Fallen Star

by xara

Black Crystal

The first thing Twilight became aware of after that was a terrible, pounding ache at the back of her head. It pulsed in time with her heartbeat, echoing through her as she fought to regain consciousness. A noise at the edge of her hearing rose in volume, becoming an anguished groan, and she realized she was the source of it. Her eyelids didn't want to respond; she could only see the insides of them, which the noonday sun attempted to pierce.

Her sense of balance clicked into alignment all at once, and with that came the realization that she was lying almost face down in the dirt, one cheek against it, dust choking her throat through her open mouth. She couldn't close her mouth; she couldn't even waggle her tongue; Twilight felt paralyzed. Her eyelids, though, gave in to the commands from her brain and flipped open together, revealing the awkward angle she had... landed? Something didn't seem right about being in the dirt, but the why not wouldn't compute.

The rhythmic pounding of her head sent aches down her entire body - with the pain came the sense that muscles might obey again. Grunting, she shifted her weight and tried to free one of her pinned legs from beneath her, but didn't have enough momentum to succeed. Her breaths came out in a pant, sending little puffs of dust away. Changing tactics, she lifted her neck - argh - until her chin was level.

Not much help. It just revealed a wider view of the dusty plains.

She summoned what strength she could and attempted another roll. Though it sent another angry wave of pain coursing through her, she was able to free her front leg. Moving both legs now, she pushed up, pulling her hind legs in and standing up. Her knees threatening to buckle, she stood for several moments waiting to see if she would stabilize or collapse entirely. Thankfully, she remained standing. With her front left hoof, she massaged the leg that had been pinned, grimacing but ignoring her body's protest. She repeated the task, swapping legs, and when that was done she did the same with the hind set.

Satisfied that nothing was broken (though surely bruised), her thoughts turned to her friends as a feeling of intense worry arose. She spun around, and almost did collapse when a wave of dizziness struck. She closed her eyes and let the feeling diminish.

She saw the train wreck at last, and realized what had first bothered her. How could I have been thrown out here? The thought came in clearer form, but she ignored it for now. Where were her friends?

She trotted closer to the wreck with the sun beating down on her back. The black crystal loomed at the very front; the engine had nearly been crushed by the impact. Since they had been on a gentle curve, most of the trailing cars had been swung out in a long line to the left, and Twilight was standing near the middle of the arc. Some smoke poured from the engine; that would be the the coal-burning furnace upset by the spill.

If she had survived that, her shielding spell must have held out long enough to protect the other ponies, or at least she hoped. Picking up speed, she galloped over to the fallen passenger car. It lay on its side, windows shattered and glass spilled across the ground, showing a glimpse of a surreal landscape built from a realm turned ninety degrees over. She picked her way carefully over the fallen glass - the stuff might pierce her hoof if she trod too hard on it, and she had enough troubles as it was. "Hello?" she called out.

Having reached the series of window panes, she avoided any still-attached shards and peered inside. Nopony was there. How can that be? There were only two passenger cars, weren't there? Her memory seemed to toy with her as she tried to picture the bunks and what the next car back had been, but she couldn't recall. Pulling back, she took in a deep breath.

"Hello? Is anypony there?"

Nothing. No reply, not even the sound of wind blowing. If she closed her eyes and ignored the smell of smoke, she could have been enjoying the solitude of a quiet library wing, for all she could tell.

She followed the arc towards the train's rear. The next car revealed itself fully; it had no windows. Obviously not one of the passenger cars, and she had no way to check its contents. Moving back the way she had came, she tried to scoot through the glass-strewn area again.

The second passenger car, the one the businessponies had been in, revealed the same thing as the first. Shattered glass, spilled belongings, broken trays, no ponies. What the hay is going on?

Twilight retreated to a patch of dirt bare of glass, and sat her haunch down to think. The bothersome line of questioning returned. How could she have ended up far out in the dirt like that?

Assume the shielding spell held long enough before I struck the ground and was knocked out. That would explain how I wasn't cut to pieces flying through the window. But if I had done that, there should have been glass around where I landed, and it was clear. Could I have blinked past? That didn't seem likely; she had been focusing all her magical power on the protection spell, blinking would have moved or cancelled it and left them all vulnerable. I couldn't have been thrown clear in a crash like this anyway - most of this wreck slid to a halt.

And where was everypony else? She was absolutely, completely, one hundred percent certain that none of her friends would have left her in the condition she had been in, and she would have been clearly visible to anypony emerging from the wreck. There was just no way she could make any sort of logical... Ah-ha.

It didn't make any sense! The only place things could not be logically reasoned out, she knew, was in a dream!

The whole scene looked different under the gaze of her discovery. That's why nopony was here; that explained how she had ended up outside the wreck .

Still... it was extremely... vivid. Her pains really did hurt. The air smelled of smoke and dust and she could feel the sun heating the back of her coat. It felt far, far too real.

She turned to look at the towering black structure that had caused this whole mess, even if it was just a dream representation of it. Twilight stood up, then galloped towards it. The dark, black crystal shone in the sunlight, revealing lines and cracks showing how the crystal had...grown? It looked like obsidian but, she tsked, she knew from her reading that obsidian was not crystalline. She saw a thousand Twilight Sparkles running towards her as the mysterious stuff showed her reflection on as many surfaces.

Twilight...

She skidded to a halt and froze. Had she heard somepony? Troubled, she glanced around, but no one was there, only the crystal. Her gaze slipped back to it. All the Twilights mocked her confusion, laughing as they shook in the reflections.

Where are all the broken pieces? she wondered. The massive weight of the train had struck the crystal head-on, but the tower had not apparently suffered any damage. All the cracks and planes appeared to be missing nothing that showed as debris. She knew the concept of the immovable object, but...

Enough! This is ridiculous. If this is a dream then I will wake myself up. Twilight allowed to haunch to rest on the ground once more as she closed her eyes and controlled her breathing. Deep intake, hold it..., long, steady exhale. With the same focus she used to cast her magic, she willed herself to awaken. Nothing happened; she continued her breathing, clearing her mind and picturing only darkness from which she would wake to the true world. She opened her eyes.

The crystal stared back. The Twilights laughed once more. She stamped the ground in frustration, all semblance of meditation lost. Snorting, she charged the crystal tower, spun around, and delivered a swift hind kick against the shiny surface.

"What... is... this... stupid... thing!" she shrieked, punctuating each word with a strike.

Twilight... That time she knew she had heard a voice. It had said her name. It sounded like...

A sudden rumbling from the object interrupted that thought, and Twilight gasped in surprise as a massive crack appeared at the place she had attacked it, opening a wide gash that raced along the side. She stepped back, almost tripping on herself as the sound intensified and a blackish dust and pieces of the tower began crumbling away from it. Entranced by the sight, she didn't move as an enormous shelf of crystal broke apart and crashed down, most of it striking the smoldering engine car.

She blinked. A perfectly aligned, winding staircase had appeared in the remains of the crumbling side of the structure.

This just gets weirder and weirder... she thought. As the dust settled, a thousand Twilights stared back at her again. The blackness above suddenly seemed much more ominous as she approached the bottom step.

Twilight... the voice sounded once more - it had Applejack's voice. Twilight shivered as the wind brought a chill through her coat.

Wait, what wind? she wondered. The air had been perfectly still before, but now a heavy breeze was blowing. Had it started while she was meditating or when the crystal cracked? It felt like it was blowing down from the tower itself. Smoke from the nearby engine was being whipped into a whirlwind that trailed a corkscrew around the tower. She suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable out in the open. The Twilights stared. She leaped past the first step, hitting the next one and speeding up the staircase.

...wake up. she heard the voice say. No! She couldn't yet. Trying to leave earlier was a mistake. Something waited for her at the top. She had to reach it, but the wind picked up strength and she slowed as she fought to continue.

She could hear laughter. The Twilights were gone; now nothing reflected at all. The crystal looked hazy; Twilight felt a spark of fear. She wasn't alone here, something was below, something terrible, and it was coming. She had to reach the top, it was the only safe place. The sharp, biting odor of smoke mixed with dust filled her lungs; the sky blackened and she could barely see as she ran in a blind panic upwards.

Twilight crested the top of the strange tower. Twilight, wake up! said Applejack. Not yet... she had to find...

A blinding glow made her recoil, and she was forced to turn her head and look at the periphery. Carved into the top was some sort of bowl-shaped depression.

She gasped and opened her eyes to see Applejack looking down at her with an expression of worry.

~ ~ ~

Twilight shrieked, sending Applejack into a surprised backwards hop, legs stiffening.

"Good golly, Twi," the startled pony said. "It's just me, Applejack."

"I'm...sorry," Twilight sputtered. The throbbing pain in her head and body-wide aches were back. "I was having... a nightmare." Once again, she lay on her side in the dirt with a view of the dusty plains in front of her. She made to stand up.

"Now just hold on," Applejack soothed, laying a hoof firmly against Twilight's shoulder. "You took a nasty blow in that accident. Just lay still and get your bearings."

"Okay, just tell me what happened - is anypony hurt?"

"We're fine, thanks to you," Applejack reassured her. "Nothing but some bruises and mussed-up manes thanks to your shielding spell. Looks like you got the worst of the lot when we hit the thing - struck your head on a table or something. Whole place toppled on its side after it struck, but just skidded to a stop in this here dirt afterwards."

"What about the other car? What about the engineers?"

"Look. Help me turn ya over." Applejack nudged and helped Twilight swap sides.

The wreck looked much the same. The cars had swung out in the same arc she'd seen in the dream. Glass littered the ground in front of the two passenger cars, and smoke billowed in front of the crystal tower. She lifted her head to get a better view; she saw some of her other friends and the sight made her relax a little.

"Train staff always has a trained unicorn on duty. Engine took the worst of the hit but they were okay. One of 'em got a nasty burn from the coal, hard part was getting 'em out the door - thing got all twisted up. Think they're on the other side tryin' to get some of the cars open for supplies."

"And the other passengers?"

Applejack hesitated. "Didn't do as well. Don't think they had any protection. One's bleeding pretty badly. Other got tossed about like a lone apple in a bucket. He's been out cold, same as you. We carried all three of ya'll out."

Twilight started to stand again, and this time Applejack didn't protest. Wavering a bit, but not as unsteady as in the dream, Twilight moved towards the wreck and her friend followed.

Both of the businessponies lay on the ground in a space that had been quickly swept of broken glass. One had his head propped up on a small cushion; his eyes were shut and his mouth hung open slightly. The other was close by, eyes open but face contorted in a grimace. Fluttershy stood above him, her eyes narrowed in concentration, using some sort of red-colored cloth to wrap one of his hind legs, which was oozing blood. The makeshift bandaging covered the wound, the color looking just like the fluid that soaked into it. Spike was holding a roll of the stuff, using his clawed hand to tear portions of the material.

"I found some more!" Rarity came from the rear of the train at a canter, horn glowing, another roll of fabric floating beside her, bits of glass being thrown to the sides as she used her magic to part the sea of debris.

"Yes, that's good. Hand it to Spike, please. There, there," the shy pony murmured at the stallion. "Help will be here soon, you try to relax."

Spike... Twilight almost called out to him. No paper. Can't send a message. She had some in her bags, but...

"Where's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie?" Twilight turned to Applejack to ask.

"Pinkie's trying to get at our things in storage. She says she packed a party cannon and some fireworks she can use for signal for help. I think we're too far away from either end for that to work," she shrugged, "but maybe it'll do. Rainbow Dash took off once we had ya'll moved, she's fixin' to bring help. Long ways off, though. I've been watchin' you; you were knocked out but I could see you strugglin' around and workin' up a sweat."

Twilight nuzzled her friend in a brief hug, then started walking with a determined look settling onto her face. Applejack stood still for a moment, then rushed to catch up, but nearly ran into Twilight when the unicorn stopped only a few feet out.

All along the land from here towards the crystal tower were globules of some black substance, as if somepony had taken cupfuls of tar and thrown them down at the ground. The splashes were thinly spread out this far away, but closer to the tower they grew in number until the very base of it looked entirely coated. Twilight turned, looking towards the passenger cars where her friends were tending the wounded. Her mind must have glossed over the stuff before; she could see one or two splashes in that area, too.

Applejack noticed her looking. "Don't know what that gunk is. Couldn't be from that crystal thing, could it? Stuff looks like black melted wax. You even had a bit of it on ya, cleaned it off when we brought you out. Good thing it didn't hit Rarity, huh?"

Twilight nodded absently. "Applejack, something is not right about this. I dreamed about this spot, but it was different."

"What happened?"

"I was alone - nopony else was here, though I looked for you. I walked toward the crystal, but... there was no debris from it at all, certainly nothing like this. I kicked the thing and it cracked to reveal a staircase to the top. I started to climb and suddenly I got very scared - I could hear your voice, but it felt like something was chasing me. It felt like something very important was up there. It didn't even feel like a dream at the time - it was so real."

Applejack's face scrunched up in a look of concern. "That's... you know, Twi, lifelike nightmares, huge crystals appearing from the ground. Doesn't this remind you of somepony?"

"King Sombra and the Crystal Empire," Twilight spoke softly. "But that's miles and miles away! What's one of these things doing right here, right in our path? Did anyone else touch this goop?"

"Don't think so," Applejack shook her head. "It's all around the engine car, but we avoided the stuff."

Twilight thought. "Okay. Keep your hooves ready. I'm going to experiment."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Applejack looked worried.

"No, but we've got to learn what happened here." Twilight stepped towards one of the black splashes, lifting a hoof. She paused for a moment, then brought the hoof firmly down into the substance. The goo made a squelching noise and pooled around the hoof as it sank a little.

She looked at Applejack, who eye her warily. Nothing happened. Twilight brought her hoof out and shook off the clingy black tar. "Well, that didn't do much. Whatever it is, it seems inactive, unless it takes longer than that to have an effect. I don't think anypony should touch it all the same. Applejack, I still feel like something's on top of that tower that I should see."

"Well, what about Fluttershy? She could look without touching the stuff."

"You're right," Twilight nodded. The two of them moved back towards the others. Rarity was pulling cushions and blankets from the bunks of the passenger car, piling them up outside. Fluttershy had finished bandaging the bleeding stallion; she was kneeling next to him, speaking soothing words to him in her soft voice, though he looked dazed.

"Will he be okay?" asked Twilight.

"It's... pretty bad, Twilight, but we've held off the bleeding. He's being a very strong stallion," she said, stroking the stallion's mane.

"Fluttershy, I think there's something on top of that tower that is.... of importance to learning why this thing is here."

"You want me... to fly to it?"

"Yes, please, but be careful - don't touch that crystal or the goo. We're not sure just how dangerous it is apart from causing this wreck."

"Oh... okay, Twilight." The pegasus fluttered her wings, hovering for a moment above the ground before wooshing off towards the crystal tower.

Pinkie appeared from the rear of the train, absent her usual bounce. She had bags hanging from her sides, piled on her back, and one balanced precariously atop her head. "Cannon's broke!" she announced. "Some thingamajig snapped off the doohickey in it, so I grabbed a bunch of our stuff instead." She dropped the top bags and shimmied out of the rest, the whole set making a series of thumps on the ground.

One of Twilight's cases was there. "Paper!" she said.

Spike perked up at the sound, and caught on right away. "We can send Princess Celestia a message!"

"Look inside for the quill and ink, spike. Oh, I hope I stoppered them properly, I knew I should have checked again."

Spike rummaged through the sack. "Quill, quill, here we go, no, that's broken... ahhh... there! And some ink... gotcha. Okay," he said, setting a small inkwell on the ground and pulling out the stop with a pop. "Anything specific I should include?"

"Tell her the Ponyville-Canterlot train crashed into an unknown crystalline object midway through the trip. We have several hurt ponies who need assistance ASAP, but nobody was mortally injured."

"Got it." He inhaled, then blew out a wisp of green dragon-fire. The hastily-written letter vanished with a puff.

The sound of flapping turned the group skyward. Fluttershy was returning. She had something dangling in her mouth. She drew closer, landing in front of them, the force of her wings sending up a small cloud of dust as she braked. She was biting down on a small strap which was attached to both ends of a long, cylindrical object. Twilight's horn glowed and she floated the tube towards her.

It was a scroll-case.

Comments

[appelpieman]

Another good chapter.
And dam that cliffhanger!
I want more!

[xara]

1990318
Mwahahaha, with this author as my tool, soon the great and powerful Trixie will control every reader!

[Alamut]

Haha for a moment you've got me there - my story is also called Fallen Star (although it's a Fallout Equestria side story) and so I've questioned my sanity for a moment when I saw the notification about putting it in Dark

[xara]

1991164
Haha, I can see where that might be confusing I try to do a little search to see if a title is exactly taken, but I'm sure there are more than a few duplicates on the site :p

[Alamut]

1991201
Considering the amount of fanfiction and writers things like this simply have to happen

[xara]

Thanks for the all views, faves, and thumbs guys, wow! I hope to continue on in a day or three.

[Rattus and The Victor]

Her knees threatening to buckle, bu-but ponies dont have knees!

[Estella Star]

"Look inside for the quill and ink, spike. Oh, I hope I stoppered them properly, I knees I should have checked again."

There should be a capital on Spike

I'm loving the story so far though