Twilight looked down over the dig site, comparing it to the meticulously drawn map hovering in front of her. She stood on one of the rolling Ghibli hills, looking down on the valley where dozens of crystal pony laborers were digging into the side of the first-- or rather, seventh-- hill, digging for the entrance to the Tomb of the Forefathers. Imagine, she might be standing in the very spot that Queen Vivid Vision had, when she had marked the royal seal! The thought gave her the shivers.

She heard footsteps behind her; she turned and saw her friends coming up the hill behind her. "Hooee, ain't folks in a tizzy today," Applejack said. She nodded in the direction of the dig down below. "So this is the place, huh? How long till we get a look-see at this tomb, d'you figure?"

"It won't be much longer," Twilight told her. "They've just about got the door cleared away. Once they've made sure it's braced and the entryway's safe, we'll go on in." She looked around. "Where's Rarity and Fluttershy?"

"Fluttershy and Rarity are back at the palace," Rainbow Dash said, giving a dismissive roll of her eyes.

"Why? They're going to miss the big moment."

Applejack chuckled. "Think about it, Sugarcube," she said. "Rarity. DIRT. See anything wrong with that fancy mathematical? She's keeping herself busy poking around the palace."

"Yeah," Dash laughed. "And Fluttershy wanted to see the lambs at the petting zoo again. Nyx and your parents are giving them the nickel tour right now."

There was a shout from down below. Twilight brightened. "It looks like they've got the entryway cleared," Twilight said. "Come on, everypony, let's go take a look!"

They descended the hill quickly, passing through the tidy little camp to join the other ponies gathered at the dig. They had unearthed an enormous stone archway, easily ten hooves high and nearly as many wide, and what appeared to be an enormous pair of stone doors decorated with dozens of detailed carvings. The interns were now earning their class credit carefully brushing and cleaning away the dirt and earth from the grooves in the enormous slab. Twilight and her friends ooohed, impressed.

"Kewl," Rainbow Dash said, dropping out of her hover to land next to Twilight. "Y'think there'll be any traps or mummies or ancient pony curses or stuff?"

"Archeology isn't anything like it is in the Daring Do books, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "No traps, no mummies, no snakes in pits. Just a lot of very careful digging, and a lot of research."  

"A point I have been at pains to explain to my students," another pony said. It was Professor Dubious, trotting over to join them. "If ponies would do more of it, I would have a lot less work to do myself. Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle. I see the dig proceeds apace."

Rainbow Dash scowled at them both. "You people could suck the excitement out of anything," she grumbled. The excitement of the discovery of the Lost Tomb had taken the edges off the animosity between Dubious and the others. They were far from bosom companions, but at least the open hostility was put aside for the sake of the work ahead.

"I think it's still pretty exciting," Pinkie Pie said, not stopping her hopping for a moment.

"And you're not the only one," Twilight Sparkle chuckled. "Roller Reel is going bonkers with that camera of his. He's all over the dig site, getting footage and commentary. It's a great moment for crystal pony history and he's really excited."

Dubious frowned. "Yes, him and every other nationalistic crystal pony," he said. "I hope you have a plan for how to deal with the disappointment."

"Disappointment?" Twilight said, incredulous. "We rediscovered almost-forgotten crystal pony lore, unraveled a thousand-year-old crystal pony mystery, and found one of the most important relics of ancient crystal pony civilization! Every step of the way has been a monumental achievement-- we're literally standing on the doorstep of the Lost Tomb of the Founders! And you still think we're on a wild goose chase??"

At that moment Roller Reel came striding up, bringing that whirring camera of his to bear. "What's this about a wild-goose chase?" he asked. "Aw, c'mon, Professor, don't tell me you're being a sore loser!"

Professor Dubious arched his neck and glowered into the camera lens. "It's not about being a 'winner' or 'loser,' sore or otherwise," he said stiffly. "It's about going where the evidence leads. A... fact I admit I have myself forgotten from time to time," he admitted, glancing in embarrassment over at a scowling Rainbow Dash. "Science is a very... confrontational practice, and one tends to become over-eager to find a hill to die on, as it were--- ahem. But, as I was saying to my colleague Miss Sparkle--" he gestured to Twilight-- "one can let expectations run away with them.

" I recall not long ago one pony trumpeting the discovery of a lost hideout of Al Capony. An interesting discovery in and of itself, but he built up such fanfare about it that ponies were chattering about everything from stashes of ill-gotten gains to the possibility of finding papers and journals by the notorious criminal even before they cracked through the brick wall blocking the door. They got inside and, well-- there was nothing except a couple of empty beer bottles.

"I am just cautioning that everypony has come to expect some glorious treasure trove right out of a Daring Do novel, when in all likelihood it will be little more than a few buried bones and some odd ceremonial trinkets. An illuminating discovery for a scholar, perhaps, but vastly disappointing for any common pony hoping for the tomb of Trotenkhamen." His expression surprisingly softened. "I'm just saying, lad... don't get your hopes too high, or they'll most certainly be dashed."

"And what do you say, Professor Twilight?" The camera panned over to the unicorn.

"Um, first of all, I'm not a Professor, Roller," Twilight said, apologetically. "And yes, Professor Dubious has a fair point. Expectations are... awful high right now." She rallied her confidence. "But what little we've found already is priceless beyond measure. We found the Lost Tomb. No matter what comes next--- this expedition is a success."

"Either way," Rainbow Dash said. "--Can I have one of those adventurer hats like yours?" she pointed at Twilight's pith helmet.

"Dash..." Twilight said, irritated.

"Ooo, good idea!" Pinkie said. Suddenly every unadorned head in the group sported a hat.

Dubious removed his new pith helmet and gaped both at it and the pink party pony. "How--where-- "

Twilight slapped a hoof over his mouth. "It's better not to ask. Trust me." There was a commotion at the door. Several interns with cameras stepped in close, flashbulbs popping. "What's going on?" Twilight asked one of the nearby ponies.

"They got the door cleared off, and they found the mechanism to open it," the intern said. She was jittery with excitement.

"Eee!" Twilight squealed. "This is it! Quick, everypony, get the relay crystal set up!"

"The relay crystal?" Rainbow Dash asked, puzzled.

Twilight ran over to where a group of workers was lifting an enormous crystal obelisk out of its shipping crate and setting it up on end. She lent her magic to the effort, setting it in its stand. "Yes, it's like crystal radio, except it can relay images as well as voice," Twilight said. "The obelisk gives it the range to reach the Spire on the crystal palace, where they'll be projecting the image on a giant cloudscreen so the whole city can see what we see." She pulled an enormous octagon-cut crystal out of the open crate. The front facet was nearly as large as her head.

"Whoa, Twilight," Dash chuckled. "When you go for the Bling you don't mess around."

Twilight shot her a sarcastic look. "Ha, ha," she said. "This is the 'eye' stone. What it sees, gets projected on the screen back in the Crystal City." She set it up on a tripod and faced it towards the door.

"Aw, you shoulda left the setup to me," Roller said. He started waving his hoof around, a dreamy look in his eye. "You need at least two of those things, a third set back on the hill for wide-angle shots, and a free-moving one carried by a pony for in-close stuff and..." He noticed the other ponies were giving him odd looks. "Aaaand I think I'll go up on the hill and get some wide-angle footage when the door opens. Aheh." He trotted up the hill Twilight and her friends had vacated, wheezing slightly under the load of his gear.

"Is everypony ready?" Twilight called out. Answers to the affirmative came back. The ponies behind her began clearing away from the door. Twilight nodded nervously and bit her lip. "Okay, let's do this." Her horn glowed; the aura enveloped the gem facing her. She tapped it with a hoof. "Hello, Princess Cadence, are you there?"

A face appeared in the translucent surface of the gem; the face of the royal ruler of the Crystal Empire. "Yes, we're picking you up loud and clear, Twilight," she said. "Get ready, we're about to link the feed up to the cloud projector in five... four... three... two..."

Miles away, Princess Cadence, attended by her husband, two of the Elements of Harmony, and Spike, lowered her horn and activated the second gem. The light from the gem leapt out from the royal balcony where they stood, illuminating the enormous rectangular cloud hovering overhead. Twilight Sparkle's grinning face appeared, a hundred feet high, visible to the thousands of ponies gathered below.(1) "Um, hello? Hello!" the enormous speakers dangling from the palace archway boomed. "Thank you, one and all! My name is Twilight Sparkle, Protege' of Princess Celestia. And courtesy of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, we've arranged this little setup so that all of you can witness this monumental occasion in Crystal Empire and Equestrian history; the opening of the Tomb of the Founders!"

A loud cheer went up from the crowd of crystal ponies gathered below. Among them were Nyx, Bright Eyes and the CMC, chaperoned by Nyx's grandparents. The foals had been bundles of nearly-uncontrollable excitement during the entire setup. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to wheedle an extra day or two in the Crystal Empire by pleading the 'educational value' of being right there for the opening of the Tomb... at the cost of each having a report due on it for school when they got back home. Ah, tradeoffs. The foals had pinballed back and forth between watching everything from the balcony and watching everything from the ground below.

The food carts catering to the crowds below had made the deciding vote much simpler.

Scootaloo was snarfing her way through a funnel cake. "Boy, Spike sure missed out," she said, licking powdered sugar off her lips. "Dunno why he wanted to stay up there on the balcony."

Sweetiebelle was carrying a mass of cotton candy that was literally larger than her entire body. She giggled and pointed at the balcony. "With Rarity right there? No way Spike would get more than ten feet away from my big sister if he could help it."

"Hey Spike," Bright Eyes said, apparently into thin air. "How's it look from up there?"

High up above, the tiny dragon pressed a claw to his earfin and waved at them, briefly dislodging the baby phoenix perched on his shoulder. "It looks good," came the tinny reply that only Bright Eyes could hear. "So absolutely... perfect..." there was a long sigh.

Bright Eyes had recently introduced Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to a very popular toy in the Crystal Empire: the walkie-talkie. It wasn't much to look at, just a pair of flattish, diamond shaped gems. You stuck one to your head behind your ear, and the other pony did the same, and you could talk to each other from up to a mile away. The only drawback was that they were the little cheapy-deal ones that only two ponies could use. They were Bright Eyes', so he and Spike got to use them first, but the other Crusaders had already made plans to save up their bits and get sets of their own.

Bright Eyes pulled a face at Spike's response. Nyx saw it and translated it accordingly. "Hey, Bright Eyes, tell my big brother to stop drooling on Rarity and pay attention," she giggled.

The comment was relayed. "Heyyyyy..." Spike whined.

The cloudscreen glowed and the speakers boomed again. Everypony's eyes were riveted anew to the enormous image as Twilight narrated as ponies moved in to open the doors. "-- It is definitely Crystal Empire work. The "stone" of the doors is upon close examination actually a variety of crystal that has been rendered opaque... cloudy... by time and exposure to the elements, as well as substances in the soil after being buried..."

"Can you tell us what the engravings mean, Twilight?" Cadence's voice overlapped Twilight's.

"Um, yes, actually. It's been the subject of some discussion since it was uncovered. The lettering across the top, translated as closely as we can at the moment, is 'Here lie our Ancestors. Remember their wisdom: One alone was not enough.' What this means is vague at best. Perhaps we will learn more once we get into the inner chambers..." there was a rumble and a scraping of stone, loud enough that the ponies watching the screen could feel it in their teeth. Behind Twilight, the doors slowly gapped open. "Omigosh, this is it.." Twilight said. The view suddenly bobbled as Twilight levitated the eye gem and galloped closer.

Every pony in the crowd gasped. Nyx held her breath, standing on the tips of her hooves as her mother brought the eye gem to where they could see into the chamber beyond. It was a long, amethyst-purple tunnel that shimmered in the enroaching sunlight. Nyx could make out what looked like crypts or coffins lining the walls of the tunnel, running off into the darkness. There were lights inside; softly glowing clusters of crystals in the ceiling every few yards that glowed with a faint  blue-green light.

"Great jumpin' horn toads," Applebloom gasped next to her, waffle cone forgotten in her hoof.

A couple of ponies went on inside. "Professor Memento, one of the finest archaeologists in the business, is going on inside to assess what we can see," Twilight whispered to the audience. "He'll be looking for signs that-- oh, here he comes now..."

The yellow coated pony with the white mane and goatee stepped back out into the sunlight. He looked shaky as he removed his spectacles and dusted them off on his coat. "I... have to say that this is... most assuredly authentic," he said. "Not fifty feet in is a small crypt that is, most assuredly, of Queen Vivid Vision, presumably the last of the ancestral rulers of the Crystal Empire to be buried in--"

Nyx couldn't hear the rest as it was drowned out by cheers from the crowd all around her. Ponies everywhere were jumping around and cheering like maniacs. The other foals were freaking out pretty good too-- Bright Eyes especially. "It's real, it's real, it's really real!!" he shrieked, candy apple launching into the air to land in some unfortunate's mane. he bounced around with the others.

Nyx started to whoop and cheer too-- Mom had done it! She'd really done it!-- when she looked up at the screen and the sound died in her throat. Someone up on the jumbo cloudscreen was screaming... she couldn't make out what.

An enormous shadow had fallen over the scene. All the ponies on the screen were staring up with terror in their eyes.

Twilight was so giddy she thought she would faint. The tomb was real. And apparently it was enormous inside... she was just getting ready to orchestrate the exploration inside when she heard something that chilled her heart.

She heard Roller Reel screaming.

She spun about and saw the scrawny camerapony half-running, half falling down the hillside, shrieking something with every other step at the top of his lungs. It took her a second to make out what it was.

"Dragons! Dragons are coming!"

Something-- two huge somethings--- flew up over the hilltop in the next moment, and Twilight got her first look at Scrag and Flange. Their wingspan blotted out the sky as they began circling overhead.

Twilight had seen dragons before. She'd faced off against them, in fact. Nothing however had erased that primal, atavistic fear of the firebreathing predators. But the truly terrifying part is that for some reason, despite being certain she'd never seen these dragons before, something about them was familiar--

Then she felt the ground shake, as if under enormous footsteps. "Everypony run!" she screamed. "Take cover, into the tunnel!!" She reared and spun about, galloping into the tomb, the eye gem still in her magical grasp. Every pony present followed her lead.

The excavation team was thankfully small. Even more thankfully every hoof present had been clustered around the entrance to the tomb, eager to see inside. Applejack and Pinkie Pie began herding ponies towards the entrance, while Rainbow Dash began flying back and forth, grabbing the outliers and stragglers and hauling them inside bodily. The ponies got inside even as an enormous foot, clawed and scaly and red, came down out of the sky in the middle of the camp, smashing tents and crushing a cargo wagon to splinters.

Professor Dubious was the last inside. He stopped in the doorway, legs splayed, staring in horror at the six monstrosities bearing down on the tomb, greed and lust for destruction in their eyes. He looked around himself at the doorway to the tomb, looked behind him at the ponies retreating into the tunnel-- and fired a bolt of magic into the ceiling directly above him.

"Professor, no!" Twilight cried.

The Professor didn't move, pouring his rock-splitting spell into the ceiling for all he was worth. Ten-ton stones began raining down, smashing into the floor-- just a split second after a cyan and rainbow streak zipped up the tunnel, seized him by the collar, and yanked him to safety just hoof-lengths ahead of the tumbling stone.

Rock and earth rumbled violently for several seconds, tossing a cloud of dust down the tunnel, making ponies cough and choke. Slowly though the tunnel fell silent. Almost instantly every unicorn present lit their horns ,sweeping the dust out of the air, working to keep the air breathable.

Twilight coughed and sputtered, clearing her lungs. She looked up and realized that in her panic she'd forgotten she was magically holding onto the eye gem; it was in here with them, glowing faintly from both her own aura and it's native magic. Of all the things to grab at the last second... she thought to herself in annoyance. Then she thought again and changed her assessment. She began tapping on the crystal, feeding magic into it. "Hello, hello, Cadence, can you hear us? The Crystal Empire is under attack-- I repeat, the Crystal Empire is under attack by dragons!"

Outside, Garble and his monstrous stooges stood in the remains of the camp. Some of them amused themselves by idly crushing wagons and crates underfoot. Garble sniffed. He reached in his carry-bag and pulled one of the diamond dogs out, dropping him in the rubble. "You. Sniff this out. Anything good here?"

The terrified diamond dog scurried to obey, digging  through the crumbled earth and rock, sniffing for precious stones or metal. He reappeared from the tailings a moment later. "Pah! No, Boss-- nothing but old quartz," he said, spitting in disgust.

Blizz took note of the crystal obelisk still standing in the camp, and gave it a tentative lick. "Blagh-- more quartz!" he said, knocking it over.

"Bah, nuthin' here, then," Garble said in annoyance. Dragons could eat gems, but quartz, being made of indigestible silicon, was of no nutritional value... it was the equivalent of dietary fiber and had as much flavor as sawdust.(2) "Some stupid pony mine or somethin'." He grabbed up the diamond dog and stuffed him back in the bag.

"Ya wanna dig those ponies out?" Scrag said. "There ain't a lot of meat on 'em but it's something..."

Grundle looked over the hills and his eyes widened. "Dude, why waste your time on appetizers when the whole buffet is right here?" he pointed towards the city. All the dragons looked; there it was, the Crystal City, gleaming under the sun like the most enormous treasure trove in history. The endless sparkle had them drooling in a pavlovian response almost instantly.

"Come on, you dweebs," Garble said. "It's time to re-stock our hoards, big time." Roaring and whooping, the dragons flapped and lumbered their way towards the city.

When the last of them had passed over the nearest hill, there was a flickering in the air. Like a cloud of glitter taking shape, Roller Reel appeared out of thin air. He gasped, finally daring to breathe now that the monsters were out of earshot, and dragged his camera from under an overturned wagon where he'd hid it. He reloaded and re-mounted it on his shoulder rig on autopilot, looking around frantically. "What do I do, what do I do?" he mumbled to himself. He shivered, half in shock and half from the chill in the air. Till now the site of the dig had been covered by an extension of the weather bubble; the Princess had apparently pulled back the forcefield of the Crystal Heart to the city proper, in preparation for the attack.

He ran, half-tripping, over to the collapsed entryway, climbing up the tumbled rock and earth. It should be thinner at the top, right? "Hello?" he shouted. "Can anyone in there hear me? Are you okay??" There was nothing but grim silence for a long moment. then a curly wisp of purple magic worked its way up through the stones. As he watched, it formed letters in the air:

YES  ALL OK

Roller Reel sagged in relief. "Okay, what should I do?"

The letters changed.

WE R SAFE GO 2 CITY GET HELP

"O-Okay, I'll get help!" he shouted. "Hang in there!" He staggered down the rubbly slope and began running in the direction of the city. He didn't know if he could make it. The city was a couple of miles off; his diamond lung and the rapidly chilling air would have him a wheezing mess in less than one... but he had to try. There was no way he could just sit on his plot and do nothing.

Besides... he leveled his camera on the retreating backs of the gigantic dragons and grimly focused in. ...He had a job to do.

1) And scaring the whitewash out of a flock of low-flying birds.

2)Something Twilight had learned in a particularly unpleasant fashion after feeding a young Spike a bowlful of quartz crystals to bulk out his breakfast of emeralds, leading to an entire day of "the Silicon Squirts." It was NOT a pleasant memory for either of them.