//------------------------------// // Discoveries // Story: The Crystal Changeling // by Zoljen //------------------------------// “If it isn't a cliff side, it’s a dark forest. Why can't it be a plain of cute fuzzy bunnies?” Rose Wind whined as he trotted along at the head of the pack. Peter smirked and slid up to his side. “Well, It can't be all sunshine and rainbows, yet. Give it several hundred years and sisters rebelling before the sun can truly shine!” “You’re doing it again Peter,” Dust sighed as he dragged a hoof down his face. The group was trotting along a dirt path in a somewhat well lit forest area. Rose Wind and Peter were at the front while Tesla was at the back. “So, Peter, why don't you tell us about yourself a little?” Crystal started up, making the white and green griffin almost slither up to her with a wide grin on his beak. “Well, I could. But do you really want a flashback within a flashback?” He hovered next to Crystal, getting a confused look from her. “Uh…” “You’ll understand when you’re older,” Peter leaned on Crystal for a moment before bouncing back towards the front of the group. “But really, I'm just a simple griffin out here in this cruel world to make others laugh. My past isn't important.” He stopped for a moment looking towards Tesla. “Unlike a certain dragon, anyway.” At that, everypony turned to look at Tesla, stopping in their tracks to do so. Tesla blinked as he looked among each of them, and sighed. “I already told you; I drank something five hundred years ago and stopped aging.” “That seems weird,” Dark started up as he put a hoof to his chin. “I’ve never heard of a potion that can stop aging.” “I don't recall where I found it, but it was near a pool of water. Sadly I can't seem to find that pool either.” Tesla shrugged as he looked up at the sky. “We can set up camp here, and resume marching in the morning.” They each looked up at the setting sun and sighed. Crystal nodded and turned to face everyone. “Yeah, we should set up camp and we can resume early in the morning. We should be in Roan after that forest.” Rose sighed as he moved over to help unpack the tents and set them up. “And hopefully whatever has been chasing us hasn’t reached them yet. Or if it has, they have a good defense.” “Considering we can't seem to hurt them, only my magic seems to,” Dark grumbled as he helped set up a tent, aiding with his own magic. “And even then.” Dark trailed off with a huff. “What we need is a rare and powerful magic!” Peter grinned as he leaned on Dust. “One that changes with the seasons! I bet it could help us!” Dust looked over at the griffin with a raised eyebrow, “Like what?” “I don't know! You and Dark are the book ponies! Surely, you two have heard of something!” “Well,” Dark started with a shrug. “Maybe an alicorn’s magic can harm them.” “Well, it’s a good thing there are a few in Roan right now, right?” Rose looked over at the unicorn. “Captain Quake said there are a few there already. I don't exactly recall who though.” “He never said,” Crystal spoke up as she drove a tent stake into the ground with a hoof. “Just that a few of the higher ranking alicorns would be there.” “I do wonder why us mortals always go to the gods for everything?” Peter mused, looking around at his compatriots. “Because they seem to always have the right answers,” Tesla sighed as he set up the campfire. “For as long as I have been around, the alicorns seem to know everything about one aspect or another. Shiro is the god of war and because of that, he knows almost everything about war.” “You seem to know a lot for just being 500.” Dust commented as he sat down by the fire, letting Silverwing and Rose finish setting up the tent. “I have kept up on various news events, while also trying to stay out of sight. You try explaining to gods how you’re suddenly ageless and have no real clue how or why aside from drinking some random water,” Tesla shrugged with a sigh. “Honestly, I'm not looking forward to meeting any of them.” “But what's wrong with meeting alicorns?” Peter slid up next to the dragon with a huge grin on his beak. “They wield power a normal unicorn wishes they could! They are immortal! Unaging and undying!” “That last part is actually untrue, Peter,” Dark spoke up as he sat by the small camp fire. “I have heard of one dying, in a battle a few hundred years ago.” “But that was in a story!” Peter moved over to Dark, making him lean away from the griffin. “The alicorns are all that and a bag of chips!” “...What?” Tesla raised an eyebrow at the griffin. “I never understood that saying either.” Peter shrugged as he sat back down by the dragon. “We should reach Roan by midday, day after tomorrow,” Rose brought up as he sat next to Crystal. “If we fly anyway.” “Right, and who is going to carry the ground based ponies?” Dark looked over at Rose. “I suspect I can carry you, Dark,” Tesla looked the dark colored unicorn over. “And Peter here should have no problems with Dust. The sooner we get to Roan, the better.” “Right, so we should all get sleep,” Crystal nodded. “I’ll take first watch." “You were so close to your destination, weren't you Crystal?” Twilight asked during the pause Crystal had taken to sip some water. “We were actually about three days away. But that was not the problem.” She looked up at Twilight. “We made it over the forest blocking our way with no problems. Tesla carried Dark, and Peter carried Dust. We made it near the end the second day, and that is when things went dark.” Crystal sighed, looking down. “What happened darling?” Rarity asked, concern in her voice. Most of the girls had actually been on the edge of their seats for most of the story. “He showed up again,” Crystal looked away. “They attacked just as we made it near a ravine. The attack was so sudden, we barely had time to get out of the sky. In fact, Silverwing nearly lost a wing.” Crystal grunted as she held a shield above the fallen pegasus. She glared back at the pair of shadowy unicorns that was pelting her barrier with magic bolts. Unable to do anything except protect her friend that had landed in a rather painful way. Silverwing lay unconscious over a few rocks, his wing bent in a few places and spread out over a rock. He was breathing at least, but to Crystal, his energy felt faint. Off in the distance, she noticed Peter and Tesla were also guarding a prone form. From what she tell, it was an earth pony who was slowly stirring to life. Dust Horn slowly sat up, shaking his head as the pair kept around him, shielding him from a few shadowy pegasi. Crystal wasn't able to look around for Rose, as she kept her attention focused on the pair of unicorns before her. Each hit on her shield was starting to take its toll, as she felt each one make her shield shrink. She watched the unicorns, and the moment they both paused, she made her move. She charged out of her shield, her horn still aglow as she shrank the shield to just be around Silverwing while at the same time running in low to catch the unicorns off guard. She ran in low, managing to get under one of them and head butting it from beneath. The other turned towards her, changing its hoof to a blade. Just as she turned and readied to block the swipe, a green and black blur landed on it. She blinked as stood there a moment, before looking down. Once the smoke cleared from the sudden impact, she saw Rose holding a great sword just a few inches away from his face. Both of his hooves were on the blade, holding it up and away from slicing him in two. The owner of the blade, a black pegasus, growled as he tried to force the blade down. “A little help Crystal!” Rose squeaked out, as the blade slowly got closer. Crystal grunted as she leapt up and swung around brought a hind hoof into the stallions armored face. The attack worked, catching him squarely and sending him off of Rose. But the stallion rolled onto the ground and was back on his hooves, standing and glaring at Crystal. Rose grunted as he slowly rolled to his hooves, while Crystal stood in front of him an glared at the stallion. “Quake! Snap out of it!” Crystal shouted at the stallion, making the shadowy pegasus flinch slightly. She was about to say something else before Quake charged her. Her focus on the shield around Silverwing faltered, making it fade as she brought one up in front of her to stop the sword Quake was bringing down. “Rose! Watch Silverwing!” She ordered as she moved to the side, getting Quake to follow and swing again at her. Crystal leapt back, dodging the swing from the sword as the pegasus before her started to swing wildly. His attacks were slow, easy to predict, but that didn't mean she still barely had time to dodge and back up as she moved him away from Silverwing and Rose. She kept backing up with each swing, unable to find a chance to get to strike back. She smirked as she felt her hind hoof find a cliff side, and didn't have to look to figure out where she was. “Fine Quake, charge me!” She ordered, making the stallion flinch again before thrusting his blade forward. She lowered herself just enough to let the blade slide dangerously close over her back, making Quake stumble forward just enough to be above her. At that moment she stood up, and reared back, sending the pegasus tumbling into the ravine behind her as she kept her wings fluttering to keep her from joining him. She only glanced over her shoulder a moment, to see Quake bounce along the canyon wall, before she turned forward and dashed over to Silverwing and Rose. By the time she got over to them; Dust, Tesla, and Peter were all around him. Peter was looking around worriedly when Crystal stepped up. “We need to find somewhere to hide.” Crystal stopped to look around. “And where is Dark?” “I don't know!” Peter suddenly grabbed Crystal. “He was at my back, we got attacked, and… I DON'T KNOW SOMETHING!” Crystal just stared at him for a moment. “I hope he is fine where-” She blinked and quickly turned around, raising a shield up just in time to stop a sword. She cringed as the sword impacted her shield, held in the grasp of a familiar pegasus. “Did you really think that could stop me-erk!” Quake growled out, before a deep red blast of magic knocked him away. “Oh, there he is.” Peter commented casually as everyone looked over to see Dark standing there. His horn glowing the same deep red as he growled lowly, three out of four hooves firmly planted, his left front held up. “Anyway,” Peter started up after a short pause. “I saw a cave down in that ravine, we should head in there.” “If we go in there, we could be trapped!” Tesla looked at Crystal with worry. “Would you rather get outnumbered out in the open or be able to funnel them in one way?” Crystal asked as she turned towards Silverwing. “Peter, help me carry Silverwing!” She started to gently float his wing up in her magic, as Peter merely saluted and moved to shimmy under him gently. Dark hobbled over to them, avoiding putting weight on his fore leg as Tesla watched him. He let out a soft sigh and moved over to Dark, as Rose moved to offer protection to the two. Tesla lowered himself. “Climb on Dark, we can move faster if we all aren't slowed down.” Dark merely nodded and allowed himself to be carried by the dragon. Dust managed to get on Rose’s back and they made their way down to the cave, thankful that they weren't attacked on the way down. Once they made it to the cave’s entrance is when they heard a shout from above. Crystal hurried inside and forced everyone else in quickly. “Hopefully, they didn't see us,” She spoke softly before looking around the inside of the cave. The inside looked a little dusty, but strangely well crafted out. Like tunnellers or miners had been inside. The area just beyond the mouth of the cave was also large enough for them to freely move around. “Come on, let’s try to get a little deeper in here.” Crystal led the way in deeper, her horn keeping light going as the group hobbled its way in. As they rounded a bend, they found another big open space, where a few glowing crystals sat in its center. Crystal slowed her pace a little, staring at the crystals. “Crystal?” The changeling quickly shook her head and looked towards Rose, each of them were looking back at her worried. “We can hide here, rest up and see what we can do about the injured.” Crystal gestured around the crystals that sat in a semicircle of stones. Rose nodded and led Dust over, while Crystal and Peter went towards one of the larger slabs of stone. Tesla moved over to one and let Dark crawl onto it. Tesla sighed as he looked over Dark’s hoof. “From what I can tell, it's just sprained.” He reached back into one of his saddle bags to pull out a vial and some cloth. “What's that?” Dark eyed the vial warily as Tesla poured some onto the rag. “Something that will numb your hoof long enough to walk. I wouldn't do any running though,” Tesla chuckled weakly as he applied the cloth to Dark’s hoof, making him wince faintly. After a few moments, Dark looked at his hoof curiously as Tesla looked him over. “Anything else?” “No, just the hoof. That kind of tingles, actually.” Dark stared at his hoof and the cloth. Tesla grinned and moved over to Dust next, looking the earth pony over as he went. Dust glanced at Tesla and shook his head, as he pointed to Silverwing. Tesla nodded and turned to look at the pegasus, cringing at the sight of the wing. “Don't suppose you have any potions in there for a wing, do you?” Crystal asked as she looked at Tesla who shook his head. “Uh, well. I have a numbing oil for dragons.” He held it up, before sitting and looking in his bag again. “Nothing really for mending wings. But I can make it numb as hell for a while.” “Well, that will have to work. What can we use as a splint for this?” Crystal looked around as Tesla moved around to one side of Silverwing and started to apply the salve. After a bit of searching, she managed to find something that could work for a splint. As Crystal and Tesla worked over Silverwing, Peter took the time to explore the cave. Rose stood by the entrance as Dust and Dark remained silent. After a half hour or so, Silverwing finally started to stir and awaken. He started to panic when he noticed the state of his wing. After a little bit of being told to remain calm and being held down by Tesla, they were able fix it up to be comfortable. Silverwing sighed as he stared at his wing. “Well, this greatly slows us down.” Crystal looked among her friends, Tesla was looking over and applying bandages to Dust next, Rose stood by the entrance still, Dark had hobbled over to sit next to Silverwing. She blinked when she realized a certain griffin was missing. “Uh, has anypony seen Peter?” The others stopped what they were doing and looked at her for a moment before looking around. A set of ‘no’, ‘I haven't seen him’, and ‘I thought he was near you.’ greeted her back. She sighed and started to stand up before his voice echoed from further in the cave. “Hey guys, I think you should come see this.” All of them turned to see him pointing further in the cave. They slowly hobbled over to him as he led them deeper in. The light in the cave seemed to dim as they went in, but just as Crystal was about conjure up some light, they noticed a silvery glow. As they filed into the next room, they looked around it. At its center sat a large tree made out of crystal with the branches growing into the cave walls and its roots spread out along the cave floor. The group stared in awe at the tree until Peter squeaked. “I found a tree!” “Yes, it’s a crystal tree.” Tesla spoke up, looking at Peter. “What's so special about it?” “Look!” Peter floated by one of its branches, pointing to what appeared to be a bottle etched into a leaf. “There are more like this!” He floated over to another leaf, that had a picture of books etched into it. “All of these leaves have various pictures!” “And?” Crystal walked up to the tree, giving it a once over. “Don't most crystal trees have something like that?” “I don't know, this is the first crystal tree I’ve seen.” Tesla remarked. Peter landed by them with a sigh. “Well, this is the first I’ve seen as well. But we can hide out by this.” “Crystal trees are a thing to behold,” Dark started up. “They are often said to provide protection. We should be safe next to-” Dark got interrupted as he heard something heavy slam down behind him. The group turned around just in time to see Quake and a few shadowy unicorns standing at the entrance to the room. They took a step in, making the injured group step back from them. It was at that moment that Crystal felt a surge of energy pass over her, that started at her tail and flowed over her as she saw what could only be described as a wall of glass extend out from her. She watched it crash into the shadowy ponies, sending the unicorns and Quake into the wall. The unicorns quickly evaporated and Quake was left smoking. Another wave passed over her and crashed into the pegasus, making him hiss and scurry out of the cave. Crystal turned back to the tree, and noticed it seemed to glow a rainbow hue. Certain leaves on it glowing brighter than others. The group started to slowly back towards the entrance of the room, watching the glowing leaves as they broke off and started to float around the tree. “What is…” Crystal asked as she stopped, one of the leaves floating down to her, the leaf glowing as it went. Once it stopped in front of her, the leaf had reshaped itself what appeared to be a bracer, the image of a hoof resting over the outline of a heart etched onto the side opposite of the straps. She looked down at it, then to her friends, as five similar colored orbs floated in front of them. Each one of them got a bracer, except for Dust and Dark. An orb floated down between them and seemed to hover there for a while as if deciding. The orb soon took a shape, looking like a small purple ring that could fit over a horn, with a leather strapped attached to it. Dark’s eyes lit up as he looked it over, before the object floated over to Dust, making him go cross eyed as it attached itself to his forehead. “What?!” Dark growled as he watched Dust stare at it as best he could. Meanwhile everyone else was looking over the bracers that had attached themselves to their wrists. “What are these?” Tesla asked, looking up at Crystal, who had her eyes closed and a hoof resting on the tree. “The Elements.”