//------------------------------// // 1 - Starfall // Story: Starfall // by Ghosted Note //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Starfall She looked up to her mother, who had a frown etched upon her face as the TV lit up with the news, and an arm draped protectively around her daughter. Her young mind didn't really understand the significance of the words coming out of the TV, but it was making her mother unhappy, and that was enough to make her unhappy as well as she clung to the leg beside her. Her mother was on the phone now, using phrases like 'side effects' and 'quarantine. She could gather that there had been some sort of accident not far from where she lived, and that it was changing people, and that this change was becoming more and more common even in places nowhere near the accident. She tightened her grip on her mother. She had been feeling a little funny lately, and the thought wormed its way into her head that someone might take her away from her family. Her parents would never let that happen without a fight, though. They'd protect her. ----- Princess Celestia idly flipped through some of the never-ending paperwork endemic to her position while she waited for the third addition to their early morning conference, occasionally pausing to sign here or make an annotation there. Princess Luna stood nearby, considerably less composed as she paced impatiently, her ethereal mane a restless trail of stars on an azure field as she tossed her head before speaking. "'Tis most unlike your former pupil to be late, and at such a time as this..." Celestia raised her head from her work to respond, only to have the necessity vanished as the latest addition to their little alicorn family appeared in a flash of light. Twilight Sparkle's frazzled mane and unshorn fetlocks were a far cry from the two other ponies in the room, who even at their least composed maintained a regal air of authority. "Sorry! Sorry! I just was caught up in a research project and didn't notice your letter until about five minutes ago. I was testing the thaumic reactivity of quicksilver in a vacuum conditions and I found some really interest-" "Twilight," Celestia chided gently, ceasing the incoming lecture before it had a chance to begin. "We have more pressing matters at hoof." Twilight nodded with a blush before taking her seat, one of the castle servants discreetly arriving with a brush to attend to her mane. "Luna, if you would," Celestia prompted when she was sure all parties were ready. Luna nodded and positioned herself in front of the other two princesses. "Last night, I had just gotten done weaving the night sky and was inspecting it from my balcony, when a most unusual and disturbing event occurred. A shooting star, not of my own make, but clearly caused by very powerful magic, appeared, and landed in the White Tail Woods. I have already sent some of my guard to quarantine the area, but I feel this matter deserves our personal attention as the amount of magical power present might pose a danger to less powerful beings." Celestia echoed Luna's nod as an assent. "I too felt this falling star, and I was about to ask Luna about it when she came to me asking for this meeting to convene." "I didn't sense it, as I was in my shielded lab at the time," began Twilight, "But if it's power is strong as you say, then it follows that it might pose a threat to other ponies, or better yet, maybe some magical resource that could be helpful." "I agree wholeheartedly," said Luna, "Therefore, I propose that we depart immediately, with orders for a hazard containment unit to follow with the proper tools to contain magical blights and leakage. Are we united in this decision?" "Yes," replied Celestia, "Though I feel that a magical analysis expert should also be included in the team." "Agreed," Twilight said with a nod. "It's settled then." The three departed not long after, teleporting to the outskirts of the forest and taking wing for the rest of the trip. It wasn't a long one, and the smoking crater left a trail visible for miles. When they got to the clearing its shockwave had created, they beheld fractured ground, seeping with ethereal blue, almost smoke-like trails in a spiderweb of cracks that conjoined at the center of the crater, where amidst the smoke the faint outline of some sort of creature thrashed and spasmed without ceasing. The trio doubled their pace and glided down to the bottom of the crater, stopping a few feet away from something they most certainly did not expect to see. "What...what is it?" queried Twilight. "It looks like it's made of magic, nothing else... just... magic." "I am not sure," replied Celestia, casting a wary eye to the tip of the soft pastel rainbow that was her mane, which, though its colors and its movement didn't quite seem to synchronize, was clearly beginning to be drawn towards the being. Looking over to Luna, her sister's mane appeared to be in a similar state. "Whatever it is, though, it is clearly in great pain, and I suspect that it might be draining the local magic into itself. If we are to help this creature, though, we must understand it more clearly, lest we do more harm than good." The other two nodded in assent, and Luna's eyes lit up like lanterns for a brief moment before she responded. "This creature is either not of this world, or if it is, has suffered a traumatic severing of its innate magic from the planet's ley-lines. I think that in the absence of this connection, and without being able to draw sufficient magic to sustain itself, it has begun to self-cannibalize." "That's horrifying to think about," said Twilight shakily moving a bit closer to inspect the fragments of light occasionally fracturing from the thrashing figure, "But it makes sense. I think it gets more complicated though. I don't think this is its natural form, and it can't contain its own magical essence. It's both dissolving and eating itself at the same time, and I don't think its able to do anything about it." Celestia brought herself forward to stand beside Twilight, her face ever the picture of serenity in the face of trouble. "We have a course of action, then. We must assist it in linking to our planet's ley-line network, so that it might sustain itself long enough for us to take further steps. Past that, I believe the priority is finding some way to fabricate a different form that can better contain its not-inconsiderable power. For now, Luna and I will erect a barrier around it, to help it contain itself while Twilight binds it to our world." With that, the two royal sisters positioned themselves on either side of the visitor, and a shifting silvery bubble appeared around it. Twilight stepped forward until she was inches away, and closed her eyes, extending her senses. The world around her was a psychedelic panorama of colors, different streams of magic twisting and weaving around her in a vivid rainbow that had a few colors she suspected didn't actually exist. They wavered and looped around each other, mixing and mingling occasionally, but invariably, they all streamed towards where she knew the nearest of the various rivers of magic that flowed all throughout the world in a network referred to as ley-lines. The creature was different, though. The violent white-blue flames of the creature's power flared and roared like the creature's soul was being immolated, and where there should have been a gentle aura that gathered together into a link that fed from the world's magic, there were only jagged edges and streams of wild, uncontained power that disrupted everything around it. Working carefully, she tapped into her own primal link to the world's magic, one of the strongest in existence ever since her own considerable magical potential was transformed into a representation of magic itself by the powerful artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. Though they had been returned from whence they came, the link remained as strong as ever, and the world's magic recognized her as kin. Using this to her advantage, she began coaxing and channeling a branch of the nearest ley-line towards her patient, simultaneously shaping the wild bursts and flares of the newcomer to meet it. When the two met, there was resistance though, as the planet rejected the foreign body like an incompatible transplant. Ignoring the sweat dripping from her brow, Twilight opted for a different plan, and began carefully weaving strands of her own power into both streams, creating a small segment that more easily connected to each side. She released her grip, and after a few heart-pounding seconds of instability, the alien's aura seemed to even out, and she could see a painfully slow shift in the colors of its link as it started to properly assimilate. Finally, her work was done for now. She unceremoniously plopped her rear onto the ground, exhausted. When she opened her eyes a few seconds later, she found that the sun was at its apex, and there were ponies in anti-magic suits bustling to and fro around her. "How long was I at it?" Luna got back on her hooves, having been relieved by the Royal Guard's Magical Anomaly Containment Unit. "Three hours," replied Luna, taking advantage of the fact that her control of the moon meant that she was intimately familiar with what was arguably the world's largest and most accurate clock, as both sisters instinctively knew exactly when sunrise and sunset were, and exactly how long until they each occurred. "My sister has returned to Canterlot to make arrangements at the castle for the proper containment of the creature so that we might better study its afflictions and learn how to cure them. Speaking of which, your spellcraft was absolutely splendid to behold. The Elements and my sister both chose well, it seems. Using your magic as a link between the two was quite resourceful." A blush played upon Twilight's face, and she chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, thanks. I'm sure you'd have found a way if our positions were reversed. After all, you and Celestia are infinitely more experienced than I am." "Don't undervalue your talents," chided Luna gently in response, "Experienced we may be, but our power is not limitless and the fresh perspective of youth often reaches into places that our thousands of years of established habit might bar us from treading. My sister did not jest when she declared you our equal. Twilight nodded in response before casting her gaze back to the creature she had just made progress in saving. "It's bipedal with two arms...Kinda reminds me of those versions of everypony in the mirror world that Sunset Shimmer lives in, though the proportions are a little different. Maybe they're a variant?" "It's possible," replied Luna thoughtfully. "Existence is infinite, and so are its configurations. It might be that this poor creature pierced the veil between realities, but did not have the means to safely traverse it. Maybe we can find out more from the creature itself after we have relieved its afflictions. By the end of the day, the alien had been transported to a specially prepared chamber in the previously defunct mines below Canterlot, the capital's wealth of bright minds and resources making it easy to assemble a full team to study it. The princesses themselves stayed personally involved with the project as often as their duties would let them, though it would be weeks before a breakthrough was made in restoring physical existence to it. ----- Twilight Sparkle sat in her study, surrounded by data readings and charts mailed to her castle in Ponyville from Canterlot. Her assistant and, for all intents and purposes, adoptive brother, a dragonling named Spike, diligently sorted through papers by the types of information they contained before Twilight suddenly perked up, catching her assistant's eye. "We've been going about this all wrong. I think I know what the problem is."