn pressed to the top of the object, her eyes closed as the quiet chime of her magic filled the dry air.

Carefully, Caballeron climbed into the hole. He then stood, transfixed, at the sight before him. He could tell from just a glance that the object couldn’t be natural; not only was the shape too straight, he was reasonably certain that perfect edge had been crafted. A thousand ideas and hopes flashed across his mind, each more breathtaking than the last. He tried speaking, but his mouth was as dry as the sandstone surrounding them.

He tried to calm himself, even as his heart battered his chest. It was a fluke, an abandoned beam from some ancient building. It wouldn’t be a building unto itself. To think it might be part of, say, a neighborhood? Impossible. Expeditions had been digging around the Lookout for five decades, surely they’d have found something that big by now. There was no way it would be…

“Cruelles?”

He broke from his thoughts, looking up from the find. Silty’s pink eyes met his, filled with amusement and confidence. “What did I tell you? It runs deep.”

He worked his lips, closed them, swallowed. “H-how… How deep?”

Her smile grew. “I can’t tell.”

“Y-you can’t—” His eyes darted from her to the stonework and back. “How deep can you detect?”

“No very,” she admitted. “Five feet, tops.”

“Five feet. It goes down five…” His hind legs collapsed, his vision swam. “Five feet. It’s… It’s…”

She caught him by the shoulders, steadying him even as she said “It goes back beyond my range, too.”

“B-b-back?” Caballeron thought his heart had stopped.

Silt grinned and nodded. “It’s a structure, Cruelles.”

He gaped at her, the concept slowly sinking in. Gradually, he turned his head to look at the long line of stonework. The diamond dogs had stopped their careful cleaning and were offering toothy grins he barely noticed. All his estimations, predictions, planning, the fights for funding…

“I… I w-want the other digs scrapped,” he whispered. “This… This is… I…”

Silty patted his mane, then turned to snap orders at the earth ponies still watching the scene. Caballeron nearly collapsed in the absence of her care, but she steadied him before that could happen. All he could think of was a dream from his foalhood, a dream promising greatness and achievement and fame. And here, right now, he may be seeing his very first glimpse of—

“Cruelles?” Silty held his face, her eyes abruptly worried. “Hey, buddy! You alright?”

Tears flowed. A sob broke through Caballeron’s throat. He clung to her, burying his face in her dusty mane and shaking all over. The larger pony patted his shoulder and whispered into his ear, but he hardly heard her.

All he could do was whisper the same words over and over: “It might be. It might be. It might be…”

It was. By this point he had no doubt.

Caballeron sat at the edge of the pit, gazing down at his expedition’s discovery. With all of the dig team converged at the site, they’d managed to uncover a façade that so far ran forty feet in either direction with no end detectable by Silty’s horn, confirmed by the other unicorns. The steadily-uncovered ceiling stretched back another eighty feet and grew wider by the minute, its surface much easier to uncover. It consisted of little more than a flat roof of red sandstone, but already there were signs of ancient Jackal construction techniques. The visible mortar type they’d sampled had all the physical characteristics, but it was the circular columns that stopped smoothly at the rooftop that turned theory into fact.

Push-through support columns. Only the jackals and the coyotes used that design, and they were very far from established coyote lands. The very thought gave him goosebumps in spite of the heat-induced sweat rolling down his shoulders.

“Oi, Cruelles.” Silty looked up at him from the shade of the pit wall, sweat and grit marring her pearly coat. “You gonna laze up there all day? I’m gonna start calling you Blister.”

“Hey!” One of the earth ponies shouted amidst hearty chuckles all around, “I don’t go making fun of your name.”

“Excuse me,” Caballeron replied haughtily, “but you were having so much fun playing in the dirt that you missed me pulling the last of the camp’s wagons over here. Those things aren’t light, you know.” None of the others seemed interested in mentioning that he’d finished doing so nearly an hour ago, probably because he paid their wages.

Silty flicked her mane and turned away from him. “Oh, well, since playing in the dirt is too uncouth for you, I guess I’ll have a look at what’s behind this door we found by myself.”

“What!?”

In his hurry, Caballeron tipped over the side and dropped the whole ten feet, landing with an oomph on his belly. Pain shot through his body and he groaned. Dazed and out of breath, he decided not to bother picking himself up just yet.

Red-stained fetlocks appeared in his vision. “Geez. You alright?”

Despite the aching of his entire body, he managed a feeble, “Yeah.” He tried standing, but his hooves could find no purchase. “Just… give me a minute.”

“You’ve got five,” Silty said, her tone amused. “Then I’m going in without you.”

He watched her hooves walking away and raised one of his legs after her. “Can’t I get a little sympathy?”

“Nope.”

He sniffed, only to cough at the red sand he’d inadvertently churned up. Then he recalled exactly why he’d fallen in the first place and promptly forced his legs to hold his weight. Though he limped, his head was swirling with so many hopes and possibilities that he hardly noticed.

Three diamond dogs were digging furiously into the compacted dirt, which formed an ever-growing pile behind them that a team of a dozen earth ponies couldn’t clear fast enough. Silty supervised the work even as her magic blew a gentle wind on the stone face being uncovered. Sure enough, Caballeron could make out what appeared to be a doorframe through the airborn sands.

His legs folded to his chest, and his grin failed to contain a quiet, excited “Hohohoho…”

Silty glanced back and, with a smirk, patted him on the head. “Keep your sheath on, pal.”

“Are you kidding?” He shook her by the shoulders, not taking his eyes off the doorway. “And to think, just the other day I was excited because the pottery was genuine! Have you any idea what this means for our careers?”

“You’ve only reminded me a thousand times in the last two days.” She pried his hooves from herself and refocused on her work, carefully blowing the last remnants of sand from the exposed entrance. “I thought doctors were supposed to be calm and controlled.”

“I haven’t got my doctorate yet,” he replied, barely able to keep his hooves from dancing. “I’m allowed to be as excited as I want until then.”

The rest of the team gathered around the site. Silty noticed and stepped back from the dirt and sand still being kicked up by the diamond dogs. “This is it, everyone. History in the making. And we all get to be a part of it!” The team cheered. More than a few members slapped Caballeron on the back, and he was so intensely focused on the door he almost fell from the impacts.

At last, enough of the centuries-old sand had been removed that the entire doorway was visible. It appeared to be made of a single stone, and the door itself was a simple rectangle cut into the masonry. Though faded, a set of ancient Jackal hieroglyphs were still visible. Caballeron hurried to the door, rearing onto his hind legs to get a better look.

The crowd grew quiet as he studied them, piecing together what little was known about the dead language in his mind. If he could just find the right combination of familiar words…

“Well?” Silty asked from beside him. “Can you read it?”

A lone word stood out. Then another. Caballeron detected five words in total. He managed to decipher three. The last had a few unfamiliar characters, but he recognized its purpose. He dropped to all fours, mind reeling at the implications. “It… It’s a…”

Silty placed a heavy hoof on his shoulder. “Cruelles?”

He stared at her with wide eyes. “It’s a home.”

“Home?” She cocked her head, looked at the words, then back to him. “What do you mean?”

“Home,” he repeated. “Household. Residency. It’s someone’s house.”

Silty narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow. “A house. Of all the things, I didn’t expect—” Her eyes bugged out and her breath caught. “B-but if this is somepony’s house, then that means…”

Caballeron nodded, the words coming without any thought. “Either it’s some hermit, or we’ve got a… a…”

“A community!” Silty fell to her haunches. “Oh, sweet, merciful Celestia. This could be the find of the century. No, the millennium.”

He turned to the door, heart pattering and mouth dry. “Open it.”

The door proved troublesome, for a thousand years of pressure had ruined its original mechanisms. It took Silty and three other unicorns together to force the stone slab to slide into the recess it was meant for. Dry air escaped in a rush of wind when the thing finally budged. Caballeron was, of course, the first to enter.

Within the first minute, he’d been rendered speechless. Then he spent four hours talking nonstop, bouncing from dry room to dry room, feeling as if he were a colt reading adventure stories all over again. Silty babbled right alongside him, and the two could often be found bouncing in place as they came upon some new discovery.

Not that the house was big. All in all, it was only four rooms, although there was a fifth with a closed door they couldn’t budge. The rooms consisted of a living area, a bedroom, a hallway and a kitchen… and they were furnished. Benches, tables, chairs, dishes, even the remains of a bed! And those were just the most obvious things. Every moment was a new discovery, every revelation a fresh excitement. Caballeron was so enraptured he actually kissed Silty, who took the act with only a hint of a blush.

The sun went down and lanterns were brought in. Eventually, the team exhausted their thorough search of the place… except for the lone door. Against his better judgement, Caballeron gave the diamond dogs permission to break through. They had to rig up a makeshift battering ram using some spare wagon parts, but it did the job.

He stepped inside before the dust even settled, holding a lantern in his teeth. The room was small, perhaps a closet. It didn’t take long for him to take stock of its contents, and when he did he became as still as stone.

“Cruelles?” Silty pushed at his flank, jostling for a view. “Come on, what’s in there? Cruelles!”

Tablets. Row upon row, stack upon stack. Stone tablets covered in words. Slowly, Caballeron stepped fully inside. He set his lantern down on the ground just before his wobbling knees failed him. So many tablets, so much writing…

“Cruelles? Are you… Oh. Oh my Goddess.”

Caballeron had no words. He only sobbed.

Eighty-seven tablets. After studying only five, Caballeron had discovered eight previously unknown characters. Now he sat in the cooled tent of the MagEM, unable to do anything but stare at the pile of boxes, each containing four or five of the discovered tablets. Even now, after the fact had settled in, the sight almost brought a tear to his eye.

Silty stood at his side, gazing along with him. “The supply convoy arrives in two days.”

“M-hmm.”

“You gonna go back to Estéril Pezuñas?”

“No.”

She glanced at him, but only for a moment. “I understand. But one of us has to go back soon. We need to secure funds to expand the expedition.”

He nodded. “I’m aware. I just… I don’t want to leave so soon. I can go on next week’s convoy.”

She didn’t look to him, but the doubt laced her tone well enough. “You’re not going to keep saying that week after week, are you?”

Considering her words, he could easily see the dangerous truth in them. “You could always go yourself.”

“Me?” Now Silty really did look at him. “I can’t. This was your expedition, and we wouldn’t have even dug there if it hadn’t been for your interpretations of the Rock of Howlia and instincts. If I go, they’ll think I did it.”

He shook his head. “I can’t leave. There’s so much potential here! What if something new is discovered? What if there are even more—”

A white hoof pressed against his lips. “You’re cute when you’re gushing, but right now we have to think practical.” Silty waved a hoof over the boxes as if to display trophies. “We’ve got more than enough now. We need funding. We need to have the site claimed as ours on a more permanent basis. We need you to go back.”

Caballeron wanted to speak, but her hoof didn’t leave his lips. He stared into her commanding pink eyes, eyes that dared him to argue. The temptation was so strong, and he knew he would win. This was his expedition, his dig team, and his site. He could give whatever order he wanted, a fact that delighted the little devil inside him.

But all of his desires were weighed down by one simple fact: she was right.

Silty must have seen the acceptance in his eyes, for she finally nodded and lowered her hoof. “Don’t worry. The site will still be here when you get back.”

He sagged so low his muzzle nearly touched the ground, but it came back up just as swiftly. “Well, I can always bring a bunch of these with me! I can work on translations on the road.”

“That’s the spirit.” She nudged him with her shoulder, nearly knocking him over. She laughed at his scowl. “You’re awful weak for an earth pony, you know that?”

But then she sobered. She gazed at the boxes solemnly, and her serious manner had him biting down his intended retort. For a time, they only stared at the collection they’d gathered. Caballeron wondered what she was thinking. He wondered how his doubting colleagues back at the academy would react to his find. He wondered about his bright future and what mysteries he might uncover about Jackal culture.

Mostly, he wondered about Silty, and why she’d grown so quiet.

“Hey… Caballeron?”

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but she still refused to look at him. “What’s on your mind, big girl?”

Silty chewed her lip. She remained curiously still. At last, she spoke. “Thank you. Thank you for bringing me. For trusting me. For letting me be part of this.”

With a smile, he replied, “You’re welcome. Your career’s looking bright, Silt Eyes.”

“Forget my career.” She finally looked at him. “I’m not going to be… I mean, I’m nothing compared to you. That’s not why I’m grateful.”

She turned to the boxes once more. “You believed in me. They were encouraging me to quit, but you… You gave me a chance. One more chance. It was all I wanted. I never intended to discover anything big, I just wanted to be useful to somepony. And now I…”

Her hoof came up. She studied it. It began to shake. “Do you know what it’s like to be a nopony? To be nothing like your parents envisioned? To be so different from everything everypony expected of you? I… I got into archeology on a hunch, because I couldn’t think of anything. And we both know that’s not where my talent—”

“Stop.” Caballeron pushed her hoof down, and she gazed into his eyes. “Just stop. You know I can’t stand it when you get like this.” He placed a hoof on her shoulder and brought out his warmest smile. “This is as much your discovery as it is anypony’s. This is ours, Silt. I couldn’t have pulled this off without you.”

She grunted and tried turning away, but he blocked the movement with a hoof to her cheek. Even so, she scowled. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

He smirked. “Am I going to have to start singing about how inspiring you are? Because I will.”

“Goddess, no!” She bounced away, waving her hooves at him. “No singing. What you do is not singing!”

Grinning all the while, Caballeron threw back his head and inhaled deeply.

Silty tackled him to the ground. Both her hooves were pressed against his lips as she held his gaze with wild eyes. “No, no, no, no, no. I am not letting you subject me to this torture!”

Caballeron raised his eyesbrows and pushed his tongue out from between his teeth, licking her hoof. Grit got on his tongue, but the scrunched up expression of disgust on her face made it worth it. She jumped back once again, waving her hooves frantically. “Ew, ew, ew! You know I always hated when you did that to me as a kid!”

“Yeah, sure. You like it.”

“Cruelles!” She sobered quickly, staring at him as if seeing him for the first time. Then she cracked a smile. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

He let his head fall back and stared at the top of the tent. The two of them remained silent for some time, as if an unspoken truce had come between them. Caballeron couldn’t stop smiling, his thoughts playing out the long, tiring journey taken. Endless nights without sleep, pouring over half-translated documents and explorers’ notes, followed by long days in classrooms, both as student and teacher. Endless theories, a half-dozen misfires, a couple minor successes. All leading to this. And all along…

“Don’t downplay your part, Silt,” he whispered. “You were there. The whole time, you were there. How could I not put my faith in you?”

He sat up slowly and admired the collection they’d gathered in such a short time. And to think, there could be more. “I’m leaving you in charge of the expedition while I’m gone.”

“Me?” Silty frowned once more. “Are you sure? Stonework has more experience. Gloobokoye is more respected.”

“It’s my expedition,” he replied. “I’ll pick who I want.”

She fidgeted, not taking her eyes off of him. “They’ll accuse you of favoritism.”

“And they’ll be right.” He flashed her another grin. “But you can handle it. You’re more of a leader than you know. I’ve never been much of one. These creatures follow my orders because I pay the bits, no more.”

With a sigh, Silty nodded. “Alright, but I don’t like it. It’s going to be hard to deal with them when they’re pissed.”

“Hmm…” Caballeron rubbed his chin as he considered the situation. “I’ll talk to Stonework and Gloobokoye. They’re aware of your reputation. I’m sure I can convince them to be more accepting of the decision.”

“I’d appreciate that.” She yawned and stood, stretching as she did. “It’s been a long couple of days. I’m hitting the hay, and I suggest you do too. No staying up until dawn ogling those tablets like a schoolcolt at a filly’s hindquarters, you got me?”

He snorted. “I look at those now.”

“I’m serious, perv. Get some sleep.”

He heaved a sigh and turned away from his treasures. “Fine, but I retain the right to ogle as much as I want tomorrow.”

Author's Notes:

I almost didn't get around to posting this tonight, but at long last, Order of shadows is back on! Updates will be slow for a while, but in time we can expect to see the speed pick back up as my other literary responsibilities are dealt with one at a time.

What's that? Why is Caballeron's book entries from an old journal and not directly from the horse's mouth? Come now, that would be telling.