Alternative Origins

by TalkingToMyself

Chapter 2

The train tracks just ended in the middle of nowhere. There was a small shack right next to the track but it was nothing but a sad excuse for a real station. A little further, Sunset Shimmer saw a taller building, probably the outpost the guard mentioned earlier. Not that she cared much.

As soon as she jumped out of the train, she opened her magical awareness, just like Princess Celestia had taught her from early on. With her heightened senses, she easily picked up some trails of magic in the distance and made her way towards it. A guard tried to follow, but stopped when she actually growled at him. She couldn't have any distractions now that she was so close.

The wind picked up around her, but nothing a shield spell couldn't deal with. A minor heat enchantment and none of the snow or icy gale bothered her any more.

The magic around her grew stronger, but it still was too hazy to pick up more than distinct traces. She quickly found that all the traces were pointing into a certain direction and without a moment of hesitation, she followed the lead deeper into the blizzard that grew around her.

The snow fell in thick flakes and clouds nearly blocked out all the light as Sunset Shimmer walked on unconcerned. She didn't need any light when she could feel the magic field so clearly around her. How could any mage who had been here before miss something this obvious? She easily followed the intricate patterns of ambient and lingering magic towards the supposed centre. She noticed a sharp imbalance, almost like a scar, running through the lines of harmonious magic. Although she had never felt it herself, she easily recognized the leftover magic for what it was. Forbidden magic. Dark magic.

Any other unicorn would have felt fear and maybe even ran away. Sunset Shimmer just smirked and went on. The dark magic only barely managed to withstand the ambient magic all around her, clearly it was just some leftover trace from whatever had happened a thousand years ago. There was no way this darkness could ever be dangerous to a powerful mage like herself, instead she could use it to find the source much quicker.

She kept walking for a while and followed the magic. She noticed the lack of landmarks she could use to orientate and find a way back, but she just shrugged and went on. She could look for a way back once the blizzard has faded, until then she was snug and safe under her shield spell. If everything failed, she could still teleport away.

Slowly, the tundra around her changed. She noticed how even and flat the ground was suddenly, not even grass growing on it. She guessed she had to be where the old city had been located by now. Just to prove her right, she saw crystal structures scattered around her. Some barely reached out of the ground, some others were almost as tall as her.

They grew more frequent as Sunset Shimmer followed the path in the magic field and she soon saw where it led her.

In front of her stood a perfect obelisk made of milky white crystal. Other that the smaller ones, this was seemed more dense, she could not see through it and it was easily twice her height. Also, it pulsed out with ancient magic.

Sunset Shimmer stepped closer and expanded her shield spell so the obelisk was covered and she could look at it more closely. The surface was absolutely smooth, no facets or cracks in the crystalline structure. At least, not on the surface. She squinted her eyes and tried to see what was behind, she almost thought she could make out a shape in the centre of the crystal spire.

Annoyed and curious at the same time, she called a light spell with her magic, a very strong one that could pierce through the milky surface of the crystal. She gasped in surprise. As soon as the magic light touched the crystal, it turned from dense and milky into a perfectly transparent glass-like structure, no longer obscuring what was hidden in its centre.

Sunset Shimmer’s eyes opened so wide that the light almost hurt them, but she couldn’t look away from what she saw.

Deep inside the crystal spire, she saw a pony. Not some blurry shape, not some vague structure, she was definitely looking at a pony, surrounded by crystal that was at least a couple of inches thick from all sides.

She could even make out details about the pony. It was definitely a mare, not much older than herself. The mare’s coat was a dirty white colour or maybe a very bright grey and her mane was a mess of deeply saturated yellow curls that made is difficult to see much of her face.

The mare seemed to float inside the crystal, as if suspended by an invisible force. She had her hooves pulled against her and her body was curled up tightly. It took Sunset Shimmer a few minutes to realize that the mare was frozen in a pose of struggle and pain. The only thing that clashed with this was the fact that the mare’s eyes seemed naturally closed instead of clenched shut and that her lips curled into an almost serene smile.

It made no sense why her face looked so peaceful when her body looked like she was in great pain.

Sunset Shimmer shook her head to put an end to her aimless pondering. She could figure this out later, but first she had to find out more. None of the books she’d been giving from the Princess said anything about a pony encased in crystal, so it was clear that she was the first one to find her. Figures it took a genius like her to find what others failed to see for almost a thousand years.

Sunset Shimmer charged up her horn and shot out a broad-spectrum analysis spell. The beam of red magic travelled from the base of the spire to its tip and back again. Sunset made sure to put in a good deal more power than usual, just to be able to pierce through the crystalline surface. The information the spell gathered trickled into her mind, the usual stuff like density of the crystal, geological stats, magical feedback, heart rate, pulse frequency, thaumic dilatation…

Wait, what?

Sunset Shimmer’s eyes opened wide in disbelieve. That couldn’t be right. She shot another, more powerful beam at the mare inside the crystal. Only to get the same results.

“What in Tartarus…?”

She felt a heartbeat coming from the mare, very slow but clearly noticeable now that she focused on it. There was a pulse, again very slow and weak. She could even feel a very small, miniscule magical frequency coursing through the mare.

“Sweet Celestia, she’s alive inside there?”

Questions bombarded her brain from all directions. How is this possible? Why is she in pain? How could she survive a thousand years? Why has nopony found her before?

While her mind went in circles, her spell kept feeding her information. The heartbeat was slowing down even further and the pulse was dangerously weak. Even the magical circuit inside the mare started to collapse.

Holy Celestia, she’s dying inside there!

Sunset Shimmer violently shoved all questions and doubts out of her thoughts and took an aggressive stance. She lowered her horn and began to weave half a dozen spells together, probing the crystal for weak spots and searching for a way to get the mare out, all while monitoring her vital signs.

She probed and prodded with different spells and frequencies, but nothing worked. She recalled other, more obscure spells and sent them towards the crystalline structure but with the same result. All while the mare slowly wilted away.

For the first time in a very long while, Sunset Shimmer felt helpless and at wits end. She didn’t like that feeling at all and it made her angry

“Augh! Screw this!”

Dismissing any caution, she powered up a mighty spell and drilled her way into the crystal. The crystal structure grew denser under the magical pressure and fought back. Whatever this thing was, it seemed self-aware and tried to push Sunset back out

“Oh no you don’t!”

With an angry yell, Sunset Shimmer reached out for every ounce of magic she had left and pushed. Her spell was fuelled by anger, but even more by determination. She wouldn’t let that mare die. She pushed harder and realized the force fighting back was not the crystal, but the dark magic she had felt earlier. It didn’t make any sense, but the remains of dark magic seemed to focus on stopping her at any cost. If she pushed on, she would most likely destroy any trace that could lead her to uncovering the secrets of the Crystal Empire.

Her eyes fell on the mare in the crystal, crouched over in pain and anguish. She barely felt her heartbeat anymore.

With a loud scream, she pushed with all her magic at once. The dark magic resisted for a few seconds before it scattered under her power. The crystal lasted a few moments longer, but then it cracked. In a sudden burst, the spire fell apart into tiny fragments and crystalline dust.

The mare stayed suspended in the air for a moment longer before she fell down on the ground. Sunset Shimmer tried to run towards her, but her legs gave in under her weight so she slumped on the ground instead. Her breath came in heavy pants and her thoughts had to fight through molasses as she struggled to understand. She had just completely burned herself out of magic when she broke the thousand-year-old curse and now her vision grew blurry. She groaned when she realized it was snow that obscured her sight, thick flakes that quickly covered her with freezing cold. Her shield spell was gone, so was the heat enchantment.

She forced herself back on her legs, only to fall down again a few steps later. She could make out the form of the mare in front of her, even as black started to cover the edges of her vision. She crawled towards her and poked the unconscious mare

“Wake up!”

Her voice was barely more than a hoarse whisper, but the mare groaned and twitched. Her head tilted back and the mare took in a deep breath, probably the first for a thousand years. The mare shivered and breathed slowly and heavily, but she breathed.

Sunset Shimmer slumped in relief. She panted heavily herself and realized she was shivering as well. The cold snow quickly sapped out any warmth and strength she had left if she didn’t stop it. She reached for her magic, but there was nothing left. She willed her legs to move, but they refused. That meant she only had one arrow left in her quiver, one that was feared in Canterlot Palace by nobles as well as any ponies of the staff: Her big mouth.

“HELP!”

She screamed at the top of her voice and the word echoed through the barren wasteland. She wondered how far her voice would travel through a snowstorm

“HELP!”

Her legs felt numb and her horn seemed to burn. She rolled her eyes towards the mare. Now she could see her coat was a silvery-white colour that blended beautifully into the pristine white of the snow. Her nostrils still moved as she breathed, but other than that she hadn’t moved since she had hit the ground

“HEEEEEEELP!”

Her own voice echoed through Sunset’s head. She didn’t know if she was still screaming or just imagining things. The blackness filled more and more of her vision and she could barely feel her body anymore

“Help…”

Just before the blackness in front of her eyes took over, she noticed a glob of white and gold. She heard the rustling of wings.

Then everything faded into silent darkness.

Comments

[Akwolfgrl13]

Wow