//------------------------------//
// Crystal Star Ch7: Pain and Lessons 
// Story: Crystal Star 
// by MaxFlames 
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{April 3rd, 2015, United States of America, 11:30am}

Twilight’s heart was still beating so fast, and her ears ached, but she didn't understand why. She had dealt with dragons and yaks and griffons before, all of which were very loud when they wanted to be, but that one creature was somehow louder than them all. No, she realized, they ALL were. She heard the creatures beyond the door communicate, but it was just so loud now, and she didn't know why.

"W-" She started to speak as she heard her own voice bouncing around in the room, and it was louder too. Her ears ached more as she laid down, and tried to tune out everything. She glanced over to the bowl of apples, and began to pull it over when she heard the loud scrape of the ceramic on the odd stone and winced, stopping any movement it had. She shuttered and lifted an apple and brought it to her mouth instead.

"CRUNCH!!" She winced again from the sound it made as she bit into it. Why is everything so loud? She asked herself as she slowly chewed the chunk she removed from the apple, each bite she heard at an uncomfortable volume. She also heard her stomach angrily growl at her like a timberwolf. Ugh, why did I need to be so hungry all of a sudden! Why can't I just handle my ears right now! She thought with a sigh, as she took another bite, and shuttered from how loud it was again.

She listened to the creatures outside as then all seemed to speak quietly, which she felt very glad about, but there was still this unbearable noise. It sounded like something had messed up a set of bells and shook them in front of a megaphone.

She spent a long time just laying on the ground with that horrible noise in her ears, though she was almost sure it was at least an hour. Eventually, her hunger won out, and she decided she needed to eat again. So, she moved her pillow from the makeshift bed and a towel, and tied it onto her ears. She then picked up her apple, and quickly ate it, then picked up another, and ate it as well. Why am I so hungry? She wondered as she grabbed another, then another, then another. She ate the entire bowl of apples in minutes, and was still hungry. It felt like she hadn't eaten in weeks, if not months.

She laid her head on the ground, and closed her eyes, thinking a nap might help her, when she felt a sudden jolt of piercing pain go through her left wing! She screamed in pain as she began to breathe hard, never feeling this much pain in her entire life! She felt herself begin to tear up as she just laid there, having no clue how to handle this. This must have been close to what Rainbow felt when she injured her wing and ended up in the hospital.

T-that can't b-be right, she realized as she tried to push through the pain, I h-had an entire pian-no fall on me, and I w-walked it off! W-why does this hurt so much? She couldn’t manage to look back as her every movement caused the pain to spike again, so she didn’t know what was wrong with her wing. She just laid there, hoping that this would just go away.

Minutes passed into hours as Twilight slipped in and out of a pained haze. In her more lucid moments she contemplated trying to get help, but the idea of the sound of her own hoofsteps was enough to make her head spin, nevermind the thought of calling out. At one point the pounding of footsteps drew her attention, distinguishable from her own heartbeat only by its volume. Squinting up against the harsh artificial lighting she saw a large figure looming above her, clad head to toe in a bulky, ill fitting yellow suit. It crouched to peer into her eyes before waving some small object back and forth in front of her mouth too swiftly for her wavering vision to make out. Deliriously she wondered if she was having a strange fever dream or if this bizarre apparition was this place's version of the Pale Horse. While she tried to remember why that was a bad thought, the figure disappeared in another thundering of footsteps and the blessed silence returned. Twilight drifted into a fitful half-slumber, just wishing it would all go away.

{April 4st, 2015, United States of America, 8:37am}

Twilight has barely moved over the day, the pain just being too much. She wasn’t sure if the creatures understood what had happened the day prior, but after her screams of pain, they only watched over her. Ok Twilight, she thought to herself, you got to get over this, and everything else. You need to eat, and too continue to learn the language of these creatures so you can get out of here. She tried to move the apple bowl again, but stopped after hearing the screech of the bowl on the ground and winced, as the pain flared up again. For Celestia's sake! We have MAGIC! She yelled at herself in her head, as she lifted the bowl and placed it down with a loud "CLUNK". It was loud, but much more bearable than the scraping of the bowl.

Unfortunately, however, she discovered that the bowl was empty, and she realized that no one had refilled it from the other day, or the day before that. Terrible hosts, she thought with a chuckle, before wincing from pain.

Then, she felt something deep in her, something forgotten, something… primal, awakened in her mind. I can't keep lying here in pain! That's just giving them a chance to finish me off! GET UP!. With that, she forced herself upright, and clenched her teeth as pain coursed through her. She was shaking, but at least she wasn't easy prey. W-what am I thinking? "Easy prey"? Why was I thinking that? Sweet Celestia, this bucking hurts!... Why is bucking an activity that farmers do, and a swear?... Why did I question THAT of all things? Why am I so scatterbrained today?

She looked out the window, and back at the loud creature with the darker color. Great, I get up and now it's time for- she couldn't finish the thought before they hit the door, and Twilight… Snarled at them? Twilight nearly facehoofed right then and there, until it glared at her. It stepped up to the window, bared its teeth, and growled so loud it almost felt like it would deafen Twilight. She started to breathe hard and fast, as her horn began to spark wildly. Her entire body was shaking, and the pain was still there through it all!

Another creature steps beside the loud one and seems to speak to them. The loud one looked annoyed, but backed away anyway, which she was glad about. She glanced around, wincing slightly when turning her head caused the pain to flare. Grabbing up a sheet of paper and a crayon in her magic she hesitated for a moment trying to work out how to convey the idea of 'medicine' over a language barrier. Glancing up she saw the creatures watching her curiously, so she quickly sketched a glass of water and a belladonna plant. Scrutinizing it she deemed it sufficiently recognisable and held it up with a hopeful smile. The creatures collectively raised an eyebrow, but didn’t seem to do much.

The creature who had done most of the writing stepped up and after a few seconds of scribbling, held up a sheet with a foalish image of a tree with a word beneath it. Groaning in annoyance, Twilight nonetheless dutifully copied down the words and showed them the Equestrian translation as well. As she was trying to work out how to make her message clearer, the creature had apparently decided they had started a lesson. It held up a paper with the image of a unicorn drawn on it, and a word. In truth, focusing on the academic exercise had distracted her somewhat from the pain, so with a sigh she wrote down the word and its translation, and lifted it to show them. They nodded and pulled out another paper with a pegasus on it

 She copied it down and showed it like the other, silently wincing as her wing twitched suddenly. The creature smiled and pulled out another paper, this time with both a unicorn and a pegasus, a question mark, and an arrow pointing at her. They want to know which I am, I’m guessing. I’ll just draw out a horn and some wings for this. She thought as she drew. When she revealed it to the creature, it looked confused. It stared at its own paper for a minute in thought, then shrugged and pulled out another sheet, this time with a house on it. For a time, they exchanged words for basic objects and concepts and Twilight was glad for the distraction of the monotonous task. Occasionally the creature would raise a picture of something Twilight couldn't recognise, like strange flying structures which looked like something from Spike's comics or tools obviously designed for a creature with hands. A few times she'd had to respond with more pictures, breaking down some abstract idea until they could both understand what the other was showing. After an hour or so Twilight had accumulated quite a pile of papers covered in cramped hornwritting and sketches. She looked up from straightening the stack to see the creature holding up an image of the sun in various positions above an abstract horizon.
Twilight smiled a bit remembering her teacher as she wrote the word under it, taking incredible care to write it as perfectly as possible, as she realized she could use this to start to explain her situation in some way. She barely got a chance to look up as the creature switched the paper with one with the moon. Luna… I wonder why she wasn’t there during my nightmare… She shook her head and scribbled the word down quickly. She showed the words and she was surprised to see the creature raise an eyebrow and jot something onto the previous papers, before placing a new image on the window. Twilight suddenly saw an opportunity to show her… whatever these creatures were to her… that she wasn’t bad. She grabbed a paper and made a careful drawing then a small arrow, another drawing, then wrote her new word down with a smile. She then showed the creatures as their eyes widened.