The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Tumble

The world darkened around Starlight as she rounded a corner, thrusting the sun firmly out of reach. Her crystal rammed up against a wall, knocking her into a spin. Rotating and disoriented, her telekinesis failed and she lost her grip of the things she had dragged after her.

Unable to gasp due to the solid around her, the filly was taken over by an instinct deeper than any she knew she had. Suddenly, with a dull flash, she lost feeling in her throbbing horn, her gem hardening as her body did everything in its power to make sure what little protection she had wasn't lost due to shock. The cold lucidity a pony feels when facing inexorable death flooded over her, and then she was alone, able to think, and perfectly still with the entire world moving around her.

Starlight wasn't sure what to do with her newfound calmness. Beyond the swirling in her ears, she felt gravity's pull and knew that she was leaning at a sharp angle, her head likely half-submerged. She imagined being able to see the tunnel around her, and her horn obligingly lit of its own accord, painting the patterned ceiling in shades of refracted cyan and black.

The edge turned its way into view. It was high enough that she wouldn't be able to grab it even if the water was warm and still, and the reactionary pang her brain sent through her when she even considered dropping her shield was too much to bear. It rotated its way out of sight again and Starlight floated further, drowning in river noises amplified tenfold by the gems in her ears yet so quiet and defined she could make out every last drip.

She drifted past Sosa's old camp. Briefly trying to grab more crates and being met with denial, she imagined her box in her saddlebags and wondered if its wrapping would really be enough to protect against this. She had split it with the journal, after all. Of course, that only mattered if she could ever find it again... and that only mattered if she survived the fall. Which she probably wouldn't.

Why wouldn't she, though? This had been her plan all along... or as long as she'd had a plan, at least. Maybe she could have thought of something better. Definitely, she'd have started at the big waterfall and just made one jump, and she'd have protected her boat and saddlebags with her... but she could still do this. She just had to concentrate properly. She could-

The world lurched around her as the river's flow altered, some subterranean structure beneath the surface changing the currents around her. Bumping, Starlight splashed several times as choppy waves rose up around her, freshly staining her window with moisture. The eye she had below the surface blinked at darkness, and she felt herself speeding up.

Several more times, she clanked with the walls, each contact harsher than previous. She could feel muted sparks in her head each time they struck, her brain's ability to ignore pain evidently being pushed to its limit. Spinning, Starlight tried not to think about what she'd feel like afterward.

The next surge sent her tumbling in a different direction, head rapidly submerging and rising again as she flipped from upside-down to right side up and back again, forcing her to extinguish her light spell lest her vision add to the chaos overwhelming her senses. Her stomach flipped with her, and she instantly regretted eating so much right before performing her test. If she hadn't been completely immobilized, she would have surely lost it by then, but all she could do was hold still and weather the turns.

Another wall clash flipped her upright again, immediately followed by the water dropping out from under her. Seconds later, she splashed, submerging entirely and spinning in random directions as river turbulence forced her under. The only thing she could see was the dim light from maintaining the crystal reflecting off the insides of its walls.

Suddenly, that changed. Starlight was catapulted out into the light, falling in a curtain of mist as velvet twilight surrounded her. She only had time to register that up was one of the directions swirling around her before she was submerged again in a shower of bubbles. This time, the water around her wasn't pitch black, carrying a purpleness from the sky that gradually intensified as she floated back to the surface.

She reached that surface... and then the surface vanished. She had crossed the edge.

Her horn chose this moment to fail, causing her barrier to explode in a shower of sparks and droplets. Feeling returned full force... at the cost of her vision. For the first few seconds of her drop, Starlight struggled to make sense of the blackness and then meaningless images that flickered through her brain, before tying them to her eyes... and forcing her eyes, in turn, to work again.

The land below was still bathed in golden sunset, having a far enough horizon that it didn't obscure the sun. She barely had time to register the ironic beauty when her horn hit her like a carriage, pulsing against her skull with such force that she imagined it exploding like her barrier had.

Hyperventilating, Starlight steeled control of her lungs and forced in a deep breath, pushing it out while plugging her nose to build pressure in her head. Her ears popped, her hornache subsided just a little, and she could think again.

The world around her was still spinning. She flung out all four limbs like a kite, feeling chill air ripping at her somehow-dry body... and stabilizing it. Soon, she was able to look downward, and the moment her eyes stopped tearing from the wind she realized just how much she still had to fall.

Starlight flipped over onto her back, her own wind shadow allowing her to see and breath more easily. Above, she could hazily make out the top of the waterfall she had toppled from, its cliff face sitting at such an angle to the setting sun that great swaths of shadow mixed geometrically with still-lit planes on what appeared to be a nearly flat surface. A small spot of black tumbled in the distance above her, which was probably her boat. She couldn't see her saddlebags anywhere.

The wind continued to shred through her, and she readied herself, flipping over again. The ground was maybe a little closer. Her brain pointed out that the closer it was, the faster it would seem to approach, so she resolved to keep an eye on it as thoroughly as possible. Somehow, she was repressing her dread of what she would do when it arrived. Her horn was probably useless, hurting even to think about. Maybe time itself would make an exception and stop, just for her.

Noticing that she was drifting off course from landing in the sizable lake at the cliff's base, Starlight angled her body, soaring closer. As she did so, an errant spray of water from the falling torrent hit her, quickly wetting the surface of her coat... which in turn began doing something between drying and freezing due to the wind. Starlight hissed, fighting the urge to curl up and looking wildly around.

Something small and solid flashed across her vision, falling with her. She spread her limbs again, stabilizing to look at it better. There, perhaps twenty meters below her, was a dark patch maybe the size of her head... or, two dark patches tethered closely together. Her saddlebags?

Grimacing in determination, Starlight adjusted her angle again, pointing her forehooves in front of her like a speeding pegasus and diving. Second by second, she sped up, dodging through jets of water that appeared around her in slow motion. The land below faded out of her perception as she locked her focus to the tumbling bags, muscles straining to reach as she approached closer and closer.

At last, she reached a hoof out... and snapped it around the strap connecting the two objects. Her saddlebags ejected water like a sponge, no gravity present in freefall to even begin wringing them of their held moisture. Starlight squawked in displeasure, looking away... and realizing just how close the ground had gotten during her dive. Eyes widening in dismay, she stuck the strap in her mouth and spread her limbs again, trying desperately to slow her fall.

The lake loomed large below her, close enough that she could begin to make out its sandy shore. Individual trees were now visible, protruding like green-gray spikes in the night shade. The sound of the waterfall hammering down wasn't yet strong enough to pierce the wind's eternal roaring, but she could tell it soon would be. Starlight was out of time.

She pushed energy into her horn, and it pushed back, causing her vision to flicker again. Hissing, the filly tried again, and still got no result. She managed to swallow, the size of the ground increasing measurably with each passing second.

Her horn wasn't working. She was going to die. What else did she have? What else could she do? Panic rising in her chest, Starlight bit open one pouch of her saddlebags, only to be met with a pile of sodden hay flying up into her face. Spitting and blinking, she opened the other pouch.

Her box and the journal floated out, and she didn't have time to ascertain their condition, stuffing them back into the first side. Her water flasks came, too. The only thing left there was... her blanket. What could a thin, sodden blanket do for a filly falling to her death above a giant lake?

Hopefully enough.

Grimacing in concentration, Starlight flung her saddlebags onto her back, where they would hopefully stay. The blanket, she gripped in her mouth, still spread-eagled to try to preserve the last few seconds of her fall as long as possible. Hooves wouldn't work for holding something like this. She needed a better way.

Again, Starlight felt her horn, begging it to work. A crystal was too much to ask for, but could she have telekinesis? Just a little? Pretty please?

Nothing. Predictable. Her horn couldn't even work to save her life! Choking back a yell of frustration, she readied her forehooves; the clumsy appendages would have to do instead. Grabbing two corners of the blanket, she tied them in a messy knot, barely managing to pull it tight with the assistance of her mouth. That would have to do.

Starlight lunged forward, pushing her body through the loop created by the blanket. Allowing the knot to slide back until it caught against her hind legs, she took a bite elsewhere and began to pull. Little by little, Starlight worked her grip closer to the far corners of the blanket as it trailed behind her like a cape.

A new kind of thunder filled her ears. The base of the waterfall was within hearing. Without even stopping to look, Starlight reached the end of the blanket, bunched the two far corners in her mouth... and yanked down.

The blanket billowed above her, mushrooming out into a small, soggy parachute. Air resistance caused it to tear at her teeth and drive into her stomach simultaneously, winding her and nearly causing her to lose her grip. Starlight snorted through her nostrils, teeth clenched and bared... and she held on.

Her fall slowed abruptly, but she was still moving at a considerable speed. Mentally, she judged the depth of the lake and how deep her dive would take her, and angled sharply towards the shore. A countdown began in her head as she watched individual waves and ripples grow closer. Three... Two...

The knot holding the blanket around her belly snapped, rendering the parachute useless. Flailing, Starlight tumbled the last meter and impacted the water, her blanket catching the wind and flapping onto the beach nearby.

Comments

[Hap]

This doesn't seem safe.

[alamais]

8266937

[Mocha Star]

I wanna try!
Jk

[Double_Bubble]

That was one LONG fall...

[PropMaster]

I'll chalk this one up as "Dan Brown did it in a book, too" and leave it at that.

[gakposter]

8266937
It’s not. But then again, people survive literal failed skydives and falling off Niagra Falls in a wooden barrel, so I don’t see how she wouldn’t get lucky. Especially when magic is involved..

[ibanix]

Holy god I just realized this is 1.5 million words.

[GMBlackjack]

Makes note: cartoon physics is still in effect...

[Sozmioi]

9780851

958 chapters hidden

...

yikes

[avidreader07]

Someone needs to animate this. This chapter, at least.

[Alchemik]

Top of the world indeed. That was a lot of time to think on the way down.

[Merula]

... that was FUN!

[bronyheat]

Given how many horse-filled chapters remain, I'm going to make the bold assumption she survived the fall.
She gave it a good go, but sadly she's probably not getting a cutie mark in cliff diving, aeronautics, or improvised parachute construction.

[Venlinelle]

Well, stranger things have happened. That was very lucky, though.

I suppose Starlight is a pony, and ponies are crazy durable. Just look at the impacts Dash survives.

[Walrusesarecute]

I like survivalist stories, and so far, this has been pure survivalist, how long will it stay like this? Is this the whole story, I’m fine if it is, it almost feels like a story I could listen to somebody read or something, or should I keep reading into deeper implications?