The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Preparations

Starlight was awakened by a loud rumble from her stomach. Groaning and rubbing her eyes, she lifted the lid of the box, gulping down a breath of fresh air. Outside, the light was dim, with fading stars still visible in the sky and dew covering the grass around her.

Patiently and groggily, she crawled out into the world and began munching. Apparently, she had slept the rest of the day away, and the whole night as well. It took her almost a full minute to remember why she was so tired; she had done more in the last day than the entire previous week put together.

Before her brain could wake up enough to recall her frustration from earlier, her box caught her vision. With grass poking out of her mouth, she eyed it, suddenly realizing that if properly waterproofed, it could make a superb portable rain shelter. A glow rose in her chest; that was another problem solved.

She felt her horn, and it seemed to be fine. Maybe it would take more than one day of overexertion to tire her out for good, now that she was rested. But she didn't want to push it, so she spent the rest of the time until sunrise eating in peace.

When she finished, belly full and the sun beginning to break over the snow-capped horizon, it was with a renewed determination to test her earlier discovery. Starlight crafted another manacrystal, this one sufficiently small as to take little effort, and dropped it into the water near her.

It bobbed and floated, about a quarter of its volume sticking above the surface. With a hoof, Starlight tapped it down, and it swiftly rose back up. She grinned.

Next, Starlight released the pebble. She had an idea she wanted to try, but it would be tricky... but something that could probably be done. Recalling the feeling and the process she had used when sealing herself in a crystal earlier, she summoned again, this time targeting only her head.

A prismatic block appeared, almost perfectly in place. Starlight suddenly struggled in panic, having forgotten that this would result in her being unable to breathe: though her head was trapped, her chest was free, yet she was unable to expand her lungs. She quickly banished the spell, hyperventilating and staring wide-eyed down into the lake.

After taking a drink to calm her nerves, Starlight focused on her memories of the experience earlier. She'd made it work before, after all. All she had to do was be rational... and calm. Rational and calm. She repeated it to herself in her head several times, took a minute to practice holding her breath, and lit her horn, ready to try again.

This time, she successfully fought back the initial wave of panic as her head was encased and the rest of her body remained free. Acting as if she was deliberately holding her breath, she found that she still didn't need to breathe while in the crystal... and nothing felt wrong until she tried to use her lungs.

Now more comfortable, the filly waddled to the water's edge, struggling not to tip over in her new, top-heavy state. Her vision was impaired by the crystal's refraction, setting the world spinning at bizarre angles and playing havoc with her depth perception, but her goal was to submerse her head, and that was something tipping over was at least beneficial for. A splash reverberated around her, wetting her hooves and forelegs and sounding strangely hollow from within the prism, and she was in.

Starlight blinked within the gem, slightly surprised at what she saw. Beneath the surface of the water, everything looked perfectly normal, the cyan-tinged view beyond the crystal melding neatly with its prismatic exterior to create an almost-uninterrupted portrait of the lakebed. The surface and edges of the gem were nearly invisible, and she found that she could somehow still breathe.

Pulling up, Starlight dispelled the gem and waded back out of the pool, an idea rising in her mind. She had no idea how hard her manacrystals were, but what if she could use them to shield herself during drops? There was a sizable lake at the base of the large waterfall, and it was undoubtedly carved to be extremely deep by the forces that created it. What if she descended the mountains by jumping?

The prospect sent a chill of fear up her spine, but also excitement. A skydive of that length would surely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience... but was it safe? She'd have to test first.

For now, though, that could wait. She still had the problem of waterproofing her boat to deal with, and was ready to tackle it with a fresh mind. Sticking her tongue out at the conifers that had failed her the previous day, Starlight turned away and kicked one, surveying the land for alternatives.

A pine cone fell down and bonked her on the head.

Narrowing her eyes and rubbing her scalp, the fuzzy filly glared up at the tree... farther up than she had usually looked. Suddenly, she realized that among the branches were crystallized orbs of sap clinging to the trunk, just waiting like fruit to be picked.

She extended her aura warily, and after a bit of focus and struggle snapped one off. Levitating it down to eye level, she examined it carefully, poking at it with the barest tip of a hoof. It was hard and completely solid. Wasn't this stuff usually runny and sticky?

The cold mountain air answered for her. Like chocolate, she reasoned, sap must have a low melting point. All she needed to do to make it spreadable was warm it up!

Starlight proceeded to gather several more nubs as she pondered exactly how to do that. Unicorns were capable of heat spells, but they were among the most exhausting one could perform. Converting mana in a horn to light or kinetic energy was an extremely efficient process, with very little lost to friction. But warming something up? That would be akin to rubbing herself telekinetically with a towel to generate heat. There was no way she could handle something like that.

...The forest, however, might. A grin growing on her face to match the plan in her mind, Starlight righted her box and began gathering small branches from the forest floor, tossing them in.

---

That evening, Starlight had herself a fire. It crackled in the cave entrance, fed on scraps she had carried over from the woods, fairly small and yet sufficient to do the job. Her crate lay upside-down nearby, thoroughly doused in water to prevent it from catching any stray sparks, and her still-packed saddlebags sat in a pile further back. The entirety of her sap collection now hovered in her aura, turning into a honeylike ball of golden slime as she turned it and cooked it over the roasting twigs.

When it reached the consistency of jelly, she decided it was ready. Spreading it thinly, Starlight levitated the mass over the crate and slathered it on, paying special attention to the bottom and the lower half of the sides. She worked it in, pushing and rubbing, briefly imagining herself as a telekinetic masseuse as she coated the crate in gold.

Finishing the project, she set it aside to cool and dry, turning instead back to warm herself by the fire. Usefully, the crate seemed to be fairly bottom-heavy, meaning it would roll itself upright if it got tipped over in the voyage. If she could ensure that diving in a crystal would be safe, she could just wrap everything in at once, then release herself safely at the base of the falls in the boat.

Still, one more piece needed testing: the dive. Idly unpacking and repacking her saddlebags, Starlight tried to convince herself to do that there and then. There were still several hours of light left in the day, after all.

Her blanket was tightly wrapped and rolled. She'd split the waterproof wrapping from her cutie mark box with Sosa's journal, having decided that as boring as it was, the adventurer might be right about others paying for it. The rest of the space was packed to bursting with dried hay, enough to keep her well-fed for at least three days. Longer, if rationed. Idly, she decided she might as well go get dinner before dusk fully descended.

Munching on the lakeside, Starlight watched her cave from across the water. The embers of her pocket-sized fire burned within, silhouetting the large dark rectangle of her new boat and the small lumpy shape of her saddlebags. She'd need to test the boat again, too. Applying the sap had been fairly easy, once she discovered how to do it. She could always give it more if needed.

But that could wait for tomorrow. She was getting tired, and the sun was beginning to set. With a belch, she got up from her meal and began trotting home.

She had just reached the stony spit that would take her within reach of the entrance when a cool breeze blew down from above, ruffling her ears. Glancing upwards, Starlight blinked at the sky... and grinned. She still had some energy. Might as well not retire until she really needed it. Maybe she could test now, and set out the next morning. Now that progress was on the horizon and things were working smoothly, it was getting harder and harder to deny her eagerness to continue.

Starlight backtracked, quickly finding a point where the cliff that formed the lake face was low enough that she could climb up. She swaggered confidently along the edge, walking along and looking for a point sufficiently high that she could make a dive. The stony path to her cave was in the way, its gentle slope indicating that the lake was quite shallow beyond it... she'd have to go further.

She passed the mouth of the cave, walked several more meters to where a small stream trickled down the rock face, and looked again. There wasn't a visible bottom to the water, and it looked fairly clear. Starlight suddenly gulped, nervous... but this was still her best shot. She had her fire to dry off if she got soaked, and if she couldn't make a jump like this, how would she ever convince herself to go over the falls?

Steeling herself, the filly swallowed harder, backed up... and ran at the cliff. Little legs flailing, she charged off the edge, leaping as far as she could with her horn already lit. Mouth open in a yell of determination, she formed the spell around her, and the crystal formed just in time to protect her.

Splash!

Bobbing to the surface, Starlight realized she was upside-down... but a feeling of elation filled her. The jump had been slightly awkward and disorienting, but she had made it. Hitting the water at terminal velocity probably wouldn't be too much harder. Now she just needed to-

A shadow suddenly covered Starlight's head. With a flicker of freezing panic, she realized that she was drifting... and had just been sucked into the mouth of the cave.

This was a mistake. A huge mistake! Starlight started to flail in terror, before remembering that she was trapped... and just what a bad idea releasing her crystalline prison would be. She would be going over the falls then and there, ready or not, and she wasn't ready at all. So, focusing with every ounce of concentration she had, she reached out with her magic instead. Was there anything it could do to help her?

Instinctively, the first thing that came out was a scanning spell. Starlight felt her fire, her boat, and her saddlebags all on the edge of her perception and swiftly drawing away... so she did the only thing she could think of and hardened her aura, dragging them into the river with her.

Comments

[Lexicon_Spark]

This is a great story, but just one comment about it- breathe vs breath

[Hap]

Well... I was going to say that pitching her boat while the wood is wet wouldn't work, because the sap wouldn't soak into the boards. The whole thing would peel off in one piece.

But I guess that doesn't matter, does it?

[The 24th Pegasus]

Time to #yolo the jump

[Chara Undertale]

I'm really looking forward to more from this story.

[PropMaster]

Filly Starlight is so bad at wilderness survival, lol. It's cute.

[GMBlackjack]

Whoops. You done goofed, Star.

Anyway, being able to breathe through a solid magic crystal? That... tests my suspension of disbelief. Is it semi-permeable? Have we seen any evidence before that it provides air? Is it made OF air? Am I asking too many questions?

-GM, master of 1001

[Czar_Yoshi]

9792720
It's less being able to breathe and more not needing to, like a water-breathing spell that doesn't involve filling your lungs with water. Since she's completely encased, her barrel is physically incapable of expanding for respiration.

[Alchemik]

Oh no. Better get this on the first take Starlight!

[Merula]

Once more unto the bre- Wait, wrong series!

Uhhh... Allon-sy!

[Walrusesarecute]

let’s go