Author's Note

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fpNCKY8o9q_WmXtUpCcDmxNFht_z9vTpcy3gbRi2MeQ/edit

Happy birthday to my editor/co-author, VintageRaven! It is by his wish that I upload this today, as opposed to on my current schedule. And so here we are.

~Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

The First Bolt of Lightning

Crystal’s eyes shot open. Beneath her, she saw a blurry jumble of letters, and felt the cushion of a stack of papers. Through her groggy mind, she realized that it was all a horrible dream; she had fallen asleep at her desk doing homework. Again.

Sitting up, the medical student yawned, admiring the sunrise through her east facing window above the roofs of the rest of Canterlot. “Ugh… What a nightmare…” she whispered to herself. Yet it felt so real… Oh, the horror… Feh. It was just a dream. Nothing more.

Crystal grimaced, noticing a lot of her work was smudged because she had lain upon it, as well there was a bit of ink splotching on her cheek. Sighing, she stood, then plodded sleepily towards the bathroom. Closing the door, she turned the shower on cold, then stepped under the chilling stream.

Her thoughts drifted back to the dream, remembering all the deaths she had witnessed. And just stood by, too. Why did I do nothing to help all those poor ponies…? And Professor Fraust… She shuddered. I just watched him die… After everything I had learned in school. Even if it was just a dream, why couldn’t I have done something…? I hope this doesn’t mean anything about me…

Shutting out her thoughts, the young pony stood mindlessly in the frigid flow for a short while, trying her best to not think of anything. Eventually, she shut off the water, toweled off her wet fur, then spent a few minutes straightening and styling her mane. After all, one does not simply be a pretty pink pony without a nice mane.

Reemerging to her bedroom, Crystal collected herself, then her school stuff. She would have to deal with not having homework to turn in. But I guess there are worse things in life. Oh well. Opening her door, Crystal made her way down the stairs and into the dining room, her mother happily preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

“Well, look who’s up on time! Good morning, Cryssie!” came her mother’s happy greeting.

“Mreh…” Crystal grumbled, “Too early in the morning, I can’t give you a representative reply…” It happened to be a slight lie, the young pony was feeling perfectly awake, she just did not want to talk with anypony at the moment. Her mind was still struggling to process her dream.

“Sounds like you should have gone to bed earlier last night, then! You know rest is very important.” the jokingly condescending tone brought little more than irritation from the medical student.

“Yeah mom, I know…” she sighed, wandering into the kitchen, nabbing a bagel, then taking a seat at the table.

“You should really also eat more than just that. It’s best not to go to school on an empty stomach. You need to energy,” her mom continued to chastise.

“I know,” Crystal mumbled, “but I’m not hungry.” Her mother sighed, shaking her head. She entered the dining room with two plates of toasted bread, some jam, and coffee.

“I know I can’t make you eat, but I would if I could. “ She set the food items down, smiling, “At least your father appreciates the necessity of a good breakfast.” The smile wilted slowly off Rose’s face as she remembered what she had been meaning to talk with her daughter about that morning. “On a related note… your father and I, we had a bit of a talk with Professor Fraust… We uh… well, we’re concerned, to say the least. I know you’re a good pony; you’re smart, capable, and willing… but, your progress in school doesn’t seem to show it. And it worries us. Remember, there is plenty of help available for you, you just need to ask. We want you to succeed.” The off-red mare smiled lovingly at her now downtrodden daughter.

Speaking of which…

“Well, um… but, uh… In that case… I think I’ll be going to school a little earlier today, that way I can talk to Fraust and… I guess see about help.,” Crystal announced, quickly standing up with her small breakfast and starting to to move to her room. She had no intentions of seeking help… yet. Currently, it was just a ploy to escape the painful environment of her home. While she liked her father, he was a bit more obsessed of the family tradition, and thus hounded her more about school, hence why she had been drifting away from him as of recently. Not to say anything about her mother.

“Oh-! Um, okay then! Have a good day, Cryssie!” Rose called out to her daughter. She did not expect her daughter to say goodbye after returning from her room, which was a correct assumption. Crystal barely heard anyways; she was in her room, collecting her books and half done homework. Finally closing her saddlebags and lifting them onto her back, she stepped out, trotting down the stairs and out the door, off to begin yet another potentially horrible day.
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“You got here early, Cryss. What’s a matter, too embarrassed to face everypony else? Don’t think you’re good enough?” The harassment from Silver Star was unabating. Indeed, Crystal had arrived at school before most others, with the dual purposes of evading her parents and evading her tormentors. Unfortunately, the latter did not last forever, and during her second class of the day she was seated right behind them.

Ignoring their words, she stared calmly down at the handout in front of her. It was a continuation from the previous day, an explanation on the methodology behind focused healing of internal injuries. Mostly anatomy, partly information on spells, and completely and utterly boring.

“Mister Star, please, face forward and pay attention. The back of the class can’t teach you anything,” snapped Professor Fraust, breaking his normally calm demeanour. Silver paused, grinning hatefully at Crystal.

“I think he was talking about you, Cryss Crossed,” whispered the red unicorn, before turning away. Fraust stared him down for a few moments before returning to his lecture.

Crystal, however, had zoned out. She found it hard to concentrate on the subject matter when all she could think about was the Professor, dying on the ground, blood seeping from his eyes and mouth. Or the Professor, a rigid, frozen corpse, coated in frost and blood. Or the Professor, his body now a pyre, blood boiling away from the heat, the horrid smell of his burning fur in the searing air.

What is wrong with me? Why am I having all these thoughts? I don’t want to remember any of this, I don’t NEED to remember it, it was just a stupid dream… Ugh, I just have to focus. School, school is what’s important. Just don’t think, it’ll be easier.

“…and so I will leave you to that and be back in just a bit.” She caught the last half of Fraust’s sentence, and saw him leave the room. Not really caring why, Crystal turned her attention back down to her textbook.

“Heh, I see you’re at least TRYING to learn, eh Cryss?” Silver remarked. “Well keep trying. But just think, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much effort you put into this work, you will never succeed.“ While she did not hear the remark, she registered it. And while the young Cross had tried so hard not to react to these insults in the past, for the first time, she felt something trigger within her. A primal instinct unlike anything she had felt before. Not a fight or flight, but something… stronger. Still, she kept her head down and continued to read.

“You know, Cryss, you may think that ignoring us will help, but it won’t. I hope you understand that you are a lost cause. There is nothing in this world that can stop you from failing as you are doing now. Accept it and move on, it will make things so much easier for the rest of us. Let me repeat that more clearly in case it didn’t get through that slow mind of yours: You. Are. A. Failure.” Crystal felt something snap. Not physically, not consciously, but she had broken somewhere. She heard nothing more than a high pitched tone. While seeing Silver’s mouth move, there was no sound, and she did not register that he was speaking. Her last conscious thought was to notice an acute pain in her flanks, then her eyes closed and she blacked out.