Crumbling Meteorite

Chapter 1 - Emerging

Alone, cold, confused and sore. Meteor found himself writhing between the rubble, trapped in complete darkness.

“LUUNAAAAAA!!!”

Repeatedly he cried out to the only pony he thought could help him, like a child screaming for its mommy. No help came, no magical intervention that got his cry for help to the right ears. As far as he could know, no sign of life nearby either. In his struggles he found there was only enough room for his body, with a massive slab of some form of stone precariously held above him.

What Meteor didn’t realise however, was that while he was a statue, he was one of the main things holding that slab up. The more he screamed and struggled, the more it began to move. It wasn’t until the roof above him came down a foot, pinning him down tightly against the rubble below and sounding ready to collapse that Meteor had enough sense to try and stop it. He tried putting his hooves up against it, but as he was pinned on his side, it’s impossible to get a good push. With the rumble of grinding stone filling his ears, Meteor panicked. His eyes and horn began to glow as a bright yellow aura enveloped his body.

With a bright yellow flash, Meteor’s eyes were met with clouds, rain and a miserable view.

Somehow his guts felt really weird... and what was that draft coming from below?

When he turned his gaze down, the answer came speeding towards him. Or rather, he was speeding towards it. He had been teleported several hundred yards into the air and was now in a freefall towards a very uninviting outcropping on the side of a mountain. He flung his legs around, trying to slow his fall, but without wings he had no chance. With only a hundred yards left to go his horn began to glow again. There was only one spell he knew how to use, and with every fiber of his being screaming for him to slow down, he had the ideal focus. The same yellow aura encompassed his body once more, and sure enough began to slow his descent. He had to slow down a lot harder though. Hard enough to come to a-

*THUD* “...Oooouwwtch!” he whined as he lifted himself off the hard soil.

He was finally somewhere safe it seems, no broken bones, all his teeth intact. Just his personal pride suffered a minor dent... and perhaps his chin, chest and hooves felt kinda sore now. Meteor sat and paused for a moment however, as he remembers he could pick up Luna with levitation before, but could only barely slow himself down enough not to get injured.

“I should have pulled off that levitation spell a lot better than this, what’s wrong with me?”

Though it shouldn’t take a genius to figure it out. What had teleported him was his own magic, he remembered Luna talked about teleportation as one of the advanced spells. It’s probably the reason he currently has a sharp headache, but not why he managed it in the first place. It wasn’t what he intended to do, though in his panic he could only think of being away from there... would an advanced spell really be that simple? He had his doubts. Either way it seemed a good explanation as to why he couldn’t levitate himself. That advanced spell probably just knocked a lot of energy out of him.

With the rain clattering down on him, the water washing most of the grime out of his fur, he made his way to the edge of the platform. He wasn’t too far away from where he must have been buried. With chills running down his spine, he looked down upon the ruined last remains of what once must have been a castle. He couldn’t guess at how the castle looked when it was still intact, but it pains him to know he never got the chance to. He knew for certain he had been away a long time, the long monotonous wait was unbearable. Knowing how long it felt paired with the knowledge that, to his perception, time speeds up dramatically when encased in stone meant it was a very... VERY... long time...

There it was, the new life he had been promised. Buried under a broken ruin.

“Luna....No...”

His words were soft and drowned out by the heavy clatter of the rain. Tears ran down his cheeks and mixed with the rainwater. She was gone, everything was gone. Introduced to a whole new world for a week or two, to find everything quickly stripped away before he even had a chance to get used to it all, before he had even been allowed to leave the room.

Now he was alone again... but more so than before. In his own world he had a home, a job. He knew where he was and he knew where he could go. Back there he was simply alone because he lacked initiative to start conversations, nor the will to maintain any that he ended up in. It was the mutual fascination he and Luna had for each other that showed him what a friendship was like.

Lamenting on these memories with the sight of the broken and ruined castle became too painful to bear. Meteor started sobbing heavily as he turned his gaze away, and as there was nobody there to comfort him, he curled up into a miserable ball of sorrow.

Meteor wept like a baby without it’s mommy for several minutes before a pause in the rain caught his attention. As he looked up to see a break in the clouds as they passed over, he noticed the stars behind it, paired with that distinct flow of colour so very familiar to him.

“T-That....Is that possible?” Meteor quietly whimpered as he got back up on his hooves. examining the small crack as much as the clouds would let him. Could that same beauty be emulated by another? Or does it mean Luna is still out there? The first thought would still mean Luna is gone forever, but the latter on the other hand sparked the hope she might yet be alive.

Meteor remembered Luna mentioning she and her sister were responsible for the day and night cycle in equestria. He didn’t recall any mention of there being anyone before them. The pony history Luna taught him made it sound like they were there for a long time. That might mean they live for centuries!

As the break in the clouds passed, and the rain once again started beating down on Meteor, there was still some doubt, but seeing the night sky between the clouds gave him enough hope. He had to try and find Luna. The sight of the ruined castle was still painful, but bearable. As Meteor paced along the edge of the platform, he thought it would have been better if the teleport spell had put him somewhere near the castle’s front gates, but as he still hadn’t a clue how it worked, he knew it wouldn’t be wise to try repeating it. His crying hadn’t helped with his headache either. The sharp pain felt like someone ran a pin through the length of his horn right into his forehead, but without magic, he couldn’t imagine getting away from here.

The side of the mountain was too steep to try and climb his way down, so his best bet was to find another platform to jump to. The nearest platform that he could see, however, was the remains of the castle. If he used his levitation spell on himself just enough to extend his jump and slow his descent, he might make it over to what appears to be a large hall. The roof was gone, so he wouldn’t have to aim for any windows either.

It seemed like the best way to get out of here, but the moment he realised the depth which he would have to cross, some healthy hesitation came to mind. Meteor backed away from the ledge and sat down for a moment. Taking the time to overcome the natural fear of the risk involved also gave him some time to keep his eyes closed in hopes of letting the headache fade.

After a while, Meteor stood up and got as far back as possible to get a proper runup. He knew this was by far the stupidest thing he’s done in both his lives. As his horn glowed, the yellow aura once again enveloped his body. The headache came back at full force, he knew this wasn’t going to last long. He ran for the edge and jumped as hard as he could.

He was airborne, and he was heading towards the castle, but just as Meteor was about to proclaim success, he noticed he was heading for a wall, and not the open ceiling.

“Uh oh... no... no, no-no-no-NOO!” He screamed with flailing hooves before smashing into the wall, which immediately buckled from the sudden force and collapsed into the middle of the large room. Meteor found himself atop a freshly created pile of rubble, his body was sore again and his headache worse than ever... but this time he had a way out.

He didn’t immediately stand up this time, regardless of the castle’s condition he felt safe to be on some form of solid ground again. His hooves were still trembling from both the exertion, and the realisation his jump spanned across a several hundred yards sheer drop.

A few minutes, he gave himself a few minutes to catch his breath, then he forced himself to stand up. Part of him wanted to stay here and explore the remains, but with every second he spent looking at the ruined state of it, his heart grew more heavy. As he made his way out the front door, he tried to push every thought of it from his mind. If he is to find Luna again, he can’t let himself be dragged down by pain and fear.

Meteor was somewhat surprised to find no clear indication of any path leading away from the front doors, though considering the amount of time passed, it would be inevitable for nature to reclaim something as simple as an unused path. It did cause Meteor to take in his immediate surroundings a bit more thoroughly, as he wasn’t planning on going just any random direction. Roads lead somewhere after all.

Grass thrived with no restraint, although tree growth seemed to have been fairly slow, as the soil along the cliff edge was likely not the most fertile. Close to the main gate was a small, but surprisingly intact small guard’s outpost. Though, ‘intact’ would perhaps be a slight overstatement. The windows were broken, but the walls were upright and there was still a roof. With it being three yards wide and two yards deep, it would make for an excellent shelter to spend a night out of the rain...

There was certainly enough temptation for Meteor to curl up inside and try to rest for awhile out of the rain, but he already had set his mind on moving on. There would be enough time to rest if...when he finds a settlement and know’s for sure that there is at least more life out there than just him. Plus... if there are Ponies, there’s bound to be some who know of Luna.

As Meteor moved on, he found, to his own horror, that the castle wasn’t directly connected to the cliffside at all, as he was faced with yet another deep drop. It wasn’t nearly as wide as the gorge under the ruined castle remains, but nothing he would expect to have formed in a mere thousand years. A single rickety rope bridge connected this... spire of rock to the actual cliffside. Had Meteor known all this, he most likely wouldn’t have felt safe when he landed in the castle hall. Granted, the chunk the castle was built on was massive in it’s own right, but whomever decided to build a castle on that must have been either gutsy, or blind.

As soon as he crossed the rope bridge, he could let out a deep sigh of relief and forget about the castle for the time being. The less he thought about it from now on, the better. His struggle wasn’t over yet, however. It was now fairly easy to see where the path goes, but only thanks to the massive looming dark forest of doom that grew around it.

He had a healthy hesitation to walk through this forest, it looked like nothing hospitable could be found inside, but there wasn’t any option to turn back. Meteor thought about trying a sprint, but after two crash landings and a splitting headache, he was in no shape to hasten his pace, much less run.

The darkness inside the forest wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been for the rain clouds up above obstructing his only source of light, the moon. Meteor had to really focus in order not to stray from what little hint there was left of a path here. He needed a source of light, which he knows there is a spell for, but not how to wield it. Not that his headache was going to allow him to do any spell for a while.

The only thing that confirmed he was still on the path was the faint sight of a clearing, far up ahead, the only way he could see that was if there were no trees in the way. Granted, the feeling of only tall grass brushing along the lower parts of his legs instead of bushes worked as an indication as well, he just preferred to see.

It felt like half an hour before he reached the clearing, even when it was only a couple of minutes. Being a statue for millennia didn’t help his perception of time of course, but walking a lonely straight path in near absolute darkness would be a big contributor as well. At least when he reached the clearing, he noticed the rain was starting to ease up. It seemed almost like a sudden change when he reached the clearing, but in fact it was merely the fact the thick tree growth is so soaked all the way through, it would keep streaming down a barrage of thick droplets like nothing happened for a while, even if the rain completely stopped.

Luckily for Meteor, the rest of the way seemed to have significantly less dense tree growth, allowing him some higher degree of vision. At least now he wouldn’t have to constantly be focussed fully on where he’s going, allowing him to look around a bit. The flora was definitely more diverse than it seemed at the edge of the forest, but nothing compared to what he was about to run in to.

At first he thought there was somepony up ahead, holding up a blue light, yet calling out to it yielded no response. When he realised it wasn’t moving he decided to inspect it closer. It didn’t cast light any further than two yards away, but it was definitely something he would find use for. The source of the light turned out to be a bioluminescent flower of sorts. The sight was magnificent to behold, natural bioluminescence was a rare thing to come across in in his world, but to find a sample of such brightness in this one was something he never imagined possible. Granted, the fact he was previously in near absolute darkness most likely played a part in this, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was whether or not this flower would maintain it’s luminescence if he plucked it. He was no gardener in his world, but he knew plants didn’t instantly wither away the moment they were plucked, so maybe this light would last him long enough to reach.

Meteor closely inspected the stem to see if there were any thorns. It appears to be completely smooth for as far as he could tell, but he was still somewhat hesitant to touch what he could only assume to be a rare plant. As he sat down to take a look around for anything he could use to pluck this new plant without risking poison, a brief flare of his headache reminded of an ability he had been ignoring, though for good reason. He knew all too well it wouldn’t make the headache go away, but since it’s only a plant, it wouldn’t weigh enough to add a lot to his headache either.

He considered his options for a little while, what it boiled down to was a choice between risking poison or risking a stronger headache, and as much as he would have prefered a perfect in between solution, he wasn’t going to find Luna by reconsidering every step of the way. He used the only spell he knew to hold on to the flower and levitated it off the ground. The stem broke with a faint subtle crack, and now was the moment of truth. After holding his breath for a few seconds, he let out a sigh of relief. The flower still maintained its luminescence for the time being, and his headache didn’t seem that much stronger.

As he got back on his way, the added source of light made it far easier and faster to traverse the forest. Aside from the interesting flora, however, there wasn’t much to really look at. Eventually every tree and bush looked the same. After about half an hour of continued pacing, he arrived at another clearing, except this one a lot wider and providing it’s own obstacle. A long and rather wide river spanned across his path. On the other side he could see where he was meant to move on, but he couldn’t understand why this place wouldn’t feature a bridge, while the desolate castle still had at least a wood rope bridge. He started to wonder if he was going the wrong way, that there might have been a path leading another way, but he couldn’t turn back now. There would have to be at least SOMETHING at the other end of this forest.

Meteor carefully dipped a hoof into the water to compare it to the temperature of the rain, which was when he realised the rain had already stopped. As he looked up, he was still met with a large deck of clouds, but there did appear to be a few stars only just poking through here and there. There was even a large white blur where the moon would be. The forestation on the other end of the river, however, was dense enough for him to require his flower for a while longer. He carefully stepped forward into the water, It didn’t even seem too bad, it hardly got up to his torso. That was until he reached about a quarter of the way, where the ground almost seemed to stop, and Meteor fell head first into the water. After a brief moment of struggle, he realised he wouldn’t be able to swim the way he would with his previous body, resorting to a form of doggy paddle instead, which thankfully got his head above the water’s surface and made him able to slowly make his way to the other side, where he hastily clambered out of the river and sat down to catch his breath.

The water didn’t seem cold at first, but being fully submerged in it was far less comfortable than he anticipated, and lowered his body temperature enough to cause concern. If he had a fire, he would’ve taken the time to rest, but since his source of light is little more than a wet luminescent flower, the only way to get his body temperature up now would be to keep moving. Regardless of his sore muscles.

The rest of his journey luckily seemed to feature no more hazardous obstacles. After passing between two large rocks, the path became significantly wider, perhaps about three to four yards wide. It was here that he noticed a few other paths connecting to this one. Meteor considered taking a look, though regardless of the opportunity to try out a different direction, he preferred staying on the nice and wide path. It felt like a main road of sorts, that the other paths connected to. It went up along the side of a mountain, curving left and back the other way as it ascended further and curved to the right around the mountain. When he reached the apex, he noticed some severe damage to the path itself. It seems a large portion had broken off in a landslide here, though luckily for him, there was still a few feet worth of path left.

After carefully inching himself along the narrow path, mostly keeping his body pressed against the mountain, Meteor was faced with yet another path through the forest. At which point he sighed and lowered his head.

“For pete sake... i’ve been walking for hours... what if there isn’t anything out here...” he said to himself as he slowly walked further through the forest.

Fifteen minutes later, however, Meteor noticed a change in the near-endless stretch of forest. It looked like another clearing, yet this time he could see no forest beyond it. Meteor stopped for a moment as the realisation sunk in, he had finally reached the edge of the forest. The moment it hit him, Meteor ran forwards as fast as he could, no sore muscles were going to stop him from finally reaching the end of that horrible gloomy forest. In his enthusiasm, however, he failed to notice the path of the forest and the grassy field beyond it shared at least two feet height difference. As he was about to leap out of the forest, his front hooves weren’t met with the ground where he expected it, by the time he realised what was happening, his momentum already toppled him over and rolled him onto his back before grinding to a halt in the grass.

His eyes were met with a spectacular view, The rain had already stopped long ago without him even noticing, there weren’t even any clouds in sight. After staring up for a few minutes, a reassured smile found it’s way back on Meteor’s face. This was the best hint he had thus far at Luna’s well being, and it may not be as good as finding her, it at least meant he was going the right way.

By the time he thought to himself how comfortable the grass was to lay on, he realised he ran the risk of falling asleep right there and then. As appealing as that felt, his goal hadn’t changed from when he crash landed in the castle remains, he had to push on to find Luna... he could rest later.

Meteor got back on his hooves and surveyed his surroundings. Most of the area outside of the forest appear to just be grassy meadows, lakes and the occasional bundle of trees, though far less menacing looking than some of the ones in the forest. He could have sworn that in the far distance there was even a farm of sorts. The best, however, was when he turned left. A town, one that didn’t look ruined and in fact could very well be inhabited! There was no doubt he wouldn’t find Luna there, but there’s bound to be ponies that know how to find her.

“Uhm... Excuse me, sir? is this yours?”